Parallel World. Xiao Wu: You can't kill me; it's against the law!

"Ah... Yu Xiaotie really did bring endless harm to others."

Qian Pingchuan sighed and glanced at Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu. "All right, let's leave Yu Tianshu and Liu Erlong's situation there for now."

At his words, everyone followed Qian Pingchuan's gaze and turned their attention to the two women.

At that moment,

Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu felt as if they were listening to a heavenly book.

Zhu Zhuqing most of all. Her mind had been buzzing nonstop. What had she just heard?

The Star Luo Empire had been destroyed? When had that happened? Why didn't she know?

And what were this No. 1 Douluo World, the main world, and Yu Xiaotie supposed to be? Why was the Qian Pingchuan in front of her being called Your Highness? Was he a prince of some country? And what did the word "doppelganger" mean?

There was one more thing!

The most important thing of all: why was there another Oscar right in front of her?

Both women's heads were full of questions.

Whoosh~

Just then, Yu Tianshu appeared before everyone. He seemed to be in a calm mood. After glancing at the group, he simply said, "I'm tired!" Then he followed the very perceptive Uncle Fu to the guest room.

Uncle Fu was an NPC who often appeared across countless worlds. He was experienced and took exceptionally good care of people.

Qian Pingchuan nodded. "Then go and get some good rest."

No one asked what had happened. Even Qian Pingchuan and Dugu Xue said nothing. Asking now would be like pouring salt on someone's wound.

Soon after Yu Tianshu left, Zhu Zhuqing finally couldn't hold back and asked cautiously, "Um... that person just now was called Yu Tianshu? Wasn't he Yu Tianheng?"

When Yu Tianshu came back just now, his face had been visible. Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu had recognized him at a glance: he looked almost exactly like Yu Tianheng! Only their temperaments were very different.

Qian Pingchuan smiled and explained, "Let me explain it to you."

At that, both women looked toward Qian Pingchuan.

"To explain this, we need to talk about parallel worlds! A parallel world means that beyond this Douluo Continent beneath our feet, there's another world! It's also called the Douluo Continent! The two continents are very similar, and each has similar people and events."

"You two exist in your world, and on the other Douluo Continent there are also two people similar to you! For example, you've seen Oscar from Shrek Academy and the man standing before you. His name is Ozka! Oscar and Ozka have the same appearance and the same Martial Soul, but they aren't the same person."

To go along with Qian Pingchuan's introduction, Ozka summoned his Martial Soul and grinned. "Want a sausage? I've got six kinds! Muscle Sausage, Divine Strength Sausage, Super Strength Sausage, Double Power Sausage, Golden Sausage, and Projection Sausage!"

As he spoke, six Soul Rings appeared beneath Ozka's feet. He activated the first five, and several sausages popped out one after another. Ozka held them out to the two women. "Give them a try. My sausages are definitely tastier than Oscar's! And their enhancement effects are better!"

"Gulp~"

Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu still hadn't recovered from the idea of parallel worlds, but they were sure of one thing: the Ozka before them definitely wasn't Oscar!

Oscar was only a three-ring Soul Elder, but the Ozka before them had six Soul Rings. His Soul Ring Configuration was the same astonishing one they'd seen before: purple, purple, black, black, black, black!

With everyone watching, Zhu Zhuqing took a sausage and ate it.

The next moment, she felt a powerful wave of Soul Power surge through her body. In an instant, Zhu Zhuqing realized that her body had undergone a tremendous change!

Not only had her skin turned golden, she could clearly feel that her defense had increased more than tenfold! At the same time, her Soul Power and strength had increased nearly threefold!

Ozka explained, "This is my fifth Soul Skill. Its age is 35,000 years. It gives me an Indestructible Diamond Body for ten minutes! It increases Soul Power by 350%, strength by 350%, and defense by 1,000%! It can also remove negative conditions from the body, such as injuries, slowed movement, and poison. But if you've been hit with a deadly poison, it won't be much help."

"Th-that's amazing!"

Zhu Zhuqing praised him without thinking.

Ozka grinned proudly and continued, "And these other sausages—this one is my first Soul Skill, Muscle Sausage, with a 2,200-year age. It increases stamina by 200% and strength by 50%! Then there's Divine Strength Sausage, with an age of 7,600 years. It increases strength, speed, and defense by 100%, and lets me perfectly control my own strength, speed, and reflexes. The third is Super Strength Sausage, with an age of 15,000 years. It increases strength by 500%! And then there's my fifth Soul Skill, Double Power Sausage, with an age of 25,000 years! It doubles all the attributes it touches, and it also doubles the enhancement effects of my other sausages!"

"Doubles them? A Soul Skill's enhancement effect can be doubled too?" Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu both looked stunned.

Ozka's lips curled up of their own accord. "Heh-heh~ Impressive, right? A lot better than that useless flying Soul Skill of your classmate Oscar, isn't it? And what was his first Soul Skill again? Recovery Big Sausage? Heh. What a garbage Soul Skill!"

"Gulp~"

Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu swallowed again without thinking, their mouths suddenly dry.

This wasn't just a matter of being impressive! Put these five Soul Skills together and they were practically divine!

Muscle Sausage, Divine Strength Sausage, Super Strength Sausage, and Golden Sausage gave a combined increase of 1,100% to defense, 1,000% to strength, 350% to Soul Power, 200% to stamina, and 100% to speed!

"Then, after Double Power Sausage doubles all the attributes, you also get an extra 22 times your defense, 20 times your strength, seven times your Soul Power, four times your stamina, and twice your speed!" Xiao Wu muttered in shock.

