Zhang Lexuan Arrived

"The knockout stage begins tomorrow. This is the most important hurdle Shrek Academy will face. If they can get through it, the subsequent group stage will be much easier."

Wang Yan smiled, his gaze lingering longest on Lu Cheng.

He paused for a moment, then continued explaining the rules of the competition.

"In the early elimination rounds, each team only plays one match. If they lose, they're immediately sent home; if they win, they advance to the next round of the group stage. There are about eight groups, with eight to nine players in each group. It's a points-based system, and the top two teams advance to the final sixteen..."

"The knockout stage consists of 133 teams, using a seven-on-seven team battle format."

"So..."

Wang Yan looked at Lu Cheng expectantly.

"I'll make my move in the first round," Lu Cheng said with a slight nod.

"Alright! Then it's up to you, Bei Bei, Jiang Nannan, Tang Ya, Xiao Xiao, Wang Dong'er, Ning Tian to go out. One Soul King, three Soul Ancestor, and three Soul Elder are enough to handle most teams, as long as luck isn't too bad." Wang Yan took a deep breath, his tone somewhat excited.

"No, you misunderstand. What I mean is... I'm enough on my own."

Lu Cheng's lips curled into a smile.

Wang Yan: "..."

The meeting is adjourned.

He declined Tang Ya, Jiang Nannan, and the others' invitation to go downstairs to the second floor of the hotel for a late-night snack, and went straight to push open his bedroom door. It was pitch black inside, so Lu Cheng casually turned on a Soul Guidance Lamp, which emitted a faint warm light.

As the darkness in the room dissipated, a pale blue figure appeared on the sofa, leaning lazily against the back of the chair, legs crossed, feet encased in blue cloth shoes, her hair tied in a high ponytail with a green hairpin at the back of her head, her pale blue eyes quietly scrutinizing Lu Cheng.

"How's the situation at Shrek Academy?"

Lu Cheng yawned lazily, took off his coat, revealing a black short-sleeved shirt. It was summer, the hottest season of the year. If he weren't Soul Master with the power of Ultimate Ice and the Fire of Essence Sun to regulate his body, he would have been drenched in sweat long ago.

"..."

Zhang Lexuan remained silent.

The atmosphere was somewhat eerie.

"Um?"

Lu Cheng turned his head in surprise and glanced at Zhang Lexuan. The latter's eyes remained calm. She raised her chin, revealing her long, proud neck, which resembled that of Swan, and her red lips parted slightly.

"Brother, I told you... I would find a way to leave Shrek Academy. You're always so self-righteous." Zhang Lexuan said softly, her pale blue eyes fixed on Lu Cheng: "So Xuan Zi... was he controlled by you? And the entire team, regarding the casualties in the siege of the Evil Soul Master in the Ming Dou Mountain Range, was that also you..."

Lu Cheng's eye twitched.

"Then you've probably misunderstood."

"If it were... my past life, perhaps I could have bewitched Xuan Zi, but in this life... you overestimate me."

It's no wonder Zhang Lexuan was suspicious.

Xuan Zi's actions were truly "inhuman," making one easily suspect that the old man was just pretending to be Tang, and then suddenly jumped out to sabotage someone at a crucial moment.

As it turned out... who could have guessed? This person was completely playing themselves, without the slightest trace of pretense, truly embodying the unity of knowledge and action.

Zhang Lexuan was equally stunned upon learning the truth.

"Heh, they couldn't even catch up with that Death Messenger. If I hadn't intervened, they probably would have gotten away." Lu Cheng shook his head.

"Is that so?" Zhang Lexuan's eyes twitched.

Lu Cheng sat beside the beauty, holding a steaming cup of coffee in his hand, stirring it gently. This was a characteristic of the Sun Moon Empire; the food in this world was similar to that of his previous life, a fusion of Chinese and Western cuisine.

Blonde hair and blue eyes, but with an Asian face; the multicolored hair didn't seem out of place at all, just like the cosplayers from my past life.

"Since I promised you, I won't act recklessly again." Lu Cheng took a sip of coffee, placed his hand on the beauty's soft, boneless hand, and gently kneaded it.

His face showed a hint of emotion.

Don't worry...

Hmm.

Zhang Lexuan's calm and pretty face gradually rippled with emotion, blushing as if she had made a fool of herself.

"Mu En should have already noticed something's wrong at Shrek Academy," the beauty said somewhat awkwardly, changing the subject.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later. The relationship between us is too strange; no one can understand it," Lu Cheng said leisurely.

"So you're going to stay here tonight?"

He looked at Zhang Lexuan with great interest.

This Grandmaster of the inner courtyard, already twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, had acquired a touch of elegant charm befitting a beautiful woman.

"I arrived in such a hurry that I didn't inform Teacher Wang Yan to arrange a room. All the rooms on the top floor are taken, so I'll have to squeeze in with you," Zhang Lexuan said without changing her expression.

Several hours later.

On a soft and comfortable bed.

Lu Cheng's eyes were lifeless, as if they had been hollowed out. The beautiful woman in his arms, who was nearly 1.8 meters tall and slender, had a blush on her pretty face. Her light blue eyes were as soft as the sea, and her slender, white fingers gently poked Lu Cheng's face, as lively as a little girl.

However, by this moment, the outer garment had already been removed.

The beautiful woman was only wearing a light, thin dress, their skin pressed together, their breaths mingling, creating an ambiguous atmosphere.

"Brother... you're still so weak."

Zhang Lexuan rested her head on her slender hand, nestled in Lu Cheng's arms, and said with a smile.

"That's enough."

Seeing that Lu Cheng had already run out of strength, Zhang Lexuan straightened up from her embrace, her snow-white feet in slippers, and casually tied up her long, flowing hair that cascaded over her shoulders, before walking towards the bathroom.

"I'm going to take a shower first; it looks like it's almost dawn."

Lu Cheng: "..."

The truck is indeed well-maintained, but alas... the will is willing, but the strength is insufficient.

Even though his physical body has been tempered to a level comparable to that of Soul Saint, he is still no match for Titled Douluo Zhang Lexuan. It's simply... a crushing defeat.

"Sister Lexuan!" Ma Xiaotao exclaimed excitedly, her phoenix eyes sparkling.

"Um."

Zhang Lexuan, dressed in a dark blue trench coat, with a gentle expression, lightly ruffled Ma Xiaotao's hair and said with a faint smile, "Well done."

The rest of the group. "..."

Not bad? What makes it not bad?

All the regular disciples were seriously injured and forced to return to the academy, leaving behind this mess. While it's not entirely Ma Xiaotao's fault, it certainly doesn't seem to have anything to do with "doing a good job," does it?

"Grandmaster..." Wang Yan, somewhat embarrassed, with a fawning smile.

"Teacher Wang Yan, you?" Tang Ya, somewhat surprised.

"I only graduated from the Inner Academy not long ago. I'm not very bright, and the Inner Academy lowered the difficulty of the assessment for me again and again, so I barely managed to graduate and became a teacher in the Outer Academy," Wang Yan after coughing lightly.

Ling Luochеn and Gongyang Mo stood on either side, exchanged a glance, and both breathed a sigh of relief.

With Xuan Zi absent and Wang Yan's strength inferior to theirs, Shrek Academy currently lacks anyone to hold its own.

Fortunately, this one appeared...

In the history of Shrek, he is one of the youngest Titled Douluo powerhouses who can be ranked among the top.