"Xiao Xue, you have four soul skills right now: Angel Assault, Angel Defense, Angel Frenzy, and Angel Descent. I'll demonstrate them for you one by one."
Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) handled everything with ease, even weaving in explanations for Qian Renxue.
Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) darted forward, his first soul ring lighting up. Angel Assault!
Golden light gathered in his palm, forming a holy spear of light that stabbed straight into a gap in the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's wrist joint.
The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear howled in pain and swept its claws across in a frenzy.
Rather than retreating, Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) advanced, his second soul ring lighting up. Angel Defense!
Six wings folded forward, and a golden shield of light instantly formed, taking the claw strike head-on.
Immediately afterward, his third soul ring lit up. Angel Frenzy!
Golden flames enveloped his entire body as his speed and strength soared at once. He became a golden afterimage, circling the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear at high speed and delivering a sword strike at every vulnerable joint.
Qian Renxue watched, dumbstruck, and could not help wondering: Is this my body or yours? How are you better at using it than I am?!
Cheng Ran: "Basic stuff, no need to spam 'awesome.' Did you get a good look? The principle behind using soul skills is this: stay still until you strike, then strike like thunder. That's how you conserve as much of your mana bar as possible."
Qian Renxue: "What's a mana bar?"
Cheng Ran: "Soul power."
Cheng Ran had killed no fewer than a thousand soul beasts of this caliber in the game. He could fight them with his eyes closed. This was a veteran player's professional competence.
Nothing else to it-just a practiced hand.
Qian Renxue: "..."
For the final blow, Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) lit up his fourth soul ring. Angel Descent!
An enormous Angel Phantom took shape in the sky, and a pillar of holy light crashed down!
Less than ten minutes had passed from start to finish.
The ten-thousand-year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear crashed to the ground.
In the distance, Qian Daoliu froze in midair, his mouth slightly open.
At that moment, a crack appeared in the dignity of a level ninety-nine Peerless Douluo.
Qian Daoliu stared at the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's corpse on the ground. His lips moved, and only after a long while did he squeeze out a sentence: "The strongest successor to our Angel God has finally appeared!"
Qian Renxue was already speechless.
In her fifteen years of life, she had never seen anyone kill a ten-thousand-year soul beast as easily as slaughtering a chicken-and he had done it using her body, that of a level forty-nine Soul Ancestor.
The instant the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear fell, a pale golden light that only Qian Renxue could see floated out of its corpse and sank into her body.
Qian Renxue: "What was that light? My soul power increased!"
Cheng Ran spoke as though it were only natural: "Experience points! Killing soul beasts gives you experience, and once you have enough, you level up. Killing monsters to level up is the most basic mechanic."
Qian Renxue: "The most basic mechanic?"
Cheng Ran: "Yeah. How can you cultivate just by sitting around meditating? It's nowhere near as fast as farming monsters!"
Qian Renxue's eyes widened. "Wait! You mean that from now on, every soul beast I kill will increase my soul power?"
Cheng Ran: "In theory, yes. Stronger ones give more, weaker ones give less. Humanoid monsters should count too."
Qian Renxue sucked in a cold breath. "Humanoid monsters? You mean humans? An Evil God after all, treating human lives like blades of grass!"
Over the next three days.
Sunset Forest became Cheng Ran's classroom for teaching Qian Renxue.
Cheng Ran held absolutely nothing back, passing on everything he knew and becoming a strict teacher who gave truly hands-on instruction.
Qian Renxue tried doing it herself, but kept making mistakes.
The first day.
Cheng Ran: "Wrong! That's not how you use soul skills!"
"Watch closely. Angel Assault needs to concentrate its burst at a single point. What good does casting a net all over the sky like that do?"
The second day.
Qian Renxue: "Do you have a death wish? You actually dare take on a ten-thousand-year soul beast like that head-on?"
Cheng Ran: "Relax! It's not my life."
Qian Renxue: "?"
Cheng Ran: "Haha, just kidding. Why aren't you laughing? Not a single funny bone in you. I'll take over the body now. Just watch and learn."
