The crimson light of the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring had yet to fade, and its terrifying pressure weighed on the two of them like a mountain.
The air was deathly silent.
Looking at the "monster" before her, who was even younger than she was yet possessed the strength of a Seven-Ring Soul Saint, Tang Ya felt her worldview collapse.
Her pride, her faith in her ancestors, and her pitiful talent with Blue Silver Grass were all crushed to dust before absolute strength.
The enormous psychological blow instantly turned into hysterical madness.
"Fake... It's all fake!"
Tang Ya staggered to her feet, eyes bloodshot and hair disheveled, looking completely deranged.
"How could you possibly be a Soul Saint?! You must be using some kind of trick to insult the Tang Sect! I won't let you slander our ancestors!"
With her reason snapped, Tang Ya screamed and flung out several Blue Silver Grass vines, charging at Gu Yuejin like a moth to a flame.
"Xiaoya! Don't be impulsive!"
Beibei was horrified. He tried to stop her, but it was already too late.
Watching his beloved lose herself to madness, he could only grit his teeth and follow, forcing himself to summon Thunder Dragon Claw from the flank to support her.
Though he had chosen to act, Beibei felt terribly uneasy, even utterly hopeless.
He and Tang Ya were a three-ring Soul Elder and a two-ring Soul Grandmaster.
The combined age of their Soul Rings wasn't even a fraction of that Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.
How could this be a fight? It was suicide.
"Not confident enough, yet still forcing yourselves into a fight. Is this what they call Shrek's top students?"
Gu Yuejin stood perfectly still, his gaze on the two charging at him utterly indifferent.
The Soul Power reward had just come through, and he was now a Seventy-third Level Soul Saint.
He didn't even need to use his Martial Soul to deal with these two ants.
"Get lost."
It was only one word.
It wasn't a deafening roar, but the sudden surge of his Soul Power at the seventy-third level turned it into a terrifying, invisible wave of pressure.
Bang! Bang!
There was no suspense.
The Blue Silver Grass vines Tang Ya had prided herself on snapped one by one the instant they touched the wave. Beibei's Thunder Dragon Claw dissolved outright into a shower of sparks.
Like kites with their strings cut, the two of them flew backward in a sorry heap and crashed into tree trunks dozens of meters away, shaking leaves to the ground.
"Pfft—"
Tang Ya spat out another mouthful of blood. Her face turned ashen, and at last, fear replaced the madness in her eyes.
Gu Yuejin hadn't gone for the kill. He had merely taught them a painful lesson.
After all, Mu En, that old fossil, stood behind Beibei. It wasn't yet time to break all ties.
He withdrew his pressure, walked over to Huo Yuhao, and pointed at Tang Ya, who lay sprawled in the distance in a miserable state. His tone was calm, but every word cut deep:
"Disciple, did you see that clearly?"
"This is the so-called Tang Sect master."
"With Soul Power at level thirty, she still dreams of reviving the greatest sect under heaven. She's pitifully weak, yet she can't pull herself away from the glory of her ancestors."
"That's what they call—virtue unworthy of one's position."
Huo Yuhao looked at Tang Ya, who had been so haughty moments ago but couldn't even withstand a single move now. The last traces of his rosy image of the "Tang Sect" shattered completely.
She was too weak.
Without Shrek's protection, a sect like that probably wouldn't last three days in the Soul Master World.
"You... just you wait!"
Humiliated in front of the person she had hoped to recruit as a "future disciple" and utterly crushed, Tang Ya was so mortified she could barely hold back her tears.
How could she possibly stay?
She struggled to her feet, clutching her chest. She didn't even dare look at Gu Yuejin again, fleeing toward the edge of the forest without looking back.
"Xiaoya! Wait for me!"
Beibei gave Gu Yuejin a long, complicated look. In the end, he didn't dare make any threats. He turned and chased after her.
The so-called prestige of the Tang Sect had been shattered utterly in that moment.
"Master..."
Watching the direction they had disappeared in, Huo Yuhao's eyes flickered with worry. "They're from Shrek, after all. Will we get into trouble?"
After years of surviving in the Duke Mansion, he still had the ingrained fear of being bullied and then reported on.
"Trouble?"
Gu Yuejin chuckled, unconcerned. "Don't worry. They don't have the face or the guts to do anything."
"Beibei has a respectable background, but he's spent years in the Outer Court and hardly ever returns to the Inner Court."
"Unless that Sea God Pavilion master is on his deathbed."
"Come on. It'll be dark soon."
Gu Yuejin said no more. He picked Huo Yuhao up, blurred out of sight, and vanished from the spot.
Before sunset.
Gu Yuejin took Huo Yuhao at a swift pace out of the Star Dou Forest and into a small town on the border of the Dou Ling Empire.
They found a relatively clean inn and booked two first-class rooms.
Inside the room.
Gu Yuejin sat cross-legged on the bed. After making sure the doors and windows were shut, a flash of golden light appeared in his right palm.
A translucent little plant appeared, its veins flowing with a golden glow.
His Second Martial Soul, the Blue Silver Emperor.
As the Blue Silver Emperor appeared, a gentle yet domineering wave spread out, completely sealing off the room's Aura in an instant.
"If that idiot Tang Ya saw this, she'd probably be furious enough to die~"
Looking at the Blue Silver Emperor in his hand, Gu Yuejin's lips curled into a playful smile.
When his Martial Soul had awakened, his Body Martial Soul had taken the lead, so this Second Martial Soul hadn't manifested. In fact, because the Body Martial Soul was so well concealed, people had nearly mistaken him for someone without a Martial Soul.
If the ordinary old farmer who had taken him in hadn't spent his entire life's savings to help him awaken...
At the thought, the teasing look in Gu Yuejin's eyes faded, replaced by a touch of nostalgia.
He had been in this world for eighteen years, raised by an ordinary old farmer.
He had no resources from a great clan, no prestigious background.
Relying on his Innate Full Soul Power, he had made his way to where he was, one step at a time.
That old man had died without ever knowing that the child he had raised through frugality was a true genius.
"Old man, don't worry."
"Now that I've come to this world watched over by gods, I won't let all your hard work go to waste."
Gu Yuejin put away the Blue Silver Emperor and turned his gaze toward the stars outside the window.
Changing Huo Yuhao's fate was only the first step.
The future was full of unknowns. Who knew when he might draw the attention of the Divine Realm?
But so what?
Now that he had a system and strength, if he still lived as miserably as in the Original Work, he might as well go bash his head against a block of tofu.
In the room next door.
Huo Yuhao lay on the soft bed, enjoying a comfort he had never known before.
His master had not only bought him new clothes but also brought him to such a fine inn and treated him to delicious food he had never tasted.
The feeling of being cared for made his nose sting.
"Little Yuhao, don't get all sentimental. You've really struck it lucky this time!"
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's excited voice rang out in the Sea of Consciousness.
"Brother Sky Dream, just how strong is Master?" Huo Yuhao couldn't help asking.
"Very strong! Even stronger than I imagined!"
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's tone grew more serious. "That Seven-Ring Soul Saint's cultivation was definitely the real deal, and his Spiritual Power is terrifying. Even I can't see through him."
"Having him as your master can only be a good thing for you."
As he spoke, a glint flashed in Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's beady eyes.
His original plan had been to let Huo Yuhao cultivate for a few years and grow a little stronger before heading to the Extreme North to try and trick the Ice Empress.
But now...
Since Huo Yuhao had such a powerful and protective master, perhaps they could move up the plan?
"Heh heh, Little Yuhao, the good days are still ahead of us."
Before you continue