The Undisputed Overlord

A rented, ordinary carriage raced along a dirt road through the wilderness, its wheels crunching over gravel with a creaking sound as it sped toward Nuoding City.

The space inside the carriage wasn't particularly roomy.

Su Yu sat steadily in the seat of honor, with Tang Wu and Xiao Wu on either side of him.

As the carriage jolted along, Su Yu's gaze swept over the two girls. He formally laid out clear tactical roles for their three-person team.

"In the days ahead, we'll only run into more trouble, not less. To keep us from fumbling around during a fight, we're setting some rules now." Su Yu's voice wasn't loud, but it carried the authority of someone giving orders, instantly making the atmosphere inside the carriage serious.

Tang Wu immediately sat up straight and looked at Su Yu like a well-behaved student.

Xiao Wu also put aside her usual carefree manner, perked up her rabbit ears, and listened attentively.

"As the brains and absolute core of the team, I'll coordinate the overall tactical arrangements," Su Yu said with crisp clarity. "At the same time, I'll focus most of my efforts on dealing with those deeply hidden 'cheaters.' You two can't handle enemies like that. Leave them to me."

Though Tang Wu and Xiao Wu didn't understand exactly what "cheater" meant, they recalled Yu Xiaogang's disgrace after the women's bathhouse incident, and both understood that Su Yu was referring to dangerous people with bizarre tricks that were difficult to guard against.

"Xiao Wu." Su Yu turned to look at the girl in pink on his right.

"Here!" Xiao Wu answered at once.

"Your body is tough, and your Soft Skills and Eight-Stage Throw have tremendous explosive power. In the battles ahead, you'll be the team's main attacker. Once I give the order to attack, you'll tear through the enemy's defenses immediately and engage them in close combat." Su Yu gave her a precise role.

"Leave it to me! Anyone who dares block our way, I'll kick his head to pieces!" Xiao Wu confidently patted her chest, a combative light flashing in her eyes.

Su Yu turned to Tang Wu on his left. "Xiao San, your Mutated Blue Silver Grass is extremely resilient, and now it carries the Mandala Snake's deadly poison as well. Your job isn't to charge into battle, but to stay in the rear and use your vines to control the entire field. Block the enemy's escape routes, restrict their movements, and disrupt them with poison at crucial moments."

"I understand, Brother Yu! I'll use my Poison Vines to tie them all up tight. I won't let anyone hurt you!" Tang Wu nodded firmly, her big eyes full of determination.

After hearing their assignments, Xiao Wu and Tang Wu instinctively exchanged glances.

"Hmph, when you get right down to it, you're still a support who can only hide in the back and throw out grass. I'm the one doing the attacking—the team's second-in-command." Xiao Wu lifted her chin and deliberately provoked her.

"You're the second-in-command! I'm Brother Yu's closest person. I control the whole field, which makes me more important than a brute like you who only knows how to throw punches!" Tang Wu fired back without backing down, rolling her eyes.

On the surface, they were still trying to one-up each other over who was the team's "second-in-command." But in the life-and-death battle in the Soul Hunting Forest, Tang Wu had risked everything to restrain the Mandala Snake with her Blue Silver Grass, while Xiao Wu had held nothing back as she shielded Su Yu from unknown dangers.

That tacit teamwork had given them a measure of trust and recognition for each other, already visible in the way they looked at one another.

Several hours later, the carriage arrived safely in Nuoding City.

The three crossed the bustling streets and headed straight back to Nuoding Primary Soul Master Academy.

As they reached Dorm Seven, where the work-study students lived, the sound of someone bragging came from inside.

"Once I get a Soul Ring, I'll definitely crush that kid Su Yu under my foot. It's only a matter of time before I'm the boss of Dorm Seven again!" It was Wang Sheng's rough voice.

Su Yu's face expressionless, reached out and pushed open the worn wooden door of Dorm Seven.

"Creeeak—"

The creak of the opening door cut through the dormitory's hubbub.

Wang Sheng and more than a dozen work-study students all turned around and saw the three of them standing in the doorway.

Wang Sheng was just about to put on the airs of a senior and spit out a couple of threats, but the words hadn't even left his mouth before they caught in his throat.

Su Yu, Tang Wu, and Xiao Wu didn't waste a single word. All three released their Soul Power at once.

"Vwoom!"

Three powerful waves of Soul Power swept through all of Dorm Seven in an instant.

Immediately afterward, three bright, deep-yellow Hundred-Year Soul Rings, radiating a fierce aura, rose simultaneously from beneath their feet, casting a dazzling light through the dim dormitory.

Dorm Seven fell completely silent.

Wang Sheng and the other work-study students stared wide-eyed, their eyeballs nearly falling out of their sockets.

Looking at the three yellow rings that represented a hundred years of cultivation, they felt a chill shoot straight from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their heads, leaving their scalps tingling.

"A... a Hundred-Year Soul Ring! And there are three of them!"

Wang Sheng's legs trembled uncontrollably, his burly body shaking like a sieve.

Remembering the boasts he'd just made, he went deathly pale and dropped to his knees with a thump.

The other work-study students' legs went weak too. They followed Wang Sheng and knelt in a heap, not daring to draw a single breath too loudly.

Facing three monsters with Hundred-Year Soul Rings, they couldn't muster the slightest thought of resistance. All they felt was complete submission.

Late at night, the lights in Dorm Seven had long since gone out, and a sliver of cool moonlight filtered in through the window.

Su Yu lay flat on his bed, eyes closed as he prepared to rest.

But the movement beside him made it impossible for him to fall asleep.

Tang Wu was like a clingy octopus, wrapped tightly around the left half of Su Yu's body.

Her smooth, delicate leg rested unceremoniously across Su Yu's thigh, while both arms clung tightly to his left arm. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, breathing evenly as she slept soundly.

Just then, a faint rustling came from the bedcovers on his right.

In the middle of the night, Xiao Wu had secretly slipped away from her own bed and climbed straight into the covers on Su Yu's right.

Lying on her side, she pressed her warm back tightly against Su Yu's arm.

Not only that, her slender fingers were also tracing little circles on Su Yu's chest, bringing a tingling sensation.

Su Yu was sandwiched between two burning-hot bodies.

On his left was the fresh, grassy fragrance of Blue Silver Grass on Tang Wu. On his right was the faint milky scent of carrots that came from Xiao Wu.

The two girls were utterly different, yet both astonishingly soft, and they pressed tightly against him, their thin clothes doing little to block the remarkable warmth they radiated.

Feeling a scene that would set any normal man's blood racing, Su Yu sighed helplessly in the darkness.

He drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the heat surging in his heart, then closed his eyes and made himself enter a state of meditation.

With the trio's triumphant return, and the absolute deterrence of their three Hundred-Year Soul Rings, they became the undisputed overlords of Nuoding Primary Academy. No one dared come looking for trouble with Dorm Seven again.