Beibei: The Clown Was Me All Along?

Amid a continuous series of flesh-tearing and bone-cracking sounds, the Datura Snake's tough body was practically shaved down to a skeleton. It crashed heavily to the ground, powerless, with only its last breath left as it twitched in despair.

"Tang Ya, now."

"Elemental Sublimation."

Zhuang Minghui performed a perfect landing, then looked toward Tang Ya, who was protecting Huo Yuhao. The Spirit Gold in his hand released a wisp of incomparably pure emerald light that instantly sank into Tang Ya's body.

In that instant, Tang Ya felt her Blue Silver Grass martial soul fill with a life energy that words could not describe.

It was life energy unlike anything she had ever felt before. Not only was it as gentle and vast as the sea, it also instantly activated the devouring attribute she had possessed since birth.

A stalk of emerald-green Blue Silver Grass, as if carved from jade and radiating life energy all over, appeared in Tang Ya's palm and quietly bloomed. Two yellow hundred-year soul rings came vividly to life beneath her feet.

"First soul skill, Blue Silver Entanglement."

Tang Ya's eyes were instantly tinted with a strange, bewitching purple. The first yellow soul ring beneath her feet lit up, and she swung out one hand.

Two giant Blue Silver Grass vines as thick as water vats burst from the earth. Not only did they instantly bind the Datura Snake tightly, the moment they made contact, they forcibly drained the soul power from its body.

"Pfft."

The Datura Snake collapsed limply to the ground, becoming a shriveled snake corpse. A purple thousand-year soul ring slowly condensed above the snake's body.

Seeing the thousand-year soul ring before her, Tang Ya jumped up and down excitedly. "Yes! Yes! It's a thousand-year Datura Snake soul ring!"

But before she could be happy for long, that unprecedented power in her body instantly faded away, and the Blue Silver Grass returned to its original ordinary, frail appearance.

The sudden contrast left Tang Ya a little dejected. She turned to look at Zhuang Minghui beside her, curiosity written all over her face, and said, "Zhuang Minghui, are you really a healing-type soul master?"

"And also, also, what's the deal with your fourth soul skill? It gave me the illusion that I could challenge a Soul Elder above my level."

Meeting Tang Ya's gaze, Zhuang Minghui chuckled and said, "Let's talk about that after you absorb the soul ring."

"This... fine." Hearing Zhuang Minghui say that, Tang Ya pursed her lips and walked over to the Datura Snake to absorb the thousand-year soul ring.

Zhuang Minghui came to Beibei's side, whose body had been invaded by poison, and said, "Need me to heal you?"

The worshipful, curious, and burning gaze Tang Ya had given Zhuang Minghui just now stabbed into Beibei's heart like a thorn.

Clearly, he was supposed to have been the main fighting force in hunting the soul ring, so how had Zhuang Minghui stolen the final spotlight?

Forcing down the dissatisfaction he felt toward Zhuang Minghui, Beibei put on a false smile and said:

"Then I'll have to trouble you."

Beibei's expression, ugly as if he had eaten shit, was fully taken in by Zhuang Minghui. He smiled faintly and said, "It's only right for a big brother to help his little brother."

Immediately afterward, the Life Ancient Tree appeared in his hand out of thin air. Emerald life light sank into Beibei's body, and a stream of purple poison gas was forced out, dispersing into the air.

After withdrawing his martial soul back into his body, Zhuang Minghui naturally held out his hand toward Beibei. "Done. One Mystic Water Pill."

"What?" As soon as he said that, Beibei glared at Zhuang Minghui in anger. "We've known each other for so many years, and you're actually charging me?!"

"So what? Even blood brothers keep clear accounts." Zhuang Minghui raised an eyebrow, lowered his voice, and gave a wicked grin. "It's fine if you don't pay. But I happen to be holding quite a few little secrets about a certain someone. If one day I accidentally let something slip in front of Xiao Ya..." As he spoke, he even gave a meaningful glance toward Tang Ya, who had entered meditation.

"You! I'll pay, I'll pay, I'll pay, okay? But only after we get back to Shrek." Beibei was truly speechless.

Who understood, family? How did he end up with a childhood friend like this, someone who only knew how to fleece him?

Huo Yuhao, who had been forgotten by the three of them the entire time, suddenly asked Zhuang Minghui, "Um, how did you reach Soul Ancestor at eleven?"

Zhuang Minghui pointed at himself and knowingly asked, "Hm? Are you asking me?"

Huo Yuhao nodded solemnly. If he knew his method, perhaps Brother Tianmeng could help him...

Zhuang Minghui shrugged, spread his hands with an infuriating look, and said, "That... I really don't have any tricks. I just eat when I'm full, sleep when I've slept enough, take care of my health when I get tired of cultivating, and after I'm done with that, level up while I'm at it."

"That's just how geniuses are. Sometimes I'm pretty troubled too. How come even when I casually slack off, my soul power rank is still higher than some people who cultivate all the time?"

Huo Yuhao stared blankly at Zhuang Minghui. He should never have asked this guy.

He was jealous. He really was jealous!

In Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea, the Tianmeng Iceworm shouted furiously, "Damn it, damn it! How can someone show off even harder than Brother!"

Venting was one thing, but this human's talent was truly beyond reproach. If he had met the human before him in advance, even if he did not have a spiritual attribute, he would have forcibly added one to him.

His hope of becoming a god was ninety percent higher than Huo Yuhao's!

On a tree trunk not far away.

"Good. There shouldn't be any problems now."

"When Xiao Huizi has his twelfth birthday in a while, I'll give him a ten-thousand-year soul bone."

"A youth with a body martial soul... I hope he won't join the Body Sect."

Looking at the few people fooling around on the ground, Elder Zhuang returned to Shrek with peace of mind.

Half a day later.

Tang Ya successfully finished absorbing her third soul ring, and at the same time, she also mastered Blue Silver Grass's third soul skill, Shaluo Snake Web.

"With this, advancing to the fourth year won't be a problem at all!"

Looking at the three soul rings rising beneath her feet, Tang Ya was overjoyed.

In Shrek's outer courtyard, the advancement exams for every year were extremely strict. Take their promotion from third year to fourth year, for example—the first requirement was that they had to reach the three-ring level.

Any student who had not reached Soul Elder before the advancement exam would be considered to have failed.

Beibei was sincerely happy for Tang Ya and said gently, "That's great, Xiao Ya. Now we can advance to fourth year together."

Tang Ya looked in the direction of his voice, but her gaze passed straight over Beibei and landed on Zhuang Minghui behind him. "Yeah, Beibei. You really worked hard today."

"And Zhuang Minghui too."

As she spoke, Tang Ya happily started forward.

And our Beibei? Seeing Tang Ya walk toward him, he naturally opened his arms, wanting to pull her into his embrace.

But all Beibei was left with was a little fragrant breeze rushing past, making his nose itch slightly.

Tang Ya skipped right past Beibei and threw herself straight into Zhuang Minghui's chest.

"This feel—yes, this is it. So hard. It's really so hard."

Tang Ya had no concern at all for propriety between men and women. With her hands separated only by his clothes, she caressed Zhuang Minghui's chest, feeling the hardness beneath it. It was simply far too comfortable.

The higher-level suppression of his martial soul and the infusion of life gave Tang Ya an innate reverence for Zhuang Minghui—a reverence engraved into her bones, along with worship and submission.

Zhuang Minghui only felt a tingling numbness in his chest. He lowered his head to look at the utterly defenseless girl in his arms, then raised it again to glance at Beibei ahead, who had instantly frozen in place like a clown.