After finishing her questions, Shui Bing'er entered the carriage and sat directly on top of Cao De, naturally beginning to massage him.
"Master, I just asked around..." Shui Bing'er gave Cao De a concise report of what she had learned.
From Shui Bing'er, he learned that the Star Luo Imperial Family had lost a treasure over ten days ago, and the thief was connected to the noble Zhu Family. The Star Luo Imperial Family had begun a thorough investigation of the Zhu Family and sealed the country's borders to find the missing treasure.
"Thank you, Bing'er." Cao De smiled and stroked Shui Bing'er's head.
"It's what Bing'er should do." Shui Bing'er smiled sweetly and continued massaging him with gentle movements.
[Ma Sanpao felt envy toward the host. Emotion Points gained: 0.5]
The system's voice abruptly rang out in Cao De's mind.
Cao De froze for a moment.
Ma Sanpao? Who was that?! That name never appeared in the original story.
An idea occurred to Cao De. "Ma Sanpao."
The coachman driving outside heard him and immediately replied respectfully, "Young master, what are your orders?"
"Nothing." Cao De answered calmly, but he had already begun calling the system in his mind.
System! Explain what's going on!!!
Cao De roared inwardly.
[Ding! The system just malfunctioned!! System malfunction!!]
The system's voice rang out in his mind, but it no longer sounded as mechanical as before.
Inside the System Space, a little girl dressed in blue kept grumbling.
"Fuck! I almost gave myself away!! This damn notification function has bugs too!! Unbelievable!!"
She cursed nonstop while manipulating various interfaces.
Cao De was suspicious. Ma Sanpao, some nobody of an NPC from the original story, was now generating emotion points for him!
Yet although a notification had appeared on the system interface, his remaining emotion points hadn't changed at all!
Cao De asked inwardly, System, aren't you going to explain this?!!
[System malfunction. Beginning correction! Correction complete. Previously unclaimed emotion points are being exchanged for control over one Titled Douluo! Host, please accept your reward!]
Inside the System Space, the little girl in blue clutched her chest, her eyes brimming with tears.
"My emotion points!! Five thousand emotion points, gone just like that!! Boo-hoo-hoo!!!"
But when she saw her emotion point balance of 120492.6, her gloom instantly eased considerably.
As the saying went, you couldn't catch a wolf without risking your child. As long as this idiot host didn't discover her tax evasion, a mere five thousand emotion points was nothing.
[Ma Sanpao felt awe toward Cao De. Emotion Points gained: 0.3]
A pop-up appeared on the interface the system was operating.
"Another 0.3 in the bank. Lovely." The system hummed a tune and clicked the intercept option.
The points that should have appeared in Cao De's account instantly went into the system's account instead.
A closer look at the interface would reveal countless records of such interceptions.
But Cao De knew absolutely nothing about these shady dealings.
He had just been calling the system desperately in his mind, yet received no response whatsoever.
He found it strange, but before he could think further, something happened.
Space twisted, and a figure wrapped in a black cloak, with no part of their face visible, suddenly flashed into the carriage.
Cao De reacted swiftly, gripping the Thousand-Blade Demon Sword and shielding the three girls behind him as he stared fixedly at the figure.
"Who are you?!" Cao De asked coldly.
The black-cloaked figure knelt on one knee and spoke respectfully.
"Your servant, Shadow, greets you, Master."
Cao De sat back down and quietly examined the Titled Douluo the system had sent him.
"Master, is this your servant?" Huo Wu clasped her little hands behind her back and studied Shadow curiously.
"A Soul Master I just recruited." Cao De smiled and stroked Huo Wu's head, then asked Shadow a question.
"What's your soul power level, and what's your martial soul?"
Shadow remained kneeling and replied respectfully, "Level 93. My martial soul is a shadow."
A shadow! Cao De's interest was piqued. "Release your martial soul. Let me see it."
Shadow stood and extended a right hand. The carriage instantly grew much dimmer, and a mass of black mist slowly swirled in that hand.
Yellow, purple, black, black, black, black, black, black, black-nine soul rings filled the entire carriage.
A terrifying, murderous aura spread. Fear involuntarily rose in Huo Wu and Shui Bing'er, and they unconsciously stepped backward.
Outside the carriage, Ma Sanpao felt as though an invisible hand had seized his heart in a crushing grip. Breathing became difficult.
Jace, who had been escorting them from the front, also sensed the aura. One title sprang into his mind: Titled Douluo!!
Boundless fear welled up inside him, and he kept praying that the Holy Son wouldn't grow angry over what had happened earlier.
Inside the carriage, Cao De looked at Shadow's soul rings and couldn't help feeling startled.
Every soul ring bore deep red markings.
Cao De was all too familiar with them. Both members of the Nuomi Church he had killed had soul rings with those same features.
"Are you from the Nuomi Church?" Cao De asked.
Shadow shook their head. "I don't know."
"Then what do you know?" Cao De grumbled helplessly.
"I only know that you are my master," Shadow answered earnestly.
Cao De waved a hand helplessly. Communicating with this sort of mindlessly loyal servant was truly difficult.
Space warped around Shadow, who vanished outright.
Cao De was dumbfounded. He had only frowned for a moment-where had Shadow gone?!!
"Master, your servant is amazing! Just vanished like that!" Huo Wu pointed excitedly at the spot where Shadow had been standing.
Elsewhere.
Inside the Church Master's room at the Nuomi Church.
The handsome Church Master, dressed entirely in white, wore a somewhat dark expression.
He had just seen the space beside him warp, with a figure appearing for an instant before vanishing. He was certain that the figure had been Shadow, whom he had poured all his efforts into training.
"Shadow," the white-robed Church Master called in a low voice.
Nothing around him responded.
"Shadow!!" The white-robed Church Master's voice carried a hint of anger.
But silence was still the only answer.
After several attempts...
The Nuomi Church Master's voice turned sorrowful, with a slight tremble of tears. "Shadow?"
But there was still no response.
The Nuomi Church Master sank into a funk.
With Commander Jace escorting Cao De's carriage, the rest of the journey went very smoothly.
They soon reached Star Luo City.
Jace bowed toward the carriage. "Holy Son, Star Luo City is just ahead. I will escort you no farther."
"Thank you for your efforts, Commander Jace," Shui Bing'er's voice came from inside the carriage.
"It is my honor to serve the Holy Son," Jace said respectfully, watching the carriage slowly depart.
Only then did a subordinate beside him approach to ask a question.
"Commander, who was that?"
"He may become Spirit Hall's next Supreme Pontiff." The commander's gaze was distant.
The subordinate who had asked was utterly stunned. "The n-next Supreme Pontiff?"
"Let's go." Jace squeezed his horse's flanks and swiftly rode away.
Inside the carriage, Cao De lay on Shui Bing'er's lap, sleeping soundly.
The carriage stopped by the roadside, and time slowly passed.
"Ah." Cao De opened his eyes, only to find his view blocked by blue peaks.
Shui Bing'er immediately noticed that Cao De had awakened. "Master, you're awake."
"Where are we now?" Cao De asked, looking out the carriage window at the still, dark night.
"We're outside Star Luo City now," Shui Bing'er answered softly.
Cao De turned his head to look around but saw neither Huo Wu nor Shui Yue'er.
"Where are those two?"
"Huo Wu and Yue'er couldn't sit still, so they went out to play," Shui Bing'er said helplessly.
Before you continue