Traversing Douluo: I'm Being Fiery Gazed At By An Exquisite Mature Woman!

Crack!

A faint sound of shattering reached her ears.

"!!!"

Shui Furong's pupils constricted.

She reached out to push Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er behind her, while her soul power gently nudged the other five girls aside.

She released her martial soul, and ice-blue ice elements coalesced around her body. Eight soul rings rose from beneath her feet: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black—a standard Soul Douluo configuration.

Shui Furong stared at the ice dome with a vigilant gaze.

Crack, crack, crack...

Cracks spread across its surface, spiderwebbing from the top in every direction.

Snap—

The ice dome shattered completely!

Countless ice crystals refracted the sunlight, casting a blinding glare.

A sword of ice had already condensed in Shui Furong's right hand.

Soul power surged through her meridians like a tide, ready to unleash a lethal strike at any moment.

Then, she saw the Ice Jade Scorpion.

Its entire body was emerald green, its carapace as smooth as jade, and its tail hook hung low to the ground, as still as a sculpture.

"Dead?"

Shui Furong was stunned.

She sensed that the Ice Jade Scorpion possessed no vitality and no fluctuations of soul power; it was thoroughly dead!

"Mom, there's someone there!"

Shui Bing'er's exclamation drew Shui Furong's gaze away from the Ice Jade Scorpion.

As the light refracted by the ice crystals dissipated, she saw the scene at the center of the dome clearly.

Behind the dead Ice Jade Scorpion sat a black-haired youth in a cross-legged position.

The youth was shirtless, his skin not particularly fair, but a healthy, tanned wheat color.

His muscle definition was clear without being exaggerated, and the contours of his collarbones and shoulder blades appeared exceptionally sharp under the cold light of the ice field.

Shui Yue'er and the other girls couldn't help but let their gazes drift over, and Shui Yue'er's face flushed red instantly.

The other girls also turned their heads away one after another, though their earlobes were quietly stained with a crimson hue.

But what truly left everyone speechless was not the youth's physique or appearance.

It was his soul rings!

Three soul rings were circling the youth's body.

The first, purple, as deep as a violet in the twilight.

The second, black, as dark as an abyss.

The third, black, equally as dark as ink.

Purple, black, black!

What kind of soul ring configuration was this?

The ice sword in Shui Furong's hand nearly slipped from her grasp.

Her senses clearly captured the soul power fluctuations on the youth's body rising rapidly.

Yet, the magnitude of that rise clearly remained within the realm of a Soul Elder, breaking through barriers from level thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three... and soaring all the way to level thirty-six before slowly coming to a halt.

A three-ringed Soul Elder!

Shui Furong's eyes widened!

A three-ringed Soul Elder possessing one thousand-year soul ring and two ten-thousand-year soul rings!

Shui Furong felt her understanding of the world creaking under the strain.

She had lived for over forty years and had seen countless geniuses.

Her daughter, Shui Bing'er, was a genius with innate level nine soul power, standing out as exceptional even within Skywater Academy and the entire Skywater City.

Yet even for Shui Bing'er, her three soul rings were merely the optimal yellow-yellow-purple configuration.

A ten-thousand-year soul ring was already far superior to a thousand-year one, let alone the third ring.

And this youth before her had a second ring at the ten-thousand-year level, and even his first ring was at the thousand-year level.

What kind of monster was this?

His aura stabilized, his soul rings suddenly retracted, and the youth opened his eyes.

They were a pair of very clean, black eyes.

His eyes were clear and bright, still carrying the sharp edge that had not yet fully subsided after absorbing a soul ring.

"Ah, Little Boss Su!!!"

Shui Yue'er's shriek pierced the silence.

Her fair finger pointed straight at Su Hui, her mouth wide open, her expression as if she had seen a ghost.

"It's you? Little Boss Su!"

Su Hui's gaze fell upon Shui Yue'er, then shifted to Shui Bing'er, who stood beside her, equally stunned into speechlessness.

He was momentarily taken aback.

So, the people the Ice Jade Scorpion had been hunting down just now were actually these two sisters.

The Far North was so vast, yet running into them here—the odds of that were lower than a pie falling from the sky.

After a brief moment of shock, Su Hui gave a brilliant smile: "Shui Bing'er, Shui Yue'er, long time no see."

He raised a hand in greeting, his tone as relaxed as if he had bumped into an acquaintance on the street.

"You..."

Shui Bing'er opened her mouth, but not a single word came out.

Long time no see?

Is this something that can be explained away with a simple "long time no see"?

Her mind was currently experiencing a Category 12 storm.

The Su Hui she knew was the Little Boss Su who ran a barbecue stall in Skywater City.

