Yu Xiaogang's facade crumbled, Su Ling killed a Soul Emperor with one punch

[Ding... Successfully bound Goddess Liu Erlong!]

[Bound Goddess: Liu Erlong]

[Goddess Overall Rating: 93]

[Current affection: 64 (quite fond of you)]

[Binding effect: The host receives 10% of the bound goddess's daily cultivation gains without reducing her cultivation speed.]

[Bound skill 1: Advice Listening (can be activated once daily; the bound goddess has a 30% chance of following the host's advice)]

Another Advice Listening skill, just like Zhu Zhuqing's!

For once, the system had given him a duplicate skill.

While Su Ling was checking the changes in the system, Dai Mubai ran off, enduring the excruciating pain as he fled toward Suotuo City.

He wanted nothing else but to find a healing Soul Master to treat his injured little brother.

"Everything's settled here. Everyone, head back," Flender said.

Zhu Zhuqing had recovered, largely because the Supreme Detoxification Pill Su Ling had given her was so effective.

"Big Brother Su, thank you," Zhu Zhuqing said gratefully again.

"Zhu Zhuqing, there's no need to thank me. Go back and rest."

"Okay!"

Before long, Zhu Zhuqing returned to her room. She shared it with Ning Rongrong, so Su Ling didn't need to worry about her having someone to look after her.

After leaving Ning Rongrong's room, Su Ling was ready to return and continue cultivating. If nothing unexpected happened, he would break through tonight with the help of the Advanced Soul Power Pill.

Just as he was about to return to his room, faint sounds reached his ears. Someone seemed to be arguing quite some distance away.

Su Ling walked fifty or sixty meters toward the voices before he could hear them clearly. The three people speaking were Liu Erlong, Yu Xiaogang, and Flender.

"Xiao Gang, Boss Fu, why are you stopping me?"

"Let me kill that scumbag Dai Mubai! He actually resorted to something as filthy as drugging someone. If we don't kill him now, Su Ling and that Zhu Zhuqing from your academy will be in danger."

"Erlong, Xiao Gang does have a point. Killing Dai Mubai here really would be inappropriate. Besides, I've taught him for three years. Let's spare his life," Flender said.

"So what? I'll kill him, and the Star Luo Empire can come after me!" Liu Erlong said. She certainly wasn't afraid of trouble.

Though their voices weren't particularly loud, Su Ling heard them clearly. So they were still debating whether to kill Dai Mubai.

Liu Erlong truly lived up to her title, the Horn of Slaughter. She was a decent person, too, willing to put herself in danger for his sake.

Could it be because Liu Erlong's affection has reached sixty?

Combined with her hatred of evil, it drove her to eliminate this lurking threat as soon as possible.

"Erlong, calm down."

"Dai Mubai is a member of the Star Luo Imperial Family, after all, and you belong to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. Do you want our clan to become outright enemies with the Star Luo Imperial Family?" Yu Xiaogang asked again.

"I..." Liu Erlong had no answer.

Flender continued, "Let the young people resolve their own affairs. Having a potential enemy can also spur them to cultivate harder and become stronger."

"Fine, fine. You're both right, and I'm wrong." With that, Liu Erlong prepared to leave.

"Erlong, are you really not going to clear things up between you and Xiao Gang?" Flender continued.

At the mention of Yu Xiaogang, Liu Erlong hesitated.

Their disagreement was one thing, but her feelings were real.

"I..."

"Xiao Gang, what do you think?" Liu Erlong turned to face Yu Xiaogang directly.

This is exactly how things go. Wasn't Liu Erlong always willing to take the initiative in the novel, while Yu Xiaogang hemmed and hawed?

Watching this scene, Su Ling remembered the single use of Truth-Telling he had received from the system.

Should I use it on Yu Xiaogang?

In the original novel, Yu Xiaogang had accepted Liu Erlong after putting up some halfhearted resistance. But had he truly meant it, or had he simply had no other choice?

If things didn't develop as Su Ling expected, though, he would end up helping Yu Xiaogang instead.

Yu Xiaogang still hadn't said anything.

Remembering that he also had Liu Erlong's Advice Listening skill, Su Ling made up his mind to try.

System, use Truth-Telling on Yu Xiaogang, Su Ling commanded mentally.

[Truth-Telling Card has taken effect!]

