Your Sandbag Has Arrived

Looking into those beautiful eyes filled with solitude, Dugu Chen caught the faint fragrance of flowers drifting through the air, soothing his mind.

Dugu Chen paused, then pulled a book from the pile beside him and handed it to her. "Sorry, I forgot to put the book back."

The woman said nothing. She merely nodded, accepted the book, thanked him, and turned to leave.

As she departed, the faint fragrance lingering in the air gradually drifted away with her.

"So this is Ye Lingling. She really is solitary. The number one healing-type martial soul in the world... what a shame."

Watching her retreating figure, Dugu Chen muttered to himself before lowering his head and resuming his focused reading.

At the moment, Dugu Chen was giving Oscar private training. Dugu Yan seemed to have found a close friend and had not been pestering Dugu Chen these past few days.

"Faster, even faster. Your attacks must be swift and precise. Don't give your opponent even the slightest chance to catch their breath."

As he dodged Oscar's punches, Dugu Chen drilled the principles of a Battle Soul Master into him.

Oscar wanted to become a Battle Soul Master through his soul skills in the future. Not only did Dugu Chen not stop him, he encouraged him, because the Mirror Shadow Beast martial soul truly made it possible.

Going by the original story, Oscar's sixth soul skill could copy anyone's martial soul and soul skills, with seventy percent of the original user's power.

There was little else Dugu Chen could do for Oscar. Everyone's soul skills were strange and varied, and how to adapt to them depended entirely on Oscar's own efforts. Dugu Chen could only help him train the basic qualities required for combat.

"Huff..."

Seeing Oscar bracing himself on his knees and gasping violently, Dugu Chen handed him a bottle of prepared medicinal liquid. "All right, we'll stop here for today! Oscar, you've improved rapidly over these past few months. Go back and get some proper rest."

Watching Oscar visibly recover after finishing the special drink, Dugu Chen once again understood the saying: poverty breeds scholars, wealth breeds warriors.

The restorative medicine alone cost several hundred Gold Soul Coins every day. Ordinary people simply could not afford such a thing.

"Brother Chen, I feel myself improving every day. Do you think that if this keeps up, I'll be able to spar with Battle Soul Masters before long?"

After drinking the medicine, Oscar felt his improvement and suddenly became a little overconfident. He had seen Dugu Chen brutally beat up their classmates at the beginning of the school term.

After training for so long, he suddenly felt that those people were nothing special.

Seeing Oscar's smug expression, Dugu Chen was speechless.

"If you don't want me collecting your corpse, you'd better behave. Right now, you might be able to beat ordinary Soul Masters. With your overwhelming physical condition and total Soul Power, you can win. But against someone of the same rank, you should just wash up and go to sleep!"

After being nourished by Immortal Herbs and Whale Rubber, Oscar's physical condition was no weaker than that of an ordinary Battle Soul Master. However, his Soul Power had no offensive properties whatsoever. He might be able to overwhelm ordinary Soul Masters through sheer reserves of Soul Power, but against anyone stronger, he would only get beaten.

A Soul Master's combat strength was made up of martial souls and soul skills. Physical condition, Soul Power attributes, and Spiritual Power were also extremely important.

Take Ning Fengzhi, the Sect Master of the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile School. Before breaking through, he had been a rank seventy-nine Soul Saint, yet he might not even have been able to defeat a Soul King. Logically, with his immense Soul Power and physical condition far surpassing that of a Soul King, the two sides should not have been evenly matched.

And could Ning Fengzhi really have failed to acquire even simple Self-Created Soul Skills? With overwhelming strength, a Soul King should have had no chance of winning.

But the Soul Power of auxiliary-type Soul Masters had no offensive power at all, while healing-type Soul Power carried only healing effects. Thus, even high-level auxiliary-type Soul Masters remained just as fragile.

Hearing Dugu Chen's words, Oscar chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.

"All right, go back and rest properly first. I'll go see what the Shi Brothers want with me."

Yesterday, the brothers Shi Mo and Shi Mo had asked Dugu Chen to meet them. The two of them had been quiet and taciturn these past three months, and he had no idea why they were looking for him this time.

When he arrived at the agreed location, he saw two similarly built, broad-shouldered, muscular men enthusiastically beating each other up in the Soul Arena.

After releasing their martial souls, dark yellow turtle shells condensed over the Shi Brothers' backs.

The patterns on the shells were pale yellow, and it seemed that the bones throughout the Shi Brothers' bodies had changed along with the appearance of those shells.

Shells appeared not only on their backs, but on their fronts as well. Their limbs had also become somewhat shorter as the shells formed. In the center of the plastrons covering their abdomens was a huge symbol.

Two yellow and one purple soul rings circled their bodies from below upward. Since their bodies had already expanded considerably after their martial souls formed turtle shells, the soul rings wrapped around them seemed slightly distorted as well.

