"Li Lezi, I order you to stay away from Nannan!"
With his Black Tortoise possessing him, Xu Sanshi looked even more like a spineless turtle of a man when paired with those words.
Xiao Zi easily dodged his counterattack, then deliberately pretended to stumble behind Jiang Nannan, looking utterly terrified.
Sure enough, Jiang Nannan flew into a crown-lifting rage for her young man, her voice hardening. "Xu Sanshi, keep this up and I won't hold back! If Lezi hadn't helped me in time, I would've been ganged up on and eliminated long ago!"
Hearing her address him so intimately, Xu Sanshi's fury soared three stories high. He was beside himself with rage. "Nannan, you're actually talking to me like this over a man you barely know? I've been running through this maze the whole time just to find you as quickly as possible. Why can't you see that?"
That heartbroken, anguished display only filled Jiang Nannan with disgust. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought she'd cheated on him!
Over the years, every man who struck up a conversation with her had either been harassed or driven off by Xu Sanshi. She hadn't had a single stretch of normal life, and she'd long since had enough.
At precisely that moment, Xiao Zi poured oil on the fire. "Senior Xu, I really didn't mean anything by it. I just wanted to help Senior Nannan brush the dust off her shoulder!"
His tone was sincere, his face innocent, as though he truly were the victim. Yet every word stabbed straight into a certain lapdog's lungs, making his eyes grow redder still.
Xu Sanshi seized on the key point, panting like an ox. "Who gave you the right to call her Nannan? How dare you touch her without my permission?"
Xiao Zi feigned hurt. "Senior Xu, I've had neither father nor mother since childhood. I'm only a humble lackey of the White Tiger Duke's second son, living a lonely life with no one to rely on. I know my status is low, so I've been careful everywhere I go since entering Shrek, terrified of offending someone important. You're the esteemed young master of the Xuanming Sect, noble in status and unrivaled in martial prowess. How could I possibly be your match?"
Xu Sanshi ground his teeth. "Your words sound sweeter than a song! You're just trying to win Nannan's sympathy!"
With that pitiful expression, even he would have believed him if he hadn't been deliberately tripped earlier.
At that thought, Xu Sanshi spoke decisively, determined to expose the man's true colors. "Nannan, don't believe a single word Li Lezi says! He's deliberately playing the victim. It's all fake! When we met earlier, he maliciously knocked me down with his soul power!"
That tattling declaration, combined with the lapdog's longstanding behavior, left his credibility riddled with holes. Jiang Nannan didn't believe him.
After hearing those words and seeing Xiao Zi looking so frail, Jiang Nannan fell into a daze as memory overlapped with reality.
She came from a commoner family, no more than an ordinary townsfolk household. After paying to awaken her high-grade Soft Bone Rabbit martial soul and innate full soul power, she'd thought her future was bright. Instead, her mother fell gravely ill. Even exhausting the family's wealth couldn't cure her, leaving her no choice but to surrender herself to the Xu family and serve as an awakening tool for their young master, Xu Sanshi...
Whether the story of "Li Lezi," an orphan who became a lackey of the White Tiger Dai Family to survive, was true or not, it resonated with her all the same: they were both fallen souls adrift at the ends of the earth.
Compared with the lapdog Xu Sanshi, "Li Lezi" instantly became a far grander figure in her eyes, and she quickly made her choice.
Standing in front of her "frail" junior, Jiang Nannan said coldly, "Xu Sanshi, I order you to disappear from here now, immediately, this instant! Otherwise, you're making an enemy of me!"
"An enemy of you?" Xu Sanshi couldn't believe it. He staggered back several steps, his chest aching unbearably as his classic line made another appearance. "All for some man!"
Seeing that he intended to retreat, Xiao Zi naturally couldn't let such a golden opportunity slip away. He still needed him to eliminate him!
His thoughts raced. He moved diagonally behind Jiang Nannan and revealed a smug smile. The angle was just right: Jiang Nannan couldn't notice it, and only the lapdog could see.
Xu Sanshi was both shocked and furious. He took it as a provocation, and coupled with Jiang Nannan's attitude of keeping him a thousand miles away, it burned away the last of his reason.
"Xuanming Displacement!"
That cheat-like fourth soul skill, which had worked time and again in the original story's soul master tournament and repeatedly caught opponents off guard, was now turned on Xiao Zi.
Xu Sanshi swapped places with Jiang Nannan, moving her a short distance away while taking her position himself, then hurled a punch straight at "Li Lezi"!
Having anticipated this move, Xiao Zi teleported aside and left the punch striking empty air. At the same time, the Golden Horned Beast possessed him, and he swung a backhanded slap that sent stars dancing before Xu Sanshi's eyes. Fortunately, his Xuanming Turtle shell was thick. An ordinary person would have fainted on the spot.
"Mysterious Underworld Shield Formation!"
Clutching his swollen cheek, Xu Sanshi recovered and roared. An enormous shield crashed down, determined not to stop until it smashed his opponent's head open and drew blood.
Xiao Zi was about to strike back, but pulled his punch and switched from attack to defense. Facing the enormous Xuanming Shield head-on, he was hurled far away by its tremendous force.
Seeing this, Jiang Nannan naturally felt her heart ache terribly. She blamed herself, and tears shimmered in her eyes!
Just as she was about to rush over to help, a high wall rose in time and blocked her every move, allowing Xiao Zi's plan to proceed smoothly.
Even if he was going to lose the match, he absolutely couldn't take a loss himself. Xiao Zi rolled his wrists, and the Golden Horned Beast raised its head in an enraged roar. Bearing towering fury, he charged ferociously, intent on reclaiming every bit of the humiliation he'd just suffered!
Still, he never forgot that he was only level thirty. Every punch matched his own level of strength, leaving the Shrek higher-ups watching from the stands unable to spot any flaw.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Xuanming Turtle suffered one heavy blow after another, its shell cracking inch by inch. Xu Sanshi's eyes were no longer merely bloodshot; they were bleeding.
Once the time was ripe, Xiao Zi elbowed the lapdog while communicating with the soul imprint. He deliberately exposed an opening and let his punch miss, giving Xu Sanshi a chance to catch his breath.
To keep him in that mindless state, Xiao Zi continued stoking the flames. "You turtle hiding in your shell, come catch me!"
With that, he ran backward, darting left and right through the maze. His movements were as nimble as a swimming fish as he slipped through the gaps between the Xuanming Shields, too slippery to catch.
Xu Sanshi's eyes grew redder still. Blinded by hatred, he kept unleashing soul skills on instinct alone, panting heavily like a wild ox, liable to explode at any moment.
Xiao Zi moved forward, remembering to wait now and then so his target wouldn't lose him.
Seeing the Xu lapdog's bruised, swollen face and utterly irrational state, he couldn't help curling his lips. The icy smile never reached his eyes.
The distance was neither too great nor too small, just enough for them to see each other without losing track. Whenever he encountered a high maze wall, Xiao Zi deliberately stopped, waiting until his pursuer caught up before running again.
Xu Sanshi unleashed soul skills without pause, throwing one Xuanming Shield after another. Every time he seemed about to catch him, he missed at the very last second.
"You're the turtle hiding in its shell! If you've got the guts, stop running and fight me head-on!"
The taunt seemed to work. Xiao Zi really did stop running and stood there waiting.