Lord of the Netherworld

[Reason for ranking: The Hell Spirit Cat is naturally close to the laws of shadows, souls, death, the netherworld, and more. With exceptional comprehension, one could develop a Netherworld Ghost Domain on Douluo Planet, gather hundreds of millions of departed souls, and become Lord of the Netherworld. Its potential is limitless.]

[Alternatively, by tracing the ancestral bloodline, Martial Soul Evolution could produce an ancestral reversion into a Three-Life Spirit Cat. Each tail represents one reincarnation, allowing one to walk the mortal world again through reincarnation after death.]

[Assessment: Great comprehension brings great fortune.]

Everyone at Shrek Academy was stunned speechless by Zhu Zhuqing's reason for ranking.

"Lord of the Netherworld-isn't that something only a god could achieve?"

Flender's throat went dry, while Xiao Wu's eyes went completely wide. She had never imagined Zhu Zhuqing's potential could be so great.

"And even at worst, she could reincarnate three times. Doesn't that mean...?"

They were the only two girls at Shrek Academy. Spending every day together, the bond between them had long since become different from their bonds with the boys, but she had never imagined Zhu Zhuqing's potential would be so terrifying, so frightening.

"Hmph." Tang Hao snorted coldly. "What Lord of the Netherworld Ghost Domain? Toying with souls-if you ask me, that's clearly a crooked, evil path. An Evil Soul Master!"

"Exactly!" Tang San voiced his agreement.

His face was already somewhat twisted. Looking at Zhu Zhuqing's reason for ranking, he desperately wished that talent were his.

That Zhu Zhuqing he normally looked down on, that Zhu Zhuqing with her slutty figure, actually had greater potential than him-and by such an enormous margin.

Tang San suddenly felt an inexplicable fury rampaging through his body, and a thought clamored madly in his mind.

Find her. Fuck her. I'll prove to the Heaven Ranking that my potential is the strongest. There's absolutely no one in this world with greater potential than mine. I'll viciously pierce her with Hidden Weapons and make her submit at my feet.

"Brother San, your face looks so scary right now." Xiao Wu's voice reached him.

Tang San desperately suppressed the thoughts in his mind and forced out a smile.

"Zhu Zhuqing probably went to the bathroom. I'm going to tell her the good news." Uneasy, Xiao Wu casually found an excuse to leave.

As the Pride of Heaven Ranking was revealed, she found the atmosphere within the academy growing stranger and stranger.

With every new prodigy announced, Tang Hao, Little San's father, looked a shade grimmer. The pressure of a Titled Douluo remained contained, like a volcano about to erupt.

Recalling where the academy's girls' bathroom was, Xiao Wu ran straight there.

Sure enough, Zhu Zhuqing was inside, and Xiao Wu happily shared the news with her.

"Zhu Zhuqing, you have no idea! You're seventh on the Pride of Heaven Ranking, and it says you have a chance of becoming Lord of the Netherworld someday!"

Before Xiao Wu could finish, Zhu Zhuqing hugged her.

"Zhu Zhuqing, you don't know how envious everyone was just now. You're seventh on the Pride of Heaven Ranking..."

"Xiao Wu, listen to me. I'm leaving right away. I only stayed because I wanted to warn you: this academy is getting more and more dangerous. Do you want to leave with me?"

Xiao Wu did not understand why Zhu Zhuqing suddenly wanted to leave when everything had been fine. "But we still have to study here and then graduate. How can we leave now?"

Zhu Zhuqing sighed helplessly.

The lively, adorable Xiao Wu before her truly did not have a shred of guile, like a silly rabbit.

But it was precisely this personality that had gradually brought Zhu Zhuqing closer to her.

"Xiao Wu, don't you think this academy is utterly terrible?"

"The students it recruits are all the very best geniuses on the continent, yet the academy has no resources at all. Even our daily training is nothing but running laps around the field."

"The academy's teaching methods were all right before, but ever since that fellow called Grandmaster arrived, the so-called classroom has turned entirely into his testing ground. We're nothing but his experimental subjects."

Xiao Wu faltered, not daring to speak up. "But that Grandmaster does actually have some ability."

Zhu Zhuqing sneered. "What ability? The ability to ruin Twin Martial Souls?"

Zhu Zhuqing continued, "I bear a blood-deep vendetta. I really can't waste my days here with them anymore. You're my only friend here. Do you want to leave with me?"

Xiao Wu looked at Zhu Zhuqing, then hesitantly glanced behind her, toward Shrek Academy's training field. "But Brother San..."

"I understand. As a parting gift, I have to warn you about something. There's something very wrong with the way that fellow Tang San looks at you. Be careful."

Xiao Wu wanted to say something more, but with a flicker of shadow, Zhu Zhuqing vanished without a trace.

The Supreme Pontiff's Hall, Spirit City.

Seeing one powerful figure after another appear on the Pride of Heaven Ranking, Hu Liena had come to terms with whether or not she would make the list.

After all, every one of them had this law or that law, and now there was even something called Lord of the Netherworld, which sounded impressive despite being incomprehensible. Did she really have a chance of making the list?

But with the aim of broadening her horizons, Hu Liena still did not want to miss the information about to be updated on the Pride of Heaven Ranking.

Whenever she encountered something she did not understand, she simply asked Bibi Dong.

"Teacher, is Zhu Zhuqing's potential really that great? The Nether Civet Martial Soul-I remember that belongs to a family that forms marriage alliances in the Star Luo Empire under us, doesn't it? I've never heard of anything powerful about their Martial Soul before."

"I've never heard of any formidable figures emerging from their family, either. And if her Martial Soul is that powerful, why haven't the others in her family made the ranking? I remember she seems to have an older sister, and their family still follows a very ancient, primitive tradition of bloody duels."

"The Heaven Ranking may have its own considerations." Yan's voice was as faint as a breeze.

But everyone present possessed Soul Power cultivation, so that slight sound naturally could not escape their ears.

"So you know again?" Hu Liena frowned, shutting Yan down with a single sentence before turning back. "Teacher, what do you think the Lord of the Netherworld mentioned on the Pride of Heaven Ranking is? A god?"

Meanwhile, in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Rongrong asked the same question.

Wang Qiye let out a long sigh. "Lord of the Netherworld... That really is a somewhat familiar term. Perhaps I have some idea of where this Heaven Ranking came from."

Thinking back over the twenty years since he had transmigrated, Wang Qiye had indeed never heard of any Underworld on Douluo Planet.

"The Lord of the Netherworld isn't merely a god. To put it in terms you can understand, he would probably be a king or emperor among gods."

Ning Rongrong sucked in a cold breath. "A king or emperor among gods? But if that's the case, why is this Zhu Zhuqing only ranked seventh?"

A smile shone in Wang Qiye's tigerlike eyes as he patted Ning Rongrong's head.

"Not bad. Our Rongrong has learned to think, too."

"My guess is that her chances of becoming Lord of the Netherworld are extremely low. Even her chances of evolving into a Three-Life Spirit Cat are very low. Otherwise, she could at least rank among the top three prodigies, rather than ending up merely seventh."

"Is comprehension really that important?" Sword Douluo Chen Xin clutched his head in frustration.

Wang Qiye gave a disdainful smile. "I never said comprehension alone would suffice. Even with astonishing comprehension, reaching that ultimate form would be very unlikely to succeed. Unless..."

Ning Rongrong threw herself into Wang Qiye's arms and wheedled, "Unless what? Master, stop speaking in riddles. Tell me!"

"By the way, Rongrong, would you like a junior brother or junior sister?"

Wang Qiye spoke on as he pleased while teasing Ning Rongrong in his arms.