[Ding! Detected a qualitative change in Zhu Zhuqing's reverence and affection toward the host. Her heart now belongs entirely to the host, and she is willing to brave boiling water and raging fire for him!] [System Feedback Mechanism jackpot! A massive influx of pure Soul Power!] [The host's Soul Power has broken through the Level 18 barrier!] [Current Soul Power: Level 18!]
Boom.
Xiong Shaoqing felt as though a nuclear reactor had ignited inside his dantian. Violent yet extraordinarily docile Soul Power surged wildly through his Eight Extraordinary Meridians, cleansing every limb and bone until they felt utterly clear.
His eyes snapped open, his deep black eyes startlingly bright in the dark room.
Level 18. Holy shit, I was already fucking Level 18?
Xiong Shaoqing sprang upright on the bed with a kip-up. He was so excited that he nearly laughed like a squealing pig.
He clamped his hands over his mouth, struggling to preserve the last shred of his aloof persona, but the wild, unbridled soul inside him had already started square dancing.
This leveling speed was even more ridiculous than riding a rocket.
Rabbit fur and cat fur really were the finest strategic resources on the Douluo Continent. Plucking them felt damn good.
Feeling the terrifying power within him, condensed until it was almost tangible, he found his ambitions growing like wild weeds.
At this rate, in another two days, I'll shoot straight up to the Level 20 threshold.
Then I'll head straight back to the Star Dou Great Forest and get my Second Soul Ring sorted.
Once his excitement subsided, Xiong Shaoqing took several deep breaths and forced himself to calm down.
No. I couldn't let it go to my head.
The stronger I got, the more firmly I had to maintain this haughty, fallen God King disguise.
The girls ate up this cold-outside, warm-inside routine.
When we met tomorrow morning, I'd have to be cold as frost, unsmiling and solemn.
Outside Suotuo City's southern gate, passing carriages had churned the snow on the main road into mud.
With his pack on his back, Tang San stood beside a middle-aged man with a stiff face and plain robes. This man was his teacher, Yu Xiaogang.
"San, Shrek Academy is in a village a dozen or so li south of Suotuo City. It isn't far. We can walk there in half an hour."
"This academy only accepts monsters. Only there can you undergo a true transformation." Yu Xiaogang clasped his hands behind his back, his voice carrying its usual lecturing tone.
"Yes, Teacher." Tang San nodded respectfully.
He turned, gazed past the city walls, and took a long look at Suotuo City's bustling streets. A cruel, smug sneer curled his lips.
He could hardly disobey his teacher. Although he had yet to witness Xiong Shaoqing's fate himself, that morning he had poured every gold coin he had earned at the Great Soul Arena into an underground mercenary band called Bloodhand.
Ten whole Soul Elders who licked blood from their blades.
What could Xiong Shaoqing possibly fight them with?
Tang San mocked him without restraint in his heart. Even if Xiao Wu's cultivation approached Level 40, she would struggle to protect herself against ten Soul Elders with abundant combat experience attacking together. How could she protect a burden whose level was only in the teens?
Once those mercenaries found an opening to strike, Xiong Shaoqing would be chopped into a pile of mush in less than half an incense stick's time.
Once Xiong Shaoqing was thoroughly dead, Xiao Wu would naturally see who the truly dependable strong man was.
Tang San concealed the venom in his eyes and put on a gentle, refined expression. Turning, he followed Yu Xiaogang onto the snow-covered path leading to Shrek Academy.
In his eyes, this was already a death trap with no uncertainty whatsoever.
Meanwhile, in a stretch of Birchwood on the western outskirts of Suotuo City.
Xiong Shaoqing was leading Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing on a stroll through the snow.
There were too many people and prying eyes in the city. He urgently needed somewhere secluded to properly adapt to the violent Soul Power that had surged to Level 18 the previous night.
Wind swept through Birchwood, shaking loose rustling flakes of snow.
Walking ahead, Xiong Shaoqing felt the power rushing through him like mighty rivers while summoning the Destiny Diary in his Sea of Consciousness and beginning today's work:
[The city was too stifling, so I brought them outside for some fresh air.]
[Yet even the elegance of walking through snow cannot soothe the gloom in my heart. Ever since that venomous snake Tang San suffered a setback outside the bookshop yesterday, he has gone completely quiet.]
