Star Lake.
Once, this was just the Spirit Hall's hunting ground for soul beasts. Today, however, it had turned into something else entirely—not a battle, but a strained meeting, a chaotic gathering where love, loyalty, and suspicion clashed louder than swords.
Subei bent down, his hand tenderly rubbing Xiao Wu's soft hair before pulling her into his embrace.
"How could I ever abandon my Xiao Wu?" His voice was low, reassuring, and warm. "It's too late for me not to love you."
"Woo…"
Xiao Wu's lips trembled as her small body pressed closer against him. Tear stains still traced her cheeks, but her pink mouth drew into a pout of grievance. She sniffled pitifully, her shoulders shivering as she tried—not very successfully—to hold back her sobs.
"Then why?" she whispered, voice breaking. "Why didn't big brother return to Star Dou Forest… why didn't you tell me anything before leaving with the Spirit Hall?"
Her wide eyes brimmed with a humble plea, almost desperate. "Big brother, do you… hate Xiao Wu? I'll behave. I'll do anything you ask. Just don't leave me behind again. To the very least—" her cheeks flushed scarlet as her voice grew tiny, "…let me touch there in the future, just don't refuse me…"
Her words trailed into mortified silence, tilting her face into shamed spring-blushes.
Subei nearly choked.
Xiao Wu! My reputation! I'm supposed to be an honest man!
His eyebrow twitched, and his expression wavered between panic and exasperation. Even now, she could catch him off guard.
"I want to be with my little Xiao Wu forever too," he tried to soothe gently. "But… the world is vast, and unpredictable things always happen in life."
It sounded like a standard excuse—slag man reasoning 101.
But Xiao Wu was too busy drinking in his gaze to notice.
"Don't worry," he added, wiping at the dampness on her cheeks with great care. "There's always a place for you here." He tapped his chest, his eyes gentle. "Don't cry anymore. Your tears ruin your beauty."
This soft warmth—this gentle Subei whose words could melt steel—was irresistible.
Xiao Wu simply froze, staring up at him, her tears drying as devotion filled her. For her, her brother wasn't merely handsome. He was everything.
But the ripples were far from over.
From behind the Spirit Hall entourage walked another figure: Liu Erlong.
She had searched for him when he first disappeared, but when Xiao Wu slipped away and Subei vanished, she failed to find him. In her worry, she followed Bibi Dong deep into Star Dou Forest—only to now step into this tangled scene.
Unlike Xiao Wu, Liu Erlong did not throw herself forward recklessly. Her steps carried maturity, her expression calm.
If this had been ten or even five years earlier, perhaps she too would have broken down into tears, clung to him, screamed out her aching heart.
But she wasn't a girl anymore. She was a godmother figure in their little family, shouldering responsibility instead of temper.
She could not weep or demand when surrounded by so many eyes—Ziji, Brigitte, Bibi Dong… all rivals of terrifying caliber.
No, she would push down her yearning. She would choose restraint.
Still, her glance—brief, fleeting—was enough to tell Subei everything.
"King," Ziji broke in suddenly, irritably gazing at Xiao Wu curled so shamelessly in his arms. "When are you going to stop holding that girl? Otherwise I'll really start getting jealous."
Her scowl deepened. If not for Brigitte's interference earlier, Ziji would already have claimed him all to herself—pulled him into her abyss, raised a brood of little dragons in their black lair.
Instead, she now had to contend with rivals everywhere she looked.
She glanced around.
Brigitte, looking serene, but in truth harboring ambiguous feelings growing ever stronger.
The proud Pope, Bibi Dong, whose gaze lingered on Subei with unmistakable tenderness.
The rabbit girl clinging fondly in his arms—the gap in her clothes even revealing flashes that made Ziji's eyes twitch.
And now Liu Erlong, silently watching. Another woman close to him.
And if that wasn't enough, Ziji suddenly noticed the greedy stares of some Spirit Hall men, eyes roving hungrily toward her King.
Her anger flared. Filthy perverts!
Her heart clenched. Perhaps she had made the greatest mistake of her thousand years. She should never have allowed him into the human world, never left him exposed to so many temptations. She should have stolen him back to Black Dragon Abyss long ago, locked him away as hers alone.
But now…
Xiao Wu, nestled against Subei, felt it too.
Unlike Bibi Dong and the others, her sensitivity wasn't simply to aura or strength. Rather, her rabbit heritage felt the direct suppression of their soul-beast bloodlines.
Compared to the proud Emperor Tian, the fierce Ziji, and the wise Brigitte—her own soul blood was fragile, feeble. She was just a little rabbit before them, trembling under the shadow of predators.
In her perception, when Ziji spoke, it wasn't a woman at all. It was a fanged dragon roaring: "Little rabbit, I'll devour you whole."
Xiao Wu shuddered but said nothing. For once, she only clung tighter to Subei.
Before Subei could temper the situation, another voice tore through the tense atmosphere.
"Jealous? What nonsense are you spouting again, Ziji?" Emperor Tian's golden eyes blazed. "Do you dare covet the King so openly? Do you not value your life?!"
"Mind your business," Ziji snapped back, rolling her eyes. "You're too annoying today."
Her unbothered dismissal stabbed Emperor Tian's pride—but oddly, it brought him a twisted satisfaction. If she dared provoke in front of the King, it proved her heart was truly restless.
Yet the truth ate at him. He remembered the Lord, the Beast God herself, when she first noticed the boy. That cold, proud god who never bent, never smiled—her icy armor cracked, faltered. She became cute.
All of it because of him, Subei.
This was what true love looked like, Emperor Tian realized—the way someone impossible changed against their very nature.
The argument broke when Subei at last spoke firmly, addressing Bibi Dong.
"Teacher, for now… please take Spirit Hall's people away from here."
His gaze lingered on her, calm but steady.
Bibi Dong's eyes widened. "What about you, Xiao Bei? Will you not return with your teacher to Spirit Hall?"
Before Subei could answer, Ziji's laugh chimed in, cruel and mocking. "Ha ha, laughable! Woman, what fantasy are you trapped in? Just letting you leave is already our bottom line. Yet you dare dream of taking our King away? Were you not his teacher, you'd already be a bloodstain on the grass."
The words were venom, Ziji's smile beautiful but merciless.
Bibi Dong's face turned dark, her pride rising like steel.
"If Xiao Bei refuses Spirit Hall," she retorted, "then neither will I leave."
Though she knew she was outmatched, her resolve did not falter. Pride was stitched into her bones. She would protect him even if it meant ruin.
"Platinum Bishops and Deacons of Spirit Hall!" she commanded without hesitation. "Withdraw at once. Only Titled Douluo remain!"
Within minutes, dozens of followers scattered, leaving only the strongest masters encircling the lakeside. Silence descended, eerie and heavy.
"So that's your plan?" Emperor Tian's fangs gritted audibly. "You've driven away the weak sheep, so you can fight your final battle with minimal casualties. You think the Beast God will let these prey walk free?"
His rage boiled.
But Brigitte placed a calm hand on his arm, her voice gentle. "Let him handle this himself. Don't interfere."
Emperor Tian shook his head harshly, whispering back. "We can't! If we let them go free, they'll spread word of us. Humans are clever and greedy—our existence revealed will cause endless trouble for the King. Do you want disaster to fall upon him?"
His voice grew more solemn. "A single moment of softness invites calamity. If you won't do it, then let me. I'll stain my hands so the King doesn't have to. He'll be untarnished."
His golden eyes glowed as he stared at Brigitte. "Ji Ji, I know you love him. But this is not the time to act with kindness. Mercy for the enemy is cruelty to ourselves."
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