Lu Chen abusing the elderly.jpg

"Little Chen, is that all you've got?"

Blocking the dragon claw Lu Chen aimed at his chest, Lu Yun swept it aside. The instant Lu Chen's center of gravity shifted, he drove a vicious kick into his grandson's side, sending him flying several meters through the air.

Looking at his grandson, who was only slightly out of breath, Lu Yun inwardly cursed the Azure Dragon Martial Soul's monstrous stamina and defense, but still asked with a smile.

By then, the grandfather and grandson's spar had reached a fever pitch.

Even with the Azure Dragon, a divine-grade Martial Soul possessing ultimate strength, and physical attributes enhanced by two 3,000-year Soul Rings, Lu Chen still could not gain the upper hand against Lu Yun in pure hand-to-hand combat without using skills.

There was a full twenty-six-level gap in Soul Power between the level-fifteen Lu Chen and the level-forty-one Lu Yun. That gap was simply too great for Martial Soul quality to bridge.

Lu Yun's seemingly provocative question had also been meant to see just what effect that 3,000-year First Soul Ring, which had put Lu Chen through such suffering, actually had.

Slowly straightening up, Lu Chen circulated his cultivation technique, and the faint pain in his side swiftly faded. He raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, a meaningful smile curling his lips.

Although he was no match in hand-to-hand combat without using Soul Skills, their earlier exchanges had given Lu Chen a fairly clear grasp of Lu Yun's physical strength.

It was solidly above his own, but the gap was not impossible to bridge.

In other words, it was a distance he could catch up over.

This old geezer's getting cocky. I'll have to deal with him myself!

"Grandpa, watch out!"

Innate Domain-Dragon Soul, activate!

Innate Domain-Spirit Suppression, activate!

ROAR!!!

A dragon silhouette soared skyward, and azure light covered the entire courtyard. Within the Dragon Soul Domain, all of Lu Chen's attributes rose by 10%, while all of Lu Yun's attributes fell by 10%.

The Brilliant Gold Dragon Spear appeared in Lu Chen's hand. Razor-sharp Soul Power fluctuations spread from its tip throughout his body, while the dragon patterns along its shaft swam about. The dragon's mouth opened slightly, continuously emitting silent mental shocks.

Lu Yun felt his entire body grow heavy, then overwhelming Dragon Might enveloped him. Intense terror, coupled with wave after wave of mental shocks, nearly left him unable to stand. He forced himself steady, looking as though he had seen a ghost.

The Dragon Soul Domain reduced all attributes, the Spirit Suppression Domain continuously shook the mind, and the Azure Dragon's Dragon Might absolutely suppressed lower-order dragon Martial Souls. All three abilities took effect together, leaving Lu Yun in his current sorry state.

It was only because his Martial Soul did not lean toward darkness or evil that he was spared another powerful layer of suppression from the sacred attribute.

But what astonished Lu Yun even more was Lu Chen's current state.

"Using Twin Martial Souls simultaneously?"

A scene that challenged everything Lu Yun knew was unfolding right before him in Lu Chen. After his brief shock came utter elation. Of course-if the two Martial Souls had resonated, how could that be all there was to it?

The Bloodline Soul Ring came from Lu Chen's ancestors having an awesome bloodline. In Lu Yun's eyes, using Twin Martial Souls simultaneously was the true essence of Martial Soul resonance.

One could only say that his reasoning was somewhat off, but his conclusion was right. The Martial Soul Synchronizer really had caused the two Martial Souls to resonate at the very moment the Bloodline Soul Ring successfully condensed...

Now, he was immensely eager to see Lu Chen's next strike!

Two bright purple Soul Rings pulsed simultaneously.

Azure Dragon Martial Soul, First Soul Skill-Spirit Suppression: all attributes +100%.

Spirit-Suppressing Spear Martial Soul, First Soul Skill-Dragon Shadow: Spirit Suppression: sharpness +100%.

Simple descriptions. Pure numbers.

With the domains' enhancement, the increase in all his attributes to more than double their previous values made Lu Chen feel as though he had become a Dayun truck, capable of easily smashing everything before him to pieces. This was an illusion brought about by too great an increase in strength over too short a time, but in this little rural courtyard, saying he could destroy everything did not seem wrong either.

He swept the dragon spear in his hand, its brilliant gold shaft turning into a windmill. Amid peals of dragon cries, the Spirit-Suppressing Spear carried its keen force into a vicious smash against the two Steel Wings Lu Yun hastily folded before his chest, throwing up a shower of dazzling sparks...

BOOM!!!

A violent crash rang out. Xiao Wu had long since hidden beneath the veranda, peeking out from behind a pillar with her pretty face deathly pale as she watched. All she saw was an elderly figure streak past her eyes before smashing into the pile of odds and ends in the courtyard's corner, raising a skyful of dust.

[Xiao Wu: Lu Chen abusing the elderly.jpg]

In the picture, a slender young boy stood holding a spear, while opposite him lay a helpless old man. If one ignored the four Soul Rings behind the old man, one really would think the boy was doing something too cruel to describe to him.

[Yanzi: You certainly know how to name things.]

[Little Princess: What happened? Wasn't Lu Chen being driven back again and again in the last picture? How is he suddenly giving a victory speech? Damn it, doesn't the Chat Group have some function that can capture images directly?]

[Chat Group system: Once all group members complete their Exclusive Missions, the Chat Group will unlock the video recording function.]

[Yanzi: Video recording?]

[Chat Group system: As the name suggests, it records images. Sound can be recorded as well.]

[Yanzi: What was my Exclusive Mission again... defeat ten Soul Masters within two years of my age using poison arts. That doesn't look too hard. I'll go check out the Soul Fighting Zone in a bit.]

