Zhi An's Fury

Zhu Lu held his hand, feeling its warmth, and an unprecedented sense of security rose within her. She looked up at Xuan Xiao and asked softly, "How do you plan to help me?"

Xuan Xiao released her hand, sat back down in his chair, crossed one leg over the other, and said casually, "That depends on you."

Zhu Lu understood.

If she performed well, she could protect not only herself, but the entire Zhu Clan as well, freeing herself from the White Tiger Duke's Estate.

If she performed poorly, then she could only be a vase—pretty, but useless.

She took a deep breath and lowered her head. Her voice carried a hint of shyness and nervousness, though she tried her best to remain calm. "Mas... Master."

Xuan Xiao nodded in satisfaction, a faint smile curling at his lips. "Not too stupid."

He took something out of his storage ring. It was a completely black leg bone, its surface covered in fine patterns and radiating a faint aura of darkness. One could tell at a glance that it was no ordinary item.

This was part of the ransom left behind by that Titled Douluo from the Heaven Soul Empire: a fifty-thousand-year dark-attribute left leg bone.

Xuan Xiao tossed the soul bone onto the table. It rolled twice across the surface, producing a dull sound.

"Take it and perform well. From now on, you're mine. But let me make one thing clear: I don't tolerate betrayal. Anyone who betrays me will end up ten thousand times worse than Dai Huabin."

Zhu Lu looked at the soul bone, surprise and gratitude flashing through her eyes.

A fifty-thousand-year soul bone was not something even the White Tiger Duke's Estate could casually produce.

Yet this man had simply tossed it to her as though it were some insignificant trinket.

She took a deep breath, reached out, and placed her hand on the soul bone.

Xuan Xiao stood, brushed off his clothes, and said,

"Smart. When you return, compile a detailed report on your body—your soul power attribute, the effects of your soul skills, physical condition, and everything else. The more detailed, the better."

"Once you reach five rings, I'll give you strength comparable to a seven-ring Soul Sage."

With that, his figure flashed, and he vanished from the private room as though he had never been there.

Zhu Lu remained where she was, staring fixedly in the direction Xuan Xiao had left. For some reason, she suddenly felt much lighter.

The shackles that had weighed on her heart for years seemed to have shattered completely at that moment.

"If you take another pill, I'll cripple you right the fuck now!"

Zhi An pointed his sword sheath at Xiao Hongchen. Its tip was less than an inch from his nose, and his gaze was as cold as ice from a frozen cellar.

Xiao Hongchen was holding up a pill, about to put it in his mouth. Zhi An's furious shout startled him so badly that his hand shook, and the pill nearly fell to the floor.

He hurriedly caught it and shouted in dissatisfaction, "What are you doing?! What's wrong with me taking medicine?!"

Jing Hongchen hurriedly stepped in to mediate. His fat body stood between the two, while a layer of cold sweat formed on his forehead. "Zhi An, calm down, calm down! Whatever it is, at least let him know why before you kill him, right?"

Zhi An withdrew his sword sheath and snorted. Then he pointed at Xiao Hongchen's nose and said bluntly,

"They're both soul tools custom-made for their users, but can a Titled Douluo use them the same way a Super Douluo can? Can a Titled Douluo use them the same way an Ultimate Douluo can?"

Xiao Hongchen flushed at his words and awkwardly put the pill away. He muttered under his breath, "Fine, I won't take it. Did you have to be so fierce...?"

Zhi An glared at him and continued, "Say one more word of nonsense and I'll chop you up right now."

"A pill-popping addict like you will never be able to make a Class 10 soul tool in your life."

The moment Xiao Hongchen heard that, he became indignant. Stiffening his neck, he demanded, "Why?!"

Zhi An sneered, his tone full of undisguised mockery.

"Without the cultivation of a Super Douluo, you can't even activate one, and you want to make one? What bullshit are you talking about? Why don't you ask your grandfather whether every soul tool he wears is Class 9?"

Xiao Hongchen turned to Jing Hongchen, his eyes filled with inquiry.

Jing Hongchen sighed, patted Xiao Hongchen's shoulder, and said earnestly, "Xiao, Zhi An is right."

"Class 9 soul tools are an enormous burden as well. If they require a direct supply of soul power, then three is already my limit."

"Although no one below an Ultimate Douluo can stop a Class 9 Soul Engineer, that only applies when they are prepared. You're still young. Your foundation matters most, so don't rush for quick success."

Seeing Xiao Hongchen fall silent, Zhi An could not help speaking again, impatience in his voice.

"Wake up and get moving. Didn't you want to defeat Shrek? Don't you want to win the championship? Then hurry up and modify those Invincible Barriers. Stop thinking about taking pills all day. That stuff will only make you burn through your potential early."

Whenever he thought of the plan he had to turn everything upside down, he could not help wanting to laugh.

Shrek, Shrek, just wait. You'll have plenty to cry about when the time comes.

Zhi An cleared his throat and twisted the knife further. "If my family could let me out, then they could let the others out too. As for whether anyone has gone to Shrek's side, I honestly don't know."

"Anyway, when I left, those old geezers at home were still discussing whether to send a few more people out to gain experience."

"What?!"

Jing Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen could no longer sit still.

They had finally found hope of defeating Shrek, only to have another bucket of cold water dumped over them, chilling them to the bone.

One Zhi An was terrifying enough. If there were several more monsters as terrifying as him, how could they possibly deal with that?

What the hell were they supposed to fight with?

Jing Hongchen wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and asked cautiously, "Zhi An, tell me honestly. Among the younger generation of your family, what rank are you?"

Zhi An thought for a moment, then held up three fingers. "Top three."

There were only two of them in total, so of course he was in the top three. He was not lying.

But Jing Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen did not know that. Hearing those words, their hearts turned colder than if they had fallen into an ice pit in the dead of winter.

Top three?

Did that not mean there were at least two freakish monsters as abnormal as him?

And from the sound of his tone, the one ranked first seemed even stronger than him?

Jing Hongchen felt his blood pressure rising again. He hurriedly took out a blood pressure pill from his pocket, shoved it into his mouth, chewed twice, and swallowed it. Only then did he feel slightly better.

Xiao Hongchen's expression was not much better either. He gritted his teeth and asked, "If you faced the other two, what chance would you have of winning?"

Zhi An spread his hands and said helplessly, "If I run into the one ranked first, I have no chance at all."

Seeing the two of them looking at him as though they were saying, "Do we look like fucking idiots to you?", Zhi An could only explain.

"When that guy had just reached Rank 30, he killed a twenty-five-thousand-year Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear by himself. And he beat the damn thing to death with his bare hands."

"I saw it with my own eyes. That scene... tsk, tsk, tsk. It was simply too horrible to look at."

He was not lying either. If it got run over and killed by a truck, did that not count as being beaten to death alive?

But Jing Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen were completely numb!

A Rank 30 soul master killing a twenty-five-thousand-year Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear?

And beating it to death with his bare hands?

Was that even something a human could do?

A Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear! It was a universally recognized apex predator among soul beasts, an invincible existence among those of the same level. Even somewhat weaker hundred-thousand-year soul beasts were unwilling to provoke one.

Yet it had been beaten to death alive by a Rank 30 quasi-Soul Elder?

Xiao Hongchen felt his worldview suffer an unprecedented impact.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, only two words came out: "Monster."