A Beauty Comes Along

With the opening Meng Hongchen had provided, Xu Tianming no longer had any reservations about offering help:

"Out of consideration for little Meng'er, I can help rescue your parents from the evil soul master's control. But everything comes at a price..."

Upon hearing this, Nana froze in disbelief.

Once she realized she had not misheard, an uncontrollable surge of joy welled up within her. She instinctively dropped to her knees before Xu Tianming, tears of overwhelming joy streaming from the corners of her eyes as she replied in the most sincere tone:

"Thank you for Your Highness's immense grace! For such kindness, if Your Highness does not find me unworthy, this humble woman is willing to serve at Your Highness's command for the rest of her life without complaint!"

Nana was now utterly destitute. Aside from wagering the rest of her life, she could not think of anything else with which to express her gratitude.

With the atmosphere built to this point, Xu Tianming had already achieved his goal:

"All right, get up. Wipe away your tears and tell me—where is the evil soul master controlling your parents' souls? Roughly how strong are they? How many of them are there?"

Nana was not very strong. The evil soul master who had controlled her parents' souls to threaten her into doing his bidding was merely a Soul Emperor.

However, this six-ringed evil soul master was not alone. According to Nana, at the hideout she knew of, she had once seen dozens of evil soul masters gathered together to discuss important matters.

For ordinary people, dealing with this group of evil soul masters might have been quite troublesome.

But Xu Tianming was different.

With his status, not only did he not need to worry about the consequences of his actions, he could directly mobilize the Titled Douluo of the Worship Hall to crush them with overwhelming force.

Events unfolded just as he had expected.

After learning the exact location during the day and gathering his experts, he took advantage of the night to directly surround the evil soul master hideout located within Mingdu.

Under absolute suppression in terms of force, most of the evil soul masters in the hideout died before they could even react. A few somewhat stronger six-ringed evil soul masters had fortunately survived, but only because they were temporarily useful alive.

After a round of "friendly exchanges," those evil soul masters obediently handed over the souls they had imprisoned using secret techniques.

However, after being imprisoned by the Holy Ghost Cult's secret techniques for so long, most of those souls had already been tainted by evil power. Even after being released, they would not be able to last much longer.

Nana's parents' souls were among them.

In the original story, Nana's parents' souls had only been freed after Huo Yuhao used Electrolux's power to purify the evil power from them.

But on the current timeline, although Electrolux could not be found for the time being, Xu Tianming was not without a solution.

They were both gods. If Electrolux could do it, then naturally Columbina could as well—and she could do it even better!

At Xu Tianming's request, Columbina, whose authority had yet to fully recover, borrowed the power of moonlight to purify every soul tainted by evil power. She even cleansed Nana's martial soul, dispersing all the evil power contained within it and removing the traits that marked her as an evil soul master.

From then on, Nana was completely free from the Holy Ghost Cult's control. Nor had she forgotten her earlier promise. She once again knelt before Xu Tianming, intending to acknowledge him as her master.

In Xu Tianming's eyes, that was entirely unnecessary.

If she wanted to repay him, she only needed to remain loyal to him in the future.

Naturally, Nana had no objections to that.

Afterward, Xu Tianming personally settled Nana's parents down, ensuring that the couple would not be troubled by evil soul masters again.

As for Nana, she naturally entered the prince's residence and temporarily served as his personal maid.

However, this left Ye Guyi somewhat dissatisfied.

In Ye Guyi's view, Nana had completely taken the job that should have been hers.

But Xu Tianming had too many things to deal with over the past two days, leaving him with no time to handle such trivial matters.

By the time he had finished dealing with everything that needed handling, it was already the final night he had previously agreed upon with Mu En.

The next morning, he would set out with Mu En for Shrek Academy.

The long night left him unable to sleep. Xu Tianming had intended to spend it cultivating, but in the dead of night, Meng Hongchen suddenly came to visit.

Her purpose was simple:

She wanted to go to Shrek Academy with Xu Tianming!

The thought of remaining alone in the Sun Moon Empire, of living without Brother Tianming by her side, made her feel as though she would go mad.

"Meng'er, have you really thought this through? Once we reach Shrek Academy, we'll be strangers in an unfamiliar place. It won't be like being at home..."

"Don't worry, Brother Tianming, I've thought it through! As long as I can be with you, Meng'er will be satisfied. I definitely won't cause you any trouble!"

Seeing Meng Hongchen's resolute attitude, Xu Tianming considered it seriously for a moment and felt that it was not impossible.

After all, he was not going to Shrek Academy to suffer.

Bringing Meng Hongchen along would give him both a familiar companion and another person to consume Shrek Academy's resources. No matter how he thought about it, it was a win.

"Fine. Since you've made up your mind, I'll mention it to that old man tomorrow morning. It shouldn't be a problem."

Having received an affirmative answer, the excited Meng Hongchen immediately threw her arms around Xu Tianming and pressed herself against his cheek at zero distance to express her feelings.

With a beauty throwing herself into his arms, Xu Tianming's heart began to itch.

But just as he was about to take a little advantage, an ill-timed voice suddenly came from behind him:

"Your Highness... can I also go with you to Shrek Academy?"

It was Ye Guyi's voice.

Seeing that someone else was present, Meng Hongchen immediately released Xu Tianming shyly and stepped aside.

"Can you give me a reason?"

"Guyi wants to follow in Your Highness's footsteps and grow stronger with you!"

Seeing the determination in Ye Guyi's eyes, Xu Tianming fell into thought once more.

Since he had already decided to bring Meng Hongchen, taking one more Ye Guyi did not seem like a big deal.

If that old man Mu En dared to refuse, then at worst, he simply would not go to Shrek Academy!

With that thought, Xu Tianming nodded to Ye Guyi.

"Fine, you can come too. I hope your cultivation results won't disappoint me when the time comes!"

Having received the answer she wanted, Ye Guyi was also extremely pleased.

However, because of her status, she could not be as bold as Meng Hongchen. She could only suppress her joy within her heart and bow in thanks.

After signaling that Ye Guyi could rise, another thought suddenly appeared in Xu Tianming's mind:

"Since I've already decided to bring two people to Shrek Academy, I might as well keep going and bring a few more!"

After all, this was equivalent to using Shrek Academy's resources to train his own people.

It would be a shame to miss such a wonderful opportunity!