The night was as black as ink, and the wind at Shrek Academy carried an inescapable earthy stench.
In the dilapidated Boys' Dormitory, candlelight flickered.
Tang San sat cross-legged on a hard wooden board bed, holding the dog-eared copy of the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record. Bandages covered his bare upper body, and the pungent scent of medicinal herbs hung in the air. It was the healing medicine he had mixed himself.
"Brother..."
Xiao Wu curled up in the corner of the opposite bed, which had only three legs, hugging her knees with vacant eyes. She was not seriously injured, yet her complexion looked worse than Tang San's, despite his heavy wounds.
"What is it?" Tang San did not look up, his gaze still fixed on the chapter titled "Hundred Forms of Hidden Weapons."
He was reviewing the battle.
The crushing defeat during the day was like a fishbone lodged in his throat. He could not understand it. His strategy had been flawless, and the angles of his hidden weapons had been tricky—so why had he not even been able to touch that woman's clothes?
"That Qian Mo..." Xiao Wu's voice trembled like that of a frightened little beast. "There is... an aura around him that terrifies me, yet also makes me want to get close."
Tang San finally closed the book.
His brows furrowed, and a trace of displeasure flashed through his eyes. In his view, Xiao Wu had been dazzled by the other party's money and appearance, just like Ning Rongrong and Oscar.
"Xiao Wu." Tang San spoke sternly, carrying the authority of an elder brother. "That is an illusion. That is the scent of money corrupting people's hearts. Qian Mo has corrupt intentions and ruthless methods. His so-called 'aura' is nothing but an illusion piled together with Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures."
"But..." Xiao Wu bit her lip, wanting to speak but stopping herself.
It was a stirring from the depths of her soul. When Qian Mo had passed by her, the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast bloodline inside her had nearly forced her to kneel. That was not temptation. It was the summons of a monarch to his subjects.
"No buts." Tang San cut her off and reopened the book. "Do not think about such nonsense. What we need to do now is cultivate. As long as my Mysterious Heaven Skill breaks through to the third level, and as long as I create the Hidden Arrow, I will never lose the next time we meet."
"Go to sleep early. The environment here may be poor, but just as Teacher said, it can temper one's character."
With that, Tang San blew out the candle.
Darkness fell.
Xiao Wu lay on the moldy bedding, staring wide-eyed at the drafty roof.
She could not sleep.
She simply could not sleep.
The buzzing mosquitoes were irritating enough, but what frightened her even more was that faint yet lingering killing intent.
Ever since entering Shrek Academy, entering the so-called Monster Territory of Zhao Wuji, she had always felt a pair of eyes watching her from the shadows. That gaze was cold and greedy, as though it were inspecting a pig or sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
It was the aura of a Titled Douluo.
As a soul beast that had taken human form, her senses far surpassed those of ordinary people. She was certain that a Titled Douluo was hiding nearby!
As long as that strong person entertained the thought, she would become a blood red soul ring and a soul bone.
"Brother... I'm scared..." Xiao Wu murmured softly.
The only response was Tang San's steady, even breathing. He had already entered meditation.
An unprecedented loneliness welled up in Xiao Wu's heart.
Just then.
"Buzz—"
A strange ripple, like a warm spring breeze, silently slipped into the ramshackle wooden house.
It was incomparably pure auspicious qi.
It was not aggressive, yet it carried an irresistible pull. Like a traveler in the desert catching the scent of water, like a lost lamb hearing its mother's call.
Xiao Wu's pupils instantly turned pink.
Her body reacted faster than her mind. She threw back the blanket, went barefoot, and silently pushed open the door like a sleepwalker before walking out.
Cloud Top Heavenly Palace, back garden.
There were no mosquitoes here, only blooming exotic flowers and plants.
Massive Glowing Crystals simulated soft moonlight, spilling across paths paved with White Marble. A faint scent of Spirit Concentrating Incense filled the air. It was dragon saliva incense worth a hundred gold for every inch burned.
Qian Mo sat in a rattan chair, holding a glass of wine as blood red as blood.