[This is far too unusual. The deeper a venomous snake lies hidden, the deadlier the fangs it strikes with.]
[He must be plotting something in the shadows. If he truly spends a fortune hiring desperate outlaws to ambush us, my Level 18 Soul Power would be like a mantis raising its arms against a chariot when facing those high-level killers.]
[But so what?]
[Zhu Zhuqing has only just escaped her sea of suffering, and Xiao Wu is the girl I swore to protect with my life. If flashing blades truly come slashing toward us, I will stand at the very front with this broken body. Even if my soul is shattered, I will never let those filthy weapons soil so much as the hems of their clothes.]
As the last stroke fell, Xiong Shaoqing cut off the mental connection with a snap.
Beneath his roomy cloak, he rubbed the goose bumps that had instantly risen on his arms, inwardly complaining like mad.
Cheesy. So fucking cheesy.
My soul shattered? Writing this kind of melodramatic line practically sent my dignity plummeting.
If my buddies from my previous life saw this, they'd mock me for three years.
Complaints aside, when Xiong Shaoqing caught sight of the two girls walking shoulder to shoulder behind him from the corner of his eye, his trace of embarrassment was instantly replaced by his lecherous nature.
Xiao Wu's long, straight legs looked youthfully irresistible in her white leather boots, while Zhu Zhuqing's skintight black leather outfit outlined the breathtaking curves of her chest and her slender, barely-a-handful waist in a way that set his blood racing.
Tsk, tsk. What a visual feast. Incredible.
For such peerless beauties, what did losing a little dignity matter?
Not only was I going to write a Mary Sue diary, I was going to become the most hardcore best actor on the Douluo Continent.
And behind him.
Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing both faltered almost imperceptibly. The diary entries appearing in their minds stirred entirely different waves in the two girls' hearts.
Xiao Wu's eyes grew hot. Looking at the tall figure ahead, her heart and eyes were filled with love that would not melt away.
Big Brother would even give up his life for us...
Xiao Wu clenched her teeth and secretly swore that if that despicable scoundrel Tang San dared to send anyone, she would kick their bones to pieces.
Zhu Zhuqing trembled slightly, an indescribable touch of emotion flashing through her cool eyes.
She thought of Dai Mubai. Whenever that coward encountered danger, he would only abandon her and flee alone.
Yet the man before her, despite knowing that their enemies were hidden while they stood exposed and that their strength was vastly unequal, had already resolved in his heart to die taking a blade for her.
Placed side by side, the difference between them was immediately clear.
Zhu Zhuqing said nothing, but her Soul Power quietly began circulating as she raised the Hell Spirit Cat's vigilance to its peak.
Her dark eyes discreetly swept the surrounding Birchwood. Like a fully drawn bow, she was ready to unleash her lethal claws for this man at any moment.
Chapter 33: A Tough Target
Meanwhile.
Spirit City, the Papal Palace.
Bibi Dong reclined on her throne and snorted as she read the diary in her mind.
His soul shattered? A mighty God King, reduced to using his own flesh to block blades for mortals. How ridiculous.
Disdain filled Bibi Dong's violet eyes. Still, this Tang San truly was a sewer rat through and through. Unable to win head-on, he could only resort to low, dirty tricks like hiring killers.
Even if such a low-class specimen cultivated to Titled Douluo, he would ultimately remain a worthless wretch unfit to appear in respectable company.
The Heaven Dou Empire, the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace.
Reading this diary entry, Qian Renxue lifted her black tea and took a sip. A peculiar gleam flashed through her golden eyes.
Knowing full well that a death trap was approaching, with his enemies hidden and himself exposed, he not only refused to flee but resolved to die blocking their blades.
Qian Renxue toyed with her exquisite teacup, an indescribable trace of admiration rising in her heart. Every word and every sentence of this diary conveyed pure resolve.
If those two women truly learned of this responsibility etched into his bones, they would probably be willing to entrust even their lives to him.
She walked to the window and gazed at the snow filling the sky, an intrigued smile curving her lips. "This courage alone makes you a hundred times better than those wine sacks and rice bags in the Heaven Dou Imperial Family."
"Xiong Shaoqing, I truly would like to see for myself what that broken body of yours can use to withstand the killers Tang San hired."
