Breaching Zhang Lexuan's Defenses, Han Ruoruo Enters Mingdu, the Xishui Alliance Takes Action (4K8)

"Drip, drip, drip."

In the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's recovery room, the life-giving IV fluid dripped steadily into Zhang Lexuan, whose soft, willow-leaf brows furrowed again and again.

In her unconscious dreams, she felt gentle hands stroking her shattered body, mending her wounds bit by bit. That healing power was extraordinarily potent, more effective even than the Golden Tree's life energy. It was as though it erased the injuries directly from her martial soul, leaving them nonexistent.

Is the Sun Moon Empire's medical technology really this advanced? This is completely different from the academy's intelligence. They're using technology like this on me—what should I do?

When her consciousness awakened again, Zhang Lexuan fell into self-doubt. Her Moon Martial Soul conveyed a joyful sensation, as though it adored the Sun Moon Empire's treatment.

As a Soul Douluo, she had exceptional control over her body. At this healing rate, she would recover completely in less than a month.

Back when she had overtaxed herself absorbing a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, she had spent half a year bedridden. Although the injuries were hardly comparable, this still demonstrated the excellence of the Sun Moon Empire's medical technology.

And as her martial soul recovered, that sense of affinity grew stronger. It was nearby, right before her eyes, born of compatibility between martial souls. That feeling could mean—

A Martial Soul Fusion Skill!

For the second time, Zhang Lexuan jolted upright from her deathbed. Water dripped from her loose hair, making her look like a suffocating woman who had just been rescued from underwater.

"Senior Sister Zhang, don't you know patients are supposed to cooperate with their doctors? Jolting upright at the slightest thing can easily make the instruments misread your condition."

The boy's warm voice once again sounded beside her ear. Zhang Lexuan focused her gaze on him. Yu Tianjun's youthful face bore a helpless expression, while powerful fluctuations of soul power lingered around him.

Yu Tianjun had just finished cultivating the Great Five-Element Divine Light. He had achieved preliminary success, but the expenditure had been considerable. Liao Mengkai had given him a pair of Soul Tool gloves.

Having accepted a favor, he had work to do. He had come to treat Zhang Lexuan's injuries, only for his patient to overreact again, leaving him somewhat exasperated.

If I wanted to hurt you, I'd have done it long ago. Is all this really necessary?

"Did you save me because you sensed the special resonance of Martial Soul Fusion in me?"

Zhang Lexuan pressed her lips together and stared intently at him.

As their eyes met for the second time, Zhang Lexuan drew on the extensive knowledge she possessed as a successor-in-training permitted to study in the Sea God's Pavilion.

There was no mistaking the resonance between Martial Soul Fusion Skill partners.

Yu Tianjun raised an eyebrow, withdrew the soul light surrounding him, and shook his head. "No. We recognized you first that night. We only discovered the resonance after approaching you."

"According to the tests, our martial soul compatibility exceeds ninety percent. That's one reason several important figures in the Sun Moon Empire value you and asked me to treat your injuries."

"A Martial Soul Fusion Skill—even in the Shrek Inner Court, you can count the pairs who possess one on a single hand. This year's outer court does have two promising pairs, though."

Zhang Lexuan's feelings were complicated. A Martial Soul Fusion Skill meant the strength to fight above one's rank. If she and Wu Ming had possessed one, even two ten-thousand-year dark gold terrorclaw bears could not have driven her into a desperate corner.

But heaven had played a joke on her. The person who could fuse martial souls with her was not at Shrek, but in the Sun Moon Empire.

"I'm looking forward to a Martial Soul Fusion Skill myself, but there's quite a gap between our cultivation levels. I don't know whether we can perform one."

Yu Tianjun looked thoughtful. The Martial Soul Fusion Skill he had previously tested with Miss Angel had been immensely powerful, and Zhang Lexuan's level was even higher.

"Normally, meeting a partner who can perform a Martial Soul Fusion Skill with you should be something to celebrate. But I'm not feeling happy right now."

With a little strength restored, Zhang Lexuan propped herself against the headboard. The light in her dark eyes was dim.

"Shrek hurt you badly. The academy wronged you, but Shrek will never hand Yan Shaozhe and those other two over for you to punish, even if you are the Ultimate Dark Qilin."

From what Zhang Lexuan knew of Shrek's leadership, if they learned that Yu Tianjun was still alive, most would want to enroll him in Shrek, then use a series of events to ease his hatred of Yan Shaozhe.

