Challenger: Wu Feng!

Ning Qingyun rubbed against him two more times before loosening her grip slightly, though she still held Gu An in her arms.

She raised a finger to point at Ning Tian and Wu Feng.

"The girl with the yellow hair is my daughter, Ning Tian."

"The one with the red hair is Elder Wu's granddaughter, Wu Feng."

Ning Tian stood where she was, watching her mother be so intimate with a little boy, even going so far as to rub her face against his.

That was the kind of treatment she had only received when she was a child.

Now that she was older, the things her mother talked to her about most were family influence, sect affairs, and the cultivation of the Seven Treasure Glazed Pagoda.

Affectionate gestures like this had not happened once since she turned six.

A surge of intense jealousy welled up in Ning Tian's eyes.

She stared at Gu An, her gaze filled with hostility.

After all, she was still just a young girl in her early teens.

Of course she would be jealous.

Wu Feng keenly sensed that something was wrong with Ning Tian's mood.

When it came to matters concerning Ning Tian, her intelligence was nothing short of extraordinary.

At all other times, she was a bit slow on the uptake.

But as long as Ning Tian was unhappy, Wu Feng's brain worked faster than anyone else's.

To vent her friend's frustration, she didn't even think twice before stepping forward.

Pointing one finger at Gu An while resting her other hand on her hip, she glared at him indignantly.

"You! You're the Gu An who deceived our Seven Treasure Glazed Sect!"

"You're just a kid with some skill to fake your spirit rings."

"How dare you try to pull a fast one on the Seven Treasure Glazed Sect!"

Her voice was sharp and loud, echoing throughout the courtyard.

Wu Yunshan stood behind her, raising a hand to cover his face.

He sighed.

He had completely given up hope for his granddaughter's brain.

Ning Qingyun was also caught between laughter and tears; she released Gu An from her embrace and began to explain.

She recounted how Wu Feng wanted to challenge Gu An.

After listening, Gu An nodded.

"Fine."

He agreed quite readily.

On one hand, it would allow these two girls to be convinced and resolve the doubts in their hearts.

On the other hand, he also wanted to test the extent of his current strength.

After absorbing the Earth Vein Profound Root, although his spirit power level had dropped from seventeen to fourteen, his foundation was far more solid than before.

He wanted to see what percentage of his power he could unleash in actual combat in his current state.

Seeing that Gu An actually dared to agree, Wu Feng felt a surge of secret delight.

He had delivered himself right to her doorstep.

She clenched her fists, her knuckles cracking, and the corners of her mouth curled high.

The Soul Fighting Platform at the Spirit Transmission Academy.

A circular stone platform over fifty meters in diameter, its surface engraved with reinforcement arrays.

Gu An and Wu Feng stood facing each other in the center of the Soul Fighting Platform, with a distance of about twenty meters between them.

Below the platform.

Ning Qingyun, Leng Yaozhu, Mother Gu, Wu Yunshan, and Ning Tian sat in the first row of the spectator stands in that order.

Ning Qingyun's gaze lingered on Gu An on the platform for a moment before turning to Leng Yaozhu's face beside her.

Leng Yaozhu's expression was very calm; she sat with her arms crossed, leaning back in her seat with one leg crossed over the other, radiating an air of languor.

She didn't look nervous at all.

Mother Gu, on the other hand, had her brows slightly furrowed, her eyes fixed intently on Gu An on the platform.

The worry on her face was practically overflowing.

Ning Qingyun couldn't help but lean toward Leng Yaozhu and ask in a low voice.

"Can Xiao An win?"

Leng Yaozhu cast a faint glance at her.

"I'll bet on it."

"Gu An will definitely win."

Seeing Leng Yaozhu so confident, Ning Tian, who stood to the side, couldn't help but interject, even knowing that the woman was a Titled Douluo.

She looked at Wu Feng on the stage, then back at Gu An opposite her, her tone filled with disbelief.

"Sister Feng is a level twenty-five, two-ring Great Soul Master."

"He just reached one ring."

"He can win?"

Leng Yaozhu turned her head to look at Ning Tian's unconvinced little face.

She naturally wouldn't lower herself to bicker with a mere little girl.

However.

It wouldn't hurt to tease her a bit.

