The Wind Rises, the Clouds Soar

"The wind rises, the clouds soar! Refine them for me!" Banner Bro swept out his hand and, pouring every ounce of strength from his blood and flesh into it, drove the Soul-Refining Banner into the earth.

Countless streams of blood burst from the soil, staining the ground scarlet.

The Soul-Refining Banner flew high!

Several dark figures emerged from it.

First Soul Skill! Undead Hymn!

Black chains suddenly appeared around the fourteen souls circling overhead, and their forms grew ever more solid.

That was an impressive boost to the souls.

Watching Banner Bro from the treetop, Jiang Hao was thoroughly pleased.

It was a little immoral, but he had never had much in the way of morals himself.

That move alone was impressive enough.

Banner Bro acted decisively and had ideas of his own.

He had chosen his First Soul Ring specifically for its undead attribute.

He had guts, too—stealing corpses right under a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's nose.

Ten Soul Kings, three Soul Emperors, and one Soul Saint. Even that so-called Death Messenger, the second Douluo's demolition prodigy, couldn't have put together a lineup like this, could he?

But it was a shame. Weak souls extracted from corpses after death had almost completely lost the ability to use their Martial Souls and Soul Skills.

This was the crudest, shoddiest way to refine souls.

All it could produce were wandering spirits.

"Get him! Tear him apart!" Banner Bro waved his hand, and several spirits drifted through the air toward the Wolf King.

Their long nails dug into the Wolf King's torn flesh as they savaged his body.

After being worn to exhaustion by the Clones, the Wolf King finally had a chance to vent his fury.

Those Clones hopping around earlier had given him no chance to land a blow.

Whenever he abandoned defense and focused his attacks on one of them, his target immediately vanished from sight.

It was the most frustrating hunt of his life.

Yet these wandering spirits appeared before him without retreating an inch, and that excited him.

So he resolved to make every bite count.

He swung his gaping jaws toward a spirit circling his foreleg.

He tore away a great chunk of his own flesh.

The sweet, metallic scent stirred his nerves.

But the spirit on his foreleg was already gone, lunging at his face from another direction.

Idiot. How could a physical attack hurt a spirit?

Banner Bro wore a wicked grin. Seeing Zhang Lexuan recover, he slowly edged aside, afraid she might take one look at him and casually wipe out an Evil Soul Master like him.

You old thief, Main Body! Keep an eye on me. Don't let her kill me with some little move.

Banner Bro grumbled inwardly, keeping a wary eye on Zhang Lexuan.

"Go on! My spirits have him pinned down. He won't break free for now."

"Go finish him." Banner Bro chose this moment to do her a favor.

After all, he couldn't kill Zhang Lexuan, and Main Body wouldn't let him.

But once she killed the Wolf King and absorbed the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring, he would probably be the first to suffer.

At the center of the battlefield, Zhang Lexuan stared at the spirits drifting overhead and at the Wolf King struggling to chase one down and attack it.

A wave of sorrow rose in her heart.

She recognized several faces among the spirits.

They were her classmates, her senior brothers, even her senior sisters.

Friends who had spent every day beside her for three to five years had suddenly become a horde of half-dead monsters.

She found it hard to accept.

Wait for me. I'll find a way to set you free. Zhang Lexuan clenched her fists, seeming to make a decision that went against her own morals.

She swept her right hand lightly forward, then raised it.

First Soul Skill! Silver Moon Rises!

Second Soul Skill! Moonlight!

Seventh Soul Skill! Moon True Body!

Zhang Lexuan slowly rose into the air, a full moon appearing behind her.

Fourth Soul Skill! Lunar Eclipse!

Facing the grievously wounded Wolf King, she sent a Moon Blade splitting from the full moon toward his neck.

The Wolf King had no strength left to fend it off. All he could do was try to dodge aside.

Then Zhang Lexuan's solemn, steady voice rang out.

The moon's cold white light sliced across the ground.

Sundering Dusk! Even the clouds on the horizon, dyed red and gold by the setting sun, were split in two.

A trench ran from beneath her feet through the forest toward the distant Wolf King, cleaving boulders and trees.

Blood spilled across the ground.

The Clones, who had already parted into two lines to evade the attack, could not stop trembling.

The first two Soul Skills had strengthened her, and Martial Soul Avatar had pushed her power even higher.

Finally, her Fourth Soul Skill had cut off his escape, followed by her Sixth Soul Skill—a devastating long-range attack against a single target. One strike had finished off the nearly dead Wolf King.

As the Wolf King's corpse split in two, Zhang Lexuan slowly fell from the air.

A group of Clones caught her securely.

Looking at Banner Bro, who had caught her and was supporting her by the arm, Zhang Lexuan smiled awkwardly.

"Go. I won't do anything to you. But if I meet you again, I'll kill you."

Zhang Lexuan was utterly spent.

But the surrounding Clones did not leave. They slowly gathered around her.

Once again, Baozi Bro stepped forward, holding two large buns. "Here. Eat these and restore your Soul Power. Get yourself ready and absorb that Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring. It would be such a waste otherwise."

Following Jiang Hao's instructions, the Clones kept layering enhancements on Zhang Lexuan to help her recover faster.

After all, if Zhang Lexuan died, or if she lacked the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring that could prove what had happened, how could she challenge Xuan Zi at the academy?

Zhang Lexuan needed to absorb the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring and gain the strength to carry news of the deaths back.

That was the necessary outcome, and the best one for Jiang Hao.

Only then would he have the opportunity—or an excuse later—to refuse Shrek's arrangements without being trapped by its so-called moral blackmail.

As the sky gradually darkened, several Soul Master Clones brought Ma Xiaotao down from the tree, though she remained unconscious.

The four Shrek students they had rescued were badly wounded. Only one was barely conscious, her broken neck held in place as she looked around. Zhang Lexuan sat cross-legged beside the Wolf King, the scarlet Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring slowly pulsing above and below her.

Jiang Hao had now swapped Main Body back into the group. He helped his Clones care for the surviving Shrek Academy students and learned more from one of them.

The dead had all come from wealthy or powerful families, and the survivors' backgrounds were nothing to scoff at either.

The girl with the broken neck now encased in plaster, for instance, was the daughter of a duke of the Dou Ling Empire. She had already decided to write to her father when she returned and ask him to impeach Xuan Zi of Shrek Academy. Jiang Hao's efforts had finally paid off.

Of the other three, one was a gifted disciple of a respectable sect, while the remaining two were sons of a duke of the Star Luo Empire.

No wonder Xuan Zi's first thought after this disaster had been to withdraw from the Sea God Pavilion.

So even he knew how badly this affair would hurt Shrek Academy.

"It's all right, senior sister. Things will get better. My parents sacrificed their lives for the academy during an operation to capture Evil Soul Masters, and Xuan Zi led that team too. I don't hate him, do I? Shrek gave me a place to live and food to eat. Ordinary people like us need to be grateful."

"Grateful? Grateful my ass! Little brother, I'll look out for you from now on. Let's see who dares speak ill of you!"

Xuan Zi, you've signed your own death warrant. You won't even spare a child?