At Lin Xi's command, Artoria appeared before him.
The young man had never seen such beauty before. His eyes immediately went wide and fixed on her.
But Artoria had no eyes for him. She smiled at Lin Xi and said approvingly, "Well done, Master. For a six-year-old child, your fight just now was quite impressive."
"Oh, stop flattering me. I've still got a long way to go." Lin Xi plopped down on the ground and waved a hand. "I'll leave the rest to you."
"Yes, Master. I shall bring you victory."
Artoria raised the invisible sword in her hand and faced the young man.
The young man had already recovered his senses. He glanced at the yellow Soul Ring beside Lin Xi and gave a lewd smile.
"Kid, you're already a Soul Master at your age? Pretty talented, huh? Looks like a mutated Martial Soul? I won't hold what just happened against you. How about following me? I guarantee you'll live the good life."
He had figured it out. Artoria was this little brat's Martial Soul.
How enviable. This brat was bound to be very happy once he grew up.
But that did not necessarily mean he would never get a turn with her.
As long as he found a way to trick this little brat into coming over to his side, how could he fail to control her?
As for strength, the young man was not too worried. Although he did not know why the brat's first Soul Ring was yellow, he had a hundred-year Soul Ring too. Besides, he was a Soul Grandmaster. There was no reason he would lose to this fellow.
Lin Xi ignored him. What answered him was an invisible sword's edge.
Artoria surged forward and swung her longsword fiercely. Before the young man could even react, he was sent flying.
"Ugh! It hurts! Aaaaaah!" the young man screamed.
Although Artoria had not struck to kill and had not used the blade's edge, she had not held back her strength either. He felt his internal organs twitching and throbbing, and the nausea surging up nearly made him vomit on the spot.
A smug smile curled the corners of Lin Xi's mouth.
Although Artoria frequently suffered setbacks in the original story, that was because she had always been short on mana, and her opponents had all been great heroes from myth and history.
In reality, with her Divine Realm Swordsmanship and Mana Burst, she ranked among the very best even in sword-to-sword combat alone.
At the very least, she was far stronger than this good-for-nothing thug before them.
"Ugh... aaaaaah!"
Clutching his stomach, the young man shakily climbed to his feet, his eyes becoming bloodshot.
"Damn bitch! You forced me to do this! Don't regret it!"
Then his yellow Soul Ring lit up, and he actually grew a size larger.
This was the hundred-year Soul Ring he had obtained with great difficulty. While using it, he could even contend with a Soul Elder for a short time!
He refused to believe this bitch could defeat him like this. He would make her pay and regret what she had just done for all eternity!
Yet at this sight, Lin Xi merely curled his lip in disdain.
"A black snake is a kind of venomous snake, right? Instead of finding a way to strengthen its venom, he wasted a skill slot on improving his physique. What an idiot."
He was not worried in the slightest that Artoria would lose to the young man.
Even if her strength was currently limited by Lin Xi's total Soul Power, leaving her stats only on par with an ordinary Soul Master's, the King of Knights could never lose to an enemy of this level.
Sure enough, the fight that followed could only be described as completely one-sided.
The young man's fierce but clumsy attacks could not even touch the girl as she swung her longsword as though dancing. Blow after blow, invisible to the naked eye, landed on him, making him howl loudly.
Artoria, by contrast, swung her longsword with an utterly normal expression, as though she were doing something completely ordinary.
This enraged the young man even further. He lunged at Artoria again as though he had lost his mind, no longer caring about her beauty. He only wanted to make this damned bitch pay.
Yet this frenzy did him no good at all. Soon, he collapsed to the ground like a discarded rag, unable to rise again.
"Y-you'll pay for this..."
The young man spoke hoarsely, coughing up blood.
"Heh, whatever makes you happy." Lin Xi paid him no heed. Instead, he walked straight past the few brats trembling after their boss's defeat and came up to Huo Yutong. "Are you all right?"
"Y-you... actually beat that guy up?" Huo Yutong clearly had yet to recover her senses.
Lin Xi patted her head. "Yes, that's right. He probably won't bully you anymore."
"This..." Huo Yutong's brain had somewhat frozen. "W-why did you save me?"
"Hmm..." Lin Xi glanced at the Command Spell on his hand and said helplessly, "Probably because fate was at work."
"I-is that so?" Huo Yutong's little face flushed slightly. Rather timidly, she asked, "What's your name?"
"My name is Lin Xi."
Lin Xi answered with a smile.
"Then, I-I'm Dai Yutong. Thank you for helping me today!"
Huo Yutong thanked him repeatedly.
Lin Xi waved a hand casually.
"It's fine. It was no more trouble than lifting a hand. Could I come sit at your place for a while?"
"Of course!"
Huo Yutong nodded vigorously and rose with some difficulty. Lin Xi hurriedly steadied her.
"Take it slowly. There's no rush."
"O-okay!"
Watching Huo Yutong hastily nod no matter what he said, Lin Xi's lips curved into a pleased smile.
Good. The plan is going smoothly.
His next plan was to forge an unbreakable bond with Huo Yutong.
As the protagonist of the original story, Huo Yutong had a personality Lin Xi knew all too well.
As long as someone lent her a hand in her time of need, she would certainly give everything she had to repay them.
Even Shrek, which had once treated him unfairly, had benefited greatly because of this.
To put it bluntly, this was a servility etched into his bones, the result of Huo Yuhao's long childhood of meekly enduring whatever came his way.
And Lin Xi intended to take advantage of this.
Speaking of which, although he no longer intended to snatch Huo Yutong's opportunities for himself, that did not mean he necessarily had to give them to Huo Yutong.
Leaving everything else aside, with her spiritual and ice attributes, Princess Vina of the Body Sect was practically a perfect match for Huo Yuhao's cheats.
Yet after repeated consideration, he had still decided to follow the original story and let Huo Yutong receive these cheats.
There was only one reason: adding flowers to brocade could not compare to delivering charcoal in the snow.
People like Vina already possessed outstanding enough talent. Although cheats like Tian Meng and the Ice Empress were rare treasures they could encounter only by chance, they could still live very well without them.
But Huo Yutong was different.
Without these cheats, she might truly go her entire life without finding a chance for revenge, ultimately falling onto an evil path or dying in misery.
Combined with her own personality, Lin Xi was certain that after receiving these things under his guidance, she would be deeply grateful to him.
That was enough. This was precisely the result Lin Xi wanted. He was not acquainted with those big shots anyway. Rather than give them good things in exchange for benefits, he might as well personally raise a child of destiny.
With nothing more than a little insignificant kindness and opportunities he had no use for, he could gain a protagonist stronger than in the original story who would obey him one hundred percent. What an incredible bargain!
Wait, one hundred percent obedient?
At this thought, a sudden idea struck Lin Xi, and he looked at the girl beside him.
"By the way, Yutong, could you promise me something?"
"Okay! What is it?"
Huo Yutong hurriedly agreed before even hearing what it was.
She had been fretting over how to thank Lin Xi, so his question was exactly what she had hoped for.
As long as it did not concern her mother, she could agree to anything.
Lin Xi waved a hand with a wry smile.
"All right, don't get so excited. It's nothing major. It's just... could you promise me that, no matter what happens in the future, you won't join the Tang Sect?"
"Hmm?" Huo Yutong tilted her head in confusion. She did not understand what Lin Xi meant.
But since Lin Xi had asked this of her, she naturally would not refuse.
"Okay."
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Divine Realm where fortune swirled.
A figure with long, flowing hair suddenly twisted his face into a ferocious expression and roared:
"Damn it! Who was it? Who interfered with the child of destiny's fate? You have already chosen the path to your death!"