"A Soul Master's Soul Skills are bestowed by sacred laws!"
"How could they possibly lose to moves created by humans themselves?"
Yu Xiaogang shook his head desperately, utterly unwilling to accept this fact.
Meanwhile, in the Martial Universe.
In the image, the frivolous man looked Zhu Zhuyun's voluptuous figure up and down, a flicker of lust flashing through his eyes.
He patted Zhu Zhuyun's cheek and said arrogantly.
"Little beauty, you're quite a fresh-faced thing. It would be a shame to kill you outright."
"From now on, stay by my side as my personal bed-warming maid."
"As long as you keep this young master happy, I might even reward you with some first- or second-grade martial arts to practice."
Hearing this, Zhu Zhuyun froze slightly, her mind rapidly weighing her options.
As a woman from a great family of the Star Luo Empire, she had always been pragmatic and full of ambition.
On the Douluo Continent, she had to fight her younger sister Zhu Zhuqing to the death just to survive, while living at the imperial family's whim.
But what about now?
In this higher-dimensional world that did not even take the empire's imperial family seriously, she only needed to cling to a powerful patron and casually learn some martial arts to crush the Soul Kings and Soul Emperors of the Douluo Continent!
Even a commonplace third-grade martial arts manual could let someone easily evade her all-out strike.
What if she learned something of a higher grade?
At this thought, a glint of resolve flashed through Zhu Zhuyun's eyes.
She instantly withdrew her Martial Soul, and a beguiling smile blossomed on her formerly icy face.
She limply leaned into the man's embrace, winding her fair arms straight around his neck.
"You must keep your word, young master."
"As long as you can make me stronger, however you want to play... I'll do whatever you wish."
Boom!
At the sight of this worldview-shattering scene on the sky screen.
The entire Star Luo Empire instantly erupted!
Inside the imperial palace's main hall.
The eldest prince, Dai Weisi, had bloodshot eyes, as though a vast, lush green prairie of cuckoldry sat atop his head.
"Bitch!!!"
Dai Weisi trembled with rage, pointing at the light screen in the sky as he roared hysterically.
"Zhu Zhuyun! You fickle, shameless whore!"
"You're my fiancée!"
"And you're throwing yourself into the arms of some thug from another world in front of everyone?!"
Pfft!
Overwhelmed by rage, Dai Weisi spat out a mouthful of blood.
His vision went black, and he fainted on the spot in the main hall.
Beside him, the Star Luo Emperor was also shaking with anger, feeling that the imperial family had lost all face before the entire continent.
Meanwhile, at Shrek Academy.
Watching Zhu Zhuyun willingly throw herself into the man's arms on the light screen, Dai Mubai shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Oh, big brother, you really do have it rough."
"But you can't blame her. With power like that tempting them, who besides my Zhu Zhuqing could hold on to any so-called bottom line?"
[Number Three Explorer, Zhu Zhuyun.] [Encountered a Late Earth Yuan Stage martial artist at the Arena.] [Status: willingly submitted.] [Current identity: voluntarily became an otherworldly martial artist's personal maid to obtain otherworldly martial arts.]
As these lines of golden text appeared, Zhu Zhuyun's image gradually darkened.
Watching this scene, everyone across the Douluo Continent was filled with mixed feelings.
Just then, the majestic voice rang out from the sky screen once more.
[Switching to Number Four Explorer's perspective...]
With a ripple like flowing water.
The fourth explorer's figure gradually appeared on the light screen.
Shrek Academy's level thirty-nine Power Attack System Battle Soul Elder, Ma Hongjun!
On Shrek's training grounds.
Seeing his own fat face appear on the light screen, Ma Hongjun was so frightened that he wet his pants.
"I'm done for, I'm done for! It's my turn!"
He clutched his head, sprawled on the ground, and began bawling.
Meanwhile, in the image, Ma Hongjun's enormous body slammed heavily into the foot of a scorching volcano.
Flowing lava was everywhere, and a sulfurous smell filled the air.
The temperature was terrifyingly high; even the surrounding rocks glowed red from the heat.
The moment he landed, Ma Hongjun felt as though he had been thrown into a steamer, sweat pouring madly from every fold of his fat.
But he was, after all, a Soul Elder who possessed the mutated Martial Soul, the Evil Fire Phoenix.
His resistance to flames was far stronger than an ordinary person's.
"Ow! I'm burning to death!"
Ma Hongjun scrambled off a scalding rock, hurriedly circulating the Soul Power within him to cool himself down.
He looked around and found that, apart from a sea of crimson lava, there were no terrifying otherworldly humans or demonic beasts in sight.
