Chapter 59: Using My Reward to Give Someone Else an Opportunity to Cheat—Is That Really Right?
Everyone was left completely speechless by Fan Chen's words.
At that moment, Qian Daoliu walked out from the treasury.
He had gone inside to inspect the inner vault's gate. After all, the item in Fan Chen's hand had been pried off directly from that gate, so he needed to confirm whether there were any issues with it.
But after a brief inspection, there didn't seem to be any problems—other than the fact that something was missing. And that missing item was precisely the bead in Fan Chen's hand.
"Hand it over."
Qian Daoliu didn't bother wasting words with Fan Chen. He directly stretched out his hand to ask for it.
"Relax, I'm not snatching it from you. I just want to take a look."
The inner vault's gate had existed far longer than Qian Daoliu himself. That bead had always been embedded in the gate.
No one had ever removed it before. Even Qian Daoliu had no idea what it actually was.
"Let's make this clear in advance. I followed your rules. You can't go back on your word."
"I won't. I'll give it back after I'm done looking."
Qian Daoliu genuinely seemed to only want to examine the bead and had no intention of reclaiming it.
Seeing this, Fan Chen didn't waste time. He took the bead out of his pocket and placed it into Qian Daoliu's hand.
Holding the bead, Qian Daoliu began to examine it carefully.
The round bead was entirely pinkish-white in color, resembling an enormous pink pearl.
It felt warm in the hand, unlike ordinary dead objects that were cold to the touch.
Its surface even had a faint elasticity, clearly not metal or crystal-type mineral.
Instead, it felt somewhat similar to dried gelatinous material.
Qian Daoliu probed its interior with soul power, only to discover that once the soul power entered, it rapidly vanished.
Like a clay ox entering the sea—gone without a trace.
After pondering over it for a long time, Qian Daoliu still couldn't find anything particularly special about it.
"Xiao Bai, do you know how this thing is used?"
The one who tied the bell must untie it. Since Xiao Bai was the one who had caused this thing to appear, he should know something.
"Eat it."
"…"
Qian Daoliu fell silent. That answer was no different from not answering at all.
In the end, he tried once more to probe it with soul power, but the result was still the same—nothing.
"Are you sure you want to choose this item? If you change your mind, I can let you choose again."
Although Qian Daoliu couldn't figure out what this thing was, anything embedded into the inner vault's gate definitely wasn't some simple decoration.
But according to the earlier rules, this item already belonged to Fan Chen. He couldn't forcibly take it back, so the only option would be to trade something for it.
"No trade. I want this one. Something Xiao Bai chose can't be wrong."
In truth, Fan Chen himself wasn't sure what this thing actually did either.
But his thinking was the same as Qian Daoliu's—something on the inner vault's gate couldn't possibly be ordinary. Keeping it was guaranteed not to be a loss.
"Since that's the case, then take it with you."
Seeing that Fan Chen had made his decision, Qian Daoliu returned the bead to him.
"Big brother, this—"
Golden Crocodile Douluo wanted to say something, but Qian Daoliu raised his hand to stop him.
"The inner vault's gate wasn't affected by losing this item. Since that's the case, letting Fan Chen take it poses no problem."
Hearing this, Golden Crocodile Douluo said nothing more. That had been his main concern.
Since there was no impact, Fan Chen could do as he pleased.
Perhaps this item was simply destined to belong to Fan Chen.
With this small incident over, Qian Daoliu and the others each went their separate ways.
Fan Chen, meanwhile, returned to his own room.
Lying on the bed, Fan Chen took out the round bead from his pocket and examined it closely.
"Xiao Bai, you said this is edible. How are you planning to eat it—just bite it directly?"
Looking at the bead, which was about the size of his own fist, Fan Chen seriously doubted whether Xiao Bai could even swallow it.
"It's not for Xiao Bai to eat. It's for Big Sister."
"?"
Fan Chen was completely stunned.
