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Compared to his equally talented granddaughter, Meng Hongchen, Jing Hongchen still had higher hopes for his grandson, Xiao Hongchen. Meng Hongchen's Zhu Jing Ice Toad spirit was powerful, no doubt, but it wasn't much help in making soul-tech weapons.
Plus, the Zhu Jing Ice Toad had a serious flaw—its cold poison would backfire on the user. One careless move, and Meng Hongchen could easily die from the poison attacking her heart.
Meng Hongchen's path to growing strong was way tougher than Xiao Hongchen's. Xiao Hongchen just needed to follow the steps, and he had a real shot at surpassing his own grandfather, Jing Hongchen. Meanwhile, Meng Hongchen might never even grow up properly before the cold poison killed her. Of course, Jing Hongchen wasn't about to just watch his granddaughter walk into a dead end—he had a plan for that.
When Xiao Hongchen saw his little sister wandering off to chat with someone else while he was absorbing his soul rings, his face darkened. He shot a hostile glare at the only other guy there besides himself and his grandfather.
Noticing the bad vibes from Xiao Hongchen, Liuxing looked confused. What's the deal? He hadn't offended this guy with the long nose and sharp eyes! But Liuxing wasn't scared of Xiao Hongchen; he just smiled and gave a friendly greeting. That stopped Xiao Hongchen from blowing up, and he had to turn to Meng Hongchen with a serious look, asking, "Meng, what are you doing?"
Meng Hongchen glanced back at Xiao Hongchen, puzzled. "Doing what? Making friends! What else?"
Xiao Hongchen twitched at the corner of his mouth. He knew his sister too well to buy that. Even though Meng Hongchen didn't wear her pride on her face like he did, she was just as proud inside. Normally, she wouldn't bother making friends with anyone she didn't think was worth it and never started conversations with strangers.
Unless the other person was seriously good-looking. Yep, his sister was totally a sucker for looks. Taking one glance at Liuxing—with his white hair and blue-pink eyes—Xiao Hongchen had to admit, Liuxing's looks were a notch above his own. No wonder Meng was being so friendly.
Only six years old and already that cute—imagine how she'd be when she grew up. This was basically a direct attack on his sister's affections.
Thinking this, Xiao Hongchen's hostility toward Liuxing grew stronger.
Liuxing studied both Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen thoughtfully, then smirked to himself. Ah, a little sister protector! Let me play this right.
"Big sister Meng, are you guys heading back to Mingdu? Too bad—we haven't found the right soul beasts yet. Otherwise, we could go together."
Liuxing leaned close to Meng Hongchen with a regretful look.
Meng Hongchen stared at Liuxing, a bit dazed, then instinctively tapped her little chest and said, "No worries. What kind of soul beasts are you looking for? Big sister Meng can ask Grandpa to help."
"Ahem!"
Jing Hongchen's monocle nearly fell off as he coughed, pretending to clear his throat. Xiao Hongchen stumbled, staring at Meng Hongchen in disbelief.
Luan Yu almost burst out laughing but held it back, giving Liuxing a big thumbs up.
Liuying puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, glaring at Liuxing. Why so close and so friendly? Chill out!
Ye Guyi and Xu Tianzhen watched all this with puzzled looks, completely lost on what was going on.
Liuxing hadn't expected such a good reaction. Was he some kind of charmer? Meng Hongchen's defenses were way too low! He only gave a casual greeting and she was already all in!
"Ahem! Meng, come back now. Mingdu still has things Grandpa needs to handle. Besides, with Bing Feng Douluo here, Grandpa's help isn't that needed anyway."
Jing Hongchen quickly called Meng Hongchen back. His granddaughter was clearly a sucker for looks, much to his exasperation.
If this kept up, he felt like she might ditch him and Xiao Hongchen to stay behind with Luan Yu and the others in the Evil Demon Forest.
"All right then. Liuxing, what kind of soul beasts do you need? We've been wandering the outskirts of the Evil Demon Forest for a while. Maybe we've come across what you're looking for."
Meng Hongchen looked at Liuxing regretfully, then reluctantly walked back toward Jing Hongchen, glancing back and asking.
Liuxing's eyes lit up. At first,While the Evil Demon Forest had initially been full of wonder and novelty, Liuxing found it was starting to get tedious.
If Meng Hongchen's info could save them some time, that would be perfect.
"Thanks, big sister Meng. We need about 400-year-old divine attribute soul beasts, and around 1000-year-old fire attribute soul beasts."
"Divine attribute? A thousand-year-old soul beast?"
Not only Meng Hongchen but also Jing Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen were shocked, looking at Liuxing. They could understand a 400-year-old divine soul beast, but what was this thousand-year-old thing? Don't tell them one of these kids was already a soul master?
Meng Hongchen didn't know why Liuxing needed a thousand-year-old soul beast, but with Bing Feng Douluo around, they probably wouldn't mess around. She didn't ask more and thought for a moment, then said to Jing Hongchen, "Grandpa, I remember seeing a paradise bird in a valley a couple days ago. That should be a divine and light attribute soul beast, right? Just not sure how old it is."
Jing Hongchen gave Liuxing a long, meaningful look. He was still very curious about why they needed a thousand-year-old soul beast, but with Luan Yu around, he didn't press further. He smiled and said, "You're lucky. That's a century-old paradise bird, between 300 and 500 years. You'll have to check the exact age yourselves."
Then Jing Hongchen handed a map showing the paradise bird's location to Luan Yu.
"Thank you, Hall Master Hongchen. Without your help, we'd still be searching forever."
Luan Yu looked at the map marking the paradise bird's location at the Evil Demon Forest's edge and smiled. Divine attribute soul beasts were already rare, and even rarer in the Evil Demon Forest. As the name suggests, most soul beasts here leaned towards dark attributes. Light and divine beasts existed, but were extremely scarce.
Luan Yu had already prepared mentally—if they couldn't find divine attribute soul beasts, they'd have Ye Guyi absorb some light attribute soul rings. "Not ideal, but still a viable option.
Finding divine attribute soul beasts was the hardest part; fire attribute ones were easier. Fire wasn't a rare attribute, but getting high-level ones still took some effort.
"All right then, Hall Master Hongchen, we'll be going now. We still have three kids needing soul rings."
Luan Yu said goodbye to Jing Hongchen.
"Okay, we should head back too. See you again in Mingdu. I'm really looking forward to the day these kids get into the Royal Soul Master Academy of Sun and Moon."
Jing Hongchen smiled warmly. He'd set aside his work this time to help find the best soul beasts for Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen. Now that mission was done—and with the surprise of Liuxing and the others—he was excited to see what storms they'd stir up once they joined the Academy.
"Goodbye, big sister Meng."
Liuxing waved at Meng Hongchen. Without her help, they wouldn't know when they'd find the right soul beasts for Ye Guyi.
"....."