The third day.
Cheng Ran: "The ten-thousand-year soul beast got away! Chase it! Don't let it escape!"
"Quick, stop dragging your feet! The first time is like this-you get a little nervous! It'll get easier!"
Inside her mind, Qian Renxue had gone from her initial shock to habitual numbness. "Lord Evil God, why are you so strong?"
Cheng Ran: "What? You're asking which school has the best soul master skills? Lanxiang, of course! Shrek Academy? Even a dog wouldn't go there."
"Oh, I almost forgot! We still need to go to Shrek Academy!"
Cheng Ran asked, "Xiao Xue, you spent six years undercover in the Heaven Dou Empire. Your intelligence network should be pretty extensive, right?"
Qian Renxue: "It's decent. I have people in all the major cities of the Heaven Dou Empire. Lord Evil God, what do you want to investigate?"
Cheng Ran: "Help me look into two people. First, Tang Hao's son, Tang San. He should be around Nuoding City in Fasinuo Province right now, and should have only recently awakened his martial soul. Second, a girl named Xiao Wu with a long braid. She should also be near Nuoding City."
Qian Renxue paused. "Xiao Wu? What's her background, then?"
Cheng Ran: "A hundred-thousand-year soul beast that has taken human form. Her original form is a Soft Bone Rabbit."
Qian Renxue was shocked. "A hundred-thousand-year soul beast that has taken human form? Lord Evil God, do you intend to go after Xiao Wu?"
Cheng Ran: "What are you thinking?! Am I the kind of Evil God who kills little girls? I mean, recruiting Xiao Wu as muscle would be a good deal. If we ever find ourselves short of soul bones or soul rings, we could also..."
Qian Renxue: "Huh? You're still going to..."
Cheng Ran: "Haha, just kidding. Why aren't you laughing?"
The same act, blooming for a second time.
Qian Renxue →_→
Although doubts lingered in Qian Renxue's mind, she still made a careful note of it. "I'll send word back to the Heaven Dou Empire and have the people there go to Nuoding City to investigate."
Cheng Ran: "Very good. A gal pal always gets things done. Once we finish this round, we'll go recruit Xiao Wu. Heh heh heh..."
In the distance, Qian Daoliu had been secretly protecting Qian Renxue the entire time.
But there had been no opportunity whatsoever that required him to act.
From shock to numbness, he finally began questioning his life.
He had watched with his own eyes as Qian Renxue used a flowing sequence of attacks to kill a ten-thousand-year soul beast in under a minute, from the start of the fight to the final blow.
But Qian Renxue's tremendous progress left him deeply puzzled.
Qian Daoliu watched all of this from the shadows, all sorts of thoughts constantly churning in his mind as he tried to explain what was happening before him through his own understanding.
Perhaps the Three-Year Pact awakened the angel bloodline slumbering within Xue'er?
Or perhaps, after six years undercover in the Heaven Dou Empire, Xue'er had grown accustomed to intrigue and deceit, and her temperament had long since been tempered until it was as tough as iron. It had simply been suppressed all this time, and now she had finally found an outlet?
Or was this the awakening of the Angel God's successor's talent?
The angel martial soul was a god-tier martial soul to begin with. Once its wielder grasped the essentials, the speed of their progress would far exceed common sense.
The more Qian Daoliu thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
Yes, the successor to the angel martial soul should never have been judged by ordinary standards.
His fifteen-year-old granddaughter had killed dozens of soul beasts over a thousand years old in three days, including five ten-thousand-year ones.
Moreover, he could sense Qian Renxue's soul power soaring. Cultivating through combat-this was the first time he had ever seen it.
All of this became a single conclusion, which was-
My granddaughter has what it takes to become a god!
As another thousand-year soul beast died beneath the sword, Qian Renxue could clearly feel the soul power accumulated within her constantly battering against that invisible barrier.
"Lord Evil God, I've reached level fifty."
Cheng Ran: "Very good. Our destination for this trip happens to be just ahead."
Before you continue