"...No, huh?"
Lin Yun looked at Xue Qingci, who was sitting on the ground, crying like a kitten, with question marks popping up on his face.
He hadn't even said anything yet, so why was this little princess acting as if he had done something to her? Was this really a normal person's reaction?
Is this reasonable?
Turning his head to look at the wailing Xue Qingci again, Lin Yun suddenly felt relieved. She looked so easy to bully, and it was normal for her to cry for so long. If he jumped over and punched her, she'd probably cry even louder.
But that would be too demonic.
"Hey, stop crying," Lin Yun said helplessly to her.
"My name isn't 'hey'!" Xue Qingci instinctively jumped up, glaring with wide eyes and snorting.
"My name is Xue Qingci, and you already know it!"
"Ah, alright, alright, Xue Qingci!" Lin Yun nodded perfunctorily, planning to appease this crying little girl first. However, his next sentence made Xue Qingci's hair stand on end.
"You don't want to be treated as an evil soul master, do you, Xue Qingci?"
"???" Xue Qingci was so scared she almost lost control of her expression, and her words became stuttering. "What evil soul master? Don't talk nonsense! I'm a normal soul master, I'm... I'm not an evil soul master!"
One could only say that the little girl's acting was still a bit poor. Not only did she stutter, but her eyes also darted evasively. With such intelligence, if she were sold, she would probably even help count the money for the person who sold her.
Lin Yun just stared at Xue Qingci with a mysterious smile, not speaking, taking steps closer and closer to her.
"You... don't come any closer!" The little girl was almost scared to tears, retreating step by step with a mournful face. She accidentally tripped on a root of the Myriad Demon King, lost her balance, and fell backward.
"Ah...!"
"This clumsy idiot..." Lin Yun raised an eyebrow, and with a flash, he pulled her up.
What Lin Yun completely didn't expect was that after he pulled Xue Qingci up, she saw him so close to her, and her first words were...
"Don't eat me! I don't taste good!"
"…?" Lin Yun's face darkened.
"Shut up! Answer what the Honored One asks you to answer! Say one more word, and you'll stay in the Star Dou Great Forest as fertilizer!" Di Tian stepped forward, his face grim as he roared.
This roar carried the dragon might of the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, and it was quite effective, it must be said.
At least Xue Qingci immediately quieted down.
Though she was still sobbing softly with tear-filled eyes, she didn't wail loudly anymore.
"What... what do you want to ask me?" Xue Qingci pouted, looking at Lin Yun with resentment in her eyes.
Getting down to business, Lin Yun no longer teased the girl, but asked directly: "What is your martial soul? Release it and let me see."
Upon hearing Lin Yun's request, Xue Qingci's first reaction was to refuse. After all, the most frequent instruction she received in the Dou Ling royal family was not to reveal her martial soul to anyone unless absolutely necessary.
But after observing the current situation, she chose to release her martial soul out of fear.
She had no choice...
With her flexible bottom line, she quickly judged that this was already an absolute necessity. If she continued to hide it, she might never have the chance to release her martial soul again...
With dead and cold gray soul power, it began to emerge from Xue Qingci's body. Her already gray eyes and hair also became more filled with the aura of death, as if completely devoid of life.
But strangely, Xue Qingci's eyes and hair, after her martial soul possessed her, gained a strange hint of blood red.
At the same time, a pair of wide wings silently emerged from her back, slowly unfurling.
It was clear that the pair of wings were distinctly swan wings, even bearing some resemblance to Bijie's wings, yet their attributes were completely opposite: one represented life, while the other was filled with death.
The edges of these gray swan wings also had blood-red patterns, as if they had just been stained with fresh blood.
"This is my martial soul..." Xue Qingci whispered.
"Its name is Necromancer Blood-Feathered Crane."
It had to be said, after Xue Qingci's martial soul possession, the monotonous gray gained a touch of blood, making her image a little terrifying, but it also elevated her beauty.
She lost her original liveliness and cuteness, gaining a cold arrogance instead.
Though she couldn't maintain any arrogance in front of Lin Yun at all.
"Necromancer Blood-Feathered Crane..." Lin Yun repeated the name of the martial soul, then suddenly smiled. "Interesting. A dense aura of death, a very pure death attribute."