More than twenty meters away, Yu Xiaogang's gaze suddenly changed. He said, "Erlong, I'd better tell you the truth."

"Go ahead!" Liu Erlong felt a little happy. Yu Xiaogang had finally found the courage to speak.

"The truth is, I've thought about it for many years, and I realized I still can't forget her. I don't truly love you, either. I only saw you as her replacement."

"I'm sorry. I hurt you and wasted so many years of your life," Yu Xiaogang said bluntly.

Hearing this, Su Ling knew his gamble had paid off.

Yu Xiaogang's heart really was damned complicated. Their blood relationship was part of it, but Bibi Dong was probably the greater reason. After all, she was the moonlight he could never forget.

"Who is she?" Liu Erlong asked. At this moment, she grew calmer instead.

Under the effects of Truth-Telling, Yu Xiaogang replied, "The current Supreme Pontiff of Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong!"

"Bibi Dong? Xiao Gang, you're lying to me, aren't you? How could you possibly have anything to do with Bibi Dong?" Liu Erlong found his words hard to believe.

She even thought Yu Xiaogang had invented an excuse to reject her.

"Erlong, I'm not lying. Before I met you two, I spent several years in Spirit City. Back then, Bibi Dong and I..." Yu Xiaogang said.

With Truth-Telling taking effect, Yu Xiaogang recounted his past with Bibi Dong to Flender and Liu Erlong, detail by detail.

His account was quite convincing: how they had fallen in love, how affectionate they had been, and the happy days they had spent studying together. Of course, there had also been interference from the former Supreme Pontiff, Qian Xunji.

And so, a tragic story unfolded.

"Erlong, do you know? To heal the wounds of one romance, you need a new one, so I..."

"Later, I discovered we were related by blood, and I had no choice but to give up. That's also why we haven't seen each other all these years."

"All right. I've told you everything in my heart. Not a single word was a lie," Yu Xiaogang said.

Smack...

Yu Xiaogang went flying. Flender had slapped him.

"Yu Xiaogang, you... I never imagined you were this kind of person."

"How could you do this?"

"You hurt Erlong! Why didn't you tell her sooner? Only now do you speak your true feelings? Do you realize you wasted her youth?"

Flender loved Liu Erlong, so seeing her hurt pained him deeply and ignited his anger.

"Boss Fu, don't hit him anymore," Liu Erlong said.

"Erlong, let me give him a proper beating," Flender said.

"It doesn't matter anymore. I know the truth now, and that's enough," Liu Erlong said.

"Xiao Gang, what you just said was a lie, wasn't it? Those weren't your true feelings, and you made that story up?" Flender grabbed Yu Xiaogang and asked anxiously.

But at this moment, Yu Xiaogang couldn't utter a lie.

"Not a single word was false. Everything I said was true."

"How can you be so selfish? I misjudged you. And you told me to have Su Ling support Tang San, saying you'd help Su Ling cultivate and find suitable Soul Rings in the future. What about that?" Flender asked.

"Xiao San is more talented than Su Ling. That's an indisputable fact. Xiao San is better suited to lead a team, and all my efforts have gone into him. His future accomplishments will be the results of my theories," Yu Xiaogang said.

"I did promise to help Su Ling find suitable Soul Rings. That's no problem, but the boy doesn't seem to trust me."

"Alas... Xiao San's achievements will certainly surpass Su Ling's someday. He possesses advantages Su Ling cannot match, and that will never change, even with the Five Elements War Bow Martial Soul. Once the time is right, Tang San will open an insurmountable gap between them."

"Su Ling would achieve more in the future by supporting Xiao San. I thought he would surely be pleased with that decision someday. What a shame. He couldn't catch this heaven-sent windfall of opportunity."

"That's not necessarily true. Su Ling will certainly be no worse than Tang San," Flender said.

He had trusted Yu Xiaogang's knowledge and character, believing he had rejected Liu Erlong because he couldn't get past their blood relationship. It turned out she had merely been a substitute.

After Yu Xiaogang's confession, that supposed integrity was gone.

"Xiao Gang, if you love Bibi Dong, why didn't you go find her after the former Supreme Pontiff, Qian Xunji, died?" Liu Erlong asked again. This was another question weighing on her heart.

"I'm no longer worthy of her! I don't even know whether she still has me in her heart," Yu Xiaogang said bluntly.