He'd seen Xiao Bai ask Qian Renxue for food countless times, but this was the first time he'd seen Xiao Bai look for food for Qian Renxue.
"You're saying this thing is for Xiao Xue to eat?"
"Yeah! If Big Sister eats this, she'll become stronger and more powerful. Then no one will dare bully her in the future."
Fan Chen's face was full of question marks. Who would even dare to bully Qian Renxue now?
Ever since awakening her martial soul, Qian Renxue had become a priceless treasure in Qian Daoliu's eyes.
Forget bullying—touching her even once might make Qian Daoliu draw his sword and chop someone into minced meat.
Uh… come to think of it, the one who'd been touching Qian Renxue recently seemed to be himself.
'Doesn't that mean Xiao Bai is helping Qian Renxue deal with me?'
"Xiao Bai, you've defected!"
Fan Chen immediately grabbed Xiao Bai beside him.
Xiao Bai didn't even have time to react before being pinned to the bed by Fan Chen.
At that moment, he looked at Fan Chen with an aggrieved expression.
"Big brother, I didn't! I wasn't talking about you. I meant that bad woman who tried to hit Big Sister before."
The moment Fan Chen heard this, he froze.
The bad woman who hit Qian Renxue… Bibi Dong.
Fan Chen had almost forgotten about Bibi Dong's existence.
Ever since that incident, she had never appeared again. Coupled with Fan Chen's intense training, he had gradually pushed her out of his mind.
He hadn't expected Xiao Bai to still remember her—and to be thinking about helping Qian Renxue deal with her.
His own martial soul is helping Qian Renxue fight against her own mother…
The more he thought about it, the stranger it sounded.
And Bibi Dong was already at the Soul Douluo level, right? Meanwhile, Qian Renxue was only a two-ring Soul Grandmaster.
That was a full six-ring gap. Even leaping levels shouldn't be this absurd.
Eating this thing and letting a Soul Grandmaster gain the abilities of a Soul Douluo—what is this, eating a system?
"No, no, big brother, you misunderstood! It's not about fighting…"
Seeing that Fan Chen had misunderstood, Xiao Bai began explaining in a flustered panic.
Unfortunately, due to his limited vocabulary, the explanation wasn't very clear.
Thankfully, Fan Chen shared a mental connection with Xiao Bai. Even if Xiao Bai's explanation was vague, Fan Chen still managed to piece together the meaning.
What Xiao Bai meant was simple: after Qian Renxue ate this item, the soul power within her body would be compressed inward.
Her soul power level wouldn't change, but her recovery ability, circulation speed, and density of soul power would all be greatly enhanced.
"Soul power compression without a change in level… Why does this sound so familiar? I feel like I've heard of this somewhere before."
After pondering for a long time, Fan Chen finally found the key term in his memory that matched these conditions.
"Isn't this basically a soul core?!"
Fan Chen jumped straight off the bed, his mind in complete chaos.
And if he remembered correctly, the concept of a soul core shouldn't even exist at this point.
The closest thing to a soul core should be the poison pellet inside Dugu Bo's body.
"What the hell is this thing, to let Xiao Xue condense a soul core at just two ring stage?"
"And more importantly—Xiao Bai, you're my martial soul! Taking my spoils of war to give someone else a cheat—what kind of logic is that?!"
It wasn't that Fan Chen was unwilling to give this item to Qian Renxue.
No matter how they messed around, it wouldn't matter. Qian Renxue wouldn't deliberately screw him over or anything.
But the problem was that Meng Xiaoyan was involved.
Strengthening Qian Renxue was equivalent to indirectly helping Meng Xiaoyan.
If he ever fell into her hands, he'd be finished.
At this moment, Fan Chen felt like he'd just swallowed a mouthful of shit.
He never imagined that Xiao Bai would one day screw him over like this.
Then again… Xiao Bai screwing him over wasn't exactly rare.
From marking the Angel God statue, to Meng Xiaoyan, and now this—there hadn't been a single break in the pitfall chain.
"Truly a karmic sin!"
End of Chapter