Romantina was thrilled by the intense reaction from the flesh worm inside her mind, completely ignoring its furious roars and immediately agreeing to its demand.
"You damn!"
The Dream Ice Silkworm unleashed a curse it had learned from humans: swearing loudly.
But since its discarded husk had already been handed over to Zhou Qing, it was a done deal. No matter how much it pleaded, Romantina remained indifferent and accepted the situation.
The Dream Ice Silkworm's discarded husk was its crucial backup plan!
Before reaching the level of a million-year-old soul beast, it hadn't cared much about its husk. But at the moment it was sacrificed to Romantina, it had already broken through to the million-year tier... Though not divine, it gained some special powers.
If Romantina couldn't ascend to godhood with its help, it could reclaim the power it sacrificed and reverse the ritual using its husk, turning energy back into matter to revive itself.
Though naïve, the Dream Ice Silkworm wasn't foolish; it never put all its eggs in one basket and made sure to keep a backup plan.
"Are you going to bite me?" Romantina asked, a spark of anticipation in her eyes.
"Hmph! This handsome guy isn't going to bother with a little girl like you."
In a flash, the Dream Ice Silkworm seized control of Romantina's body. Having escaped early, it still possessed 50,000 years of actual soul power, giving it stronger control than that other silkworm at Douluo Er.
"You three little brats, listen up! From your seventh soul ring onward, I'll protect you, and your soul rings will be at the hundred-thousand-year level."
The Dream Ice Silkworm declared, "From now on, we'll work together and dominate the Star Dou Great Forest!"
"Ah~ that's amazing!"
Romantina suddenly wrested control back, cheeks flushed, eyes sparkling with excitement—she was on the absolute high.
"My body feels like it's being possessed by someone else. It's overwhelming, and I'm thrilled beyond words!"
"Are you crazy?!"
The Dream Ice Silkworm took control again, flailing its hands in frustration.
"Damn it! For such a handsome ice silkworm to fuse with a perverted human girl like you, it's the biggest mistake I've ever made!"
"Ah~ fusion... this involuntary feeling of my body being taken over is just wonderful! Ah~ hahaha!"
Romantina took control again and laughed wildly, so excited that a strand of sparkling saliva trickled from the corner of her mouth.
Tang San was silent for a moment, secretly relieved he wasn't the Dream Ice Silkworm's first choice.
One body, sharing two souls—there'd be no privacy at all! He definitely couldn't handle it like Romantina's strange personality did.
Xiao Wu was annoyed at the "little brats" insult from the silkworm, cursing it silently as "little bug brat."
Zhou Qing paid no attention and put the Dream Ice Silkworm's husk safely into his soul storage device.
"What are you doing? Give me back my husk!" The Dream Ice Silkworm suppressed Romantina's perverted soul again and reached toward Zhou Qing.
"Oh come on, Brother Ice Silkworm, since you're going to protect us, let us hold onto the husk for you. Romantina doesn't have a storage device, carrying a silkworm husk around would be inconvenient," Zhou Qing smiled, hiding the device behind his waist.
"That makes sense."
The Dream Ice Silkworm thought about how tough its husk was—strong enough that even a titled Douluo couldn't destroy it, let alone this guy.
Letting him keep it was fine.
Since it didn't have spatial abilities, having Romantina carry it risked her treating the husk like some weird toy... just thinking about that gave it chills.
Better to let this kid keep it.
Seeing the Dream Ice Silkworm agree, Zhou Qing breathed a sigh of relief, thinking: luckily, this silkworm is still naïve and didn't try to take the storage device from us... He might be a million-year-old soul beast, but all he does is eat and sleep, and fight with other beasts who've never met humans. How much wisdom can he really gain?
"Brother Ice Silkworm, let us take care of it. We'll keep your husk well preserved." Tang San saw Zhou Qing's signal and immediately realized this was an opportunity.
Though this silkworm was insanely old, it wasn't very wise—quite similar to Xiao Wu's situation.
But with this "big brother" watching over it, its early growth and survival were guaranteed, let alone the promise of hundred-thousand-year soul rings later on.
"If you're willing, then I'm glad. As for training—"
The Dream Ice Silkworm chuckled and interrupted, "Don't ask me about training. I'm not human, so I don't understand your cultivation methods. But I do sense some rare treasures—if I come across any, I'll let you know."
"Thanks so much, Brother Ice Silkworm," Zhou Qing grinned. Everyone was happy.
"Don't call me Brother Ice Silkworm. I gave myself a name: Dream Ice Silkworm." For the first time, it revealed its full name to Zhou Qing and the others.
"What a grand name! What's the story behind it?" Zhou Qing, wanting to tease a bit, mentally scoffed at the silkworm.
"That's a long story..." the Dream Ice Silkworm shrugged and shared its childhood tale: hiding from predators, falling into an ice cavern with ice crystals that lasted ten thousand years, living a simple life of eating and sleeping.
"Because I spent most of my life dreaming, I'm called Dream Ice Silkworm."
Xiao Wu sneered, "So you're not an ice silkworm, you're an 'ice pig.'"
"Little bunny, don't be jealous—you just envy my luck." The Dream Ice Silkworm laughed, showing patience with Xiao Wu. After all, it had followed a similar path as this soft-boned rabbit shape, which is why it safely escaped the Star Dou Great Forest.
But the main reason was that this bunny had never absorbed its soul power...
After that, the Dream Ice Silkworm fell silent and sank back into Romantina's spiritual sea, fully returning control of her body.
Romantina took a while to recover from her flushed state, slowly adjusting her armor and telling Zhou Qing and the others, "From now on, we're a team!"
"Yes, yes! With Dream Brother around, whether we stick together or not, we're bound to be together," Zhou Qing said dumbfoundedly, knowing the silkworm could hear him and might cause trouble if annoyed.
Tang San didn't mind, as long as it didn't interfere with his cultivation or soul tool research.
Xiao Wu... was the least noticeable, forced to become independent without Tang San's protection, and reluctantly accepted the new reality.
"What happened here?"
The noise had attracted Darius and others who hadn't gone far.
"Nothing, honorable Baron Darius," Romantina quickly wiped away her remaining blush and composed herself, now polite and refined.
Even seeing this version of Romantina for the second time, Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Xiao Wu found it hard to associate her with the one who often fantasized about all sorts of bondage and training.
"It's just that I gained my first soul ring, which caused a bit of a commotion."
"I see."
Darius nodded in understanding and immediately congratulated her. "Congratulations, Miss Romantina. You've finally reached the soul master level a true prodigy!"
That wasn't an exaggeration. In small cities like Notting and Falling Star, reaching soul master status at her age was indeed extraordinary.
A prodigy among commoner soul masters.
If she could reach great soul master level later, she'd be comparable to the heirs of major sects.
In secret, Tang Hao confirmed Darius and the others wouldn't harm Tang San and company, then vanished from the Notting Forest in an instant.
"With that silkworm around, the chances of Xiao San encountering danger in the future are greatly reduced. I can spend most of my time with A-Yin now."
Originally, Tang Hao had intended for Yu Xiaogang to look after Tang San upon learning he was at Notting Academy.
But Tang San wasn't interested in Yu Xiaogang...
Tang Hao didn't care much about soul cultivation theories or Yu Xiaogang's character; he just wanted to use Yu Xiaogang's influence to protect Tang San's early growth.
After all, Tang San came from the Blue Electric Tyrannosaurus clan.
Just a bit weaker in strength.
Now that a million-year-old soul beast was guarding him, there was no need to owe Yu Xiaogang any favors. Also, Tang Hao's papal order could be handed to his son at the right time not to some outsider with a different surname.