"First Soul Skill, Starfall Slash!"
Two yellow Soul Rings rose beneath the young man's feet, marking him clearly as a two-ringed Soul Grandmaster.
Dazzling starlight swept toward Yan Jingchuan, while the youth's eyes remained fixed on the External Soul Bone.
Facing the incoming attack, Yan Jingchuan tossed the Soul Bone directly to Du Busi and retaliated as his arm transformed into a dragon's claw.
"First Soul Skill, Dark Sky-Splitting Claw."
The claw light tore apart the starlight. Sensing the danger, the Shrek youth who had been about to turn and seize the Soul Bone lit up his second Soul Ring.
"Gathering of Stars!"
Starlight gathered into a shield, yet the five claw lights tore through the youth's defense as effortlessly as ripping paper.
"Aaaahhh!!!"
Before his horrified eyes, the claw lights struck him, entering from the front and emerging through his back.
Du Busi held the External Soul Bone without changing expression, watching as the youth was cut into five pieces.
Yan Jingchuan froze for a moment. He had not expected to instantly kill his opponent with a single move.
The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's fearsome reputation truly had not been exaggerated.
In fact, the moment that Shrek youth appeared, Du Busi had already seen through him.
A level-twenty-one Soul Grandmaster who had only just broken through and acquired his second Soul Ring—he had not even stopped to think about how they had killed two Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears. The moment he saw the Soul Bone, greed overwhelmed him, and he tried to take it by force.
"Shrek really accepts every piece of trash. This one had some talent, but what a pity he had no brain."
Not even sparing the Shrek youth a glance, Du Busi casually mocked him.
That said, the youth was no more than five years younger or older than Yan Jingchuan. Becoming a Soul Grandmaster at around ten years old already counted as exceptionally talented.
However, Yan Jingchuan's attention was entirely occupied by the voice in his mind, and he did not respond to Du Busi.
"Justice Counterattack has killed a Shrek student. Tenfold cultivation efficiency has been increased for one day."
Yan Jingchuan wanted to sit down immediately and cultivate to test the effect, but with Du Busi still beside him, he ultimately suppressed the restlessness in his heart.
"Senior, if there's nothing else, let's go."
Eager to find a place to cultivate, Yan Jingchuan now wanted to leave the Star Dou Great Forest as badly as Du Busi had a few minutes earlier.
Du Busi was about to nod, but his expression immediately turned helpless.
"Looks like we won't be leaving anytime soon. More Shrek people are coming. They're probably with the brat you killed."
As soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged man appeared beside the youth's corpse. Six Soul Rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black—slowly pulsed beneath his feet.
He was actually a Six-Ring Soul Emperor. Yan Jingchuan was somewhat surprised. Judging by his age, he could not be a student, so he was likely the teacher leading the group.
"Ye Chenfeng!!"
The Shrek teacher's face changed dramatically when he saw the youth's miserable state.
"Teacher, what happened? Wh-what is this!?"
The five students who arrived afterward were all stunned when they saw their classmate's corpse.
Yan Jingchuan watched quietly as Du Busi silently put away the Soul Bone.
Du Busi did not want that Soul Bone to stir up needless greed again. It was true that he had a grudge against Shrek, but it was only against Mu En, not these insignificant students.
The Shrek teacher went from shock to rage, then quickly calmed down after surveying the surroundings.
He stared at Yan Jingchuan and Du Busi, two adults who looked like children—one perfectly ordinary, the other hideously ugly—along with the corpses of two Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears on the ground...
As a senior Shrek teacher, he naturally recognized the ages of those two Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears. One was nearly ten thousand years old; even he might not have been able to defeat it.
As for those two children, that was even more impossible.
Then only one possibility remained. A powerful expert must be nearby. Ye Chenfeng had offended the person behind these two little brats and was killed because of it.
Convinced he had grasped the truth, the Shrek teacher tilted his head at a forty-five-degree angle toward the sky and amplified his voice with Soul Power.
"Will Your Excellency still not show yourself? Shouldn't you give me an explanation for killing a Shrek student?!"
Yan Jingchuan and Du Busi were both baffled by the Shrek teacher's inexplicable behavior. What was this supposed to mean?
They tacitly remained silent, wanting to see what exactly this Shrek teacher was trying to do.
Night grew deeper. After a long while, no one spoke, and the surroundings were deathly silent.
