Chapter 12: Secret Meeting, Another Sudden Change
"Big brother, what exactly is going on?"
The others crowded closer, all curious about the ability Fan Chen had just displayed.
"I can only confirm that it's a blessing-type support skill. Its main effects should be boosting cultivation speed and providing a certain level of healing."
This ability, like his previous innate skill, was of the support category—only this time, instead of strengthening himself, it granted a group-wide buff.
From what they'd seen so far, the activation condition appeared to be sleep—and not just one person, but both of them needing to fall asleep at the same time.
Fan Chen's own soul power couldn't actually sustain these innate abilities at their full potency. Just now, Qian Daoliu had used a special method to inject his own soul power into Xiao Bai's body.
That amplification was what allowed the skill's effect to expand into that massive energy ring from earlier.
"So that's how it is. I never thought I'd live long enough to see something like this."
"Truly. I've lived so many years, and this is also my first time witnessing such an ability."
As a group, they had seen countless support-type skills.
They'd come into contact with the so-called strongest support-type Martial Soul, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, and even the Nine-Heart Begonia, which boasted the strongest healing capabilities.
Those Martial Souls were indeed impressive—but their effectiveness was ultimately limited by the cultivation level of their users.
To grant any meaningful boost to experts of their level was extremely difficult.
Fan Chen, on the other hand, hadn't even obtained a soul ring yet. His soul power was only at rank ten.
And yet, purely with an innate ability, he'd already managed to grant a temporary buff to Golden Crocodile Douluo. With Qian Daoliu's soul power backing, the effect had expanded to cover everyone present.
If someone like this were to truly grow up, just how terrifying would he become?
And this wasn't even the end of it.
Fan Chen didn't have just one Martial Soul—he had two.
Twin Martial Souls were indeed rare, but not unheard of. Spirit Hall had a few recorded cases.
One defining trait of twin Martial Souls, besides innate full soul power, was that the quality of both Martial Souls would be roughly equal.
There was no such thing as one being incredible and the other completely useless.
In Spirit Hall currently, aside from Fan Chen, there was exactly one other twin Martial Soul user—Bibi Dong.
Her Death Spider Emperor martial soul and Soul-Eating Spider Emperor martial soul were both of the same level—both utterly top-tier beast-type Martial Souls.
Given that Fan Chen's Bai Ze Martial Soul possessed such an ability, his other Martial Soul, the Reverse-Edge Demon Armor, was almost guaranteed to also possess some sort of unique, terrifying power.
Even someone like Qian Daoliu, who had seen geniuses come and go his entire life, was shaken by Fan Chen's talent. That was why he'd said what he did to Golden Crocodile Douluo earlier.
To go out for a casual stroll and bring back a monster like this—"luck" didn't even begin to cover it.
"Golden Crocodile, go settle those little ones first, then come back to us afterward."
After leaving this simple instruction, Qian Daoliu took the others and departed the Library.
They were all old companions. There was no need for extra explanations—Golden Crocodile Douluo instantly understood what Qian Daoliu meant.
Once the others had left, he turned back toward Fan Chen with a helpless expression.
In just these two days, this little brat had brought him nothing but surprise after surprise.
All he'd originally wanted was to pick up a cheap bargain disciple—someone with twin Martial Souls, so that he'd have some extra face in front of others.
But this light he'd picked up was shining a bit too brightly. Even he was having trouble handling it.
"Let's go. I'll take you—what are you still doing here?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo had just been about to take Fan Chen and Qian Renxue out of the Library when he caught sight of Qian Xunji out of the corner of his eye.
"Um… Uncle Golden Crocodile, my daughter…"
Qian Xunji tried to say something, but it was obvious Golden Crocodile Douluo had no interest in listening.
"She's fine with me here. What, you didn't realize I hadn't called your name just now?"
"I think you're really itching for a beating. If you don't scram, I'll help you disappear."
Golden Crocodile Douluo's attitude toward Qian Xunji could only be described as downright hostile.
Seeing him like this, Qian Xunji could only shrink his neck and slink away.
Never mind that he was the current Pope—Golden Crocodile Douluo's seniority and status both far surpassed his.
And Qian Xunji had been beaten by him since childhood. Even Qian Daoliu hadn't hit him as many times as Golden Crocodile Douluo had.
