After Tang Hao was locked in the secret chamber, the valley of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well finally fell quiet.
Chen Mo sat cross-legged beside the spring, feeling the Soul Power surging within him.
After absorbing the Soul Power overflowing from Tang Hao, the quality of his Divine Tree of Creation Martial Soul had improved a notch, and his Soul Power had reached level 35.
With the five levels from the check-in reward, his actual cultivation was now that of a level-forty Soul Ancestor.
But he had only one Soul Ring-a thousand-year Man-Eating Flower.
A level-forty Soul Ancestor with only one Soul Ring. No one would believe it.
Chen Mo sighed, stood up, and dusted himself off.
"No, I need to hurry up and hunt for my second, third, and fourth Soul Rings."
Chen Mo muttered to himself.
Just then, Dugu Bo walked over.
He held a wine gourd, drinking as he walked, with a slightly drunken look on his face.
"Young friend Chen Mo, what are you thinking about?" Dugu Bo asked, his voice somewhat hoarse.
"Senior, I was thinking about Soul Hunting."
Chen Mo turned around and said earnestly,
"My Soul Power is high enough now, but I don't have enough Soul Rings. I need to hurry up and hunt for a few."
Dugu Bo froze for a moment, stopped walking, and tilted his head as he looked at Chen Mo.
"Your Soul Power is high enough?"
Dugu Bo asked in puzzlement,
"You're only six, aren't you? You only absorbed your first Soul Ring a little while ago. How is it high enough already?"
Chen Mo smiled and said, "Senior, to tell you the truth, my Innate Soul Power was level twenty."
"What?! Innate level twenty?!"
Dugu Bo's eyes widened, and the wine gourd in his hand nearly fell to the ground.
"Yes."
Chen Mo nodded, his expression calm as he said,
"And after cultivating over the past few days and absorbing the Soul Power overflowing from Tang Hao, I've already reached level 'thirty.'"
Dugu Bo was completely dumbfounded. He stood rooted to the spot, his mouth hanging wide open and his eyes round, unable to utter a single word.
The wine from his gourd spilled all over the ground, but he did not even notice.
Innate level twenty?
Level thirty at six years old?
What did that even mean?
For an ordinary genius, having innate full Soul Power was already extraordinary, earning them the title of a once-in-a-century talent.
Yet this Chen Mo had been born at level twenty and was now level thirty at six?
This was no longer a genius. This was a monster!
Dugu Bo remained stunned for a full two or three minutes before coming back to his senses.
He took a deep breath and looked at Chen Mo with a complicated gaze.
"Young friend Chen Mo, is what you said true?"
Even Dugu Bo's voice was trembling. "You really had innate level-twenty Soul Power, and now you're level thirty?"
"Of course it's true."
Chen Mo said, "Also, Senior, I'd like to ask you for a favor."
"What favor?" Dugu Bo asked.
"Take me Soul Hunting. I need my second, third, and even fourth Soul Rings."
"For my second Soul Ring, I want a Plant-type Soul Beast around four thousand years old."
Dugu Bo opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately said nothing.
He glanced at Chen Mo, then, without another word, turned and shot into the sky!
Whoosh-
Dugu Bo's figure vanished at the valley entrance in an instant, leaving only a green afterimage behind.
Chen Mo was dumbfounded by this move.
"Huh? Senior? Where are you going? Will you be back for dinner?"
Chen Mo called out.
But Dugu Bo had already flown far away, without even turning his head.
Chen Mo stood there, utterly bewildered.
"What's going on? Did I say something wrong? Why did he just fly off?"
Chen Mo thought it over. Had his claim of innate level-twenty Soul Power frightened Dugu Bo?
Or had Dugu Bo thought he was bragging and gotten angry?
The more Chen Mo thought about it, the more he panicked.
If Dugu Bo had left in anger, how was he supposed to go Soul Hunting alone?
And Tang Hao was still locked in the secret chamber. With Dugu Bo gone, who would watch him?
Chen Mo waited anxiously in the valley, pacing back and forth.
Fifteen minutes...
An hour...
Two hours...
Just as Chen Mo was about to despair and was preparing to find his own way out, the sound of something cutting through the air came from the valley entrance.
A green figure flew in above the poisonous mist and landed in the valley.
It was Dugu Bo.
But he had brought a little girl with him.
The little girl looked about eight or nine and was very pretty, with fair skin and large eyes. The most distinctive thing about her was her hair-a quarter of it was azure blue, sparkling in the sunlight.
She wore a little green dress and held a small rag doll, looking very cute.
Chen Mo froze.
Was this... Dugu Yan?
Dugu Bo's granddaughter in the original story, a future student of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, whose Martial Soul was the Jade Phosphorous Serpent.
"Young friend Chen Mo, I'm back."
After landing, Dugu Bo smiled at Chen Mo and said,
"This is my granddaughter, Dugu Yan."
Dugu Yan hid behind Dugu Bo, curiously sizing Chen Mo up with only half her head peeking out.
"Grandpa, is he the person you said could help cure our poison?"
Dugu Yan asked in a soft voice,
"He looks even younger than me."
"Don't underestimate him. This young friend Chen Mo is quite an extraordinary person."
As Chen Mo looked at Dugu Yan, something stirred in his heart.
[Ding! Female lead Dugu Yan detected. Activate the affection system?]
Joy rose in Chen Mo's heart.
The affection system had finally activated.
Activate, Chen Mo said silently.
[Affection system activated!] [Dugu Yan's affection: 30 (Curious)]
It seemed affection would only be displayed when he met a female lead face-to-face.
"Hello, little sister Dugu Yan."
Chen Mo walked forward with a smile, took a piece of candy from inside his clothes, and offered it to her.
"My name is Chen Mo."
Dugu Yan looked at the candy, then at Dugu Bo. Only after seeing him nod did she accept it.
"Thank you. And you have to call me big sister!" Dugu Yan said quietly, a blush spreading across her face afterward.
She looked especially cute, without the slightest trace of the arrogance and domineering manner she had when she appeared in the original story.
[Dugu Yan's affection: 30 → 35]
Chen Mo chuckled inwardly and did not argue.
Children really are easy to coax. One piece of candy raised her affection by five points.
Dugu Bo looked at the two of them and smiled, then said to Chen Mo,
"Young friend Chen Mo, I went back just now to bring Yanyan here."
"She's also afflicted with Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison, so I need you to help cure her as well."
Understanding dawned on Chen Mo. Dugu Bo had not left in anger after all; he had gone back to fetch his granddaughter.
Chen Mo had even thought he had said something wrong.
"No problem, Senior."
"Then how about I cure Sister Yanyan's poison first, and we go Soul Hunting afterward?"
Chen Mo said as he looked at Dugu Yan's hair, which had already begun turning green.
"All right." Dugu Bo nodded. "But about the Soul Hunting..."
Dugu Bo hesitated, then finally could not help asking,
"Young friend Chen Mo, I have a question, though I don't know whether it's appropriate to ask."
"Please go ahead, Senior," Chen Mo said.
"Your first Soul Ring is a thousand-year one, isn't it?"
"A six-year-old child with a thousand-year first Soul Ring defies all common sense. May I ask how you managed it?"
Dugu Bo looked at Chen Mo and asked somewhat apprehensively.