Zhu Zhuqing and a Passing Stranger

"Knock, knock, knock!" Tang San knocked on the door.

But...

Not only did no one open the door or respond, the noise inside actually grew louder.

"Bang!!!"

Tang San kicked the door open.

The loud thud of the wooden door slamming against the wall was like a bucket of ice water extinguishing the sweltering heat inside.

The plump woman's terrified scream almost pierced her eardrums. She grabbed her scattered clothes and rushed toward the door in a disheveled state. As she passed Tang San, a strong scent of perfume mixed with an unpleasant smell of photinia flowers wafted over her.

Tang San's gaze remained fixed on the figure on the bed the entire time.

Is that Ma Hongjun?

In Tang San's memory, the young Ma Hongjun was a sturdy, bright-eyed, and somewhat naive and cunning fat boy. As an adult, he became extremely thin and a handsome red-haired youth. But the one before him...

He was sitting naked on the messy bedding, his body resembling a bloated mountain of flesh.

His large belly bulged, and his skin had an unhealthy, pale white hue. The flesh on his cheeks squeezed his eyes into slits, and his heavy dark circles gave him a haggard look, a result of excessive indulgence.

Just from that sudden startle that made him sit up, he was already panting heavily, the fat on his chest and belly jiggling violently with each heavy breath.

The air was filled with a sweet, cloying smell, a mixture of sweat, cheap perfume, and some indescribable fishy odor.

Oscar covered his nose, his face showing undisguised shock and a hint of sympathy.

The mysterious man took a few steps back, seemingly reluctant to enter the room. His eyes radiated an almost palpable disgust and coldness, the meaning of which couldn't be clearer.

That's it? All the trouble we went through to find us, this is just a piece of trash completely consumed by desire?

"Oscar? What brings you here..." Ma Hongjun caught his breath, his squinting eyes initially showing confusion, but then he recognized the old acquaintance. His tone carried a hint of joy at their long-awaited reunion, but more so annoyance and indifference at being interrupted.

He casually grabbed a wrinkled piece of clothing, barely covering his stomach, his movements languid.

When Oscar pointed at Tang San with a complicated expression and said, "This is the mistress," Ma Hongjun's face, which was covered by fat, visibly froze.

He widened his small eyes and carefully examined the cold-looking black-haired youth at the door.

Unfamiliar, utterly unfamiliar. He lacked the gentle and reserved demeanor of Tang San from his memories. When the other party first glanced at him, Ma Hongjun instinctively felt a sense of fear.

It's like the fear herbivores feel when facing their natural enemies.

Tang San has killed and devoured so many people and Soul Beast that an aura has formed around him.

"You... you really are a mistress?" Ma Hongjun's voice was somewhat hoarse, but more than that, it was filled with disbelief.

Tang San did not answer this obvious question.

His gaze swept over Ma Hongjun's wretched appearance, from his swollen eyelids to his frail limbs.

The nauseating stench in the room, and the decay emanating from the fat man—a decaying sense of Soul Power and life force simultaneously depleted by "Evil Fire" and indulgence—silently confirmed the worst possible prediction.

"How could you...?"

Tang San spoke, his voice eerily calm, devoid of any emotion from reuniting with an old friend, "You've become like this?"

Upon hearing this, Ma Hongjun wore a helpless expression that seemed to say, "Is that even a question?" He shrugged, and his fat jiggled again.

His tone even carried a hint of self-righteous complaint. "Hey, isn't it all because of my Martial Soul! The Evil Fire Phoenix, you know that's its side effect. Once that fire comes up, if you don't let it out, your whole body burns, it feels like ants are crawling in your bones, it can drive you crazy! I've already been very restrained..."

"Restraint?" A very soft sneer came from beneath the cloak of the mysterious figure who had been silent all along.

Tang San's gaze grew even colder.

He interrupted Ma Hongjun's unconvincing complaints and asked the most crucial question, "What level is your Soul Power now?"

Ma Hongjun's expression froze for a moment, his eyes flickering as he looked away, muttering indistinctly, "Well... cultivation, you know, can't be rushed... My Martial Soul is unstable..."

"What level?" Tang San repeated, without emphasizing his words, but the temperature in the room seemed to plummet to freezing point instantly.

Ma Hongjun shrank back, and under Tang San's emotionless gaze, finally reluctantly uttered a number. "Level...48."

Level 48!

Even though Tang San thought he was prepared for any bad situation, this number still broke him down!

So many years have passed, and he's still not even Soul King! Oscar, a food-type Soul Master, has gone through countless life-and-death trials and tribulations and is now at level 59, while Ma Hongjun, who possesses a top-tier Beast Martial Soul, is still hovering around level 48!

What has he been doing all these years?

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"Heh... this is your Douluo Star," the mysterious man's mocking voice rang out again, "Back then, even trash like this managed to get a godhood."

His gaze swept over the limp mass of fat on the bed, as if examining a pile of unrecyclable garbage.

"On the contrary, those who risked their lives on the front lines of the abyss, their souls scattered and not even a trace left," the gray mist murmured with a chilling sarcasm, "Fighting to the very last moment, even harming gods with mortal bodies, they still couldn't touch the threshold of so-called 'gods.' Truly... an interesting set of rules."

Ma Hongjun was bewildered by these sudden, completely incomprehensible words.

His small eyes were filled with confusion. "Abyss"? "Godhood"? These words were too far removed from his hedonistic world.

