Confronting Xuan Zi

Lu Ren stood outside his dormitory door, his gaze resting calmly on Xuan Zi. Even the rhythm of his breathing remained unchanged.

"Taotie Douluo Xuan Zi, one of Shrek Academy's sea-steadying pillars. Of course I've heard of you."

Lu Ren was not at all surprised that someone from Shrek had come knocking.

From the moment he had robbed Bei Bei's trio in the Star Dou Great Forest, coupled with the moment he had publicly revealed his Soul Rings in the Shrek Outer Court, this thread had already been laid.

On his way to the Sun Moon Empire, he had deliberately left a few traces.

Not many, but enough to point the way.

As for whether Shrek's people could follow those clues here, that was not his concern.

What mattered was that, just as he had expected, Xuan Zi had come.

"Strange, truly strange." Xuan Zi casually tossed aside the chicken bone he had gnawed clean. It bounced twice on the floor and rolled into the shadows in a corner. "From the moment I appeared before you until now, there hasn't been a trace of surprise on your face. If anything, you look as though you knew I would come."

He raised his cloudy eyes and swept his gaze over Lu Ren several times.

"Either you knew I would sneak in here to find you, or you have some way to stand against me."

He paused and took another swig of wine. The liquid trickled down the corner of his mouth and dripped onto his lapels.

"I think the first possibility is more likely. As for the second..."

He chuckled cheerfully. There was no audible mockery in his laughter, but it carried a matter-of-fact arrogance.

"I am a Level 98 Super Douluo. Across this entire continent, the people who can exchange blows with me number no more than the fingers on one hand."

"What could a petty little thief like you possibly have to stand against me?"

The corner of Lu Ren's mouth twitched slightly.

Wait until the Continental Tournament starts before you keep talking tough like that.

A Level 98 Super Douluo, yet you let a Soul King-level Evil Soul Master slip away right under your nose and blow a whole bunch of students to death.

Do you even believe yourself when you say that?

In all of Shrek Academy, if Xuan Zi ranked second for unreliability, no one would dare claim first.

Among those of the same level, his combat strength was probably in the very bottom tier too.

"A pearl buried in dust. Truly a pearl buried in dust." Xuan Zi shook his head, his gaze roaming over Lu Ren. "Whose idea was it to have you become a student at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy?"

He extended a greasy finger and pointed at Lu Ren through the air.

"I saw through you at a glance. You're a Soul Master, and your aptitude as one is so monstrous it defies belief."

"Judging by your bone age, you're only around fifteen, yet your Soul Power is already at rank forty-seven. As for why your Soul Ring configuration is so heaven-defying..."

He narrowed his eyes, a note of certainty entering his voice.

"It's because your body is terrifyingly powerful. A physique far beyond ordinary people's gives you the confidence to absorb Soul Rings beyond the optimal configuration."

"A powerful body, formidable spiritual power, and indestructible soul strength. Those three combined let you completely disregard the Soul Shock that follows absorbing a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring."

The more he spoke, the more excited he became. A glimmer actually appeared in his cloudy eyes.

"A prodigy. A true prodigy."

"I strongly suspect that even without Soul Power or your Martial Soul, you could wrestle a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast without falling behind."

He leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice.

"Why would a genius like you come to a place like this instead of Shrek?"

"What can these damned Soul Engineers teach you?"

"Can they use advanced Soul Master techniques? Do they understand the body of knowledge behind powerful Soul Masters? Did someone trick you into coming here?"

Lu Ren finally spoke:

"I came of my own accord."

Xuan Zi froze.

"Why?"

"I'd very much like to know what reason could make you give up Shrek, which specializes in training elite Soul Masters, and come to an academy that trains Soul Engineers instead."

Lu Ren looked at him, his tone as calm as still water:

"Because they need me more."

Xuan Zi was stunned for a moment, then laughed aloud.

His laughter was not loud, but it carried a condescending contempt.

"This bunch of trash Soul Engineers? They need you? You really think you're something, don't you?"

