What a pitiful fellow / Even if others could bear it, she could not ...

To be precise, his last three Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings had all mutated after he absorbed the ninety-thousand-year Soul Rings of the three Qian Jun Ant Emperor brothers.

But he had to make one thing clear beforehand: he was absolutely not the sort of shameless scoundrel who enjoyed stealing other people's opportunities. On that, he could swear to heav-

Rumble!!!

Hearing thunder suddenly crash overhead, he shrank his neck and hurried a little farther away from the tree... Forget it. No swearing. A shameless scoundrel it was, then...

Chapter 3: What a pitiful fellow

Some time ago, his Soul Power had finally broken through to level 90, and he had wanted to hunt down a Qian Jun Ant Emperor for his ninth Soul Ring.

There was no helping it. A Qian Jun Ant Emperor's Soul Ring was not just suited to Tang San's Clear Sky Hammer; it was also an excellent match for his Netherworld Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. He wanted to get one no matter what.

Their strength was terrifying, and their defense was ridiculously high. How could he not covet them?

But this hunt for a Qian Jun Ant Emperor had nearly cost him his life. Anyone who had read the original novel knew that the three Qian Jun Ant Emperor brothers were practically inseparable.

Hunting any one of them would certainly bring the other two brothers' frenzied retaliation, but Zhao Ling could not bear to give up a Qian Jun Ant Emperor's Soul Ring that suited him so well.

He had racked his brains for every scheme and trick he could think of before barely managing to separate the three Qian Jun Ant Emperors. Then he had used every means at his disposal to wear down and kill one that was alone, suffering some injuries himself.

But before he could absorb its Soul Ring, the other two Qian Jun Ant Emperors had arrived.

Having always kept his head down and quietly built up his strength, he had been forced to use his eighth Soul Skill, Pagoda Protects the True Form, to withstand the two Qian Jun Ant Emperors' attacks while forcibly absorbing the Soul Ring.

After barely holding out like that for ten minutes, Zhao Ling was already spewing blood. The defense of his eighth Soul Skill, Pagoda Protects the True Form, was finally about to be breached by the two frenzied Qian Jun Ant Emperors.

At that critical instant, he awakened the diary-writing makes you stronger system. A transparent screen of light enveloped him, causing the two Qian Jun Ant Emperors' furious strike to fail again just after they broke through the Netherworld Demon-Suppressing Pagoda's defenses.

At that moment, Zhao Ling both loved and hated the system. Why had it not awakened sooner?

Had his life of keeping his head down, day in and day out for over a decade, been easy? He had endured every hardship and weathered countless trials, finally managing to reach the strength of a Titled Douluo, only for the system to arrive so late? Was it sure it was not messing with him?

Fortunately, the system had awakened at just the right moment, allowing him to survive the two Qian Jun Ant Emperors' attacks and successfully absorb the Qian Jun Ant Emperor's Soul Ring.

Having broken through to the strength of a Titled Douluo, he saw the two Qian Jun Ant Emperors still attacking the screen of light madly and hurled out the Netherworld Demon-Suppressing Pagoda without hesitation.

With the Qian Jun Ant Emperor's Soul Ring as his ninth Soul Ring, the Netherworld Demon-Suppressing Pagoda's strength and defense had become even more terrifying.

When the Netherworld Demon-Suppressing Pagoda descended from the sky and smashed directly into the two Qian Jun Ant Emperors, its terrifying force nearly shattered their courage.

The two Qian Jun Ant Emperor brothers resisted the Netherworld Demon-Suppressing Pagoda's attack with all their might. The battle had not remained at a stalemate for long before Zhao Ling, who had successfully advanced to the Titled Douluo level, used his ninth Soul Skill, Netherworld Subdues Gods and Demons.

In the end, he battered the remaining two Qian Jun Ant Emperors into fragments. His blows made the entire Star Dou Great Forest shudder three times, sending countless insects, fish, birds, and beasts scattering in flight.

After successfully killing the remaining two Qian Jun Ant Emperors, Zhao Ling felt deeply that their two Soul Rings would go to waste.

After all, he was already a powerful Titled Douluo, and he had not awakened a second Martial Soul like Bibi Dong, Tang San, and the others.

But who would have thought that the system would actually step in and resolve this problem for him? It removed his original seventh Soul Ring and eighth Soul Ring, then let him absorb the Soul Rings left behind by the two Qian Jun Ant Emperors. Influencing one another along with his ninth Soul Ring, they all mutated into Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings.

