Chapter 37

The soul beast suddenly leapt out from the shadow beside her, and Qian Renxue didn't have time to dodge, but she wasn't panicked; the eight gleaming golden‑white wings behind her instantly folded together, those wings broad and tough, interwoven layer upon layer, like a splendid shield,

The shadow demon leopard's claws swept down fiercely, the claws actually striking the seemingly soft wings and producing intense sparks, emitting a piercing "hiss" sound; the shadow demon leopard, well‑versed in the assassin's way, immediately thought of fleeing after missing its strike.

"Hmph! Want to run?"

Qian Renxue took a deep breath, suddenly unfurled her magnificently splendid wings, released a soul power shockwave that blasted it away, crimson‑gold soul power surged forth like a tide, instantly enveloping her hands, the wings behind her flapped, driving Qian Renxue's heavy punch to smash into the shadow demon leopard.

Seeing this, the leopard's eyes flashed with ferocity; it let out a low growl, black light flaring over its whole body, and spat a black energy ball from its mouth; Qian Renxue dodged it in midair by shifting her body sideways.

The leopard kept leaping and lunging, its claws repeatedly colliding with Qian Renxue's crimson‑gold soul power; she also intentionally fought it to hone herself, and the surroundings were left in disarray by the battle between the one person and one beast.

But in the end the shadow demon leopard, exhausted, was struck on the head by Qian Renxue's punch; the tremendous force knocked it out instantly, its eyes rolled back and it collapsed asleep.

Its blackened body hit the ground with a thud, motionless. To test her physique, Qian Renxue actually went straight into melee with the soul beast.

Her immortal herbs weren't for nothing; the miraculous Chrysanthemum and Narcissus Jade Skin Bone could temper an indestructible diamond body, and she had already achieved some success.

Golden Crocodile's gaze was quite satisfied; he himself was a strong‑attack soul master, loving nothing more than fist‑to‑flesh assaults, and he hadn't expected Qian Renxue's physique to be so strong that she could grapple with a thousand‑year soul beast without using soul skills.

After knocking it out, Qian Renxue continued on; she didn't need this thousand‑year soul ring, so she didn't take its life.

Qian Renxue cleared the path while marveling in her heart that the quality of soul beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest was far superior to that of the Sunset Forest—just entering the outskirts she already encountered a thousand‑year soul beast, whereas in the Sunset Forest such beasts were pillars of the community.

The Star Dou Great Forest is truly too dense; describing it as blocking out the sky and sun is no exaggeration, and seeing sunlight inside the forest is hardly easy.

The three of them had traveled for about three and a half hours, and now it was approaching evening. During these three hours they had encountered quite a few soul beasts, but most were only ten‑ or hundred‑year ones; when they met soul beasts they generally avoided them and didn't engage directly, since ten‑ and hundred‑year beasts hardly provided any training; occasionally some reckless ones charged in, and Qian Renxue would knock them out with a casual punch.

Whenever she encountered a thousand‑year soul beast, Qian Renxue would exchange a few blows with it, but that was all; if she carelessly used a soul skill she would likely kill it, and only a ten‑thousand‑year soul beast in the middle layer of the Star Dou Great Forest qualified her to employ the soul skill Eight‑Wing Blue Silver Transformation.

Eight‑Wing Blue Silver Transformation: lasts half an hour, simultaneously boosting resistance to abnormal conditions, attack, defense, speed, vitality, and strength fivefold.

It is a hexagram war god soul skill.

Possibly because this soul ring was offered by A Yin, together with the timing of the martial soul's evolution and mutation, the values granted were quite generous.

This soul skill consumes a lot of soul power; Qian Renxue's current total soul power allows only three activations before it's depleted—knowing her soul power has been compressed several times, its quality has already shifted from gaseous to liquid—but what battle could last an hour and a half? One could say it has virtually no drawbacks.

What is a divine skill if not this! Qian Renxue even wanted to call it the true form of her great martial soul; nobody else's seventh soul skill comes close to being this awesome.

