The Fifth Trial—Elder Mu, How Should This Matter Be Handled?

Qian Jue ignored her shock and merely urged her calmly:

"Your condition is restored, so absorb it quickly. Don't waste my time."

"Yes... Senior!"

Zhang Lexuan suppressed the shock in her heart, and her gaze toward Qian Jue gained a profound trace of reverence.

She hesitated no longer. Immediately, she drew the hundred-thousand-year soul ring into her body and began the arduous absorption process.

As Zhang Lexuan closed her eyes and absorbed the soul ring, Qian Jue stood nearby with his hands behind his back, silently sensing the newly awakened power within him.

This was precisely the core ability he had inherited after completing the hellishly demanding trial of the Word Spirit Demon—Word Becomes Law.

As long as the words left his mouth, they would become the rules of heaven and earth.

However, Qian Jue knew very well that this seemingly heaven-defying ability was not without limits.

The absolute suppression of Word Becomes Law could only work with complete certainty against those whose soul power cultivation was lower than his.

If used against a soul master with a higher cultivation level, however, there was a certain chance that he would suffer backlash from the power of the laws.

When dealing with Xuan Zi, who was Rank 98, he had used precisely those two commands: "Disperse" and "Kneel."

Xuan Zi was, after all, a Super Douluo standing at the pinnacle of the continent, with an immensely profound foundation of cultivation.

Forcibly stripping away his soul power and forcing him to kneel had actually triggered an extremely intense backlash from the laws.

Fortunately, Qian Jue had endured a full ten years of demon trials. His body had long been tempered to an utterly monstrous degree through repeated brushes with death.

He had appeared calm and unruffled just now, but in truth, he had relied on a powerful body comparable to that of a hundred-thousand-year savage beast to forcibly withstand the impact of that backlash.

"Looks like I'll have to be a little more careful when dealing with those old monsters in the future..."

Qian Jue muttered inwardly, Otherwise, if my first show of strength after waking up makes me cough blood from the backlash, that would be truly humiliating.

While Zhang Lexuan sat cross-legged in meditation and focused on absorbing the hundred-thousand-year soul ring, Qian Jue did not remain idle either.

He split off a thread of consciousness and sank it into his sea of spirit, examining the trial mission released by the fifth demon.

The fifth demon was known as the Talisman Demon, Mechikura.

The mission it issued carried an eerie, blood-soaked aura—[Place curses upon tens of thousands of living beings and induce them to commit suicide.]

Seeing this outrageous mission, Qian Jue could not help but sneer inwardly. As expected of a demon—its way of doing things was as inhuman as ever.

However, high risks often came with high rewards.

As long as he completed the trial set by the Talisman Demon, he would obtain its core ability—[Blood Curse].

Once he acquired this ability, his Angel Sword would carry an irreversible curse effect.

Even if an enemy was merely grazed by the blade in battle, the wound would never heal.

Not only that, Qian Jue, as the host, could directly control the blood within an enemy's body, transforming it into sharp thorns that would shred their internal organs from within!

"This ability... looks decent. So-so, I suppose. Barely usable."

Qian Jue rubbed his chin and gave a rather fair assessment.

This method of killing without a trace would absolutely be a trump card in group battles or against enemies with tenacious vitality.

However, the most troublesome issue at the moment was—where was he supposed to find these "tens of thousands of living beings"?

Although Qian Jue had awakened the Fallen Angel Martial Soul, which symbolized darkness and slaughter, and had just viciously humiliated Xuan Zi, he knew clearly that he was not, by nature, a crazed evil soul master.

He did not consider himself a good person, but he was certainly not the kind of villain with no bottom line.

To slaughter tens of thousands of civilians or innocent soul masters for no reason just to complete a mission?

He could not be bothered to do something so beneath him.

"Tens of thousands of scum who deserve to die, whose deaths would even be doing heaven a favor..."

Qian Jue narrowed his eyes slightly as his mind swiftly sifted through the continent's major factions.

Suddenly, a dangerous curve rose at the corner of his lips as he thought of a perfect destination.

The Holy Spirit Cult!

Those evil soul masters hiding in the shadows and taking pleasure in tormenting living beings—weren't they ready-made, perfect "mission materials"?

Using them as sacrifices for the Talisman Demon would be the pinnacle of turning waste into something useful!

Meanwhile, time slowly passed amid undercurrents surging beneath the surface.

Several days passed in the blink of an eye.

Within Shrek Academy's inner courtyard, at the Sea God Pavilion. The atmosphere in this tower, which symbolized the highest authority in the continent's soul master world, had dropped to freezing point, so oppressive that it was almost suffocating.

Before the long table, Xuan Zi, whose facial bruises had yet to fully fade, lowered his head and recounted every detail of what had happened in the Star Dou Great Forest.

"Bang!"

The moment Xuan Zi finished speaking, Yan Shaozhe, the dean of the Martial Soul Department, was the first to lose his patience. He slammed his palm heavily onto the table before him, making the teacups hum and tremble.

"What a Qian Jue! What an arrogant brat!"

Yan Shaozhe's face turned ashen with rage, his eyes blazing with fury.

"He faked his death and hid for six whole years. The entire continent believed he had fallen during that siege, yet on the very first day after reemerging, he dared to give Shrek such a vicious warning!"

The more Yan Shaozhe spoke, the more agitated he became, pacing back and forth across the hall.

"Not only did he humiliate Elder Xuan in public, he even forcibly abducted Lexuan!

"He even had the audacity to demand one billion gold soul coins and ten hundred-thousand-year soul bones!

"He is grinding Shrek Academy's dignity beneath his feet!

"He has no regard for us at all!"

Yet compared to Yan Shaozhe's righteous indignation and furious outburst, the other elders of the Sea God Pavilion seated along both sides of the long table remained eerily silent.

There was no other reason—they had all been intimidated by the terrifying strength Qian Jue had displayed.

Six years! He had vanished for only six years!

That young man, who had once required several Super Douluo to join forces in order to besiege him, now possessed the terrifying cultivation to crush a Rank 98 Gluttonous Douluo in a single move!

Such unfathomable growth was enough to make one's heart tremble with instinctive fear.

The elders exchanged glances, and deep wariness flashed through every one of their eyes.

They all understood that Qian Jue had not directly dealt a killing blow this time, likely not because he feared Shrek at all, but because of "Elder Mu."

If not for Elder Mu, the ultimate pillar of support at the level of an Ultimate Douluo,

then based on Xuan Zi's provocation in the Star Dou Great Forest, he would likely already have been a cold corpse...

Seeing Yan Shaozhe still shouting indignantly, the elders silently turned their gazes toward the far end of the long table.

There, a hunched and withered old man lay quietly in a specially made wooden chair.

"Elder Mu, what do you think... how should this matter be handled?"

At last, one of the elders could not help but carefully break the silence.