Douluo Continent: The Eternal Order of the Azure Sky.

A cat that doesn't yelp or sneer is a good cat.

The beautiful woman nodded silently to herself, her fingertips moving from the cat's head to its tail with practiced skill, clearly indicating she was an expert.

The big cat rolled its eyes dramatically.

"What are you looking at?"

The beautiful woman stroked the cat while looking up at the sea, following her daughter's gaze.

However, what came into view was not the familiar azure landscape.

In the slightly rippled, blood-red seawater, countless strands of soft, lustrous silver hair, like the finest silk of the Heavenly Emperor, drifted outwards, like moonlight shattered and scattered on the water's surface.

Two strands of golden hair, seemingly of different textures, hung straight down into the water, shimmering with a sunlight-like quality, flickering in and out with the rise and fall of the waves.

A strange, sweet fragrance that was almost intoxicating wafted out, and between the aquamarine and crimson hues, a golden light illuminated a face that was utterly mesmerizing.

The beautiful woman was quite knowledgeable; when her family was prosperous, what kind of handsome men and beautiful women hadn't she seen?

But when she saw the outline of that face clearly, she couldn't help but be stunned.

It was a face without any flaws. His eyebrows were as thick as ink, his nose was high and straight, and his red lips were slightly pursed. Even in his coma, he exuded a cold and aloof demeanor that kept people at a distance.

His long, silvery-white hair cascaded down like a waterfall, intertwining with the seawater and making his skin appear almost translucent.

She now understood why her usually clueless daughter had been standing there for so long.

But the beautiful woman was older after all. She steeled herself, calmed her trembling chest, and frowned, saying:

"Lingling, we'd better not get involved in this kind of trouble. This person's origins are unknown, and he's so badly injured. What if we get into some trouble..."

"We cannot stand by and watch someone die."

The girl reacted quickly this time, almost like an instinctive response, her black veil and long, flowing blue hair swaying simultaneously.

She has a pair of extremely beautiful big eyes, the same color as her hair, a deep and pure blue. Her eyes are clear and without any impurities, and her long eyelashes are slightly curved upwards, as if they can speak when she blinks.

The beautiful woman and her daughter stared at each other for a long time, but she finally gave in.

"Alright." She sighed and called behind her, "Uncle Chen, lift him onto the carriage. Be careful."

Hearing this, the black cat was finally satisfied. It licked its paws, its eyes narrowed comfortably, and a low purr escaped its throat.

Boss, my mission is complete, meow.

It seems to have misunderstood what Kong Tianxu meant by "comfortable"...

A series of hurried footsteps sounded, and then the carriage slowly started moving. The wheels creaked as they rolled over the gravel, heading towards Hanhai City.

-----------------

Heavenly Dou Empire, Hanhai City.

At midday, the bright sunlight streamed in through the window, casting warm patches of light on the ground.

In an elegant mansion within this seaside city, a girl in a black dress is feeding a bowl of medicine spoonful by spoonful to a comatose young man lying on the bed.

The black cat lay quietly on her head, as if it were wearing a tiger-head hat on her head, its long tail swaying gently with its breathing, as if it were catching up on sleep.

What's wrong with Oslo?

The beautiful woman beside her started nagging again. She had said this dozens of times in the past few days: "Your family background is powerful, you are a prince of a duchy, and you are handsome. Not to mention your legendary second grandfather, who is a titled Douluo-level expert—if you marry into that family, you will be a princess, a blessing that many people would rather die for. Why won't you listen to advice?"

The girl ignored him and focused intently on bringing the medicine spoon to Kong Tianxu's lips.

The medicine was brown and had a bitter smell. A little bit of it dripped down the corner of his mouth, which she gently wiped away with a handkerchief.

Seeing that she was completely unmoved by his persuasion, the beautiful woman sighed again:

"Last time we went out of town to invite your Uncle Zhong, a family friend of hundreds of years, but he wouldn't even give us a meeting. It shows how cold and indifferent people are, how power reigns supreme. If you marry Oslo, then we'll be..."

By the end, her voice was trembling with tears.

The girl remained silent. She wasn't wearing a veil today, and the corners of her lips were gradually curving downwards.

The beautiful woman received no response and knew that this trick had been used too many times and was no longer effective. With tears streaming down her face, she peeked out and saw her daughter still feeding her medicine. She was immediately furious.

She reached out and snatched the bowl of medicine, placing it on the table. Then, she grabbed the black cat from her daughter's head, hugged it tightly, and stroked it vigorously while grumbling:

"This man has been here for several days now, and your Nine Heart Begonia treatment hasn't helped at all. We can't even break through his skin with needles. What's the point of giving him these medicines?"

"If you don't come with me to meet him, I'll throw him out! I'll dump him back on the beach and let him fend for himself!"

Ye Lingling finally sighed wearily.