Perhaps his luck had hit an incredible streak, because the three Qian Jun Ant Emperors had also miraculously dropped two Soul Bones, both of which Zhao Ling absorbed.

It had not been easy. It had really not been easy. After over a decade of keeping his head down day after day, he finally no longer had to live that way.

Now, not only had he advanced to the level of a level-92 Titled Douluo, but he had also awakened a system.

As long as he did not court disaster by running off to provoke certain Super Douluos or demigod-level powerhouses, he could pretty much swagger across the Douluo Continent without a care.

At the thought, a relieved smile involuntarily appeared on Zhao Ling's face, and he walked down the road with light steps. Quite a few villagers hurried out of his way when they saw his smile.

What on earth was wrong with this outsider? Standing under a tree in a daze earlier was one thing, but now he was walking down the road with a wicked grin. Was there something wrong with his head?

Poor fellow. What a truly pitiful fellow. He looked perfectly presentable, but his head just did not work right. The villagers shook their heads, their eyes full of regret as they looked at Zhao Ling.

Zhao Ling had no idea what these villagers were thinking. He only felt over a dozen pairs of eyes looking at him with pity as they kept pointing at him.

What the hell? Why were these villagers looking at him so strangely? Zhao Ling looked utterly baffled.

Ah, forget it. Let them look however they liked. Zhao Ling raised his head and glanced at the "setting sun" hanging high in the east at a sixty-degree angle, then muttered to himself, "Mm, it's getting very late. I'd better find somewhere to stay first."

Just then, a line of text appeared on the illusory screen before his eyes. [Getting very late? Host, are you sure it isn't around eleven in the morning? Please hurry on your way and do not delay the mission.]

With his lie exposed by the system, Zhao Ling's shameless old face reddened, and he coughed dryly a few times.

"Ahem... The mission? Don't I still have a week to get there? I've worked hard cultivating for over a decade, and now I'm a Titled Douluo. Can't I enjoy myself a little?"

This time, the system had nothing to say. Zhao Ling spent some money and, after a good deal of persuasion, finally rented a house in the village as a place to stay.

His lodging was a dilapidated, detached house at the western end of the village, over a hundred meters from even the nearest villager's home.

This left him rather depressed. He had originally wanted to rent a house closer to Ah Yin to make things easier, but the villagers had flatly refused.

After Zhao Ling moved into his lodging, Ah Yin, whose mood was terrible because of the diary, heard from Auntie Shen next door that an outsider with something wrong with his head had moved into the rundown house at the western end of the village. She warned Ah Yin to be careful and stay away from it.

Ah Yin immediately understood. The outsider renting the rundown house at the western end of the village had to be the man named Zhao Ling.

She simply had not expected the villagers to mistake him for someone with something wrong with his head.

Despite her foul mood, she almost laughed aloud. But faced with Auntie Shen's solemn expression, she had to forcibly suppress the urge to burst out laughing.

"All right, Auntie Shen. Don't worry. Unless there's a reason, I certainly won't go near that rundown house."

"If you run into that fool from outside the village and he tries anything improper with you, shout for help. I'll bring the villagers and give him a thorough thrashing."

Auntie Shen warned Ah Yin once more. Would it not be a terrible sin if such a beautiful girl were defiled by that mentally unsound outsider?

"All right, Auntie. Don't worry. I'll do as you say." Ah Yin struggled to hold back her laughter and nodded repeatedly.

Only after finally coaxing Auntie Shen into leaving did she return inside and roll all over her bed with laughter.

"Hahaha, I'm dying! What a pitiful fellow, being mistaken for someone with something wrong with his head for no reason at all. If he knew what the villagers thought of him, he'd probably be depressed to death. Haha..."

Chapter 4: Even if others could bear it, she could not

While Ah Yin rolled all over her bed laughing, Zhao Ling found himself caught in a dilemma in his rented house.

On the one hand, he wanted to stay in the village and woo Ah Yin, so she would not end up in Tang Hao's arms.

On the other hand, the system had told him that Bibi Dong would meet Yu Xiaogang in Suotuo City within a week, and wanted him to witness this "historic" moment when the lovelorn pair met.

(The original novel did not specify how they met, so I made it up.)

