Douluo: Did you move Danta here?

Chapter 407 Soul State

When Ning Bei opened her eyes again, she looked at the azure sky and smiled knowingly.

"It seems my guess was right. The test doesn't require defeating Tang San at his peak when you're isolated and helpless."

In his mind, this test was most likely to test whether he had the courage to draw his sword against the enemy in extreme circumstances, but he was dragged down by Bibi Dong in the illusion, who had to self-destruct with him.

"It's alright, I'll add a chicken leg to His Holiness's meal as compensation after I finish the assessment and return to the real world."

Getting up from his supine position, Ningbei decided to check where he was, as he wasn't sure if he had entered another illusion or returned to reality.

But the shifting gaze made him freeze on the spot. All he could see was barren, broken land and dilapidated city walls dozens of kilometers away, making him feel as if he were in some ancient battlefield.

"What's going on? Is this a zero-frame start that propels us directly to the next stage of the assessment?"

While complaining, Ning Bei slowly got up to brush the dust off his body, but he was stunned again because his hands passed right through his body and he didn't manage to brush off anything.

"Huh? What the hell?"

Reaching out her hands to touch her body again, Ning Bei felt nothing solid. She quickly looked down and realized she was in a strange, illusory, and transparent state.

"Have I turned into a ghost?"

After the initial shock, Ning Bei forced herself to calm down and began to analyze the general purpose of the assessment, but she couldn't come up with any clues no matter how hard she tried.

Helpless, he could only drift along the air toward the city not far away, intending to first ascertain his current location before making any further plans.

But as he approached the city, he felt that it looked strangely familiar. After a while, looking at the clothes wrapped around the skeletons in the broken bricks of the abandoned city wall, Ning Bei was suddenly horrified.

"Isn't this the uniform of the Spirit Hall? And this is Spirit City?"

Having figured out his current location, Ning Bei's thoughts instantly became chaotic. He wasn't sure if he had entered the next illusion or was still in the world after his self-destruction.

But soon, the screams in the distance caught his attention. He quickly controlled his soul to drift to the location of the sound. An old man dressed in black was piercing a woman in front of him with a wooden vine, and under the woman was a young child crying loudly because of fear.

The screams just now clearly came from the woman. She was still alive, and with pleading eyes, she turned to the old man behind her and said:
"Sir, the child is innocent, please spare her."

"Hmph, the sect leader has already given the order that no life in Martial Soul City is innocent, and everyone here must be buried with the heroic souls of the Clear Sky Sect."

"No, you are demons, you are devils! This child is only a few years old, what wrong has she done! The angels will not let you get away with this!"

Seeing that her pleas for mercy were in vain, the woman's eyes gradually turned ferocious, and her words were filled with exasperation. However, the old man seemed to enjoy the woman's expression. With a sickly smile on his face, he slowly turned the wooden vine in his hand, and the woman screamed in pain again, her eyes filled with fear.

That wasn't all. While the woman still had her last breath, the old man stretched out his free left hand and summoned another wooden cone, which he then used to stab the girl behind her. This caused the already dying woman to scream in despair.

"no, do not want."

"Angel God? If that thing really existed, it would have come to save you two years ago. Why did it watch you survivors being slaughtered for two years?" The woman's pupils gradually became unfocused, as if the old man's words had shattered her last illusion. Her body slowly fell to the ground, while the old man's smile deepened. His left hand moved quickly, continuing to stab the girl with the wooden awl.

Ning Bei frowned deeply, wanting to raise her hand to help the girl, but found that she was unable to summon her martial soul at all. At the same time, no matter how she made a sound, she could not attract the old man's attention, as if he could not even detect her presence.

Just as the old man was about to succeed, a flash of fire struck the opponent's body precisely, instantly burning him to ashes.

Upon seeing someone make a move, Ning Bei's eyes lit up instantly. Looking in the direction of the attack, he was overjoyed, for he recognized the attacker as the Lion Douluo of the Hall of Worship, the little angel's fourth grandfather.

But Ning Bei soon fell into despair again, because Lion Douluo ignored his wave and greeting, walked straight to the girl, picked her up, and casually dug a hole to bury her mother. After glancing at the still burning corpse on the ground with disgust, Lion Douluo turned and walked away.

Knowing that the other party couldn't detect her either, Ning Bei immediately controlled her soul to chase after them, wanting to see where they were going.

Crossing the ruins of Wuhun City, Lion Douluo comforted the girl in his arms as they arrived at a valley east of Wuhun City. Continuing on, the two of them and the ghost successfully reached the entrance of a hidden cave, and the sounds coming from inside excited Ning Bei.

"Fourth Grandfather, you're back?"

"Xiaoxue, we just rescued a little girl from the ruins of Wuhun City."

A blonde figure quietly emerged from the cave, took the little girl from the Lion Douluo's hands, and gently stroked her back. The little girl felt the gentle touch and slowly stopped sobbing, falling into a deep sleep in the little angel's arms.

The little angel in front of her was no longer as spirited as before; in fact, she looked utterly dejected. Only when Tang San was mentioned did her eyes flash with deep hatred. Ning Bei didn't understand what had happened.

"Was it those freaks from the Tang Clan again?"

"Yes."

After gritting her teeth, the little angel let out a deep sigh.

"Fourth Grandfather, am I completely useless?"

"How could that be? Xiaoxue is the best. Otherwise, your fourth grandfather would have died in Wuhun City too."

"But my grandfather sacrificed his life for me, and my mother and Abe also risked their lives to buy me time. In the end, I still couldn't beat Tang San. Now that my martial soul is shattered, revenge has become impossible. The dignified heir of the Angel God can only hide in this cave and live out his days."

Hearing the little angel's words, Lion Douluo lowered his head and fell silent. Now he didn't know how to comfort his granddaughter whom he had watched grow up. All the people he cared about had left. He couldn't even find any will to live in Qian Renxue's eyes. If he hadn't risked his life to stop her, she might have already gone to find Tang San for a final battle.

Ning Bei, who was standing to the side, now completely understood everything. She was currently in the world after the self-destruction in a soul state, and had not entered the next assessment.

In other words, this assessment was not yet complete, but was still ongoing, which left Ning Bei feeling somewhat helpless.

If this assessment isn't a test of courage, how am I supposed to complete the next assessment when I can't even use my martial soul in my current soul state?

(End of this chapter)