Yun Ze prodded the mud in the pit with his twin spears, but found nothing unusual about it. Wu Zhangkong came over as well and asked Yun Ze curiously,
"Did you find anything?"
Yun Ze shook his head, then said,
"It felt like that person just vanished into thin air. I didn't sense any Soul Power or spatial fluctuations."
Wu Zhangkong frowned and said to Yun Ze,
"He definitely won't stop here. There are plenty of tombstones left."
Yun Ze suddenly thought of something and began examining the inscriptions on the tombstones that had been stolen in recent days.
"These stolen graves all have something in common."
After inspecting all the looted graves, Yun Ze said to Wu Zhangkong,
"They were all Soul Masters, and every one of them was at least a Soul Elder."
Wu Zhangkong clicked his tongue softly, then examined the graves as well. At last, he nodded and said,
"If that's what he's going by, then his next targets can only be..."
Wu Zhangkong couldn't help looking back at Long Bing's grave. At this point, only Long Bing's grave and two others—whose owners hadn't been mentioned in the original story—met the requirement of belonging to Soul Elders or stronger.
Yun Ze glanced at Wu Zhangkong and said,
"How about we head back first? Going by common sense, we've already shown ourselves. Unless the other guy is an idiot, he probably won't come back tonight."
Wu Zhangkong shook his head and sat down in front of Long Bing's grave again. He said,
"You go back first. I want to stay with her. It has nothing to do with the grave robber. It's just what I want to do."
Yun Ze looked at Wu Zhangkong but said nothing more. He simply told him,
"While you're keeping her company, give what I said some thought. Your teacher really does miss you."
Wu Zhangkong nodded, and Yun Ze left on his own.
Late that night, when Yun Ze was fast asleep, he suddenly opened his eyes.
A sense of unease welled up inside him, a warning triggered by his Soul Power.
Yun Ze continued pretending to be asleep. The moment the pressure from the window drew closer, he suddenly hurled his blanket toward it and brought his twin spears into his hands.
Yun Ze moved with his spears, driving both into the center of the blanket.
"Rip!"
With the sound of tearing cloth, the blanket was instantly shredded, revealing what Yun Ze's spears had pierced beneath it.
It was a decayed corpse, almost entirely devoid of flesh.
Yun Ze frowned, then kicked the corpse in the abdomen, sending it flying. He twirled his twin spears in his hands.
"Who's playing tricks?"
Just then, the corpse seemed to come to life again. Accompanied by a grating bell toll, it slowly rose to its feet.
"What a revolting thing."
Yun Ze cursed under his breath, then swung his twin spears, bearing down on the corpse with overwhelming force.
After smashing the corpse to pieces, Yun Ze heard a round of applause behind him.
"As expected of a top student from Shrek Inner Court. Not bad."
The voice was old and hoarse, as if it belonged not to a person but to a battered old phonograph. Yun Ze turned around. It was the lecherous-looking old man from a few hours earlier.
"I hear Yun Ming had a precious son. His Martial Soul is a companion Martial Soul formed from his own and his junior brother's Martial Souls. Quite interesting."
"You must be the so-called young master of Shrek, then?"
As he spoke, the old man took a step forward. Five Soul Rings appeared around him, two yellow and three purple. Yun Ze narrowed his eyes slightly.
The old man's two Soul Spirits were rather peculiar as well. They were artificial, bell-shaped Soul Spirits that looked almost exactly alike.
They floated above his shoulders, one on each side, making him look almost like some kind of three-headed monster.
Yun Ze couldn't have cared less. He had already sensed that the old man wasn't wearing any Battle Armor.
The best Battle Armor a five-ring Soul Master could wear was One-Word Battle Armor. The old man had none, while Yun Ze had a mech in his Storage Soul Tool.
Yun Ze's own combat ability could also match a Five-Ring Soul King.
He really couldn't see how he could lose this one.
Still, Yun Ze knew all too well that overconfidence led to defeat. He aimed his twin spears at the old man, one held in front and one behind, and calmly said,
"So you went through all this just to track me down?"
The old man burst into laughter, then said,
"That's right. I came looking for you. I've waited for you for more than a hundred years."
Yun Ze replied scornfully,
"Old man, at least make your lies believable. I'd understand if you were a Titled Douluo, but you're just a Soul King. You've waited for more than a hundred years? Aren't you worried the wind will blow your tongue right out of your mouth?"
The old man gave a lewd, sinister chuckle. As he waved his hand and released four more corpses to surround Yun Ze, he said,
"From my father's generation onward, we knew that within these hundred-odd years, a legendary Heaven-Standing One would be born into a family that should never have had a child."
"This Heaven-Standing One looks like an ordinary person, but wields a pair of twin spears. His bearing is like that of a veteran warrior, a deadly weapon in his own right. He is the key formation core our lineage's Martial Soul needs to reach its ultimate form."
"Counting my father's generation, I've waited more than a hundred and ten years for you."
"But my father's generation had already waited eighty years for you."
Yun Ze had completely run out of patience. Surrounded by four Corpse Puppets, he moved as if he'd entered a state of invincibility, swiftly taking out three of them. Then, using the depth of his twin spears, he rammed the last corpse and sent it flying.
"What kind of nonsense is this?"
Yun Ze demanded an answer from the old man, but he had no intention of waiting for one. In the blink of an eye, he had already charged up to him.
The Heaven-Propping Spear shot forward. The old man hastily raised the Grey Small Bell in his hand to block it.
"Clang!"
After a sharp ring, the old man staggered backward. Stroking his beard, he said,
"As expected, the Heaven-Standing One is extraordinary. Not even an army can stop your furious charge."
Yun Ze flicked the tip of the Heaven-Propping Spear. He had completely lost interest in listening to the old man. He said,
"You want to use me as your formation core? Then we'll see if you're strong enough. That last strike really did have a bit of luck behind it. I'll take that luck for myself."
The old man let out a strange cackle at Yun Ze, then said,
"Now that's more like it. A duel against a Heaven-Standing One will make for one of the greatest moments of my life."
Then the old man curled his hand into a fist and began pounding furiously on the Grey Small Bell. Each toll summoned another corpse...
Before you continue