Zhu Zhuqing was not there. She had just absorbed the "Water Lily Jade Muscle Bone," the second Immortal Herb Qian Mo had given her, and was stabilizing her rapidly increased Soul Power in the quiet room.
"You came?"
Qian Mo did not turn around. He merely swirled the wineglass lightly.
The grass rustled.
Xiao Wu stood barefoot at the garden entrance, her eyes hazy yet wary. She looked at Qian Mo as though he were an enormous mystery.
"Who... who exactly are you?" Xiao Wu's voice was dry. "Why... why can I not stop myself from wanting to submit to you?"
Qian Mo turned around.
The Auspicious Beast Skull at his brow flashed, and a majestic, sacred qilin phantom flickered behind him before vanishing.
"Thud."
Xiao Wu's knees gave out, and she fell directly to the ground. This was not etiquette. It was biological instinct.
"I do not like talking to people who are looking up at me." Qian Mo took a sip of wine and pointed at the chair opposite him. "Sit."
Xiao Wu shakily rose, but she did not sit. Instead, she clutched her skirt tightly, her face full of vigilance. "Did you call me out just to humiliate me? If this is about what happened during the day, I apologize to you on Third Brother's behalf..."
"Third Brother?"
Qian Mo laughed.
He laughed without restraint, so hard that tears nearly came out.
"What profoundly moving sibling affection." Qian Mo set down his glass and leaned forward, his golden eyes staring directly into Xiao Wu's soul. "Little rabbit, do you really think he sees you as his sister?"
Xiao Wu's face went pale. "What do you mean? Third Brother and I swore an oath..."
"An oath?" Qian Mo interrupted her, his voice turning cold. "Then do you know who stands behind your 'good Third Brother'?"
Xiao Wu froze.
"You felt it, did you not?" Qian Mo pointed toward the pitch-black night sky above. "That gaze constantly watching you. That killing intent that makes you unable to eat or sleep, that leaves you too afraid even to close your eyes."
Xiao Wu began trembling violently.
He had hit the mark.
That was the deepest fear in her heart.
"That is the Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao."
Qian Mo casually spoke the name.
Those three words exploded in Xiao Wu's mind like thunder.
Clear Sky Douluo!
The Titled Douluo who had once hammered Spirit Hall's previous Pope to death, known as the strongest force on the continent!
"He... he is Third Brother's father?" Xiao Wu's voice shook, and tears instantly flooded her eyes.
"Looks like you are not stupid." Qian Mo stood and walked toward Xiao Wu step by step. "A Titled Douluo hiding in the shadows every day. He watches you eat, watches you sleep, watches you spend every day with his son."
"Why do you think he has not killed you?"
Qian Mo stopped before Xiao Wu, looking down at her as his voice became an evil whisper.
"Is it because he is merciful? Is it because he likes rabbits?"
"No."
Qian Mo reached out and gently patted Xiao Wu's stiff cheek.
"It is because you are still too young."
"Right now, you are only a two- or three-thousand-year soul ring. Killing you would be too wasteful."
"He is raising a pig."
Every word Qian Mo spoke pierced her heart, bloodily tearing apart that warm and tender veil.
"He is waiting for you to enter maturity, waiting for you to become a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring. Then you will be perfect as Tang San's precious ninth soul ring."
"No... impossible..." Xiao Wu shook her head madly, flinging tears everywhere. "Third Brother would never do that! Third Brother promised to protect me! He said I was the most important person to him!"
"Of course he will protect you." Qian Mo sneered. "Farmers protect the pigs in their pens too, keeping wolves from carrying them away. Because that is their meat."
"As for whether Tang San knows..."
Qian Mo paused, amusement flickering in his eyes.
"A person who has cultivated the Purple Demon Eye since childhood and possesses a mind as cunning as a demon; Master's disciple, who knows herbs and soul beasts inside out. Do you really think he cannot tell that you are not human?"
"He is merely pretending to be foolish."
"He enjoys your dependence. He enjoys having a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast serve as his fighter and his reserve food."
"Shut up! Shut up!" Xiao Wu screamed, covering her ears as her mind neared collapse.
She did not want to believe it.
