Chapter 152

Xue Ke lightly bit her lip, not daring to meet Qian Renxue's gaze.

"I don't want that, hurry up and let me save him."

"."

The blond‑haired girl seemed not to hear, idly sizing up Xue Ke's troubled expression.

Until the sword of sworn victory on Atoleis's hand suddenly blazed with light, golden radiance enveloping his whole body, the blood finally stopped seeping from his body and mouth, his ferocious face calming, clearly he had weathered the most dangerous stage.

Atoleis had been struggling desperately in the relentless pain radiating from his body, his consciousness fading, when he thought he would die, suddenly a golden ray spread from his right hand, the previously riotous force instantly smoothed its edges and began to flow gently along the prescribed path.

Although he didn't know what had happened, his crisis seemed to have passed just like that; this was Atoleis's last thought, after which his mind sank into the absorption of the soul ring.

After a moment, Qian Renxue narrowed her eyes, the strength in her hand slightly relaxed, and she let go of her.

"Sorry."

She gave a gentle smile, "I just spaced out a moment ago."

Hearing that, the girl who had been thinking of just blowing up with Qian Renxue froze, her resolute expression suddenly stiffening.

The refined blond‑haired girl tapped a finger on Xue Ke's shoulder, and the golden chains on her body instantly turned into specks of light and dissipated.

"It's just a little joke; as an innate full soul power genius, how could he possibly fail to overcome a mere hundred‑year bodily limit? Look, Atoleis's martial soul truly can protect its master automatically at critical moments."

He is a transmigrator wielding a holy sword; if he died so easily, it would only prove he's nothing special, with no value to exploit.

Qian Renxue's tone remained as calm as ever, as if she hadn't done anything just before.

—A joke? Xue Ke's legs went weak, she sat on the ground, panting heavily, her tense brain unable to react for a moment, taking a long time to recover.

This... that's it? She had thought someone had to die today.

Moreover, you're joking? Do you think I'd believe you? "Oh, oh I see, hah, haha."

Xue Ke didn't keep holding onto what just happened; she covered the hem of her skirt and replied obediently.

But in fact, her back was already soaked with cold sweat, clearly she was panicking inside.

Seeing Qian Renxue turn her back and sit again by the fire, Xue Ke calmed down; Qian Renxue was too strong, for now she could only submit to her, plus she hadn't yet obtained the Vital Essence Gold, and her new battle armor also needed Qian Renxue's help.

What she didn't know was that, as the gentle‑smiling blond‑haired girl turned, she glanced slightly in Xue Ke's direction; her spring‑breeze‑like warm face hinted at an obscure meaning, as if she were thinking of something.

Xue Ke rose to her feet with a helpless sigh; Qian Renxue, relying solely on her own power, later stirred up the Douluo Continent, overturning the balance between the two great empires and the Spirit Hall, not only possessing deep and dangerous abilities, but also being utterly cold‑hearted in personality.

After finally saying she liked herself, it's a shame it was missed like that, but Xue Ke doesn't regret it; rather, she is now on the right path.

If she had strength, would she still need to watch Qian Renxue's face? After all, she is simply too weak.

It's that she got carried away; at least from now on she can't treat their cooperative deal as a transformation of their relationship, Xue Ke had always felt Qian Renxue's mental state was a bit off.

Still pondering how to handle the temporarily dormant behind‑the‑scenes big boss, Xue Ke, while thinking, reached out and traced in the air before her; the previously calm air rippled, and a semi‑transparent floating window appeared that probably only she could see in this world.

【Character: Xue Ke】

【Position: Little Princess of the Tian Dou Empire, Platinum Prelate of the Gengxin Main Hall】

【Martial Soul: Jade Emerald Swan (Martial Soul Origin Development: Sealed, Fully Mastered)】

【Domain: Life】

【Battle Armor: Two‑character, Tian An 【Hidden】】

【Soul Power Level: Twenty (Soul Master)】

【Challenge Mission: Capture the Behind‑the‑Scenes Mastermind — Qian Renxue】

【Mission Details: As the behind‑the‑scenes mastermind big boss who once left all transmigrators helpless on the Douluo Continent, unprecedented in past and future, please use your most sincere, fervent love and endless remorse to move her, to make her lay down her merciless slaughter blade and the fierce ambition in her heart (Note: This mission is extremely high‑risk; once accepted it cannot be abandoned, and it carries mortal danger).】