His smile faded, and his gaze sharpened.

"I admit that from one ring to six rings, Soul Engineers are indeed stronger than Soul Masters."

"But in terms of later growth, one high-ranking Soul Master can kill two Soul Engineers of the same level. There's no question about that."

"You are indeed a genius right now, but you're still only a mere Four-Ring Soul Ancestor. There are plenty of people who could crush you with one hand."

Fluctuations of Soul Power began emanating from him, and a crushing pressure as heavy as a mountain bore down on Lu Ren.

"So how exactly do they need you?"

Lu Ren narrowed his eyes.

That pressure was like collapsing mountains and a raging tsunami. An ordinary Soul Ancestor would already have crumpled to the floor.

But he stood where he was, utterly motionless, without even a change in expression.

Cursed energy and Soul Power quietly circulated over the surface of his body, keeping all that pressure outside.

A trace of surprise flashed through Xuan Zi's eyes.

He had released pressure at the level of a rank-sixty Soul Emperor, intending to put the boy in his place, yet the other party had not even furrowed his brow.

He silently began increasing the intensity.

Sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-four...

The pressure climbed layer upon layer. Fine cracks began appearing in the corridor's stone floor, and dust sifted down from gaps in the ceiling.

Lu Ren still stood where he was, like a reef battered by waves for millions of years, completely unaffected by the pressure Xuan Zi released.

"That's not what I meant." Lu Ren's voice was steady. "I'm talking about the Continental Soul Master Tournament. They need me to lead them to victory over Shrek."

Xuan Zi's pressure stalled for an instant.

"Shrek Academy has held the championship for too long, and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy wants a championship more desperately than you do."

The corridor fell silent for a moment.

Then Xuan Zi laughed.

It was no longer his earlier contemptuous chuckle, but a great laugh bursting from deep within his chest.

He rocked back and forth with laughter, utterly oblivious as wine spilled from his flask and splashed onto his robes.

"Hahahaha! Defeat Shrek? You?"

He wiped away the tears he had laughed out, his eyes filled with disdain and ridicule.

"Boy, do you know how many consecutive championships Shrek Academy has won in the Continental Soul Master Tournament?"

"And do you know how monstrous the Shrek Seven Devils have been in every generation?"

"You, a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor, and this bunch of Soul Engineers who only know how to hide behind Soul Tools, dare make such an outrageous claim?"

His smile vanished, and the pressure of his Soul Power abruptly surged.

His terrifying presence crashed down like a mountain ten thousand fathoms high. The walls on both sides of the corridor began trembling, the floor cracked, and shattered stones flew.

This pressure was enough to shatter a Soul Emperor's nerve and make a Soul King faint on the spot.

Strangely, however, the surrounding area seemed completely unaffected. Even other students returning to their dormitories did not notice the disturbance here at all.

Presumably, Xuan Zi's spiritual power had sealed off the entire scene, preventing anyone from noticing what was happening here.

Lu Ren stood where he was. The rushing air lifted the hem of his clothes and stirred his hair slightly, but his body did not retreat half a step, nor did his knees bend in the slightest.

Not only that, his own Soul Power surged from deep within his body, spreading beneath his feet like an undercurrent until it covered the entire scene.

It began confronting Xuan Zi's pressure head-on.

The two forces collided in the corridor, stirring up rings of ripples visible to the naked eye.

Xuan Zi's pupils contracted slightly. This boy's body is this powerful?

I've already raised the pressure to that of a rank-seventy Soul Saint, and he can still contend with it?

"Hold the championship too long, and it's easy to become trapped in your own ways." Lu Ren's voice was quiet, yet it pierced clearly through that pressure. "Shrek's glory has long since become your shackles."

"And the Sun Moon Empire's Soul Engineers' obsessive desire for the championship will become the sharpest blade."

He raised his eyes to meet Xuan Zi's gaze. A trace of scarlet flashed deep within his pitch-black eyes.

"Besides, I'm here."