As everyone knew, both Ah Yin and Bibi Dong were extremely popular maternal-generation characters in the first original novel.

Especially when Pope Bibi Dong first appeared in the animation, countless horny bastards had actually shouted the slogan, "Down with the Shrek rebels! Protect our Bibi Dong!"

So he very much wanted to see with his own eyes just how beautiful the young Bibi Dong was. As for the system asking him to witness some historic moment when a lovelorn pair met, he did not care at all.

Since Yu Xiaogang could not give Bibi Dong happiness and had even caused her to be defiled by that beast Qian Xunji, Zhao Ling could not be blamed for playing dirty.

He had to woo Bibi Dong before she met Yu Xiaogang, preferably capturing her heart firmly.

But now that he had unexpectedly encountered Ah Yin, he could not simply leave either. Who knew how long this girl would stay in the village?

If Ah Yin had already left the village by the time he returned from Suotuo City, trying to find her again would probably be like fishing a needle out of the ocean. What a headache...

Just then, the illusory screen popped up, and a message appeared on it.

[Host, please make a habit of this: no matter the time or place, this diary system is your best way to vent your emotions, dispel your worries, and resolve your troubles.

Moreover, as long as you update enough content in this diary system, you can obtain rewards. Why not?]

The system's words made Zhao Ling nod in wholehearted agreement. Although he did not understand why the system kept deliberately or otherwise steering him toward working through his emotions in the diary system, the rewards were truly enticing.

So Zhao Ling summoned the diary panel and began venting his emotions.

[What a headache. On one side is the young Ah Yin, whose beauty I've already seen, and on the other is the young Bibi Dong, whom I've never met but whose name already rings like thunder in my ears. How am I supposed to choose?]

[The young Ah Yin has already struck me as a heavenly beauty. Just how beautiful must Bibi Dong be, when she's even more popular and a notch prettier than her in the animation?]

[I really want to go to Suotuo City to see Bibi Dong, but I'm afraid Ah Yin will leave this village after I go. Heavens, isn't this torture?]

[Mm, fine. I admit that while I'm coveting Ah Yin's beauty, I'm also lusting after Bibi Dong's body. That really is quite shameless, but I just don't want to watch Bibi Dong fall in love with Yu Xiaogang.]

[What an outstanding daughter of heaven Bibi Dong is! In the future, she'll become the Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall, and even its pope. She'll reach the Titled Douluo realm in only her thirties.]

[Now look at that good-for-nothing Yu Xiaogang, going on all day about how there are only useless Soul Masters, not useless Martial Souls.]

[The funny thing is, while he's learned his theory quite well, without the help of nine-grade purple ganoderma, his Soul Power would never break past level 30 in his entire life.]

[A good-for-nothing like that actually managed to win Bibi Dong's favor. To be with him, Bibi Dong even went so far as to fall out with her teacher, ultimately paying an extremely painful price.]

[Just as Bibi Dong was suffering tremendous hardship and facing the darkest moment of her life, Yu Xiaogang turned around and fell in love with his own Younger Cousin. How tragic, how painful.]

[Hmph. Anyway, since I, Zhao Ling, have transmigrated into the Douluo World, I absolutely cannot watch Bibi Dong repeat those same mistakes. Since Yu Xiaogang can't protect her, he can't blame me for stealing his love.]

After pouring out his emotions at length on the diary panel, Zhao Ling clicked upload. Having vented all the feelings weighing on his heart, he felt clear and unburdened from head to toe. Refreshing.

Once Zhao Ling successfully uploaded the diary's contents, he saw the reward for this entry appear on the panel.

[Diary uploaded successfully. Rating: B. Congratulations, Host. You have received lifespan +10 years, charm +1.]

Holy shit? Lifespan +10 years? This system could even add to his lifespan? Not bad! Advancing to Titled Douluo already extended one's lifespan.

In the original novel, the demigod-level powerhouse Bo Saixi had personally said that after advancing to Titled Douluo, one's lifespan would increase to over three hundred years, and each additional level would add another hundred years.

Zhao Ling was now a level-92 Titled Douluo. Generally speaking, he could live for around four hundred years. Now that the system had added ten years to his lifespan, that meant he could live for four hundred and ten years.

Moreover, as he grew stronger and stronger, the lifespan he could possess would surely increase. Just thinking about it felt great.