But reason told her that every word Qian Mo had said was terrifyingly logical.
If they did not intend to kill her, why would a Titled Douluo keep following her?
If Tang San truly loved her, why had he never mentioned the existence of his father?
"Do you not believe me?"
A cruel curve lifted at the corner of Qian Mo's mouth.
"Then let me show you."
Qian Mo suddenly raised his head and looked toward the dark forest outside Shrek Academy.
The qilin mark between his brows erupted with dazzling golden light, and an intent of provocation belonging to a Divine Beast emperor blasted toward that direction without reservation.
"Tang Hao! Have you watched enough?!"
Bolstered by Soul Power, Qian Mo's voice rumbled like thunder, shattering the night's silence.
"Get out here!"
Silence.
Deathly silence.
The next second.
"Boom—!!!"
A terrifying Black Qi Wave, suffocating in its intensity, erupted from deep within the forest.
The sky darkened.
The night sky, which had still held several stars, was instantly obscured by a mountain-heavy pressure.
A gigantic black hammer phantom slowly emerged in the sky, as though it intended to crush the entire earth.
The pressure of a Titled Douluo!
And it was Clear Sky Pressure filled with violent, murderous aura!
"Crack!"
The defensive barrier outside Cloud Top Heavenly Palace let out a crisp sound, its light flickering unsteadily.
Under that pressure, Xiao Wu went limp as if all the bones had been pulled from her body. She collapsed on the ground, trembling violently. It was fear from the depths of her soul—the despair of a herbivore facing an apex predator.
"It really is... a Titled Douluo..."
Xiao Wu's face was ashen.
That aura had locked onto this place. More precisely, it had locked onto her.
It was a greedy, appraising gaze, carrying a certain possessiveness. Like a butcher examining a pig he had raised for years, checking how much fat it had gained.
"Hmph."
Just as Xiao Wu believed she was about to be crushed beneath that pressure.
A warm hand pressed down on her head.
Qian Mo stood before her, his Platinum Robe billowing in the wind. His slender figure appeared incomparably tall at that moment.
"Who are you trying to intimidate in my territory?"
Qian Mo snorted coldly.
He did not use Soul Power to resist.
He merely activated a trace of the original aura within him belonging to the "Auspicious God King."
"Buzz!"
A Seven-Colored Light Pillar shot into the heavens.
Cloud Top Heavenly Palace seemed to come alive. Countless phantoms of Ancient Divine Beasts coiled and roared within the pillar of light.
The invincible Clear Sky Hammer phantom met that sacred, majestic aura like snow under the blazing sun, rapidly melting and retreating.
The pressure dissipated.
A muffled groan faintly came from deep in the forest. Then that aura swiftly retreated and vanished without a trace.
Tang Hao had retreated.
He did not dare gamble. He could not see through the power behind Qian Mo, nor did he dare completely expose his whereabouts on Spirit Hall's territory.
Calm returned.
Only Xiao Wu remained, drenched in cold sweat as though she had just been pulled from water.
"Did you see clearly?"
Qian Mo withdrew his hand, pulled out a handkerchief, and disgustedly wiped the hand that had touched Xiao Wu's head.
"This is your guardian."
"If I had removed the defenses just now, you would already have been smashed into pulp by that hammer and turned into a soul ring."
Xiao Wu stared blankly at Qian Mo.
In that instant, the figure standing before her formed a brutally stark contrast with the Tang San in her mind, who only knew how to say, "I will protect you," yet could not even protect himself.
One protected with words.
One drove back a Titled Douluo with divine power.
One treated her as reserve food.
One was...
"Why did you save me?" Xiao Wu asked hoarsely, her eyes complicated.
"Because you are a soul beast."
Qian Mo turned around and sat back in the rattan chair, his tone as calm as though he were discussing the weather.
"I am the Lord of Soul Beasts."
"Under heaven, all soul beasts are my subjects."
"I allowed you to be hunted—that was the natural law of survival of the fittest. But I will never allow..."
A flash of golden light flickered in Qian Mo's eyes, his domineering aura overflowing.
