Star Dou Forest's edge, Soul Hunting Town.
This was the last stop for Soul Masters before they entered the primeval forest. Though it was not large, its special location made it exceptionally bustling.
The streets were filled with shouts from people selling Soul Beast pelts, hawking medicinal herbs, and recruiting teammates.
The air carried a distinctive scent, a mixture of sweat, strong liquor, and the stench of Soul Beast blood.
The arrival of Su Yun and his party had undoubtedly become the most striking sight in this rugged little town.
Inside a tavern called Fervent Lung Tavern, Su Yun sat leisurely in a gleaming redwood chair.
Although Ning Rongrong complained that the cups here weren't refined enough, she still obediently poured Su Yun a cup of top-shelf liquor brought from her sect;
Zhu Zhuqing sat quietly at his side, using a white silk handkerchief to polish the folding fan that symbolized his status.
Xiao Wu was the liveliest of them all. She was heartily devouring a tableful of local roasted meats and didn't forget to pop a tender piece of leg meat into Su Yun's mouth.
The sight of the Holy Son enjoying the company of three beauties made the eyes of the rough men around them, all seasoned in blood and battle, turn red with envy.
But after sensing the faint pressure of high status radiating from Su Yun, no one dared approach and invite trouble.
However, there were always people in this world who thought too highly of themselves and lacked even the most basic judgment.
"Bang!"
The tavern door was shoved open with great force, making a grating crash.
A group of young men and women dressed in neat, moon-white Soul Master robes strode in, their faces brimming with arrogant pride.
Each wore an embroidered green circle on their chest, with a towering little mountain inside it.
"People from Canghui Academy."
A Soul Master in the tavern muttered under his breath, his tone tinged with wariness and the smug amusement of someone waiting for a show.
The male student at the head of the group was reasonably handsome, but his nostrils seemed ready to point straight at the sky.
As soon as he entered, his gaze swept across the tavern before naturally settling on Su Yun's table.
The best seats in the house, and the three most beautiful women in the house.
"Brother, we're claiming this table for Canghui Academy."
The male student walked up to Su Yun. Though he called him "brother," his greedy gaze lingered on Zhu Zhuqing's voluptuous figure,
"Be smart and get lost with your girls. Don't wait until Teacher Ye gets angry."
In a shadowy corner not far away, Tang San sat on a rickety stool, holding a hard, dry bun and eating it with a bowl of free boiled water.
Seeing Canghui Academy pick a fight, a cold glimmer of delight flashed deep in Tang San's eyes.
Su Yun, aren't you always claiming to be invincible? The people from Canghui Academy aren't easy to deal with. That Ye Zhiqiu leading them is at least a level-fifty Soul King. Let's see how you keep up that phony nobleman's act against an academy with connections and backing.
As he sneered, his right hand had already dropped subtly to his side, where a Sleeve Arrow from Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges was primed to fire.
He schemed in his mind:
Once Su Yun was driven into a corner by Ye Zhiqiu, or the two sides fell into a chaotic battle, he could seize the chance to act, using Tang Sect Hidden Weapons to "accidentally" help Xiao Wu out of trouble.
That way, he could show off his strength and regain a little face in front of the three girls.
"Xiao San, watch closely."
Yu Xiaogang had somehow made his way outside the tavern and was peeking through a window, a calculating look on his stiff, corpse-like face,
"Ye Zhiqiu of Canghui Academy has a Mystic Tortoise Martial Soul, with extremely strong defenses. It's impossible for Su Yun to end this quickly like he did against Zhao Wuji. This fight will be a drawn-out one."
The atmosphere inside the tavern instantly grew taut.
When the Canghui Academy students saw that Su Yun was ignoring them completely, without even raising his head, they felt utterly humiliated.
"Damn it, you don't know a good thing when you see it! Get him!"
The male student at the head of the group roared and was just about to release his Martial Soul when Ye Zhiqiu, sitting at the other end of the tavern, slowly stood up as well.
Ye Zhiqiu was a middle-aged man with sinister eyes. The oppressive aura he gave off marked him as a Soul King above level fifty.
"Young man, the younger generation these days has less and less respect."
Ye Zhiqiu snorted. Five Soul Rings—white, yellow, yellow, purple, and purple—were about to rise beneath his feet.
But at that very instant,
Su Yun, who had been sitting as steady as a mountain, gently set down his cup.
"Clamoring."
Two words, cool and calm, yet like a divine decree. The tavern fell completely silent.
Su Yun didn't stand up or even assume a fighting stance.
He merely turned his head slightly, his deep, starry eyes sweeping lightly toward Ye Zhiqiu.
"Vmmmm—!"
Without warning, a surge of spiritual power, sacred and vast, bearing the absolute will of a sovereign, erupted from within Su Yun!
