Void Predator!

Hiss!!!

The instant the spatial rift collided with the White Tiger Protection Barrier, it let out a long, piercing shriek.

Then...

Crack!

Even the White Tiger Protection Barrier, strengthened by the White Tiger Vajra Transformation, could not hold up at all!

A pinprick-sized hole appeared in the golden barrier.

The remaining force of the spatial rift pierced through that hole and stabbed into Dai Mubai's chest.

It was only a small wound!

But it was enough.

Space Tear!

Dai Mubai staggered back several steps, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

His internal organs were damaged!

His combat strength had practically dropped to zero in an instant!

He lowered his head to look at the blood on his chest, then raised it to stare at the youth before him, who was half a head shorter than him.

Those heterochromatic eyes were filled with disbelief.

The alley was silent for three full seconds.

Then, a burst of hurried footsteps came from the end of the alley.

Flender and Shao Xin had rushed over after hearing the commotion.

When the two saw the blood at the corner of Dai Mubai's mouth, their expressions changed almost at the same time.

Flender's gaze swept from Dai Mubai to Jiang Ming, his face as grim as if Liu Erlong had died.

Before he could speak, Jiang Ming spoke first.

"I've certainly seen Shrek Academy's way of doing things."

"You rely on bragging to recruit students, and when you can't keep bragging, you send students out to beat people up."

"When they can't beat them, the dean personally comes out to clean up the mess."

"What an impressive display of authority."

Jiang Ming leaned against the alley wall, a faint smile on his face.

Flender's expression grew even uglier.

He opened his mouth, about to say something, when Jiang Ming's figure vanished into thin air.

He had not run. He had disappeared.

It was as though he had never stood in that alley at all.

There was not the slightest trace of Soul Power left behind, nor any trail to follow.

Flender's pupils suddenly contracted.

He quickly walked to where Jiang Ming had been standing and grabbed at the air.

He caught nothing.

He then released his spiritual power and swept the area, his expression turning even darker.

"Space Shift."

Flender gritted his teeth and spat out the two words.

"You're a Soul Elder. How could you lose to a level-nineteen Soul Master?"

Flender looked at Dai Mubai, who was leaning against the wall and wiping the blood from his mouth, his voice suppressing his fury.

"That guy's Martial Soul... I couldn't tell what it was."

"But it's extremely unusual. It seems related to teleportation."

"His speed was too fast. I couldn't touch him at all."

The arrogance on Dai Mubai's face was gone, replaced by a complicated expression.

"That damned brat must have a Space Martial Soul!"

Flender cast a dark look toward the alley entrance.

In a shadowy corner, Jiang Ming's face was filled with gloom.

He was not some indiscriminately kind fool like Qian Daoliu!

His own son had been killed, yet he could still support the other party as Pope.

His own son had been crippled, yet he could still endure it because of an agreement.

Jiang Ming was the sort of person who would slap anyone who dared bare their fangs at him.

Shrek Academy?

Three Soul Saints and two Soul Emperors?

You think you're so noble? So impressive?

No problem!

In a while, you would find out what color blood was!

Three months later.

Heaven Dou City.

Jiang Ming stood before the gates of the Crown Prince Mansion, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

Just as the guards at the gate were about to step forward and question him, a token was already held out before them.

The two guards exchanged a glance and immediately stepped aside.

"Please."

Jiang Ming put away the token and strode through the gates of the Crown Prince Mansion.

After passing through three corridors and circling around two ornamental rockeries,

he was led by an attendant to a side hall.

Xue Qinghe was seated behind a desk, reviewing some documents.

"You're here."

Xue Qinghe looked up with a gentle smile.

"Greetings, Your Highness."

Jiang Ming bowed slightly.

"Your Soul Power has reached level twenty?"

Xue Qinghe put down his brush and gestured for Jiang Ming to sit.

"Yes."

Jiang Ming sat opposite Xue Qinghe and answered calmly.

"You're quite remarkable!"

Xue Qinghe's brow twitched almost imperceptibly.

Three months ago, he had been poisoned.

This youth had helped him remove the poison.

Though the process had not been particularly pleasant, the poison had been removed in the end.

So he had sent someone to look into him a little.

The intelligence the spies brought back was quite interesting.

A Soul Master had thoroughly defeated a Soul Elder!

That information was somewhat absurd!

So absurd that even he found it hard to believe.

The gap between ranks was not very large in the early stages of the Soul Master system, but it was practically unheard of for a Soul Master to thoroughly defeat a Soul Elder.

Unless the other party's Martial Soul was of the same grade as his own!

A god-bestowed Martial Soul!

When Xue Qinghe saw Jiang Ming again, he discovered something dangerous about him.

It was not Soul Power, nor was it presence.

It was an indescribable feeling.

"Space Soul Beasts are difficult to find."

"My people spent two months searching the Star Dou Great Forest for that thousand-year Void Mantis. Five Soul Emperors died before they managed to capture it alive!"

Xue Qinghe lifted his teacup, his tone still gentle.

"I trust Your Highness's character."

Jiang Ming said meaningfully.

The smile on Xue Qinghe's face stiffened for an instant.

According to her original plan,

she would exaggerate the difficulty of hunting a Space Soul Beast.

Then Jiang Ming, a commoner Soul Master with no background, would feel that life was simply too hard!

That would allow her to recruit him naturally!

But now...

Her character?

This brat had put her over a fire before she had even tried to recruit him?

"Fine! I'll take you to the underground prison."

Xue Qinghe glanced at Jiang Ming and ultimately chose to give up.

Beneath the Crown Prince Mansion were several prisons forged from darksteel.

Ordinary prisons were used to hold criminals.

As for abnormal prisons...

Those who knew, knew!

Jiang Ming glanced at the cells and shook his head regretfully.

There was nothing improper to see!

Only a half-dead Soul Beast!

It was a mantis over a meter tall!

Its entire body was a semi-transparent silver-gray, and its two forelimbs resembled a pair of curved sickles.

A Void Mantis.

A thousand years of cultivation.

There was a horrifying wound across its abdomen that had nearly severed it in half.

A scorching strand of Soul Power continued to erode the edges of the wound, preventing its body from healing itself.

This was an injury inflicted by someone.

Jiang Ming glanced at the lingering Soul Power within the wound and narrowed his eyes slightly.

Xue Qinghe's strike had been precise.

It would neither kill it nor leave it capable of resisting.

A crippled thousand-year Soul Beast was perfectly at the edge of the limit he could absorb.

"Thank you, Your Highness. Then I won't stand on ceremony!"

Jiang Ming unceremoniously unleashed Space Tear!

The already half-dead Void Mantis very smoothly lost its head!

A purple Soul Ring slowly rose from the Void Mantis's corpse.

A thousand-year Soul Ring.

Jiang Ming directly sat down cross-legged and guided the Soul Ring into his body to fuse with it.

A violent spatial essence, like an awl, viciously bored into his meridians.

It hurt.

But it was pain he had expected.

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Jiang Ming's forehead, but his expression did not change in the slightest.

His spiritual power firmly suppressed the spatial essence rampaging everywhere, guiding it through his meridians along a fixed route.

One circuit.

Two circuits.

Three circuits.

With every circuit the spatial essence completed, the tearing pain weakened by another degree.