Inside the thatched hut, candlelight flickered.☺👤 🍫👑
Liu Erlong was hurriedly gathering everything she could take with her.
Before long,
Yu Xiaogang hurried over under cover of night.
As soon as the thatched hut's door swung open, Liu Erlong set everything in her hands down and threw herself straight into Yu Xiaogang's arms.
Held tightly by Liu Erlong, Yu Xiaogang's body stiffened. In the end, he still gently patted her back and asked,
"Erlong, what's wrong? Why are you in such a hurry?"
Liu Erlong broke free from his embrace, revealing her battered, swollen face.
"Xiaogang, hurry and pack. We're leaving right now, going somewhere no one knows us."
She spoke quickly.
Then she turned and went to gather everything from the bed again.
"What happened?"
Yu Xiaogang hurried forward and asked.
He noticed the injuries on Liu Erlong's face, and a vague sense of unease rose in his heart.
"Who hit you in the face this time?"
"Mm."
At the mention of her face, Liu Erlong immediately felt terribly aggrieved and couldn't help throwing herself into Yu Xiaogang's arms again.
"Wuwu, Xiaogang... I've already broken off my engagement with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect."
Yu Xiaogang froze, his expression changing drastically.
"Really?"
"That's right."
Tears streaming down her face, Liu Erlong sobbed in grievance.
"Ning Xuan barged into the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan with Sword Douluo Chen Xin, and even broke both my father's legs."
"This is outrageous!"
Yu Xiaogang angrily slapped the table.
"My father... The clan leader? He just stood there and watched them break Second Uncle's legs?"
Liu Erlong wept sorrowfully.
"What else could he do? Chen Xin is a Super Douluo. The clan leader couldn't do anything either."
"Then were they the ones who injured your face, too?"
Yu Xiaogang asked in an angry, low voice.
"What an outrageous Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. They've gone too far."
He thought of how, just a few days earlier, people from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had also barged into Blue Tyrant Academy.
They had not only beaten one of the Shrek Seven Devils, Ma Hongjun, to death,
but had also taken Xiao Wu and crippled Tang San.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was becoming more and more overbearing, practically acting without restraint.
"No, that wasn't them."
When her facial injuries were brought up again, Liu Erlong hesitated.
"It was the clan leader... He found out about us..."
Yu Xiaogang's body shook violently. He responded in disbelief,
"So he was the one who hit you?"
Liu Erlong nodded bitterly.
Yu Xiaogang immediately fell silent.
Only after quite some time did Yu Xiaogang seem to finally make up his mind and speak.
"If he knows, then he knows. That's just fine."
He gritted his teeth.
"Erlong, since you're no longer engaged, we can be together openly now."
At his words, Liu Erlong first trembled in disbelief.
Then she raised her head, her eyes red-rimmed as she gazed at him in a daze, deeply moved.
"Xiaogang... Xiaogang... you... you're finally willing to accept me..."
She threw herself into Yu Xiaogang's arms again...
Holding him tightly.
At that moment, Yu Xiaogang's chest seemed especially broad, able to shield her from every storm outside.
"Xiaogang, do you know how long I've waited for this day?"
Liu Erlong wept with joy...
Yu Xiaogang gently patted her back again, comforting her.
"Erlong... You were willing to break off your engagement with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect for my sake... You even gave me such a precious Immortal Herb... How could I still refuse your feelings..."
Immortal Herb!
At those two words,
Liu Erlong's body in Yu Xiaogang's arms instantly stiffened again.
She suddenly looked up and hurriedly wiped the tears from her face.
"Right, the Immortal Herb."
"Xiaogang, how could I forget about the Immortal Herb?"
Liu Erlong grabbed Yu Xiaogang's arm and anxiously asked,
"Xiaogang, is the Immortal Herb still with you?"
"Mm."
Yu Xiaogang froze, then answered excitedly without thinking.
"Erlong, this Immortal Herb really is something. It can actually help someone break through their Martial Soul Shackles."
"You've already eaten it?"
Liu Erlong was startled and asked him.
Under Liu Erlong's sudden glare, Yu Xiaogang's heart lurched. He frowned and said,
"Not yet."
"Then how can you be so sure the Immortal Herb can help Soul Masters break through their Martial Soul Shackles?"
Liu Erlong asked with a frown.
"Erlong, actually, there's something else I need to tell you."
Yu Xiaogang remembered what had happened to him.
He took a deep breath and said,
"Erlong, just a few days ago, not long after you left the academy, that kid Ning Xuan came with his people."
Boom-
Liu Erlong's expression changed drastically.
"He came to take the Immortal Herb?"
"No."
Yu Xiaogang said grimly,
"But he took Xiao Wu away."
"Xiao Wu?"
Liu Erlong's heart lurched, and she hurriedly pressed him,
"What did he take Xiao Wu away for?"
In this timeline, because Ning Xuan was there, Liu Erlong had not taken Xiao Wu in as her goddaughter, but she still couldn't help liking her.
"Erlong, I'm afraid you still don't know..."
Yu Xiaogang said,
"Xiao Wu... isn't human!"
Isn't human?
What did that mean?
Before Liu Erlong had time to ask, Yu Xiaogang continued,
"Xiao Wu is probably a hundred-thousand-year-old Transformed Soul Beast."
Liu Erlong's expression changed drastically once more.
"Really?"
She asked in disbelief.
She had been gone for only a few days, yet something this major had happened at Blue Tyrant Academy?
Xiao Wu, whom she had always liked, wasn't human?
"That's why we suspect Ning Xuan took Xiao Wu away to prepare for his future as a Titled Douluo."
"We have to stop him and bring Xiao Wu back."
Yu Xiaogang said in a grave voice.
"There's no need to go."
Liu Erlong's face quickly turned deathly pale.
Yu Xiaogang froze.
"Why?"
"If Xiao Wu really is a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, then there's no need to go."
Liu Erlong remembered what she had seen while at the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
Eight Soul Rings floated around Ning Xuan.
One of them was vivid in color and dazzlingly bright. What else could it be but a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring?
Liu Erlong had been puzzled about where Ning Xuan had obtained a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.
Now that she thought about it, Xiao Wu was probably already dead.
"Xiao Wu is probably already dead."
Liu Erlong said to Yu Xiaogang, her mind reeling.
Then she told him about the eighth Soul Ring on Ning Xuan.
"Impossible."
Yu Xiaogang cried out,
"According to the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls, the highest-ranked Soul Ring a Soul Douluo can absorb absolutely can't exceed ninety thousand years. How could he possibly absorb a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring?"
Liu Erlong froze too, her expression turning even more complicated.
"Xiaogang, there's something I've never told you because I was afraid you wouldn't be able to accept it."
"The theory you published, 'The Ten Core Competencies of a Soul Master's Martial Soul,' might not be entirely correct."
"At least, it doesn't apply to Ning Xuan at all."
Yu Xiaogang's face changed. He said firmly,
"Absolutely impossible!"
"I compiled 'The Ten Core Competencies of a Soul Master's Martial Soul' by synthesizing countless ancient texts from Spirit Hall. How could there be anything wrong with it?"
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