Bailing City, inside the Imperial Castle.

Through the grapevine, news of the bloody battle that occurred during the Li family’s birthday celebration of Grand Elder Li Fengtian had already spread through Bailing Empire. The Li family was actually incredibly big and illustrious in the Bailing Empire, as it was very well-known as primarily a mercantile family. They prioritized doing business and marketing over the martial Way and as a result were very prosperous. Unfortunately they were also quite notorious when it regards to their overall conduct in the younger generation. The Li family which was in Tang Gu City was one of the more famous branch families, with the main lineage residing in Bailing City. Therefore, the news about Li Fengtian’s birthday celebration had spread quite fast.

Naturally, this news didn’t escape the ears of the Imperial Family. In one of the chambers, a woman draped in a red cape sat cross-legged in the center. She had a very imposing and majestic aura, almost rivaling a heavenly king or queen. If one were to stand by her, they wouldn’t be able to resist kneeling before her. She looked rugged and well-tempered, but her battle-hardened appearance served as a natural charm in its own way. She might not be a world-class beauty, but she was definitely an imposing warrior who could put any masculine man to shame. Though her eyes had been closed and she had been maintaining this position for a very long time, she finally opened them today.

“After thousands of years, finally, someone with the Divine Battle Goddess Soul has awakened in our Bailing Empire. I… should pay a visit to an old friend...”

The woman stood up finally and left the chambers quietly. It was unknown whether anyone inside the Imperial Castle even knew that she had departed.

That moment…

Su Qingcheng was back in the Su clan residence, going through the records in their family archives again. She was trying to corroborate Yao Meiyue’s knowledge of the Divine Battle Goddess Soul Constitution. Xiao Dian’s knowledge according to her was very rudimentary, so she attempted to fill in the gaps. This constitution was unlocked under the pretense that the person had awakened the Divine Battle Goddess Soul, which could only be obtained by women. The male equivalent of this was the Divine Tyrant Soul, which was quite similar but had a bigger emphasis on brute strength than the battle insight and instinct that the Divine Battle Goddess Soul granted.

Yao Meiyue was naturally knowledgeable about these matters due to her many years of experience in this kind of thing. Su Qingcheng herself found some records on mysterious constitutions and divine essences and did confirm some of the things that Yao Meiyue had explained to her. The Divine Battle Goddess Soul was a mysterious spiritual existence that could only truly be awakened in the course of battle, and it required that the person with it had a nascent soul to serve as a medium or conduit. Normally this would only happen in a much higher realm of cultivation, but Su Qingcheng had already acquired the lightning nascent soul by absorbing the core of a Lightning Wyvern Prince, thus resulting in her maturation of a nascent soul several decades earlier than the average time.

Truly, being the prisoner of the Heaven Thunder Prison had ended up becoming a truly fortuitous encounter, turning disaster into Su Qingcheng’s biggest fortune since gaining Yao Meiyue as a teacher. Ever since she acquired the power of lightning, her strength had become incredibly domineering and tyrannical. Awakening the power of the Divine Battle Goddess Soul only offset the weakness in her lack of life and death experiences! Yao Meiyue continued to explain the mysterious effects of this battle soul, telling her that during non-combat situations, the soul would be in a very dormant state and would provide a very gentle form of nourishment to one’s muscles, helping them to calm down much faster after heavy physical exertion. In a way, the Divine Battle Goddess Soul in a few words could be described as the fleshly body’s best companion!

The human body at this point in time was very high maintenance. Physical exertion and cultivation also drained the body of its precious nourishment and vitality which could be recovered not necessarily through food but with rest and elixirs. However, not only could the Divine Battle Goddess Soul skip this entirely, but it also worked in a much more effective manner as the battle soul was already part of the human body in the first place. Su Qingcheng was heavily alarmed when learning about this. No wonder she felt nothing much but a light tiredness after battling all those Li clan boys! It was an effect of her new constitution. However, she felt something was off about Xiao Dian telling her about how she acquired the battle soul. Unfortunately, though Yao Meiyue knew a lot about the battle soul, she wasn’t exactly confident on how Su Qingcheng could have suddenly acquired it.

Meanwhile, in another part of the residence, Su Ran had been accosted by Su Mujian, who finally had finished recovering from his injuries... Ever since that fateful encounter, he had felt deeply humiliated and embarrassed, causing him to shut himself from the world upon his recovery and enter a forceful hermitage inside the residence. Only recently did he come out especially after hearing about Su Qingcheng’s exploits. “Mom, we have a visitor from the Bailing Imperial Palace, claiming to be one of your friends. She wants to see you.”

“Huh? A visitor from the Imperial Palace? Eh, who could it be? Send her in to see me.”

“I understand!” Su Mujian nodded and he ran off to greet the visitor from the Imperial Palace. When he first saw the visitor, he was really flustered. It turned out that the visitor was actually that red-caped woman who learned about someone awakening the Divine Battle Goddess Soul. Evidently she already had an idea of who it could be, but she arrived at the Su clan residence wearing a red cloak. Most of her body was covered except for her face, which looked very mature. Su Mujian couldn’t help but get smitten by it!

