Chapter 96: Return

"Senior Sister, I am Zhou Heng. Look at my martial soul!"

Zhou Heng directly released his martial soul and soul rings; black, black, black, black, black, red—six soul rings appeared before Qian Renxue, shocking her.

Qian Renxue looked at the six soul ring configuration beneath Zhou Heng's feet, which was enough to shock the world.

However, because of Zhou Heng's astonishing soul ring configuration, Qian Renxue also relaxed.

After all, in this world, no Spirit Master had ever been able to do what Zhou Heng did—absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul ring as their first soul ring—so naturally, no one could impersonate Zhou Heng's identity.

"Junior Brother, how did you get here?"

Qian Renxue retracted her Six-Winged Angel martial soul and asked in surprise.

"Senior Sister, there is no time to explain. Come with me quickly!"

Zhou Heng grabbed Qian Renxue's wrist, clouds emerged beneath their feet, and a pair of emerald green wings condensed behind his back. "Senior Sister, summon your Six-Winged Angel martial soul, lift your body, and stand on this cloud. Let's go immediately!"

Qian Renxue looked in shock at the clouds and wings Zhou Heng had condensed, subconsciously following his instructions; she summoned her Six-Winged Angel martial soul, lightened her weight, and stood upon the cloud.

Zhou Heng controlled the cloud to take flight; the speed, which was originally quite fast, became a bit slower now that it was carrying two people, but it still possessed a speed no less than a fast horse.

The two stood on the cloud and flew toward the south.

Qian Renxue looked at the direction Zhou Heng was flying and asked in confusion, "Junior Brother, why are you taking me flying toward the south? Isn't that closer to the encirclement?"

"Should we wait for my subordinates? There are still two Spirit Douluos following me; they went out to find a way out earlier and haven't returned yet."

On this trip, Qian Renxue was not only accompanied by guards from the Heaven Dou Empire, but a team of guards from the Spirit Hall was also following in the shadows.

Because her status was special, the two Douluos, Snake Spear and Puffer, were following in the shadows. Always by Qian Renxue's side were four female Spirit Douluos chosen for her by Qian Daoliu. These Spirit Masters were all from branches of the Qian family. The strength of these four was such that each could briefly hold off a Title Douluo for a quarter of an hour.

Ever since Count Skemo began his rebellion, the two Douluos, Snake Spear and Puffer, were directly lured away by two opponents who were no less than Title Douluos. Even the four female Spirit Douluos who had been following Qian Renxue were all attacked and lured away during this incident.

As for the Heaven Dou Empire's guards, they had been poisoned at the very beginning of the rebellion and had no power to resist at all. It was thanks to the Spirit Hall guards protecting her in the shadows; otherwise, Qian Renxue would have long since been killed by Count Skemo's men.

Qian Renxue had not wanted to expose her martial soul at first, and facing the pursuit of Count Skemo's men, she had no choice but to flee, only to encounter the pursuit of unknown forces.

Even after being forced to expose her martial soul to eliminate the enemies, she still suffered no small amount of damage.

If it weren't for those two Spirit Douluos later temporarily shaking off the enemies, bringing her supplies, and leading her to move bit by bit toward the outside of the blockade, Qian Renxue estimated she would have already died.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Heng looked at Qian Renxue, equally confused, and said, "That's not right. I came all the way from the south; how could I have entered the encirclement?"

"On the contrary, from the memories of those soldiers I saw, why was the direction you were traveling in getting closer and closer to the center of the encirclement?"

Zhou Heng's words left Qian Renxue stunned. How could she have been walking toward the encirclement?

Unless...

Qian Renxue seemed to have thought of something; she said nothing more and fell into silent contemplation.

Seeing that Qian Renxue remained silent, Zhou Heng took out numerous medicinal pills from his Storage Soul Guidance Device.

These pills were all refined by Dugu Bo using medicinal herbs from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Among them were not only those for recovering from injuries but also those for recovering soul power and mental power; their functions were numerous and comprehensive.

At the same time, Zhou Heng used his mental power, soul power, and sense of smell to search back and forth over Qian Renxue's body, looking for any possible tracking methods.

Finally, Zhou Heng smelled a familiar fragrance from a pouch at Qian Renxue's waist.

Zhou Heng carefully recalled this scent; it was the odor of a spice called Soul-Infatuating Incense. This spice itself was harmless; it was merely a means of tracking.

Once contaminated with Soul-Infatuating Incense, one would be tracked by scent-seeking birds, and it would be impossible to remove it for at least a month.

Zhou Heng took out some materials that Dugu Bo had previously given him from his Storage Soul Guidance Device. As the son-in-law of the Poison Douluo, Zhou Heng had learned many things, and he was quite proficient in these anti-reconnaissance methods.

Zhou Heng set to work searching Qian Renxue's body, changing clothes and feeling around. In the end, he found twelve types of tracking methods on her.

The intensity and manifestation of each method were different.

However, they all shared the trait of being extremely covert; even Zhou Heng had not discovered these methods the first moment he saw Qian Renxue.

Qian Renxue watched the things Zhou Heng found. For every method Zhou Heng uncovered, Qian Renxue's complexion grew uglier. By the time Zhou Heng said he could no longer find any other tracking methods, Qian Renxue's face was dark enough to compete with Bao Zheng.

Because these items were all supplies brought to her by those two Spirit Douluos during this period; some were food, but most were intimate clothing.

At this very moment, the situation regarding these people was clear at a glance.

Qian Renxue directly asked Zhou Heng for a set of clothes, then used her soul power to conceal her figure, took off all the clothes she was wearing, and changed into Zhou Heng's clothes.

Golden sacred flames ignited in her palms, and she was about to burn these things to ashes with a single fire.

However, Zhou Heng stopped Qian Renxue's action: "Don't use fire to burn them; there might be a contingency. Let me try using the element of ice."

Zhou Heng used Extreme Ice to freeze all these items into ice crystals. The next moment, the ice crystals shattered, and these items completely turned into fine ice particles.

Zhou Heng thought for a moment and took a small bottle containing a small amount of liquid from his Storage Soul Guidance Device. Zhou Heng opened the small bottle, and a fragrance was released from it.

Afterward, ordinary fire elements gathered to heat the small bottle. The liquid inside the bottle evaporated rapidly, and a rich fragrance emanated from the bottle, completely surrounding the two.

The liquid in the small bottle was a medicinal solution refined by Dugu Bo to block scent tracking.

Now, through the method of heating, Zhou Heng changed the scent on Qian Renxue's body, hindering others from tracking her.

Zhou Heng took Qian Renxue and flew at an altitude of over fifty meters for a full day and night. Along the way, whenever they encountered those patrols, Zhou Heng would retract the cloud and fly down using his wings.

With one foot on the ground, a patch of earth spikes would immediately rise, piercing all the enemies, and then he would use Extreme Ice to freeze the corpses into ice crystals, shattering them into fine ice particles to destroy the evidence.

Relying on his inexhaustible soul power, Zhou Heng forcibly tore a large gap in these defensive lines.