His fear of the man was deeply ingrained.
Once the eyesore had finally left, Golden Crocodile Douluo turned his attention back to Fan Chen and Qian Renxue.
He walked up to the still-sleeping Qian Renxue and gently picked her up.
She was fast asleep, so deeply that even all the ruckus from earlier hadn't woken her.
Her small body curled naturally into Golden Crocodile Douluo's arms, like a little stray kitten that had finally found a place to rest.
"Let's go. I'll get you two little brats settled first, then I'll head over."
After sending the two children back to their respective quarters, Golden Crocodile Douluo prepared to leave.
But before that, he specifically left a few words for Fan Chen.
"Don't run around randomly. Here—there's some food. Eat a bit first to fill your stomach. I'll have someone send more over later."
Fan Chen hadn't eaten dinner yet, and after everything that had just happened, he was definitely hungry.
To stop them from wandering out on their own to find food, Golden Crocodile Douluo had no choice but to arrange it this way.
He himself didn't have much on him at the moment.
Fan Chen nodded obediently.
The day's events had left him utterly baffled. Right now, all he wanted was to calmly figure out what unknown secrets he still had hidden inside himself.
Once everything was settled, Golden Crocodile Douluo left.
---
Douluo Hall.
Inside a sealed secret chamber.
Several people were already seated there.
At the head sat Qian Daoliu, with the other Worships such as Xiong Kuohai occupying the remaining seats.
As the Pope, Qian Xunji sat to Qian Daoliu's side, while the seat on the other side was left empty.
"Sorry to keep everyone waiting."
Golden Crocodile Douluo's figure appeared, and he took that one empty seat—that place had been reserved for him.
"Since everyone is here, let's talk about that little brat, Fan Chen."
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Qian Daoliu went straight to the point.
"His Martial Soul is extremely unique. So far, we've confirmed two abilities."
"The first is a detection-type skill that can…"
Qian Daoliu slowly shared everything he currently knew about Fan Chen, along with his own preliminary guesses.
The others each spoke up in turn, offering their own thoughts and opinions.
The meeting proceeded in an orderly manner, though the atmosphere felt oddly strained.
Qian Xunji, who sat off to one side, remained silent the entire time.
From beginning to end, he didn't voice a single opinion, as if he were merely an outsider to his own hall.
Although the core of this meeting was Fan Chen—
Two other names inevitably surfaced again and again.
The first was someone who, like Fan Chen, possessed a strange, external beast-type Martial Soul: Yu Xiaogang.
The second was Spirit Hall's former Saintess, the only known twin Martial Soul user before Fan Chen appeared, Qian Xunji's disciple and Qian Renxue's mother, Bibi Dong.
Both were taboo names within Spirit Hall.
On any other day, none of them would have mentioned those two at all.
It was simply too shameful.
The Saintess of Spirit Hall, lured away by a useless piece of trash from a rival sect.
And the Saintess's teacher, the current Pope of Spirit Hall, forcibly impregnated her just to prevent her from eloping.
It sounded absurd, like a lurid rumor—but every part of it was true.
If such a scandal spread, Spirit Hall's reputation would be completely ruined.
The only reason they were bringing it up again now was because of Fan Chen's appearance.
Spirit Hall did have records on twin Martial Souls—but very few.
Each case was different, and if the guidance given was even slightly off, it wasn't unheard of for a twin Martial Soul user to be crippled.
In Fan Chen's case, the risk was even higher, as both of his Martial Souls were completely unprecedented and without any recorded reference.
To minimize the chances of something going wrong, the best solution would be to find someone who understands both twin Martial Souls and external beast-type Martial Souls.
Fortunately, Spirit Hall did have such a person.
Bibi Dong.
Right now, they were debating whether or not to have Bibi Dong take part in Fan Chen's education.
"Then, regarding Fan—"
Qian Daoliu suddenly broke off mid-sentence.
His eyes narrowed, and he shot to his feet.
His terrifying aura burst forth like a tidal wave, filling the chamber.
A pair of golden angel wings unfurled majestically behind him.
"What's wrong?"
Everyone was startled by his sudden move, completely at a loss as to what had happened.
"Golden Crocodile—your disciple and Bibi Dong have started fighting!"
"What?!"
—
End of Chapter