As for charm +1, he felt that was rather unnecessary, because the charm field on his Personal Attribute Panel was still ???. Who the hell knew what damn use adding charm was...

Ah Yin, who was still rolling all over her bed with laughter, suddenly heard that unfamiliar man's troubled voice in her ears. She hurriedly covered her red lips and listened carefully.

Bibi Dong? Ah Yin's delicate brows knitted. After thinking it over, she seemed to have some impression of the name. It appeared to be the name of the current Spirit Hall pope Qian Xunji's only disciple.

This fellow named Zhao Ling had actually said she was more popular and more beautiful than her. This immediately stirred Ah Yin's competitive spirit.

Ah Yin had always been extremely satisfied with her appearance after taking human form. In particular, the way men stared at her with their eyes fixed on her greatly satisfied her vanity.

But now that fellow named Zhao Ling was actually saying that in some animation, Bibi Dong was more popular than her and a notch prettier too. Her mood, which had improved, went from sunny to overcast once more, then turned into a torrential downpour.

Fuming, she got out of bed and walked over to the dining table she had already set upright. With a hard shove of both hands, she overturned it again, and one unfortunate table leg snapped.

Despicable, despicable, utterly despicable.

This fellow named Zhao Ling had not even met that woman named Bibi Dong yet. What right did he have to say she was not as pretty as her? If this could be tolerated, what could not? Others might bear it, but she could not.

She had already silently made up her mind. When she had the chance in the future, she would definitely bind him to a tree with Blue Silver Emperor vines and whip him hard for three days and nights.

Meanwhile, far away in Spirit City, inside the Papal Hall, the young Bibi Dong was reporting to her teacher Qian Xunji with a face full of joy.

"Teacher, Dong'er has broken through to level 53. Isn't Dong'er amazing?" She looked at Qian Xunji expectantly, like a child waiting for praise from an elder.

"Mm, Dong'er is truly amazing. You've always been your teacher's pride." At this point, Qian Xunji was not yet the beast who defiled his own disciple. He looked at his disciple gently, his eyes filled with affection.

He felt he had truly chosen the right disciple. At only seventeen, she had already reached level 53, who knew how much more outstanding than he had been back then. This child was surely Spirit Hall's hope for the future...

Chapter 5: She, Bibi Dong, was not blind

"Dong'er... Since you've broken through again, how about your teacher assigns you a mission?"

Seated on the papal throne, Qian Xunji looked at Bibi Dong gently and asked in a tentative tone.

"A mission? What mission?" Bibi Dong's curiosity immediately surged, and her lively, innocent eyes fixed on her teacher.

Seeing that he had sparked his disciple's curiosity, Qian Xunji slowly explained his decision.

"In a couple of days, you and Elder Ju will lead the outstanding students of Spirit Hall Academy's newest cohort to Suotuo City. I hope you can achieve good results in the Great Soul Arena."

Bibi Dong had also heard of Suotuo City's Great Soul Arena, and fighting spirit immediately welled up in her beautiful eyes.

"The Great Soul Arena? All right, Teacher, don't worry. This time, I'll win every match and lead the entire team home as champions!"

Hearing Bibi Dong's words brimming with confidence, Qian Xunji smiled in satisfaction. Dong'er truly deserved to be his proudest disciple.

A dozen or so minutes later, Bibi Dong, who had just walked out of the Papal Hall, knitted her delicate brows. Her beautiful eyes stared straight at Zhao Ling's Diary Copy, which had appeared before her at some unknown point.

Back inside the Papal Hall, she had thought she was hallucinating because she had been cultivating too hard lately, so she had not paid it much attention.

But now she discovered that Zhao Ling's Diary Copy remained suspended less than a meter in front of her. Whether she moved forward, backed away, or even turned around, it followed her like a shadow and appeared within her field of vision.

Her good mood instantly vanished like smoke. She stared at Zhao Ling's Diary Copy with an unfriendly gaze. This abrupt change in her demeanor immediately sent chills down the spines of the four guards at the Papal Hall's entrance.

Why had His Holiness the Pope's most beloved disciple suddenly become displeased? That unfriendly look made them feel as though needles were pricking their backs.

If they were the reason His Holiness the Pope's precious disciple was angry, would they not all be in serious trouble?

The exceptionally clever Bibi Dong soon realized that neither her teacher nor the four guards seemed able to see Zhao Ling's Diary Copy floating before her.