Chapter 151

Gengxin City lies in the central-northern part of the Star Luo Empire, and the place Qian Renxue chose to hunt spirit beasts is in the northern part of the Star Luo Empire, bordering the Star Dou Great Forest; in this forest almost the size of a province, all kinds of spirit beasts live, among them not lacking super existences.

The day after eating the seafood barbecue, Qian Renxue brought Ake and Atolius along the official road to the Star Dou Great Forest; apart from the secretly following porcupine and snake spear, there was no one else.

The road was straight, and the three of them kept moving forward.

Atolius had just awakened his martial soul, and the golden holy sword in his hand kept swinging, destroying all the lush grass around.

Since the holy sword awakened, Atolius discovered his physical quality far surpassed that of ordinary people, his strength was more than double what it used to be, and the appearance of soul power within him let him truly experience the charm of the extraordinary.

Not long after setting out, a wooden sign by the roadside caught Atolius's attention.

"Ahead, fifty li from here you will enter the Star Dou Great Forest; spirit beasts appear, please stay safe."

At this moment, Atolius, besides excitement, also felt a hint of nervousness; he had never before seen a spirit beast in reality.

"Can Your Highness protect them?" After all, she looks very young; judging by her age, at most she is a high-ranking Soul Elder; the outskirts should be more than enough, but if one needs to go deeper, can one person really protect two? This is not a spirit-beast forest where even thousand-year spirit beasts are hard to see, or perhaps there is an unnamed expert following them from behind? He was still somewhat worried about his own safety; thinking this, Atolius gripped his sword tighter.

The air gradually became cool, and besides the coolness there seemed to be a special solemnity; the Star Dou Great Forest was like a spirit beast with its mouth wide open, waiting for each spirit master to enter—opportunity or……, devour!

As they kept rushing, Atolius and Ake's stamina was continuously being depleted, but fortunately Ake's martial soul assisted them, allowing the two to barely keep up with Qian Renxue's pace.

Without actual application, one will never understand the importance of a supporting martial soul; the Jade Swan has no combat power at all, but its support in other aspects is indeed good.

We are already very close to the Star Dou Great Forest; naturally the most excited is Atolius, who is about to obtain his first spirit ring, and he very much wants to know what kind of ability his first spirit ring will bring.

No one can say exactly how many years the Star Dou Great Forest has existed on the Douluo Continent, but once you enter the forest, its sky‑blocking, lush density is enough to tell people of its ancient existence.

Far off, Qian Renxue faintly felt waves of fresh air blowing from ahead; the scent of plant freshness was refreshing to the heart and spleen, indescribably comfortable; taking a deep breath of fresh air, all thirty‑six thousand pores of her body seemed to unfold, a feeling hard to describe as refreshing.

Her Blue Silver Emperor soul bone also let out a happy humming sound; here the Blue Silver grass is even more dense.

Using the ability of the soul bone to look far ahead, what lay before her eyes was a green ocean; the boundless green in front looked incredibly shocking, and that comfortable freshness came from there.

Finally, they arrived before the Star Dou Great Forest; the tall trees were at least over twenty meters high, and this was only the outskirts; the dense forest had no paths at all, overlapping tree shadows hid the true scenery within.

Upon reaching the forest's edge, the air became even more comfortable, as if the temperature had dropped a few degrees; the refreshing sensation, carrying the fragrance of moist soil, continually stimulated everyone's sense of smell.

"Is this the Star Dou Great Forest? It's so beautiful!"

Atolius excitedly took in everything before him; he had already put away the martial soul in his hand, and when not fighting he must conserve soul power.

Xueke's gaze turned sharp upon entering the forest, and she said in a low voice to him: "After entering the forest, I will clear the way; don't stray too far from Qian Ling'er, understood?"

"Yes, Sister Ake."

Xueke nodded satisfactorily: "Don't worry, after you absorb your spirit ring, encountering low‑age spirit beasts will give you a chance to practice."

