Douluo: Things You Live Long Enough to See [39]

Shuying was clearly the kind of person who never learned his lesson. Bingdi yanked his ear with a scowl, saying, “You? A harem? You're lucky someone like me even gives you the time of day! Stop misleading innocent girls already!”

“Ah, ow, ow! Don’t pinch! I was just making a joke! Besides, can you really say you’ve never thought about starting a reverse harem yourself? Otherwise, give me back that concept sketch I drew of Snow Empress!” Shuying was still a little uneasy when it came to the Snow Empress—after all, even though she was a woman, in the original story, Bingdi did like her.

Yuri is great and all—until it gets pinned on you…

“I—I didn’t…” At the mention of Snow Empress, Bingdi’s voice lowered. “I was just… alone for so long… I thought there was nothing wrong with two girls being together, and then… and then…”

“Ahhh! Don’t bring it up again! That’s ancient history! Ugh, Snow Empress is probably still laughing at me!”

After spending so much time with Shuying, Bingdi had more or less come to understand that her feelings for the Snow Empress back then had just been two lonely beings finding solace in each other—a mutual admiration between apex powerhouses.

Even people living in cities often can't clearly distinguish between familial love and romantic love, let alone Bingdi, who had spent her life isolated in the frozen wilderness.

Shuying, for his part, knew full well that the Snow Empress had never felt that way in the original story it had all been Bingdi’s misunderstanding. Still, guys could be petty like that. Even jealous over girls.

Tang Chen and Dugu Bo ate popcorn off the ground without changing expressions—turns out popcorn goes well with dog food. They even sprinkled some salt and sugar on it for extra flavor.

Tang Chen preferred salty. Dugu Bo liked sweet. Incidentally, the corn was grown in Shuying’s own estate. Corn had existed in Douluo for a long time, but it wasn’t easy to digest, so it never became a staple food. Shuying planted it purely to make popcorn…

Both disciples agreed: eating a double serving of dog food really was double the joy. The two below clearly weren’t amateurs either—the smell of romance was so strong it cut through even optical camouflage.

Meng Shu wasn’t exactly a great storyteller, but surviving to this point was already a legend in itself—so his tale was naturally thrilling.

Fierce life-or-death battles with soul beasts. Narrow escapes. The joy of capturing a soul beast cub. The frustration of being exploited by crooked merchants. The satisfaction of returning home with overwhelming strength and proving everyone wrong.

Every Soul Master who carved their path step by step had a past as dramatic as a novel. Listening to him, Chao Tianxiang’s eyes lit up with wonder—and she began to understand just how laughable her earlier insistence on “fairness” had been.

Meng Shu had been fighting to survive since he was eight, risking his life against soul beasts. Compared to that, she had a powerful father paving the way for her since birth, with every soul ring handpicked to perfection. Yet she had always chosen to ignore that gap. Looking back now—how could that be considered “fair”?

“Have you never felt that fate has been terribly unfair to you?” Chao Tianxiang asked softly, only after Meng Shu had talked himself hoarse. She handed him a water pouch as she spoke.

“Fate? Before I met my teacher, I didn’t even have the luxury to think about things like that. Just staying alive took everything I had.” At this point, Meng Shu’s usual unserious expression returned:

“But after I met my teacher, things totally turned around. Not only did he help me hunt soul beasts, he also got me a… uh-oh. Damn. Got too cocky again.”

Noticing Chao Tianxiang’s awkward expression, Meng Shu realized that his good fortune might’ve come at her expense.

“It’s okay. I’ve been thinking about it too… Maybe losing to you wasn’t a bad thing. If I hadn’t lost, there are things I’d never have come to understand.

I made a bet, and I lost. I’ll try being your girlfriend. I just don’t understand… why your teacher would suggest something so strange as a wager.” In the heat of the moment, Chao Tianxiang had offered herself as the stake in a bet, but she hadn’t expected Shuying to actually hold her to it like this.

Faced with her candid honesty, Meng Shu was left flustered. “I don’t know either, but… I’m sure teacher has his reasons!”

As Meng Shu scrambled for a way to steer the conversation away from the awkward topic, he suddenly felt a soft, delicate hand slip into his.

“You… I…” The strange sensation in his palm left him tongue-tied.

“What do you mean ‘you’? Isn’t this what couples are supposed to do? Don’t like it? Fine, let go then!” Chao Tianxiang blushed and tried to pull her hand back, but Meng Shu held onto it.

“That’s not what I meant! I meant our soul power—it’s flowing into each other!”

“That’s impossi—wait, what?” Chao Tianxiang instinctively tried to deny it, but when she focused, she was shocked. Their soul power really was blending.

It was a scene that defied all common knowledge. For most Soul Masters, even the slightest trace of foreign soul power entering their bodies would wreak havoc—but with them, it was completely harmonious.

The truth was, ever since they stopped rejecting each other, the conditions for soul power merging had already been met. They just hadn’t physically touched until now.

Two people who could fuse their martial souls would naturally feel drawn to each other—it’s like meeting the one. No matter what they say, the affection only grows over time.

What Shuying didn’t say was that he’d subtly recreated the original plot. In the canon, though never explicitly stated, there had been heavy hints that Chao Tianxiang had indeed become Meng Shu’s wife after he won her in a bet. Even without his interference, the two would’ve ended up together eventually.

“I think I get what your teacher was thinking now. He really is amazing—to be able to see all this.” Chao Tianxiang didn’t pull her hand back. Instead, she let their soul power flow naturally between their bodies.

“What do you mean?” Meng Shu, a rough-and-tumble type, had no concept of martial soul fusion techniques. He had to ask Chao Tianxiang, who’d received proper education.

“Your teacher probably saw that our martial souls are highly compatible. That’s why he made the bet. Judging by the way our soul power is blending now, we could probably perform a Martial Soul Fusion Technique with just a bit of practice!”

Meng Shu didn’t understand most of what she said—but he did understand what a Martial Soul Fusion Technique was. It was a move so rare that it might only appear once in ten or twenty years. But when it did, it would mark the birth of a rising star.

It was clear just how coveted such a technique was to all Soul Masters.

“So what you’re saying is… we might be a fusion-compatible pair?”

“Exactly.” For the first time in ages, Chao Tianxiang smiled after so many misfortunes, something good had finally happened. She didn’t notice, though, the pair of cold, serpentine eyes watching her from the shadows behind…