Mu En might be able to steel himself, but the others would not accept him doing so, especially Xuan Zi and Elder Song.

"If you chose to enroll in Shrek, I would give everything I had to resolve the hatred in your heart. But I know that's a fantasy out of the Arabian Nights, and I have no right to persuade you to let go of your hatred."

"What you said about Mu En was right. Shrek can no longer represent fairness and justice, and even the neutrality it upholds can be broken when enough interests are at stake. But you can curse Mu En. I can't."

A smile mingling despair and helplessness surfaced on her pale, delicate face. With a voice as faint as a thread, Zhang Lexuan said, "Kill me. The Soul Bones in my body should be useful to you. I only ask that when you seek revenge someday, you don't drag innocent people into it. Leave others a little room to live, and leave a little light in your own heart."

"Do I look like someone who loves killing?"

Yu Tianjun sounded rather helpless. Spreading his hands, he said, "Let me remind you: you weren't the only person we rescued. There was also that Golden Crow Soul Saint."

"You really saved Ming'er too?"

The color of life returned to Zhang Lexuan's eyes.

"We saved her while we were at it. Wu Ming's injuries were lighter than yours, so she woke up earlier. But as soon as she woke, she started shouting that she could never coexist with the Sun Moon Empire. She refused our treatment and food and made a huge scene."

Yu Tianjun explained calmly, "The doctors respected her wishes, stopped her nutrient infusion and food supply, and moved her to an underground chamber to prevent any accidents where she might hurt someone.

"She brought some food herself, but I doubt it'll last a week."

"Senior Sister Zhang, would you like to see her?"

"Yes! Can you take me to her?"

Anxiety filled Zhang Lexuan's face. Her entire body was weak and aching, and even getting out of bed was difficult now. It seemed she could only entrust everything to the boy before her.

"I can take you there. First, tell me whether you're going to persuade her to eat and recover, or collect her body in a week. I'll write up a report for you."

Yu Tianjun took out paper and a pen, looking thoroughly businesslike.

"Of course I'm going to persuade her to eat and recover!" Zhang Lexuan said urgently.

Yu Tianjun nodded. "Then there's a lot more to consider. Senior Sister Zhang, you need to think this through."

"To consider?" Zhang Lexuan looked puzzled.

"Of course. She rejected our goodwill of her own accord. Wouldn't we lose all face if we kept eagerly pressing it on her?"

Yu Tianjun met Zhang Lexuan's beautiful, clear eyes, his tone carrying an unmistakably incisive edge. "I know you can persuade her to change her attitude by telling her to stay alive for now and return to Shrek later."

"But wouldn't that make us suckers? We'd put all that effort into saving her and get nothing in return, as though we were begging her to accept our medical resources.

"Once she's healed, she'll turn around and attack us. Would Shrek make a losing deal like that?"

"Well—"

Yu Tianjun concluded, "If you want to persuade her to eat, you must persuade her to let go of her rejection of the Sun Moon Empire. Only then can my report be approved. Otherwise, you won't get to see her. I'm sure I don't need to explain that reasoning in detail."

Zhang Lexuan smiled bitterly. "Wouldn't that amount to persuading her to join the Sun Moon Empire?"

"No. All we're asking here is for her to let go of her hostility toward the Sun Moon Empire. That isn't excessive."

Yu Tianjun shook his head and said evenly, "In all fairness, what has the Sun Moon Empire done to the Douluo Three Kingdoms over these past four thousand years? Both sides have won and lost in border clashes. When the Star Luo Empire's armies invaded, they didn't spare the local civilians either.

"There's a senior sister at this academy whose entire family was killed by troops led by the White Tiger Duke. His reputation as a god of war can't have come entirely from defending his borders. The Sun Moon Empire's previous emperor was cowardly and incompetent, and foreign attacks battered the empire badly."

"At present, Evil Soul Masters are the continent's common enemy. When our two academies face each other in the arena, I can't speak for Shrek, but the Sun Moon Team doesn't use unfair methods. On the contrary, quite a few of our students have been killed or injured by you.

"So as far as I'm concerned, your hatred of the Sun Moon Empire is unreasonable. If you win in Mingdu's arena, the people here will cheer for your victory just the same."

Zhang Lexuan looked downcast. Yu Tianjun continued, "Of course, I've heard that according to Shrek's rhetoric, the Sun Moon Team's use of advanced Soul Tools in the tournament is unfair to you. All I can say to that is that those people are sore losers.

