Dugu Bo descended from the sky, landing a short distance from the group.
"Grandpa!" Dugu Yan rushed into his arms, her eyes red.
"Yanyan, are you all right?" Dugu Bo asked worriedly.
He had spent this time in seclusion in his medicinal garden in Sunset Forest, suppressing the poison backlash afflicting him.
But tonight, the ten-thousand-year soul beasts deep in Sunset Forest had inexplicably gone berserk. Several had even charged into his poison formation, rousing him from seclusion.
When he came out to investigate, he discovered that Heaven Dou City's imperial guards were actually moving through the forest.
After asking around, he learned about the autumn hunt and found out that his granddaughter was here too. Only then had he hurried out.
"Grandpa, I'm fine. Xuan Ming is still in Sunset Forest. Hurry and find him!" Dugu Yan said.
"Xuan Ming?" Dugu Bo froze.
"Why would he be in the forest?"
"Grandpa, stop asking questions and go find him!" Dugu Yan urged anxiously.
"All right, all right. Grandpa will find him. Don't worry." Dugu Bo soothed Dugu Yan, then turned and charged back into Sunset Forest.
"Sister Yanyan, he..." Ye Lingling stared nervously toward Sunset Forest.
"With Grandpa there, nothing will happen to him." Dugu Yan watched Dugu Bo's retreating back, her heart in turmoil.
"Nothing will happen to him..."
Chapter 35: Damaged Martial Souls
Spirit City.
After abducting Xuan Ming, Yue Guan had wasted no time, traveling through the night to bring him back.
"Could you put me down? It's not like I'm going to run," Xuan Ming said.
"Besides, do you think this looks appropriate?"
On the way, to keep him from resisting, Yue Guan had taken out a specially made rope and trussed him up like a rice dumpling. Even the two dragons on his back had been bound.
"It does look somewhat inappropriate."
Noticing the strange looks from passersby, Yue Guan set Xuan Ming on the ground and untied the ropes.
He was not worried about the boy escaping. He simply feared that the two dragons on his back would bite indiscriminately, which would be annoying.
"Have you done this sort of thing before?" Xuan Ming casually asked as he stretched his stiff body.
"I don't know about the others, but this is my first time doing something like this," Yue Guan said.
"Still, you're certainly the first person a Titled Douluo like me has personally snatched away."
"Then I'm truly honored," Xuan Ming said.
"Honored or unlucky, you've entered Spirit City now, so don't even think about running." Yue Guan walked ahead, leading Xuan Ming onward toward the Pope's Palace.
"I didn't know last time that you had twin martial souls too."
"Too? Is there someone else?" Xuan Ming asked.
"The current Pope of Spirit Hall has twin martial souls," Yue Guan said.
"And just like you, she has special innate domains."
"But when it comes to rarity, yours are rarer."
"Why?" Xuan Ming asked.
"The conditions for twin martial souls to emerge are extremely stringent. The parents' martial souls must be extremely close in quality. Otherwise, the stronger martial soul will devour the weaker one," Yue Guan said.
"The Pope's twin martial souls, the Death Spider Emperor and the Soul Devouring Spider Emperor, are both orthodox, top-tier beast martial souls inherited from her parents."
"But both of your twin martial souls are actually mutated martial souls."
The quality of a martial soul was already uncertain when it was passed down, yet the quality of this boy's two martial souls had remained extremely close even after mutation. Such odds were nothing short of a miracle!
Before long, Xuan Ming followed Yue Guan into the Pope's Palace.
At a glance, the empty hall looked rather gloomy.
"Your Holiness, I've brought him back."
Yue Guan stopped and bowed his head to Bibi Dong, who sat on the raised platform, attending to her routine review of memorials.
"Oh?" Bibi Dong raised her head and looked down. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the two black dragons behind Xuan Ming.
"This child looks... quite distinctive."
The corner of Yue Guan's eye twitched. "Your Holiness, although I brought him back... there was a little complication."
"A complication?" Bibi Dong stood up.
"What complication?"
Yue Guan paused, then transmitted his voice. "Xue Qinghe has his eye on this boy too. I snatched him from She Long."
Bibi Dong's brows furrowed slightly. "What happened?"
"It happened like this..."
"..."
Xuan Ming stood there, watching Yue Guan remain motionless while his expression changed again and again.
Spiritual voice transmission?
After quite some time, Yue Guan seemed to have finished speaking and lowered his head. On the platform, Bibi Dong was also frowning, her thoughts unknown.
"You may leave," Bibi Dong said.
"Yes." Yue Guan turned and left the hall.
Bibi Dong slowly walked down from the platform. "Yue Guan said you have twin martial souls. What is your other martial soul?"
