"Now we can have a proper talk, can't we?"
Gu Chen said.
"Speak, human. You used Sister Xiao Wu to find your way here. What... what exactly are you planning to do?!" Da Ming asked, staring straight at Gu Chen. The spatial ability Gu Chen had just displayed, letting him come and go as he pleased, was enough to qualify him for a conversation.
Just as Gu Chen had said,
he didn't want a Titled Douluo to keep watching Xiao Wu. Aunt Wu's tragedy must never happen again.
"Join forces. I want to join forces with you to kill Tang Hao, the Titled Douluo who saw through Xiao Wu's identity as a Hundred-Thousand-Year Transformed Soul Beast. Once he's dead, the threat will naturally disappear."
Gu Chen calmly stated his thoughts.
"Da Ming and I could certainly take down a Titled Douluo together, but... unless he's in the Star Dou Great Forest, Er Ming and I can't risk being hunted by human Soul Masters by charging out to find him!"
Da Ming was deadly serious. He wasn't stupid. The Star Dou Great Forest was their territory, and as Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, they could command most of the Soul Beasts there. Even if human Soul Masters came in droves, killing them wouldn't be so easy.
But once they left the Star Dou Great Forest, they would be fish on the chopping block. Attacking Tang Hao was fine, but what about after they dealt with him? Would they be surrounded by humans and worn down to death bit by bit?
He knew all too well how attractive Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts were to human Soul Masters.
Especially if two Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts appeared outside a Soul Beast forest. To human Soul Masters, that would be the perfect opportunity to hunt them. The experts among the human powers would never miss such a chance, either. Leaving the Star Dou Great Forest would be courting death for them.
"I understand. Going out would be courting death for you, just as Tang Hao would be courting death if he came to the Star Dou Great Forest to kill you. But don't worry. I'll create a situation where he's certain to show up, and then I'll bring you two in to surround and kill him."
Gu Chen was brimming with confidence.
Tang Hao's whereabouts seemed unpredictable, and finding him looked difficult, but it really wasn't. Ever since Tang San had awakened Twin Martial Souls, Tang Hao had regarded him as his hope. Though he had spent some time away from Tang San, he was sure to check on his safety often.
So as long as he knew where Tang San was, finding Tang Hao wouldn't be hard.
And Tang Hao had another weakness.
Ah Yin!
Gu Chen didn't know whether Tang Hao cared about Ah Yin, but he certainly cared about that Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone. As long as Gu Chen found Ah Yin's hiding place, he could use it to threaten Tang Hao and force him to show himself.
Unless Tang Hao was willing to give up that Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, he was bound to appear.
So...
With the help of the Soul Skill in his Void Ring, Gu Chen would lay a death trap at Ah Yin's hiding place. Once Tang Hao showed up, he would use his spatial Soul Skill to transport Da Ming and Er Ming from the Star Dou Great Forest and give Tang Hao a righteous group beating.
He refused to believe they couldn't kill that bastard Tang Hao this way!
Da Ming looked at Gu Chen without speaking.
He didn't know how Gu Chen intended to arrange things, but trust a human Soul Master he had known for less than half an hour? Sorry, he couldn't do it!
"Human, if you can make him appear in the Star Dou Great Forest, Er Ming and I will definitely act!"
In the end, that was the only assurance Da Ming gave.
As for that,
Gu Chen wasn't surprised. He didn't think he had some kind of talk-no-jutsu, or that he was a human succubus who could make others trust him unconditionally.
He looked at Xiao Wu.
"Xiao Wu, we can start on what I promised you now. But I need a living spatial-type Soul Beast with a hundred years of cultivation."
Hearing that,
Xiao Wu understood at once and grew excited.
She had been waiting a long time for her Martial Soul to evolve.
"Er Ming, stop standing around like an idiot! Hurry up and catch me a hundred-year spatial-type Soul Beast!"
Xiao Wu immediately ordered Er Ming around. He scratched his head in confusion, but having grown used to taking her orders, his body moved before he knew it.
"Sister Xiao Wu, did you... make some kind of deal with this human Soul Master?"
Da Ming looked at the excited Xiao Wu, confusion in his eyes, and couldn't help asking.
Humans were always full of lies, accustomed to deceiving others with honeyed words. When danger came, they would tear off their hypocritical masks and reveal their greedy, selfish natures in full. Over tens of thousands of years, he had seen it happen far too often.
So even though Gu Chen and Sister Xiao Wu seemed close, Da Ming believed he had only approached her with some purpose in mind.
"Don't underestimate Brother Chen! He's favored by a 'god,' and he even commands the divine power of 'evolution.' I sent Er Ming to catch a hundred-year spatial-type Soul Beast because Brother Chen is going to help me evolve my Martial Soul!"