"By now, the Sun Moon Team is far from the only team using high-grade Soul Tools in the arena. Both the Star Luo National Academy and the Dou Ling Royal Academy are actively embracing Soul Tools.

"It's not as though the Sun Moon Empire's smugglers are unwilling to do business with Shrek. Perhaps Shrek has bought some too, but only for the Soul Tool Department's own research, rather than for your use.

"Shrek won't spend money buying treasures to protect you, and that's somehow the fault of our advanced technology? That's outright thug logic. When they recruit the finest talents from the three kingdoms, why don't they listen to the royal families' complaints?"

By this point, Zhang Lexuan's expression was deeply conflicted. Yu Tianjun struck while the iron was hot, continuing to breach her inner defenses.

"Still, if you truly are willing to join Sun Moon, your appointment as a commandery princess will come through very soon. The Sun Moon Empire hungers for Soul Master prodigies like you."

"If you cultivate here, you won't be treated as a second-class citizen. Even setting aside your special identity, your martial soul talent alone deserves serious attention."

"The attitude toward you here is very accommodating. As long as you don't resist the Sun Moon Empire or pass intelligence to Shrek, you can cultivate and live here in peace."

"The Soul Master organization I'm currently establishing would also welcome you. But there's no rush with that. We can discuss it slowly after you recover."

"Returning to Wu Ming, her temper is foul, but her martial soul is excellent. Its imagery closely resembles the sun, and I'm quite curious whether she could develop a Martial Soul Fusion Skill with a sun Soul Master."

"Her attitude is terrible. The Sun Moon leadership doesn't consider preserving her life indispensable. However rare the Golden Crow martial soul may be, it isn't enough to make them willingly throw their dignity on the ground for someone to trample."

"If you don't persuade her to let go of her resentment and accept treatment and food here, she'll starve herself to death."

Zhang Lexuan pressed her lips together and spoke in a voice as faint as a mosquito's hum. "Can you let me think about it?"

"Yes, but preferably not for more than a week. Otherwise, you'll only get to see her in the morgue."

Yu Tianjun picked up her medical chart and reminded her before leaving, "Your body is still very weak. Lie back down in another fifteen minutes at most. Get some proper rest."

Zhang Lexuan watched Yu Tianjun's figure, upright as a towering pine, recede into the distance. Looking up at the sky, she murmured, her words lingering in the air, "Ming'er, what should I do—"

"Mu En, everything he said was right. I feel like I can't hold out much longer—"

"Sister Ruoruo, this is Mingdu."

At Mingdu's eastern gate, Ling Luochеn, dressed like a fashionable city woman, held the casually dressed Han Ruoruo by the hand and introduced the city affectionately.

After several days of semi-clandestine travel, they had successfully made their way from Shrek City to Mingdu, the continent's largest city.

"It's huge."

Han Ruoruo wore casual clothes, her lacquer-black eyes surveying her surroundings. Everywhere she looked stood towering buildings absent from the Three Great Empires. Their near-modern architectural style was utterly different from the three kingdoms' antiquated aesthetic.

Streams of people wove through the streets, and simple Soul Tools were visible everywhere. Lawns had guide lights, while intersections featured enormous projection screens. Presenters discussed fashionable topics, such as the Radiant Virtue Hall's ongoing breakthroughs in civilian Soul Tools.

Another topic was how advanced Milk Bottle technology had entered a critical developmental stage. Once that hurdle was overcome, national strength would increase dramatically, far surpassing the Three Great Empires and Shrek, and so on—

Naturally, Han Ruoruo did not believe any of that. But when she and Ling Luochеn entered a restaurant serving the old three kingdoms' cuisine and discovered that it used a heating Soul Tool rather than coal, the Inner Court's foremost control specialist felt her first stir of surprise.

If Soul Tools capable of replacing coal fires were smuggled into the Original Three Kingdoms, their nobles would surely scramble madly after them.

"Sir, you keep this heating Soul Tool running all the time. Doesn't hiring Soul Masters to recharge it cost a lot?"

When the soup was served, Han Ruoruo casually pointed at the warm lamp and questioned the proprietor. Wasn't this rather costly just for heating?

Shrek Academy had always preached that these Soul Tools were flashy, impractical luxuries that consumed vast resources. The Sun Moon Empire's nobles were sunk in indulgence, leaving them forever unable to catch up with Shrek.