Watching the two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles beat each other up for ages without either being able to do anything to the other, Dugu Chen could only marvel. Their moves were fierce as a tiger, but their record was zero to five.

Still, compared with their own defenses, the brothers' offensive power was indeed lacking. It was only to be expected that they had failed to deal any damage.

The Black Tortoise martial soul could contend for the title of the strongest defense-type martial soul in the world. However, because its users were so few, it was not as famous as the Elephant Armor Sect or the Defense Clan.

But in terms of defense, neither of those two could dare claim to surpass the Black Tortoise.

At that moment, the two brothers in the arena noticed Dugu Chen by the side of the field. They stopped fighting and walked over to him.

Looking at the two turtle brothers standing silently before him, Dugu Chen felt helpless. They had called him here, yet they would not say anything. Was he supposed to guess? Dugu Chen decided he did not understand boys' worries, nor did he want to.

Just as Dugu Chen was about to speak first, the elder brother, Shi Mo, opened his mouth.

"Dugu Chen, can you teach us how to train?"

Dugu Chen raised a brow, somewhat surprised as he looked at the two brothers before him.

"Why?"

It was not as if the academy lacked advanced instructors specializing in defense. Dugu Chen was curious why they had chosen him.

After a moment of silence, Shi Mo continued, "What the teachers teach isn't as useful as what our family teaches. And among people our age, only you have the strength to break through our defenses. Only when our defenses are broken can we understand our own shortcomings."

Hearing Shi Mo's answer, Dugu Chen sighed inwardly. As expected of a family with its own inheritance—even their educational philosophy had its own unique insight.

Dugu Chen had his eye on the prize for the next Soul Master Tournament. Only Spirit Hall had the confidence and boldness to offer a 60,000-Year Soul Bone as a prize.

A 60,000-Year Soul Bone—and a Head Soul Bone at that. Spirit Hall, or rather Bibi Dong, truly treated Hu Liena well!

But now that they knew his information, he wondered whether Spirit Hall would still dare to take such a risk.

Since they might become teammates in the future, Dugu Chen had no reason to refuse. It was just a fight, after all. Free punching bags had come knocking at his door—he couldn't ask for more!

Seeing Dugu Chen remain silent for so long, the Shi Brothers were somewhat disappointed. They weren't close to him, after all. Why would he waste his training time to guide them?

"If that's the case, I can agree. You can train with us from now on!"

Just as they were about to lose hope, the Shi Brothers heard this and felt that Chief Dugu truly was a kind and generous senior.

The next day.

Oscar looked curiously at the Shi Brothers standing beside him.

Of course, he knew them. They were well-known geniuses in the class. But neither of them was particularly sociable, so his relationship with them had never gone beyond simply knowing who they were.

It seemed they had reached some sort of agreement with Brother Chen yesterday.

Dugu Chen looked at the three of them and said, "Oscar, stand aside and watch. Shi Mo, Shi Mo, I want to see what you're capable of first."

Oscar obediently moved aside to watch. Hearing this, the Shi Brothers nodded and exchanged a glance.

After stepping onto the field, they first threw off their shirts, revealing solid muscles like granite. As they released their Martial Souls, their shoulders slowly thrust forward and their entire backs arched halfway. All the earthy yellow light formed from their Soul Power gathered toward their backs.

In an instant, brand-new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles appeared before Dugu Chen.

Looking at their appearance after Martial Soul Possession, Dugu Chen was rather glad that his Martial Soul wasn't turtle-type.

"Begin!"

With a loud shout, Dugu Chen's aura surged. Carrying an unstoppable momentum, he pounced toward the two of them.

The Shi Brothers' expressions were as unchanging as the turtle shells on their bodies. Facing the aggressive Dugu Chen, they showed no fear whatsoever.

Their bodies simultaneously moved toward the center, and their first soul rings lit up. A heavy, solemn aura radiated from the two Black Tortoise Soul Masters. The yellow glow surrounding their bodies, paired with their thick turtle shells, made them seem extraordinarily durable.

Dugu Chen stomped heavily with his left foot, and the enormous force cracked the ground. He clenched both hands into fists and punched at their faces.

Knowing Dugu Chen's strength, the brothers shuddered at the memory of the start of the school term. Rumor had it that some people still hadn't recovered from the swelling, so everyone at school both respected and feared Dugu Chen.

With a simple movement, the two defused the attack. The Shi Mo brothers drew in their heads, hiding them within the turtle shells before their chests.

Dugu Chen's fists could only strike their hard turtle shells.

Bang!!!

With a tremendous crash, the Shi Brothers hadn't expected Dugu Chen's brute strength to be so great. The vibrations transmitted through their turtle shells numbed their bodies, sending them flying back several meters.

