Vacation

Su Ling and Xiao Wu passed through a stretch of forest and reached the cave Xiao Wu had mentioned.

It lay right on the boundary between the human world and the forest of wild soul beasts, so there were no traces of either soul beasts or human activity.

The silence was frightening, yet a young girl's moans kept coming from inside the cave.

Su Ling dared not delay any longer and hurried inside to check on the situation, with Xiao Wu following close behind.

Xiao Wu's relationship with Tang Xiaosan now was nothing like it had been before.

"Xiaosan!"

Su Ling sucked in a breath at the sight of Tang Xiaosan. Her condition was too horrible to look at.

Although fusing with a soul bone had no strict soul power level requirement, it placed very high demands on compatibility and the user's physical strength.

Tang Xiaosan did not even have a single soul ring yet, but she had dared to absorb a soul beast sixty or seventy thousand years old. She had clearly overestimated herself.

Once soul bone fusion began, it could not be stopped. In this situation, Tang Xiaosan either had to grit her teeth and successfully absorb the soul bone or sever her own right arm. Although that would damage her foundation, it would at least save her life.

If this continued, Tang Xiaosan would either die from the pain or be burst apart by the soul bone.

Of course, Su Ling had a better solution.

"Ah Yin!"

A graceful, mature figure appeared out of thin air inside the cave. Although Xiao Wu had seen her in the livestream, she still felt an especially strong sense of kinship.

It was the resonance between hundred-thousand-year soul beasts, the instinct that still drove them to huddle together for warmth.

After all, this was not the world of Douluo II. The soul beasts were weak.

Were it not for Spirit Hall restricting the number of entries into the Soul Hunting Forest, plenty of people like Tang Hao would probably enter the soul beast forests and slaughter indiscriminately just to get a suitable soul bone to drop.

Xiao Wu quietly slipped into a corner, afraid that Ah Yin would reveal her identity.

She wanted to become Su Ling's soul ring, but not now.

After all, she had approached Su Ling only to find someone to back her up, someone trustworthy in the human world.

Someone to help her accomplish her great undertaking of revenge.

Although Su Ling treated her very well and she liked Su Ling very much, her motives were impure, after all. Becoming Su Ling's soul ring would grant her an enormous improvement, but it would also mean staying with Su Ling for life.

Although Martial Soul Analysis had explicitly stated that she could still move freely after becoming Su Ling's soul ring, how would that be any different from swindling someone out of their betrothal gifts and walking away?

There were plenty of such examples in their Soul Beast Realm. Male soul beasts offered the food they found to female soul beasts to express their affection. Normally, accepting the food meant accepting the other party, but some lazy, gluttonous female soul beasts would accept the food and then kick the males aside.

Xiao Wu was a soul beast whose mother had taught her properly, and she deeply disliked that sort of behavior.

"Xiaosan, wake up."

Ah Yin continuously poured vitality into Tang Xiaosan's body, while Su Ling used a soul bone skill beside her.

Tang Xiaosan's soul power had already fully recovered, but she had fainted from pain, so it still depended on her own willpower.

With Ah Yin there, along with the right leg bone, even forcibly separating the soul bone would not shake Tang Xiaosan's foundation.

Tang Xiaosan blearily opened her eyes, only for the agonizing pain in her right arm to strike again.

"I'm sorry, Su Ling. I'm sorry, Mom. I'm useless. I was too rash, and I've caused you trouble again."

As she spoke, Tang Xiaosan was about to cry.

Su Ling straightened Tang Xiaosan's little head and stared directly into her eyes.

"Xiaosan, how can you fall here? You have to stay strong, stay strong, stay strong!"

Xiao Wu chimed in from the side, cheering Tang Xiaosan on.

"Strong, stay strong, stay strong, stay strong, stay!"

Ah Yin and Su Ling turned to look at Xiao Wu with suspicion written all over their faces.

