That night.
Only then did Gu Chen return to the Rose Hotel with what he had gathered.
He carried a bamboo basket on his back, filled to the brim with Blue Silver Grass. At a rough glance, there were at least a hundred plants, the fruits of his entire afternoon. When he went out, he had taken the opportunity to ask where Blue Silver Grass grew in the greatest abundance.
Money paved the way, and soon someone provided him with satisfactory information.
The several places where Blue Silver Grass grew had not disappointed him either. An astonishing number of plants had become Soul Beasts, though almost all were Ten-Year Soul Beasts. Only a handful of Blue Silver Grass plants had reached the level of Hundred-Year Soul Beasts.
Spirit Hall should have cleared out Soul Beasts like these, but Blue Silver Grass Soul Beasts were too weak. Even at a hundred years of cultivation, one could be dealt with by an adult with no Soul Power. For that reason, Spirit Hall could not be bothered to clear out these Hundred-Year Soul Beasts.
All the better.
He got the bargain this time.
As soon as he returned,
he saw Xiao Wu standing outside his door. She was leaning against it with her mouth open, and Gu Chen could hear her snoring from a distance.
So... she fell asleep!
A helpless look crossed Gu Chen's face. This silly rabbit had fallen asleep waiting for him. What was he even supposed to say to that?
"Xiao Wu, wake up!"
He reached out and nudged her. Xiao Wu, who had been having some pleasant dream, slowly woke from her sleep.
"Carrot, my carro... Huh? Gu Chen, you're back!"
Xiao Wu was terribly upset at losing the carrot in her dream, but her eyes lit up when she saw Gu Chen. Then she sensed the presence of Soul Beasts on him. Her brows furrowed, and she rose on tiptoe to look behind him.
The remains of all the harvested Blue Silver Grass came into view. For Xiao Wu, a transformed Soul Beast, the sight was a tremendous shock.
Her expression went blank in an instant.
"You, you, you..."
Xiao Wu opened her mouth, but she did not know how to reproach him. Her eyes reddened and filled with tears.
The first friend she had made in the human world had slaughtered Soul Beasts on such a scale. As a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast herself, she was at a loss for words. His actions made her feel that, if he learned one day that she was a transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, he would probably kill her for her Soul Ring and Soul Bones.
If he dared hunt Ten-Year Soul Beasts today, tomorrow he would dare hunt Hundred-Thousand-Year Transformed Soul Beasts.
Wouldn't he strip her tendons and skin her alive?!
At that thought,
sorrow welled up in Xiao Wu's heart.
"You... Forget it. Come inside with me first, and we'll talk."
One look at her, and Gu Chen knew she was starting again.
He looked around.
This was not a good place to talk.
So he grabbed her wrist, pulled her into his room, and shut the door.
"Xiao Wu, since you've seen it, I won't hide it anymore. You're actually a transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, right?"
As soon as they entered, Gu Chen's first words exposed her identity. They struck Xiao Wu like a thunderbolt, leaving her frozen on the spot. She looked at Gu Chen in confusion, not knowing how he had seen through her identity.
After a long while,
"H-how did you know?"
Xiao Wu pursed her lips and asked the question cautiously.
"Actually, I knew your identity the first time I laid eyes on you."
Gu Chen spoke.
"Only a Titled Douluo can see through a Hundred-Thousand-Year Transformed Soul Beast. Don't tell me you're a Titled Douluo! How old are you?!"
Xiao Wu made it clear that she was not stupid, so he should not try to fool her like an idiot.
"Actually, after my Martial Soul awakened, a god chose me. That's why I can see that you're a transformed Soul Beast. You're a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit, right?"
Gu Chen found an excuse. Using a "god" as an excuse was actually the best choice. Although more than ten thousand years had passed since the legend of the Angel God, legends of gods had never died out. It was an excuse that humans and Soul Beasts on this continent could both accept.
"You... you really saw it!"
Xiao Wu's eyes widened. She had always told others that her Martial Soul was a rabbit, never a "Soft Bone Rabbit." Yet Gu Chen had exposed it in a single sentence. If he had not seen her true form, there was no way he could have revealed her real identity so readily.
"Of course!"
Gu Chen nodded.
"But with your talent of level-one Innate Soul Power and your Trash Martial Soul, Blue Silver Grass... what on earth did a god see in you?"
Xiao Wu voiced her doubts. Even as one of the "Three Tyrants of Star Dou," if she had to choose an inheritor, there was no way she would choose a blade of Blue Silver Grass!
"You..."
Her words made Gu Chen want to curse. Hey! You little brat, you've got quite the mouth on you!
"Don't worry about that little detail. The point is, you saw this basket of Blue Silver Grass on my back, right? Actually, I didn't want to do this either, but the 'god' gave me Divine Power of Evolution. Divine Power of Evolution requires Soul Beasts as consumables. To evolve my Martial Soul, I had no other choice!"
Gu Chen dumped the blame squarely on the nonexistent "god." Even upgrading the Blue Silver General now required the remains and Soul Rings of Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. What, then, would the requirements be for upgrading the Blue Silver King?
The remains and Soul Rings of Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts?
Probably.
Relying on himself to obtain the remains and Soul Rings of Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts was clearly unrealistic. In particular, his methods were not something he could reveal to outsiders. Once exposed, he would become a target for everyone.
After turning it over in his mind, he decided the best approach was to find a reliable partner.
Xiao Wu was the person he had chosen.
To tell the truth,
Soul Beasts really were much more reliable than humans sometimes.
As a human himself, he knew very well just how evil people could be. In particular, the cheat he possessed could upgrade all things. Although he could use a "god" as an excuse, if any major power learned of it, there was essentially only one way they would deal with him: imprison him and use him for themselves.
Therefore,
if humans could not be trusted, he could only trust Soul Beasts.
Xiao Wu was innocent and naive, easy to fool, and that went without saying for Da Ming and Er Ming behind her. As long as he won Xiao Wu over and had her persuade them, there was no way Da Ming and Er Ming would attack him.
And once they reached an agreement, those two top-tier Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, Da Ming and Er Ming, would become his greatest support. If he needed the remains and Soul Bones of Ten-Thousand-Year life-type Soul Beasts, wouldn't that be a piece of cake?
So he could not afford to fall out with Xiao Wu. Otherwise, where would he find such reliable partners?
"Martial Soul Evolution?"
Xiao Wu froze.
What an obscure term that was!
She had cultivated for a hundred thousand years without evolving from a Soft Bone Rabbit into some top-tier Soul Beast. Yet the way he said it, it sounded easy.
In response,
"This is my evolved Martial Soul."
Gu Chen summoned his Martial Soul, and the Blue Silver General unfurled in his hand.
"Isn't this... still Blue Silver Grass?"
How could Xiao Wu, an illiterate, possibly see the difference between Blue Silver Grass and the Blue Silver General?
"You..."
Her words made Gu Chen so angry he nearly could not catch his breath.
"How about this? I'll personally demonstrate the Divine Power of Evolution the 'god' gave me. Then you'll understand why I had to harvest these Blue Silver Grass Soul Beasts!"
He also felt that rather than give Xiao Wu a long explanation she would not understand in the end, he might as well demonstrate it himself.
Teach someone with words, and a hundred are useless!
Let experience teach them, and once is enough to leave its mark!
Rise again-oh, no, it should be: Watch closely, my dear Xiao Wu!!!