Chapter 40: Mission Rewards

"Xiaoer, thank you!" Upon returning to the papal palace, Bibi Dong said, looking at Ling Xiao with boundless gentleness in her eyes.

Ling Xiao looked at Bibi Dong, a flash of purple light crossing his eyes. Seeing that the gloom in her heart had been driven away, he nodded with satisfaction.

"Xiaoer, are you going out again?" Bibi Dong asked.

"Mhm! I still have many god trials to complete, so I probably won't stay in the Spirit Hall for long!" Ling Xiao replied.

"Oh!"

"Xiaoer, you're leaving again?" Hu Liena asked, munching on some food nearby.

"To grow stronger, I have no choice!" Ling Xiao shook his head.

"But Xiaoer, you are already strong enough now. You could even destroy the God Realm!"

"Nana, Xiaoer is different from us. At best, we can only ever hope to become gods, but for Xiaoer, attaining godhood is merely the very beginning!" Bibi Dong shook her head and said.

"Oh!"

Hu Liena felt a little dejected inside. Whether in childhood or now, the gap between her and Ling Xiao remained vast.

The three of them walked quietly along the path. Ling Xiao raised his head to look at the twinkling stars in the sky, a slight stirring in his heart, though he made no move. Given his current strength, plucking a river of stars from outer space as a gift was still quite difficult.

His current strength was only sufficient to destroy tens of thousands of worlds the size of the God Realm.

After the three of them parted ways, Ling Xiao returned to his room. Just as he took off his shoes and socks, a knock sounded at the door.

"Xiaoer!"

Ling Xiao opened the door to find Hu Liena standing outside. At that moment, she was dressed in thin garments, her figure graceful and her face flushed.

"Sister Na'er, why are you here?" Ling Xiao asked.

"Nothing much, I just haven't seen you in a long time and wanted to keep you company!" Hu Liena said as she entered the room.

"Oh! I was just about to bathe. Would Sister Na'er like to join me?" Ling Xiao said.

"Ah, sure, sure!"

Hearing this, Hu Liena's face grew even rosier, but she still nodded. Just as the two were about to bathe, another knock sounded at the door.

Through the door, Ling Xiao saw Bibi Dong, a look of puzzlement on his face. Why was everyone coming to his room today? Still, he opened the door.

"Xiaoer!"

Bibi Dong walked in slowly, dressed in purple gauze, and immediately spotted Hu Liena standing to the side.

The two women exchanged a glance before looking away, both seeing awkwardness in each other's eyes.

"Teacher, are you here to keep me company too?"

"Mhm!"

After giving a soft acknowledgement, Bibi Dong stood frozen in place. The current atmosphere made her wish she could crawl into a crack in the ground.

"Alright, Teacher, Sister Na'er and I are going to bathe. Would Teacher like to join?" Ling Xiao said, completely unbothered by the situation.

"Alright!" Bibi Dong nodded lightly.

The three of them arrived at the bath, a faint mist enveloping them.

Ling Xiao stripped off all his clothing and stepped into the pool.

Bibi Dong and Hu Liena were momentarily stunned as they looked at Ling Xiao before them.

Ling Xiao's face was breathtakingly exquisite, defying all description—a beauty that transcended mortal cognition. His physique was flawless, his skin as white and tender as jade.

Enshrouded in the faint mist of the bath, he possessed a hazy, ethereal beauty.

Stepping into the pool, Ling Xiao looked at the two motionless women and asked, "Teacher, Sister Na'er, why aren't you coming in?"

"Ah! Oh!"

Bibi Dong and Hu Liena snapped out of their daze, swallowing hard as they felt a sudden dryness in their throats.

Determined not to let Ling Xiao discover their embarrassment, the two hastily shed their clothes and entered the pool.

The moment they drew close to Ling Xiao, a peculiar fragrance wafted over them.

As soon as they caught the scent, Bibi Dong and Hu Liena were instantly captivated, their eyes glazing over in a trance.

