Qian Renxue's Debacle

His junior brother Long Haochen was also a Child of Light.

In theory, a knight could have no more than two retainer knights. Any more would affect the knight himself.

In the original, predetermined timeline, Long Haochen had only one retainer knight, Han Yu.

The other slot had gone to waste.

If all else failed, he could coax his junior brother into helping their teacher improve his innate talent.

Given Long Haochen's character, he would presumably agree.

"A Retainer Contract? What do you want that for?"

Ye Hua frowned slightly. Although he knew about such things, he had never dealt with them.

"To try something. Teacher, do you have one?"

Jiang Li hesitated, but ultimately did not tell his teacher the specifics. He would wait until his teacher witnessed it himself before saying anything.

"I don't have one on me, but I can have someone help get one for you."

"It will take some time, though."

Ye Hua did not ask any more questions. This disciple of his had always been exceptionally mature for his age, and many things he did had a deeper purpose of his own.

Since his disciple needed it, he would naturally do his best as his teacher to find one.

Besides, his improvement in strength this time had come from basking in his disciple's reflected glory.

"Thank you, Teacher."

Learning that his teacher could help obtain it, Jiang Li decided not to go to the trouble himself.

"One more thing. Neither your junior brother's talent nor this person's talent is to be revealed to any outsider..."

As Ye Hua spoke, he looked at Qian Renxue beside Jiang Li, his expression solemn.

"Teacher, her name is Qian Renxue."

Noticing that his teacher did not know how to address Qian Renxue, Jiang Li introduced her.

"I'll write to a friend right away and ask him to help obtain a Retainer Contract scroll."

Ye Hua knew Jiang Li's steady temperament, so after giving that reminder, he said no more.

"Sorry for the trouble, Teacher. For the next while, I'll be training around Haoyue City, improving my strength through combat."

Jiang Li then discussed a few other matters with Ye Hua before leaving.

After returning to his lodgings and getting things in order, he found someone in the city to help collect artifact forging methods, then left Haoyue City with Qian Renxue.

He did not stray too far from Haoyue City. Fourth Order strength was still too weak, after all.

Even with a Fifth Order powerhouse like Qian Renxue protecting him, he could still lose his life if they encountered the Demon Race in large groups.

Soon, they discovered a group of Zelin Twin-Blade Demons.

The Zelin, or Twin-Blade Demons, were the Demon Race's largest clan. They formed the main body of its cannon fodder and reproduced extremely quickly.

Ordinary Twin-Blade Demons were comparable in strength to human second-order quasi-knights, while Jade Twin-Blade Demons rivaled fifth-order knights. The even higher-ranking Gold-Patterned Twin-Blade Demon Lords were equivalent to the sixth order.

These cannon-fodder-level members of the Demon Race had no spiritual power, only hard shells. They attacked with two massive blades and fought with their bodies alone.

The strongest member of this group was a fourth-order Twin-Blade Demon.

On paper, Jiang Li and Qian Renxue could crush them with ease, but that was merely information on paper.

In actual combat, once their swarm pinned someone down, even a fifth-order knight would struggle to escape without a flying skill.

"So this is the Demon Race?"

Qian Renxue had been on the Holy Demon Continent for some time, but this was her first encounter with the Demon Race, and she was quite interested.

She could clearly feel an instinctive revulsion and resistance toward the so-called Demon Race from the power she possessed.

It was as though they were natural enemies.

"Want to hunt a few yourself and see how it feels?"

Jiang Li looked at the somewhat tempted Qian Renxue beside him and suggested it with a smile.

One reason he had come to hunt the Demon Race now was to gain better control over himself and improve his strength. The other was naturally to make money.

Of course, there was one other, most crucial objective: to temper Qian Renxue.

Although Jiang Li had never made a move from beginning to end, her everyday posture and every movement were enough for him to determine that Qian Renxue possessed power but little combat skill.

Never mind fighting above her level-she could not even bring out her full strength.

Most of what she called combat consisted of simply overwhelming opponents with several times their power.

This much was evident in the original, predetermined timeline.

Since they had already signed a contract and were going to take things further, he naturally did not want to bring along a burden who possessed cultivation and power but no combat skill.

She might become dead weight for him at some point.

She needed tempering.

Likewise, he would next show Qian Renxue what true combat skill was, and what it meant to control one's power.

He would use real combat to shatter Qian Renxue's pride.

"Although I do want to give it a try, the fact that you're looking down on me in your heart makes me very unhappy."

Qian Renxue was indeed tempted, but through the Equal Contract, she had still keenly sensed that shift in Jiang Li's thoughts.

This was no longer the first time. However slow his reactions might be, Jiang Li had noticed something unusual.

"You can sense my emotional fluctuations through the Equal Contract."

Jiang Li noticed the peculiarity, then abruptly came to his senses.

This isn't good news.

Under these circumstances, she'll easily notice whenever I try to do something.

