Zhu Zhuqing!
By now, Zhu Zhuqing had long since shed that cold, murderous black leather outfit and changed into an exquisite black-and-white maid's gown, tailored to hug her figure perfectly.
Her fair, graceful collarbones peeked into view, and a length of slender, straight, beautifully rounded leg swayed beneath her skirt.
Like a proud kitten whose wildness had been washed away and who had been painstakingly tamed, she stood obediently behind the young man with her head lowered.
An Jing seemed to notice Dai Mubai's gaze, which all but spat fire.
His lips curled slightly. With utter ease, he reached out and wrapped an arm around the girl's slender, supple waist, drawing her warm, soft body snugly into his embrace.
The sudden intimate touch made Zhu Zhuqing stiffen, an intoxicating blush instantly rising to her pale cheeks.
But at the thought of Dai Mubai's revolting face before her, her instinctive attempt to pull free abruptly stopped. She let An Jing hold her without offering the slightest resistance.
"What? A Shrek commoner like you seems quite interested in my newly acquired little maid?"
An Jing raised an eyebrow, his expression as brazen as could be.
"I must say, this little Hell Spirit Cat has nimble claws, and her figure is astonishingly luscious. After having her attend to me these past dozen days or so, I feel wonderful from head to toe. Truly a top-quality plaything."
A maid?
Astonishingly luscious?!
A thunderclap seemed to explode inside Dai Mubai's head!
She was his rightful fiancée from the Star Luo Empire!
He, Dai Mubai, had never so much as touched one of Zhu Zhuqing's fingers, yet now he had to watch another man treat her as a servant to fondle and toy with, dress her up, and even hold her in his arms in public?!
It was as though a cuckold's green hat had been welded firmly onto his head!
"You... are... dead!"
Towering murderous intent mingled with endless humiliation and instantly swallowed Dai Mubai's reason.
He no longer cared about probing An Jing's background. Soul power erupted wildly beneath his feet, and he became a savage white blur. His right fist, wreathed in tiger-claw energy, tore through the air.
With enough force to shatter mountains and split stone, it hurtled viciously toward An Jing's face!
Yet An Jing did not even blink at the furious blow.
Just as Dai Mubai's fist came within half a foot of An Jing's face-
Hum!
The space around An Jing abruptly warped. In a thousandth of an instant, the surrounding air solidified into a crystal-clear Absolute Barrier, as massive and solid as a towering mountain!
Bang!
Crack-!!!
The deep thud of flesh striking something solid was followed immediately by the piercing crackle of bones bursting apart, inch by inch!
Dai Mubai's iron fist, powerful enough to smash stone tablets, slammed into the Void Barrier. The terrifying recoil did not stir even the faintest ripple in it, instead surging straight back into him like a raging torrent!
The flesh of his entire right arm burst open. White bone fragments pierced his skin and jutted into the air, leaving the whole limb grotesquely twisted and shattered!
"Aaaaaah-!!!"
A scream so agonized it scarcely sounded human instantly tore through the village's peace.
Dai Mubai shot backward like a cannonball, smashed through the wooden fence behind him, and rolled frantically through the mud, howling as blood gushed out!
"Mubai!!"
The disheveled old man behind the wooden table underwent a complete change of expression.
His lazy, clouded eyes instantly turned vicious. He stamped down hard, violent soul power surged, and a long staff gleaming with cold light and coiled with ferocious dragon patterns appeared in his palm!
White, yellow, purple, purple, purple, black!
Six soul rings erupted upward from beneath his feet. The powerful, overbearing pressure of a Six-Ring Soul Emperor crashed toward An Jing like a raging storm!
Li Yusong, a senior instructor at Shrek Academy and a level sixty-two power attack system Battle Soul Emperor!
Holding his staff in one hand, Li Yusong fixed his hawklike gaze on An Jing and roared furiously:
"You dare cripple my student's arm on Shrek Academy's grounds? Arrogant brat, you're courting death!"
"Oh? So there's an even older Shrek commoner here."
An Jing raised an eyebrow slightly, without even shifting the hand around Zhu Zhuqing's waist.
Facing the dragon-patterned Coiling Dragon Staff as it came crashing down with force that could topple mountains and overturn seas, he merely lifted his left hand lazily and brought his slender thumb and index finger together.
Snap!
A crisp finger snap abruptly rang out at the deathly silent village entrance.
Hum-!
Li Yusong, whose imposing aura had filled the air just an instant before, suddenly found his pupils shrinking to pinpoints.
He had not even detected a fluctuation in his opponent's soul power, yet the entire space around him seemed to have been emptied into a vacuum. An irresistible, terrifying force, like an invisible foot belonging to some ancient giant, stomped squarely onto his chest!
"Pff-!"
Li Yusong threw back his head and sprayed a great crimson mist mixed with fragments of his internal organs. The formidable protective soul power of a Six-Ring Soul Emperor proved as flimsy as rice paper, and he flew backward like a cannonball fired from its barrel!
Horrified beyond measure, he tried to twist his waist and draw back his staff to halt his retreat. But in the space behind him, An Jing had already compressed the air into several hard, invisible barriers that radiated a bone-piercing chill!
Bang!