Selfish, cowardly, and incompetent!

"Very good. Very good!"

"From this moment on, I'm severing all ties with you. These are the gifts you gave me back then. Take them back." Liu Erlong took a box out of her Space Soul Tool.

Inside were books, gifts, and other things.

She threw them all back to Yu Xiaogang. Her heart ached, but she didn't want to say anything more.

She was decisive in her actions. It was already merciful of her not to kill Yu Xiaogang. She simply cast aside her old memories and severed their bond with a single stroke.

With that, Liu Erlong turned and left!

"Erlong!" Flender immediately went after her.

"Don't follow me. Let me be alone."

At Liu Erlong's words, Flender really did stop pursuing her. Instead, he stayed where he was and berated Yu Xiaogang.

As Liu Erlong left, Su Ling also slipped out of Shrek Academy.

It wasn't for Liu Erlong.

He had another matter to attend to in Suotuo City.

He had let Dai Mubai go earlier, but he kept feeling that Dai Mubai was a lurking threat.

Even setting aside his drugging Zhu Zhuqing, he had deliberately lured Bloodthirsty Demon Ants toward them in the Star Dou Forest. If the others hadn't thrown everything into helping, Su Ling might have met his end there.

If he dies in Suotuo City, they won't come after anyone else, will they?

Picking up speed, Su Ling headed straight for Suotuo City.

Dai Mubai would certainly seek out the city's best healing Soul Masters. Su Ling remembered that there were two Healing Soul Emperors in Suotuo City.

Both had treated him before. Though he didn't know their exact addresses, he knew their names, so finding them shouldn't be difficult.

Before long, Su Ling reached Suotuo City's gates.

Perhaps because it was late at night, the gates were already closed.

This was where Gold Soul Coins proved their worth. Su Ling took out a pouch containing at least two hundred of them.

The gate supervisor's eyes lit up at the sight of the Gold Soul Coins, and he immediately opened a gap in the gate to let Su Ling into Suotuo City.

"What luck, meeting two people desperate to get inside. I said earlier that everyone would get five Gold Soul Coins, but now I'll double it. Ten each. Just keep your mouths shut."

"Yes!"

After entering Suotuo City, Su Ling first found a deserted place to change his appearance, then took out the Hundred-Forged Steel Sabers he had received from the system.

He disguised himself as a burly, heavily bearded man in his thirties, holding a steel saber.

It was around one or two in the morning, and there were few people on Suotuo City's streets.

Some shops were still open despite the late hour.

Su Ling asked around and learned roughly where the two Healing Soul Emperors lived.

But over the next two hours, he visited both places without finding anything.

Dai Mubai didn't seem to have sought out either of them, or perhaps he had already received treatment and left.

"What a shame. I still came a little too late!"

Suotuo City wasn't small, and finding someone in the middle of the night wasn't easy.

Dai Mubai might have gone somewhere he didn't know about.

Though the previous owner of Su Ling's body had arrived at Shrek Academy before Dai Mubai and had lived there for twelve years, his knowledge was limited.

When it came to familiarity with Suotuo City, he still couldn't match Dai Mubai.

"You're lucky to be alive." Helpless, Su Ling could only return to Shrek for now. Killing Dai Mubai would have to wait.

After leaving Suotuo City, Su Ling changed back to his usual appearance.

Recognizing Su Ling, the gate guards had let him out without asking for another payment.

But not long after he left Suotuo City, a massive fist imprint suddenly descended from the sky.

Su Ling hurriedly used Carefree Journey to dodge.

The fist imprint smashed into the ground, sending a tremendous shock wave outward. Fortunately, Su Ling had dodged in time and escaped injury.

"Murdering me for my money?"

"Or...?"

Just then, six figures appeared around him.

"Who are you?"

"Dai Mubai! I know it's you!" Su Ling said coldly.

"So you figured it out after all!"

Dai Mubai walked straight out of the woods.

He wasn't in very good shape, though, and his gait looked rather strange.

"Su Ling, you wanted to kill me and followed me all the way to Suotuo City. Fortunately, I was prepared. Today is the day you die."

He had to make Su Ling die, because that single kick had left him ruined.

Even a level sixty-nine Healing Soul Emperor he had found through a Mercenary Guild in Suotuo City had been helpless.

His shattered balls and severed rod could no longer be restored.

