"Everyone, hold on! I bid one thousand Gold Soul Coins!"
In that pin-drop silence, a clear, sweet, childish voice rang out.
Startled by the shout, everyone turned toward its source. Only then did they notice a little girl who looked like a porcelain doll standing up front, holding a Soul Beast of some unknown kind.
"Oh, goodness! Whose child is this? Come back here!"
A plump middle-aged woman in the crowd, unable to stand by and watch, paled and hurriedly reached out to pull little Qian Renxue back.
"That's a young master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan! How could a little child like you afford to offend him?"
"Well..."
The vendor's outstretched hand froze halfway through the motion. Cold sweat poured from his forehead, and for a moment, he could neither advance nor retreat.
"How dare you!"
The young man from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's gaze sharpened. He stared fixedly at Qian Renxue nearby and rebuked her angrily.
"I'm a member of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan! You dare snatch something I've set my sights on?"
"That's nonsense!!! The vendor already said we could bid fairly, and he'd sell it to whoever offered the most! I'm bidding normally! How is that snatching anything?"
Little Qian Renxue lifted her snow-white chin without a trace of stage fright. Her little mouth moved swiftly, her voice soft and sweet yet ringing with conviction, carrying an imperiousness that brooked no refusal.
"I've set my sights on this bone! If my bid is the highest, then it has to be mine!"
Hearing this, Chen Qianqiu, nestled in Qian Renxue's arms, grew immensely excited, his slit pupils gleaming. Well done! That's exactly how you should tell him off! So Qian Renxue was this feisty as a child.
If the structure of his dragon claws had not been so inconvenient, he would already have been applauding and cheering wildly for this little rich girl.
"You dare talk back! You're courting death!"
Seeing someone his own age dare to defy him like this, the youth from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan flew into a rage.
Accompanied by a burst of harsh, crackling thunder, lightning surged wildly around him in an instant!
Extremely violent blue arcs of electricity coiled around every part of his body like spirit serpents. At the same time, an illusory Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon took shape behind him, coiling up and roaring skyward amid the dazzling lightning.
Even more heart-stopping were the two bright yellow Hundred-Year Soul Rings that slowly rose in succession beneath his feet, bobbing up and down and unleashing the oppressive might of a top-tier Beast Martial Soul!
"A... a Soul Grandmaster!"
"Heavens, how old is he?"
A wave of astonished cries erupted from the crowd.
"As expected of a disciple of the Upper Three Sects! This child can't be much more than ten, can he? And he's already broken through rank twenty!"
"This is bad. If this little girl's elders aren't capable enough, she'll probably suffer badly."
Yet, faced with the violent pressure of a rank-twenty Soul Grandmaster...
"Hmph! You think being a Soul Grandmaster makes you so great?"
Little Qian Renxue snapped. The next moment, everyone saw an intensely dazzling, sacred golden light suddenly erupt before their eyes!
Immediately afterward, an incomparable divine apparition slowly emerged behind Qian Renxue's tiny body-a divine angelic figure that shone all over with holy light, with three pairs of pure-white wings growing from its back!
As the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul manifested, a pressure surpassing that of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon's apparition swept across the entire scene like the blazing sun melting snow, instantly suppressing the violent presence opposite her.
At that moment, however, Chen Qianqiu's attention was not on the confrontation. He watched the changes around the little girl intently, missing not a single detail.
When he noticed that no Soul Rings had lit up beneath Qian Renxue's feet throughout, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Good, good. I got here in time.
Looking over the original story from an observer's perspective, the planning for Qian Renxue could only be called terrible.
She was clearly a peerless genius the Douluo Continent had not seen in ten thousand years, with innate full Soul Power at rank twenty, yet she had still followed the conventional route and hung two yellow Hundred-Year Soul Rings on herself!
Who knew what bizarre considerations had led Spirit Hall's higher-ups to make that decision back then? They had wasted such heaven-defying aptitude for nothing, leaving Qian Renxue a head shorter than others at the starting line in the future.
But now that he was here, he had a chance to change this. No matter what, she could not end up wearing two mere mascots!
He absolutely could not allow such foolish squandering of heaven's gifts to happen again!
"An angel! The Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul!"
In the crowd, countless Soul Masters cried out involuntarily, their lips trembling.
They were countless times more shocked than when they had seen the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon earlier!
"There's no mistaking it! The Six-Winged Angel-that's a god-tier Martial Soul that only the Supreme Pontiff's lineage can inherit!"
"Judging by this little girl's age... heavens, could she be the daughter of His Holiness Qian Xunji, the current Supreme Pontiff? Spirit Hall's young mistress!"
"She has to be! This kind of Martial Soul couldn't possibly appear anywhere else!"
Everyone gazed up at the Martial Soul apparition behind Qian Renxue. The vast marketplace first fell deathly silent, then erupted in cheers that roared like mountains and surged like seas!
This was Spirit City, after all. The residents and merchants who lived here had often received Spirit Hall's protection. Naturally, they felt an inherent fondness and respect for the angelic lineage that symbolized Spirit Hall.
"You!!!"
Noticing the strange looks directed his way, the youth's face turned livid. Feeling utterly humiliated, he pointed at Qian Renxue in furious frustration.
Never in his life had he suffered such indignity.
Just then, a hand suddenly reached out from beside him and stopped him.
It belonged to the other boy accompanying him, who wore a pure-black martial uniform.
The boy stepped forward and offered a courteous bow, though there was little sincerity in his deep, dark eyes.
"I am Tang Hu, a direct-line disciple of an elder of the Clear Sky Sect. Greetings, young mistress of Spirit Hall."
Tang Hu's voice was not loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly. Whether it was their imagination or not, he seemed to place deliberate emphasis on the words "Clear Sky Sect."
He pointed at the youth beside him, who was forcibly suppressing his anger, and spoke in an even tone.
"Allow me to introduce him. This is Yu Tianming, one of the outstanding members of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's younger generation."
"He's currently at a crucial stage in breaking through in strength. This bone would greatly benefit a Soul Master with a Beast Martial Soul like his."
"Moreover, it's not difficult to see that the benefits it would bring an Angel Martial Soul are extremely limited."
Tang Hu appealed to reason, his expression confident.
"As Spirit Hall's young mistress, you should understand what I mean. Since this bone is of little use to you, might you give the two of us some face and let us have it?"
In Tang Hu's view, these words were not particularly necessary. He was entirely taking the initiative to give her face.
After all, even without a reasonable justification, with the Clear Sky Sect and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan joined like branches of the same tree, she would surely yield the item, even if she was Spirit Hall's young mistress.
Could Spirit Hall really be so unrestrained that it intended to suppress two of their Upper Three Sects single-handedly? That was absolutely impossible.
Their Clear Sky Sect was hailed as the number one sect under heaven. Its reputation was certainly not an empty one.