Xian Lin'er

"Whoosh!"

The shrill rush of air sounded like thunder tearing through the void!

A razor-sharp blast of azure energy shot from deep within the bamboo grove without warning, bearing a suffocating pressure as it hurtled straight toward Dongfang Hao's face like lightning!

The blast was ferociously overbearing. Though it carried no real killing intent-the attacker had clearly held back deliberately-its speed and piercing force were such that even an ordinary Soul Elder would suffer badly if caught by so much as a glancing blow!

"Who's there?!"

Dongfang Hao's gaze sharpened. He stamped hard against the ground and slid thirty feet backward almost on instinct.

"Boom!"

The azure blast slammed into the white jade steps where Dongfang Hao had just stood, shattering the hard stone into a shower of fragments!

Amid the swirling dust, a tall, slender woman in a pale azure combat outfit emerged from the depths of the bamboo grove at a measured pace.

She was stunningly beautiful, her brows carrying a fierce, martial spirit rarely seen in other women. Her phoenix eyes fixed on Dongfang Hao like cold blades. Raising her chin slightly, she demanded icily:

"Where did this wild brat come from? How dare you trespass on Sea God Island?!"

The newcomer was none other than the dean of Shrek Academy's Soul Tool Department-the Martial God Douluo, Xian Lin'er!

Looking at this striking, formidable beauty, whose presence was even more overbearing and fierce than Cai Mei'er's, Dongfang Hao felt a slight stir in his heart and immediately guessed her identity.

"Please don't be angry, Senior."

Dongfang Hao held his hands behind his back, then calmly cupped them in greeting. "I am Dongfang Hao. Vice Dean Cai Mei'er invited me to Sea God Island specifically to help Senior Ma Xiaotao suppress the backlash of the Evil Fire within her. I am no villain trespassing on forbidden ground."

"Help Xiaotao? You?"

At the mention of Cai Mei'er, Xian Lin'er's elegant brows shot upward, and thick mockery and disbelief flashed through her phoenix eyes.

"That vixen Cai Mei'er normally has a mouth full of virtue and righteousness. Now she's even making up such absurd excuses to shield an outsider?!"

"The rampaging Evil Fire inside Xiaotao is so dangerous that even a Super Douluo can do nothing about it! What help could a wet-behind-the-ears brat like you possibly offer? I think... you're clearly that woman's lover on the outside, smuggled onto the island for some sordid affair!!"

Fiery-tempered as she was, Xian Lin'er would not listen to a word of explanation. With a cold snort and a slight movement, she became an azure afterimage once more, curling her delicate hand into a claw and reaching straight for Dongfang Hao's shoulder!

Although she intended only to test him and kept her strength firmly suppressed to an extremely low level, her explosive power and speed were already fully comparable to those of an ordinary four-ring agility-type Soul Ancestor!

This crazy woman... she really won't listen to reason.

Dongfang Hao sneered inwardly. Since she wanted to fight, he certainly would not be a soft persimmon for her to squeeze at will!

"Hum!"

His ten-million-year spiritual divine skill activated instantly. Every trajectory of Xian Lin'er's movements and every opening in the way she exerted force became crystal clear in Dongfang Hao's eyes, slowed dozens of times over!

At the same time, the supreme movement technique recorded in the Divine Heaven Record surged into action!

"Wandering Dragon Step-Dragon Concealment!!"

"Swish!"

In the lightning-swift instant before Xian Lin'er's palm touched the boy's clothes, Dongfang Hao's body suddenly became a hazy, distorted afterimage of an azure dragon!

Xian Lin'er's hand passed straight through that afterimage without resistance!

She had missed!

"Hm?! An afterimage?!"

Xian Lin'er's pupils contracted slightly, and utter astonishment flashed across her face.

She had never imagined that a Soul Grandmaster could so easily evade a claw strike capable of capturing an ordinary Soul Elder!

"If you keep being this unreasonable, Senior, I'll have to offend you!"

Several dozen feet away, Dongfang Hao appeared like a phantom, the hem of his clothes fluttering as he laughed aloud with effortless composure.

"Arrogant brat! Do you really think some fancy footwork lets you overturn the heavens?!"

Being toyed with to her face by a junior instantly roused Xian Lin'er's pride. She stamped her foot, her body tracing several razor-sharp zigzags through the air as her speed increased by another thirty percent. Claw shadows filled the sky like a torrential downpour, ruthlessly sealing off every escape route around Dongfang Hao!

And yet.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

Facing that savage assault that blotted out the sky, Dongfang Hao moved like a Primordial True Dragon swimming through towering waves, elusive and shifting, the real and the illusory impossible to distinguish!

Each time the wind from a claw swept past his robes, his body twisted at an impossible angle in the nick of time, leaving layer upon layer of dragon-shaped afterimages in the air!

No matter how fierce and swift Xian Lin'er's attacks became, Dongfang Hao calmly dodged and weaved with the Wandering Dragon Step, all while leisurely teasing her and offering explanations. He could not have looked more at ease!

Several exchanges later, Xian Lin'er had not even touched a scrap of the boy's clothing!

"This... how is this possible?!"

After another heavy strike missed, Xian Lin'er flew backward to her original position. Her beautiful, martial face was now filled with shock and disbelief!

With her discerning eye, she could see perfectly clearly that the fluctuations of soul power within this boy were only at the level of a Soul Grandmaster in the twenties!

A Soul Grandmaster could actually rely on a single uncanny, unpredictable movement technique to evade attacks comparable to those of a four-ring agility-type Soul Ancestor?!

She had thought the person Cai Mei'er had secretly brought onto the island was merely some pretty boy who knew neither the height of heaven nor the depth of earth.

Yet that brief test had been like a resounding slap delivered squarely across her face!

A boy barely into his teens, whose strength was only at the Soul Grandmaster level, had actually evaded all those attacks beneath the pressure of a supreme expert like her as casually as if he were strolling through a quiet courtyard?!

Such miraculous footwork and combat instincts would likely place him among the outstanding talents of the younger generation across the entire continent!

Looks like I misjudged him earlier...

Xian Lin'er lightly bit her lower lip and murmured inwardly. Much of the hostility in her eyes quietly faded, replaced by intense curiosity.

Since he was not a pretty boy, could he be Cai Mei'er's newly accepted disciple?

"Not bad footwork, junior!"

Raising her chin slightly, Xian Lin'er curled her beautiful lips into a somewhat dangerous smile and sneered:

"But I was only playing with you at the level of a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor just now. If you can withstand what comes next, I'll believe your nonsense for the time being!"

"Boom!"

Before she had even finished speaking, the azure radiance around Xian Lin'er suddenly flared!

A terrifying gale, far fiercer than before, swept outward from beneath her feet without warning, shattering the hard white jade steps inch by inch.