Ling Xiao looked at the two of them, finding their reaction strange. With a faint ripple of spiritual shock, he jolted them back to awareness, their eyes clearing up.

"Hah～"

Bibi Dong let out a long breath, looked at Ling Xiao, and asked, "Xiaoer, what is that scent on you?"

"Huh? What scent?"

Hearing this, Ling Xiao raised his arm and sniffed. He couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary.

"There's no particular smell!"

"The scent on you alone was enough to overwhelm us completely. That's even more powerful than your spirit abilities, Nana!" Bibi Dong said.

"But why can't we usually smell it?" Hu Liena nodded and asked.

Bibi Dong looked at the clothes Ling Xiao had discarded and asked, "Xiaoer, those aren't ordinary clothes you were wearing, are they?"

"No, I made them using divine essence," Ling Xiao replied.

"As expected, they're extraordinary. Crafting clothing out of divine essence is just like wearing a divine artifact."

Bibi Dong marvelled in wonder. One had to possess an extraordinarily profound mastery of divine essence to accomplish such a feat; she certainly couldn't do it.

Hu Liena, on the other hand, was lost in different thoughts. Staring at Ling Xiao's face, she thought to herself, "Why is Xiaoer so breathtakingly beautiful? He's far prettier than me and Teacher. My appearance looks utterly ordinary compared to his."

After a while, just as Ling Xiao was about to get up and get dressed, the voice of Lanxue suddenly rang out.

"Ding! Quest issued: Complete the check-in by sleeping in the same bed with Bibi Dong and Hu Liena."

Hearing this, Ling Xiao's eyes lit up. Although it wasn't a god trial, any reward was welcome!

Besides, this wasn't the first time he had received a non-trial quest.

Moreover, the task was extremely simple—he just needed to sleep with Bibi Dong and the other. They had slept in the same bed for years when they were younger, so there was zero difficulty.

It had been quite a while since they started bathing, and it was time to rest. Ling Xiao stood up directly, used a flame to instantly evaporate all the water droplets on his body, and put on his sleepwear.

Bibi Dong and Hu Liena also stood up, dried themselves off, and changed into the sleepwear that had been prepared in Ling Xiao's room.

Bibi Dong and Hu Liena exchanged a blushing glance. Seeing Ling Xiao lying on the bed, they slipped in on either side of him.

Ling Xiao looked at the two of them and silently chanted in his mind: "Check in!"

"Quest completed. Congratulations, Master, for obtaining the Phantom Dream Bracelet and the Spirit-Devouring Ring!" Lanxue's voice sounded.

The next moment, Ling Xiao's soul entered the system space and saw the two items.

Taking them in his hands, Ling Xiao instantly understood their properties.

A soul artifact, the Phantom Dream Bracelet, possessed the functions of hypnosis, illusion, bewitchment, and soul trials.

A devourer artifact, the Spirit-Devouring Ring, could absorb, devour, and store energy, including divine essence attacks, and could also release divine essence blasts, combining offense and defense.

Note: These items are limited to the level of God Ancestor and below.

Ling Xiao sat up. Bibi Dong and Hu Liena looked at him in confusion and sat up as well.

With a flash of light in his hand, two items materialized.

"Teacher, Sister Na'er, these are gifts for you!" Ling Xiao handed the items to them respectively.

"What are these?"

"This one is the Phantom Dream Bracelet, suitable for Sister Na'er. It contains a soul trial space that can strengthen Sister Na'er's spiritual power, and it also has hypnotic, illusionary, and bewitching effects!"

"And this one is the Spirit-Devouring Ring. It can absorb energy, divine power, and divine essence—the ring can absorb all of them, store them, and release them outward, combining offense and defense!" Ling Xiao explained.

"Such powerful functions!" Bibi Dong remarked.

"However, Xiaoer, you should keep them for yourself! You need these things more!"