Ma Hongjun let out a long sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness. Landing in this godforsaken place is better than falling into one of those great clans."
"Grandmaster said that as long as I keep my head down, I can survive."
"My Evil Fire Phoenix might be flawed, but in a place so rich in fire attributes, this disaster might even turn into a blessing!"
At this thought, Ma Hongjun regained a little confidence.
He patted the dust off his backside and was just about to find somewhere cooler to hide.
Seeing this, Yu Xiaogang hurriedly climbed up from the ground.
Sweat covering his head, he pointed at the light screen and loudly offered his analysis.
"Everyone, look!"
"Ma Hongjun is lucky! He landed in an uninhabited volcanic region!"
"As long as he doesn't go looking for trouble, his Evil Fire Phoenix's elemental advantage will definitely let him make it through the year safely!"
"I told you my survival theory was absolutely correct!"
Hearing Grandmaster's words, the surrounding Shrek students relaxed a little.
Fatty might usually be sleazy, but he was still their classmate, and they did not want to see Ma Hongjun die a violent death in another world.
However, the dangers of the other world clearly far exceeded their imagination.
Just as Ma Hongjun turned to leave.
A sudden bubbling sound came from the lava lake ahead.
Then, before the horrified eyes of everyone across the Douluo Continent.
An enormous dark-red claw, over ten meters wide, thrust out of the scalding lava!
It clamped onto a rock on the shore.
Then a terrifying demonic beast shaped like a gigantic lion, molten lava flowing over its body, slowly climbed out of the lava lake.
This was the Fire-Devouring Suanni, a savage demonic beast of the Martial Universe that lurked at the bottom of volcanoes year-round!
The moment this demonic beast appeared, it opened a pair of flame-filled eyes with vertical pupils and stared straight at Ma Hongjun ahead.
Or rather, what it fixed its gaze on was the Evil Fire energy within Ma Hongjun!
"Roar!"
The Fire-Devouring Suanni let out a deafening roar.
It opened its bloody maw, drops of scalding lava drool even dripping from the corners of its mouth.
In its eyes, Ma Hongjun was no human at all.
He was a delicious snack delivered right to its door for a special treat!
Watching the terrifying beast, scalding lava flowing over it, approach step by step.
Ma Hongjun was so frightened that every fold of his fat trembled, and warmth spread through his crotch.
"Y-you stay away!"
He scrambled backward while frantically circulating the Soul Power within him.
"Evil Fire Phoenix, possess me!"
With a phoenix's cry, three Soul Rings-two yellow and one purple-rose from beneath his feet.
A mass of flames streaked with dark red instantly enveloped him.
"First Soul Skill! Phoenix Fire Line!"
At this moment of life and death, Ma Hongjun unleashed every last bit of his potential.
He abruptly opened his mouth, and a searing pillar of flame carrying an eerily intense heat shot straight toward the Fire-Devouring Suanni.
On the Douluo Continent, even some defense-type Soul Masters dared not take the heat of his Evil Fire Phoenix head-on.
At Shrek Academy.
Yu Xiaogang, Dai Mubai, and the others clenched their fists nervously.
"Come on, Fatty!"
"Burn it with your Evil Fire!"
Yet the scene on the sky screen once again showed them what despair meant.
Faced with the Phoenix Fire Line Ma Hongjun spewed out.
The Fire-Devouring Suanni not only did not dodge, but a trace of excitement appeared in its eyes.
It opened its bloody maw and sucked in hard.
Whoosh!
The Evil Fire that seemed immensely powerful to Ma Hongjun was actually swallowed into the gigantic beast's stomach in a single gulp!
Not even a spark remained.
After swallowing it, the Fire-Devouring Suanni even let out a very humanlike belch.
Then it glanced disdainfully at Ma Hongjun, as though mocking how meager this appetizer had been.
Immediately afterward.
"Roar!"
The gigantic beast roared, suddenly driving forward on all fours and pouncing straight at Ma Hongjun with a suffocating wave of heat rushing before it.
"It's over..."
Watching that bloody maw draw closer and closer.
Ma Hongjun's vision went black, and he closed his eyes in utter despair.
Yet at this hair's-breadth moment.
A sudden whistle of something cutting through the air came from the distant sky.
Immediately afterward, a black blade of light descended from above.
Just like that, the enormous Fire-Devouring Suanni, against which Ma Hongjun had been utterly helpless, did not even have time to let out a dying scream.
Its enormous body was cleaved straight down the middle into two halves!
Scalding blood and entrails spilled all over the ground.
The sudden turn of events instantly stunned Ma Hongjun, who had been waiting for death with his eyes closed.