He couldn't even stand to relieve himself, or it would run down his thighs.

Yet shortly after Su Ling entered Suotuo City, Dai Mubai discovered that he had followed him.

He immediately spared no expense, spending a large sum of Gold Soul Coins to post an urgent mercenary assignment.

Because the payment was so generous, a Mercenary Group made up of six Soul Emperors accepted it soon after it was posted.

Kill a Soul Ancestor who might possess Soul King-level offensive power. Reward: ten thousand Gold Soul Coins!

The Mercenary Guild accepted assignments around the clock, but at such a late hour, there was no guarantee anyone would take them.

However, the difficulty and reward were simply too tempting. Word spread quickly, and Dai Mubai soon found his men.

Su Ling looked at the six burly middle-aged men surrounding him. They all wore similar outfits.

"Iron Fist, just beat him half to death. Leave him alive so I can torture him to death myself. Afterward, I'll give each of you another thousand Gold Soul Coins," Dai Mubai said.

"Sure! No problem." Iron Fist flexed his hands, thinking, These Gold Soul Coins are far too easy to earn. You don't meet a rich client like this every day.

Su Ling said, "So you're after Gold Soul Coins. How much did he offer you? I'll pay you triple."

"We're mercenaries with professional ethics. Triple? Not even thirty times would do. Besides, once we kill you, won't everything on you be ours anyway?"

With that, Iron Fist unleashed his martial soul!

His martial soul was a gauntlet, which equipped itself on his hand as soon as he released it.

Six soul rings lit up, proving that he was a genuine Soul Emperor.

Then the other five released their martial souls and soul rings as well. Every one of them was a Six-Ring Soul Emperor. Four still had thousand-year fifth soul rings; only their sixth soul rings were ten-thousand-year ones.

In the Douluo World, not everyone could obtain a ten-thousand-year fifth soul ring.

Suitable soul rings just over ten thousand years old but under twelve thousand years old were not that easy to find.

"Will you surrender quietly, or do we have to give you a beating before we capture you?" Iron Fist asked.

Su Ling did not answer right away. Instead, he stretched his arms and clenched his fists, saying quietly, "This is a good chance to loosen up my muscles and bones. Are you coming one at a time, or all together?"

"You're courting death!"

"Number Six, you do it!" Iron Fist ordered.

"Sure thing, boss!"

A burly, middle-aged man around two meters tall walked toward Su Ling.

His martial soul was an azure ox, a strength-type martial soul.

"I'm a level sixty-one Soul Emperor. Thirty percent of my strength is all I need to deal with you."

"Why aren't you releasing your martial soul, brat? Looking down on me?"

Su Ling said, "You don't warrant my martial soul. Besides, did you really think that guy's Gold Soul Coins would be so easy to earn? Why would he be willing to pay such a hefty price?"

"You!"

"How dare you underestimate me!"

Since their employer had told them not to kill him, and he was a Soul Emperor fighting a Soul Ancestor, he really did use only thirty percent of his strength, without even using a soul skill.

Su Ling, however, had no intention of holding back. His soul power surged, and he immediately unleashed the sixth strike of the Eight Desolations Fist!

His strength erupted at 280%, further boosted by his soul power!

Su Ling's physical strength was already at the peak Soul King level, no weaker than an ordinary Soul Emperor's!

With Carefree Journey carrying him through his movements, his opponent only realized when his punch struck that he had hit Su Ling's afterimage!

In the next instant, Su Ling appeared before him again. Before he could react to Su Ling's next punch, the fist had already landed on the left side of his chest!

Tremendous force erupted, caving his chest into a fist-sized crater and sending him flying!

"Number Six!"

"Number Six! You... Number Three, go check on him!"

After Su Ling knocked him to the ground, his body trembled as he coughed up blood!

"Boss, boss! Number Six isn't going to make it!"

"You lied! He's no Soul Ancestor! You tricked me!" Iron Fist turned his furious gaze on Dai Mubai!

"He is a Soul Ancestor! I didn't lie to you!" Dai Mubai hastily replied!

Su Ling said, "What a fucking bunch of idiots. You all think I'm a Soul Ancestor? Have you ever seen a Soul Ancestor kill a Soul Emperor with one punch?"

Su Ling had intended to keep fighting, but after he said that, the danger seemed to shift away from him and onto Dai Mubai instead!