In her previous life she never fought head‑on; this life she can't just be a decorative vase. She seized the chance to clear the way from Qian Renxue's hands, relying on the One‑Word Battle Armor and twenty‑rank soul power, she has the ability to practice in the outer ring; after absorbing her first spirit ring at six years old, she reached thirteen‑rank soul power, rising seven ranks in two years.

Even though she is a support‑system soul master, the hardest to cultivate, and her body hasn't reached the optimal training age, with the aid of the Ling Dou Armor, Xueke still gains an average of 3.5 ranks of soul power per year.

This is the value of innate full soul power and possessing the Ling Dou Armor! Although she can't compare to those cheat‑powered transmigrators, Xueke is already quite satisfied! Atolius answered with a sound and obediently followed behind Qian Renxue.

Under Qian Renxue's mental power reminder, Xueke successfully avoided some stronger thousand‑year spirit beasts, and during the journey she continually transmitted to Atolius the characteristics of spirit beasts and methods to judge their age.

Qian Renxue wasn't in a hurry either; if Ake wanted to teach, let her teach—she was happy to take it easy, for these basic facts one only needs to accompany family members on a single trip to the Star Dou Great Forest to know them all.

Only when the sky grew darker did Xueke choose a piece of complex terrain, a depression, to set up camp; this depression was surrounded by many towering trees.

Xueke lit a fire, roasted the dry rations, and then distributed them to the two.

Atolius, while eating, asked strangely: "Sister Ake, can't we light a fire in the Star Dou Great Forest? Moreover, shouldn't we sprinkle some insect‑repellent powder around? What if we get bitten by poisonous insects?"

Xueke gave a light hum, glanced at Qian Renxue who was earnestly eating nearby, and said: "With this Soul Emperor here, what do you have to fear? The purifying effect of the Angel martial soul will suppress those poisonous things; even without using the martial soul, as long as she sits here, within a hundred‑meter radius we will be fine."

"A Soul Emperor? So young?"

Atolius exclaimed in disbelief, looking at the usually aloof golden‑haired woman, who was currently showing off her dried meat.

No wonder she is an Angel soul master; it seems the Angel martial soul at its worst still has innate full soul power; she must be a hidden trump card of the Qian family, a astonishingly gifted young powerhouse—I don't know whether Qian Ling'er has ever seen Qian Renxue.

Qian Renxue ignored him, buried her head in hard work, and suddenly her peripheral vision swept toward the thicket on the right.

Xueke nodded and then asked: "What are your requirements for your first spirit ring?"

Atolius had just wanted to say something when Qian Renxue interrupted: "A spirit beast is approaching; it's a hundred‑year spirit beast."

At this moment, the sky had completely darkened; faintly, a pair of clear, blue‑green light spots were drawing near from their direction.

A lion with a pale blue‑green coat lay in the green grass; without close inspection it was hard to spot him; the lion lowered its body, a pair of sharp tiger claws flashing cold light, staring at the three with a tiger's gaze.

The three pretended not to have noticed the lion and continued their conversation.

"It's a Blue Shadow Lion, a wind‑attribute spirit beast, over five meters tall, likely with more than five hundred years of cultivation; this lion spirit beast's quality may not match that of dragon‑type spirit beasts, but it's still good—it is one of the largest lion‑type spirit beasts, possessing both strength and speed, quite a perfect spirit beast; only its attribute seems not to match your holy sword, and if I'm not mistaken, your holy sword should possess the same special sacred attribute as my martial soul."

But Atolius's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed excitedly: "I want him!"

Qian Renxue stared, surprised: "Is he being this rash? Doesn't he want to look for a few more spirit beasts before choosing? A spirit ring, once decided, is hard to change; she had originally planned to take him to the Qian family's prepared hunting route, where although there are no spirit beasts with the special sacred attribute, there are many light‑attribute spirit beasts, very suitable for his radiant holy sword."

