A New Crisis

Spirit Hall Academy, cultivation rest area

"The matter that teacher mentioned earlier should be very helpful to you, right? But why do I feel like you seem a little distracted?" Mo Yuqing said, draped in a towel and breathing somewhat heavily.

She had just finished cultivating and was resting now.

"Mm, that's true."

Zhongli nodded in response.

"I asked why you were distracted! You big dummy!" Mo Yuqing puffed out her cheeks and spoke in a sweet voice, carried away by the rush of blood from cultivation.

"Huh?"

Zhongli was somewhat surprised. He sighed as if only just realizing it and said, "You know me. My Innate Soul Power is level twenty. The teachers at the academy can't tell for now, but if I encounter higher-level teachers, they'll notice something sooner or later. So I definitely need to think about how to deal with it."

"I guess that's true..."

Mo Yuqing nodded lightly, looking thoughtful. After thinking for a while without coming up with any good solution, she said seriously, "Then what are you going to do? Admit it directly? It'll be hard to keep something like this hidden."

Zhongli remained silent, looking troubled.

However, this was not difficult to handle. Those "senior teachers" could not possibly be unaware of it, so it would not actually affect anything. His bitter expression was only for Mo Yuqing to see.

After a brief silence,

"It's fine. I think I can still be saved. I'm pretty good at hiding myself. Maybe they won't notice," Zhongli said with a somewhat difficult smile.

"Mm... I hope they don't find out."

Mo Yuqing sighed. She truly could not help Zhongli with something like this, but she still revealed a warm smile and said, "The teachers at Spirit Hall Academy are all very good people. It should be fine if you show a little talent, right?"

"That's true... Forget it, let's continue cultivating."

Zhongli said as though he were pondering it. Then, he directly sat cross-legged on the ground and resumed cultivating. He looked especially serious, with no sign at all that he was simply slacking off while seated.

Mo Yuqing watched Zhongli cultivate, her expression somewhat complicated, but in the end, she began cultivating as well.

At that moment, someone else had taken over the Speed Testing Area of Spirit Hall Academy. The old man from before had changed into a black robe that concealed his figure and hurried straight toward Spirit City, solely to deliver important information.

Meanwhile...

"Hmph, that troublesome old fellow has finally left. The assassination plan can begin at any time," a masked man standing by a horse at the City Gate murmured.

He was not alone. Several companions stood beside him. Their goal was clear: find an opportunity to kill Zhongli, the same objective as the members of the Floating Spirit Mercenary Group before them.

However, they did not belong to the Floating Spirit Mercenary Group. Their mercenary group had a stranger name: the Shell Mercenary Group.

The Shell Mercenary Group was similar in nature to the Floating Spirit Mercenary Group. Both were small mercenary groups casually established on the surface, unconcerned with whether they could raise their mercenary group rank, and mainly took on "special" assignments.

"Boss, the disappearance of the Floating Spirit Mercenary Group and the others is indeed rather suspicious. We should investigate further before deciding whether to carry out the assassination," a bespectacled man said quietly.

"Haha, Third, you're being too careful. Those guys from the Floating Spirit Mercenary Group were definitely killed by that old man sent down from above. Other than him, who could have killed them? If they couldn't be killed, they'd definitely still be causing trouble. How could they possibly be this quiet?"

A long-haired young man with one eye covered casually threw an arm over Third's shoulder and laughed.

People like them walked the edge of a blade every day. They could die at any time, and they endured immense psychological pressure almost every moment. At their stage, there were truly not many who could remain calm.

At the same time,

These people did not know Golden Crocodile Douluo's strength or identity, nor were they qualified to know. However, they were not fools. They understood that a child with Innate Full Soul Power would inevitably attract Spirit Hall's attention, prompting it to send a high-level Soul Master to look after the child.

And that old man was the one assigned to protect him.

Because they did not know his true strength, they had not immediately abandoned the mission. Instead, they had wanted to wait and observe the situation before making plans. The current situation was excellent: the old man had left directly and had "not noticed" them.

Hadn't their opportunity arrived?

In truth, Golden Crocodile Douluo had not failed to notice them. He simply felt that they were too weak. Going after Zhongli would only be sending themselves to their deaths, so he could not be bothered with them. Delivering the message to Spirit Hall was more important.

If something really happened to Zhongli... then it would mean he had lied, and his problems were even greater!

Besides, the Floating Spirit Mercenary Group had disappeared the day after Zhongli's Martial Soul Awakening. They had been directly killed in the wilderness. From an omniscient perspective, that indeed did not make much sense.

However, their information was neither that well-informed nor that accurate. They only knew that the Floating Spirit Mercenary Group had launched an attack the day after Zhongli's Martial Soul Awakening, smashed up Zhongli's home but failed to kill the target, and then vanished from the face of the earth.

So it was perfectly normal for them to believe that Golden Crocodile Douluo—the old man—had done it. After all, they did not know the exact timing. They could not even be certain that the Floating Spirit Mercenary Group had been completely wiped out.

"Phew~"

The masked man exhaled, his expression complicated as he looked at the sunset beyond the sky. He said in a complicated tone, "Third, Third, I know what you're thinking, but... we've had no way out for a long time already, haven't we?"

"Getting caught and killed, getting found by enemies and killed, getting done in when we grow old, getting drained to death on some pale belly in a brothel... Every day, I dream of dying in different ways. Living is truly exhausting."

"Actually, we don't need to think so much. Rats in the gutter like us will die sooner or later, and we won't die well. At our point, we simply can't survive without relying on something—whether it's a pipe, fine wine, gambling, or women..."

"We're all slaves to something. Freedom has nothing to do with us. We actually died long ago; only our shells remain in this world. That's why I named this mercenary group Shell. So it truly doesn't matter. I no longer care."

Hearing their boss's words, the members of the mercenary group all fell silent. They all understood it in their hearts. It was not that only their boss knew; he was simply the only one who had said it aloud.

After a brief silence,

"So what?"

Third's gaze remained firm. His eyes differed from those of the others, as though flames burned within them. He stared at his boss and said, "Even so, even if we truly have no road left, we must live on resolutely and keep walking resolutely."

"As long as we keep growing stronger, as long as we keep perfecting ourselves, even in darkness without a road, our footsteps will gradually carve out a path of faint light. So don't give up on yourself so easily, Boss! You chose this road. You led us here. As the signpost guiding us, how can you give up so easily?"

"Heh... heh..."

The older masked man laughed, a miserable laugh. He murmured, "We're nothing more than executioners hunting children now. What right do we have to talk about such things? Still, being cautious is fine. Living a little longer isn't bad. In truth, to people like us, life and death are the same."

"Ah, someone like me will definitely go to hell after I die. Maybe even the Angel God won't be willing to grant me the chance to go to hell, hehe."