Jiang Li could barely resist the urge to complain.

Is this right?

It's clearly an Equal Contract, yet I can't sense Qian Renxue's emotional fluctuations and can only rely on guesses to judge.

Meanwhile, she gets to cheat outright.

Does the difference in cultivation really make that much of a difference?

"I'll prove with facts just how foolish your thoughts are."

At this point, Qian Renxue was somewhat angry too.

This fellow actually looked down on her combat ability from the bottom of his heart.

With a thought, she activated Martial Soul Possession.

The Six-Winged Angel appeared, and Soul Ring Condensation produced five rings: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, and black.

At that moment, Qian Renxue was so sacred, so dazzling.

Jiang Li had to admit that Qian Renxue was beautiful, especially after Martial Soul Possession.

After admiring her, Jiang Li felt that the cultivation system on the Douluo Continent truly was rather warped.

Was revealing a martial soul and thereby giving away roughly how strong one was really something a sound cultivation system should entail?

Leaving everything else aside, it would be exceedingly lethal when Soul Masters from the Douluo Continent faced assassins from the Holy Demon Continent.

Just as Jiang Li had thought, the moment Qian Renxue revealed her martial soul, she attracted the attention of the distant Twin-Blade Demons.

"Let me see what mighty power an angel like you possesses!"

Activating Holy Light Flash, Jiang Li chose to conceal himself within the light Qian Renxue radiated.

From here on, he would no longer participate in Qian Renxue's battle, remaining a spectator unless she faced mortal danger.

Indeed, Jiang Li's words had stirred Qian Renxue's competitive spirit considerably.

She was determined to show what she could do.

"First Soul Skill, Angel Assault!"

Qian Renxue's first soul skill combined offense and defense. Golden holy light gathered around her fist, generating a golden shield as she charged into close combat. Its sacred power could dissolve and suppress an enemy's soul power, countering darkness and evil.

A divine martial soul truly lived up to its name. With only her first soul skill, Qian Renxue dissolved most of a second-order Twin-Blade Demon's body in a single exchange.

On the Douluo Continent, the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul could not be called a monster of raw stats; it belonged to the balanced type.

But here on the Holy Demon Continent, both the sacred light attribute she controlled and her fire attribute were the bane of the Demon Race.

She was unquestionably the darling of the current meta.

After easily slaughtering a second-order Twin-Blade Demon, Qian Renxue even lifted her chin slightly toward Jiang Li's hiding place.

The gesture clearly said, See that? This is my strength.

Jiang Li gave no response.

He had to admit that Qian Renxue was indeed overpowered in the early stages. Even Long Haochen, the Child of Light, could not match her basic attributes early on.

Long Haochen only truly became someone Qian Renxue could not catch even on horseback after obtaining the Eternal and Creation Divine Throne.

The problem, however, was that Qian Renxue had not brought out the power the Six-Winged Angel should possess at all.

If Jiang Li had been given that power, he would have needed to expend only a third as much to deal with that second-order Twin-Blade Demon.

When Jiang Li gave no response, Qian Renxue grew even more displeased.

This fellow really is annoying.

In that case, I'll let him see that an angel's light can dispel all evil.

Qian Renxue then activated her soul skill again and plunged straight into the swarm of Twin-Blade Demons, beginning a righteous slaughter.

Indeed, her momentum could have spanned the sky like a rainbow.

But problems soon arose.

Although Qian Renxue's sacred light power could suppress the Demon Race, the Twin-Blade Demon's greater strength lay in its body. Even though she could overwhelm it with absolute power, every kill consumed her soul power at a frantic rate.

Before she could kill the fourth-order Twin-Blade Demon leading them, more than half her soul power had already been depleted.

As long as that fourth-order Twin-Blade Demon remained alive, their formation would not crumble.

Clearly, Qian Renxue had realized this too.

If she did not kill that fourth-order Twin-Blade Demon quickly, she might truly suffer defeat here today.

"Fifth Soul Skill, Holy Sword!"

Sensing Qian Renxue mobilize the remaining soul power in her body to condense a golden longsword, Jiang Li knew she had botched it.

If she had been alone here today, once this soul skill failed to kill the Twin-Blade Demon leader, a fatal attack would await her.

Although Qian Renxue still had other cards to play, she would ultimately have to flee in disgrace.

The Twin-Blade Demon leader also sensed Qian Renxue's intentions. As a shrill roar rang out, the other Twin-Blade Demons converged around their leader.

It intended to use the bodies of its kin to block the fatal blow.

The next moment, the golden holy sword pierced straight through dozens of third-order Twin-Blade Demons along a single line between heaven and earth.

But at the final moment, the golden holy sword was ultimately stopped by the Twin-Blade Demon leader.

And now, Qian Renxue had little soul power left in her body.

"How could this..."

Qian Renxue stared at it all in astonishment, disbelief written across her face.