King's Escort Agency: Mission Guaranteed

Countless streaks of azure sword energy pierced the Blood Moon Wolf King, leaving his entire body looking like a hedgehog.

His massive frame froze in place as a terrifying blood-red aura spilled from him.

The Blood Moon Wolf King struggled a few times before his body crashed to the ground. He moved no more.

From start to finish, only a few breaths had passed.

Li Bai had slain the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that had driven the Shrek group to the brink, and he had made it look effortless.

Then a blood-red Soul Ring rose from the Blood Moon Wolf King's corpse.

At the same time, a Soul Bone formed within his body.

With a light flick of his sword, Li Bai lifted the Soul Bone from the wolf's left foreleg and caught it in his hand.

Blood Moon Wolf King slain. Jungling Stacks increased by one level.

Li Bai could not keep the corners of his mouth from rising.

Level fifteen. Now that felt good.

Beside him, Zhang Lexuan stared, her mouth hanging open and her head buzzing.

He killed a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast with one sword strike? Was this Li Bai's strength?

That guy who looked like a street loafer was actually this powerful.

The King's Escort Agency's strength was terrifying. She would have to reassess it.

As Shrek's senior disciple and the next successor to the Sea God Pavilion, she had to take every faction seriously. The King's Escort Agency had kept its strength hidden. With just a dozen or so people, it probably had the power to overturn the entire continent. She could not underestimate it again.

After killing the Blood Moon Wolf King, Li Bai put away the Soul Bone, toyed with it for a moment, then tossed it to Zhao Huaizhen as casually as if it were a stone.

"The usual rule. Hand over the good stuff."

Zhao Huaizhen caught it and glanced down. The Blood Moon Wolf King's bloody aura still clung to the Soul Bone. He merely smiled and tossed it into his Storage Soul Tool without a word of thanks, clearly used to this.

Then, under Zhang Lexuan's stunned gaze, Li Bai untied the Wine Gourd from his waist, pulled out its stopper, and gestured toward the Blood Moon Wolf King's enormous corpse.

Bzzz!

A powerful suction surged from the Wine Gourd. In the blink of an eye, it swallowed the entire Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, hide and bones and all, leaving nothing behind.

He replaced the stopper, gave the gourd a shake, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Steep a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in wine, and the longer it soaks, the more you get."

Zhang Lexuan's eyes went wide. She could not help asking:

"Li Bai, you've wasted that hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring. And... every part of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast is a treasure. Isn't steeping it in wine a bit wasteful?"

Li Bai shook the Wine Gourd in his hand, wearing an expression that said she didn't understand.

"It's not like I'm skipping the Soul Ring. Look, I took it in, didn't I?"

"But you took it into the gourd!" Zhang Lexuan was baffled. "You can't absorb a Soul Ring directly once it's in there!"

"Right."

Li Bai spoke as though it were obvious. "This gourd is my Martial Soul. Once I take the corpse into my Martial Soul and it dissolves completely, my wine will have steeped it. Then my Martial Soul will naturally absorb the Soul Ring too."

He patted the Wine Gourd, his eyes lighting up. "Besides, wine steeped with a hundred-thousand-year Blood Moon Wolf King is bound to pack a punch. There'll be plenty for everyone to drink."

At the word "drink," Yun Ying instantly perked up. She was famously fond of wine.

A swig of wine, a spear in hand—what a joy!

"Li Bai, none of them drink. Give me half!"

"Who says we don't drink?

I do."

Kai was the first to object.

Cai Wenji, however, raised her little hand.

"I don't."

Zhao Huaizhen chimed in.

"Neither do I."

"See? None of them drink.

Half for me?"

"Dream on.

Ask Zhao Huaizhen to brew you some. The most you're getting is one jug."

"No way." Yun Ying was annoyed. "You killed it too fast! You didn't even let us get a share of the experience!"

And he thought she wasn't getting a share of the wine?

"Not a chance!"

Li Bai rolled his shoulders.

"I saved them, and I killed the beast. You want a share of the experience? Not happening!"

"Go ahead and hoard it all, then."

Zhang Lexuan was numb by now.

Watching the group banter, she felt the pressure all the more keenly.

She had not recovered from the shock of Li Bai killing the Blood Moon Wolf King with one sword strike when she learned that his Martial Soul could absorb a Soul Ring on its own.

And Li Bai had Twin Martial Souls. Twin Martial Souls that powerful were not to be taken lightly.

With the younger disciples who had survived alongside her, she gathered the bodies of the other eight who had died. Then she approached the group, bowed deeply, and said with utter solemnity:

"Thank you all for saving our lives. Once we return, I will reward you generously."

Her gratitude came from the heart. If Li Bai and the others had not arrived in time, she and the remaining disciples would have died under the Blood Moon Wolf King's claws. None of them would have survived.

"No need for a reward." Li Bai waved a hand and took another swig of wine. "Just don't be so reckless next time. You're a Soul Saint who hasn't even obtained her Eighth Soul Ring, yet you dared to lead a group of Soul Saints and Soul Emperors into the Mixed Zone to hunt Soul Beasts. It's like you don't know how to write the word 'death.'"

Zhang Lexuan's expression darkened at his words.

"We did have a teacher leading us. I just don't know why he never appeared."

"You had a teacher with you?"

Cai Wenji suddenly remembered something and spoke up at once. "Oh, right. On our way here, we found an old man who seemed pretty strong. He was dead drunk, lying under a tree and snoring away!

No Soul Beasts dared go near him. He was a Super Douluo.

That wouldn't be your teacher, would it?"

"If it was, that's beyond ridiculous. Getting blind drunk while on duty, leaving his students here to die, and sleeping through it all!"

"What?"

Drinking? An old geezer?

Zhang Lexuan froze for a moment, then her face turned livid.

Who else could it be?

Who fit that description besides Xuan Zi?

"Xuan Zi..." Zhang Lexuan gritted her teeth, almost forcing the name out between them. "He really got drunk at a time like this. No wonder he didn't stir even when the Blood Moon Wolf King nearly wiped us out. He was passed out drunk.

When we get back, I'll make him answer for this!"

Zhang Lexuan's chest rose and fell with anger. She took several deep breaths before she could barely calm herself.

"Let's go."

Suppressing her anger, she bowed to the group once more. "Thank you again for saving us.

When we return, I'll prepare a generous gift and come to thank you in person."

Zhao Huaizhen spoke then, unhurriedly. His voice was as bright as sunshine, his tone easy.

"Miss Zhang, let me ask you something. Can you still get out of the Star Dou Great Forest on your own?"

Zhang Lexuan froze. She looked back at the younger disciples who had just crawled back from death's door, their faces still pale, then felt the emptiness where her Soul Power should have been. She fell silent.

Forget getting out of the Star Dou Great Forest. If they met even one more reasonably powerful Soul Beast, they would all die here.

"Then what should we do?"

The question slipped out before she could stop it. She could hardly have the nerve to ask them to protect her group all the way back, could she?

"Simple."

Zhao Huaizhen smiled and took an Escort Order from his Storage Soul Tool. He held it out to her. "Place an order. The King's Escort Agency gets the job done.

Once you've placed an order, we'll escort you back to Shrek and keep you safe the whole way. You and your cargo will arrive unharmed."