"Hehehe~"
Leng Yaozhu covered her mouth and laughed, finding him rather adorable. She instinctively reached out to pat his head. "Tsk, your family hasn't told you yet, has it? Do you know... who I am?"
Long Zijin dodged her hand, his expression as serious as ever. "Deputy Tower Master of the Spirit Pagoda: Heavenly Phoenix Douluo, a Rank 99 Limit Douluo, a fourth-grade Battle Armor Master, possessing Demigod Rank strength."
A flicker of surprise passed through Leng Yaozhu's eyes. She had not expected a nine-year-old child to know so much about her.
Yet she still asked in the tone one would use with a child, "Then do you still think big sis... auntie can't take one little punch from you?"
At that, Leng Yaozhu seemed to recall something and suddenly paused.
As a top expert deeply versed in the world, she gave it a moment's thought before realization dawned on her. "Is the power inherent to your Martial Soul similar to the Rouge Dragon's 'annihilation' trait?"
"Auntie Leng understands now. You're afraid of damaging Auntie Leng's clothes, right?"
"What a thoughtful child."
Leng Yaozhu said with a smile, reaching out to pat his head again.
Long Zijin tilted his head aside, dodging another head pat, and explained, "No. It's simply basic strength without any traits."
As he spoke, he glanced back at Di Guangming, seemingly confirming whether he had used the term "basic strength" correctly.
"Ah, don't worry." Leng Yaozhu shook her head. "Auntie Leng constantly emits protective Soul Power. You definitely can't hurt me."
Faced with her repeated insistence, Long Zijin no longer declined.
He silently lowered into a horse stance and drew his left fist back to his waist. Then power surged through him—
Whooom!
The entire reception room rang with the sound of swelling air currents.
Long Zijin's left fist blasted out a vacuum passage, and the knuckles even scraped against the vacuum itself with a faint, piercing hiss.
That was right. A Rank 29 Soul Grandmaster had created a scraping sound in intangible, formless space through physical strength alone. What kind of terrifying power was that?
Leng Yaozhu's expression changed slightly, but she reacted swiftly, catching that amethyst fist with her palm.
Bang!
Outside the reception room, the peaceful morning continued.
The Spirit Masters chatted idly, discussing what they should have for lunch, when suddenly—
One of the private rooms in the reception area exploded open with a bang, leaving a huge hole.
The female assistant waiting outside had just exchanged a smile with a passing friend when she saw her superior smash through the reception room and fly backward out above the doorframe.
With a smack, Leng Yaozhu swept over the heads of the gathered Spirit Masters and struck a massive pillar supporting the dome.
"Deputy Tower Master?"
"Your Excellency Heavenly Phoenix?"
Everyone froze, wondering whether they had seen wrong.
Only the security Soul Masters reacted first, shouting, "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
"I'm fine." Leng Yaozhu's voice echoed throughout the first-floor hall.
A pair of phoenix wings spread from her back, streams of flowing fire cascading down as they held her aloft in the air.
She swept her gaze over the ground below and ordered, "Everyone, return to your posts."
Inside the reception room.
Long Zijin slowly withdrew his left fist. The chain of purple crystals across his knuckles had erupted with countless cracks.
Although she had not actively counterattacked, she was still a Limit Douluo. Through her protective Soul Power, she had reflected part of the damage back at him.
The reason Long Zijin had been able to send Leng Yaozhu flying was purely due to experience and technique. His punch had risen from below.
Had he thrown a straight punch just now, she would not have retreated even half a step. A Limit Douluo's stability against the ground—its friction—was incredibly strong.
But Long Zijin had thrown an uppercut. No matter how powerful she was, the contact area between her high heels and the smooth floor was tiny, making it impossible to generate much friction.
As long as the blow carried sufficient force, no matter how firmly Leng Yaozhu's soles adhered to the floor, Long Zijin's punch of basic strength would send her—and two thin chips of the floor—flying together.
Unless this Heavenly Phoenix Douluo weighed several thousand kilograms.
The two high-heel marks where Leng Yaozhu had just stood were the best proof.
Two small thin pieces were missing from the floor there, leaving depressions as deep as a fingernail.
Yet after throwing that punch, Long Zijin felt a sharp soreness in his left arm. This was a symptom of his muscles and bones being strained by the Amethyst Dragon's inherent basic strength, showing that his current body was still not strong enough to fully unleash the basic strength he spoke of.
"Looks like I need to quickly form the Third God Ring and make the Flower Immortal Body into the physique described in the Mysterious Heaven Hundred Treasures Record, one even tougher than Crow-Absolute Stone."
Just then, the Heavenly Phoenix Douluo, embedded in the pillar behind him, could not resist leaning forward to remind him, "Your Majesty, the basic strength you speak of seems to be called—Ultimate Strength—in the human world."
"Hm? Is that so?" Long Zijin was slightly taken aback and began searching through the genetic memories of the Sun Moon Imperial Family...
After all, both the Dragon Emperor and the Holy Dragon King had once been God Kings. Whether it was a strength attribute or a light attribute, once their host broke through to God Rank, the attribute would evolve into a law. The concept of "ultimate" would no longer exist, which was why neither of them had immediately made the connection.
But just then, Long Zijin's vision blurred.
A fiery phoenix silhouette flashed toward him, and two hands seized Long Zijin by the shoulders.
Unable to hide the excitement on her face, Leng Yaozhu said, "What basic strength? This is the Ultimate Strength recorded in historical records!"
"After Wang Qiu'er, another dragon Martial Soul possessing Ultimate Strength has appeared in our Shrek City after ten thousand years."
She asked in rapid succession, "Zijin, are you willing to take me as your master?"
"As long as you agree, Auntie Leng guarantees that you'll reach Rank 30 today. I'll also select the rarest and most compatible thousand-year Soul Spirit for you, making you the youngest Soul Elder!"
But faced with such an enticing offer, Long Zijin shook his head. "I'm not willing."
He did not lack cultivation. What he lacked was physical development and the urgent need to form the Third God Ring.
"Ah?" A crack appeared in the radiance on Leng Yaozhu's face.
"Not... not willing?" She failed to process it at once, blankly clutching Long Zijin's shoulders.
At that moment, Di Guangming once again placed a hand on Leng Yaozhu's shoulder, pushing her half a step away with a warning expression.
Only then did this Heavenly Phoenix Douluo finally react. With surprise and wariness, she looked toward the blond, white-clad man who had not uttered a word from beginning to end, yet had pushed away a Limit Douluo twice.
She asked with utmost seriousness, "Who are you, sir?"
Because under her careful spiritual perception, there was not the slightest aura fluctuation where he stood.
There were only two possibilities for such a situation:
First, he was a dead person—a moving dead person.
Second, he was so overwhelmingly stronger than her that she was not even qualified to sense him.
However, Di Guangming had not been ordered to speak, so he merely gave her an indifferent glance.
The atmosphere abruptly tightened. Sharpness emerged in Leng Yaozhu's eyes, an emotion that only appeared when she faced a formidable enemy.
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