Lone Bamboo Armor, Fusion.

The future Zhang Lexuan nodded after listening to Di Qiuxi's account.

"Sure. The mission I took happens to be near Star Luo City. Let's go take a look together. I haven't seen that tsundere little princess in a long time."

After saying that, she looked at Di Qiuxi and bluntly asked where Liu Lin was.

"Where is he now? Can we go find him?"

Di Qiuxi shook her head upon hearing Zhang Lexuan's question.

"I don't know where he is exactly. I only know that he's in a canyon somewhere and obtained someone's inheritance."

"An inheritance? Is this another variable?"

Zhang Lexuan's attention had originally been entirely on Liu Lin's safety. Now that she knew he was all right, she could finally calm down and think things through.

Only after hearing Di Qiuxi mention it did she realize that Liu Lin had gained another inheritance. Still, as long as he had not died and had even obtained an inheritance, it was a good thing.

Some things had strayed from their original course, and that frightened her. She was afraid that Liu Lin would die as well.

But since Liu Lin was alive and had become stronger, it was a happy outcome for everyone.

After all, the reason she had traveled back was to protect Liu Lin and become his wife.

"Mm. Never mind if we don't know. It's good that he's alive and well."

Zhang Lexuan's voice was cold when she said this, but the whitened knuckles of her clenched fists exposed the emotions she had buried in her heart these past few days.

Di Qiuxi nodded. "Then let's go. We'll head to Star Luo City and tell Xu Jiujiu this news."

At those words, Zhang Lexuan thought of the golden-haired, blue-eyed girl and could not help smiling.

At this point in time, when that innocent, tsundere Xu Jiujiu saw the two of them, who knew how angry she would get.

Di Qiuxi watched Zhang Lexuan suddenly start laughing and looked at her in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just thought of something funny. Let's go."

After saying that, Zhang Lexuan reined in her smile and took the lead toward Shrek City's eastern gate.

Seeing Zhang Lexuan leave, Di Qiuxi hurried after her, and the two headed out of the city side by side.

Meanwhile, at the entrance to Shrek Academy, Yu Xiaogang climbed up from the ground, clutching the reddened half of his face as he stared venomously in the direction Zhang Lexuan and Di Qiuxi had left.

He vigorously brushed the dirt off his clothes and spat on the ground.

"They actually dared disrespect Yu Xiaogang! They have already earned a death sentence!"

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He turned and strode toward the outskirts of Shrek City. He cursed under his breath as he walked, drawing curious glances from several passersby.

He did not care in the slightest. His mind was filled with thoughts of revenge. He would research the strongest Martial Soul combination and make everyone who had looked down on him kneel at his feet and sing "Conquest."

With the Lone Bamboo Martial Soul working together with Blue Silver Luo San Pao, so long as he had enough time to study the theory, what could a mere Shrek Academy possibly amount to?

Just as he was growing excited at the thought, a familiar blue-violet glow suddenly surged from within his body.

"What's going on?" Yu Xiaogang froze.

The blue-violet light burst uncontrollably from his body, directly triggering Martial Soul Possession.

The plump blue-violet phantom of Blue Silver Luo San Pao descended from the sky and merged with him in an instant.

Then his body began to swell, his arms and legs shrank, and a layer of purple bristles emerged across his skin.

His nose lengthened, his ears grew larger, and in the span of a few seconds, he turned into a round, blue-violet pig.

Everyone on the street stopped in their tracks.

A vegetable-selling aunt dropped the radish in her hand to the ground, her mouth hanging open for a long while.

A child pointed at Yu Xiaogang, tugged on his mother's clothes, and loudly asked whether that was a newly released Soul Tool toy. His mother covered the child's eyes.

Yu Xiaogang's mind went blank.

He looked down at his round belly and stubby limbs, then at the increasingly large crowd around him. He wanted to scream, but what came from his throat was instead a loud pig squeal.