With a heavy crash, Li Yusong slammed into the invisible Air Wall, his bones giving off teeth-grating creaks of distress.
Before he could catch his breath, several currents suspended in the air abruptly condensed into exceptionally sharp, invisible air spindles. With several muffled piercing sounds,
they ruthlessly impaled his shoulders and knees, pinning the mighty level sixty-two Battle Soul Emperor to the Air Wall in midair, utterly unable to move!
Blood trickled down his dangling limbs and stained the dirt beneath him red.
The Coiling Dragon Staff fell from Li Yusong's hand with a clatter. His aged face was as white as paper, and his gaze held nothing but boundless terror and disbelief as he looked at An Jing.
"This... how is this possible?! You didn't activate a single soul ring... you... who exactly are you?!"
"Me?"
"Just an idle Soul Master passing through."
As he finished speaking, An Jing's ink-black eyes shifted slightly, settling casually on Dai Mubai as he struggled in the mud.
It was nothing more than a calm glance.
Boom!
Gravity within a thirty-foot radius seemed to multiply several times over out of nowhere!
Dai Mubai felt as though the whole of Mount Tai had crashed down onto his spine. He was driven viciously into the mud, his bones cracking beneath the unbearable pressure, and coughed up another great mouthful of blood.
"Don't... don't attack! Sir... we can... we can talk this over!"
Feeling the shadow of death looming over him, ready to crush him into pulp at any moment, Dai Mubai's fury and pride froze and shattered in the blink of an eye. His voice shook violently with fear as he desperately forced pleas for mercy through his teeth.
An Jing lowered his head and glanced at the dark-haired girl in his arms, whose body had tensed slightly. His slender fingers idly twirled a loose lock of her hair.
"What do you think? Would you like to catch up with this former 'fiancé' of yours?"
Zhu Zhuqing trembled almost imperceptibly. She lifted her delicate, pale chin, swept her gaze over Dai Mubai's miserable face, covered in mud, tears, and snot, then turned away in utter disgust and said coldly:
"There's nothing to say."
Cowardly, bullying the weak while fearing the strong, and utterly debauched.
When confronted with a truly supreme expert, he could not even preserve his dignity while wagging his tail and begging for mercy.
Looking at the heap of muck before her, the last lingering trace of their past vanished like smoke from the girl's heart. All that remained was utter revulsion and scorn.
Seeing that Zhu Zhuqing would not plead on his behalf, Dai Mubai's desire to survive erupted even more wildly. Abandoning all concern for royal dignity or backbone, he strained his throat and screamed:
"My lord! Brother! I'm actually... I'm actually not from Shrek at all!
I only happened to pass by today to sign up!
Please spare my worthless life! As long as you let me go, I'll withdraw from Shrek immediately! I'll never set foot in the Balak Kingdom again!"
Watching Dai Mubai wag his tail frantically like a heap of muck, An Jing's smile grew ever more amused.
"Ah, I preferred that wild, defiant look you had earlier."
An Jing spoke softly, almost gently. "But if you wanted to live, you should have said so sooner.
I've always been compassionate. Fighting and killing are what I hate most."
Ecstatic hope instantly flared in Dai Mubai's eyes. "Thank you, my lord! Thank you, my-"
"However..."
An Jing abruptly changed tack, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Anyone who comes from afar is a guest. I've come all this way to see you, so wouldn't it make me a poor host if I let you piss off empty-handed?"
As he spoke, his gaze traveled slowly down Dai Mubai's limp body, finally settling squarely on his crotch.
That gaze was cold and unfathomably dark, without a trace of human warmth.
"How about I give you a pair of balls? What do you think?"
Dai Mubai's ecstatic expression froze on his face. A bone-piercing chill exploded from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head. He had a terrible premonition.
Something very important was about to leave him, never to return.
So Dai Mubai endured the pain and forced an ingratiating smile.
"N-no! There's no need! No gifts! Please spare me, my lord... I don't want anything! Really, I don't!"
"How could I allow that?"
An Jing's thin lips parted slightly. Reflected in Dai Mubai's nearly despairing pupils, he casually snapped his fingers again.
Snap.
That tiny patch of space abruptly collapsed inward!
Bang!
A spine-chilling, muffled burst rang out, accompanied by a ghastly crimson spray that exploded through the fabric!
"Aaaaaaaaaah-!!!"
The inhuman scream of agony instantly rose to a pitch sharp enough to tear eardrums!
Dai Mubai's entire face twisted out of shape with pain. Veins bulged across his forehead like venomous snakes, and he instinctively tried to curl up and clutch his crotch.
But the surrounding air, solid as iron, held him pinned to the ground. Even moving a single finger had become an impossible wish.
He could only gape with his blood-filled mouth, desperately sucking in cold air like a dying fish out of water.
Cold sweat mixed with blood and soaked a broad patch of mud. His pupils lost focus, and at last, amid unbearable pain and despair, his head lolled to one side and he passed out completely.
"The gift's been delivered. Young Master Dai certainly seems to have enjoyed it."
"He was so happy he fainted."
An Jing gave a sheepish smile.
Just then, several shrill whistles of rushing movement erupted from deep within the village!
"What madman dares injure people at Shrek Academy?!"
Before you continue