Zhu Zhuqing's Heart Raced! Testing the Martial Soul Fusion Skill!

First Hong clicked his tongue.

He wondered whether Li Yusong's attitude would remain the same afterward.

Flender leaned closer.

"Um."

"Hongjun has had it hard these past few years because of his Martial Soul defect. His desires corrupted him too early, and his self-control is a little lacking."

"I'll definitely discipline him strictly from now on!"

"I heard you have a way to cure his evil fire?"

"Could you..."

First Hong automatically ignored the earlier remarks and went straight to the point—

"How many laps did he run?"

Flender looked embarrassed.

But he couldn't lie about this.

He could only excuse him. "He ran until very late yesterday before going to sleep..."

"He went to sleep?" First Hong rolled his eyes. "Stop explaining. How many laps did he run?"

"...Seventeen laps?"

It was even phrased as a question.

First Hong let out a cold laugh.

"God of Phoenix": Sigh. I really was useless in the past.

User "God of Phoenix" sent a gift: "God-Given Spirit Ring" ×1

User "God of Phoenix" sent a gift: "Divine Skill: Rebirth Through Fire" ×1

"God of Phoenix": This is Zhuqing and Rongrong's wager. Streamer, help fulfill it later.

"God of Phoenix": As for my past self, whatever.

Then there was no more activity.

When he checked the viewer list, the God of Phoenix had gone offline.

He truly couldn't bear to watch.

First Hong casually extracted the Divine Skill.

Divine Skill: Rebirth Through Fire: Immune to and absorbs fire-attribute damage below the divine level, replenishing one's own condition!

Oh!

This was good.

Most soul masters on Douluo Continent had either ice or fire attributes. This alone crippled half of them.

His mood immediately improved.

Glancing at Flender's unsightly expression, First Hong took out a fiery-red heart, blazing flames rising from its surface.

Divine Equipment Phoenix Origin: Formed from the God of Phoenix's origin divine power, it possessed mighty phoenix power!

The temperature in the surrounding area instantly soared, drawing everyone's attention.

Ma Hongjun's gaze was the most fervent of all.

He could sense his Martial Soul calling to it. As long as he swallowed that fiery-red heart, he would definitely break free from the torment of his evil fire!

He might even...

Take things a step further and evolve his Martial Soul!

At that point, he could no longer care about being embarrassed. He hurried over to Flender's side and jabbed hard at his teacher's back.

—He wanted it!

Flender: "..."

Sigh.

Who told him this was his disciple?

Flender looked at First Hong awkwardly, considering how to ask.

But First Hong did not want to waste time. He casually tossed it over as if it were trash—this was something the God of Phoenix had entrusted him to deliver, so naturally, he did not care about it.

As for earning another delivery fee...

What was the point?

Forget it.

He would just earn a favor.

"For Dean Flender's sake, I'll give you this Phoenix Origin."

"But Fatty, don't come bothering me again in the future."

"Understand?"

Holding the Phoenix Origin, Ma Hongjun felt the stirring of his Martial Soul and nodded repeatedly.

He did not even listen to what First Hong had specifically said.

He immediately sat cross-legged on the ground. The Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul Possessed him, drawing out the phoenix power within the Phoenix Origin and turning it into roaring flames that condensed into a Flame Garment.

The rolling heat waves forced even Flender to retreat.

Yet First Hong stood there as steadily as Mount Tai, utterly unaffected.

Divine Skill: Rebirth Through Fire!

The heat waves produced by the Phoenix Flame also counted as "fire-attribute damage." Not only was he immune to them, he could absorb them and convert them into Soul Power.

The most lethal kind of showing off was the effortless kind.

Zhao Wuji and the others secretly sighed, raising their assessment of First Hong once again.

"Sigh..."

Flender let out a deep sigh.

He glanced at Dai Mubai and Oscar, who stood with their legs spread apart.

Though he did not understand why the two wore such pained expressions, their explosive growth in strength and the Indestructible Body of a Vajra were undeniable.