"Teacher, these things are useless to me, because these two items can only be used by those at the God Ancestor level or below, whereas my strength is already close to surpassing the God Ancestor realm!" Ling Xiao shook his head and said.

"Is that so?" Bibi Dong nodded upon hearing this.

Ling Xiao's strength was something she couldn't even begin to imagine anymore.

"Ding! Quest issued: Check-in at the Extreme North! Reward: God position of the Flame God!"

The Extreme North! That snowy plain?

Ling Xiao pondered for a moment. After more than two years, wonder how those two soul beasts were doing!

Ling Xiao shook his head. Never mind, he would head to the Extreme North to check in and pay them a visit along the way!

...

The night passed uneventfully. The next morning, all three woke up early. After having breakfast together, Hu Liena returned to her meditative state, Bibi Dong headed to the papal palace, and Ling Xiao set off for the Extreme North.

Passing through the Heaven Dou Empire along the way, Ling Xiao stopped. With a ripple of spatial fluctuation, he appeared inside Xue Qinghe's room.

At that moment, two figures appeared.

"Greetings, Holy Son!"

"Greetings, Holy Son!"

Ling Xiao looked at the Serpent Spear Douro and the Pufferfish Douro. Though their strength was currently at rank ninety-six, they were still too weak.

Tossing out two bottles of life water, the two Douluos hurriedly caught them.

"You two need to work harder. Throughout the entire Spirit Hall, the grand elders and elders of your generation are all above rank ninety-seven, with only two newly promoted elders at rank ninety-one. Make sure you aren't surpassed by the newcomers!"

The Serpent Spear Douro and Pufferfish Douro wore slightly awkward expressions.

Because they needed to protect Qian Renxue's safety within the Heaven Dou Empire, they sometimes missed out on resources that could enhance their strength, which was why they remained relatively weak.

Thinking of this, the two Douluos suddenly felt a jolt in their hearts.

Since when did they start looking down on rank ninety-six soul power? This was a realm they wouldn't even have dared to imagine in the past.

It was just that the presence of the Holy Son had raised the bar so high that veteran Titled Douluos in the Spirit Hall felt ashamed to call themselves experts without reaching rank ninety-seven!

Ah, truly, different tiers of existence lead to different perspectives. Ordinary Titled Douluos were practically worthless now! The two thought silently to themselves.

After waiting in the room for a while, Ling Xiao looked toward the door as a young man walked in, possessing an elegant and amiable appearance.

"Sister Xue!"

"Xiaoer!" Seeing Ling Xiao, Qian Renxue's eyes lit up, and she immediately dropped her disguise.

"Xiaoer, tell me, how long has it been since you came to see me?" Qian Renxue pouted, looking up at Ling Xiao in surprise. After two years apart, Ling Xiao had grown so tall!

The Serpent Spear and Pufferfish Douluos had long since departed, leaving only the two of them in the room.

"Sister Xue, I came here this time to give you a gift!"

"A gift? Hmph, don't think you can brush me off with just anything!" Qian Renxue said, though a flicker of anticipation and joy still crossed her eyes.

Hehe! Xiaoer still has me in his heart! Qian Renxue thought, feeling a wave of sweetness wash over her.

Without further ado, Ling Xiao produced the god position of the God of Judgment and handed it to Qian Renxue.

"Xiaoer, this is..."

Looking at the object in front of her, Qian Renxue's eyelids twitched violently.

"This is the god position of the God of Judgment. It's a gift for you!"

"What? A god position!" Qian Renxue gasped in astonishment.

Fortunately, there were no guards outside Xue Qinghe's bedchamber, otherwise that exclamation surely would have drawn a crowd.

Qian Renxue quickly lowered her voice and said, "Xiaoer, what are you doing? Put the god position away!"

"Sister Xue, this is for you!"

"I don't want it! God positions are extremely precious. Even if you have many of them, it doesn't mean they aren't important. Besides, I already have the Angelic God position. You should put it away quickly!" Qian Renxue urged.