Over the past two days, Xiong Shaoqing had visited the Great Soul Arena twice in succession to earn money quickly and adapt to his violent Level 18 Soul Power.
On the platform, one crisp, decisive knee strike blasted a Level 25 Soul Grandmaster clean off the stage, drawing cheers like a roaring tsunami from the entire arena.
Several scar-faced men seated in a dark corner of the stands witnessed all of it.
"Boss, that kid Tang San gave us bad information." A skinny, monkeylike mercenary lowered his voice, his eyes full of apprehension. "This Xiong guy isn't some one-ring weakling at all. He can instantly take down a two-ring Soul Grandmaster with his body alone. There's something damned strange about this kid."
The leader of the Bloodhand Mercenary Corps crushed the walnuts in his hand, his gaze as venomous as a snake's. "No matter. Since the target is tough, we'll use our highest-grade killing formation. Go to the black market and bring over the refined-steel repeating crossbows coated with Yama's Drunkenness and the armor-piercing net."
"Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit. Tomorrow night, on the route they have to take back to the inn, I want him shot full of holes."
On the evening of the third day, the setting sun sank beneath the horizon.
After settling their bill, the three were returning through a secluded old alley, a shortcut to the Listening Snow Inn.
The instant the three reached the middle of the alley.
No killers jumped out to make threats. There was no close-quarters brawl. Instead, the sudden snap of firing mechanisms erupted from the rooftops on both sides.
"Fire!"
A muffled roar rang out. Poisoned, armor-piercing crossbow bolts filled the sky like the grim reaper's rain, accompanied by a specially made, massive refined-steel net descending from above, completely sealing off the trio's retreat.
The ten Soul Elders gave them no time whatsoever to react, pouring down their killing strikes.
"Big Brother!" Xiao Wu turned pale with alarm. She was just about to activate her Martial Soul possession when the whistling bolts were already upon them.
"Get back!"
Xiong Shaoqing roared. Without the slightest hesitation, he violently pulled both girls into his arms, shielding them firmly with his broad back.
System, activate the Absolute Defense Divine Shield.
Clang, clang, clang.
The bolts hammered against the transparent ripples covering his body like a torrential downpour, snapping and shattering one after another.
However, the divine shield lasted only three seconds.
The mercenaries' repeating crossbows fired too quickly. The instant those three seconds passed and the divine shield vanished, the final two poisoned bolts came hurtling toward him with fierce gusts of wind.
Holding Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing tightly protected in his arms, Xiong Shaoqing could not dodge at all. He could only wrench his body around to keep them from hitting his vitals.
Thud.
A refined-steel crossbow bolt drove straight through Xiong Shaoqing's left shoulder. Blood sprayed, the arrowhead protruded from his back, and warm blood instantly stained his clothes red and splashed onto Xiao Wu's fair cheek.
Tang San, every drop of blood I invested in this self-injury ploy was going on your tab.
The intense tearing sensation made Xiong Shaoqing gasp in pain. He cursed wildly inside, yet his face showed the fury of a man who faced death without flinching.
Ignoring the poisoned bolt through his shoulder, he sent the veins on his right arm bulging. The Archaic Heaven-Shaking Bear's brute strength erupted, and one punch smashed the descending Fine Steel Net to pieces.
"I told you, don't touch them!"
Blood dripped down his left arm. Like a maddened Ferocious Beast, he stared fixedly at the assassins on the rooftops.
Seeing the horrifying bloody hole in Xiong Shaoqing's shoulder and hearing that possessive, protective growl, Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing felt something explode in their minds.
The worries in the Diary had become a bloody reality. He truly had used his flesh and blood to take the lethal poisoned arrow for them.
"Every last one of you will die!"
Xiao Wu's eyes instantly turned blood-red, and she could no longer suppress the savage presence of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.
Zhu Zhuqing bit hard into her red lips and transformed into an utterly emotionless black specter.
The two peerless beauties, driven berserk and carrying towering killing intent, charged straight onto the rooftops.
Half an incense stick later, ten mangled corpses lay in the alley.
Late that night, the smell of blood filled a room at the Listening Snow Inn.
The charcoal fire burned fiercely, dispelling the chill inside.
Before you continue