Seeing that the turtle shells remained completely unscathed, Dugu Chen was also surprised by the Black Tortoise's defense. It was already no weaker than the defenses of some defense-type Soul Ancestors he had fought before.

Looking at the separated pair, Dugu Chen's hands transformed into fiery-red Dragon Claws, while nearly tangible red flames spread across his body. This was him drawing upon a portion of the Kirin Martial Soul's power without fully entering Martial Soul Possession.

Dugu Chen moved just as before. With a stomp of his left foot, he shot toward Shi Mo, his right fist smashing forward with overwhelming force.

Better to break one finger than injure ten. Seizing the opportunity, Dugu Chen intended to deal with one of them first.

Seeing Dugu Chen radiating red light from head to toe and that powerful incoming punch, Shi Mo had no time to calm the turbulent blood and Qi within his body. He let out a low roar.

"Shield Transformation."

His second century-level soul ring lit up. The turtle shells on his chest and back strangely separated, flying into his hands and turning into two enormous turtle-shell shields with a diameter of one meter.

Having lost his turtle shells, he was not only much shorter than before he had used his Martial Soul, but his burly body had also become thin and weak. It was as though those turtle shells had been formed from his bones and blood Essence. The sight was astonishingly strange.

Shi Mo raised his shields and used all his strength to block Dugu Chen's punch.

Fist and shield collided. Shi Mo felt as though he had been struck by ten galloping horses. Both his arms went numb, and he staggered backward.

A sharp whistle tore through the air. As Shi Mo was being attacked by Dugu Chen, Shi Mo displayed the tacit understanding between brothers. His second soul ring lit up as well, and the huge turtle-shell shields under his control flew through the air, hurtling straight toward Dugu Chen.

The turtle-shell shields spun and howled through the air, their incomparable momentum alone enough to send chills down one's spine.

Most peculiarly, a strand of yellow Soul Power extended from behind each turtle-shell shield, connecting them to Shi Mo's hands. The shields' sharp edges continuously sliced through the air as they flew, arriving with a terrifying shriek.

His left claw shot backward, accurately catching the two incoming shields.

A metallic clang echoed across the field. When Dugu Chen's Dragon Claws gripped Shi Mo's turtle shells, sparks actually flew.

The cutting force generated by their high-speed rotation failed to break through Dugu Chen's defenses. Shi Mo was instantly shocked and hurriedly tried to recall his shields, but Dugu Chen's enormous Dragon Claws did not budge in the slightest.

Looking at the struggling shields in his hands, Dugu Chen grinned. Ignoring their resistance, he swung the shields and smashed them toward the still-stiff Shi Mo nearby.

Seeing the situation before him, Shi Mo quickly improvised and canceled his Second Soul Skill. The shields in Dugu Chen's hands turned into earthy yellow light and vanished, leaving even him somewhat stunned.

Seeing Shi Mo return to his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles form, Dugu Chen was also surprised by his combat awareness.

Looking at Dugu Chen in the field, the Shi Brothers had never found an opponent so difficult to deal with. Their opponent clearly hadn't used his full strength. His power, offense, and defense had no blind spots whatsoever. His speed might have been relatively slower, but neither of them excelled at speed either!

The two exchanged a look through the air, their gazes turning sharp as their second and third soul rings lit up simultaneously.

Dugu Chen was also curious at the sight. It looked like they were about to launch one final attack. Since this was only a spar, there was no need to fight until their Soul Power was exhausted.

"Ha!"

Four shields came howling in, surrounding Dugu Chen from the front, back, left, and right.

Seeing this, Dugu Chen did not overthink it. The red Soul Power around his body faded, replaced by surging dark-yellow Soul Power. The two sides were clearly preparing for one final attack. To preserve his glorious image, he decided to add another layer of insurance.

The four shields came before him, and Dugu Chen swung both fists at two of them. However, under the wash of purple light, each turtle shell suddenly exploded into sixteen diamond-shaped fragments that shot out in an instant, nearly sealing off every direction around Dugu Chen.

The Shi Brothers' Third Soul Skill, Turtle Shell Explosion, was an area-of-effect attack mainly used to protect themselves and attack their enemies.

Each of the Shi Brothers' turtle shells shattered into thirty-two pieces, spinning violently within a ten-square-meter area around Dugu Chen. The piercing sound of tearing air had already distorted the air within the area covered by the turtle shells.

It looked like a massive meat grinder.

"So insidious!"

Cursing under his breath, Dugu Chen instantly used Martial Soul Possession, and dark-yellow Soul Power surged forth to cover his entire body.

Thank you to Star Emperor for the monthly vote—the author's first monthly vote. Thank you so much! Today is the Lantern Festival, so I wish everyone a happy holiday! A four-thousand-word update—the author has been much more productive than in the past few days!!!