But that place is in the Star Dou Great Forest within the Tian Dou Empire, and they would have to travel for over half a month.

Seeing Qian Renxue's look of surprise, Atolius explained: "I can feel that this spirit beast is very important to me; my martial soul might very well possess a wind‑attribute spirit skill."

In fact, Atolius wanted to gain wind ability this way—how could the Oath of Victory Sword lack such a capability? Although the original Oath of Victory Sword had no wind attribute, it was entwined with wind sorcery, making it an invisible blade! A low‑key choice is best; his current martial soul is somewhat too flamboyant, which is not conducive to hiding himself.

Qian Renxue thought it over and still prepared to stop him; wasting such a fine martial soul would be too regrettable.

"But wouldn't light‑attribute spirit beasts be more suitable for you? And can you absorb spirit beasts of this age? Weren't you malnourished as a child?"

Atolius solemnly replied: "It's fine; after being at the Spirit Hall for so long, my body has already been nourished, and after my martial soul awakened, my physique has undergone some changes."

"Light‑attribute can wait until later when I absorb a high‑age spirit ring to choose; I want to use this first spirit ring as a gamble—if I fail, it's no big deal, this spirit beast's quality is already not bad; can a powerful martial soul not remodel the spirit ring's spirit skill to make it closer to the essence of the martial soul?"

Qian Renxue raised her eyebrows, "You even know about the essence of the martial soul?" "Then let's take this one; I'll handle it."

"Ah? Sister Xueke, you're really going to do it? You're not a support‑system soul master, are you?"

Xueke snorted, "You don't understand a thing! How could a support‑system be so inconvenient?"

She clapped her hands, rose from the ground, and anyway the quality of this Blue Shadow Lion is certainly far greater than Atolius's first spirit ring in his previous life.

In his previous life, Atolius was not taken away by Xueke; instead he kept following Tang San, together they kowtowed and took as master the abstract flat‑headed brother Yu Xiaogang; his first spirit ring was also taken by Yu Xiaogang to hunt, a four‑hundred‑plus‑year wind‑attribute swift‑weasel; although the spirit beast's quality was merely average, because of his martial soul his spirit skill was not bad.

Although he can't compare to other transmigrators, compared to the natives he's still not bad; with this he could become one of the later big bosses, far stronger than Xiao Yuan.

Xueke turned her wrist and said eagerly: "No wonder it's the Star Dou Great Forest; even on the outskirts, hundred‑year spirit beasts are everywhere to be seen." Xueke's surroundings lit up noticeably; she stepped forward slowly, each step deepening the verdant hue around her, and a ring of dark‑yellow spirit rose from beneath her feet.

Patch after patch of emerald feathers appeared between her silver‑white hair, spreading along the hair to the front of her body, and the vital aura on her body became ever richer.

The jade-green swan, among soul beasts, is also a very noble creature; ordinary swan-type soul beasts are skilled in healing abilities, and among the legendary Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, there exists one called the jade-green swan, whose cultivation ranks among the foremost of the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts.

Xue Ke is a support-type soul master, but relying on the dark-attribute sentient battle armor, she can also possess combat power.

Xue Ke's pupils suddenly widened, a surge of soul power burst forth, and a clump of dark-green light then emerged from her body,

Two pieces of dark-green chest armor instantly split to the sides from that light cluster, covering Xue Ke's somewhat immature chest; immediately, piece after piece of dark-green armor spread from the chest armor over her body, quickly adhering to her.

The dark-green armor bore no patterns, but each piece's emergence strengthened Xue Ke's aura by a notch.

Arms, shoulders, chest armor, waist guard, battle skirt, legs, feet; finally, a headband adorned with three feather-like plumes descended and was placed on Xue Ke's forehead.

In midair, with limbs outstretched, suddenly the full-body armor rang with a 'clang' explosion; immediately, dark-green light shot forth from this one-word battle armor, Xue Ke's aura swiftly rose, and a pair of jade-green-like wings unfolded behind her.