What a good opportunity they had last night!

Everyone knew they could not finish one hundred laps. What mattered was their attitude.

If it had been Flender...

Even if he had run himself to death on the road, he would never have given up halfway and gone back to sleep!

Although Ma Hongjun seemed to have received something good and gained quite a bit...

That was the price Flender paid in favors, and the price Ma Hongjun paid by selling away his future.

From now on...

He was probably going to be left far behind!

"Sigh—"

"If his evil fire really disappears this time, I'll have to train this brat properly!"

First Hong stepped out of the circle of heat and came before Dai Mubai and Oscar.

Both had their eyes shut, cultivating the Bigu Method against every second.

He looked them over from head to toe.

The two wore long robes that covered them from neck to feet, hiding their Fundoshi and Iron Nail Bed Boards.

But judging from their wide-legged stance, standard posture, and their occasionally twitching faces...

The "three divine artifacts" were clearly all still there.

That worked too.

Otherwise, they would look like Spartan exhibitionists. That would be far too painful to look at.

"How's the progress?" First Hong asked casually.

Both their faces fell.

"We're still stuck on the first step..." Oscar said painfully. "Can't we really increase the amount a little?"

"You can."

Their eyes lit up!

"But the price of violating it will definitely be greater than what you're facing now."

The light in their eyes gradually dimmed.

They looked at each other.

—Why don't you try it?

—Why don't you try it yourself!

Before last night, they might have dared to give it a shot.

But after witnessing the heaven-defying idea of "turning even bed boards into something fancy," they were genuinely afraid.

Rather than worry about that, they should hurry and cultivate.

The two closed their eyes again, racing against time.

At their current rate of progress, eating was out of the question.

They could only strive to eat a little less.

Zhu Zhuqing walked over and stopped beside First Hong. Less than a finger's width separated them, and they could even feel each other's body heat.

"I finished the first two levels of the cultivation method last night." Zhu Zhuqing's voice carried a hint of joy. "The third level requires absorbing a soul ring before I can cultivate it. What do you think my current soul ring limit is, in years?"

First Hong truly had no answer to that.

The soul master world was strange.

A Soul Emperor could determine someone's bone age with bare hands.

Yet once they reached the rank of Title Douluo, they could not even determine a person's soul ring limit.

The best method was to give her a God-Given Spirit Ring.

"No rush." First Hong said easily, "I've picked out a pretty good soul ring for you. I guarantee you'll be satisfied."

No soul master could refuse an External Soul Bone.

Zhu Zhuqing did not doubt him and nodded trustingly.

The foundation First Hong had displayed, as well as the favoritism he did not bother to hide...

Both were enough to earn her trust.

She glanced at Ma Hongjun and figured he would need quite some time.

Then she opened her eyes wide and stared directly at First Hong.

"Since we have time, how about we try Dual Cultivation and test our Martial Soul Fusion Skill?"

Ah.

The way she said that made it sound like she wanted to steal his yang to replenish her yin.

Speaking of the Martial Soul Fusion Skill, the last time had also been an accident.

He had been absorbing an Immortal Herb when he suddenly transformed.

He was curious about it too.

"Sure, let's try it." First Hong asked, "How do we fuse?"

Zhu Zhuqing slowly formed a question mark.

Last time, hadn't he been able to "choose on his own," swatting away the White Tiger Martial Soul and choosing the Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul instead?

Could it be...

That had been instinct?

The corners of Zhu Zhuqing's lips could not help but curl upward.

Being chosen by his instincts only proved First Hong's feelings even more.

First Hong blinked.

Although he had no idea what Zhu Zhuqing had imagined that made her smile so rarely...

It was enough to know that she was in a good mood.

First Hong hooked a finger to the side, drawing Zhu Zhuqing's little hand over and taking it in his.

She was startled!

For the first time in all these years, someone had held her hand—and it was a man.

Her heartbeat...

Quietly sped up.