"Consequences?" Lu Ren chuckled, his tone light, as though discussing something that had nothing to do with him. "How would I know? Anyway, probably something worse than death. Or perhaps you'll lose what matters most to you?"
He shrugged, indicating that he was innocent, too.
"Who knows about these things? Even if you're a Level 98 Super Douluo, at most you'll hold out a little longer. In the end, you still can't escape the price of breaking the vow. Besides, you swore on your Martial Soul. Aren't you afraid of damaging it? You could call that a double safeguard."
Even someone as powerful as Sukuna, the King of Curses, had ultimately been beaten to death with Itadori's bare fists, hadn't he?
Perhaps that was the price. Sukuna had toyed with Itadori for so long, only to die at his hands in the end.
With Sukuna's abilities and skills, he would have been a formidable combatant on the Douluo Continent, at least a Level 99 Limit Douluo, and an exceptionally powerful Evil Soul Master at that.
So could Xuan Zi alone escape the price of breaking a Binding Vow?
Not to mention the risk of his Martial Soul shattering.
With every sentence Lu Ren spoke, the sense of restraint upon Xuan Zi grew heavier.
The fear rising from the depths of his soul grew ever stronger, like a rising tide creeping over a seawall, inch by inch.
He could feel that the power was neither a threat nor a warning, but an unquestionable inevitability.
Once he broke the vow, the price would inevitably come due.
No power could stop it, and no method could circumvent it.
This was essentially... the power of rules!
It was like an Invincible Shield produced through a Soul Skill. Its invincibility was real; without the power of a god, breaking it was simply impossible.
"You set me up?!"
Xuan Zi suddenly roared in fury.
The presence of a Level 98 Super Douluo erupted with a thunderous force. Cracks instantly covered the walls on both sides of the corridor, rubble showered down like rain, and the Soul Guidance Lamps on the ceiling burst, sending fragments flying.
The entire corridor trembled like building blocks shaken by an earthquake.
Xuan Zi's eyes were filled with fury and disbelief.
In all his years, he had encountered countless sinister, cunning people, but never a youth with such outrageous audacity.
He had actually dared to conceal such a terrifying contingency in a wager with a Super Douluo like him.
Lu Ren stood where he was without retreating.
Rubble flew past him, and dust settled on his shoulders. His figure looked frail and insignificant amid that furious presence, yet he remained utterly still, like an iron stake driven into rock.
"Set you up?" He shook his head. "Hardly. I merely laid the rules out in the open."
He raised his head and looked straight into Xuan Zi's bloodshot, furious eyes.
"The wager was voluntary on both sides, and so was the Binding Vow. If you weren't certain you would win, if you thought Shrek Academy would lose, you could have refused."
The corners of his lips lifted slightly. His faint smile resembled a sliver of cold light reflected off a blade.
"But you agreed, because you didn't think you would lose, because Shrek Academy has won the championship so many times in succession, because you thought a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor couldn't stir up any waves."
He paused.
"In that case, what are you still afraid of? Even I'm not scared."
At those words, Xuan Zi's roar stopped abruptly.
He stood there, his chest heaving like an enraged old beast.
His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and the fierce wind billowed his cuffs with a snapping rustle.
He looked at Lu Ren, his gaze as complicated as a dense fog that could not be stirred apart.
Anger, shock, admiration, and wariness flashed in turn in his eyes, like clouds churning in a storm.
"Good." His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping stone. "What a Lu Ren."
"A mere Soul Ancestor, yet you dare scheme against me. Have you lived long enough?"
Lu Ren was covered in blood, his face devoid of color, yet a barely perceptible smile lingered at his lips.
"You can't kill me." Lu Ren's voice was quiet, but every word was clear. "If I die, the wager falls through, because you'll never be able to personally place the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone in my hands."
"Surely you didn't come all the way from Shrek just to return empty-handed?"
Xuan Zi's breath caught.
"Besides." Lu Ren changed tack, his gaze sharpening. "When I was disclosing information just now, and before the wager was established, you could have refused to listen. You could even have killed me immediately, or knocked me unconscious to shut me up."
"But you didn't. You were curious. You wanted to know the truth about Binding Vows, so you kept listening. Strengthening this Binding Vow was a choice we made together. There's no question of either of us setting the other up."
"In other words, if we hadn't both been sincere, this wager could never have gone ahead. You have only your own arrogance and conceit to blame."
Xuan Zi trembled with rage, yet could not refute him.
Lu Ren was right. He had indeed been drawn to this unusual ability and wanted to get to the bottom of it.
In all his years, he had never seen such a bizarre way of forming a contract.
But who could have known that it was a trap to reinforce the Binding Vow?
"You think you can trap me with tricks like these?"
Xuan Zi's voice turned cold. The Soul Power within him surged like raging waves as he tried to force his way through the invisible power coiled around his heart.
Yet no matter how hard he exerted himself, those chains did not budge. Instead, they tightened further as he resisted.
A sharp pain came from the depths of his soul, as though someone were pricking his spiritual consciousness with needles.
"Trap you?" Lu Ren smiled. There was no mockery in his smile, only calm. "I'm not capable of that. I merely want to ensure that this wager proceeds fairly."
"You're a Level 98 Super Douluo, and I'm a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor. The gap between our strength is as vast as heaven and earth. If I didn't bring out a few tricks from the bottom of my chest, this wager would have been unfair from the very beginning."
He looked at Xuan Zi, his tone as serious as if he were signing a document of life and death.
"Now the contract is formed, and the Binding Vow is secured. Neither of us has room to go back on our word. Either I win a few months from now, and you obediently hand over a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, or I lose, obediently join Shrek, and do your bidding."
He paused, lowering his voice a little, a hint of warning in it.
"As for the price of breaking the vow, you understand it better than I do. With your standing and position, with Shrek's honor at stake, you can't afford to lose, much less break the vow. Even you can't withstand the power of this Binding Vow."
"As for me, heh, I'm just an orphan. It doesn't matter at all if I die. But if I can drag a Super Douluo like you down with me before I die, my life will have been worth it."
Xuan Zi stared fixedly at Lu Ren, his chest heaving.
The fury in his eyes gradually gave way to helplessness and deep wariness.
He knew that this time, he had truly fallen into a trap.
The youth before him possessed not only monstrous talent, but also a ruthless, meticulous mind.
Even a Super Douluo like him had been thoroughly outmaneuvered.
"The only reason I could set you up was your arrogance." Lu Ren's tone was level, as though stating a fact. "You never took me seriously, nor did you ever give me a proper look."
"So sometimes, weakness is a weapon, too."
What he did not say was that if someone else had come, or even Mu En in person, things would have been much trickier.
But the one who had come was Xuan Zi, the most unreliable person in Shrek Academy.
The moment he saw Xuan Zi appear before him, he had nearly laughed aloud.
Just by taking part in a single tournament, he could wrangle two Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones out of them.
One from Jing Hongchen, one from Shrek.
All the benefits were his. This deal was far too worthwhile.
As for breaking the vow, if Xuan Zi did not even want his own life, what more could Lu Ren say?
He could go ahead and break it. At worst, Lu Ren would collect Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones himself once he grew stronger.
Before you continue