She had heard by chance that he had obtained his first soul ring and officially become a Soul Grand Master about a year ago.

How could someone who only obtained their first soul ring a year ago appear in the Far North now, and possess such an unheard-of soul ring configuration?

Not to mention that he had just absorbed a ten-thousand-year soul ring, which, without a doubt, came from the ten-thousand-year scorpion soul beast lying to the side.

How did he withstand that kind of energy?

Shui Furong took in her daughter's shock.

But more than shock, she wanted to know Su Hui's identity.

She suppressed the raging waves in her heart, withdrew her ice sword, yet still kept her soul power circulating.

She took a step forward, "Young man, could you explain the situation before us?"

Her tone was relatively calm.

Only her slightly accelerated speech betrayed her inner urgency.

She tilted her chin toward the dead Ice Jade Scorpion.

"This scorpion soul beast is at least at the ten-thousand-year level. How did you kill it? And how did you absorb this ten-thousand-year soul ring?"

She paused, then added: "You seem to be... only a Soul Elder."

Su Hui spread his hands, his expression the definition of innocent.

"I'm not entirely sure about the specifics myself."

He had already calculated his story in his heart.

The Ice Empress could not be mentioned, the Anywhere Door could not be mentioned, and time travel was definitely out of the question.

Since that was the case, he would just make up a story that sounded plausible.

In any case, these people couldn't possibly verify it.

"Not long ago, I came to the snowfields alone to hunt for souls, wanting to obtain a suitable second soul ring."

His very first sentence caused everyone's expressions to change, and the looks they cast at him became strange.

A Soul Grand Master coming to this forbidden zone for humans alone to hunt for souls—was he insane?

Su Hui acted as if he didn't see their expressions and continued gesturing: "At the time, I accidentally fell into an ice cave. Then I saw a scorpion, it looked exactly like the one from before, only—"

He deliberately paused, his tone conveying a sense of regret.

"That scorpion soul beast was already on its last breath, just lying there, barely moving at all."

"I was trying to go around it to find an exit, but it suddenly turned into a beam of light and charged straight into the top of my head."

"I passed out right then and there, and I have no idea what happened afterward."

Su Hui turned around, exposing his back to the crowd.

On his lean, strong back, a bright green scorpion tattoo was strikingly visible.

The scorpion's pincers were flared, its tail hook raised high, every segment of its carapace rendered in vivid detail.

A dark green luster shimmered faintly under the cold light of the ice field, as if the creature were alive and coiled upon his skin.

The girls collectively gasped.

Su Hui turned back around and continued his fabrication, "When I woke up, I discovered I had an extra black ten-thousand-year soul ring, and this scorpion tattoo had appeared on my back."

He scratched his head, wearing a look of utter confusion.

"Not long after I crawled out of the ice cave, this tattoo started flashing, as if it had sensed something."

"I ran in that direction and saw another scorpion exactly like the first one."

"And then... it happened again."

Su Hui spread his hands and shrugged.

"It turned into light and rushed into the top of my head, and I got another black soul ring."

Having said that, he shut his mouth and looked at everyone innocently.

His expression was as sincere as could be, as if he were the most bewildered person in the entire situation.

"Uh..."

The expressions on the women's faces were truly something to behold.

Shui Yue'er scratched her head, her eyebrows twisted into a knot.

"Little Boss Su, isn't what you're saying a bit too magical?"

"Those are ten-thousand-year soul rings! You just muddled your way into getting two of them?"

Shui Bing'er pursed her lips; reason told her that this entire affair was bizarre from start to finish.

When she first met Su Hui, he was just an ordinary person running a barbecue stall.

It was only a year ago that she heard he had awakened his martial soul and become a soul master.

In one year, two ten-thousand-year soul rings? And absorbed passively?

This was even more outrageous than the legendary tales sung by bards.

"The bodies of a Soul Grand Master and a Soul Elder could never withstand the energy of a ten-thousand-year soul ring."

Shui Bing'er frowned and said, "The impact alone when the soul ring enters the body would be enough to shatter one's meridians."

Su Hui blinked, preparing to add a little more fuel to the fire to round out his story.

Beside them, Shui Furong, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly spoke up.

"No."

All the women turned their heads to look at her in unison.

They saw that Shui Furong's gaze was firmly pinned onto Su Hui.

A scorching light surged within her azure eyes.

Her voice was trembling, but it wasn't from the cold; it was from excitement.

"It is possible!"

"Eh?" Shui Yue'er tilted her head.

Shui Bing'er was even more confused as to what her mother meant by those words.

How could a Soul Elder possibly absorb a ten-thousand-year soul ring?

Shui Furong stared intensely, enunciating every word: "Soul beast sacrifice."