"You..."
With a problem child like Jing Shanshan, the best way to get him to do as Qian Renxue wished was to go along with his wishes first, then slowly draw closer to him and package her request as something he would willingly agree to.
She needed time to weigh her words.
After a long while, Qian Renxue still could not find a complete sentence within her limited knowledge.
Jing Shanshan had, after all, spent a long time portraying and striving to become a king. Changes in other people's emotions were often the best feedback, proof that he was fit for the role of king, and he paid particular attention to them.
He had caught Qian Renxue's momentary pause, her hesitation to speak.
She suspected that this "Gate of Babylon" he spoke of was nothing but a six-year-old child's boasting!
He could not stand for that!
The best way to make Qian Renxue believe him was to let her see it with her own eyes.
But there was a problem: the Angel and Gate of Babylon Martial Souls could not be used simultaneously.
It was like a fundamental rule of twin Martial Souls. When the Angel Martial Soul was released, Gate of Babylon could not be used; when Gate of Babylon unfolded, the Angel Martial Soul was withdrawn.
Qian Renxue resided within the Angel Martial Soul and could only see the outside world when it was released.
To let her see Gate of Babylon, he had to withdraw the Angel Martial Soul, but once he did, Qian Renxue would be blind.
What should he do?
An idea flashed through his mind.
In the book he had just read, he seemed to have glimpsed a tool Martial Soul that might solve this problem.
The sacred presence quietly dissipated. At the same time, golden ripples spread before Jing Shanshan, expanding outward in rings like a stone dropped into water.
Without hesitation, Jing Shanshan stuck his head into the golden ripples.
Qian Renxue did not know how much time had passed.
She now felt as though she had been locked in a windowless room, surrounded by pitch-black darkness, unable even to sense the passage of time.
She could only wait. Only when Jing Shanshan released the Angel Martial Soul again could she see the outside world once more.
Before long, Qian Renxue regained her vision and even felt her own hands, feet, and the air she exhaled?!
A familiar blond child stood directly opposite her, looking at her with his head tilted before nodding in satisfaction.
"You can see, right?"
That familiar voice snapped Qian Renxue out of her daze amid the onslaught of information!
She immediately realized that this blond child was Jing Shanshan.
Qian Renxue's first reaction was to run-to the Worship Hall, to find her grandfather Qian Daoliu, tell him everything she knew, and then change this imperfect future!
She had overlooked one question.
How had she gone from a wisp of consciousness residing within the Angel Martial Soul to having a physical body now?
"Mm, you can see. Good!"
Jing Shanshan circled Qian Renxue, who looked exactly like him, studying her with satisfaction.
This was a tool Martial Soul within his Gate of Babylon, called the Shadow Doll Puppet.
Its core effect was simple: by obtaining tissue from a target's body, it could generate a duplicate possessing the target's appearance and even their Martial Soul.
This Martial Soul's effect seemed heaven-defying, but using it came with an outrageous prerequisite: the target's Soul Power Level had to be lower than or equal to Jing Shanshan's current Soul Power Level, and even then, success was not guaranteed!
"Truly just as handsome as this king. A pity Gate of Babylon can't be copied. There's only the first Martial Soul, Angel!"
After using this Martial Soul, Jing Shanshan quickly discovered this, his voice tinged with dejection. It seemed he could not have the duplicate produce a Shadow Doll Puppet, then have that Shadow Doll Puppet's Shadow Doll Puppet use Gate of Babylon.
Qian Renxue's mind was still racing as she struggled to digest the current situation when golden ripples appeared in the air ahead, and her body involuntarily stuck its head inside.
After a brief wait, the face of Qian Renxue's current body remained unchanged, but tempestuous waves were already surging in her eyes, impossible to suppress!
What had she just seen?
Martial Souls?!
Martial Souls as far as the eye could see?!
Sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, battle-axes, hooks, forks... countless tool Martial Souls floated within a golden void.
She recognized some of them as Martial Souls renowned throughout history, such as the Seven Kill Sword, the Clear Sky Hammer, and the Spear of Nanook...
Others she did not recognize, such as the enormous pitch-black sword she had seen Enshrined Jia break last time. Examining it closely, she could feel a sense of "severing everything" flowing across its blade. Together with its presence, it made even her, a former Angel God, feel that this Martial Soul was extraordinary!
How was this possible?!
How was anyone else supposed to compete?!
Jing Shanshan's starting line could be called a finish line that others would struggle to reach in their entire lives.
For a long time, Qian Renxue could not recover from what she had just seen. At this moment, all her earlier doubts and calculations became nothing more than something left by the roadside.
"This... is this still a Martial Soul?"
Jing Shanshan heard Qian Renxue's trembling question.
To his ears, that question sounded sweeter than any compliment.
This was another person's shock at the "king," more substantial than applause, more sincere than praise. It was recognition of his portrayal of the "king"!
He felt immensely satisfied, his invisible little tail sticking straight up! His expression remained unchanged, but his voice carried undisguised delight.
"This is my second Martial Soul, Gate of Babylon! It holds the prototypes of every tool Martial Soul, item, or technology in the world, from ancient times to the present!"
"You're saying your second Martial Soul holds the prototypes of every tool Martial Soul, item, or technology in the world, from ancient times to the present?!"
Qian Renxue's voice trembled slightly. She desperately wanted to rub her ears, but unfortunately, she could not move now.
"Mm."
"And you can take out hundreds, nearly a thousand, at once?"
"Mm. As long as I have enough Soul Power, taking all of them out isn't impossible."
"And you can even use enhancement-type Martial Souls to enhance yourself?"
"Mm."
A trace of excitement that even Qian Renxue herself failed to notice entered her voice.
"Do you know what you're saying? If that's really the case, this Martial Soul's potential is even greater than the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul's, much less an Angel Martial Soul with only two wings..."
At this point, something occurred to Qian Renxue.
Why had she never heard anything about someone like him in the future?
Could this be a change born of some twist of fate caused by her return to the past?
Or had he died before he could grow?
With no information to support her guesses, Qian Renxue suppressed her many doubts and began thinking about how to resolve the three problems Jing Shanshan had raised.
In the end, the pride of knowing the future slowly faded from Qian Renxue's eyes, revealing the bitterness of helplessness.
"I can't help you with the Soul Power problem."
Jing Shanshan paused, gave a noncommittal "Mm," and continued reading.
After a moment of silence, Qian Renxue suddenly spoke.
"Can you tell me what happened while I was gone?"
Jing Shanshan turned a page and casually gave her a rough account of how he had caused a commotion at Spirit Hall's headquarters, how Qian Daoliu had intervened, and how the Chains of Heaven and Heavenly Punishment Shackles had suppressed him for nearly a few seconds.
Hearing that he had suppressed her grandfather with just two Martial Souls, Qian Renxue instinctively wanted to open her mouth and argue. There could not possibly be such specifically targeted, heaven-defying Martial Souls in this world.
But recalling Jing Shanshan's definition of Gate of Babylon, she could not be certain either.
Spirit Hall was an organization with a legacy spanning ten thousand years, yet even it could not guarantee that it had recorded every tool Martial Soul from ancient times to the present.
Perhaps such Martial Souls had appeared before, only to go unrecorded.
"The Chains of Heaven and Heavenly Punishment Shackles are both top-grade Martial Souls. You shouldn't have let them get damaged like that..."
A trace of regret appeared in Qian Renxue's eyes.
In Qian Renxue's view, no matter how many Martial Souls Gate of Babylon contained, letting such excellent Martial Souls get damaged like that was truly a pity.