Duke's Daughter's Hobby

Duke's Daughter's Hobby

Thanks to Xiao Hongchen's usual attitude of acting as though heaven ranked first and he ranked second, calling himself the Sun Moon Empire's number one genius while looking down on everyone else, the Sun Moon Empire's official team members quietly began muttering among themselves when they saw him defeat Xiao Qiang.

Xiao Hongchen wanted to explain himself, but he couldn't exactly say that Xiao Qiang had already beaten him up twice—one of those beatings had even come after he paid for it.

Thinking that if he said it aloud, this bunch would probably mock him behind his back for who knew how long, Xiao Hongchen fell silent and watched as the smile that had once been on his face gradually shifted onto everyone else's.

"Are you okay? Xiao, that guy really went too far. He actually hit that hard." Meng Hongchen, who had originally been about to comfort Xiao Hongchen, came over to Xiao Qiang's side and said this.

Xiao Hongchen: "..."

It was one thing for the others—they didn't know what was going on. But didn't you know? Were the two times he beat me up not hard enough?

Xiao Hongchen cursed inwardly, but having already lost to Xiao Qiang twice had changed his mentality somewhat. This time, he finally didn't let every thought in his heart show on his face.

"I'm fine. Brother Xiao still held back quite a bit."

After Meng Hongchen helped him up, Xiao Qiang dusted himself off. With the physical conditioning of a Soul Elder, combined with force-dissipation techniques and Soul Power defense, it had really only felt like a light bump. There was practically no damage at all.

After Xiao Qiang changed into another set of clothes, he looked completely fine, as if he had never fought Xiao Hongchen at all—let alone been blasted away by one of Xiao Hongchen's Soul Cannons.

Seeing Xiao Qiang seemingly unharmed, Xiao Hongchen not only lost the joy of having defeated him, but even began to feel as though he had been deceived.

He stared at Xiao Qiang for a long time, yet could not find the slightest sign of injury on him. Compared with the two times he himself had been beaten into the hospital and then made to wash Meng Hongchen's socks, the more Xiao Hongchen thought about it, the more unfair it felt.

It wasn't until the click of a Soul Tool camera rang out that Xiao Hongchen suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

"Meng! What are you doing?!"

"Hehe, Brother, the way your eyes were completely fixed on Xiao Qiang was just too irresistible. I had to record it."

"Delete that photo!"

"No."

As Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen acted out a scene of "she ran, he chased, and neither could escape," Xiao Qiang looked at the white-haired, blue-eyed Meng Hongchen and recalled her somewhat fujoshi-like trait from the manga.

Xiao Qiang remembered that when Xiao Hongchen had first started viewing Huo Yuhao as an opponent, Meng Hongchen had said that Xiao Hongchen only had eyes for Huo Yuhao. He hadn't expected that now it would be his turn.

"Alright, that's enough from you two. The Hall Master had you come here this time to get used to this team, so you can face Shrek in the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Tournament later. Introduce your martial souls and soul skills. Afterward, I'll study strategies for dealing with Shrek."

After Elder Ma finished speaking, Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen stopped as well. Compared with the arrogance he displayed upon his first appearance in the original story, Xiao Hongchen had become much more restrained after being beaten up.

"Xiao Hongchen. Martial soul: Three-legged Golden Toad. My first soul skill is Metal Control. It increases my ability to control metal, enhances both the amount of metal I can control and my affinity with it, and raises my affinity for the gold element."

"My second soul ring is Boiling Gold. It puts my Soul Power into a boiling state, increasing the power of Soul Power used in that state, speeding up the activation of my other soul skills, greatly increasing my control over metal for a short time, allowing me to absorb, control, and utilize gold elements in the air, and reducing Soul Power consumption when using Soul Tools."

"My third soul ring: Solidifying Gold. It can briefly condense the metal and gold elements I control into metal. I can even use spiritual power to carve Soul Tool cores, turning the metal and gold elements I control into temporary Soul Tools."

"My fourth soul skill, Sacrifice of Gold, can burn the Soul Power in my body and greatly increase the power of Soul Tools."

As Xiao Hongchen spoke, seventy-two Soul Cannons appeared around him in a short time. This was far beyond what a four-ring soul master could normally achieve, and was the result of activating all four of his soul skills together.

"Meng Hongchen. Martial soul: Crimson Ice Toad. First soul skill: Ice Toad Poison. Second soul skill: Ice Poison Ring. Third soul skill: Ice Refraction. Fourth soul skill: Ice Nurturing."

"Of them, my third soul skill, Ice Refraction, can create ice mirrors for me to transfer through. The others are mostly enhancements to my poison."

Meng Hongchen held two swords in her hands. Compared with Xiao Hongchen, her introduction to her soul skills was much simpler.

Finally, it was Xiao Qiang's turn.

"Xiao Qiang. Martial soul: Sharingan. My first soul skill is Psychological Suggestion. It can make people who appear stronger than me look down on me. Of course, in a team battle, it can also make them look down on us—but the prerequisite is that our apparent strength must be weaker than theirs."

Ma Rulong and Elder Ma nodded as they listened. Xiao Qiang's first soul skill sounded like it was not much use, but if it were used in a clash with Shrek's team to make Shrek underestimate them first, they could set them up quite nicely.

Elder Ma and Ma Rulong were both very satisfied with Xiao Qiang's first soul skill. Only Xiao Hongchen frowned.

He seriously suspected that when he had first met Xiao Qiang and fought him, he had already been affected by this soul skill. That was why Xiao Qiang had toyed with him so thoroughly.

"My second soul skill is Simulation." As Xiao Qiang spoke, he extended his right hand and began rotating it. With the movement of his right hand, one arm after another appeared, much like Nico Robin's ability in One Piece—except Xiao Qiang's arms were fake.

"This ability can distort light, making others unable to tell whether I'm using a soul skill or not."

Xiao Hongchen: "..." So you really did set a trap for me back then!

"Lastly, my third soul skill is Mental Probe. But perhaps because of my martial soul, this soul skill has mutated somewhat. You can all experience it for yourselves."

As Xiao Qiang spoke, he activated the third soul ring's Mental Probe together with Mental Share. In an instant, everything within a five-hundred-meter radius appeared in everyone's sight.

"This ability!"

Ma Rulong was stunned, as were his teammates. Others might not understand what Xiao Qiang's ability truly meant, but as Soul Engineers, how could they not?

With this ability, they would be able to hit every shot without fail and fully bring out the advantages of Soul Engineers.

At that moment, they even felt that defeating Shrek Academy might not be impossible.

Ma Rulong had just been about to say something when Xiao Hongchen beat him to it, stepping in front of Xiao Qiang and grabbing his hand.

"Let's not talk about the past. From now on, you're my real brother, Xiao Hongchen's brother. I'll look after you."

Click!

Meng Hongchen pressed the shutter, capturing the image of Xiao Hongchen coming over to Xiao Qiang and taking his hand. "Sure enough, Brother really is different when it comes to Xiao Qiang."

"Meng! Delete that photo!"