The Holy Spirit Cult's Holy Son, Lu Cheng
"Damn beasts!"
Ruomu was beside herself with fury. This was Shrek Academy! The sacred ground of all Soul Masters! Rather than obediently hiding in their cellars, those rats from the gutters had actually dared to run wild right at Shrek Academy's headquarters. They really were...
"You'd better not let me catch you, or... I'll crush you into meat paste!" Ruomu slammed the table in fury.
"Senior Sister Ruomu, please stop cursing for a moment. I still have to notify the others," the inner court disciple said awkwardly.
"Oh, right." Only then did Ruomu release the disciple's clothes.
"Come on, girl. Your matter can wait until tomorrow. Our most pressing concern is catching that Evil Soul Master, that so-called Holy Son..."
"Mm!" Zhang Lexuan's delicate brows also knitted slightly, a trace of killing intent flashing through her pale blue eyes.
Sea God Island.
Xuan Zi sat on a rock nearby, drunkenly pouring wine into his mouth from a gourd. Every so often, several figures would come racing across Sea God Lake and join the group.
When the final figure landed among the crowd, Ruomu counted heads, only to frown slightly. "Where's Lu Cheng? Where did that fellow go?"
"I remember Lexuan going to the back mountain with him at noon..." a senior sister in the crowd said with a grin.
"Hahahaha..."
The crowd instantly grew animated.
None of them were particularly worried about this mission. After all, this was Shrek's home base, where countless Shrek experts were gathered. With those experts backing them up, what danger could there be?
Thus, the atmosphere remained fairly relaxed.
"Sister Ling'er!" Zhang Lexuan's pretty face flushed. Pressing her red lips together, she glared at the senior sister who had spoken.
"All right."
A smile also tugged at Ruomu's lips. She shook her head without giving it much thought. "That fellow... nowhere to be found at a critical moment. Perhaps the Pavilion Master summoned him to carry out another mission on his own."
"In that case, we have only one mission tonight: drag out the scum hiding in Shrek City and kill them!!!"
"Kill them!!"
"..."
Ruomu had only just become a rank eighty-one Soul Douluo this year. Among all the inner court members currently remaining at the academy, her strength ranked in the top two. As for first place, that naturally belonged to Lu Cheng without question.
Thus, apart from Xuan Zi, who would stand by to support them, she had full command of this operation.
"I won't interfere in this operation..." Xuan Zi took another mouthful of wine from his gourd and swept an indifferent glance over the group. "I'll only act if an inner court disciple dies."
"Don't worry, Xuan Zi. I'd very much like to meet that bullshit Holy Son myself, daring to make a fool of me for so long..." Ruomu slammed her right fist hard into her left palm, a trace of killing intent flashing through her pale green eyes.
"My lord, spare me, my lord..."
Western Shrek City.
Inside a lavish residence, several figures lay sprawled across the floor, their faces stiff and deathly pale, still bearing traces of terror. Strangely, no blood had seeped out beneath them, and their bodies were intact, without a single wound.
"My lord, I'll give you anything you want. I only beg you to spare my life."
A middle-aged man in luxurious clothes knelt prostrate on the floor, his eyes filled with terror. He dared not raise his head to look at the black-robed figure seated in the chair.
Catching sight of the familiar figures sprawled on the floor from the corner of his eye, he trembled even harder.
He had watched with his own eyes as that powerful Evil Soul Master, addressed as the Holy Son, had torn the souls of all his guards from their bodies with a mere wave of his hand, then brutally absorbed them into himself. The household guards' wails just now had nearly scared him into wetting his pants.
Those were all experts above the Soul King level, whom he had paid handsomely to guard his home and protect his estate (and throw their weight around).
Who could have imagined that they would all be slaughtered in a single encounter?
"Hehehe, Your Highness the Holy Son, I say we just kill him. There's also a pretty girl inside whom he snatched from a village outside Shrek City today. Just the thing to give the brothers some fun..."
Several more black-robed figures stood nearby, all exuding presences no weaker than that of a Soul King.
One of them spoke with a sinister chuckle.
"I paid for that girl, and she's still a virgin. If you lords want her, please take her. I only beg you to spare my worthless life..." The man in luxurious clothes shuddered as he pleaded.
"..."
The scene gradually fell silent.
Yet the black-robed figure seated in the chair seemed deaf to everything before him, focused solely on toying with a crystal-clear jade pendant in his hand.
"Your Highness the Holy Son? You..."
The black-robed man frowned slightly, then curled his lips into another smile as he addressed Lu Cheng.
"Noisy."
Lu Cheng glanced at him indifferently. Behind his demon-faced mask, strange patterns swirled within his crimson eyes, and a pale red glow emerged. The next instant, the black-robed man stood frozen in place, like a walking corpse.
A fair hand opened, and a well-defined finger pointed lightly at him. His body stiffened, yet a piercing wail distinctly rang out. Then, beneath the horrified gazes of everyone around them, the black-robed man's soul was forcibly torn from his body, taking the form of a miniature figure that slowly coalesced in Lu Cheng's palm.
"Spare me, Your Highness the Holy Son! I was wrong! I was wrong!"
In his palm, the miniature soul wailed and begged for mercy without cease.
"Heh, if you knew you were wrong, you wouldn't look like this." Lu Cheng chuckled and gently closed his hand, crushing the soul outright. Amid wails that made everyone's scalps prickle, the soul dissolved into motes of light that streamed into Lu Cheng's mouth.
"Nothing beats an Evil Soul Master's soul..." Lu Cheng seemed somewhat bored, propping his chin on one hand while idly toying with the jade pendant in the other.
"Souls that eat human flesh and drink human blood really do taste different. A pity the Cult Leader won't let me devour you freely. He even set a quota..."
Lu Cheng swept a sidelong glance over the dozen or so remaining black-robed figures, a hint of regret in his voice.
They all trembled, their throats bobbing as they dared not say another word.
Below him, the man in luxurious clothes bowed his head even lower against the floor.
At least for now, the entire Holy Spirit Cult's attitude toward him remained rather ambiguous. The higher-ups knew how terrifying his talent was, and most treated him quite cordially. Only those in the middle and lower ranks still harbored some resistance toward this Holy Son, who was extremely famous among the righteous factions and was about to be "parachuted in."
Zhongli Wu and the others would not say much if he killed a few to establish his authority.
Still, what he had just said was not false. These Evil Soul Masters' souls really did taste quite good...
And he felt no burden at all in killing them.
"Are you the man behind the Spirit Meat Pavilion?" Lu Cheng asked softly.
"Yes, I am!" The man in luxurious clothes hurriedly kowtowed over and over.
"You've built quite a business trading in Soul Beast hides and meat. But I've noticed that when you go to the villages near Shrek City to procure goods from time to time, you always bring back one or two beautiful young girls?" Lu Cheng's gaze remained fixed on the jade pendant as he gently toyed with it, asking as though it were of no consequence.
"Yes! My lord, Shrek City has a transient population of nearly five million, the vast majority of them commoners. Naturally, there's no shortage of beautiful, fresh-faced girls among them. Those important figures turn up their noses at them, so people like us naturally get to enjoy the benefits..." A gleam flashed through the finely dressed man's eyes, and he hurriedly seized the opening to press his advantage.
Perhaps... this lord had a taste for precisely that?