As Cao Xin savored the poem from another world, Ju Zi stood and walked toward the two of them.
"Thank you, senior, for saving my life." Ju Zi bowed to Cao Xin in gratitude.
"Little girl, I'm not the one who saved you." Cao Xin smiled and pointed to Lin Yuan beside him.
When Ju Zi looked at him, she suddenly blushed and turned her head away.
Lin Yuan smiled helplessly. He took the storage ring from Cao Xin, tapped it lightly, and changed into a fresh set of clothes in an instant.
This quick-change feature was a Soul Tool function Lin Yuan had mentioned to Ning Tian in their letters. He'd designed it with the Battle Armor that might one day appear in mind.
Even now, he hadn't seen so much as a hair of Battle Armor, but its arrival couldn't be far off.
"Thank you, young hero, for saving me. I can never repay your great kindness. If there's a next life, I'll gladly be your ox or horse to repay you for saving my life today."
"You're welcome, you're welcome. I'm Lin Yuan. It was nothing." Lin Yuan smiled awkwardly.
Wasn't there a saying like that?
A handsome young hero would be repaid by a maiden giving herself to him; an ugly one would be repaid with a promise to serve him in the next life.
Lin Yuan had already been certified as good-looking, so Ju Zi must have been engaged to Xu Tianran.
That was right. Lin Yuan had recognized the girl as Ju Zi the moment he stepped in.
If this were a novel or an anime where every face looked more or less like an ordinary bystander's, Lin Yuan wouldn't have recognized Ju Zi.
But this was a comic-book world, where every character had a distinctive appearance.
Since they'd run into each other here, Lin Yuan might as well find out whether Xuan Ziwen was around.
If he was, Lin Yuan would bundle him up and take him back to the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect too. Whatever the circumstances, Lin Yuan's fists were bigger.
"By the way, little girl, even as Soul Engineers, you're all only Soul Ancestors, right?" Cao Xin asked.
"If so, why would you dare venture so deep into a place crawling with Soul Beasts over three thousand years old without a teacher or elder with you?"
At that, Ju Zi hurriedly exclaimed, "That's right, senior! Please help my teacher. He's just ahead, fighting a two-thousand-year-old Red Iron Earth Dragon."
"No need." Xuan Ziwen's voice rang out.
The somewhat scruffy middle-aged man emerged from the underground passage, carrying a Soul Cannon over his shoulder.
He studied Cao Xin, unable to see through him at all, and concluded that he was a Titled Douluo.
"This junior is Xuan Ziwen. Thank you, senior, for saving my students." Xuan Ziwen cupped his hands toward Cao Xin.
"No, teacher, that's not right." Ju Zi hurried over in a fluster and pointed at Lin Yuan, correcting him.
"It was this young man, Lin Yuan, who drove off the Red Iron Earth Dragon."
"What?" Xuan Ziwen looked incredulous.
Even if Xuan Ziwen's Soul Master cultivation was padded, he was still a Soul Douluo.
With that cultivation as a foundation, he could easily tell that Lin Yuan's Soul Power Level was only a little above thirty.
And she was telling him that a thirty-something Soul Elder had driven off a Red Iron Earth Dragon with two thousand years of cultivation?
Looking at Lin Yuan, who scratched his head sheepishly, Xuan Ziwen could think of only one possibility.
A Soul Tool. He'd used a Soul Tool!
"Young man, you really are a hero born young. Would you let me have a look at the sword-shaped Soul Tool in your hand?" Xuan Ziwen pointed at the Jade Dragon-Slayer in Lin Yuan's hand.
Ju Zi and Ke Ke also looked at Lin Yuan expectantly. They believed that the reason he'd just unleashed such power was the Soul Tool in his hand.
They didn't think it was Lin Yuan's Martial Soul, since he hadn't revealed any Soul Rings.
"Sorry, but this isn't a Soul Tool." Lin Yuan waved his hand, and the Jade Dragon-Slayer vanished back into his body.
"What? That's actually a Martial Soul?" Xuan Ziwen felt as if his worldview were about to collapse.
A two-thousand-year-old Soul Beast could fight on par with some powerful Soul Emperors.
Yet this young man, who was only a little over thirty, had defeated the Soul Beast in front of them with nothing but his Martial Soul.
Then Xuan Ziwen's expression turned grave.
Whether or not a Soul Elder could have this kind of strength, at least no Soul Elder in the Sun Moon Empire could unleash such power.
Xuan Ziwen himself was a weakling who relied on medicine, so he knew all too well what Soul Masters in the Sun Moon Empire were like.
In other words, Lin Yuan and the elder beside him were Soul Masters from outside the Sun Moon Empire.
And two such Soul Masters had appeared in the heart of the Sun Moon Empire, in the Rust Wasteland, a place where Soul Masters from beyond the empire rarely ever ventured.
No matter how he looked at it, their backgrounds weren't simple.
"Honored guests, your accents don't sound like those of locals from the Sun Moon Empire. May I ask if your ancestors were from the Heaven Dou Empire?" Xuan Ziwen asked with an extremely serious expression.
Since the two of them had helped his students, they couldn't be bad people.
And since they weren't bad people, there shouldn't be any problem with him asking about their backgrounds.
If Lin Yuan knew what Xuan Ziwen was thinking, he would have mocked the naivete of researchers.
"Of course not. My teacher brought me into the Sun Moon Empire to gain experience." Lin Yuan smiled.
"I've just come up from the lava region below. We're planning to leave for the next place."
Hearing that the two had no ill intent, Xuan Ziwen couldn't help but feel relieved.
"In that case, it was presumptuous of me to inquire into your affairs." Xuan Ziwen cupped his hands in apology.
"What presumptuousness?" Cao Xin waved his hands awkwardly.
Suddenly, Lin Yuan's eyes sharpened, and his tone turned serious.
"Your accent sounds a bit like someone from the Heaven Dou Empire, sir. Were your ancestors from the Heaven Dou Empire?"
"To tell you the truth, my parents moved here from the Heaven Dou Empire." Xuan Ziwen didn't notice the change in Lin Yuan. He thought it was just casual conversation.
"Oh? Then are you Xuan Ziwen, the eighth-level Soul Tool master from Mingde Hall?"
"You know me?" Xuan Ziwen looked surprised.
As Ju Zi listened to their conversation, her expression changed. She could clearly sense something lurking in Lin Yuan's tone.
"Of course. To be honest, teacher Xuan, you're my idol. Would you sign my clothes?" Lin Yuan stepped closer and held out a pen to Xuan Ziwen, signaling Cao Xin with the hand hidden behind his back.
"Teacher, it's a trap! Run!" Ju Zi suddenly cried out.
"What?" Xuan Ziwen looked at Ju Zi in confusion, not understanding what had gotten into her.
The instant Xuan Ziwen turned his head, Cao Xin, who had been smiling all along, suddenly sprang into action and knocked him unconscious.
By the time Xuan Ziwen regained consciousness, they were already on the surface.
He and his students were tied together, and Lin Yuan was standing in front of them, smiling at him.
"What are you doing? Why did you suddenly attack me?" Xuan Ziwen demanded furiously. He discovered that all his Soul Power had been sealed.
"We were all waiting for you to wake up. We had to make sure you couldn't suddenly strike, didn't we, teacher Xuan?" Lin Yuan smiled.
Xuan Ziwen was completely baffled. He had no idea what Lin Yuan was talking about.