Their eyes looked as though they were staring at an idiot, making Xiao Wu rather uncomfortable.

"Xiao Wu... Xiao Wu isn't stupid. Don't look at me like that..."

The two paid Xiao Wu no further attention and focused on standing guard over Tang Xiaosan.

Encouraged by the two of them, Tang Xiaosan rekindled her hope and successfully fused with the soul bone through the excruciating pain.

A hint of a smile appeared on Tang Xiaosan's face after she survived the ordeal.

She kissed Ah Yin on the cheek and Su Ling on the lips before fainting. In the end, Su Ling carried Tang Xiaosan back.

Their everyday days of nurturing their feelings continued, and before they knew it, summer vacation had arrived.

Su Ling planned to take the opportunity to visit Heaven Dou City.

One reason was to cure Xue Ye of the poison in his body; the other was to sell the four useless soul bones he had on him.

Of course, selling them to the Heaven Dou imperial family would be best. He believed Xue Ye would not pass up a chance to win him over.

Taking them to an auction house would instead make it easy to invite trouble.

Given Ning Fengzhi's crafty old-fox nature, he probably would not rashly make a move against him, but the same could not be said of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, not to mention the many forces lurking in the shadows.

After all, one less problem was better than one more.

"Xiao Wu, what are you doing for summer vacation?"

Tang Xiaosan skipped over to Xiao Wu. The two were now close girlfriends who talked about everything.

"Me?"

Xiao Wu was taken aback. Indeed, she did not know where she should go.

Follow Su Ling? But Su Ling probably had things of his own to do.

Go home? That was certainly a very good option. She could also ask Da Ming and Er Ming whether they were willing to become Su Ling's soul rings.

Su Ling: No.

"I'm planning to go home for a while. What about you?"

Tang Xiaosan tilted her head and looked at Su Ling. Clearly, she intended to follow him.

"I'm planning to visit Heaven Dou City and broaden my horizons."

"Oh?"

Xiao Wu roughly guessed Su Ling's purpose.

"I want to go too!"

Tang Xiaosan grabbed Su Ling's arm with both little hands and swung it back and forth, wheedling.

Su Ling stroked Tang Xiaosan's head. "No."

"Hmph!"

Although they had already discussed it, Tang Xiaosan still did not want to leave Su Ling. Adding a soul ring? As long as she could always stay by Su Ling's side, she would even be willing to give up cultivating.

"Ah Yin!"

Using thirty percent of his own soul power along with the Blue Silver Emperor, Su Ling condensed a clone of Ah Yin.

"This clone has the strength of a Soul Emperor. Although she can't use soul skills, you're going to the Star Dou Great Forest, where she can freely draw upon the power of blue silver grass."

Ah Yin gently stroked Tang Xiaosan's head too, and Tang Xiaosan obediently took her hand.

"Su Ling, you're not allowed to go chasing flowers and flirting with women in Heaven Dou City."

Huh?

Tang Xiaosan was going to the Star Dou Great Forest too? Wasn't that right along my way?

At this point, Tang Xiaosan did not know that Xiao Wu was a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, and Xiao Wu did not intend to reveal it yet.

Forget it, I'll take a detour, then. Given her identity, she had absolutely no need to worry about encountering danger in the Star Dou Great Forest.

"I'm heading off first, Su Ling."

"Goodbye, Su Ling."

With the three females' departure, Su Ling was left all alone. Of course, that was only how Su Ling felt. A scheme concerning him was quietly taking shape in Heaven Dou City, awaiting only his arrival.

Although Ah Yin's cultivation and strength far surpassed what they had been in life, her soul power had not yet fully recovered.

As such, she could not sustain accompanying Tang Xiaosan and Su Ling at the same time.

"It's time to go home for a visit."

Before that, however, he still had to visit Su Yuntao first. After all, he had taken quite a few gold soul coins from him, and Su Yuntao still did not know that he had already obtained his first soul ring.