"Electrolux, what do you think?"
"This old man also finds it very interesting." A gray stream of air quietly appeared, then coalesced into a tall old man in a black robe. He emanated the same death aura as Xue Qingci, yet it appeared exceptionally sacred and majestic on him.
After Electrolux appeared, Xue Qingci's previously frantic emotions suddenly calmed down.
She looked at Electrolux curiously.
Although Electrolux's appearance might seem handsome to many, his current translucent form as a fragment of divine sense was still somewhat frightening.
However, Xue Qingci felt no fear or dread towards Electrolux; instead, she felt a strong sense of closeness. Electrolux's aura made her feel very comfortable.
Electrolux silently observed Xue Qingci. After a long time, he finally spoke: "It truly makes this old man very curious. Martial souls are indeed a miraculous power. Such pure death aura, even in the world this old man once inhabited, not many people possessed it."
Xue Qingci's martial soul was indeed very interesting.
Fierce Beasts with death attributes often carried a violent or murderous aura, like the Death Spider King.
As the co-lord of Fierce Beasts, Lin Yun had lived in the Star Dou Great Forest for several years. There was hardly a place in the entire Star Dou Great Forest he dared not go. He had also seen many Fierce Beasts that were believed to be extinct on the Douluo Continent.
And he had naturally seen Fierce Beasts with death attributes, similar to the Death Spider King.
However, no matter which death-attribute Fierce Beast he had seen, their minds were always somewhat abnormal. They basically didn't value life, exhibiting a prominent madness, the kind that would dare to attack Lin Yun even with Di Tian standing in front of him.
But this phenomenon did not appear on Xue Qingci, which was very unusual.
As a soul master, it was inevitable to be influenced by one's martial soul's nature, whether to a greater or lesser extent.
For example, Dai Huabin, setting aside his insignificant background as the son of the Duke White Tiger, his White Tiger martial soul was also a reason for his arrogant personality.
And Zheng Xiaolong, if it weren't for his Lucky Coin martial soul, he wouldn't have that gambler personality.
Even Lin Yun himself was no exception. After obtaining the Golden Dragon King martial soul, his arrogance as a transmigrator swelled many times over. If not for his inherently stable personality, he probably would have become arrogant long ago.
How could a soul master whose personality was not influenced by the death attribute not pique his curiosity?
"I remember that your Dou Ling royal family lineage was the Xue family royal family of the Heaven Dou Empire ten thousand years ago, right?" Lin Yun looked at Xue Qingci curiously and asked, "Your inherited martial soul was clearly a swan. How did it become a crane, and such a pure death attribute, in your case?"
"If you were to walk outside with this, wouldn't Shrek definitely brand you as an evil soul master?"
Xue Qingci also understood this, which was why she had always hidden her martial soul. Even within the Dou Ling royal family, the number of people who knew her true martial soul could be counted on one hand.
"Do you think everyone is like you, able to know my attribute even before I release my martial soul?" Xue Qingci said, feeling wronged.
"I still don't understand why you immediately called me an evil soul master as soon as you opened your mouth, even though I haven't released my martial soul at all since leaving home."
Seeing Xue Qingci's aggrieved look, Lin Yun almost couldn't resist bullying her again.
However, seeing through her attribute truly had nothing to do with Lin Yun. Thinking of this, he turned his head to look at Electrolux, that old fossil.
He saw the old fossil looking utterly bewildered: "Evil soul master? What's an evil soul master?"
"As the name implies, evil soul masters are evil soul masters, the kind who kill, burn, and commit all sorts of wickedness," Lin Yun explained concisely.
He connected the words up and down, and then the old fossil went red with anger.
"What ridiculous theory? Just because one possesses a death attribute, they're defined as an evil soul master? Who gave them that right?" Electrolux laughed in exasperation.
Lin Yun and Xue Qingci exchanged glances, shrugging in unison, indicating helplessness.
Lin Yun knew what Tang San and Shrek truly were at their core due to his transmigration memories. Xue Qingci, being a native of Douluo, was well aware of Shrek's methods against 'evil soul masters,' so she was mentally prepared.
Electrolux quickly recovered. After all, he was once a great figure; he no longer cared about others' opinions.