He quietly ushered her into the hall and quietly led her to Su Ran.

Su Ran in return gasped and gestured for Su Mujian to leave without saying anything.

“It’s been a long time, Nie Ran. Or should I say, Mistress Su Ran?”

Su Ran crossed her arms and laughed softly. She recognized this person from the Imperial Palace. It was none other than the ranker who defeated her all those years ago, Void King! Void King was actually not a man, but a woman! Until this day, she still did not know her relationship with the Imperial Family, only that she was a part of their company. Yet Su Ran never bothered to pry into this personal information. All she knew as that Void King, known to the world as Qin Fa, was someone worthy of being a close friend.

“What brings you to our humble abode, Sis Qin?” Su Ran asked innocently.

“Your daughter, Su Qingcheng.”

“Eh? What about her? I know she is rather outstanding, but she’s still just a kid.”

“Sister, don’t play games with me. Don’t tell me you don’t know she awakened the Divine Battle Goddess Soul?”

“What? Er, Sis Qin, don’t play games with me. Even I know such an individual didn’t awaken in thousands of years.”

“No, it’s the truth. You know about the battle at the Li family banquet, right?”

“Yeah, I wanted to punish that little brat for it, but who would have known that Xiao Dian even didn’t stop her from disciplining all those boys? Man, who would have thought I had such an impulsive daughter…”

“She’s just like you. Anyway, if you don’t believe me, call her in here.”

Su Ran nodded. She asked one of the Su family helpers to call over Su Qingcheng, who arrived very quickly since the archives were not very far from this hall. When Su Qingcheng arrived, she gasped as she felt the presence of the cloaked woman being incredibly tyrannical. As a fifth rank user, she couldn’t help but tremble. Due to the Divine Battle Goddess Soul in her body, she did not kneel directly despite her cultivation level being wildly below both the ladies in front of her.

“See? Sis, your daughter really is a monster among monsters.” Qin Fa was inwardly shocked. She actually did not know that Su Qingcheng had already become a Tianqi Board Ranker. Even though she was ranked 100 in the Man board, Qin Fa could recognize that this meant she either did the three tests to qualify, or she directly defeated rank #100.

Su Ran stared at Su Qingcheng as if she wasn’t even her own daughter anymore, before shaking her as if she were a ragdoll. “Damnit! You little brat!!” Su Ran was howling with laughter. “You really are full of surprises, even this old lady can’t see through you anymore! Hahaha! My kid, my kid’s gonna be the Battle Goddess in legends!!”

Qin Fa’s mouth twitched as she gently pulled Su Ran back and made her calm down.

“Kid, you sure have some good luck!”

“This junior greets the mighty senior and sister of mother,” Su Qingcheng cupped her fists and bowed politely towards Qin Fa.

“No need to stand on ceremony with me. I, Qin Fa, treat my bosom sister’s kids with the respect they surely deserve. Especially you, little kid. Nobody in the past thousands of years has acquired the battle soul. You’re the first to awaken it. Since you’re not even yet a Geomancer, this means you must have acquired a powerful divergent nascent soul. Can you share it with me?”

Su Qingcheng didn’t hesitate as she controlled herself and let loose a very small bolt of lightning which fizzled out.

“Good kid, Sis, weren’t you trying to channel lightning before?”

“Yes, Sis Qin… I made a mistake, and implicated this brat… Causing her to be crippled. Who would have known that she’d make such a recovery, and even unlock a whole new world in her cultivation?” Su Ran spoke solemnly, feeling very guilty about the whole affair. She knew that Su Zhan and she couldn’t do anything about such a crippling even though they tried so hard. Yet, who would have known that Yao Meiyue would awaken from her slumber and concoct the Phoenix Rainbow Elixir, totally undoing the damage and even making her stronger?

“I heard the rumors about that thunder building falling from the sky. So it turns out the prisoner who escaped was you. The White Spirit Competition had been forcibly canceled due to the attack. Looks like they captured you.” Qin Fa frowned. “Sis Ran, do you mind if I borrow your kid for a while? She needs to be accustomed to her new battle sense and I feel like she needs some extra training.”

“Uh, there should be a month and two weeks before the date of her ‘engagement,’” Su Ran nodded, realizing the time for the challenge would be up very soon. “Under Sis Qin’s training, Qingcheng’er should be able to get some benefits.”

“Senior Qin, this lowly junior has a request.”

“Oh, speak, speak. I won’t hesitate to help out.” Qin Fa seemed pretty excited. It seemed like she was interested in mentoring a young seedling who had awakened the battle soul at an incredibly young age.

“I need a Fruit of Desire to help me break through. Will Senior Qin help me?”

“Ffffuahhh~~ Don’t call me senior anymore. Call me auntie! And sure, the Fruit of Desire is very rare, but I will help you out!” Qin Fa didn’t seem so imposing anymore. It seemed like the relationship between these two monstrous women wasn’t simple at all.

