Amid their fury and frustration, Qian Yuhan and Ye Si finally began to take Wu Wei's cultivation technique seriously.
The technique Wu Wei had said could cultivate automatically.
They were both gods cultivating anew. Whether it was the quality of their Martial Souls, their cultivation experience, or the foundations of their divine souls, what part of them didn't utterly surpass mortals?
And yet they were slower than Wu Wei.
There was only one explanation: the technique.
Wu Wei's technique, the one that could cultivate automatically, was the key.
Ye Si's mind began to race.
He had already had his fill of her, and she was bound to take the loss. But she couldn't take it for nothing, could she? Since she couldn't escape, she might as well get some benefits out of him.
She had to find a way to get her hands on the technique.
She turned her head and glanced at Qian Yuhan.
Long golden hair fell over Qian Yuhan's shoulders. Her expression was cold and her golden eyes were lowered, giving nothing away.
But Ye Si noticed that Qian Yuhan's fingers were gently rubbing her own wrist. It was a habit of hers when she was plotting something.
It seemed Qian Yuhan had thought of the same thing.
The corners of Ye Si's lips curled up slightly.
She and Qian Yuhan usually couldn't stand each other, but when it came to Wu Wei, their interests aligned.
"Master~"
Ye Si wrapped both arms around Wu Wei's waist from behind and rested her chin on his shoulder, her voice soft and seductive.
Qian Yuhan's eyelid twitched when she heard how cloyingly sweet Ye Si's "master" sounded.
Of course she knew what Ye Si was doing, and she knew what the other woman was after.
She wanted to get the cultivation technique from Wu Wei too, but she couldn't bring herself to be as shameless as Ye Si.
Still, she said nothing. Her ears visibly perked up as she listened in silence.
"Master~ You see, the two of us belong to you now," Ye Si murmured against Wu Wei's ear, her breath fragrant as orchids. "Could you teach us that technique of yours that cultivates automatically?"
Wu Wei didn't even lift an eyelid, though the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. "You want to learn my technique?"
"Mmm~" Ye Si rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. "We've become your maids. You can't let us stay this weak forever, can you? If we run into danger someday and can't even shield you from it, wouldn't that make you, our master, lose face?"
She spoke with such heartfelt sincerity that it seemed she really was thinking of Wu Wei in everything she did.
But Wu Wei's heart was as clear as a mirror. This woman called him sweet names, but in her heart she couldn't wait to cut him into a thousand pieces.
Still, he didn't mind. Raising these two women up would indeed benefit him. The stronger they became, the more they could help him do.
But not now.
"I can teach you the technique." Wu Wei turned his head to look at Ye Si's pretty face so close to his, his smile full of meaning. "But that depends on how you behave from now on."
"Really?" Ye Si's eyes lit up.
"I keep my word." Wu Wei reached out and pinched her chin. "Once this young master is satisfied, I'll naturally teach it to you."
Ye Si smiled brightly, but inwardly she was cursing him.
This bastard said it depended on their behavior, but what he really wanted was to keep them under his thumb.
But she also knew they had no room to bargain right now. Whether they could learn the technique was what mattered most.
Just as Wu Wei was considering how to train the two goddesses, the image on the Heavenly Screen in the past shifted to the space above his head.
[Name: Wu Wei] [Age: 19] [Cultivation: level 2] [Soul Rings: none]
Beneath the Heavenly Screen, the Douluo Continent fell silent for another instant, then erupted.
"Level 2?! It's only been a few days, and he's already level 2?"
"Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue only broke through to level 1 yesterday, and he's already level 2 today?"
"Those Titled Douluo still haven't broken through to level 1!"
"That speed is terrifying!"
Everyone was once again shocked by Wu Wei's cultivation speed.
Meanwhile, in an inconspicuous inn in a small town, young Wu Wei lay curled up on a bed in the attic, looking up at his future self's status card on the Heavenly Screen. He was rather speechless too.
"Not fair!"
"We're all cultivating the same technique, so why is future me so fast? It'll take me at least another half a month to get from level 5 to level 6, but he's reached level 2 in just three or four days."
