Chapter 51: Bai Ze's Blood — Reviving the Dead
There were only a few days left before the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament came to an end.
During these days, Fan Chen's streak of good luck seemed to have been completely used up ever since Meng Xiaoyan appeared.
He wandered around Spirit City several times, yet never managed to find another suitable candidate.
Fan Chen even made a trip back to the orphanage where he had once stayed, thinking that since both he and Meng Xiaoyan had come from this place, perhaps others might emerge here as well.
Unfortunately, that hope was dashed.
The only real highlight of these days was probably the fight between Xiao Bai and Da Bai.
Xiao Bai was extremely vindictive about Meng Xiaoyan's earlier actions. The moment Fan Chen brought him into the orphanage, he immediately went looking for Da Bai, who was lying nearby, taking a lazy nap, and challenged him to a fight.
In the end, Xiao Bai emerged victorious.
But rather than calling it a victory, it would be more accurate to say that Da Bai never intended to fight him at all. Instead, he actively cooperated, allowing Xiao Bai to knock him down to the ground.
The entire process had Qian Renxue and Meng Xiaoyan laughing nonstop, and in the end, Fan Chen personally delivered his verdict:
Xiao Bai's combat power was inferior to that of a dog.
That said, it wasn't really Xiao Bai's fault. After all, his current form, when compared to Da Bai's, was about the same as a puppy that was only a few months old.
If you removed the pair of horns from his head, then from a distance, he could genuinely be mistaken for a little white dog.
Moreover, Xiao Bai was an auxiliary-type existence to begin with. His innate combat strength wasn't high, and Fan Chen hadn't provided him with any soul power support either.
After all, Xiao Bai was a martial soul. Whether or not he was supplied with soul power made a world of difference.
Fan Chen had also deliberately held back, afraid that Xiao Bai might actually injure Da Bai. After all, he quite liked Da Bai—before Xiao Bai appeared, Da Bai had been his best playmate.
He just hadn't expected the final outcome to turn out like this.
Da Bai's temperament was simply too gentle. After all, there were many children at the orphanage. If he were too fierce, there was no way they would have allowed him to stay here—he might scare the kids, and then the caretakers would have a hard time calming them down.
"So? Have you learned your lesson? You still want to challenge Da Bai? Look at your tiny body—be careful, or Da Bai will flatten you with his butt."
"Barely lost! This was an honorable defeat! Once I grow a bit bigger, I'll definitely beat him!"
Faced with Meng Xiaoyan's teasing, Xiao Bai was clearly unconvinced.
The Water of Life left behind by Di Tian had caused his body to grow quite a bit.
However, the growth wasn't that dramatic. Aside from the first time, when the change had been more noticeable, the subsequent changes were very small.
Fan Chen suspected that this was because the impurities within his own body had already been cleared out.
Since Xiao Bai was his martial soul, his changes were undoubtedly closely tied to Fan Chen himself.
If there wasn't much change on Fan Chen's side, then Xiao Bai naturally wouldn't change much either.
Perhaps only when he grew older, or his strength increased, would Xiao Bai be able to grow larger again.
Of course, all of this was merely Fan Chen's own speculation. What the actual situation would be like could only be seen in the future.
"Enough with the useless talk. A loss is still a loss, even if it's 'barely.' Just because your names sound similar, was it really worth holding a grudge?"
Fan Chen glanced at Xiao Bai helplessly. Picking a fight with a dog just because of a name—there was really no one else like him.
Xiao Bai was originally a Bai Ze, so calling him Xiao Bai made perfect sense. It sounded nice and was easy to remember.
Could he really call him Little Ze instead? That just sounded strange, no matter how you looked at it.
"No next time. Da Bai is old—don't go tormenting him anymore."
Ever since Fan Chen could remember, Da Bai had always been there.
According to the caretakers, Da Bai was already very old, more than ten years old.
Perhaps in a few more years, he would reach the end of his lifespan. By then, even if Xiao Bai grew up and wanted to challenge him again, it would probably be impossible.
"Will Da Bai… die?"
Xiao Bai seemed to understand the implication behind Fan Chen's words, and his expression turned somewhat downcast.
"Yes. Da Bai isn't a soul beast—he's just an ordinary dog. He doesn't have such a long lifespan."
In the Douluo Continent, aside from soul beasts, there were also ordinary animals, as well as extremely powerful ancient exotic beasts.
For example, the Ten-Headed Fiery Yang Serpent of the Slaughter City was one such representative. This kind of existence didn't belong to the category of soul beasts—killing it wouldn't produce soul rings or soul bones. Instead, it would form an extremely special inner core, a unique kind of heavenly treasure.
