Just as those words fell and Bibi Dong was about to force her way inside, the door opened from within. Still bleary-eyed, Long Qianming yawned and said,
"Your Soul Power broke through to level 40?"
"How did you know that was what I wanted to tell you?"
Faced with Bibi Dong, who was a little adorably silly, Long Qianming squeezed out a smile.
"You told me three months ago that you were at level 39. Isn't it perfectly normal for you to have broken through to Quasi-Soul Ancestor by now? If you still hadn't broken through, I'd have started wondering whether your innate level-eight Soul Power was fake."
Three months earlier, when Long Qianming had told her about his gun Martial Soul, Bibi Dong had also told him about her Death Spider Emperor Martial Soul and her innate level-eight Soul Power talent.
Long Qianming, who knew Bibi Dong's circumstances very well, had not exposed her lie. After all, neither of them had been entirely honest in their dealings.
"I can't hunt a five-thousand-year Soul Beast alone, and you have so much Soul Hunting experience. You have to help me."
Bibi Dong spoke in a petulant tone.
Bibi Dong could easily have returned to Spirit Hall and had her teacher personally take her to obtain her fourth Soul Ring, but she still chose to ask Long Qianming for help.
During their four months together, Bibi Dong had taken part in several Soul Hunting Operations. During those hunts, aside from acting as bait and frequently using her third Soul Skill,
Long Qianming had handled all the remaining hunting. With their tacit coordination, one controlling and the other attacking, even three-thousand-year Soul Beasts were no match for them.
Now that her strength had reached the Quasi-Soul Ancestor level, the two of them should have been capable of killing a five-thousand-year Soul Beast if they went all out.
"No problem, but..."
Long Qianming pointed at the gray sky.
"Once it gets a little brighter, I'll take you somewhere. There's a Soul Beast there that suits you very well, and its mobility drops drastically during the day."
Just as Long Qianming was about to return to bed for more sleep, the unusually excited Bibi Dong grabbed his hand.
"What do you mean, sleep? It'll be light in another hour. We can use that hour to travel."
"You wouldn't want to see my cultivation delayed, would you?"
Her cheeks slightly puffed out, Bibi Dong kept pulling Long Qianming outside and prepared his washing things for him.
"All right-"
"I give up. Can't you be a little more composed when something makes you happy? Aren't noblewomen supposed to have calm, steady temperaments?"
"Have you practiced the Heart-Clearing Art today?"
At his words, Bibi Dong smiled awkwardly. She had indeed been dignified and composed before, but after coming to the clinic and spending so much time with Long Qianming, she had tossed that noble etiquette to the back of her mind.
Living here had been the most comfortable, least stressful experience of Bibi Dong's life.
Soon, after briefly getting ready, Long Qianming led Bibi Dong west toward the Forging God Mountain Range.
However, not long after they left, Ling Yuan also left the hotel and followed closely behind them, murmuring to herself,
"Not just any Soul Beast can serve as Dong'er's fourth ring, and a five-thousand-year Soul Beast isn't something a Soul Grandmaster and a Quasi-Soul Ancestor can handle."
"If they really can't defeat it, I'll have no choice but to act myself."
Within four hours, the two arrived at a forest Long Qianming had scouted in advance. Towering trees filled their view, their massive trunks and canopies blocking and refracting the sunlight shining down. Birdsong and the roars of wild beasts sounded here and there.
This was one of the few times Long Qianming had hunted Soul Beasts during the day, and it was also his most relaxed hunt.
"Good. The sun has reached its highest point. That Soul Beast's mobility will be at its lowest for the day."
Long Qianming looked with satisfaction at the sun, which was about to hang directly overhead. Following his markers, the two hurried along a forest path, and Bibi Dong asked curiously in a low voice,
"Qianming, what species is that dark-attribute Soul Beast you mentioned?"
"Come on, tell me!"
Bibi Dong asked curiously.
"All right, all right, I can't keep anything from you. Two months ago, while you were asleep, I came to this forest to hunt Soul Beasts and happened to spot a Seven Poison Demon Spider around forty-seven hundred years old."
As he spoke, Long Qianming looked at Bibi Dong beside him.
"Dong'er, you remember the theory I told you before. Compared with Tool Martial Souls, Beast Martial Souls have the easiest time undergoing another evolution."
"For a Beast Martial Soul, provided the Soul Beast shares its attribute, absorbing Soul Rings from Soul Beasts of the same species as the Martial Soul-and continuing to do so-is the only way for the Martial Soul to shed its old bones and be reborn, giving it a chance to evolve again."
"And the Seven Poison Demon Spider happens to be a dark-attribute spider-type Martial Soul that also carries the poison attribute. Right now, it's the most suitable Soul Beast for your fourth Soul Ring."
Bibi Dong firmly believed in Long Qianming's theory of Martial Soul Evolution. After all, even Spirit Hall's books only mentioned that absorbing Soul Rings from certain specific Soul Beasts could help a Martial Soul evolve again.
But that knowledge consisted of only vague, scattered fragments. So far, there was no complete theory of evolution to support it.
Hearing this, Bibi Dong frowned slightly and said with some concern,
"Qianming, the Seven Poison Demon Spider's venom is much stronger than the Man Faced Demon Spider's. Even if this is its weakest time of day, there's nothing we can do to it as long as it stays inside its burrow."
"If we recklessly go inside and get poisoned by its spider venom, we'll have three minutes at most. After three minutes, we'll be reduced to bloody liquid."
Long Qianming was not particularly worried about this. Instead, his smile deepened.
"Dong'er, I have my own way of dealing with it. That Seven Poison Demon Spider is already in my bag, a prisoner at my feet."
After they traveled some distance and reached the Thousand-Year Soul Beast area, Long Qianming stopped, his eyes fixed on a cave five hundred meters ahead whose depths were impossible to see.
"Dong'er, that Seven Poison Demon Spider is in the cave ahead. If you see it charging out in a moment, finish it off quickly. If it gets away, catching it again will be difficult."
"B-but in broad daylight, how would it-"
Before Bibi Dong could finish, Long Qianming had already reached the cave entrance. He opened two fire strikers, blew them alight, quickly tossed them inside, and swiftly retreated.
In less than ten seconds, a surge of heat rushed out of the previously cool cave. Along with the heat, pained spider hisses began to emerge from within.
Inside the cave, the black undying flames concealed in the soil were triggered by the two fire strikers. Stretching from the entrance all the way into the cave, the undying flames hidden in the soil rapidly began to burn.
In an instant, undying flames engulfed the entire cave. The temperature inside reached as high as six or seven hundred degrees, and the spider's hisses grew increasingly wretched.
Looking at the very satisfied Long Qianming beside her, Bibi Dong asked with great curiosity,
"Qianming, how could just those two fire strikers cause such a huge commotion? The Seven Poison Demon Spider inside is screaming so miserably. It isn't going to die in there, is it?"