Star Emperor Hotel.
Morning light streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, gilding the young man sitting before them.
But he was in no mood to enjoy the pleasant morning sunshine. His medium-length silver-white hair was fluffy and disheveled, his face greasy and grimy, his eye sockets dark, his eyes bloodshot, and even his lips were pale and dry.
Click-
The door opened.
The young man stiffly turned his neck, looking toward the door little by little. There he saw Meng Hongchen, her face radiant and her eyes full of sweet smiles, though her gait seemed somewhat unnatural.
"...It's over!" Xiao Hongchen's vision went black, and he toppled headfirst onto the sofa.
He dropped dead on the spot, just like that.
Meng Hongchen, who had just entered, was startled. She hurried over and helped Xiao Hongchen up.
"Xiao? What's wrong? Don't scare me!" Looking anxious, Meng Hongchen gripped Xiao Hongchen by the shoulders and shook him hard, nearly shaking his brains into a uniform mush.
"Meng!" Xiao Hongchen slapped her hands away, his face filled with grief and indignation. "What did you do last night? Why didn't you come back to the hotel?"
"Did that bastard force you? Wait here, I'll go and-"
Xiao Hongchen lost control of his emotions, his expression turning savage in an instant. Without another word, he pulled an enormous spindle-shaped metal object from his Soul Tool. It was as thick as a washbasin and over a meter and a half long.
At the same time, a violent, destructive presence burst from the spindle-shaped object, waking everyone still asleep within a hundred meters of the hotel. Some of the more timid people were so frightened that they even let out a few drops of urine.
A Class 8 Fixed Soul Cannon Shell!
Meng Hongchen carried no such lethal weapon, but Xiao Hongchen, whom Jing Hongchen trusted more, did have a devastating weapon of mass destruction like this.
Seeing that his younger sister had gone from girl to woman overnight and lost her most precious possession, Xiao Hongchen could no longer contain the fury that had been brewing all night. Driven to madness, he even wanted to detonate the Class 8 Fixed Soul Cannon Shell right there in Star Luo City and blow that so-called "Zhao Ming" to death in the city!
"Brother, what are you doing?!" Meng Hongchen was startled too. For once, she called Xiao Hongchen her brother. She hurriedly pulled him back and snatched the Class 8 Fixed Soul Cannon Shell from in front of him.
"Brother Ming didn't force me. I did it willingly, so don't be angry with him..."
Hearing the anxiety and faint shyness in Meng Hongchen's words, Xiao Hongchen's vision went black again. He had the familiar feeling that his lovestruck sister was beyond saving.
But with Meng Hongchen holding him fast, he could only sink dejectedly onto the sofa.
Just then, a knock sounded at the door.
The other members of the Sun Moon Team, alarmed by the presence of the Class 8 Fixed Soul Cannon Shell, had come to check on the situation.
Meng Hongchen glanced at the utterly dejected Xiao Hongchen, feeling somewhat helpless. Still, she could only get up, open the door, and reassure the others before sitting back down beside him.
"Tell me, then. What exactly are you thinking?" After his brief burst of impulse, Xiao Hongchen gradually calmed down. He raised his head and looked at Meng Hongchen. "Are you sure you've chosen him, and that you won't regret it?"
"What about him has you so enthralled that you even gave yourself to him? Don't tell me it's just because he's handsome. There are plenty of pretty boys in this world, and quite a few in our academy alone. You didn't take a fancy to any of them, yet you had to choose him."
"Xiao, you don't understand." Meng Hongchen shook her head, that sweet smile appearing on her face once more. "Brother Ming is different. He's the only choice for me in this life, and I'll never regret it!"
"And Brother Ming loves me too. I'm absolutely certain of that!"
"Reason. Proof." Xiao Hongchen merely spat out those words coldly.
His tone made Meng Hongchen a little unhappy.
Although Meng Hongchen knew Xiao Hongchen cared about her and worried that someone would deceive her, and that, when all was said and done, it was for her own good, she didn't like her tone.
A little annoyed herself, she promptly took out the special cloth pouch Ming Zhao had given her and waved it in her hand, looking smug.
"Didn't you ask me for proof?" Meng Hongchen looked as proud as a peacock. "Then I'll give you a reason that'll leave you speechless! Brother Ming loves me. You single dog, you don't understand anything!"
Hmph!
The veins on Xiao Hongchen's forehead bulged into the shape of the character 井, but his anger was instantly shattered by a powerful Soul Power fluctuation that suddenly emerged. His eyes widened as he looked at Meng Hongchen's hands.
In each hand, she held a piece of bone she had taken from the pouch, each one like a work of art.
The bone in her left hand looked as though it had been formed from ice crystal, dazzling and uniquely beautiful. The one in her right looked carved from warm crimson jade, its smooth, lustrous texture impossible to look away from.
Most importantly, although the two Soul Bones gave off the presences of two different attributes, ice and fire, there was no extreme clash between them. Instead, they resonated with each other, cycling and complementing one another.
"This is... proof?" The corners of Xiao Hongchen's eyes twitched, his face full of shock.
"Of course! This is proof." Meng Hongchen resisted the temptation the Soul Bones in her hands conveyed to her, looking even more pleased with herself. "Never seen anything like it, have you, you city bumpkin?"
"These are Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones, two Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones with ice and fire in harmony, and they even have the Ultimate Ice and Ultimate Fire attributes! They're gifts from Brother Ming!"
A hundred thousand years?
Xiao Hongchen's fragile little heart suffered another crushing blow.
Crude as her words were, she wasn't wrong. He, this city bumpkin, really had never seen a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, much less a matching pair of Soul Bones with dual ultimate attributes, one ice and one fire.
Seen them?
He hadn't even heard of them!
Meng Hongchen put the Soul Bones away and slowly leaned in front of Xiao Hongchen. "Well? Trash-mob big brother, is that enough proof? Is that reason enough?"
Xiao Hongchen opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end he closed it again. The anger in his heart vanished without a trace.
He had originally thought Ming Zhao had used sweet talk to deceive Meng Hongchen and trick his ignorant sister into going with him. But after seeing the two Soul Bones, Xiao Hongchen came to terms with it. Never mind Meng Hongchen-if he were a woman and something like this really happened to him, he would have found it hard to resist too.
If he could meet an aloof, wealthy woman of breathtaking beauty, Xiao Hongchen would be willing even if it meant absorbing two Ultimate Metal Soul Bones!
"Then where is he?" Xiao Hongchen thought for a long time before finally finding an angle from which to strike back. "He only just devoured you last night, and today he doesn't even dare bring you back to the hotel and accompany you to see me?"
"Brother Ming isn't as idle as you!" To his surprise, Meng Hongchen merely gave a soft snort. "He has other things to do. I'm already very satisfied that he could stay in Star Luo City to watch my match. How could I make him wait for me all the time?"
"Once we're back in Mingdu, he'll naturally come to the academy to find me!"