He was just a bit overwhelmed for a moment, recalling the hypocritical nonsense of the Radiant Church, and it got to him slightly.
"So, why isn't your martial soul a swan?" Lin Yun asked again.
Xue Qingci hesitated for a moment, then took out a book from her storage soul tool and handed it to Lin Yun: "This book is only for you to read; don't tell anyone else."
Out of curiosity, Lin Yun reached out and took the book, which wasn't thick and had no writing on its cover.
Electrolux also floated over, flying behind Lin Yun to read with him.
A few minutes later, Lin Yun closed the book and exchanged glances with Electrolux.
"The world is vast, full of wonders!" Electrolux couldn't help but exclaim.
"Impressive," Lin Yun covered his forehead, expressing his admiration with a single word.
After reading this book, Lin Yun and Electrolux shared a common thought: the Dou Ling imperial family—no, it should be said, the former Heaven Dou imperial family—these people really knew how to play!
The reason for Xue Qingci's martial soul mutation dates back thousands of years, when the Heaven Dou Empire was not yet divided, and the Xue family was still the Heaven Dou Empire's royal family.
The Heaven Dou Empire of ten thousand years ago was probably the power that recorded the most deeds of Tang San on the Douluo Continent, aside from the Tang Sect and Shrek.
After Tang San ascended, Xue Beng, as Tang San's disciple, recorded many legends about Tang San, including the woman who constantly threatened his life and killed his three brothers: Qian Renxue.
That terrifying Six-Winged Angel martial soul deeply shocked Xue Beng at the time. As martial souls both possessing wings, compared to the Six-Winged Angel, their Heaven Dou imperial family's Swan martial soul was simply too weak...
The seed of becoming stronger was thus planted.
But for a long time, the Heaven Dou imperial family was at a loss, because there were no overly powerful swan-type Fierce Beasts on the Douluo Continent, which meant they didn't even know how to explore the path forward.
It wasn't until the Heavenly Dream Iceworm escaped and the Fierce Beasts of the Lake of Life emerged that the Heaven Dou imperial family suddenly realized.
It turned out that the Douluo Continent also had the powerful Emerald Swan tribe.
They were ecstatic.
For several centuries, the Heaven Dou imperial family frantically searched the entire Star Dou Great Forest for Emerald Swans, eager to obtain an Emerald Swan's soul ring.
But all the Emerald Swans had long been gathered by Bijie. How could they possibly find them?
After countless efforts, they finally obtained one piece of information: that the Emerald Swans possessed the life attribute.
From that moment on, the Heaven Dou imperial family conducted almost insane research. They abandoned their original assault-type path and began consuming heavenly treasures with life attributes and absorbing soul rings with life attributes, attempting to transform their Swan martial soul towards the Emerald Swan.
But martial soul mutation was not an easy feat, let alone evolving a formerly weak swan into a super Fierce Beast like the Emerald Swan.
The Heaven Dou imperial family failed terribly.
The consequence of this failure was that the Heaven Dou imperial family's bloodline began to wither significantly, rapidly declining from its prosperous period to a precarious state.
It was during this period that the civil strife in the Heaven Dou Empire erupted. The imperial family of the current Tianhun Empire began an uprising, driving the dwindling Heaven Dou imperial lineage out of Heaven Dou City and establishing the Tianhun Empire independently.
The exiled Heaven Dou lineage then established the Dou Ling Empire in what is now Spirit Dou City.
The matter did not end there.
The consequences of forcibly mutating martial souls continued to backlash against the former Swan lineage. Almost every generation of direct descendants would have a few who, upon martial soul awakening, either had innate defects and were born cripples, or died before the age of twenty due to martial soul defects.
It wasn't until Xue Qingci that the only exception appeared.
She did not undergo the life attribute transformation expected by the Swan lineage, evolving into an Emerald Swan. Instead, due to difficult labor during her mother's pregnancy, she almost died in the womb, which resulted in a massive accumulation of death qi within her.
Coupled with thousands of years of martial soul backlash...
The Necromancer Blood-Feathered Crane came into being.
This book recorded the true history of that time and the origin of Xue Qingci's martial soul.
(End of Chapter)
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