He cautiously opened his eyes and glanced at the two halves of the corpse on the ground, involuntarily drawing in a sharp breath.
Then two figures in black robes slowly descended from midair.
They were two young people, a man and a woman.
Both their robes were embroidered with a pitch-black crescent moon emblem.
The Yuan Power fluctuations emanating from both of them had actually reached the Qi Creation Realm!
And the cold, unfathomable aura around them was the unique hallmark of the Hall of Darkness, a renowned top-tier faction in the Great Thousand World!
"Senior brother, we've secured this Fire-Devouring Suanni's Demon Crystal."
The female disciple, whose features were cool and rather lovely, casually plucked a fiery-red Demon Crystal from the corpse and turned to speak to the young man beside her.
The young man nodded, then shifted his gaze to Ma Hongjun, who sat slumped on the ground.
Looking at the layer of Evil Fire that had yet to fully dissipate around Ma Hongjun.
A flicker of surprise crossed the young man's eyes.
"Huh?"
"This fatty doesn't have even a trace of Yuan Power, yet his body contains a peculiar kind of flame energy."
Hearing this, the female disciple also came closer and looked Ma Hongjun over.
"There is indeed something strange about him."
"These flames have so many impurities they're downright unsightly, but their temperature barely passes muster."
The female disciple curled her lip in disdain, then seemed to think of something.
"Senior Brother, didn't the hall master recently find a peerless genius with a pure darkness body outside?"
"I heard she'll be brought back to the hall soon, taken in as a personal disciple, and directly invested as the Saintess."
"This future Saintess has a constitution inclined toward cold, and our hall happens to need a servant who can keep releasing flames for long periods to tend the fire and brew medicinal baths."
"This fatty may be trash, but his impure flames would be just right for heating the bottom of a pot."
Hearing the female disciple's suggestion, the young man nodded in agreement.
"You have a point, Junior Sister."
"Let's take him back as a fire-tending boy. That way, we'll be putting him to the best possible use."
As they listened to the pair's conversation.
To make it easier for the people of the Douluo Continent to understand, the sky screen immediately provided translated subtitles.
At the sight of those lines, the entire Douluo Continent instantly fell silent.
At Shrek Academy.
Yu Xiaogang, whose face had been full of worry just moments before, suddenly jumped up.
His face flushed red with excitement as he shouted to the students around him.
"Did you all see that?!"
"I told you Ma Hongjun's Evil Fire Phoenix was a top-tier Martial Soul!"
"Even a major power in that world has taken a fancy to his flame abilities!"
"He may only be a fire-tending servant, but he'll be working for someone important!"
"As long as Fatty performs a little better in front of that Saintess, he'll definitely soar to success!"
Hearing Grandmaster's boasting.
Dai Mubai and the others nodded repeatedly, a trace of envy actually rising in their hearts.
After all, compared with being frozen into an ice sculpture or having their legs broken.
Being taken back by a major power with food and lodging provided was such a blessing that blue smoke must have been rising from their ancestral graves!
Meanwhile, in the scene, Ma Hongjun, who sat slumped on the ground, had also understood what they meant.
When he heard the pretty female disciple opposite him say they would take him back to tend the fire and brew medicinal baths for some "Saintess."
The nature buried in this fatty's bones was instantly laid bare.
"Saintess? Medicinal baths for bathing?"
Ma Hongjun swallowed, his little eyes gleaming green.
He had been no good egg even on the Douluo Continent, his head filled with filthy thoughts all day long.
Now, not only would he not have to die, but he could also worm his way into a major power.
He might even get a chance to sneak a peek at that supposedly peerless genius Saintess bathing while he tended the fire.
Heaven was practically handing him a meal!
"My lords!"
Ma Hongjun scrambled to his feet and sidled up to them, his face full of flattery.
"I'm willing! More than willing!"
"My evil fire is absolutely second to none at boiling water. I guarantee I'll keep Her Highness the Saintess perfectly comfortable!"
As he spoke, Ma Hongjun did not forget to sweep his lecherous gaze back and forth over the female disciple's body.
At the sight of Ma Hongjun's sleazy expression.
The male disciple could not help frowning, a trace of disgust flashing through his eyes.
But he said nothing more.
After all, in their eyes, this fatty was nothing more than a fire-tending tool without so much as a trace of Yuan Power.
"Since you're willing, come with us."
With a casual wave of the young man's hand, a surge of black Yuan Power swept up Ma Hongjun's enormous body.
Then the pair flickered away, swiftly disappearing from the Volcanic Crater with Ma Hongjun in tow.
Before you continue