【Difficulty Level: SSS+ (Ultra Nightmare)】

【Mission Reward: 20,000+ reward points, eighteenfold conversion of remorse value into points, gaining one chance to reshape bodily functions】

【Current Mission Progress: 0.05%】

【Current Target Qian Renxue's Favorability Toward You: 2, Remorse Value: 0】

As shown in the character attributes panel, as a reborn individual she has lived in this world for over twenty years, but her current experiences differ from those of her previous life's Xue Ke; she has become the Platinum Prelate of the Spirit Hall, becoming the left and right hand of Qian Renxue, the woman whom she once loved dearly when watching the anime in her past life and now hates just as much.

Because of this Qian Renxue, she is not a normal Qian Renxue; she is a Qian Renxue capable of single‑handedly thrashing all transmigrators! The system's explanation also once made Xue Ke flush with embarrassment, saying Qian Renxue might be a variant.

Exactly, 【variant】!!! In chess, "variant" originally refers to the variant elephant, two elephants on different squares never meet.

As for the judgment of 【variant】 by Arknights players… it is… another form of a game character, representing the growth experienced by an operator or the operator's other side.

For example, Margaret·Guanglin, her original form is a sturdy shield‑bearing heavy‑armored operator who protects teammates behind her after leaving Kasmir, her skill shown in being able to heal allies.

Under the variant form, she becomes the Radiant Knight Guanglin, a major growth transformation from returning to Kasmir and winning the champion title in the Knight Special Tournament duel.

Thus, Variant Guanglin wields a sword‑spear, not the shield of her original form.

In the original Douluo Continent, the love‑brain Qian Renxue, at age nine, infiltrated the Tian Dou royal household as a spy, poisoned Snow Clearing River and took her place; as the Tian Dou Empire's crown prince she could not cultivate freely, wasting her talent.

Her original youth was entirely wasted playing Snow Clearing River, but this Qian Renxue is different; after various transmigrators disrupted the plot, she has undergone major growth and change, transforming from that love‑brain, hot‑headed Tian Dou crown prince into an ambitious Spirit Hall heir who craves only power.

She became an evil ambitious schemer.

Qian Renxue's most important change is that she did not go undercover in the Tian Dou royal household, and the variant Qian Renxue, who does not waste her talent, has become terrifyingly strong because of her gift.

Amber flames filled Xue Ke's eyes, extreme anger overflowing; the girl's flush had surpassed any sweet words—damn it, Ye Feng, Jun martial soul, Xiao Yuan, you three from the Spirit Hall truly deserve to die! Look what you've turned her into!

She's got god‑level gear, brothers! Every one of these transmigrators is feeding themselves to tigers!! With useless teammates, Xue Ke is practically the ultimate pressure‑resistant king; without her, they'd sooner or later die, or be drained to death.

Because she fully grasps how dangerous the variant Qian Renxue is, unlike her previous life's Xue Ke who was oblivious and got used, she now, while trying every means to take down the big boss Qian Renxue, has also left herself more than one backup… The strength currently exposed to all, known throughout the Gengxin Main Hall, is merely barely reaching level twenty soul power.

She early used the system's ability to upgrade her battle armor into a two‑word battle armor; the ores Qian Renxue forged can also be sold to the system for points, though cheap, the sheer volume adds up, and she secretly took quite a few under Qian Renxue's tacit approval.

Although using the two‑word battle armor is limited by her low soul power cultivation, a sudden burst can let her instantly escape the sight of a Soul Emperor powerhouse, after all, for battle armor, the lower one's own soul power level, the higher the level it can surpass.

Survival first, conquest second! This is the battle plan she set for herself from the start.

In short, now——

First soothe Qian Renxue, keep Atoleis's life—that's the priority.

By the time Atoleis woke from his soul power circulation, it was already noon the next day.

As soon as Atoleis opened his eyes, he saw Xue Ke approach with dark circles under her eyes; she squatted down, gazed at him with an unfathomable look, and sighed, "Heaven pity him, you've finally finished absorbing."

"You were almost unable to wake up forever." Qian Renxue stood behind Xue Ke, a soft smile on her face, speaking in a gentle voice: "We were terribly worried; next time, let's not take such risks, okay?"

Xue Ke pursed her lips, "You're still worried about him? Worried he hasn't died yet?"