"I've also got one last Soul Skill, my sixth: Projection Sausage. It's over 50,000 years old! It lets me use someone else's drop of blood to copy their Martial Soul and Soul Skills at 90% of their power! It lasts half an hour! And the Projection Sausage can be stored for 180 days! Impressive, huh?"

Ozka was bursting with pride. Beside him, Feng Xiaodi could only smile wryly, speechless.

That was the terrifying talent of the food-type Soul Master Ozka! He could copy an extremely powerful Martial Soul, then pair it with his own attribute-enhancing sausages. That let him challenge prodigies a whole major realm above him, even in the Immortal Court, where geniuses were everywhere.

Anyone capable of challenging opponents a major realm above them was a true monster! Among all the students at every university in the Immortal Court, there weren't even five such monsters!

Even Feng Xiaodi could only sigh and admit he was inferior. He could challenge opponents just a few Soul Power levels above him, but only within the same realm.

"All right."

Qian Pingchuan, one of the Immortal Court's five monsters, interrupted Ozka and continued speaking to Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu. "In another parallel Douluo Continent, Heaven Dou and Star Luo had long since ceased to exist. My father swept across the land and established a unified empire: the Immortal Court!"

Zhu Zhuqing's heart lurched, and her pulse quickened.

Then Qian Pingchuan looked at Zhu Zhuqing and continued, "What I said earlier about you being my aunt isn't all that complicated. Your doppelganger in our Immortal Court is called Zhu Zhuqin. Her elder sister, Zhu Zhuyin, is one of my father's wives. By seniority, I should indeed call Zhu Zhuqin my aunt. Do you understand?"

Understand? Zhu Zhuqing didn't understand at all! She still hadn't figured out what a parallel world even meant!

Zhu Zhuqing asked cautiously, "Could... could you explain in more detail what a parallel world is? I still don't quite... understand."

"All right, I'll explain it slowly. A parallel world means that within the universe we live in, there are actually multiple independent spacetime structures..."

As he explained in detail, the seconds ticked by. The sky had already begun to darken, and Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu finally accepted the existence of another world.

After learning about the Immortal Court in the other world and some of its circumstances, Xiao Wu asked cautiously, "So, in your Immortal Court... is killing Soul Beasts really against the law?"

That was what she cared about. After all, it concerned her own safety.

"That's right." Hu Lieni flashed a wicked smile and looked at Xiao Wu. "But we won't show mercy to Soul Beasts that refuse to join the Immortal Court! Killing them isn't against the law! And we'd get a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone out of it, too! So, do you want to join the Immortal Court, little rabbit?"

"Huh? I-I-I... I'll join! You can't kill me! It's against the law!" Xiao Wu hurriedly agreed, panicking.

Beside her, Zhu Zhuqing had just recovered from the parallel-world explanation. She looked at Xiao Wu in confusion and asked, "Xiao Wu, what's wrong?"

"N-nothing."

Xiao Wu didn't want to say, but Hu Lieni spoke for her. "Xiao Wu is a transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, a Soft-Bone Charm Rabbit. You've got some nerve, running into the human world! Aren't you afraid someone will skin you alive, rip out your Soul Ring, and take your Soul Bone?"

"What? A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast? Xiao Wu?" Zhu Zhuqing cried out again.

Xiao Wu awkwardly tugged at Zhu Zhuqing and whispered, "I'll explain everything to you slowly tonight, okay?"

"This... all right."

Just then, Dugu Xue, who had been watching the whole time, spoke up. "Zhu Zhuqing, your Soul Power just broke through level thirty, right?"

"Mm." Zhu Zhuqing nodded, still unsure who the person who had been sitting there all along was. But she assumed he must be someone important.

Dugu Xue took out bottle after bottle of pills from his Soul Tool and explained, "Here are three bottles of high-grade Body Refining Pills and one Creation Pill. Refining these pills can help you break through your body's limits, making it easy for you to absorb a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring as your third ring."

"Pills?"

There was no concept of pills on No. 1 Douluo Continent. Zhu Zhuqing didn't understand what Body Refining Pills or a Creation Pill were, but she understood "a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring for your third ring"! Her heart immediately began pounding, and she grew so nervous she didn't dare accept the pills right away.

"Take them. These are the cultivation resources you're entitled to."

"Th-thank you!" Zhu Zhuqing couldn't ignore these cultivation resources. Her heart was full of longing.

Body Refining Pills could save a great deal of time tempering her bones and muscles, and they were precious as well.

But taking too many Body Refining Pills could damage one's foundation. The body would develop a strong resistance to them, and its strength would also improve very slowly during future cultivation. In the Immortal Court, Body Refining Pills couldn't be taken without limit.

Compared with the three bottles of Body Refining Pills, the Creation Pill was even more precious! Ozka, who came from an ordinary family, was practically drooling as he watched.

The Creation Pill was the key to helping Zhu Zhuqing surpass her body's limits and directly absorb a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring.

Each Creation Pill required different Immortal Herbs to refine, and the effects naturally varied depending on which herbs were used.

But, like Immortal Herbs, a person could only take one Creation Pill! Otherwise, if the medicinal properties of two Creation Pills clashed, the result would be worse than useless.

"As for you..." Dugu Xue looked at Xiao Wu and said, "Wait for now. Start by cultivating the Immortal Court's techniques. Once your Soul Power reaches a bottleneck, your cultivation resources will naturally be provided."

"Oh~" Xiao Wu nodded obediently. As long as they didn't take her Soul Ring or Soul Bone, she was satisfied.