Four Years Later

Four years later, two dusty figures made their way along the road to Suotuo City.

"Brother, why aren't Sister Fei Yu and Sister Qingluo traveling with us this time?" Xiao Wu sounded glum. She loved spending every day with her brother, but trudging along covered in dust wasn't romantic at all.

Lu Shiyuan shrugged. "Sister Fei Yu said we're grown up now. We need to learn to travel on our own. We can't rely on them for everything."

After four years of training, Xiao Wu had reached level 47 as a Soul Ancestor. In a one-on-one fight, she could nearly match a peak Soul King.

Lu Shiyuan was even stronger. He was now level 50, a Quasi-Soul King.

Since reaching the Soul Ancestor realm, neither of them had maintained their former pace of one level a month.

Even with their exceptional talent, gaining a level every few months was no small feat without some extraordinary opportunity.

Compared with other young people hailed as geniuses, that was still remarkably fast.

After becoming a Soul Ancestor, Lu Shiyuan's cultivation had slowed dramatically. He spent most of his time raising the level of his Soul Bones instead.

Although the system had given him the second piece of his Soul Bone set two years ago, he had to raise it to a hundred thousand years to activate the two-piece set effect.

Fortunately, after two years of nurturing it, and with his total Soul Power greatly increased as he leveled up, he finally raised the second Soul Bone to a hundred thousand years before leaving Notting City.

The second Soul Bone was called the Time Ruins Right Leg Bone. It had two skills.

The first, Time Flow Acceleration, allowed him to teleport up to 150 meters. There was no limit on uses or cooldown. As long as he had enough Soul Power, he could use it repeatedly.

The second, Ruin Realm Shift, let him leap to a chosen location. Upon landing, he caused a spatial shockwave that dealt 120% physical damage to every enemy within ten meters, forcibly interrupted any Soul Skills they were casting, and silenced them for two seconds.

One skill was a teleport with no cooldown; the other combined an area attack with crowd control. Lu Shiyuan could now put up a fight even against a Soul Saint.

Completing the two-piece set also granted him two powerful passive skills.

Star Source Circulation increased his Soul Power recovery rate by 200%. Each time he used a Soul Skill, it also applied Starshine Circulation to himself and allies within twenty meters, reducing the Soul Power cost of their next Soul Skill by 20%.

Stellar Resonance gave him a 30% chance to reset a Soul Skill's cooldown whenever he used one. It checked once every thirty seconds.

Lu Shiyuan's Soul Rings were all exceptionally old. His fourth had already reached forty thousand years.

His Soul Skills were astonishingly powerful, yet their cost was absurdly low.

Now that his recovery rate had increased by another 200%, he could confidently say that no one at his level could match his endurance.

After that enormous breakthrough, Lu Shiyuan and Xiao Wu could even defeat an ordinary Soul Saint by working together.

Xiao Feiyu and Yun Qingluo could finally rest easy enough to let the two of them venture out alone.

In truth, Lu Shiyuan didn't want to go to Shrek Academy. It had nothing to offer him. The only person there who interested him was Zhu Zhuqing.

They hadn't seen each other once in four years, but their letters had never stopped.

Through those letters, he learned that Dai Mubai had still run away, just as he had in the original timeline. He also understood that Zhu Zhuqing would never forgive him.

With that settled, Shrek Academy held little appeal for Lu Shiyuan.

As for Ning Rongrong, the Little Demoness who had both a princess's birthright and a princess's temperament, he wasn't particularly interested.

But he had no choice. To obtain his fifth Soul Ring, he had to join Shrek Academy.

A task this simple was rare, so after graduating, Lu Shiyuan left Notting City and set out for Shrek Academy in Suotuo City.

Once he joined Shrek Academy, he could become a true Soul King.

As for whether Tang San would show up, Lu Shiyuan didn't care in the slightest.

He had beaten Tang San plenty of times over the past few years.

The problem was that Tang San seemed possessed. He knew he couldn't beat Lu Shiyuan, yet whenever he saw Xiao Wu act affectionately toward him, he lost all sense and challenged him again.

For a while, Lu Shiyuan wondered whether Tang San had some kind of masochist system.

In Douluo, I Get Stronger by Taking a Beating?

Still, Lu Shiyuan knew Tang San probably had feelings for Xiao Wu.

Whether it was fate, the inertia of the original story, or the influence of heaven's will, he couldn't say.

Unfortunately for Tang San, he strutted around like a peacock all day and only made Xiao Wu thoroughly sick of him.

After hearing Lu Shiyuan's explanation, Xiao Wu stopped dwelling on it.

Her bright eyes darted about. Then, when Lu Shiyuan wasn't looking, she sprang onto his back.

She wrapped her slender arms tightly around his neck and locked her long legs around his waist.

"Hehe, Brother, I'm so tired. Will you carry me for a while?"

Xiao Wu's weight was nothing to Lu Shiyuan. He slid his hands beneath her, lifted her gently into a more comfortable position, then said helplessly, "You're already on my back. Why bother asking?"

"Hehe, you're the best, Brother." Xiao Wu leaned forward and planted a loud kiss on Lu Shiyuan's cheek.

"Stop wriggling, or you'll fall and start crying again." Lu Shiyuan reached back and patted her bottom, telling her to settle down.

Half a day later, they finally arrived in Suotuo City.

Compared with Notting City, Suotuo City was clearly far more prosperous.

For one thing, it had a Great Soul Arena. Not every city could boast one; its presence was often a sign of the city's size.

After all, an arena couldn't turn a profit without a large enough population and enough people willing to spend money.

"We finally made it." Xiao Wu let out a long sigh of relief. A month of eating and sleeping on the road had worn her out.

Since they were traveling to gain experience, they naturally had to leave behind the comfortable life where others had seen to their every need in Notting City.

And without a Titled Douluo to serve as their ride, they had only their own legs to get anywhere. Naturally, the journey took much longer.

At least the experience had been worth it. They had encountered several groups of bandits along the way, including some Soul Masters.

Their most dangerous encounter came shortly after they left Notting City, when they ran into a group of Evil Soul Masters. Their leader had reached the Soul Emperor level.

There were also four Soul Kings, more than a dozen Soul Ancestors, and dozens of Soul Elders.

Fortunately, Lu Shiyuan's combat strength far exceeded that of others at his level, and Xiao Wu was formidable too. Together, they had fought against overwhelming numbers and wiped out the enemy.

It was the first time either of them had killed anyone.

Afterward, their spirits remained low for an entire day.

By now, the shock had mostly faded, and Xiao Wu was back to her lively, restless self.

Once they entered the city, Lu Shiyuan was about to ask Xiao Wu where they should stay when he heard a voice brimming with barely contained delight.

At the sound of it, Xiao Wu's delicate brows drew together at once.

"Xiao Wu, you came to Suotuo City too? You must be going to Shrek Academy! I knew you'd miss me and want us to keep being classmates!"

The corner of Xiao Wu's mouth twitched.

Lu Shiyuan found it rather funny. He could no longer make sense of how Tang San's mind worked.

What on earth made him think Xiao Wu would miss him?