"Hm?"
Asura God's expression shifted slightly, but he quickly regained his calm. He murmured, "Three transformed beasts have obtained Divine Slaughter's Domain."
"Since I left behind the Slaughter World, nothing like this has ever happened before."
"Soul Beasts."
Asura God slowly closed his eyes again. As a God King as powerful as him, he didn't care in the slightest. He was equally unconcerned that Ye Wen and the others had obtained Divine Slaughter's Domain despite being Soul Beasts.
In Asura God's eyes, the three of them were no more than ants. Would a god standing at the pinnacle care about a tiny ant?
To him, this was a trivial matter. As long as the place of inheritance remained, that was all that mattered. He still had to wait for a suitable successor.
Ye Wen and the others were transformed Soul Beasts, but they weren't even a consideration for him.
After passing the nearest city, Ye Wen and the others bought several carriages and set off for Skywater City.
Terror Knight Scott rode in the same carriage as the three of them, serving as their driver.
Ye Wen was quite curious about Scott, so he casually asked, "Hey, Scott, I heard the Slaughter King say you're a Soul Douluo?"
"Yes, Master."
"Tell me about your Soul Power, Martial Soul, Soul Ring Configuration, and so on." Ye Wen wanted to learn more about him, since Scott would be working with him for a long time.
"Of course, Master." Scott nodded respectfully, then said, "My name is Scott. I'm forty-two years old, an eighty-second-level Strength Attack System Soul Master with eight Soul Rings. My Weapon Martial Soul is a high-grade Blood Shadow Sword. My Soul Ring Configuration is yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black."
"That's a standard top-tier Soul Ring Configuration. An eighty-second-level Soul Douluo at forty-two—Scott, you're incredibly talented! How did you end up in Slaughter City?" Ye Wen was surprised and couldn't make sense of it.
With that level of Soul Power at his age, Scott was a genius. He even had a chance of reaching the Titled Douluo realm.
After all, Tang Hao, hailed as the youngest Titled Douluo on the continent, was forty-four.
Qin Ming, hailed as the continent's second-youngest Soul Emperor, had reached Level 62 in his early thirties. He then broke through to the Soul Douluo realm within the next ten years.
Whether or not there were even younger people whose achievements hadn't been made public, being hailed as the first or second meant they were undoubtedly among the most gifted geniuses on the continent.
And Scott's talent was every bit as good as Qin Ming's!
With talent like his, Spirit Hall and the empires should have been clamoring to recruit him. Otherwise, some major sect would surely have taken him in. How had he ended up in Slaughter City?
"You must have gotten into trouble or offended someone, right?"
"Master, I killed a noble of the Heaven Dou Empire, and they put out a warrant for my arrest. With nowhere else to go, I had no choice but to head to Slaughter City."
Scott spoke lightly, but Ye Wen could see the anger, grievance, and hatred in his eyes and expression.
"A noble of the Heaven Dou Empire? Why did you kill him?"
"They insulted my wife and killed my son. I got revenge by killing them." Scott clenched his fists tightly.
"I understand. I'm sorry for bringing up something so painful."
"It's all right, Master. I'm used to it by now."
Clearly, Scott had been wronged—a good man driven to desperation.
In the past, when Ye Wen read the story of the Douluo World, he had viewed things from the protagonist's perspective. But as time went on, he gradually realized that compared with the Two Great Empires, Spirit Hall was actually the more righteous side.
They kept Evil Soul Masters in check and took responsibility for maintaining public order. They gave every ordinary child, even those from poor families, the chance to awaken their Martial Soul, become a Soul Master, and study at a Soul Master Academy.
If Spirit Hall didn't exist, the Two Great Empires would have gone to war long ago. The fighting would have been endless, and the people would have been left in misery.
And without Spirit Hall, Soul Masters would probably have been monopolized by the imperial nobility. What chance would ordinary Soul Masters have had to rise to prominence, unless they were exceptionally gifted?
Although many Soul Masters in Spirit Hall's local branches did nothing, and some even oppressed the people, there were all kinds of people in any large organization.
Was the empire any different?
In truth, the empire was even worse. Many local officials and nobles oppressed the people and abused their power—more of them than in Spirit Hall, in fact. So there were probably plenty of good people like Scott who had suffered at the hands of nobles.
In short, both sides were much the same. In Ye Wen's view, the continent might even have a better future if Spirit Hall unified it.
"Scott, if you still have anything left to do, or anyone you still need to avenge yourself on, just tell me."
"Thank you for your concern, Master. For now, all I can do is stay by your side."
"All right." Ye Wen nodded, and the two ended their conversation.
After nearly ten days on the road, Ye Wen and his group finally returned to Skywater City.
He didn't return to the academy right away. Instead, he bought a Five-story villa in Skywater City for Scott and the other Soul Masters who had come from Slaughter City.
They were still people and needed money. Even if they worked for him, he still had to pay them wages—but money was the one thing Ye Wen had plenty of.
"You'll live here from now on. I'll contact you when I need you. You're free to move around Skywater City, as long as you don't go looking for trouble. Understood?" Ye Wen said.
"Understood, Master!"
"Also, Scott, from now on, your identity in front of outsiders will be Evil Tiger's distant maternal uncle."
"Wait, Boss! Why am I the one whose uncle he is? Why not Xiao Bai's uncle?" Evil Tiger objected.
"Do you think Xiao Bai's adorable looks make her seem like Scott's great-niece?"
Evil Tiger: "Uh..."
They were all Soul Beasts. Once they reached a bottleneck, they could form their own Soul Rings without hunting Soul Beasts. When they absorbed those Soul Rings, the teachers at Skywater Academy would certainly have to help, which could make their true identities easy to discover.
With Scott acting as their uncle, they could say he had brought them along whenever they absorbed Soul Rings, preventing anyone from finding out.
"All right, let's head back to Skywater Academy."
"Mm-hm!"
After tidying up, the three of them headed back to Skywater Academy.
This time, Ye Wen's human-form Soul Power had reached Level 18. Evil Tiger and Xiao Bai were at Level 17, keeping pace with him without falling behind.
"Junior Ye Wen!"
"Junior Evil Tiger!"
"Junior Xiao Bai!"
"You're back!"
"Junior Ye Wen! Come here! Come on, let us kiss and hug you and lift you up high!"
Ye Wen and the others entered Skywater Academy, and, just as usual, the senior girls were as enthusiastic as ever.
"No, no, thank you, seniors. No kissing or hugging. I'm still too young."
"Aw, why are you leaving already~"
Ye Wen hurriedly made his escape and returned to the dormitory. He hadn't even lain down when someone knocked on the door.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Who is it?"
"It's me." Shui Bing'er's voice came from outside.
"Shui Bing'er?" Ye Wen immediately got up and opened the door. He saw a beautiful girl outside wearing a dark blue dress. "What's up? What do you need?"
"I... Actually, I..." Shui Bing'er's face turned slightly red.
Before you continue