But she didn't dare say anything, so she resorted to self-consolation, pretending she hadn't heard.

Atolis felt both moved and somewhat guilty; he scratched his head, embarrassed, and said: "Sorry, this time it's my fault, I made you worry."

Xue Ke winked at Atolis, coughed once, and asked: "So, what's the effect of your first soul ring?"

Atolis understood in his heart; Sister Ake had instructed him beforehand that when the time came, he must not fully reveal the effect of his first soul ring, and must conceal himself.

Although I don't know why Ake is keeping it secret from Qian Ling'er, he still feels closer and more trusting toward Ake—she's practically his foster mother who feeds him well! Atolis hurriedly said: "My first soul skill is Wind King Barrier." He made a grasping motion with his hand, and a yellow soul ring rose from beneath his feet.

Qian Renxue raised an eyebrow: "What about your martial soul? Is it hidden?"

Atolis smiled and nodded, explaining: "My first soul skill gives my martial soul wind-attributed ability, allowing wind to entwine the Sword of Victory's Oath, altering light refraction so the sword's shape becomes invisible to others, and this wind attribute also enhances the sharpness of my martial soul."

Xue Ke curled her lips, thinking she hadn't expected him to directly possess wind affinity, but this seems no different from Atolis's soul skill in his previous life.

Qian Renxue smiled and encouraged: "Really? Congratulations, this ability to conceal the sword's body can prevent enemies in close combat from gauging your attack distance and can increase lethality in melee; how is the soul power consumption?"

Atolis sensed it, then said: "The consumption of this soul skill is minimal; it can be maintained constantly during battle."

Xue Ke looked at him satisfied: "Excellent, sustained top-tier attack power—you are now quite an outstanding assault-type soul master."

Atolis sighed: "Although the soul skill consumption is small, my martial soul's soul power consumption is too great; this is a weakness."

If his first soul skill were actually used, two blasts of the Wind King Iron Hammer would drain his soul power, and if he used the Judgment Domain, even a single blast would exhaust it.

Atolis's soul rings have been obtained; next are Xue Ke's soul rings and the Vital Essence Gold.

Thinking of Vital Essence Gold, Xue Ke hurriedly said: "Since you're done, that's our next target—everyone follow me; the Vital Essence Gold is hidden in the Mixed Zone, we can go now and grab it directly."

If we're late, that piece of Vital Essence Gold will be seized by feral beasts and placed in the Lake of Life in the core zone.

After the three had lunch, they continued on their way.

Qian Renxue walked in the lead, while Atolis and Xue Ke followed behind in a triangular formation.

As Qian Renxue was the first to enter the forest, a golden halo suddenly appeared around her; this golden light completely enveloped her body and quickly spread outward, so bright that her figure could not be seen at all.

Atolis exclaimed in surprise: "How can the Angel Domain still probe the environment? Can his Judgment Domain be used this way too?" Thinking this, he also felt eager to try.

Upon re-entering the Star Dou Great Forest, Xue Ke and Atolis quickly felt an unprecedented ease; they hardly needed to do anything—just pressing forward was enough.

The golden light ahead slowly diffused, spreading outward like silk threads; although it appeared powerless on the surface, it spread extremely far, soon surpassing Atolis's perception and sight.

Atolis vaguely understood that this ability was remarkably similar to Huo Yuhao's spiritual detection; once the golden light is touched, depending on the circumstances, Qian Ling'er should make some judgment—though it cannot be as precise as spiritual detection, given Qian Ling'er's cultivation as a Soul Emperor, the information she can discern is not much less.

"Let's go." The golden halo radiating around had already vanished, and Qian Renxue's voice came from ahead, but the golden light still enveloping her body remained, keeping her silhouette indistinct.

Qian Renxue followed Xue Ke's orders, constantly changing the route ahead, her speed increasing greatly; during this time, she even encountered no soul beast attacks.

In less than half an hour, they had penetrated over ten kilometers into the Star Dou Great Forest, yet Qian Renxue showed no intention of slowing down.

The Star Dou Great Forest itself is naturally irregular in shape; its widest point exceeds about two hundred kilometers, covering an area of tens of thousands of square kilometers, making it unquestionably the number one forest of the Douluo Continent; its area even surpasses some provinces of various countries, and even a Title Douluo-level powerhouse would not dare to cross its center.