As for ordinary animals like chickens, ducks, cats, and dogs, they also existed on the Douluo Continent. They possessed no soul power and had extremely short lifespans. Da Bai was one of them.
After hearing Fan Chen's definitive answer, Xiao Bai seemed to be stimulated by something. He suddenly wriggled out of Qian Renxue's arms and ran toward the orphanage behind them.
"Xiao Bai!"
Qian Renxue called out to Xiao Bai's departing figure. Under normal circumstances, Xiao Bai would have immediately run back.
But this time, he didn't—even his head didn't turn. He just ran straight ahead without looking back.
"Was he… stimulated?"
Meng Xiaoyan was utterly baffled by Xiao Bai's reaction. Birth, aging, sickness, and death were just part of life, weren't they? And this was only an ordinary dog like Da Bai.
Da Bai had already lived for so long—he could be considered long-lived. Most ordinary dogs wouldn't even reach his age.
"Let's follow him and take a look."
Fan Chen could sense the sorrow in Xiao Bai's heart. When it came to death, he seemed unable to comprehend it the way they could.
When the three of them finally found Xiao Bai, he was already standing in front of Da Bai.
At this moment, Da Bai's aura was extremely weak. He lay on the ground, completely motionless.
"Woof~"
With some difficulty, he opened his eyes and looked at Xiao Bai, letting out a soft bark as if greeting him.
Fan Chen activated his soul power and used his eyes to look at Da Bai. At this moment, the energy within Da Bai's body was almost completely depleted. Only a tiny spark of faint light still flickered.
Da Bai had no soul power, nor any other special energy. Therefore, this faint light could only be his final life force.
Qian Renxue and Meng Xiaoyan couldn't see this, but judging from Da Bai's condition, they could more or less guess what was happening.
"Da Bai…"
"His life is about to be exhausted."
Fan Chen spoke this cruel reality aloud. Watching Da Bai's life wither away made his heart feel heavy.
The Eye of Truth allowed him to clearly see the life light within Da Bai gradually shrinking. When this wisp of light completely disappeared, it would signify the end of life.
Yet in the very next moment, Xiao Bai made a move that no one had expected.
He raised one of his front paws and put it into his mouth, then bit down hard.
An overwhelming aura of life instantly surged out from the wound.
Not far away, Guang Ling frowned and immediately used his soul power to form a barrier, sealing off everything here.
"What's going on?"
Guang Ling appeared beside Fan Chen and the others, asking what had happened.
But Qian Renxue and Meng Xiaoyan were just as confused—they had no idea what was happening either. Everything had occurred too suddenly for them to react.
Only Fan Chen understood the reason, because at this very moment, Xiao Bai's voice was continuously echoing in his mind:
"Save him!"
Blood flowed from Xiao Bai's wound. Enduring the pain, he extended his paw toward Da Bai's mouth.
Xiao Bai's blood was not red. It was semi-transparent, radiating a powerful aura of life along with multicolored streams of light.
From afar, it looked like amber emitting a crystalline glow under the refraction of sunlight.
The blood dripped onto Da Bai's mouth.
Thump—!
Fan Chen felt his heart suddenly pound once, and in that instant, half of the soul power in his body vanished.
And this wasn't a simple expenditure of soul power—he could even feel that his very soul power limit had decreased somewhat.
However, Fan Chen wasn't paying attention to that right now, because he discovered that the life light within Da Bai—who had been on the brink of death—had reignited.
And besides that, life light, an entirely new sphere of light had appeared.
The sphere was white, like a newly born star, radiating dazzling brilliance.
The weakened Da Bai slowly stood up from the ground, his eyes becoming lively once more.
Within his eyes, a faint and mysterious pattern appeared.
"Da Bai… he's alive!"
Meng Xiaoyan could hardly believe her eyes. Xiao Bai had shocked her once again.
How was this any different from bringing someone back from the dead?!
"Da Bai seems… different?"
Qian Renxue could clearly sense that the aura surrounding Da Bai was completely different from before.
The aura he was now emitting was somewhat similar to the one Xiao Bai possessed.
"What on earth is this?!"
Guang Ling couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was as if he had just watched an ordinary dog transform into a soul beast right before his eyes.
No—perhaps this wasn't even a soul beast anymore, but an exotic beast.
What was the difference between this and a gorilla suddenly evolving into a human right in front of you?!
And the one who was equally shocked was Fan Chen himself. After all, it seemed he had just discovered yet another terrifying ability of Xiao Bai.
"Life… blood… evolution!"
End of Chapter