"Someone is raising my people in captivity, then brainwashing them into willingly offering themselves as sacrifices!"
"That is an insult to the entire soul beast race."
Xiao Wu shuddered all over.
Lord of Soul Beasts...
If anyone else had said that title, she would have laughed her teeth out. But coming from Qian Mo, coupled with the divine might that had just driven back the Clear Sky Douluo, she believed it.
"Then what... should I do?" Xiao Wu was lost.
Go back to Shrek? That would be returning to the pigpen.
Follow Tang San? That would mean following a hypocrite who was always ready to devour her.
"You have two choices."
Qian Mo held up two fingers.
"First, crawl back to that shabby wooden house and keep playing the sweet, naive little sister. Then, when Tang San needs a soul ring someday, sacrifice yourself in tears, touch yourself with your own devotion, and fulfill someone else's wishes."
Xiao Wu's face went deathly pale as she desperately shook her head.
"Second."
Qian Mo pointed at the ground beneath his feet.
"Stay here."
"Be my maid."
"I will protect you until you become a god. I will show you that the soul beast race does not need to depend on humans to stand at the pinnacle of this world."
"Of course, the price is..."
A malicious smile curled at the corner of Qian Mo's mouth.
"You must make a clean break with Tang San."
Xiao Wu fell silent.
She lowered her head and looked at her bare feet.
Tang San's cold, retreating back flashed through her mind. Then the Clear Sky Hammer hanging over her head, followed by Qian Mo's figure standing before her just moments ago.
Survival, or death?
Dignity, or captivity?
This was not a choice at all.
A few minutes later.
Xiao Wu took a deep breath and slowly raised her head. The innocence and liveliness in her pink eyes had vanished, replaced by a determination and hatred she had never possessed before.
She did not want to die.
Even less did she want to be deceived into dying.
Xiao Wu dropped to both knees. This time, her submission was wholehearted.
Facing Qian Mo, she deeply kowtowed.
"Soft Bone Charm Rabbit Xiao Wu greets... my lord."
Qian Mo smiled.
With a casual toss, he threw out a soul bone that glimmered with crystalline radiance—a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone prepared long ago, exceptionally suited for an agility-attack type.
"Take it."
"Put it on, then go move your belongings out of that shabby dormitory."
"Remember, now that you follow me, stop looking at people with those pitiful eyes."
"Tomorrow morning, I want to see a brand-new you."
Xiao Wu accepted the soul bone, feeling the surging power within it. Her eye sockets reddened slightly.
"Yes, my lord."
She rose to her feet and walked into the darkness, toward the place she had once regarded as home.
But this time, she was going there to say goodbye.
And to take revenge.
Qian Mo watched her departing figure, gently swirling his wineglass, his gaze unfathomable.
"The third one."
"Tang San, Tang San... when you wake up and discover that your sister, your brother, and your cheat ability have all become mine..."
"What kind of expression will you make?"
"It really is... something to look forward to."
The next early morning.
Shrek Academy's Assembly Bell rang once more.
With dark circles beneath his eyes, Tang San rushed to the sports field at once.
After cultivating for an entire night, his Mysterious Heaven Skill had finally shown signs of a breakthrough. He could not wait to share the good news with Xiao Wu, and perhaps brainwash her a little more so she would firmly resolve to stay.
"Xiao Wu!"
Seeing the figure approaching from the girls' dormitory, Tang San smiled warmly and went to greet her.
"Did you sleep well last night? I've thought it through. Although Qian Mo is strong, as long as we..."
Before he could finish.
Tang San froze.
The Xiao Wu standing before him was no longer the little girl in worn pink clothes with a scorpion braid.
She wore a magnificent long dress woven from gold thread, Flowing Light soul tool boots on her feet, and a gem necklace around her neck that could buy all of Suotuo City.
Most importantly.
She stood behind Qian Mo.
She was looking at him with the icy gaze she would give a stranger—or even... an enemy.
"Xiao Wu... you..." Tang San reached out, wanting to grab her.
"Don't touch me."
Xiao Wu took half a step back, her voice as cold as ice chips.
"Tang San, we... aren't close."
Before you continue