Cultivate for your life. The next time we meet, it will be life or death; three years later

"No, Brother, don't leave Lexuan behind..."

Zhang Lexuan's eyes were hollow as she instinctively ran toward Lu Cheng.

But Xuan Zi sighed softly and pulled her back.

"Brother, why?!!!" Held back by Ruomu, Zhang Lexuan stared mournfully at Lu Cheng with her beautiful pale-blue eyes, her voice like weeping and lamentation.

"Heh, it was nothing but a farce. I only used you to enter Shrek Academy and devote myself to working undercover. Otherwise, if you had died... those old fellows at Shrek Academy would inevitably have grown suspicious." Lu Cheng stood with his hands behind his back, looking every bit a noble, handsome young gentleman, gentle as jade, as a soft smile appeared on his face.

"Silly girl."

"Your entire household was wiped out by men I personally sent..."

"..."

Zhang Lexuan staggered as though struck by a heavy hammer, murmuring, "Impossible..."

"That's impossible..."

"But the Lu Clan was wiped out back then too." Ruomu frowned slightly. Seeing Zhang Lexuan in a daze, she spoke up.

"I wiped them out while I was at it." Lu Cheng raised his eyebrows and chuckled leisurely, yet a trace of coldness shone in his eyes. "Who told those old fossils to discover my true identity too, and even urge me to leave the Holy Spirit Cult? They all deserved to die!"

"They were your blood relatives!" Ruomu said incredulously.

"Blood relatives? Aren't those meant to be sacrificed?" Lu Cheng's lips curled into a chilling smile. "That way, getting rid of those nuisances also helped me disguise my identity better and fool Shrek Academy's higher-ups..."

"Erasing every last flaw in my cover."

"It's just a shame that an idiot got caught today and ruined our Holy Spirit Cult's grand plan to steal the beams and replace the pillars."

Lu Cheng's eyes turned cold, and he clenched a fist.

"Pfft..."

Zhang Lexuan spat out a mouthful of blood, her face deathly pale.

Her gaze at Lu Cheng grew increasingly hollow, until she finally fainted.

"Lexuan, Lexuan!!" Ruomu hurriedly gathered the girl's body into her arms. Fortunately, she had only fainted. Ruomu stared coldly at Lu Cheng.

There was nothing more to say. A born evil seed like this, someone who could casually sacrifice even his own blood relatives, naturally could not be brought back with a few short words...

This was an Evil Soul Master...

It was simply tragic, lamentable.

"The next time we meet, we'll be enemies..."

Lu Cheng chuckled.

"Tell her to cultivate for her life. If she falls into my hands next time, she won't be as lucky as she was today."

Ruomu's expression turned icy, but under the sky-blotting pressure of the dense mass of Holy Spirit Cult Evil Soul Masters opposite her, she did not dare say much more and merely snorted coldly.

"Let's go, brat." Xuan Zi frowned slightly.

"The next time I see you, I won't let you off lightly either."

"Hahahaha..." Lu Cheng laughed heartily, folding his arms across his chest. "I'm looking forward to fighting you to my heart's content the next time we meet, Xuan Zi."

"You will." Xuan Zi's face twitched as he lowered his eyelids.

"..."

He watched the dense mass of Holy Spirit Cult members withdraw.

Only the empty, silent forest remained.

"Take this girl back." Xuan Zi smacked his lips, his gaze filled with emotion. "Remember to stay by her side every step of the way. Don't let her do anything foolish. Only by staying alive will she have any hope of revenge."

"Yes!"

With a complicated expression, Ruomu bowed respectfully.

Holding the unconscious Zhang Lexuan in her arms, she darted into the distance.

She glanced down at the pale-faced girl and sighed inwardly.

This girl really has had it rough...

Her clan was destroyed, yet her enemy was the lover she had grown up with. Now she had suffered betrayal too. Who knew whether she could ever move past it?

Alas...

Meanwhile.

Elsewhere.

Lu Cheng let out a long breath of stale air, his expression calm, without the sinister cunning he had displayed earlier.

The scene before him changed at an accelerated pace.

[The third arc ends]

[When this incident came to light, it stirred towering waves throughout Shrek. Countless disciples were incredulous and at a loss. After all, who could have imagined that their dazzling eldest senior brother was actually the Holy Son of the Evil Soul Masters, an undercover agent planted in the academy? Soon, Mu En intervened and suppressed the uproar, completely banning Lu Cheng's name. From then on, that name became an inescapable nightmare in the hearts of every inner court disciple of that cohort.]

[After Zhang Lexuan awoke, the first thing she did was seek out Mu En to learn the truth of what had happened back then. What plunged her into utter despair was that Mu En played a recording crystal "found" on a Holy Spirit Cult disciple, which recorded your long-standing collusion with the Holy Spirit Cult.]

[Thus, the girl went into seclusion like someone possessed and began cultivating single-mindedly. She turned all her grief and fury into motivation to cultivate, solely so that when she met you again someday, she could capture you herself, cripple your meridians, take you back to the academy to imprison you, and personally ask you the question she had never voiced that night.]

[Meanwhile, Ma Xiaotao also learned the news. Unexpectedly, although she was initially furious and refused to believe it, she only calmed down once Yan Shaozhe laid the evidence before her. Yan Shaozhe mistakenly believed that his disciple had finally come to her senses and left full of joy. In reality, however, Ma Xiaotao had already begun carefully devising an escape plan... That's right, she intended to go to the Holy Spirit Cult to find you, or even join the Holy Spirit Cult.]

The corner of Lu Cheng's mouth twitched, his expression odd.

Good grief, it really had to be you, Ma Xiaotao...

Who knew whether Yan Shaozhe would be so angry that he would spend months bedridden if he learned about this? His precious disciple had been lured away so easily.

[Time flies, and three years pass in the blink of an eye. Your cultivation progress has slowed, but you have finally reached rank eighty-nine Soul Douluo, only a single step away from Titled Douluo.]

[Over these years, you have fully returned to the Holy Spirit Cult. In just a few short years, you have risen to fame, firmly securing your position as Holy Son through your formidable strength. Your reputation for ferocity and brutality surpasses even that of many Holy Spirit Cult elders, because you particularly enjoy devouring the cult's disciples. Zhongli Wu is utterly speechless. After repeatedly advising you to no avail, he tacitly accepts it and no longer interferes. After all, given your strength, your future as a Limit Douluo is practically set in stone. As long as you do not destroy the Holy Spirit Cult's foundations, he allows you to slaughter at will. By this point, the final trace of suspicion Long Xiaoyao, Ye Xishui, and the others hold toward you has also vanished like smoke and clouds. You have fully won the trust of the Holy Spirit Cult from top to bottom and become one of them.]

[Even far away in the Holy Spirit Cult, you have continued quietly keeping track of news about Zhang Lexuan. She has likewise risen at Shrek Academy. With her exceptional talent, she has advanced straight to the peak of rank seventy-nine Soul Saint in just three years, and even defeated the rank eighty-four Ruomu, becoming the undisputed eldest senior sister of the inner court. Countless inner court disciples pursue her, and even Mu En attempts to secretly match her with Bei Bei. However, the girl completely sealed off her heart that night and rejects him decisively. Helpless, Mu En can only abandon the idea of matchmaking.]

[Today, you learn from the Holy Spirit Cult's spies hidden in Shrek City that a group of inner court disciples headed by eldest senior sister Zhang Lexuan is making its way toward the Star Dou Great Forest, led by a slovenly old man dressed in rags and carrying a wine gourd on his back.]

[You decide to go and meet her again, to test how much the girl has improved over these years.]

[The fourth arc]

[...]