"Gah?"
The flame-wreathed Fiery Bird let out a puzzled cry, wondering where its prey had disappeared after a flash of white light.
Nearby, Yun Chuan reappeared on a tree branch, holding the rescued girl in his arms, sighing, "Came just a moment too late."
If he'd arrived seconds sooner, he could have saved the older man too. Glancing down at the crying girl in his arms, his eyes turned icy as he looked back at the Fiery Bird in the distance.
He gently placed the girl on the branch and ruffled her hair. She absolutely couldn't withstand the force of pseudo-light-speed; taking her along would reduce her to pulp.
"Beast!"
A flash of light—pseudo light-speed kick!
Boom!
"…Gah!…"
The Fiery Bird only managed a cry before its side exploded with fire and blood. It was hurled through the air, vanishing as a fireball far away.
A moment passed; a black soul ring slowly rose.
Yun Chuan appeared again, watched the soul ring for a moment—couldn't let it go to waste—caught it with five-colored light from his palm, and drew it into himself.
Inside, his elemental organs ground it down and absorbed it. Body strength and energy increased marginally—barely noticeable now. Clearly, for Yun Chuan, normal ten-thousand-year soul rings were losing their effectiveness.
He cared much more about soul rings granting him new skills or insights, especially abilities like light-speed. But as predicted, ordinary ten-thousand-year soul beasts only gave him mediocre skills.
Meteor Fire Shower.
This was the new ability from the Fiery Bird's ring: gathering fire energy into fireballs, then raining them down on foes.
To most soul masters, this would be useful—but for Yun Chuan, who already manipulates and transforms fire with ease, it was pointless.
"Yep… Soul rings under a hundred thousand years really don't help. Mass-slaughtering weaker beasts for incremental boosts is just foolish and inefficient. Not my style."
A sob snapped his attention back to the girl.
He moved beside her, at a loss for what to do in the face of her tears.
He tried comforting her: "Little one, don't cry… People can't come back from death…"
She burst out in louder sobs.
Yun Chuan was helpless. Though he'd plenty of experience playing cute with older girls—Bibi Dong, Qian Renxue, Hu Liena—he had no clue how to handle a child. To girls his age or older, he could be charming; with kids, he was lost.
Guessing the girl was about eleven or twelve—probably from a wealthy soul master family, given her dress and the soul emperor accompanying her—he tried some basic questions.
After much effort, she finally quieted, sniffling and red-eyed, looking utterly pitiful.
"…Good girl." Yun Chuan crouched to meet her gaze, speaking gently:
"Tell big brother, what's your name? Where's your home? Let me take you there."
"…Xiang Xiang." She managed between sobs.
Clearly a nickname—her real name likely contained the word "Xiang."
"What's your full name?"
"…Bai Chenxiang," she sniffled.
Bai Chenxiang?!
Yun Chuan's eyes widened. In the original story, Bai Chenxiang was Tang San's cousin—a figure Yun Chuan couldn't possibly not know.
He sized up the girl: petite and cute, flat-chested as expected for eleven. Canonically, she was a year younger than Tang San, so her body shape fit her age. Once she obtained her next soul ring, she'd probably develop quickly.
Lavender twin ponytails, matching eyes, a delicate, slightly baby-faced look… a real top-tier loli!
"Is your martial soul Pointed-tail Swift Hawk?" Yun Chuan confirmed.
"…Mm." She nodded.
It was settled—she was definitely Bai Chenxiang, the Agile Clan's little princess. As Tang San's twin by blood, this technically made her Yun Chuan's cousin.
"Why did she nearly die here? If I hadn't intervened, it would've ended badly. Is this butterfly effect?" Yun Chuan wondered, ultimately attributing the change to his own presence.
After all, this is reality, not a scripted game—even if the soul master system seems gaming-inspired. Unpredictable changes, butterfly effects, are only natural.
(End of Chapter 103)