Reversal Soul Skill

Clearly, the damage dealt by the three of them combined was not exceeding the recovery rate of this shield bar.

Watching the status of his three teammates on the right begin to deteriorate, and seeing Tang San pull Xiao Wu to his side, Lu Ma thought rapidly.

Should he treat this sequence as a scripted defeat?

In the original work, the four of them were initially defeated, and it was only later that Tang San challenged Zhao Wuji one-on-one, utilizing Tang Sect techniques to secure a victory.

In other words, even though he was currently weak, it wouldn't hinder the progression of the main storyline, but would doing so cause him to miss any easter eggs?

Some games were known for hiding easter eggs in the most bizarre places.

Besides, Zhao Wuji had a health bar above his head.

The evil soul master girl from before had entered the cutscene without a health bar appearing, yet this time, the health bar had appeared before the cutscene triggered.

Was there a possibility...

That the key lay in his third soul skill?

Seeing the plot CG about to trigger, Lu Ma had a flash of inspiration and chose to ESC back to the save/load interface.

After a moment of thought, he selected the save file from when Ning Rongrong left the sect.

His intuition told him that this save file had come along with the patch, so it must have a significant purpose, for instance—

Fixing the bug where the main storyline wouldn't trigger automatically.

After all, he had mentioned this issue to the Dolphin-head yesterday.

But in the eyes of Ning Rongrong:

The sky was falling!

It had taken her four full days after running away from home to be certain she wasn't being controlled, only to arrive at this Shrek Academy.

She had reached the fourth trial without any pressure, only to run into this trouble.

Her father seemed to have told her once that soul masters of the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda needed to protect themselves, but she hadn't listened.

Then, this burly man in front of her taught her a lesson; the shockwave was clearly aimed at her, and while her companions leaped over it, she remained frozen in place, terrified.

This wasn't the worst of it.

The worst part was that she discovered her body was, once again, refusing to obey her.

And the freezing of time confirmed the fact that that guy had returned!

Recalling the joke about exorcism in her mind, she couldn't utter a single word.

Watching the surroundings constantly rewind through time, seeing herself board the carriage and return to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Rongrong's mind went blank.

"Hmm... let's go to Suotuo City."

What was this? It was just doing it all over again!

Ning Rongrong was going to go insane.

In her eyes, Lu Ma had simply repeated her actions.

In reality, Ning Rongrong had misunderstood.

Lu Ma had originally intended to find a forest to hunt soul beasts.

Soul rings, after all, were generally obtained by hunting soul beasts, right? Although it should be quite difficult for an auxiliary-type character like Ning Rongrong to manage that.

But sacrifices, god-given rings, condensation...

He felt he had no access to those methods.

However, when he inadvertently opened his character panel again, he discovered that the martial soul column could actually be clicked.

And beside the first, second, and third levels of the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda, there were small spheres, each emitting a glow.

As he hovered his mouse over them:

Reverse First Soul Skill (Consumes Holy Spirit Pill 1/1)

Reverse Second Soul Skill (Consumes Holy Spirit Pill 2/1, insufficient)

Acquire Third Soul Skill (Hunt soul beast; or consume Holy Spirit Pill 3/1, insufficient)

Oh, so that was how the Holy Spirit Pill was used.

Out of curiosity, he directly reversed his first soul skill.

The brand-new first soul skill circle was now surrounded by black mist.

[First Soul Skill: Strength Amplification]

[Provides a 45% strength attribute boost to a designated unit]

[Reversed First Soul Skill: Trapped Beast]

[Absorbs 45% of a designated unit's strength to enhance oneself; this strength can be used up to twice, with each hit consuming one charge]

[Special Effect: Possesses a direct suppression effect against soul beasts with a soul ring age less than double one's own.]

[Spirit Ring Age: 1,400 years (automatically disguised)]

Lu Ma was quite satisfied with this effect.

With this reversal of his first spirit skill, it would be easier for him to obtain his third spirit ring, and he now possessed a certain degree of offensive capability.

Therefore, he decided to head straight to Suotuo City to have a match against Zhao Wuji and test it out.

In truth, there was another reason: Lu Ma had absolutely no idea where to go to obtain a spirit ring. Whether it was the Sunset Forest or the Star Dou Great Forest, he didn't know how to reach them. If he went to the sect's library, it would take a long time, so it was better to just go to the Star Dou Great Forest with the Shrek group.

"Let's go to Suotuo City."

Ning Rongrong said to the coachman. Although the coachman was a bit nervous, he still set the carriage in motion.

Ning Rongrong had spent a long time wondering what the person controlling her actually wanted to do.

It wasn't until she noticed herself taking out the medicinal pill and "feeding" it to her Martial Soul, followed by seeing her first spirit ring turn purple and then disguise itself as yellow, that she realized what the other party had done.

After watching a cutscene lasting about ten seconds that covered Ning Rongrong's journey from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to entering the fourth exam, the computer screen went dark again, and then familiar text appeared.

[Immovable Bright King, Zhao Wuji, Level 76 Spirit Saint]

"Ning Rongrong is responsible for supporting the three of us, Xiao Wu is the main attacker, I will provide control, and Zhu Zhuqing will flank."

Tang San organized them from the front.

Ning Rongrong hesitated for a moment before nodding.

The one-stick-of-incense preparation time arrived, and Ning Rongrong summoned her Martial Soul.

"Seven Treasures turn out glazed, Seven Treasures have a name, the first is..."

It had to be said that there were differences between the game and the original plot; before Ning Rongrong could fully release her two skills, Zhao Wuji's attack had already landed on the ground, and a massive tremor spread from beneath his feet toward the group.

Ning Rongrong leaped up, easily dodging the shockwave, and landed safely on the ground to finish casting her spirit skill.

Zhao Wuji's expression shifted slightly.

"Oh? As a disciple of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, you can actually dodge this blow on your own?"

Before he could continue, Xiao Wu had already stepped on Tang San to reach Zhao Wuji, planting both feet on his shoulders.

However, Zhao Wuji didn't care; he knew that the amplification ability of Ning Rongrong, a two-ring Tool Spirit Master, was only 30%... or was it?

The force on his shoulders exceeded Zhao Wuji's expectations, and he began to struggle to hold his ground.

Just then, Xiao Wu's next round of attacks and Tang San's control arrived simultaneously.

Zhao Wuji felt somewhat uncomfortable and let out a cold snort, no longer hiding his aura.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black—seven spirit rings manifested around him. His figure grew massive, snapping the Blue Silver Grass and bringing Xiao Wu to a halt.

Zhu Zhuqing's attack arrived, and since Zhao Wuji was currently pushing open the Blue Silver Grass, it was his moment of weakest defense.

"Ding!"

Zhu Zhuqing's second strike sounded like it had hit steel, emitting a crisp ringing noise. She had only managed to barely pierce through Zhao Wuji's clothes.

Lu Ma watched as Zhao Wuji used Martial Soul Possession, his body becoming as hard as steel.

Immovable Bright King.

After his Martial Soul Possession, Zhao Wuji's body was as if nailed to the ground, unmoving.

Xiao Wu's soft techniques were ineffective, and Zhu Zhuqing's strength was also useless.

Only Tang San, relying on the techniques of the Tang Sect, managed to lift Zhao Wuji up.

With Tang San's "cheat" and Ning Rongrong's support, the three of them finally managed to drive Zhao Wuji's head deep into the ground.

Just as the three were celebrating, Lu Ma saw Zhao Wuji's shield bar beginning to appear. Then, Zhao Wuji pushed himself up.