He moved his lips, wanting to ask this pretentious fellow what nonsense he was spouting.

However, he hadn't yet asked the question.

He didn't even see how the man in black robes moved before that icy, bone-chilling hand lightly and disdainfully pressed against his greasy, sweaty forehead.

"Uh..." Ma Hongjun only managed to utter a short, guttural sound.

The next instant, a tsunami of fragmented memories surged violently into his mind!

Back at the Shrek Academy, he eagerly swallowed the Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower, experiencing the ecstatic joy of his inner Evil Fire being purified...

Pope Palace, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he received the crimson Right Arm Soul Bone, which resembled a burning flame...

On Sea God Island, Tang San handed him the inner core of the Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent, which contained a powerful aura, and his Martial Soul Evolution into the Ten-Headed Fire Phoenix...

Even if one fails the God of Fire God's test, one can still continue with the Phoenix God's test and ultimately become a deity.

These glorious, almost dreamlike memories stand in stark contrast to his current state in the filthy hotel, his bloated body, and his pathetic cultivation level stuck at level forty-eight!

"No... this isn't me... this is impossible!" Ma Hongjun screamed inhumanly, his obese body rolling violently before crashing heavily off the bed onto the cold, filthy floor.

He clutched his head tightly with both hands, his fingernails digging into his scalp.

The pain does not come from the body, but from the complete collapse of cognition.

He saw a "Ma Hongjun" who might ascend to a divine throne and shine brightly, yet he was also acutely aware that he was just a lump of rotten, foul-smelling mud succumbing to base desires.

The clash between ultimate glory and ultimate humiliation raged wildly in his mind, nearly driving him to a mental breakdown.

The screams gradually turned into gasping, whimpering sounds, and finally faded into a deathly silence and trembling.

He lay sprawled on the ground like a lump of mud, no longer struggling, but his eyes were tightly closed, his eyeballs trembling violently beneath his eyelids.

He was unwilling and dared not open his eyes again.

After facing such a dazzling "possibility," looking back at this real, sour, and repulsive self... it's more cruel than any form of torture.

Beside him, Tang San coldly watched all of this, observing Ma Hongjun's journey from madness to collapse, and finally to this escapist "silence."

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Ma Hongjun finally opened his eyes.

Those were no longer the murky, listless, and desire-filled slits of the past, but eyes bloodshot and pupils brimming with hatred.

He stared intently at Tang San, his voice hoarse and strained. "Who... who did this?!"

His obese body trembled with intense hatred, not fear, but a violent rage as if he wanted to tear something apart.

"Who... made my life... into this mess?!" He saw that the golden road to heaven that should have been shining brightly had been cut off and thrown into this stinking ditch that reeked of mold and bodily fluids!

Tang San met his gaze, his voice calm and even, as if stating a given fact. "The Spirit Hall Empire... and... those 'monsters' from another world within the empire."

There was no explanation, no details; it was simply a clear, powerful, and malicious target.

That's enough!

At this moment, Ma Hongjun didn't need logic or evidence; he only needed an object to bear his overwhelming hatred and humiliation, an enemy from whom he could transfer all his resentment and anger at his own powerlessness.

"Martial Soul ... Empire... Monster..." Ma Hongjun chewed on these words, the fire of hatred burning fiercely in his eyes, quickly overshadowing all other emotions.

Chapter 305 Zhu Zhuqing and the Passerby

In the Divine Realm, within the Rakshasa God Temple belonging to the Rakshasa God, this goddess who governs evil and depravity is idly toying with a wisp of purplish-black thread formed from the resentment of the lower realms.

Her dark purple eyes had been flashing with malice—she wanted to see how the newly crowned successor, Bibi Dong, would tear her other "toy," Tang San, apart with boundless hatred.

However, after watching for a while, the feedback was all Bibi Dong searching for Tang San like a headless fly, while Tang San... had completely disappeared.

"Tsk, boring." Rakshasa God frowned in dissatisfaction, his initial interest in watching the fun quickly replaced by impatience.

"Where did that kid hide?"

With a slight thought, her powerful divine sense, like an invisible spider web, observed every corner of Douluo Star, carefully searching for Tang San's figure.

First time, no!

Two tries, still nothing!

The Rakshasa God finally abandoned his nonchalant attitude and his expression became serious.

A mere mortal Soul Master managed to evade the divine sense of First-Level God?

The first time might have been luck, but the second time there's definitely something wrong.

She muttered to herself, suspicion deepening in her eyes, "To be able to evade my gaze... could this kid have stumbled upon some 'opportunity' that he shouldn't have found in some hidden corner again?"

She couldn't help but ponder deeply. Tang San was originally the "chosen one" chosen by that old-fashioned Asura God. Although the plan failed halfway through, there was always an eerie aura about this kid.

Having encountered formidable enemies time and again, suffering repeated defeats, their so-called "luck" should have long since dissipated, and the remaining bit was only effective intermittently.

But ironically, despite his previous destitution, he managed to get the Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena to help him.

Now, they can disappear right under my nose again...

Thinking of this, the Rakshasa God's figure flickered, transforming into a twisted stream of purplish-black light, heading straight towards another majestic temple in the Divine Realm that exuded a chilling aura of killing and judgment— the Asura God Temple.

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Inside the temple, a blood-red killing intent flowed and rose slowly, as if it were a tangible substance, casting a dark red glow over the entire space.