She was idle anyway, and the battle on the stage held no suspense for her; it was the perfect opportunity to find some amusement.

The corners of Leng Yaozhu's mouth curled up, and she looked at Ning Tian with a beaming smile.

"How about a wager?"

Ning Tian raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of wager?"

Leng Yaozhu extended a finger, pointing first at Gu An on the stage, then at Wu Feng.

"If Gu An wins easily, and that little girl on the stage loses without being able to put up a fight..."

"The two of you girls will serve as Gu An's maids for a few months."

"How about it?"

After hearing this, Ning Tian's eyes darted around as she pondered the offer rapidly in her mind.

The Titled Douluo had specified a "win easily."

In other words, if Gu An didn't win easily...

Even if Sister Feng lost in the end, she wouldn't have to face any punishment.

She believed that Sister Feng, who had already reached the second ring, would certainly cause that Gu An a great deal of trouble, even if she couldn't defeat a one-ring Soul Master.

There was no way he could win easily.

Once Ning Tian had thought it through, she spoke up directly.

"It's a bet."

Ning Qingyun and Wu Yunshan sat nearby, both wearing beaming smiles on their faces, neither of them speaking up to stop it.

Being a maid was a good thing.

Being a maid meant being able to spend every day with the young master and deepening their bond.

Where else could one find such a good deal?

If it weren't for the fact that Ning Qingyun felt she was truly a bit too old and felt embarrassed to compete with a group of young girls, she would have wanted to sign up to be a maid herself.

Wu Yunshan's thoughts were much the same.

If he weren't a man, and an old man at that, he would have wanted to be a maid too.

Hearing Ning Tian agree, the smile on Leng Yaozhu's face deepened, and she added another condition.

"It's not just Gu An, you know."

"You two will also be responsible for my food, clothing, housing, and transportation."

"I just want to be close to Gu An and don't want to waste my time on such trivial matters."

The corners of Ning Tian's mouth twitched, and her tone turned somewhat resentful.

"No problem."

"There is absolutely no way he can win easily."

After saying this, her gaze drifted involuntarily toward Ning Qingyun.

Her eyes were filled with nothing but resentment.

The resentment wasn't directed at Leng Yaozhu, but at her mother, Ning Qingyun.

To this day, she still didn't understand what kind of succubus that brat named Gu An had been reincarnated from.

Why did so many people like him?

Her mother wanted to be close to him, and that Titled Douluo wanted to be close to him too.

She truly didn't understand.

So what if he's a bit handsome?

She wasn't exactly bad-looking herself; back at Shrek Academy, plenty of female students used to sneak glances at her.

Ning Qingyun noticed the resentful gaze Ning Tian was casting her way.

She didn't say anything, merely reaching out to gently pat Ning Tian's head, her voice soft.

"Watch closely."

"This is the opportunity I brought you back for."

Having heard her mother say as much, Ning Tian finally suppressed those petty feelings and refocused her attention on the Soul Fighting Platform.

On the Soul Fighting Platform at this moment, Wu Feng had already released her martial soul.

Two soul rings rose from beneath her feet.

Yellow, yellow—two century-level soul rings pulsed rhythmically around her.

Behind her, the phantom of a Red Dragon emerged.

Its dragon head was ferocious, its eyes wide open, and its entire body radiated a scorching aura.

Wu Feng stood with her hands on her hips, chin tilted slightly upward, looking down at Gu An opposite her with a condescending gaze.

"Wu Feng, Level 25 Assault System Battle Soul Master, martial soul Red Dragon."

Gu An's mouth twitched upon hearing this moronic recitation of stats.

Nothing for it, though.

Since it was just a sparring match, he might as well follow local customs.

He extended one hand while keeping the other behind his back.

Beneath his feet, a single soul ring rose slowly.

It was black as ink.

As the black light flared, the soul ring rotated slowly around Gu An's body, exuding a heavy and dense sense of oppression.

Gu An's voice, gentle yet indifferent, reached Wu Feng's ears.

"Gu An, Level 14 All-Round System Battle Soul Master, martial soul Dragon Phoenix Soul Sound Flute."

"All-Round System" was something he had just made up on the spot.

Regardless, his martial soul could attack, control, and support, so calling it an All-Round System wasn't exactly wrong.