An Unexpected Martial Soul

Seriously, Fatty had been beaten to a truly miserable state.

Not only were his clothes torn in several places and his face covered in grime, but his round, pudgy face had swollen by a full size. Dark purple bruises ringed his eyes, and dried blood stained the corner of his mouth.

Tang San took hold of Fatty's arm and carried him to the dining hall.

As it happened, Oscar and Dai Mubai were both there. Without another word, Oscar summoned one of his Recovery Big Sausages and handed it over.

Ma Hongjun did not stand on ceremony. He wolfed down the sausage in a few bites, and only then did he look somewhat better.

"Damn, Fatty, what happened to you?"

Dai Mubai was startled by Ma Hongjun's bedraggled appearance.

His temper was far more explosive than Tang San's. He shot up from his chair, rage blazing in his evil eyes.

Ma Hongjun wore a miserable expression. "Brother Dai, you have to stand up for your brother.

"Look at how they beat me up. Even my handsome face has been twisted out of shape.

"How am I supposed to pick up girls from now on?!"

Bai Ge glanced at him. "If you put even half the effort you spend chasing girls into cultivation, you wouldn't have been beaten into this pathetic state.

"This is a world where bigger fists mean greater reason, yet your head is still full of that nonsense.

"Who knows what you learned from Flander? When the upper beam is crooked, the lower ones follow suit.

"When I backed Rongrong up back then, did you see Flander dare say a single word against it?"

Ma Hongjun lowered his head and trembled, having been scolded into silence like a quail.

Oscar tried to smooth things over. "Brother Xiao Bai, if Fatty needs scolding, that's our own family matter. Outsiders don't get to interfere.

"Tell us what happened first."

Ma Hongjun pulled over a chair and sat down, then finally recounted what had happened.

"I left this morning and went to Suotuo City to properly deal with my Evil Fire problem.

"When I got there, I actually found a Golden Phoenix in Grass Nest.

"Just as I was about to ask that little sister to help me solve my problem, some sleazy middle-aged man suddenly showed up.

"That guy looked to be in his forties, with short hair. One of his hands was even wrapped in bandages, but he still insisted on fighting me for that little sister.

"I asked him then, 'Uncle, your hand is already like that, and you still came out?'

"Guess what he said? He actually said, 'I don't need my hands.' I've seen sleazy people before, but never one this sleazy."

Bai Ge could not hold it in anymore. Damn, this guy was quite the character too.

Dai Mubai said, "So you fought him afterward?"

Fatty puffed out his chest. "Of course! He was already bullying me right in front of my face. Was I supposed to just take it?

"At first, I only planned to drive him away.

"Who knew that guy was also a Soul Master—and a four-ringed Soul Ancestor at that.

"He beat me up in no time and threw me out of that place.

"But what I can't stand most is that he even flicked my... you know what."

By the time he said the last sentence, Fatty's face had turned purple.

Bai Ge fell silent this time.

They were both out there having fun. Beating Fatty up would have been one thing, but flicking him there... wasn't that basically making Fatty practice the Evil Exorcising Swordplay Manual or the Sunflower Manual?

Bai Ge quietly scanned Fatty's heartbeat and breathing with his Spiritual Power. He truly had not been lying.

Ma Hongjun had clearly been beaten badly this time, and the psychological blow had been especially severe.

He poured out his grievances through snot and tears, making Bai Ge and the other three frown as they listened.

Tang San asked, "What was that person's name?"

Ma Hongjun wiped his face with his sleeve. "I heard the madam there call him Bu Le. It probably wasn't his real name."

"Bu Le? A mere Soul Ancestor dared bully my brother?

"Come on. Fatty, lead the way. We'll go take a look right now.

"Xiao San, Xiao Ao, Xiao Bai, are you three coming?"

Dai Mubai could understand Fatty's feelings well. He had caused plenty of trouble over romantic rivalry himself in the past, only settling down after Zhu Zhuqing arrived.

Besides, Fatty had been beaten so badly. Though it did not look as though his bones or tendons had been injured, he had still been thoroughly humiliated.

Tang San nodded. "Let's go take a look together."

Oscar chuckled. "Of course I'm going. I want to see who could possibly be even sleazier than our Fatty."

The moment Ma Hongjun heard that the four of them were willing to stand up for him, he was overjoyed. "Good brothers! Let's go now. We might still be able to catch him."

With that, he immediately sprang to his feet and ran outside, as though his injuries no longer hurt at all.

Dai Mubai grabbed Ma Hongjun. "What's the rush? Even if we're going, we should eat our fill first so we'll have the strength.

"While we're at it, tell us about that guy's Martial Soul. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you'll win every battle."

Though Fatty looked extremely anxious, his stomach was indeed empty. He sat back down, and while everyone ate dinner, Ma Hongjun continued describing how he had been beaten.

"That guy wasn't tall, only around one meter sixty. His face was dark, like he'd just crawled out of a coal mine. His Martial Soul was very strange. It wasn't an attack, defense, or agility type. It felt... it felt like..."

Fatty's gaze drifted toward Tang San. "It seemed to function similarly to Third Brother's Martial Soul, only it looked different."

Tang San and Dai Mubai exchanged a glance, then spoke almost in unison. "A Control System Soul Master?"

Fatty nodded. "It should have been a control type. On the surface, his Martial Soul looked like two semicircular covers. As soon as he summoned it, he wore them on his head. It was utterly disgusting.

"He used two soul skills in total when fighting me. The first enlarged those two covers and blocked my Phoenix Fire Line.

"The second used the two covers to trap my body from the front and back.

"I don't know what material those covers were made of. Even my Phoenix flames couldn't destroy them.

"They bound me up and wrapped me like a rice dumpling. Then I became his punching bag."

Two pink covers? What kind of Martial Soul was that?

Even Tang San, who had studied under Grandmaster for years and could be considered quite knowledgeable, could not figure it out.

Bai Ge's eyes widened, and he blurted out instinctively, "Good heavens, something like that exists? And it appeared on a man?"

After so many years, he no longer remembered Douluo's details very clearly, but...

Tang San was curious and quietly sent him a voice transmission. "Xiao Bai, do you know?"

Bai Ge answered helplessly through voice transmission, "Uh, Xiao San, I told you before, right? The era I lived in came several hundred years after the Great Ming era you lived in.

"In our era, that thing was an intimate garment worn by girls. Its purpose... was similar to the dudou in your era..."

"Pfft!" After hearing that, Tang San sprayed a mouthful of water all over Fatty.

His refined face flushed scarlet, and his internal energy nearly went astray.

It could not be helped. Tang San, who had been born into an era that emphasized "men and women should not touch when giving or receiving," simply could not compare to Bai Ge, an old hand who had seen countless teachers' works.

For Tang San, the shock was simply too great.