"Dad, that fat kid named Dai Mubai seems to be a prince of the Star Luo Empire. His martial soul is the White Tiger—a fairly powerful beast-type martial soul. Under normal circumstances, it should be extremely difficult for it to mutate. Don't tell me… you were the one behind this?"
Casting a glance at the dazed-looking Liu Erlong, Qian Renxue curled her lips into a sly smile. Her pale-golden eyes shimmered with mischief as she sent a soul transmission to Xiao Se.
Xiao Se coughed guiltily and turned his head toward the two figures facing off in the clearing.
"Cough… how could that be possible? His martial soul mutated years ago. Other than that one time with your mouth-fed wine, I hadn't even been to the Douluo Continent until four months ago."
"Oh~" Qian Renxue replied lightly, not pressing the matter further.
Her gaze then shifted openly toward Liu Erlong—the woman who once shared a past connection with her father and mother. Amusement flickered in her heart.
So she recognized Dad's voice?
This is getting more and more interesting.
While the two exchanged soul transmissions, Zhu Zhuqing summoned her Netherworld Spirit Cat martial soul.
Two yellow soul rings and one purple ring rose from beneath her feet, brilliant light spiraling around her body.
"Soul Elder?! That's impossible!"
The moment he saw the three soul rings on Zhu Zhuqing's body, Dai Mubai's邪眸 shrank violently.
The aura radiating from Zhu Zhuqing at this moment had already far surpassed his own.
Zhu Zhuqing didn't spare Dai Mubai a single glance.
Her toes tapped lightly against the ground, and her figure blurred—turning into a wisp of smoke that vanished from her original spot.
Before the shocked eyes of the Shrek crowd, she reappeared in front of Dai Mubai and kicked him squarely in the face.
Boom!
Dai Mubai's bloated face caved in. His body flew backward like a cannonball, soaring more than ten meters through the air. Broken teeth scattered everywhere as he crashed heavily into the ground, landing face-first in a miserable sprawl.
Hiss—
A sharp intake of breath rippled through the Shrek side.
Aside from Flander, Zhao Wujing, and Liu Erlong—three Soul Saints who could barely track Zhu Zhuqing's movement—everyone else was completely dumbfounded.
"My Purple Demon Eyes… couldn't even see her movements. How is that possible?" Tang San's face turned deathly pale.
Xiao Se's appearance had already dealt a heavy blow to Tang San's self-proclaimed genius status—but at least he could console himself with the fact that Xiao Se was two years older.
But Zhu Zhuqing?
She was the same age as him—perhaps even younger.
Yet she possessed such terrifying strength.
The blow to his pride was devastating.
"Pah! Zhu Zhuqing, you're shameless! No martial virtue at all—ambushing me, a martial-soul mutant!"
Dai Mubai spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with broken front teeth. After lying on the ground dizzy for a long while, he finally regained his senses and roared angrily.
"Are you fighting or not?" Zhu Zhuqing said impatiently. "If not, then just surrender."
Originally, she had actually looked forward to a hard-fought, evenly matched battle with Dai Mubai.
But that kick just now—she hadn't used any soul skill or combat technique at all. It was a completely ordinary strike.
And yet Dai Mubai had been utterly powerless.
The contrast was absurd.
Perhaps she had overestimated Dai Mubai in the past.
Or perhaps… she had underestimated her own current strength.
"Surrender?" Dai Mubai sneered, revealing the gap where his front teeth used to be. "So what if you're fast? You're a agility-type soul master. There's no way you can break through my Ape-Tiger defense!"
Unable to track Zhu Zhuqing's movements at all, Dai Mubai clenched his teeth and decisively switched tactics—abandoning offense for defense.
He planned to wait until Zhu Zhuqing's attacks ran out of steam, then unleash his second soul skill in one decisive counterattack.
"First Soul Skill — Ape-Tiger Guard Barrier!"
"Third Soul Skill — Ape-Tiger Vajra Transformation!"
As Dai Mubai roared, his first soul ring flared brightly, forming a white protective barrier that enveloped his entire body.
Immediately after, his third soul ring lit up as well.
The air around Dai Mubai twisted violently. His and the red fur covering his Ape-Tiger body suddenly turned blood-red, and his muscles swelled yet again.
Dai Mubai entered a second transformation.
"Hahaha!" he laughed wildly.
"My Ape-Tiger Vajra Transformation can last for half an hour! During that time, my resistance to abnormal states, along with my attack, defense, and strength, all double!"
"With my Level 34 soul power, plus this enhancement and the double-layer defense of Ape-Tiger Guard Barrier—even if your soul power is higher than mine, you won't be able to hurt me as a agility-type Soul Elder!"
Zhu Zhuqing's expression remained icy.
"Utter nonsense," she murmured.
Her right hand curled slightly into a claw shape. Pitch-black Dou Qi surged out of her palm without the slightest resistance.
Her jade-like feet tapped the ground.
In an instant, her body vanished.
When she reappeared, she was already right in front of Dai Mubai.
"Yin Wind Claw."
Zhu Zhuqing's voice echoed softly in her heart.
Under Dai Mubai's horrified gaze, her first yellow soul ring lit up only symbolically for a brief moment.
Then—
She slashed forward with one claw.
A several-meter-long black claw shadow tore through the air, easily ripping apart Dai Mubai's Ape-Tiger Guard Barrier.
The black claw shadow didn't lose any momentum after breaking through the barrier.
Dai Mubai was horrified.
His second soul ring flared as he roared desperately,
"Second Soul Skill — Ape-Tiger Fierce Light Wave!"
A milky-white sphere of light blasted out from his mouth, colliding head-on with the black claw shadow.
Unfortunately, Zhu Zhuqing's first soul ring activation had been nothing more than a smokescreen.
What she had truly used was a high-grade Xuan-tier combat technique—
Yin Wind Claw.
With the vast gap in their cultivation, and with Zhu Zhuqing having condensed a Dou Crystal—making the quality of her Dou Qi far superior to Dai Mubai's soul power—the white light sphere lasted only a brief moment before being shredded apart.
Left with no other choice, Dai Mubai hastily raised both Ape-Tiger arms to block, desperately hoping that Ape-Tiger Vajra Transformation would be enough to withstand the blow.
Clang!
The black claw shadow slammed viciously into Dai Mubai's crimson-furred arms.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
The bone-deep pain in both arms made Dai Mubai cry out inwardly. At this moment, he felt death looming frighteningly close.
If he so much as loosened his defense for an instant, he would be torn apart on the spot.
To survive, there was only one option—
Admit defeat.
But doing so would mean losing his dignity as a man.
For a split second, Dai Mubai hesitated.
Then, in this life-or-death moment, he came up with a perfect solution.
While pouring all his soul power into his arms to hold on, he shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Dean—save me!"
The moment those four words left his mouth, a look of pure disdain flashed across Zhu Zhuqing's face.
Before Flander even had time to react, she increased the force of her claw just a little.
Dai Mubai was sent flying backward even faster than before, smashing heavily into a tree stump at the edge of the clearing. He spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed limply onto the ground.
Unable to endure the damage, the Ape-Tiger martial soul automatically retreated back into his body.
Dai Mubai lay there, blood pooling in his mouth. He struggled a few times, trying to get up—but his injuries were too severe.
In the end, he couldn't rise.
The Shrek group stared in stunned silence.
After a long moment, they swallowed hard.
All three had three soul rings.
And yet—
The gap between them was this vast.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +50 Extra Chapters on - P@tr3on "RinBlaze"]
[Every 15 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]