In the continual exploration of the soul master world, the Star Dou Great Forest is also divided into several regions according to the strength of soul beasts appearing; the outermost twenty-kilometer radius is called the Outer Region.

Generally, only ten-year, hundred-year, and thousand-year soul beasts are active; ten-thousand-year ones are rare. Next is the Mixed Zone, which occupies about forty percent of the area within the maximum radius of one hundred kilometers, and is also the region in the Star Dou Great Forest with the greatest variety of soul beasts and the highest cultivation ages.

It is mainly the habitat of hundred-year, thousand-year, and ten-thousand-year soul beasts; a hundred-year soul beast wishing to live in this zone must rely on the strength of its clan.

Meanwhile, the innermost forty-kilometer radius—i. e., an eighty-kilometer diameter—is called the Core Region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Although this region is quite vast, the number of soul beasts residing there is far fewer than in the Mixed Zone.

Because only powerful soul beasts can survive here; hundred-year soul beasts are nearly extinct in this zone, and even thousand-year soul beasts are few in number.

Ten-thousand-year soul beasts are the norm; occasionally one can see the terrifying figure of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast. According to research by the Spirit Hall, a soul beast capable of holding a small territory in this region must have a cultivation of at least thirty thousand years.

At the very center of this eighty-kilometer-diameter area, a ten-kilometer-diameter zone is called the Forbidden Zone of Life—the dwelling place of the Great Ming and Second Ming; on the not-so-detailed map of the Star Dou Great Forest, this region is always marked in bright red, and there live hundred-thousand-year soul beasts.

And Qian Renxue knew that, besides the hundred-thousand-year soul beasts, terrifying feral beasts also lurk there.

After a while, Qian Renxue disliked how slow the two were, so she directly grabbed one person with one hand and sped forward into the interior.

Several days later, they finally reached the Mixed Zone.

Looking around, nothing but vast expanses of trees could be seen; the sky had not yet fully darkened, and one could still see the dense canopies covering the entire field of view.

Xue Ke excitedly said: "Follow me; it's hidden in a valley."

Just then, suddenly, a sharp roar echoed from afar; yet strangely, hearing it gave them a sensation of their soul power flowing smoothly throughout their bodies.

This is…

"What a strange feeling!" Qian Renxue's eyes flashed with pink light as she whispered: "Up ahead to the left, there's a valley, right there."

"That's where the sound came from; let's go check it out." Xue Ke said to Qian Renxue.

Qian Renxue released a soul power barrier; the soul power emanating from her enveloped not only herself but also the two behind her, and they immediately felt much safer—at least the tension of arriving in the Mixed Zone with just one soul ring was gone.

Passing through the woods, sure enough, as Qian Renxue had said, a valley appeared before them; the interior was likewise lush, but before approaching the valley's edge, a powerful soul power fluctuation accompanied by a tender roar came from within.

Qian Renxue approached the valley's edge and looked inside; the other two did the same, following behind her.

Xue Ke's pupils contracted as she stared fixedly at the weak soul beast in the valley: "It's a ten-thousand-year palm bear, and there's another soul beast—how is this possible?! Why would it appear now? Has it already been born?"

That palm bear stands over eight meters tall, its body covered in brownish fur, its eyes a yellowish brown, and on its chest is a large white 'V' pattern; oddly, light seems to flow along that marking. Although its size makes it slow, its strength is immense.

In the valley, roar after roar echoed as a cluster of golden light sped forward, colliding with the mighty ten-thousand-year palm bear like a small sun; each impact sent forth a tiny ripple, showing its power is not small.

However, the palm bear's massive build meant that the tiny cluster of golden light could not shake it; yet oddly, facing this harmless attack, the mighty palm bear kept carefully retreating.

Within that cluster of golden light lay an extraordinary soul beast.

This soul beast's body resembled semi-transparent crystal, filled with an exotic texture; its overall shape was like a lion, but its four claws were like dragon claws, each stepping upon a cluster of golden flame.

Its mouth was somewhat longer than that of typical lion-type soul beasts; beneath the fur, it seemed to be covered in fine golden scales, and besides its normal pair of eyes, it actually possessed a third eye, which, strangely, was a vertical pupil.

The two normal eyes flickered with gold, while this vertical pupil emitted a red hue, tinged with an eerie redness.

(End of chapter)