One soul skill equals several of others' soul skills, but now that she's in the Star Dou Great Forest she won't casually activate this skill; a soul master without soul power can only be at others' mercy. Golden Crocodile and Qian Daoliu won't intervene before entering the middle layer, and since the middle layer holds ten‑thousand‑year soul beasts, even if Qian Daoliu and Golden Crocodile are confident in Qian Renxue's physique, they lack confidence in sending a one‑ring soul master to face a ten‑thousand‑year soul beast.

Qian Daoliu had long decided in his heart that upon encountering a soul beast of five thousand years or more, he would not let Xue'er train, lest an accident occur; training is trivial, but securing another hundred‑thousand‑year soul ring for little Snow is of paramount importance.

Combat skill requires constant practice through slaughter to acquire, and in this dangerous environment of the Star Dou Great Forest it is obviously the finest tempering.

Indeed, practical experience is the best teacher; Qian Renxue's soul power progression speed hasn't changed much, but her combat experience and overall strength have been steadily increasing imperceptibly.

Night fell, and it was time to rest. Fires cannot be lit within the Star Dou Great Forest. Although most soul beasts fear fire, a small fraction actually love it, and among those, most are deadly beings.

Qian Daoliu took out a camping tent and set up three of them; Golden Crocodile Douluo then retrieved some prepared soul beast jerky from his storage ring. Qian Renxue had cleared the path and fought soul beasts for a full three hours, and Qian Daoliu, feeling sorry for her, let her rest.

The tents aren't large, but being in the Star Dou Great Forest, having a place to maintain one's condition is already quite good. For a soul master constantly facing soul beast threats, staying at peak combat readiness at all times is far more important than sleep.

After dinner, Qian Daoliu summoned Qian Renxue to his side, hesitated a moment, then asked.

"Xue'er, what do you think of Bibi Dong?"

Qian Renxue answered honestly: "I have no prejudice against her; I simply treat her the way she treats me."

Qian Daoliu let out a soft sigh: "Alas, Bibi Dong is after all your mother; she appears cold on the surface, but deep down she cares greatly for you—she just can't bring herself to show it."

"Don't think of her too badly; she does love you, Xue'er, and you know that yourself—otherwise you wouldn't always have people pass along news while deliberately making her worry; she must feel terrible not knowing your situation."

"Grandfather only hopes you won't hurt her too much and damage the mother‑daughter bond."

Qian Renxue nodded, massaging Qian Daoliu's shoulders in a placating way: "Grandfather, rest assured, I won't do anything to her; I've never thought she was bad—I understand this better than you, so don't worry about it." It was merely returning Bibi Dong's cold attitude toward her in kind.

Qian Daoliu gave a bitter laugh: "Xue'er, you don't know what happened between Xunji and Bibi Dong that led to your misunderstanding of her; alas, it is ultimately our Qian family that owes her."

The higher Qian Renxue's talent, the stronger Qian Daoliu's guilt toward Bibi Dong becomes, because Qian Renxue's excellence sometimes makes Qian Daoliu feel that what Xunji did back then was actually not wrong.

What can Qian Renxue do? For a sentimental oldster, it's best to coax him first.

However, Qian Renxue has always held to a principle: to judge whether someone is bullying you, do to them what they do to you; if they become flustered, then they are indeed bullying you.

I've obtained the second soul ring, how exactly did this soul beast Ah Rou die? According to divine realm legends, it entered the core area and was devoured by a powerful soul beast; the original novel initially said that Bibi Dong's ninth soul ring was offered by Ah Rou, later it was said that the ninth soul ring was a hundred‑year‑old Death Spider Emperor. This has left me confused. Also, today while playing Genshin, I was broken by that forced plot; going onto the official website just unleashed a torrent of rants, I stayed offline for a while, causing me such a huge ordeal. The author grabbed his phone in one hand and instantly uninstalled it. Upon looking again, the blonde aura had completely faded, his senses were clear, and there was not a trace of overpowered aura left. Sigh, the author feels a bit upset today, so tonight he won't stay up late; he might go to bed early. If anyone has ideas, they can bring them up; the author will reply after waking up in the morning. Finally, please vote for us, love you all (￣o￣). zZ(end of chapter)