"All right, I'm off. The next time we meet, I'll be sure to give you a surprise!"
Yang Xingchen watched Dugu Bo leave the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and head deeper into Sunset Forest.
Only after Dugu Bo's figure had completely disappeared from view did Yang Xingchen turn and enter the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well along the safe route Dugu Bo had given him.
Today, Yang Xingchen planned to take out the Space-Time Fishing Rod and fish some good things out of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
"What a rare sight. I finally get to see you take out your fishing rod and fish something up. If you can catch some candied hawthorn skewers, I will thank you."
Seeing Yang Xingchen take out a little folding stool, sit beside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, and cast his line, the Snow Empress came out of the Spiritual Sea with Cangyuan.
"Dad, can you catch a few bubbles that won't pop easily? Then I can play with bubbles with Big Sister Snow Empress."
Cangyuan naturally knew that Yang Xingchen could fish up all sorts of things. Seeing the Snow Empress wish for the candied hawthorn skewers she wanted to eat, Cangyuan followed her example and said what it wanted too.
"Bubbles that won't pop easily? Balloons?"
When he learned that Cangyuan wanted bubbles that would not pop easily, balloons were the first thing Yang Xingchen thought of.
"What are balloons, Dad? Are they bubbles that won't pop easily?"
Seeing Yang Xingchen's reaction, Cangyuan immediately became interested in the "balloons" he mentioned.
"Hmm, I don't have an actual one to show you, but you can think of balloons as bubbles that won't pop easily."
Faced with Cangyuan suddenly drawing close, Yang Xingchen stroked its dragon head and explained.
"Yay! Then sorry for the trouble, Dad, but please catch a few balloons for me to play with!"
Cangyuan had not expected that what it wanted actually existed. Its spirits soaring, it began circling Yang Xingchen again.
"Sure, I promise!"
But with things as ordinary as balloons and candied hawthorn skewers, Yang Xingchen could not guarantee one hundred percent that he could fish them up.
Candied hawthorn skewers were manageable. At least they had appeared early enough in history that his chances of catching them were higher.
But to find something like balloons, which would only appear in the industrial age, Yang Xingchen would have to wait until a point in the timeline after the Sun Moon Empire unified the continent.
Just as Yang Xingchen had expected, several days passed without him catching a single industrial-age item, let alone balloons.
The only thing that comforted Yang Xingchen was that the Snow Empress had been won over by the pastries he caught and took the initiative to take Cangyuan out to play, making it forget about the balloons.
"Speaking of which, you've been fishing for so many days. Shouldn't you have caught something that helps your cultivation by now?"
Although the pastries Yang Xingchen caught were delicious, the Snow Empress hoped even more that he would catch something that could increase his cultivation. After all, the ten-year agreement had already entered its countdown.
"How would I know? It's not up to me what I catch."
Just as Yang Xingchen said this, another tug came through the fishing rod, though this time it was even weaker than when he had caught the pastries.
Judging by that movement, Yang Xingchen could already guess that he had caught another ordinary thing.
Yang Xingchen raised the rod and gave it a gentle pull, and whatever he had caught shot upward at a speed far beyond the force he had used.
Just as Yang Xingchen was finding this strange, a gray mass of energy wrapped around the hook burst out of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
"With the sun and moon in my grasp, I pluck the stars; none in this world is like me!"
Hearing that exceedingly chuuni line, Yang Xingchen could not help raising his eyebrows.
He had never expected to fish up even a fragment of Electrolux's divine consciousness, but with Electrolux here, perhaps he could develop the Soul Spirit Method.
With the Soul Spirit Method, he might be able to win over more people or Soul Beasts.
"Little child, how did you manage to cast your hook right before me across such a vast distance in space and time?"
Electrolux had just broken through the world barrier of the Douluo World and descended above Star Dou Forest on the Douluo Continent when he discovered a fishing hook suddenly appearing before him.
Sensing the power of time and space coming from the hook, Electrolux simply offered no resistance. He wanted to see just what mighty figure could accomplish such a thing.
But only when Electrolux followed the fishing hook through the river of time and arrived before Yang Xingchen did he discover this.
The owner of the hook was actually a child whose strength could not even match his fragment of divine consciousness.
Although Yang Xingchen had sensed no killing intent from Electrolux, what Electrolux had just said really did lend itself to misunderstanding.
To guard against Electrolux suddenly attacking, Yang Xingchen urgently notified the Snow Empress to prepare to act.
"Little child, I bear you no hostility. There is no need to notify that soul."
Sensing the soul fluctuations, Electrolux immediately exposed Yang Xingchen's plan.
"I can sense that only by remaining beside you will this stretch of space-time refrain from rejecting me."
"If you don't mind, I hope you will allow me to stay in your Spiritual Sea for a while and rest."
"Then I'll charge you! My Spiritual Sea is my private territory. You'll definitely have to pay to live there."
Yang Xingchen was somewhat surprised that Electrolux had learned about space-time rejection so quickly, but knowing that Electrolux was willing to stay, how could he possibly refuse?
What a joke. A big shot at the Quasi-God level-of course he had to cling tightly to that thigh!
Seeing Yang Xingchen agree immediately without hesitation, Electrolux studied him with interest.
Of course, Electrolux had not truly lowered his guard against Yang Xingchen.
Had he not come to this space-time, where he had no choice other than to remain beside Yang Xingchen,
Electrolux would never have immediately proposed entering Yang Xingchen's Spiritual Sea to recover.
"I'm in soul form now. I don't have pockets, much less money to pay rent."
Electrolux spread his hands at Yang Xingchen with a "helpless expression."
Electrolux was not lying about this. He had come to the Douluo Continent as a fragment of divine consciousness, with nothing but a head full of knowledge.
"How could our Holy Necromancer, Slumbering Calamity, and former Child of Light, Electrolux, have no money to pay rent?"
"I don't believe I've ever told you my name?"
The moment Yang Xingchen finished speaking, Electrolux transformed from a gray mass of energy into a human figure and stared coldly at him.
A presence belonging solely to a Quasi-God erupted from Electrolux and bore straight down on Yang Xingchen.
"Ice and Fire Annihilation Domain!"
Faced with the oppressive might Electrolux unleashed, Yang Xingchen activated the two Soul Bones bestowed by the Ice Dragon King and the Fire Dragon King without a second thought.
Under the stimulation of the Quasi-God's presence, the hidden presence within the two arm Soul Bones, which were divine-grade Soul Bones in essence, was activated, instantly neutralizing Electrolux's oppressive might.
"So this is what you rely on? This alone cannot defeat me, a Quasi-God!"
Watching Yang Xingchen use divine-grade items to neutralize his oppressive might, Electrolux could not help thinking, This is bad.
Now he was only a fragment of divine consciousness, without a divine artifact he could use. If he truly fought the person before him, his only chance of victory would be to burn his divine consciousness.
But once he burned his divine consciousness, what would it matter even if he won? He still would not survive.
Noticing Electrolux's hesitation, Yang Xingchen naturally realized the same problem.
Neither Electrolux nor Yang Xingchen wanted an outcome in which both lost. After all, there was no deep-seated blood feud between them.
"Electrolux, how about we make a deal? There's no need for us to fight until the fish dies and the net breaks. Why not make a deal amicably?"
Yang Xingchen spoke first, offering the step down he could provide. As long as Electrolux did not want to fight him to the death, he would naturally take that step down.
If Electrolux was unwilling to accept that step down, it was not as though Yang Xingchen truly had no way to deal with him. The origin power contained within his two arm Soul Bones was genuinely divine-grade!