Xuan Ming raised his right hand and brought out the blood spear.
"Killing intent?" Bibi Dong raised her eyebrows.
"Release your innate domain. Let me see it."
Xuan Ming paused. A quiet white light spread out imperceptibly, instantly enveloping Bibi Dong.
"Interesting..." Bibi Dong narrowed her eyes.
It was indeed a peculiar domain. The instant it enveloped her, even she felt an intense sense of oppression. But the domain had not truly suppressed her; it was merely an illusion.
Yet even if it was only an illusion, the interference was real...
"Hmm?" Bibi Dong's gaze shifted slightly.
"You can use both martial souls at the same time?"
He actually did not need to withdraw this spear when activating his beast martial soul's innate domain?
"I don't know. I've always been able to use them together," Xuan Ming said.
"Always?" Bibi Dong frowned and placed a hand on Xuan Ming's shoulder.
Twin martial souls could not be used simultaneously. That was a rule governing the circulation of Soul Power, even before any soul rings were added.
"When you first underwent Martial Soul Awakening, you didn't awaken any Soul Power, did you?" Bibi Dong asked.
"How did you know?" Xuan Ming asked in confusion.
"Your mutated martial souls are rather strange. The two martial souls are independent, but not entirely." Bibi Dong withdrew her hand.
"Because of the strange adhesion between your martial souls, an ordinary Martial Soul Awakening ceremony couldn't draw out their power. That prevented your Soul Power from circulating normally and even made it seem as though you had none."
For certain special martial souls, a simple Martial Soul Awakening ceremony could not complete the awakening. Special guidance procedures were necessary, along with personal guidance from a high-level Soul Master.
If the person who had awakened this boy's martial souls had been a low-level Soul Master, they most likely would not have noticed the problem and would simply have mistaken him for someone without Soul Power.
"Did Dugu Bo help you awaken them again?" Bibi Dong asked.
"No," Xuan Ming said.
"Then how did your Soul Power break through the restraints?" Bibi Dong asked, puzzled.
"If it wasn't Dugu Bo, who else helped you?"
"I killed a Soul Grandmaster and devoured his Soul Power. Then... this happened," Xuan Ming said.
"Devoured?" Bibi Dong frowned.
"What happened?"
Xuan Ming thought for a moment, then briefly explained to Bibi Dong how he had been kidnapped and subsequently killed his captor.
"Forced your way through?" Bibi Dong's expression became somewhat unnatural.
"No wonder your Soul Power circulates so strangely."
"Strangely? What do you mean?" Xuan Ming asked in confusion.
"When you use your domain and this blood spear martial soul together, do you feel waves of stabbing pain in your body?" Bibi Dong asked.
"Yes." Xuan Ming nodded.
"Senior Ye Lan said it might be one of the flaws caused by my Black Dragon martial soul's mutation."
"Ye Lan?" Bibi Dong shook her head.
"This isn't a flaw in your Martial Soul Mutation. It's damage to your martial souls caused by forcibly breaking through that blockage."
"There's a strange adhesion between your two martial souls. It's as though they're devouring each other, yet neither can devour the other, leaving them no choice but to coexist."
"But during that process of devouring each other, the two martial souls partially fused and stuck together."
"That attached portion created a blockage, preventing your Soul Power from circulating normally."
"Resolving that blockage should have required expert guidance from a high-level Soul Master. Instead, you forcibly broke through it using Soul Power your martial soul had devoured..."
"All I can say is that you were lucky not to drop dead on the spot."
Chapter 36: Give me a reason
"Then can this problem be fixed?" Xuan Ming asked.
"Others certainly couldn't do it, but I have twin martial souls. I have a way to help restore the flow through both of yours," Bibi Dong said.
"But why should I help you?"
"Yours is an extreme case arising from the mutation and coexistence of twin martial souls. Unless another person who has cultivated twin martial souls to the Titled Douluo level appears on the Douluo Continent now, I'm the only one who can help you."
"Besides, you've only just begun cultivating, so this problem isn't too serious yet. But if you keep putting it off, the trouble will only grow."
"Right now, all you feel is stabbing pain. But as your Soul Power Level rises, if you're lucky, both martial souls will be crippled. If you're unlucky..."
Bibi Dong bent down and looked into Xuan Ming's eyes.
"Bang!"
"You'll explode."
"..."
Xuan Ming stared expressionlessly at the solemn-faced Bibi Dong before him.
"Are you trying to scare me?"
"Scare you?" Bibi Dong raised her eyebrows.
"Do you think I'm so bored that I'd frighten a child for fun?"
Xuan Ming paused. "Then what are you trying to say?"
"Give me a reason to help you," Bibi Dong said.