After Hu Liena left, the red-robed bishop respectfully spoke, "The young lady seems to have anticipated that Snake Spear Douluo would report this news to you, so she sent me with a message."
"Speak," Bibi Dong frowned.
The bishop's voice trembled as he said, "The young lady said that Lan Si is her friend, and she will not allow anyone to target him. Otherwise, it will be a fight to the death."
"Good, very good. It seems my precious daughter has really grown up, hasn't she? She's becoming rebellious." Bibi Dong, furious, let out a cold laugh. An overwhelming aura emanated from her, causing the air around her to ripple. The entire hall trembled violently.
The red-robed bishop, who was closest, was hit first. His body flew back, slamming into the hall's wall, vomiting blood. Fortunately, Bibi Dong hadn't intended to kill him; otherwise, he would have been crushed into a pulp by the sheer force of her aura.
"Your Holiness, spare me! Your Holiness, spare me!" Ignoring his severe injuries, the bishop knelt and repeatedly begged for mercy.
"Get up," Bibi Dong sighed. After venting her anger, she felt somewhat relieved. She exhaled and, in a flash, returned to her throne.
"Your Holiness, what about Lan Si? Should we still try to recruit him?" the bishop nervously asked.
"No need. As long as he doesn't oppose the Spirit Hall, we don't need to concern ourselves with him for now. You may leave. Do not disturb me," Bibi Dong said impatiently.
"Yes." Hearing that he could leave, the bishop felt like he was granted amnesty. He bowed respectfully and limped out of the hall.
Watching the bishop leave, Bibi Dong lazily leaned back in her throne and muttered to herself, "A friend? I never thought Xue'er would actually make a friend..."
As she spoke, a faint smile appeared on her lips. Perhaps she didn't even realise that she felt a sense of joy knowing that the daughter she despised had made a friend.
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Meanwhile, in the Star Dou Forest
It was almost noon, and the sun was high in the sky.
Lan Si and Qian Renxue were sitting by a campfire, eating grilled food.
"I didn't expect you to be so good at cooking!" Qian Renxue took a skewer of grilled rabbit meat and took a small bite.
"Of course! Grilling rabbit is my specialty, especially Soft Bone Rabbit. It's delicious. Unfortunately, the highest-aged ones around here are just hundred-year-old Soft Bone Rabbits, not thousand-year or ten-thousand-year ones. Otherwise, you could feast to your heart's content," Lan Si said with a smile.
"You sure are confident. The Soft Bone Rabbit is a weak soul beast, prey to most carnivorous soul beasts. Reaching even a hundred years is already impressive, let alone a thousand or ten thousand years," Qian Renxue replied dismissively.
"Don't underestimate me. Someday, I'll treat you to ten-thousand-year-old roasted rabbit meat," Lan Si said seriously.
Qian Renxue was about to retort again, but when she looked up at Lan Si, she saw his eyes were clear and earnest, without a hint of deceit.
"Fine, I'll wait for you to treat me to ten-thousand-year-old Soft Bone Rabbit meat," Qian Renxue said with a sweet smile and took another bite of rabbit meat.
An hour earlier...
Lan Si was enveloped by a giant green lotus, and a dazzling purple ring gradually formed outside the lotus.
"Ah!" Just when Qian Renxue thought everything was settled, Lan Si's agonized scream came from inside the lotus. The surface of the lotus began to pulsate. With a "clang," a purple translucent spike resembling the leg of the Soul Devouring Spider pierced through the lotus, which was as hard as iron.
"This is..." Qian Renxue covered her mouth in disbelief. Before she could finish her sentence, "Clang, clang..."
More sharp spikes burst through the surface of the lotus, eight in total, suspending the lotus in mid-air.
With a tearing sound, the lotus was shredded to pieces by the spikes, falling to the ground in green fragments before dissolving into wisps of energy absorbed by the spikes.
Lan Si's upper body arched, his limbs dangling, as eight translucent purple spider legs extended from his back, firmly planting themselves into the ground, holding his entire body up.
The eight spider legs looked ethereal, shrouded in a faint purple mist, giving off an otherworldly feeling.
"Ah..." Lan Si stretched comfortably, feeling unprecedented relief in his body. The spider legs seemed to respond to his thoughts, gently lowering him to the ground.
"Why are you staring at me like that? I know I'm handsome, but you don't have to stare at me like that," Lan Si joked as he landed on the ground, noticing Qian Renxue looking at him with an odd expression, as if he were a monster.
As he shrugged and looked around, he was taken aback. "What the hell!"
Behind him were eight translucent purple spider legs, each about two meters long, surrounded by a purple mist. Whenever they moved, they left faint purple afterimages.
Lan Si tried to control the spider legs, but it wasn't as easy as he thought. When he wanted them to go east, they went west; when he wanted them to go north, they went south. After a while, he barely managed to control them. Nearby trees, thick as barrels, were sliced cleanly, the purple mist on the cuts causing the wood to wither and crumble to dust in the wind.
"What terrifying poison. It instantly drained life from the trees," Lan Si exclaimed in awe. He hadn't expected to acquire an external spirit bone from the Soul Devouring Spider. In the original work, only Bibi Dong, Tang San, and Hu Liena had external spirit bones, highlighting how difficult they were to obtain.
Thinking back, Lan Si realized why. In the original, Tang San acquired the external spirit bone of the Man-Faced Demon Spider when absorbing a spirit ring beyond its limit. The spider was wounded, exhausted, and full of resentment after battling Meng Yiran's grandfather, Dragon Duke Meng Shu. It was finally killed by Tang San's Godly Zhuge Crossbow.
Under such circumstances, Tang San obtained the external spirit bone.
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