Xiao Wu looked immensely proud.
Of the three of them, her Soft Bone Rabbit had always been the weakest Soul Beast. Compared with top-tier Soul Beasts like Da Ming and Er Ming... forget it, she wouldn't embarrass herself. She wasn't even qualified to make the comparison.
Even now that she had transformed into a human and her true form, the Soft Bone Rabbit, had become her Martial Soul, its grade really wasn't high. Her Innate Full Soul Power was propped up entirely by her own hundred thousand years of cultivation.
But things were different now.
Thirty years the river flows east, thirty years it flows west. Don't bully a young girl for being poor!
Once Brother Chen evolves my Soft Bone Rabbit into a top-tier Martial Soul, you can crane your necks and stare at me with envy!
The thought of punching Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts and kicking Titled Douluo in the future left Xiao Wu so excited she could hardly contain herself. She could hardly wait for that day to come.
"What god's favor? What divine power of evolution? That's obviously a lie! Sister Xiao Wu, he must have fooled you!"
Da Ming couldn't hold it in.
He had never imagined that such nonsense, the kind used to fool children, could actually fool Sister Xiao Wu. How had he never noticed she was so gullible before? Or had Sister Xiao Wu gotten stupider after transforming?
"Da Ming, do you really think I'm that stupid?"
Xiao Wu's question left Da Ming at a loss for an answer. After a long silence, he abruptly looked at Er Ming, who was standing motionless nearby.
"Er Ming, what are you standing there for? Didn't you hear Sister Xiao Wu? Hurry up and catch a hundred-year spatial-type Soul Beast!"
Er Ming felt wronged. He hadn't said a word and had only been watching quietly, so why was he getting shouted at?
But he did as he was told.
"Just wait. When Er Ming brings back what you asked for and you can't evolve Sister Xiao Wu's Martial Soul, I'll expose you as a fraud!"
Da Ming chose not to argue with Xiao Wu because he believed she was deep in a pig-butchering scam. A few words alone would hardly pull her out of it. He needed the right moment.
And that moment
would come when Gu Chen failed to evolve Xiao Wu's Martial Soul.
Er Ming was gone for quite a while.
It took a full half hour before he returned with a hundred-year spatial-type Soul Beast.
From his explanation,
it seemed that hundred-year spatial-type Soul Beasts were hard to find. Er Ming had gone all the way to the Outer Circle and searched for quite a while before finding this one.
The hundred-year spatial-type Soul Beast had gone limp all over, terrified by the presence of Da Ming and Er Ming as Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. Gu Chen quickly stepped forward and finished it with a single slash. Before long, a Hundred-Year Soul Ring formed above its body.
"Xiao Wu, come here and summon your Martial Soul!"
At Gu Chen's words, Xiao Wu did her best to control her excited heart and trembling hands. She walked over and summoned her Martial Soul.
Gu Chen looked at Xiao Wu's Martial Soul upgrade panel and saw that the upgrade conditions had been met.
"Upgrade conditions met. Upgrade?"
"Upgrade!"
Evolve, Soft Bone Rabbit!
Golden light burst forth!
It was as if a Digimon evolution song had begun to play!
In the blink of an eye, the golden light faded.
Looking again,
Xiao Wu's Martial Soul had taken on a new appearance. Its red rabbit eyes had turned silver-white, its lustrous, jade-white fur now had a silvery sheen, and its rabbit ears were a little longer than before.
Da Ming recognized the change instantly.
Void Rabbit!!!
Unlike Xiao Wu, who only knew how to play the bully all day, and Er Ming, who only knew the thrill of fighting, Da Ming was undoubtedly the wisest of the three. Over tens of thousands of years, he had seen countless Soul Beasts, so he recognized Xiao Wu's evolved Martial Soul at a glance.
Somewhat disbelieving, he probed it with his senses.
Afterward, he was even more certain that this was no trick of the eye. He had sensed spatial fluctuations from Xiao Wu's Martial Soul. It really had evolved!
"Wait, he really is favored by a god? He really does command the divine power of evolution and can help others evolve their Martial Souls?!!!"
This time, Da Ming was utterly dumbfounded.
So I'm the clown here!
He had intended to expose Gu Chen's lies, only for Gu Chen to teach him a harsh lesson instead.
Just then,
Gu Chen suddenly spoke.
"My Divine Power of Evolution doesn't just work on Martial Souls. Even Soul Beasts can evolve! Evolving a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast into a Hundred Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast is a piece of cake for me!"
At those words,
Da Ming and Er Ming's eyes lit up at once.
Godfather, save your children!!!