“Auntie Qin, don’t tell me you have a clue where to get it? Mother told me that thing is just impossible to get here.”

“I have my ways, naturally. Sis Ran, you let me take your kid back to my place for a while, eh?”

“Well, I normally wouldn’t trust anyone to take my daughter anywhere alone, but since it’s you, I guess that’s okay.” Su Ran giggled. Now Su Qingcheng was really convinced that the nicknames of Netherworld Ghost Queen and Void King seemed to have some underlying relationship also. However, Su Qingcheng didn’t ask. It was probably too personal. Qin Fa herself was at the peak of the Tianqi Emperor stratum, and rivaled Su Ran in terms of power. She quietly wrapped an arm around Su Qingcheng’s shoulder, treating her as if she were her own daughter, and walked away with her in front of a stupefied Su Ran, who laughed.

“Ehh… Sis Qin, you really did want a kid after all…” she quietly murmured as she looked at her hands.

Qin Fa was now carrying Su Qingcheng in her arms as she was flying all the way to the Bailing Empire. Along the way, Su Qingcheng had a lot of questions. She knew about her identity as Void King so she wanted to ask Qin Fa about her experiences in battling Su Ran.

“Ayo, kid, your mother really dotes on you. She even told you about our battle? Well, there’s probably something you should know that even your mother hid from you. Probably because she doesn’t want to worry you, but I think she probably won’t mind if I told you…”

“Eh?”

“Don’t you find it weird that Sis Ran’s hands become enflamed even though she can’t control fire tianqi?”

“Eh… That’s true, I never really made much of that, though! Can’t flames be made without it?”

“That’s right, it can, but those flames are netherworld flames, they could be comparable to the flames of the Infernal Realm. Certainly, you’d need a bit of flame tianqi for that. The reason is that in order to activate it, Sis Ran has to use a bit of her bloodline’s blood to power it up! If it weren’t for Sis Ran’s abnormal body, she would have shriveled up a long time ago…” Qin Fa frowned.

“What the hell! Is this really something you should be telling me!! Are you trying to scare me!!”

“Wait, I’m not finished yet.” Qin Fa attempted to calm her down. “Sis Ran’s body is really abnormal, so doing that isn’t a big deal for her. But as her daughter most inclined to be the one to inherit her Ghost Calamity Palm, I am sure Sis Ran is thinking very hard whether to pass it down to you or not. Sis Ran was born with the ability to replenish her own blood at a much faster rate compared to other humans. Clearly you don’t have the same thing, but instead have unlocked the mythical Divine Battle Goddess Soul only spoken of in legends. That’s why, under any circumstances, you cannot ask your mother to pass it down to you herself!”

“I get it now. So she was trying to protect me by not talking about it. Since my blood is not pure Nie blood, it might actually hurt me to learn the Ghost Calamity Palm.”

“That’s correct. Fortunately, you have your own secrets and treasures on you that allow you to make your own path. The moment you asked for a Fruit of Desire, I already knew you want to embark on the Path of a Paragon.”

Yao Meiyue was really shocked when she heard this from Qin Fa’s mouth. Su Qingcheng was even more stunned. “How did you know?”

“Well, that’s one of the reasons why I’m taking you with me. I know you need some special ingredients to make a medicinal bath that will protect you from the Single-Color Heavenly Tribulation that will strike you once you trigger the conditions to enter the Terraformer stage.” Qin Fa explained. “The Fruit of Desire is the key ingredient that allows the bath to rise up and cover your entire skin in the protective solution! Furthermore, it can help to absorb the tribulation lightning and enhance your lightning nascent soul further!”

Gudong!

Insane! This Qin Fa sure had some knowledge! Was she also a pro apothecary?

“Your body is abnormally tempered due to the abundance of lightning in your body. Combined with the awakening of the Divine Battle Goddess Soul, your fleshly body has an unlimited potential of growth. Right now, what you lack most aside from cultivation resources is battle experience. Though the battle soul can offset most of it, it really can’t offset personal experience. Instinct can only take you so far. Therefore, I plan to not only take you to the Tianzhan Mountain to look for the Fruit of Desire, I will also make you walk with me on the mountain for your experiential training!”

“This… Why are you helping me so much?”

“You have heavenly fortune, to be the one to have awakened the battle soul not seen in thousands of years that had only been recorded in those ancient tomes… To be able to be friends with the only one I could call my bosom sister, certainly, I won’t spare any expense to mentor you to become an unparalleled existence that surpasses me, and your mother.” Qin Fa had a very determined expression on her face.

“But…”

“No buts! Kiddo, you need the ability to protect yourself too. The Bailing Empire won’t be able to keep you here forever! You are already not only an inheritor of the divine battle soul, but you also plan to collect the Marks of the Paragon. The resources and experiences you will need to temper yourself, are found far, far away. Let me help you take your first steps!”

“F, fine…”

With that, Qin Fa flew far away at a fast speed with Su Qingcheng in tow…