"He's gone." Lu Ren shook his head very slightly. "Even if he's dead set on taking me away, you can't protect me every moment of every day. He's a Level 98 Super Douluo, isn't he?"
Jing Hongchen's brow furrowed even more deeply.
"How can you be so sure he's gone?"
Lu Ren rolled his eyes.
"He has to go back and prepare for the tournament in a few months, push his students harder, and then defeat me head-on. He has to go back and report what he's learned." His tone made it sound like a matter of course. "After all, he and I made a wager sworn on our Martial Souls."
Jing Hongchen froze.
"If Shrek wins the tournament, I join them. If they lose, they have to give me something."
"If he breaks the agreement..." Lu Ren paused, then said, "Care to guess what'll happen to Xuan Zi?"
Jing Hongchen stood stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.
His laughter echoed through the empty corridor, leaving him gasping for breath and squeezing deep wrinkles into the corners of his eyes.
"So that was your goal? You revealed your existence at Shrek just for this?"
"Maybe." Lu Ren shrugged casually. "I'm tired. Time to go back and rest."
He braced himself against the wall and stood, his movements somewhat slow but steady.
Jing Hongchen watched him walk past, watched the color visibly return to his pale face, and finally could not resist asking:
"How are your injuries healing so quickly?"
"Because I wasn't injured in the first place."
Lu Ren tossed those words over his shoulder without looking back, pushed open his dormitory door, and disappeared behind it.
Jing Hongchen stood where he was, staring at the closed door in silence for a long time. Then he turned and walked toward the other end of the corridor.
His footsteps echoed one after another through the empty corridor, gradually fading into the distance.
He took the many questions lurking in his heart with him as he went.
The mystery Lu Ren displayed truly made Jing Hongchen more and more curious.
After Lu Ren returned to his dormitory, deep within his Sea of Consciousness.
The dormant gray bead trembled slightly, radiating a gentle halo.
Electrolux's voice came from the bead, thick with amazement:
"Little fellow, that was beautifully played."
Lu Ren sat cross-legged on his bed, eyes closed in concentration.
Within his Sea of Consciousness, that aged consciousness slowly approached him, like a wisp of barely perceptible smoke.
"Using your own Martial Soul's ability as the lure and taking advantage of the opportunity presented by a Martial Soul oath, you managed to ensnare even a Level 98 Super Douluo. This Binding Vow ability is even more terrifying than I imagined."
There was a trace of laughter in Electrolux's voice, both appreciative and reflective.
"Speaking of which, that deal you proposed earlier-having me help you with all my strength while you provide Cursed Energy to nourish me-I imagine that also established a mutual Binding Vow between us?"
Lu Ren spoke sincerely:
"You jest, Elder Yi. You're a senior who crossed between planes. How would I dare restrain you with a Binding Vow?"
"The deal I mentioned before was nothing more than a sincere request to cooperate."
"You help me, and I provide Cursed Energy to nourish your remnant soul. It's purely mutually beneficial, with no compulsory restraints to speak of."
"Besides, the main reason we reached that wager was that he looked down on me. None of this amounts to much. What matters most is growing stronger yourself. That's the true path."
Within his Sea of Consciousness, the gray bead gave a gentle pulse.
"Indeed." A trace of gratification entered Electrolux's voice, like an elder's satisfaction at watching a junior grow. "To possess such a disposition and insight at your tender age-I was not wrong about you."
The bead slowly rotated, giving off an even brighter halo.
"You absorbed quite a few negative emotions from Xuan Zi today. I benefited from them as well and recovered more memories of my past..."
He paused, as though hesitating over something.
"Would you like to learn my necromancy?"
"You're willing to teach me, Elder Yi?" Lu Ren asked.
"I reside within you and receive nourishment from your power. If I taught you nothing, it would seem I was living and eating here for free." Electrolux's laughter was aged and gentle. "Besides, I also want to see what sparks might fly when the rules of this world collide with necromancy."
Lu Ren fell silent for a moment.
"Then I'll be in your care, Elder Yi."
Within his Sea of Consciousness, the gray bead stopped rotating.
A barely perceptible consciousness reached out from the halo, like an invisible hand settling gently upon Lu Ren's soul.
"There's no hurry." Electrolux's voice was calm. "My necromancy isn't something you can learn overnight."
"Let's start with the very basics."
Lu Ren closed his eyes, sensing that aged consciousness slowly unfurl within his Sea of Consciousness.
It was like an ancient book, long sealed beneath dust, being opened, its yellowed pages covered in writing that did not belong to this era.
Far away, in the direction of Shrek, Xuan Zi was racing through the dusk.
His silhouette stretched long and thin in the sunset's lingering glow, like an arrow loosed from its bow, shooting toward the distant horizon.
The constricting sensation in his chest remained, like an invisible thread tightly connecting him to the youth lying in a dormitory in Mingdu.
He gritted his teeth and increased his speed.
He had to win the tournament in a few months.
Not for that Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, but for Shrek's thousand years of glory, for that dignity that could not be sullied.
Yet deep within his heart, a voice quietly asked:
What if we lose?
That question was like a thorn lodged in his heart, impossible to pull out.
"I need to return to the academy and hold a meeting to discuss this."
Xuan Zi's face was filled with guilt.
It seemed I'd... caused trouble again.
Shrek Academy, Sea God Island, Sea God Pavilion.
This small place was, in fact, the true center of power for all of Shrek Academy.
Everyone who could set foot here was among the foremost powerhouses of the age.
At this moment, however, the atmosphere in the Sea God Pavilion's council chamber held a strange, subtle tension.
More than a dozen pavilion elders sat upright on either side of the long table.
Among them were white-haired elders as well as middle-aged people who appeared to be in their prime.
Every one of them had a presence as deep as an abyssal sea and was at least a Titled Douluo.
And at this moment, all their gazes fell in unison upon the figure at the doorway.
Xuan Zi stood at the entrance, his shabby gray robe still stained with dust from his journey, his disheveled hair blown by the wind into even more of a bird's nest.
He held a wine jug in one hand and scratched the back of his head with the other, his entire bearing steeped in indescribable awkwardness.
"Ahem."
He gave a dry cough and stepped into the council chamber.
Elder Song sat at the head of the table's right side. Although this Level 97 Azure Shadow Douluo had a full head of silver hair, her face was exceptionally well preserved. She glanced at Xuan Zi out of the corner of her eye, her tone cool:
"Oh, isn't this our Taotie Douluo? Calling everyone here for a Sea God Pavilion Meeting in the middle of the night-what fine deed have you done this time?"
Xuan Zi's steps stiffened.
He silently walked to his seat and sat down, set his wine jug on the table, and drew a deep breath.
"I... may have caused trouble again."
Before you continue