But now these things appeared in ordinary households, stirring ripples in Han Ruoruo's heart. Soul Tools used in noble households and those used in commoners' homes were two different concepts.

"It doesn't use soul power."

The proprietor gave her a strange look and smiled. "You must be from out of town, miss. A genius student from the Radiant Virtue Hall improved this Level 2 Soul Tool two months ago. It runs on a fire-attribute ore, which brought the price down too."

"It doesn't use soul power?" Han Ruoruo was startled. Was the Sun Moon Empire's soul tool technology so advanced?

"Sister Ruoruo, a considerable number of researchers at the Radiant Virtue Hall focus on making Soul Tools available for civilian use, so ordinary people can use them too."

Ling Luochеn spoke softly, introducing new ideas to this senior sister who rarely ventured outside.

"You know a lot about them?"

A bitter smile appeared on Han Ruoruo's lovely face. Ling Luochеn, a former member of the Shrek Seven Devils, was explaining the Sun Moon Empire's philosophy to her. What a darkly humorous joke.

"I wouldn't say I know them in depth, but I do have some interest in Soul Tools."

Ling Luochеn smiled slightly. Some of what she knew came from wandering around the Radiant Virtue Hall, and some had been told to her by Yu Tianjun.

This Level 2 heating Soul Guidance Lamp was the very piece Yu Tianjun had made to pass his Level 2 Soul Engineer assessment. His main research focus was civilian Soul Tools.

Among the Sun Moon Empire's existing Soul Tools, soul projection screens required no soul power input and could use ores as an energy source. Yu Tianjun had been very interested in this. Through exquisitely precise control of his metal and fire attributes, he had determined the ore-processing methods and realized the dream he had written in his diary years earlier.

There was no need to smuggle civilian Soul Tools. He would make them himself to improve daily life.

"I see." Han Ruoruo ate her soup, deep in thought.

Given how openly the Sun Moon Empire now treated Ling Luochеn, next year's tournament would inevitably feature the spectacle of a member of the Shrek Seven Devils defecting to the Sun Moon Empire, dealing a heavy blow to Shrek's reputation.

In principle, she ought to stop it. But the Martial Soul Department's conduct chilled her heart. If a Titled Douluo had protected them from the shadows that night, how could Lexuan and Ming'er have perished?

As for the Soul Tool Department, its technology lagged far behind the Sun Moon Empire's. It did not even have a civilian Soul Tool research program.

I'm like a clear-eyed spectator, watching Shrek Academy race at full speed toward decay and backwardness, powerless to do anything.

As Han Ruoruo thought this, her mood gradually sank.

"Sister Ruoruo, let me show you around Mingdu."

Noticing that Han Ruoruo's mood was off, the sensitive Ling Luochеn considerately invited her to carry this field study through to the end.

"All right."

Shopping was a woman's pastime, and Han Ruoruo was no exception. Mingdu's knowledge district, food district, and Soul Tool district were all very appealing.

After all, it was the continent's greatest city. Buying some souvenirs to take home would be nice too. Han Ruoruo's gaze swept through its streets and alleys as she set aside her worries and relaxed in a foreign land.

"That's more like it."

Ling Luochеn was happy to see this normally gentle, gracious senior sister smiling freely, and occasionally sought out places where teenage boys and girls gathered.

Rumor in the Inner Court had it that Senior Sister Han was very fond of cute young boys.

The two women tried long-range shooting at a shooting club, visited Mingdu's Soul Tool and rare metal exhibition, browsed a small auction, and finally strolled beneath the dazzling, multicolored Soul Guidance Lamps to admire the lake.

Just as everything was developing into a rich and pleasant experience, two black-clad men whispered by the lakeshore under cover of the trees.

"Although I don't know why she's come to Mingdu, she's Shrek's current foremost Inner Court control specialist, Han Ruoruo, a former member of the Shrek Seven Monsters. She's on the Holy Church's watch list."

A Soul Master dressed in the uniform of a Xishui Alliance worker told his companion, "Her estimated cultivation is Soul Saint level. We can't handle her, but reporting this will still earn us major credit."

"But didn't the higher-ups order us to rein in our activities lately?"

"Idiot! Reporting her is our business. Whether to act against her is for the big shots to decide. The two Lord Zhonglis are at a critical stage in their breakthroughs. We'll earn plenty of credit for reporting this."

"Good point."

The two slipped furtively away from the shores of Daming Lake.