The Shrek teacher kept his head raised until his neck grew sore, but no one ever responded.
"What do you mean by this, Your Excellency? Do you look down on me? Don't think that having some strength means you can bully the weak. Killing a Shrek student comes at a price!"
The silence remained as deathly as before. Thinking he was being ignored, the Shrek teacher's eyes turned bloodshot, and he panted heavily.
"Fine, fine, fine! Since Your Excellency insists on acting this way, don't blame me for what happens next!"
He turned to glare at Yan Jingchuan and Du Busi, then ordered the students beside him.
"Go. Capture those two little brats and avenge your classmate!"
The five students had long been eager to act. At his words, they immediately stepped forward and activated Martial Soul Possession.
Two one-ring Soul Masters, one two-ring Soul Grandmaster, and two pseudo-Soul Elders who had yet to obtain their third Soul Rings.
Du Busi was utterly speechless. Shrek truly was getting worse with every generation. He had no desire to make a move at all.
"Brat Yan, you go. I'll cover you."
"Huh? Me?"
Yan Jingchuan pointed at himself. At most, he could handle two of them. If all five attacked together, would he not be beaten to death?
His first Soul Skill was powerful, but it consumed a great deal of Soul Power as well. He had already used it twice earlier, so he was far from peak condition.
"If I tell you to go, then go. This old man doesn't want to bully children. I won't let you lose an arm or a leg."
With no other option, Yan Jingchuan could only steel himself and fight. The moment the Dark Sacred Dragon appeared, the five Shrek students became indignant.
"Evil Soul Master!"
"Such a dark attribute must belong to an Evil Soul Master!"
"Definitely! Ye Chenfeng must have been murdered by their evil techniques."
"You have chosen death!"
Recognizing Yan Jingchuan's Martial Soul, the Shrek teacher panicked for a moment. But when he noticed Yan Jingchuan had only one Soul Ring, he relaxed again.
A mere one-ring Evil Soul Master was nothing to fear. The students trained by Shrek were all geniuses among geniuses; killing a one-ring Evil Soul Master would be effortless.
Soul Skills of every color flew through the air. Yan Jingchuan did not recklessly use his Soul Skill. Instead, he relied as much as possible on his superior physique to engage in close combat, waiting for an opening before using his Soul Skill to end the fight in one blow.
Two uses of Dark Sky-Splitting Claw took three lives. His own Soul Power was nearly depleted, and the dragon scales on his right arm had shattered in places, leaving him with minor injuries.
"Damn it!!!"
The Shrek teacher could no longer sit still. Four students had already died. Even if he returned and shifted the blame by claiming they had been killed by Soul Beasts, he would still receive a severe punishment for failing to protect them.
He could not hesitate any longer. He had to kill these two damned brats first.
Soul Power surged through his body as he prepared to rush forward and kill Yan Jingchuan first.
At that moment, Du Busi appeared before him, unleashing an overwhelming pressure of Soul Power.
The Shrek teacher felt as though he had been struck by lightning. The crushing pressure shattered his courage, and he coughed up blood.
"You..."
Knowing that he was about to make some threatening remark, Du Busi had no interest in listening.
"Every Shrek person talks more than the last!"
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, red, red, red—nine Soul Rings appeared one after another.
The blinding red light left the Shrek teacher staring blankly, frozen where he stood.
"Ten... ten-thousand-year Soul Rings, a Titled Douluo!"
Du Busi made his move, and Yan Jingchuan breathed a sigh of relief. He finally had a chance to properly recover.
The duration of the tenfold cultivation efficiency effect in his mind had increased to four days. He wanted to use this opportunity to test its effects.
When Yan Jingchuan opened his eyes again, it was already dawn. Yet the first thing he saw was Du Busi's face.
"Waaah!!"
Startled into jumping up, Yan Jingchuan nearly lost his soul.
"Senior Du, what are you doing!?"
Du Busi stared at Yan Jingchuan as though he were a monster.
"Level fifteen?"
Yan Jingchuan nodded. After absorbing his first Soul Ring, he had reached level twelve. After a night of recuperation and cultivation, enhanced by tenfold cultivation efficiency, he had risen three levels in one go.
Du Busi opened his mouth, then stopped himself. He looked at Yan Jingchuan as though he were some unparalleled freak.
"Three levels in one night... I seriously doubt that you're even human."
Before you continue