One month later.
Undead Demiplane
In the center of the shadow-wreathed clearing inside Electrolux's Undead Demiplane, pale magic light flickered.
Qian Renxue stood with a focused expression, her slender fingers tracing invisible sigils in the air as three spectral arrows of bone-white energy formed behind her. They crackled with deathly aura, Undead Decay Arrows, a Tier 3 spell she had recently started practicing.
But her golden eyes were distant.
'It's already been a week since I reached Level 30... When will Dugu Bo bring the soul beast? It wasn't even a rare one.'
Even as her mind wandered, her magic control did not falter. The three arrows whooshed forward in perfect formation and slammed into a jagged boulder in the distance. The impact disintegrated the stone with a hollow echo.
Yet she didn't celebrate. She was about to cast another when—
"Renxue, someone is approaching your room," Electrolux's voice echoed in her spirit sea.
As always before her training, Electrolux had layered a spectral inhibition around her room. It blocked energy signatures from escaping and acted as a perimeter alarm for intrusions.
Qian Renxue nodded. "Let's head back."
In a flash of light, the a door appeared, and Qian Renxue's went back to her room. Electrolux withdrew into her spirit sea, and the barrier faded.
Just then, the sound of cautious footsteps reached her ears, followed by the creak of her chamber door.
Wu Meng, her maid, stepped inside, bowing.
"Young Master, Poison Douluo has arrived to see you."
Behind her, the once-gaunt form of Dugu Bo entered. His appearance had not changed since their last meeting.
Suppressing the flicker of joy that rose in her heart, Qian Renxue's face remained calm and composed.
"Wu Meng, wait outside."
Wu Meng bowed again and exited, closing the door softly behind her.
Qian Renxue gestured gracefully to a seat across from her, and Dugu Bo sat without pretense.
She began, her voice poised. "I assume you've brought the things I asked for?"
Dugu Bo nodded, reaching toward his belt.
He took out a small leather pouch, about the size of two palms, simple but finely stitched with runic thread.
"This is my Ruyi Treasure Bag," he explained, handing it over.
The treasure bag was able to store living beings.
Qian Renxue took it with a calm nod.
Then Dugu Bo reached into a second space soul guide and retrieved a modest, unadorned wooden box.
His expression was slightly odd, complicated, as if unsure which expression to make.
He placed the box before her.
"And this... this is the second item you asked for. Took me longer to find a suitable ones. You said 'the older the better', after all."
Qian Renxue's golden eyes sparkled slightly. She received the box with delicate hands, placing it carefully beside the treasure pouch.
"I trust the soul beast is incapacitated?"
Dugu Bo gave a wry chuckle.
"In a coma, completely poisoned. Won't wake up without my antidote."
"Perfect," Qian Renxue replied with a soft smile.
She let silence settle between them for a moment, fingers brushing the wooden lid of the box. Her posture was calm, but the air around her seemed to hold its breath.
"Thank you," she said at last, her tone carrying rare sincerity.
Dugu Bo met her gaze. "You've given me far more. I'm only repaying a drop of it."
Qian Renxue said nothing further, but her smile deepened just slightly, serene, thoughtful, and unreadable.
'Finally... everything is in place.'
Qian Renxue continued speaking calmly, "I've already passed your soul core cultivation notes to Grandfather. Before returning to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, make sure to meet him and other elders. You can discuss the key points about soul core cultivation in person."
She leaned back slightly, voice steady, "You came this time to deliver some precious herbs I asked about last time. That will be the official reason."
Dugu Bo nodded, understanding the subtext immediately.
"Understood."
That was the cover story. A gift of herbs from the Poison Douluo to the descendant of the Angel Clan, nothing worth questioning.
Without wasting time, he offered his farewells and departed.
...
Not long after he left, Qian Renxue rang a small silver bell by her bedside.
Wu Meng entered, her head bowed respectfully.
"Young Master?"
Qian Renxue's voice was serene, yet resolute.
"Do not disturb me. I will be entering closed-door cultivation."
Wu Meng bowed again. "As you wish."
She silently exited the room and shut the door behind her.
A moment later, as silence returned to the chamber, a pale shimmer gathered near the wall, and from that light emerged Electrolux, his translucent figure appearing like a wraith woven from light and shadow.
He stood beside her with a faint smile, his robe of gray-white seeming to ripple with soul force.
"Are you ready?" he asked gently.
Qian Renxue nodded without hesitation. "Yes."
Electrolux raised his right hand, tracing a rune in the air. In the next moment, a dense spiritual barrier shimmered into place, enclosing the entire room with a pale glow. It suppressed sound, energy, and even spiritual fluctuations, nothing would escape its walls.
Now sealed within a sanctum of silence, Qian Renxue stepped forward and drew out the Ruyi Treasure Bag.
With a flick of her finger, soul power surged into it, and a flash of green light expanded in front of her.
The room trembled slightly as an enormous creature appeared, its body sprawled across the polished stone floor.
It was the Horned Disguise Chameleon.
Its body was sleek and muscular, covered in layers of mottled scales that seemed to shifting faintly between greens and browns. Roughly eight meters long, it had a powerful, lean tail that curled behind it like a whip, and clawed limbs with suction-like digits that gave it an iron grip on any surface. A single obsidian-black horn jutted from the top of its snout, curved slightly backward like a dagger, its edges etched with natural grooves.
Its head bore ridges along its sides, giving it a slightly draconic appearance, and its eyelids were shut over eyes that, when open, could rotate independently of each other.