Mu Ye had been standing at the school gates for a while.
He stopped a passing student. "Hey, do you know Xiao Mu? I need to talk to him."
The student glanced at him, frowned, and walked around him.
Mu Ye stopped another student. The moment the student heard the name "Xiao Mu," he ran off in fright.
People came and went around them. Every now and then, someone glanced over, then quickly looked away.
No one paid him any mind.
The dignified sect master of the Body Sect had been left standing at the school gates like that.
When Xiao Mu came out, Mu Ye was just about to stop someone else and ask around.
He had seen a photo of Xiao Mu before. As soon as he spotted him, Mu Ye lowered his hand.
"Xiao Mu, it's you. Let me introduce myself. I'm Mu Ye, sect master of the Body Sect."
"The Body Sect? What do you want with me?"
"Someone from the Spirit Pagoda told me you have a Body Martial Soul and Innate Full Soul Power. No matter what, I had to bring you into the Body Sect."
"I can join the Body Sect, but will that restrict my freedom? I still have research to do, and I'm not good at fighting."
Hearing this, Mu Ye froze. If this level of fighting skill counted as "not good at fighting," then what did being good look like?
A human-shaped Ferocious Beast?
"Of course not. The Body Sect isn't what it was ten thousand years ago, and many of our secret arts have been lost. You'd only have to lend your name to the sect. If the Body Sect ever gets into trouble, do what you can to help."
Mu Ye let out a long sigh. In its heyday, the Body Sect had been a superpower on par with Shrek Academy.
"Don't lose heart. I'll make Shrek Academy catch up to our Body Sect," Xiao Mu said evenly.
"Xiao Mu, did you get that backward?" Mu Ye asked, baffled.
"I didn't. All we have to do is find a way to dig up Shrek Academy's foundation!" Xiao Mu's voice remained calm. Once he figured out how to dig up the Golden Ancient Tree, Shrek Academy would lose its foundation.
A crane wouldn't be a problem. They could just build a bigger spaceship. All they had to do was solve the energy and propulsion problems.
The only problem was that people like Yun Ming were a bit of a nuisance.
Damn it, when the Ghost Emperor blew up, couldn't he have done it more precisely? He should've left behind something useful.
"That's ambitious, but you'll have to become a Limit Douluo before you can pull that off," Mu Ye said.
"That's not necessarily true." Xiao Mu sounded unhurried. Then he asked, "Did you come here just to get me to join the Body Sect?"
"No. I'm also here to help you with your Martial Soul Second Awakening," Mu Ye replied.
"That'll take a while, won't it?"
"It will."
"Then let's go straight to my place. You'll have to explain it in person."
"Of course."
With that, Mu Ye unlocked his red car, and the three of them got in. The engine started, and the car turned out of the academy road and drove toward the address Xiao Mu had given him.
Outside the windows, the streets and buildings rushed past.
Meanwhile, the battle in the villa district where Xiao Mu lived was nearing its end.
A figure flew backward and crashed into the ground, half-buried in the dirt, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Qiangu Dongfeng pushed himself up from the ground, his chest heaving. A Soul Power barrier appeared around him, shattered, then reformed, again and again, as if some force were suppressing him.
His Martial Soul let out a low whine inside him, too afraid to fully manifest.
A man stood opposite him.
Xiao Ming stood on the steps in front of the villa, holding a Tang Dao. A dull light flowed along its blade, as if it had swallowed every ray of light that fell upon it.
He wasn't even wearing Battle Armor. He was dressed in black loungewear, his sleeves rolled up to his forearms, revealing pale skin.
An Eclipse revolved slowly behind him.
It had no warmth at all. Instead, the air around it turned as cold as midwinter. Light bent as it neared the Eclipse, as though being dragged into an unfathomable abyss.
Qiangu Dongfeng gritted his teeth, swinging the Coiling Dragon Staff in a fierce blur. The heart of his way, Qiangu Dongfeng's way, was simple: fight heaven and earth.
Never retreat, never dodge, never cower.
"Again!"
He drove off the ground, which cracked beneath his feet, and leaped three zhang into the air.
The Coiling Dragon Staff spun halfway around above his head before crashing down with the force of ten thousand jun. The staff split the air with a piercing sonic boom.
Xiao Ming raised his blade. The blade clashed against the staff.
In that instant, the dragon shadow coiled around the Coiling Dragon Staff vanished as if it had sunk into the sea, as though something had sucked away all its strength.
Qiangu Dongfeng flipped backward with the momentum. The Coiling Dragon Staff turned in his hands, and his second strike was already sweeping in. The staff swept toward Xiao Ming's waist like a raging dragon lashing its tail. The pressure of its passage lifted the paving stones from the ground and blew them apart in midair.
Xiao Ming didn't even move his feet. He flicked the Tang Dao upward, its tip striking the dragon's head at the very center of the staff.
The giant dragon let out a mournful cry. The entire Coiling Dragon Staff shuddered violently, and Qiangu Dongfeng's palm split open. He nearly lost his grip.
"Impossible—" Qiangu Dongfeng clenched his teeth and poured Soul Power into the staff without restraint. Golden light surged from the Coiling Dragon Staff. Its dragon shadow broke free and shot toward Xiao Ming like a meteor.
The Eclipse behind Xiao Ming slowly turned once.
The giant dragon entered his domain, its speed plummeting as if it had fallen into an invisible swamp.
In just three seconds, the light on its body faded from dazzling to dim. Then it began to dissolve—its head, body, and tail crumbling section by section into infinitely tiny points, until it vanished into nothingness.
Any attack that entered Xiao Ming's domain would be absorbed by the Eclipse and ultimately reduced to nothingness.
Two busted abilities in one family.
Xiao Ming descended the steps and walked toward Qiangu Dongfeng, one step at a time. The Tang Dao in his hand dragged along the ground, its tip carving a long, thin groove in the paving stones.
The Eclipse moved with him, devouring all the light that shone toward him.
Qiangu Dongfeng roared and stopped holding back. The Coiling Dragon Staff swelled in the wind, turning into a giant pillar three zhang long. The dragon shadow completely separated from the staff, transforming into a giant dragon.
The dragon raised its head high, its eyes scarlet, and let out a roar that shook the heavens.
Qiangu Dongfeng took a step forward, merging with the dragon, the staff with himself.
The staff crashed down from the sky.
Xiao Ming looked up at the descending dragon and giant staff.
He gripped the blade with one hand and slashed upward.
The Eclipse abruptly contracted, flowing into the Tang Dao's blade. As the slash cut through the air, an extremely thin black line lit up along its edge, so fine it was almost invisible—like a tear in space itself.
A black blade arc flew from the weapon and cut through the air. Everywhere it passed, all color was drained away, leaving only pure black and white.
The giant dragon was cut in two. From head to tail, it split cleanly down the middle. Its shadow froze in midair for an instant, then exploded with a boom, scattering into a skyful of golden motes.
Qiangu Dongfeng fell flat on his back, a gash running from his right shoulder to his left ribs.
Xiao Ming stood beside him, the tip of his Tang Dao pointed three inches from Qiangu Dongfeng's throat.
"Using a Coiling Dragon Staff!"
"Which junior of the Qiangu Family are you? You actually dare to cause trouble at my home!"
Qiangu Dongfeng said nothing. His Adam's apple bobbed once. He had no idea the Federation was hiding someone like this—someone who could suppress him without even wearing Battle Armor.
Far away, Xiao Mu had seen the battle from a distance, and he could no longer hide the look on his face.
With power like that, he could afford to be even more arrogant.
He'd been far too low-key before.