The crowd erupted in laughter. Some began clapping, some whistled, and others took out recording Soul Tools and frantically snapped pictures of him.

A familiar voice rang out in Yu Xiaogang's Sea of Consciousness, simple and honest yet carrying a trace of grievance. "Gangzi, Gangzi! I finally managed to contact you!"

"San Pao?" Yu Xiaogang's soul body turned around within his Sea of Consciousness and looked at the familiar purple pig phantom. "Weren't you already... gone ten thousand years ago?"

"I thought I was gone too. But when you fused with the Blue Silver Luo San Pao Martial Soul back then, a wisp of my soul was pulled in with it."

"I've always wanted to speak with you, but that blue-eyed guy was occupying the body before and wouldn't let me come out."

"Just now, I suddenly found that I could move. I got excited and triggered Possession... Gangzi, I missed you so much."

Yu Xiaogang's vision went dark.

Ten thousand years ago, he had possessed the useless Martial Soul Luo San Pao and had been mocked by the entire soul master world for most of his life.

After finally reincarnating and gaining the two Martial Souls, Lone Bamboo and Blue Silver Luo San Pao, he had thought he could finally turn things around. Yet Luo San Pao's soul had actually reincarnated alongside him.

And now, in front of so many people on the street, it had triggered Martial Soul Possession and turned him into a pig.

"Gangzi, why aren't you saying anything?" Luo San Pao asked foolishly.

"...I was thinking about which way to die would be less painful."

But who was Yu Xiaogang?

He was a master of martial soul theory, someone even Tang San, the Sea God, had once taken as his teacher.

Something as trivial as turning into a pig in the middle of the street and being gawked at couldn't defeat him.

Then he turned and ran.

His four stubby pig hooves scrambled madly across the bluestone pavement, making him look like a rolling ball of purple flesh.

Whistles and laughter rose behind him, while several children chased after him, shouting, "The pig ran away! The pig ran away!"

He ran fast—faster than he had ever run in his life. In the blink of an eye, he dashed out through Shrek City's gates and vanished into the woods at the end of the road.

That night, he found a cave in the forest and huddled inside.

Luo Sanpao kept chattering away in the Sea of Consciousness.

"Xiaogang, don't be angry anymore. I won't possess you randomly again, okay? I just hadn't seen you in so long, so I got a little excited."

Yu Xiaogang took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He opened his notebook. It was the only piece of luggage he had brought from that original household. Flipping to a blank page, he began writing and sketching.

The Lone Bamboo martial soul was too weak. That was a reality he had no choice but to face.

Although pole vaulting could provide short-range bursts of movement, it was far too easy to fall upon landing, and its stability was abysmal. He needed a second soul skill—a defensive soul ring.

Preferably one from a turtle-type or shell-type soul beast over a hundred years old, one that could provide solid defensive control.

He muttered to himself as he worked out theoretical formulas on the paper.

"If I choose a hundred-year Black Armored Turtle for my second soul ring, and the soul skill is Lone Bamboo Armor possession, forming a set of bamboo armor over my body—

"Not only would it greatly increase my defense while preserving mobility, it would also perfectly make up for pole vaulting's weakness of unstable landings."

"Once the bamboo armor is activated, who could break through Yu Xiaogang's defenses? Mom will never have to worry about me falling down again!"

"And then I can shout, Lone Bamboo Armor, combine! How cool would that be?"

Luo Sanpao quietly asked from within the Sea of Consciousness.

"Xiaogang, should you get me a soul ring too? Other than being a little tougher than usual, I don't seem to be much use."

Yu Xiaogang fell silent for a moment. "Take it slow. Let's stabilize my first martial soul first."

"Do you think soul rings grow on trees? Everything has to begin with theory."

He closed his notebook, and confidence rekindled in his eyes. The humiliation he had suffered in Shrek City today would be repaid a hundredfold someday.

Those arrogant bastards from Shrek Academy, and that woman who had slapped him—Yu Xiaogang would never forget them for the rest of his life.