As the crowd stared in utter horror, a pitch-black Soul Ring gleaming with a cold, eerie light suddenly appeared beneath Su Yun's feet, then vanished in a flash.
That was his fourth Soul Ring!
A ten-thousand-year Soul Ring!
"The fourth ring... black... a black ring?"
Seeing this from outside the window, Yu Xiaogang was so shocked that he tumbled straight down the steps. His face was smeared with dirt, and his lips trembled too violently for him to utter a word.
The Sleeve Arrow in Tang San's hand clicked as it veered off course. He froze in place, his mind utterly blank.
A ten-thousand-year ring as his fourth?
This had completely overturned everything he knew!
At the center of the confrontation, Ye Zhiqiu had been about to manifest his Mystic Tortoise Martial Soul. But the moment Su Yun's gaze fell on him, he felt that he wasn't facing a young man.
He was facing a true god seated above the Ninth Heaven, looking down upon ants!
"I'm guilty... I shouldn't have..."
It felt as though a scalding red-hot iron rod had been driven into Ye Zhiqiu's mind. That sense of judgment from deep within his soul caused all his defenses and Soul Power to collapse in an instant.
"Spirit Word: Judgment."
Su Yun's thin lips parted. His voice was barely audible, yet in Ye Zhiqiu's spiritual sea it exploded like thunder.
"Pfft—!"
There was no physical contact, not even a flashy visual effect from a Soul Skill.
Before everyone's eyes, the Canghui Academy teacher, a Soul Master above level fifty, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. His eyes rolled back, and blood began to seep faintly from his eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth.
His massive body looked as though it had been struck by an invisible hammer. He flew backward like a kite with its string cut, smashed straight through the tavern's thick wall, and crashed onto the filthy, waterlogged street.
"Teacher!"
The Canghui Academy students were scared out of their wits. Not a trace of their earlier arrogance remained.
They didn't dare leave so much as a threat behind. They scrambled out of the tavern and rushed to drag away Ye Zhiqiu, who had already passed out.
Silence returned to the tavern.
Su Yun remained seated, as though he had merely slapped an annoying fly to death.
He slowly turned and looked at Tang San, who was still dumbstruck. A hint of mocking amusement flickered in his eyes.
"Tang San, where are your Hidden Weapons? Why don't you show us?"
Tang San shivered all over. His hand gripping the Sleeve Arrow trembled violently from the strain.
He lowered his head, feeling like a circus clown. Before that peerless sharpness, the tricks he took such pride in seemed laughable and vile.
Zhu Zhuqing looked away and said coldly, her words like a precisely aimed arrow, piercing Tang San's last shred of pride until it was riddled with holes:
"Brother Su Yun taught me that true powerhouses don't need to fight like barbarians, with blades and weapons. Trash that can be dealt with using a glance doesn't deserve to dirty our hands."
Ning Rongrong nodded along, then stuck her tongue out in Tang San's direction:
"Exactly. Some people carry a whole pouch of scrap metal around and hide in the shadows, thinking they're so impressive. It's disgusting."
[ Ding! Detected Tang San's mental state collapsing. Luck Value -800.] [ Ding! Host successfully showed off without trying. Ning Rongrong's admiration +10%; Zhu Zhuqing's infatuation +10%.]
Su Yun's thoughts stirred. He leisurely took out the black Diary and added a passage to a page that hadn't yet dried.
[Today's gripe: those cannon fodder from Canghui Academy really are the same old props they've always been.]
[Still, that old turtle Ye Zhiqiu let me test the spiritual pressure of the God-Given Soul Ring. Tsk, tsk. A Soul King above level fifty couldn't even withstand a single glance from me. The standards of the Spirit Master World are truly worrying.]
[As for Tang San, that Sleeve Arrow move just now was textbook. Does he really think his rusty nails can get through my Divine Protection?]
[Watching him want to act but not dare, then sit off to the side eating dirt, I suddenly feel like it'd be a waste not to play him to death after all that effort he's put into performing.]
[Forget it. The air here has been polluted by this trash. I'd better head to Star Dou Forest early to find my Eight Spider Lances. While I'm at it, I'll take a look at that big fellow with two heads.]
Su Yun closed the Diary and rose to his full height under Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong's eager gazes, already accustomed to reading his spoilers.
"Let's go. The food here is too salty. I'll take you into the forest for a whole roasted lamb."
The group gradually disappeared into the distance.
Only Tang San remained, sitting in a daze on the shabby stool, the dry bun in his hand having fallen into the muck at his feet.
He lifted his head and looked at the enormous hole Ye Zhiqiu had smashed through the wall.
The wind howled through it.
It blew through his heart, leaving nothing but desolation.
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