[Little Princess: Mine is to carefully read a book on management, no fewer than fifty pages long.]

[Yanzi: How many pages have you read?]

[Little Princess: I just memorized the author's name.]

[Yanzi: You need to start studying immediately! What about everyone else?]

[Netherworld: ...]

[Spirit Cat: ...]

[...]

[Yanzi: ???]

Dugu Yan felt isolated, frustrated by the sense that she was not trusted. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, so she simply set off for the Heaven Dou Imperial Soul Master Academy's Soul Fighting Zone.

As the Notebook continued revealing spoilers, and Lu Chen began displaying his talent, most of the group had gradually begun lowering their guard. Xiao Wu, Dugu Yan, and Ning Rongrong openly sharing their Exclusive Missions was proof.

As for why Zhu Zhuqing and the others concealed theirs, it was not the lack of trust Dugu Yan imagined. Their tasks were simply too embarrassing or too outrageous.

Zhu Zhuqing's Exclusive Mission: draw up a detailed plan to escape your arranged marriage together with Zhu Zhuyun.

Zhu Zhuyun's Exclusive Mission: draw up a detailed plan to escape your arranged marriage together with Zhu Zhuqing.

Qian Renxue's Exclusive Mission: severely punish an imperial wastrel of the Heaven Dou Empire once.

Hu Liena's Exclusive Mission: stage a magnificent betrayal against your beloved teacher, teacher.

Bibi Dong's Exclusive Mission: give Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo three days off.

Liu Erlong's Exclusive Mission: curse Yu Xiaogang once.

Ah Yin's Exclusive Mission: lose all hope in the Tang father and son.

Compared with the tasks those extraordinary individuals had, Ning Rongrong's task of thoroughly reading fifty pages on management could be considered easy.

Fortunately, although the tasks' difficulty was somewhat peculiar, everyone except Liu Erlong had already made progress or was heading toward completing theirs.

Zhu Zhuqing and Zhu Zhuyun had gotten together the night before and worked almost all night, even spending their brief sleeping time together. This left the Zhu Family head in a rather poor mood when he learned of it from a maid that morning.

Zhu Zhuqing has undergone her Martial Soul Awakening, and the competition has already begun. What is this sisterly affection supposed to mean at a time like this?

Qian Renxue, meanwhile, had set her sights on Xue Beng, a perfect target. Although going out of her way to trouble him might break character, as his older brother, disciplining an increasingly unruly younger brother to uphold the imperial family's dignity was perfectly reasonable, wasn't it?

As for Bibi Dong, hadn't the holiday already begun the moment Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo set off for Dragon Soul Village? The Chat Group did indeed acknowledge that Bibi Dong was giving the two Titled Douluo time off...

That alone showed what sort of lives those two normally led under Bibi Dong.

The remaining three were the ones whose Exclusive Missions were truly the hardest to complete.

Although Ah Yin had already recognized Tang Hao's true colors, her emotions still left her clinging to a sliver of hope that even she did not want to admit. To make her lose all hope completely would require several more heavy revelations.

Fortunately, Lu Chen certainly had no shortage of those.

Liu Erlong was in a similar situation. For all her unwavering devotion to Yu Xiaogang, people like her actually hated the fiercest once their hopes were shattered.

The only truly difficult one was Hu Liena.

Getting her to betray Bibi Dong was genuinely difficult. Even if he wanted to recreate Hu Liena's descent into madness for love, Lu Chen was only six right now. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak-he did not even have the tools for the crime ready.

"You brat, don't you know to go easy on an old man?"

In the courtyard, Lu Yun caught his breath and climbed out of the wreckage, rolling his eyes repeatedly. Yet the deep admiration on his face plainly showed that he was extremely satisfied with Lu Chen's performance.

Patting the dust off his clothes, Lu Yun did not look injured at all.

For one thing, Lu Chen had not thrust with the spear's sharpest point, instead delivering a smashing blow. For another, Lu Yun himself had used a defensive Soul Skill at the very last moment.

Steel-Winged Dragon Hawk, Second Soul Skill-Steel Feather Possession.

The Soul Ring came from a Steel Feather Crow nearly nine hundred years old. The Soul Skill's effect was to immediately cover the Martial Soul in a thick layer of hard feathers, increase defense by 50% on that basis, and allow the feathers to be controlled and fired at enemies as an attack.

For Lu Yun's original Martial Soul, the Featherless Eagle, this was undoubtedly a reinforcement.

Not only did it compensate for his complete lack of defensive methods when he used his Second Soul Skill, it also gave him the ability to fly and nearly brought about his Martial Soul's evolution. Sparse steel feathers had grown directly from the Martial Soul itself, but unfortunately, the power of a Hundred-Year Soul Ring was ultimately insufficient, and the evolution had failed in the end.

Only when Lu Chen was born with the meteor did the faint trace of presence that spilled from the Azure Dragon Origin as it transformed into a local Martial Soul allow the Featherless Eagle to evolve fully into the Steel-Winged Dragon Hawk. That sparse layer of feathers also grew in completely, with defensive power far surpassing its peers.

The Martial Soul's extremely high quality, its innate steel feathers, and the 50% defense increase and second layer of feathers supplied by his Second Soul Skill had allowed him to withstand Lu Chen's earlier strike, whose attack power was already no weaker than a Soul Elder's full-powered blow. He had merely been sent flying backward by the impact, without suffering any injury.

Lu Chen inwardly found the old geezer's sulky look rather amusing, but still went along with him and offered praise:

"Oh, Grandpa, in terms of strength, you're the... the strongest person within a hundred li of Nuoding City! How could my little tricks possibly hurt you?"

Yep, Tang Hao doesn't count as human at all. Nothing wrong with that!