Skydream... Sis?

Huo Yutong froze for a moment at those words, then raised her eyes to Gu Xingyue.

The sunlight filtering through the leaves gilded his smile in warm gold. His eyes were clear and bright as he held his hand out to her, openly and without reservation, waiting for her to take it.

Her nose suddenly prickled.

Ever since escaping that place, she had stumbled along alone for so long.

She had gone hungry and been drenched by rain. When she huddled inside a hollow tree at night, hugging her knees and trembling, she had thought she would probably die silently in some forgotten corner.

Yet right at that moment, someone had descended from the sky and blocked that vicious soul beast for her. Now he stood before her, smiling as he comforted her.

She pressed her lips together, finally gave a small nod, and placed her hand in his palm.

Gu Xingyue did not stand on ceremony either. His fingers closed firmly around her hand, and with a pull of his wrist, he hauled her up from the ground.

Huo Yutong's legs felt weak as she stood. That fright had drained too much of her strength, and her calves were still trembling. She stumbled, failed to find her footing, and pitched straight toward Gu Xingyue.

There was a dull thud.

Her forehead smacked squarely into his chest, as though she had hit a wall.

Huo Yutong covered her forehead and stepped half a pace back. A thin mist instantly welled in her eyes as she looked up at him, her gaze three parts aggrieved, two parts accusing, and all the rest bewildered-What was this person made of? Why was he so hard?

"Hehe, sorry, sorry. I pulled too hard." Gu Xingyue rubbed his chest. He had not really felt anything, but seeing how dazed the collision had left her, he still felt a little bad. Scratching the back of his head, he said, "You're just so light, like a feather."

Huo Yutong opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end she only silently lowered her head, the tips of her ears turning red again. Then she walked quietly beside him, keeping half a step away, like a newly rescued kitten that did not quite dare get close to people yet.

They had not walked far side by side when the wind in the forest suddenly stopped.

It was as though something invisible had surged up from deep underground, spreading silently until it completely enveloped this patch of the world.

The air grew thick and heavy.

Every leaf froze in midair, and even the light seemed to have been swallowed by something.

It was a suppression on the spiritual level, carrying a coolness like air conditioning.

It was enough to send any low-ranking soul beast that sensed this pressure fleeing regardless of everything else.

Gu Xingyue's steps halted. His eyes instantly lost focus, and he collapsed limply. Before he could even get out a single "holy shit," he had fallen into a baby-like slumber.

Immediately afterward, a crack opened in the ground.

Icy blue cold surged from the fissure, like a door to a snowy landscape suddenly flung open in the height of summer. The temperature around them plummeted, and a thin layer of white frost swiftly formed on the blades of grass.

The chill was not bone-piercing. Instead, it held the pleasant feeling of eating a Chocliz ice cream and gulping down ice-cold Sprite in the middle of summer~

Cool and refreshing, it made one want to narrow one's eyes.

A figure slowly rose from the fissure.

Its entire body was pure white as jade, without a trace of any other color. Its long, rounded body gave off an almost sacred glimmer in the thin sunlight.

Ten dazzling golden markings ran along its body from head to tail, like ten golden rivers winding over white jade ridges.

It was a silkworm.

An enormous and "beautiful" silkworm.

But Huo Yutong did not look at it at all.

She threw herself down beside Gu Xingyue, gripped his shoulders with both hands, and shook him, her voice thick with tears. "Brother Gu! Brother Gu, what's wrong? Wake up-"

Her eyes reddened with anxiety. She checked his forehead with the back of her hand, then pinched the philtrum above his lip, paying no attention whatsoever to the thing that had emerged from the fissure behind her.

The Skydream Iceworm hovered in midair, faint radiance flowing through its ten golden markings. Its pair of beady eyes stared straight at the back of Huo Yutong's head as it sank into profound self-doubt.

...Was your big sis really that unappealing?

Back in the Extreme North, how many ten-thousand-year soul beasts had chased after me? The line could have stretched all the way from the Extreme North to the Great Star Dou Forest, okay?

Never mind how they chased me. They chased me, and that was that!

Yet this little human girl had not spared it so much as a glance from beginning to end. Her heart and eyes were filled with nothing but the unconscious boy on the ground.

Tianmeng narrowed its beady eyes and wriggled slightly, thinking, Hmph, playing hard to get, are you?

Deliberately refusing to look at your big sis to catch my attention? Very good. You've successfully caught my attention.

It looked again at the unconscious Gu Xingyue on the ground, then at Huo Yutong's little face, covered in worry and anxiety, and finally understood-Oh, so he's her mate.

No wonder the little girl was so anxious that she could not even spare a glance at the million-year soul beast standing behind her.

"Boo-hoo-hoo~" Tianmeng produced a little handkerchief from somewhere and pressed it to the corner of its eye, its voice exaggeratedly tearful. "What a bond. Your big sis is so envious! You know, I'm a little virgin who's been single for ten thousand years. Seeing you two being all lovey-dovey makes me grind my teeth with jealousy!"

As it spoke, it used its short little hands to wipe away nonexistent tears, its body quivering as though it were truly crying.

Only then did Huo Yutong finally turn her head.

When she saw the enormous silkworm hovering in midair, its whole body like jade and its ten golden markings shimmering, she flinched violently.

Instinctively, she shielded the sleeping Gu Xingyue behind her, spreading her arms to protect him like a large cat with its fur standing on end protecting its kitten.

Her lips were pressed tightly together, her eyes full of fear and tension. Her teeth chattered softly, yet she stubbornly refused to retreat even half a step.

She had met so many kind people today. She had thought fate was finally going to treat her a little better. Someone had only just... reached out a hand to her.

Was this as far as she would get?

Was everything going to end?

Watching Huo Yutong looking so frightened yet stubborn, a trace of helplessness flashed through Tianmeng's beady eyes.

It put away its handkerchief, cleared its throat, and tried to look a little more dignified. "Don't be afraid. Your big sis is the embodiment of beauty and wisdom, the highest mountain in the world of soul beasts-the unprecedented million-year soul beast, the Skydream Iceworm~"

After saying that, it even winked, its ten golden markings flashing in coordination, as though supplying background music for its own dazzling entrance.

Huo Yutong froze.

A mil... million years?

She opened her mouth, her mind buzzing.

Although her cultivation was low, she had heard how soul beasts were classified by age-ten years, a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years, and beyond that, a hundred thousand years. Those were already beings that appeared only in legends.

A million years?

What did that even mean? Were there really soul beasts on this continent that had lived for a million years?

Seeing her stunned expression, Tianmeng nodded its round head in satisfaction. Mm, now that was more like it.

Scared silly, weren't you?

I knew it. No one could stay calm after hearing those mysterious words, "million-year soul beast."

No one!

"Th-then... what are you... what are you going to do...?" Huo Yutong's voice trembled, but she still stood firmly in front of Gu Xingyue.

Tianmeng put away every trace of playfulness. Huo Yutong's reflection appeared in its beady eyes, its golden markings slowly lit up, and its voice grew solemn and calm. "What I want to do is very simple-become your sentient soul ring. The first sentient soul ring in the history of the Douluo Continent."

Huo Yutong was utterly dumbfounded.

Seeing how completely unable she was to process the information, Tianmeng sighed inwardly.

She knew that things had reached a point where words alone could no longer resolve them!