"My battle armor is called: Heaven!" A complete one-word battle armor already qualifies for a name; Xue Ke's one-word battle armor is thus called Heaven, meaning both the swan's Heaven and the angel's Heaven! Heaven Xue Ke! She now has the right to call herself that.

The one-word battle armor is not merely for show; though she still has only a single soul ring, her aura is incomparable, dark-green light halo flares, Xue Ke hovers in midair as if transformed, her originally comforting life aura tinged with a layer of dark aura becoming dark-green.

If it weren't for "Heaven" being a sentient battle armor, Xue Ke's soul power level alone would truly be insufficient to wear it.

Atuo Lisi looked enviously at Xue Ke's battle armor, it's really too cool! A Ke Jie, although like him a congenital full-soul-power transmigrator, the two of them are worlds apart; she's a big shot at the forefront of the times! She can even craft the core magic array of the battle armor.

Once he's rich! He'll definitely get a set of his own sentient battle armor! He doesn't have the nerve to directly ask Xue Ke for something so expensive.

"First soul skill, Life's Feather!"

Xue Ke's deep-yellow soul ring lit up, behind her the twin wings scattered countless green feathers; her body spun rapidly in midair, from the jade-green-like wings piece after piece of swan feathers floated out, the feathers fluttered in the air, each rising up, quickly turning into a torrent that encircled her body.

Then, the circular recess on Xue Ke's chest armor blazed with black light; this recess was prepared for her former soul spirit, that long-lived golden hawksbill turtle, but now this battle armor is merely a transitional piece.

Feather after feather symbolizing life was dyed by this dark-attribute power into somber black feathers; the black feathers immediately swept toward the thicket like a storm.

Looking dazedly at Xue Ke's Azure Shadow Lion, it only then realized it had been discovered; the Azure Shadow Lion let out a mournful cry before being tangled into the black-feather storm.

It kept howling, its limbs entwined with azure wind blades that continually sliced the surrounding black feathers; enduring the agony of death by a thousand cuts, it spat out an infant-head-sized azure light sphere from its mouth—its long-range soul skill Azure Shadow Blast—but before it could be released, Xue Ke controlled the black feathers to detonate the Azure Shadow Blast inside its mouth.

Xue Ke hastily retracted the black feathers, seeing the Azure Shadow Lion heavily fallen to the ground, she shouted at Atuo Lisi: "Hurry, or it will die!"

Atuo Lisi, without pausing to marvel at Xue Ke's strength, rushed forward; the Sword of Vowed Victory appeared in his hand, he thrust it into the Azure Shadow Lion's neck, and after two final struggles the lion ceased moving entirely.

A yellow halo began to condense above the Azure Shadow Lion's body, floating above its corpse; the lion's yellow halo was very distinct and bright, and even without touching it, Atuo Lisi could clearly sense the immense energy contained within.

Xue Ke, hovering in midair on her wings, said: "Are you sure you want to absorb a five-hundred-year soul ring? You can still back out now, but once absorbed there's no turning back."

Atuo Lisi firmly replied: "I'm sure."

The higher the soul ring's year, the greater the boost to a soul master; he was willing to stake everything on this! Atuo Lisi sat cross-legged, calmed his excited emotions, then used his martial soul to draw the soul ring, which he placed upon his sword.

Qian Renxue gazed at A Ke's martial soul thoughtfully; it truly was just the Jade-Green Swan, not the Jade-Green Dragon King she had imagined. If so, how could she possess temporal abilities? Or perhaps A Ke lacks temporal ability—then what is her purpose in bringing Atuo Lisi to her side? And how does she know that future knowledge?

Anyway, the most complex core formation of her battle armor has already been engraved; to further upgrade she only needs to fuse rare ore, yet Xue Ke feels her value has dropped.

