"I see. Then let's all keep our voices down."
At that, Na'er lowered her gentle voice at once, even slowing her steps.
In the sunlight, Na'er wore a white dress, her silver hair cascading over her fragrant shoulders. Her violet eyes brimmed with lively spirit. Compared to four years ago, she now exuded much more of a young girl's charm.
"Actually... Na'er, the rooms in our Body Sect are well soundproofed. You don't have to be so careful. I was only reminding you not to knock on Junior Brother's door."
Seeing this, the tall, burly young man's honest face flashed with embarrassment. He scratched his head as he spoke.
He was Mu Ye's eldest disciple and Jiang Xiu's senior brother, A Ruheng. His Martial Soul was the most powerful Body Martial Soul in the Body Sect.
After the Body Sect's headquarters had been settled four years ago, Mu Ye had brought A Ruheng along with him.
"Why don't you go rest in the main hall for a while?"
A Ruheng asked out of habit. Ever since they had come here, Na'er had often come looking for his junior brother Jiang Xiu. She might not come all seven days of the week, but at least six.
"It's fine. I'll wait for him here."
Na'er shook her graceful head, her beautiful eyes sparkling. She sat on a wooden stump outside Jiang Xiu's room, her fair little legs swinging back and forth as she stared straight at his door.
"All right, then. I'll go train my body."
A Ruheng shrugged, then headed toward the medicinal bath room, a faint sense of urgency stirring in his heart.
Back then, he had thought himself a one-of-a-kind genius. But after coming to Shrek City and meeting Jiang Xiu and Na'er, he learned what a true genius was. At their age, he hadn't come close to measuring up to them.
Sometimes, he couldn't help wondering if the two of them had secretly used some kind of...
But he felt no jealousy. He simply treated them as beacons to spur himself onward.
"Just like Master said: as long as it doesn't kill you, train like you're trying to die!"
A Ruheng encouraged himself, then resolutely stepped into the new medicinal bath Mu Ye had prepared for him.
"Jiang Xiu, why haven't you come out yet?"
After a while, Na'er's little mouth puckered, and threads of confusion and disappointment surfaced in her beautiful eyes.
Normally, she wasn't so impatient. It was just that her master, Leng Yaozhu, had told her something that morning: a genius had been discovered at the East Sea Spirit Pagoda branch, and she planned to go there herself to assess him.
That was nothing unusual. But what made Na'er jolt was that the genius's name was Gu Yue!
"Why doesn't that girl stay in the Star Dou Great Forest? She already took seven-tenths of the power, yet instead of focusing on cultivation, she's wandering around the human world. Could it be that I took too much of her intelligence?"
Na'er murmured to herself. She truly didn't understand why Gu Yue had come to the Spirit Pagoda, but an inexplicable tension welled up inside her.
"Never mind. I'll find out when the time comes."
Na'er sighed softly and shook her little head, casting her confusion aside.
Her master would be taking her along when she went to the East Sea Spirit Pagoda tomorrow. She had come to find Jiang Xiu today because she wanted him to go with her.
"Big Brother, it's your turn to protect little sister Na'er!"
Na'er clenched her delicate fist, anticipation sparkling in her beautiful eyes.
Meanwhile, inside Jiang Xiu's room.
Jiang Xiu sat cross-legged on the bed, dense power of darkness swirling around him. His consciousness had long since sunk into the Abyss Plane.
The Abyss's 76th Layer.
Black smoke churned, blood splattered, and roars mingled with the sounds of battle. Countless shadows stood across the ground.
"Press forward! Keep pressing forward!"
Within the dark Monarch Domain, Jiang Xiu's Blood Pupil was steady as he wielded his straight blade, directing the densely packed Shadow Legion beside him to charge ahead.
At the front of the Shadow Legion was an enormous Abyss Ant. It was as large as a Soul Guidance armored vehicle, its sharp mandibles gleaming with a faint light. Hard, dark-purple plates covered its body like armor.
Most astonishing of all, seven dark-yellow stripes ran across the giant Abyss Ant's back. The aura it gave off had reached the level of a human Seven-Ring Soul Sage.
And in its savage eyes, there was even a hint of intelligence.
"Ts-ts-ts!"
At Jiang Xiu's command, the Shadow Legion charged fearlessly. Their scarlet eyes held nothing but killing intent, and those at the very front gave off energy fluctuations comparable to Soul Elders and Soul Ancestors.
"Crunch! Crunch!"
The giant Abyss Ant opened and closed its mandibles, killing Shadow Soldiers by the dozen. To it, these Shadow Soldiers were as crisp as crackers.
But before they died, the Shadow Soldiers still left their mark on the giant Abyss Ant. Afterward, they turned into wisps of energy and revived within Jiang Xiu's Monarch Domain, charging back into battle—though slightly weaker than before.
Watching the scene, Jiang Xiu wasn't worried. After four years of development, his Shadow Legion
had grown to nearly seven thousand strong!
Even if two-thirds of those seven thousand Shadow Soldiers were below Soul Grandmaster combat strength, and even if they were only a drop in the ocean compared to the vast Ant Emperor Clan, they had nonetheless become a Shadow Legion of respectable size.
"Seven thousand against one. The advantage is mine!"
Watching the giant Abyss Ant fight, Jiang Xiu remained calm. His Shadow Legion had yet to show its quality, but its numbers were already beginning to make their edge known.
"Not good! Why are there more and more of them the longer I fight?"
As the Shadow Soldiers surged toward it like a dark torrent, an ominous thought surfaced in the giant Abyss Ant's mind.
At its level of energy, it still lacked intelligence, but it had begun to develop instincts of its own.
The Shadow Soldiers before it had no signs of life, and the more it killed, the more appeared. Cracks had already formed in its hard shell, and it couldn't help feeling the urge to retreat.
"Looks like the time has come."
Seeing the Abyss Ant prepare to withdraw, Jiang Xiu's gaze shifted. He swept his straight blade forward.
Within the Monarch Domain, twenty larger Shadow Abyss Ants slowly rose like flowing water, each radiating an aura comparable to a Soul King's.
"Shadow Group, charge!"
At Jiang Xiu's command, the twenty Shadow Soldiers formed a legion and instantly scattered among the Shadow Torrent, repeatedly striking the giant Abyss Ant from behind.
To sum it up, there were three parts in total—
"If I weren't afraid of drawing attention, you'd have been finished long ago."
Watching the Soul Sage-level Abyss Ant gradually disappear beneath the onslaught, Jiang Xiu nodded in satisfaction.
He hadn't sent out his entire Shadow Army to surround and kill the Abyss Ant this time. He'd only sent out one-third.
Ant Emperor, Spirit Monarch, you never would have guessed that the Abyss's 76th Layer had already been quietly changing its name to Jiang's.
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