What if I were an Evil Soul Master?

"Lu Cheng, you've crossed the line."

Mu En's expression was impassive.

Though his tone was calm, it carried a trace of anger. Clearly, by this point, he could no longer tolerate it at all.

Especially after Lu Cheng had led the Shrek Academy Team to a crushing championship victory and returned, the entire Inner Court had begun to show signs of looking to him as its leader. His prestige was so immense that one might not find a comparable Shrek Inner Court disciple even looking back several thousand years.

He had realized that he had to make this boy leave. Otherwise, in a few more years, the price of getting rid of Lu Cheng would probably be staggering...

If, that night... he had not revealed anything unusual and had simply allowed Zhang Lexuan to be killed, perhaps none of this would have happened. He would have accepted Lu Cheng like a kindly master, patiently teaching him as his chosen successor. And the outcome would have been that, once he was old and feeble, he would have raised a vicious wolf that would swallow both him and Shrek Academy in one gulp.

Quietly studying Lu Cheng, Mu En sighed inwardly.

Choosing to kill Zhang Lexuan back then had absolutely been the most correct decision he had ever made. By sheer accident, he had exposed the secret hidden in the deepest recesses of the boy's heart...

"..."

Yan Shaozhe silently looked down at Lu Cheng and shook his head.

Perhaps there was regret, but more than that, there was a trace of resentment. At some point, that foolish disciple of his had fallen for this boy, and she was so hopelessly love-brained that even eight oxen could not drag her back...

But this was just as well. Now that his teacher had finally decided to make this boy defect, that girl would presumably see things clearly and sever ties with him from then on.

Since ancient times, righteousness and evil had never coexisted. This boy ought to return to his rightful place as well.

But with his talent, wouldn't letting him fall into evil like this be releasing a tiger back into the mountains?

Lu Cheng stood quietly in place, his face expressionless.

Only after an unknown length of time did he nod lightly. "All right."

"Eldest Senior Brother, Xiaotao's Evil Fire is acting up again. It's such a pain..."

He had just left Sea God Island when a lovely, fiery-red figure darted out from beside him and latched onto Lu Cheng like a stubborn medicinal plaster.

The girl circled at Lu Cheng's side, a blooming fire lotus painted between her brows. Her skin was white as snow, her lips red and her teeth white, and her figure was beginning to take shape. A ingratiating look rested on her pretty little face.

"Where's Lexuan?" Lu Cheng glanced at the girl and asked impassively.

"Hehe, Senior Sister Lexuan and the others all went out on missions. Once I'm a little older and join the Inner Court's Inspection Corps, I'll go on missions with you too and hunt down Evil Soul Masters!"

Ma Xiaotao shook Lu Cheng's arm as she wheedled.

"You're not afraid of Evil Soul Masters?" Lu Cheng raised his eyebrows.

"No!" Ma Xiaotao's phoenix eyes instantly widened. "If I run into those beasts, I'll burn them all to death with phoenix fire! Besides, I'll have you there, Eldest Senior Brother. I can just hide behind you and watch, hehe..."

The girl was as lively as a little firebird.

"..."

Lu Cheng fell silent for a long time, his gaze resting quietly on Ma Xiaotao. "Then what if I were an Evil Soul Master too?"

"Hahahaha, how could that be? What a lame joke. Eldest Senior Brother, if you were an Evil Soul Master, wouldn't that make us a whole nest of Evil Soul Masters?" Ma Xiaotao doubled over, clutching her stomach with laughter.

"But what if?"

Lu Cheng's expression remained calm. Watching the girl slowly straighten up and look at him with some surprise, he still asked quietly.

"Eldest Senior Brother, don't scare me..."

Ma Xiaotao's laughter gradually faded, but even though she was somewhat bewildered, her hands never once let go of Lu Cheng's arm.

"Heh, I was only joking."

Only when he saw that the girl's expression was a little off did Lu Cheng smile and ruffle her hair. "How could I be an Evil Soul Master..."

"You're always like this, giving me a fright out of nowhere!" Ma Xiaotao puffed out her cheeks and glared at Lu Cheng, her lovely eyes wide.

"..."

"Eldest Senior Brother!"

"Senior Brother Lu Cheng!"

"..."

The Shrek Inner Court.

The atmosphere for cultivation was fairly good. Quite a few disciples encountered Lu Cheng and Ma Xiaotao on their way back and greeted them with considerable respect.

The titles of senior brother and senior sister were determined not by age, but by cultivation and the age at which one had entered the Inner Court.

For example, Zhang Lexuan in the original story had only been twenty-eight or twenty-nine, yet many Inner Court disciples older than her still had to respectfully address her as Eldest Senior Sister. There was no other reason: her strength made her the undisputed number one in the Inner Court. Even Han Ruoruo fell somewhat short.

"How did the mission go?" Ma Xiaotao greeted them casually. Speaking of which, her seniority was not low. She had grown up in the Inner Court, and many Inner Court disciples knew her. "How many Evil Soul Masters did you kill?"

"Several beasts have been causing trouble in Heaven Dou City lately, slaughtering civilians and extracting souls everywhere. They seem to be collecting them for the Holy Spirit Cult's higher-ups to cultivate with. Unfortunately, several got away..." an Inner Court disciple said with a sigh.

"Xiaotao, clinging to Eldest Senior Brother again? Careful Senior Sister Lexuan doesn't see you and spank you." Another female disciple named Ruomu teased her with a smile.

"Eldest Senior Brother belongs to the Inner Court, not just Sister Lexuan. Besides, I'm only clinging to him for a little while when she's away. What's wrong with that?" Ma Xiaotao shot Ruomu a glare.

"Besides, it's not as if I couldn't be the junior wife..."

"I'll honor Sister Lexuan as the principal wife. Just give me a place."

The corner of Lu Cheng's mouth twitched; he could not keep a straight face.

The surrounding Inner Court disciples also burst into laughter.

"Brother."

Then a woman's lovely, lilting voice rang out.

All the Inner Court disciples froze.

One after another, they found excuses to leave. Even Ma Xiaotao pursed her lips and glanced enviously at Zhang Lexuan before being pulled away, grumbling.

An exquisitely beautiful figure approached with light steps, accompanied by a string of clear, pleasing chimes. Her graceful, alluring figure and peerlessly beautiful, gentle face possessed a charm that even the Inner Court's monotonous red-and-white uniform could not conceal...

Dignified, elegant, and poised.

She's grown into her looks...

Lu Cheng's eyes went distant for a moment.

"What are you staring at? You don't recognize me after just one mission away?" A trace of warmth now entered Zhang Lexuan's normally cool, pale-blue eyes.

"You've grown up. You're even prettier now..." Lu Cheng chuckled and ruffled the girl's hair.

Looking between her brows, he saw a pure-white blossom in bloom, perfectly matching the beauty's elegant, cool demeanor.

Originally, Ma Xiaotao had not had a blossom between her brows either, but after seeing Zhang Lexuan's, that girl had begged Lu Cheng to paint one for her too. Apparently, quite a few people in the Inner Court had mocked her as an ugly woman imitating a beauty's frown, but she enjoyed it all the same. She showed off to everyone she met that Lu Cheng had painted it himself, and even said she was Lu Cheng's little wife...

"A rank sixty-two Soul Emperor already?"

Lu Cheng chuckled as he studied Zhang Lexuan.

Over these years, the girl had not fallen far behind in her cultivation either. Three months earlier, she had traveled far from home on a mission to Heaven Dou City, and had also stopped by the Star Dou Great Forest to obtain her sixth Soul Ring.