"it is good."

"Then hurry up and change your clothes." Although her wish had been fulfilled, Ye's mother did not show much joy on her face. She let the black cat dart back to Kong Tianxu's bedside and disappeared, and said in a muffled voice, "I will wait for you in the front hall."

Ye Lingling stood up, walked to the clothes rack, and took down a light blue long dress.

The black shirts turned green, and the dull spring light was temporarily liberated, before the colors changed.

After changing her clothes, Ye Lingling glanced back at Kong Tianxu on the bed, then followed her mother out of the room.

What they didn't notice was that the seemingly unconscious body on the bed twitched its eyelids slightly.

……

The commotion at the mansion lasted for most of the day before gradually subsiding, and the guests didn't leave until evening.

With a gloomy face, Ye's mother walked ahead without saying a word, while Ye Lingling, who had changed back into black clothes, followed at a distance.

The two had clearly had another big argument.

Ye Lingling did not return to her room, but instead went into the pharmacy.

A moment later, she came out carrying a tray with two bowls of herbal soup on it, steaming hot.

The pharmacy door was pushed open, and she walked in wearily.

Then he froze for a moment.

There was no one in the bed.

She subconsciously looked around. The medicine cabinet, the table and chairs, the incense burner... everything was as usual, except for the silver-haired young man who had been lying there for several days.

"Little Black?" she called softly.

no respond.

The cat is gone. Kong Tianxu is also gone.

Ye Lingling stood there holding the tray, stunned for a long while. Then, as if all her strength had been drained, she placed the tray on the table, took off her boots, and revealed a pair of exquisite silk-clad feet.

She was dressed in all black, but paired with white socks, her ten jade-like toes slightly parted and then closed, as distinct as the black and white of her outfit.

Ye Lingling drew back the curtains, skillfully grabbed her legs and threw herself onto a chair, gazing at the tiny patch of night sky above the courtyard.

The night sky over Hanhai City was beautiful, with stars scattered across the sky like shattered diamonds, but she couldn't see the whole sky, only a small, framed patch of dim blue against the courtyard wall.

Her eyes were full of longing.

Kong Tianxu stood behind Ye Lingling, making sure his shadow didn't fall on her, listening to her rambling, absent-minded words:

"Dad, Lingling doesn't want to get married."

"Actually, the Oslo people aren't bad. But his father... sigh."

Her gaze fell on the window frame, as if she were looking at a very, very far place.

"Dad, why is our spirit soul the Nine-Hearted Begonia? Mom never told me, but I already know—the owner of the Nine-Hearted Begonia won't live past forty. A spirit soul at thirty will cause a spirit master's body to weaken, and then they'll get weaker day by day. I have to start taking medicine now..."

"I thought finding that person on the beach was a chance given to me by heaven. Maybe when he woke up, things would turn out like in the stories..."

Although her voice was pleasant to hear, it was extremely hollow, giving people a sense of unreality.

"Dad, Lingling doesn't want to get married, Lingling doesn't want to die, Lingling still has so many things she wants to do..."

She tasted a hint of saltiness at the corner of her mouth and didn't continue speaking.

Located in the darkest corner of the room, she seemed to exude only loneliness and desolation.

a long time.

"Never mind." She wiped away her tears and turned away. "The medicine's going to get cold."

But it seems someone else has already beaten them to it.

Sitting on the chair next to him was a young man dressed in white. His long, silvery-white hair fell over his shoulders, and his face appeared as warm and gentle as jade in the candlelight.

He was holding a bowl of medicine, slowly taking a sip, when his expression briefly froze.

"The medicine is too bitter." Kong Tianxu calmly put down the bowl of medicine in his hand.

Ye Lingling's cheeks flushed red at a visible speed. The redness spread from her ears to her neck, as if she had been burned.

She opened her mouth—

"what--!"

The mouth was moving, the throat was vibrating, but no sound came out.

Ye Lingling stared wide-eyed at Kong Tianxu in disbelief.

At the same time, four spirit rings, two yellow and two purple, began to swirl up from beneath her feet.

This young man, who looks no more than twenty years old, actually has such strength?

Isolating sound is something even Qin Ming, a Soul Emperor-level teacher back in the day, couldn't do!

Kong Tianxu raised his hand and pointed a finger at Ye Lingling's brow.

So you were a bad person, Mom. I'm sorry.

Ye Lingling closed her eyes in despair.

But the expected pain did not come.

Instead, a warm surge of soul power flowed in from between the eyebrows, down the meridians, and straight into the dantian.

That soul power was thick and pure, like a gentle river, clearing away the sluggish soul power pathways in her body one by one.

The bottleneck at level 49 was like a paper window, easily broken with a gentle poke under the impact of this force.

Level 50.

Ye Lingling suddenly opened her eyes, her gaze filled with disbelief.