Following his impulse, Xiao Zi finally turned to Qian Renxue. She seemed to have been waiting for quite some time.
"You finally noticed me~"
Her slightly drawn-out tone held a touch of playful charm, but she was not trying to act cute. It was her way of expressing her displeasure at being ignored.
"Sorry, I had something on my mind," Xiao Zi apologized sincerely, then changed tack. "You're the Angel God, Qian Renxue? You're actually still alive!"
After waiting all that time only to hear this, Qian Renxue was not about to take it lying down. She shot back, "Likewise, Destruction God King."
Few words, but the mockery was dialed all the way up. Two former failures, one from ten thousand years ago and the other from ten thousand years later-how could that not count as fate?
After the sacrifice, their souls were connected, leaving neither with any secrets from the other. Having already died once, Xiao Zi accepted this calmly rather than flying into a humiliated rage. Of course, that did not mean he had yielded. The flames of vengeance had not faded with time; instead, they burned ever fiercer.
"You seem to have accepted this outcome quite calmly?" Luo Feng existed on a higher plane, so Qian Renxue could not see him. She only knew that someone had saved the Destruction God King and that he had been reborn here.
Xiao Zi had no intention of hiding it. "Someone sent me here. Just call me Xiao Zi."
Someone sent him here? Even an exalted God King needed someone else's help?
It defied common sense, but someone of his standing had no reason to lie. Coupled with his earth-shaking entrance and the mysterious voice that had told her to sacrifice herself, Qian Renxue had no choice but to believe him.
She said with certainty, "Yours is a god king reincarnation. Even a Limit Douluo cannot compare. You could say you stood at the finish line from birth. I feel honored to have sacrificed myself to you."
Xiao Zi slowly rose to his feet, adjusting to his newborn body and feeling the surging energy within. He discovered that his soul power was currently at rank twenty, all of it provided by Qian Renxue's sacrifice.
Although Luo Feng had resurrected him with Reverse Time and Space, his body had not been restored, leaving him as nothing but a soul. Only through the energy Qian Renxue had accumulated over ten thousand years and her remaining divine power had he truly returned to life and gained a physical body.
After the sacrifice, Qian Renxue had little power left, and what remained had all been sealed away. An ordinary person could otherwise have risen dozens of ranks through divine power alone, but for Xiao Zi, it was a cup of water thrown onto a blazing cartload of firewood-only enough to restore his physical body.
Of course, there was a technical term for this power of his: rank-twenty innate soul power. Only a god-bestowed martial soul could achieve it, and out in the world, it would have been coveted by countless people.
"Do you have any money?"
Out in the world, without money, one could hardly take a single step. Having spent a few days in Swallowed Star, Xiao Zi had some understanding of currency and posed this soul-searching question.
At this, Qian Renxue perked up. Guiding him from within the Sea of Consciousness, she led him into the cave abode where she had practiced secluded cultivation and waved a generous hand. "Take your pick!"
Xiao Zi did not stand on ceremony either. He picked through the pile of objects before him, utterly unconcerned even when they were coated in filthy blood and grime, and carefully searched for useful items.
"Are these things really that good?"
Afraid of letting secrets slip, Qian Renxue usually chose to kill any intruders, which had left her with quite a collection. In her soul form, she had no use for any of it, so she had simply piled it up without ever giving it a second glance. Seeing Xiao Zi take it so seriously, she could not help being curious.
"Someone told me this is called scavenging," Xiao Zi replied.
While he was in Swallowed Star, Luo Feng had once taken him to the Wulong Starfield to hunt for treasures. Since it was a mountain of garbage, that name had simply rolled off the tongue.
"Before crossing over, I looked into a few things. In this era, there are soul engineers as well as soul masters. Soul tools made from rare metals have left them all swimming in money. With a little luck, we might even find soul bones!"
Talking did not slow his hands. Xiao Zi worked extraordinarily fast, checking each item as though opening treasure chests. Before long, he had assembled a full set of equipment, including a Storage Ring, rare metals, soul tools...
The only drawback was the filth. He washed the items he had chosen several times before taking them in hand for a closer look and injecting soul power to examine them.
The Storage Ring contained roughly twenty cubic meters of space. The dozen or so soul tools were all high-grade goods, offering both offense and defense. Not one was below class five, and the highest reached class eight, powerful enough to threaten a Titled Douluo.
There were also Gold Soul Coins, which Xiao Zi urgently needed, along with Soul Master Cultivation Notes and food to stave off hunger in an emergency. There really were soul bones too-two of them, in fact-though their ages were somewhat lacking, at only ten thousand years and one thousand years.
Because of the unusual way he had been born, Xiao Zi could not absorb soul bones despite possessing a human form. He planned to save them for future subordinates or simply take them to an auction house and exchange them for money, putting everything to good use.
"Not bad!" Stroking the Storage Ring on his hand, Xiao Zi nodded in satisfaction. Having swept the cave abode clean, he finally faced reality.
My second martial soul is my former Super Divine Artifact, so what is my first martial soul?
At that thought, Xiao Zi opened his right hand and stared at the creature that emerged... the Golden Horned Beast.
Back when Luo Feng was still an Earthling, he had seized its body and embarked on his ascent to the pinnacle of life. Now that it was Xiao Zi's turn, what new heights of glory would he reach?
"Qian Renxue, how much of your strength can you still use?" Withdrawing his martial soul, Xiao Zi spoke in a low voice.
This was a wasteland where people rarely ventured. He needed to reach an inhabited area to gather information, which meant he needed a guide.
Having only just sacrificed herself to him, Qian Renxue was utterly exhausted. "After I became a god, my soul evolved into a divine soul. Together with everything I accumulated over all these years, that is enough to keep my consciousness from fading. But the sacrifice consumed an enormous amount, leaving very little behind. I need to recuperate in the Sea of Consciousness, though guiding you out will not be a problem."
Looking inward at the Sea of Consciousness, Xiao Zi noticed both her exhaustion and his own depleted state. In the Douluo World, mental power was the hardest thing to recover. Qian Renxue's sacrifice had mainly gone toward rebuilding his body. To repair this utter mess of a sea of consciousness, he would have to find another way.
Whatever happens, let's get out of here first!
Xiao Zi said, "The road ahead is uncertain. We are two souls in one body, sharing one life and fate. I still need your help to avoid the unknown dangers."
"Of course, I would be happy to help," Qian Renxue assured him before adding teasingly, "But you don't seem to have much to worry about."
Xiao Zi was puzzled. "The Douluo World is fraught with danger. One careless moment could bring me face-to-face with a soul beast and leave me dead in its jaws. How could I have nothing to worry about?"
Qian Renxue offered no further explanation. "Just set off. I will guide you along the way and make sure you don't get lost."
Following the direction she had given him, Xiao Zi headed north without much concern. Their shared life and fate allowed him to place absolute trust in Qian Renxue, certain that she would not lead him into a trap.
The wind howled fiercely, its chill piercing to the marrow. Fortunately, with the Golden Divine Ring Qian Renxue had bestowed upon him activated, he felt no cold at all.
He had traveled only a few miles when he encountered soul beasts-an entire pack!
Now that he had a physical body, Xiao Zi had also developed a human way of thinking. At the sight of the soul beasts, his instinct was to find somewhere to hide, afraid of being eaten.
Just then, something strange happened...