Of course, young Wu Wei was only complaining.
He knew perfectly well.
His future self could cultivate so quickly purely because he had evolved his Martial Soul to a very high level.
That was an Azure Dragon!
His Martial Soul was still a Wind Spirit Snake. It hadn't evolved even once, so naturally its quality couldn't compare with the future Azure Dragon.
The Heavenly Screen paid no heed to young Wu Wei's feelings. The image moved away from his future self and settled within the Heaven Dou Empire.
A town called Qinghe City.
More than three hundred people had gathered at the city gate, all dressed in coarse hemp clothing. They clutched hoes, woodcutting knives, and iron rods, while some carried hunting forks and pitchforks.
There were old and young, men and women among them, but the look in every pair of eyes was equally cold.
Blocking the city gate was a squad of a dozen or so Soul Masters. Their leader was a middle-aged man in his forties, with the badge of a third-rank baron of the Heaven Dou Empire pinned to his chest.
His name was Zhou Xun. He had originally been a Soul King, but was now level 0.
"Y-you... what are you trying to do?" Zhou Xun's face went pale as he backed away, shielding the Soul Master squad behind him.
A lame old man stepped out in front of the crowd.
He leaned on a wooden crutch worn smooth and shiny. His left trouser leg hung empty, deep furrows crossed his face, and his cloudy old eyes stared fixedly at Zhou Xun.
"Baron Zhou, do you still recognize this old man?"
Zhou Xun stared at him for several seconds, then his pupils abruptly contracted. "Y-you... you're Old Limping Zhao from the east of Qinghe City?"
"I'm surprised my lord baron still remembers this old man." Old Limping Zhao grinned, showing a few yellow teeth. "Three years ago, my son hunted a Ten-Year Soul Beast outside the city. He skinned it and took the hide to sell. Your men happened to pass by and said the baron's residence had set its sights on the beast first. They stole the hide and broke both my son's legs. My son didn't survive that winter."
His voice wasn't loud, but every word seemed to be squeezed through his teeth.
"Later, my daughter-in-law went to the baron's residence to demand justice. Your men dragged her into the back courtyard, and when they carried her out the next day, she had already gone mad. Half a month later, she threw herself down a well."
With every sentence Old Limping Zhao spoke, Zhou Xun's face grew a shade paler.
"Y-you... what exactly do you want?"
Zhou Xun's voice was trembling.
"What do I want?" Old Limping Zhao raised his wooden crutch and pointed it straight at Zhou Xun's nose. "Before, you Soul Masters had Soul Power and Soul Skills, and ordinary people like us couldn't do a thing to you. We took our complaints to the authorities, but they didn't dare intervene. We took them to the empire, and the empire said it couldn't interfere in Soul Masters' affairs."
"And now?"
He slammed his wooden crutch against the ground.
"Your Soul Power is gone, your Soul Skills are gone, and you Soul Masters are the same as us now. No, you're even more useless than we are! At least we have some strength in our arms. What about you? What can you do besides bully ordinary people?"
"Yeah! What else can you do?" A burly man in the crowd raised his hoe. "Beat them to death!"
"Beat these beasts to death!"
"Don't let a single one escape!"
The crowd surged forward like a flood bursting through a breached dam.
Zhou Xun tried to run, but his Soul Power had been reduced to zero, and his body was only a little sturdier than that of an ordinary burly man.
A hoe came crashing down. He raised an arm to block it, and the blow struck his forearm with a sharp crack of bone.
"Ah-!"
But Old Limping Zhao struck him on the back of the head with his crutch, and he fell facedown.
He lay on the ground, the angry roars of the ordinary people he had once looked down on ringing in his ears, Old Limping Zhao's face full of wrinkles and tears before his eyes.
"Y-you... this is rebellion..." he shouted indistinctly.
"Rebellion?" Old Limping Zhao crouched down and looked at him, his voice icy. "Soul Masters have placed themselves above the law for so many years. You're the real rebels. Today, this old man will carry out justice on heaven's behalf."