Meanwhile, as Atuo Lisi absorbed the soul ring, he felt a massive, scorching energy surge into his body through his right hand; in an instant his innards burned, his meridians swelled near bursting, and before two seconds had passed he couldn't help spitting a mouthful of blood.

"Damn it, the Azure Shadow Lion's soul ring year exceeds his bodily limit; five hundred years is indeed too much of a strain!"

Xue Ke's face changed drastically; she hurriedly flew to Atuo Lisi's side, about to use Life's Feather to heal him, when Qian Renxue's hand lightly patted her shoulder.

A golden chain emanating sacred aura tightly bound Xue Ke; her soul power was instantly suppressed and sealed, and the dark-green one-word battle armor on her body was forcibly compressed back into her physique.

"What! Qian, Qian Renxue? What are you suddenly doing?!" Xue Ke turned her head, demanding angrily.

The blonde woman did not answer; instead she affectionately rested her head on Xue Ke's shoulder, her right hand binding Xue Ke's slender wrist, yet the blonde girl took no further action, simply gazing at her in silence.

Her gorgeous eyes were gentle and faint, as if they could drown her in their depths, yet they did not reach the bottom; what lay deeper, no one could clearly say, nor could anyone see through.

At this moment, she seemed to be re-evaluating Xue Ke's intentions, probing the true intent of this transmigrator who claimed to foresee the future.

"Xue, Xue'er, what exactly do you want to do? First let me help Atuo Lisi finish absorbing his soul ring, okay?"

"A Ke, can't you see the future of my doing this? Just as you can't see that Atuo Lisi might die from his soul ring exceeding his limit."

The girl whispered softly by Xue Ke's ear, gentle yet alluring, but in this so charming and ambiguous atmosphere, it made Xue Ke feel as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.

"I, I didn't I say that before? This ability isn't something I can control—quickly let go of me!"

"Eh~ is that so? I don't remember; then what is A Ke's purpose in coming to my side? Could it be to obtain the battle armor? Or something else?"

The girl gently rubbed Xue Ke's sensitive ear with her nose tip, asking softly.

Xue Ke only felt her whole body go limp, a strange moisture rising from her lower abdomen; "You, because of me, me, we'll talk later, okay? Atuo Lisi is about to give out!"

Qian Renxue watched Atuo Lisi sitting aside, continuously spitting blood; not only was she not anxious, her heart grew ever more excited.

"Ah, he's spitting blood again, he has so much blood—when will he finish?" she thought with a hint of dark amusement.

"I can feel that A Ke's attitude toward me is different; didn't you used to say you liked me? But this isn't right—if you like me, why bring Atuo Lisi along? How can you straddle two boats?"

"This is all A Ke's fault; A Ke really values Atuo Lisi, I'm so jealous—for my sake, let's have him die, okay?"

The blonde girl spoke of jealousy on her lips, yet her eyes held not a trace of anger; her gaze carried a deep thirst for knowledge, she was very curious.

Perhaps the reborn A Ke brought Atuo Lisi to her side for what purpose? Between herself and Atuo Lisi, whose value is greater?

Qian Renxue opened her arms, gently embraced Xue Ke, and whispered: "If you let him die just like that, I'll start liking you—how about that?"

Xue Ke's pupils trembled violently; she sadly realized that although she knew this woman was manipulating her, her heart still harbored a subtle hint of joy, which clearly shouldn't be the case.

How, how could this be? Clearly we were fine before; our time together should have been harmonious, so why is Qian Renxue starting to stir up trouble again? In her past life she was the same—this damned crazy woman! What the hell is she thinking?! "Without Atuo Lisi, she wouldn't even glance at me! I've been sucking up to you for how long, and you pay me no heed! Qian Renxue, you bastard! Making it seem like it's my fault?!"

Xue Ke weakly gazed at the boy holding the holy sword, his aura feeble.

Without Atuo Lisi, how could she contend with Qian Renxue?

(End of chapter)