"Waaah… my Zhu Zhuqing!"
In the distance, Dai Mubai's eyes were fixed on Tang Ni, the lady beside Xiao Lin, and his mind immediately wandered to thoughts of Zhu Zhuqing.
Zhu Zhuqing also had long, straight black hair, a curvy figure, and a tall, graceful build…
Now, seeing Tang Ni, Dai Mubai's eyes nearly glazed over.
"Boss Dai, didn't you say you wanted to make Zhu Zhuqing regret leaving you?"
Ma Hongjun sighed helplessly. He really couldn't understand why someone as rich as Dai Mubai was still hung up on Zhu Zhuqing.
Sure, Zhu Zhuqing had an incredible figure, a beautiful face, and that icy temperament — he himself had fantasized about her a few times — but still!
"You don't get it. Without Zhu Zhuqing, how can I compete with that man?"
Dai Mubai's heart was filled not only with regret but also with burning rage over Zhu Zhuqing's "betrayal."
The more he thought about her, the more that fury boiled.
Sooner or later, I'll find a woman even more beautiful than Zhu Zhuqing.
His gaze drifted back to Tang Ni beside Xiao Lin, and his mind began to churn darkly.
At that moment, he had already set his sights on Tang Ni — he wanted to steal her away from Xiao Lin.
After all, in his mind, he was more handsome, stronger, richer — and younger!
What? You're saying Tang Ni looks like she's twenty-three or twenty-four?
So what?
In the world of soul masters, that kind of age gap was meaningless. High-level soul masters could live far longer than ordinary people.
With desire simmering in his chest and having long lost all restraint since Zhu Zhuqing's departure, Dai Mubai could no longer hold himself back.
When Zhu Zhuqing was around, he had to at least pretend to be faithful. But now that she was gone — why bother pretending at all?
"Contestants from the Dou Zong sect and the Evil-Eyed White Tiger, please step into the arena!"
Before long, the host's voice echoed out from the single-battle stage.
Xiao Lin blinked, then grinned in delight.
Dai Mubai? Ha! Heaven's favor truly shines on me today!
"Xiao Lin!"
Suddenly, Tang Ni leaned closer, her voice soft but filled with anger.
"Mm?"
"Do me a favor — beat that bastard into the ground."
She had already felt Dai Mubai's burning, predatory gaze on her. It made her skin crawl. She wanted nothing more than to smash his face in.
But since the duel was between Xiao Lin and Dai Mubai, she could only entrust that little wish to him.
"Roger that."
Xiao Lin's expression turned serious as he nodded firmly.
Before long, he was standing on the single-combat arena.
Compared to the previous two-on-two platform, this one was smaller — which actually made Xiao Lin happy.
That meant Dai Mubai would have nowhere to run.
Heh-heh-heh…
Across the arena, Dai Mubai swaggered up proudly, his face full of arrogance.
This time, he planned to go all out — to impress that beautiful woman.
"The woman you were just with — what's your relationship with her?"
No sooner had he stepped up than Dai Mubai blurted out his question.
"She's my wife."
"Then she won't be for long. A woman like her could never like a useless man."
Before Xiao Lin could even finish his next word, Dai Mubai rudely cut him off.
"Oh yeah, you're right — she'd never like a useless man."
Xiao Lin's mocking tone hit him square in the ego. Dai Mubai froze for a second, his face twitching.
"Hmph! A weakling who only knows how to talk big. Allow me to teach you what it means to be a real man."
Dai Mubai snorted coldly, then released his martial soul.
With a tiger's roar, his muscles bulged violently, tearing the seams of his fine clothes. His body swelled to over two meters tall.
Moments later, his martial soul possession was complete — his entire body was now covered in shimmering white tiger fur streaked with black stripes that radiated a faint, eerie glow.
Xiao Lin's eyes narrowed instantly. Something was off.
Did Dai Mubai from the original timeline ever have this kind of sinister aura?
He instinctively activated his Fiery Golden Eyes, peering closer — and sure enough, he spotted faint traces of dark-type energy within Dai Mubai's body.
What the…? How did that happen?
Has the plot gone completely off the rails?
"Hey! You! Aren't you going to summon your martial soul?"
From across the stage, Dai Mubai barked impatiently.
Of course, he wasn't being kind — he just wanted to show off in front of Tang Ni. If Xiao Lin turned out too weak, he'd have no way to shine.
"What's the rush? You in a hurry because you don't have a girlfriend?"
Xiao Lin threw out the line casually, earning a roar from Dai Mubai.
Before the host could even declare the start of the match, Dai Mubai snapped — his composure shattered.
"Third soul skill: Nether White Tiger Transformation!""Second soul skill: White Tiger Fierce Light Wave!"
In an instant, a black light flashed over his body — the Evil-Eyed White Tiger turned half-black, its murderous aura surging and its power soaring.
Before anyone could react, Dai Mubai was already in front of Xiao Lin, his mouth wide open as a blazing white orb gathered between his fangs — ready to blast Xiao Lin's head to pieces.
At that very moment, Xiao Lin finally understood where that sinister energy came from.
From Dai Mubai's own words, he pieced it together — Dai Mubai's spirit ring must have come from a Nether Tiger.
That explained it.
The Nether Tiger was a controversial soul beast. When Xiao Lin had first seen one, he thought it was just a lesser version of the Nether White Tiger.
He even once believed that the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was a mutated form of the Nether Tiger.
But later, he learned the truth — the Nether Tiger wasn't actually that strong.
In theory, obtaining its spirit ring wouldn't make a soul master much stronger.
Dai Mubai's current boost made sense — the Nether energy was temporarily pushing his White Tiger martial soul toward a kind of "evolution."
Still, Xiao Lin knew it wouldn't last. The Nether Tiger's power was too weak to grant any earth-shaking transformation.
Sure, it might give him a temporary edge early on, but later… it'd become a burden.
It might even prevent him from fusing martial souls with Zhu Zhuqing's Nether Spirit Cat.
After all, their Martial Soul Fusion Technique required Zhu Zhuqing's soul to merge with his own.
Even ignoring how much such a fusion could boost their power — Zhu Zhuqing's Nether Spirit Cat was no weak martial soul.
Among soul masters of her level, she was an elite agility-attack type.
Only with her could the White Tiger martial soul evolve into the Nether White Tiger.
Dai Mubai wanting to achieve that alone, with just one soul ring? Impossible — his soul power couldn't sustain it.
Unless he somehow found several more spirit rings with Nether attributes… which was extremely unlikely.
Even if they existed, that didn't mean they'd be compatible.
A wolf? A rat? What, are those supposed to work as tiger rings now?
Xiao Lin's mind raced, and soon he had the whole picture.
When he came back to himself —
— Dai Mubai's White Tiger Fierce Light Wave had already exploded against his face.
"BOOM!"
The deafening blast echoed through the arena, shocking the host and the audience alike.
That close-range attack — was the expert dead?!
This was supposed to be a friendly exhibition match!
Dai Mubai smirked arrogantly at the dust cloud, completely dismissing the possibility of Xiao Lin's survival.
Even if he had killed him, he could just pay the compensation later.
And then he'd take that beautiful woman — the one even lovelier than Zhu Zhuqing — as his reward.
"Hahahaha! Serves you right for mocking me! You brought this on yourself!"
"Ah, yes, yes, you're totally right!"
A calm voice interrupted his laughter — and Dai Mubai froze, eyes wide with disbelief.
That voice… Xiao Lin's voice?!
Even Zhao Wuji himself couldn't take that attack head-on without using a soul skill!
But Xiao Lin hadn't used anything!
Suddenly, golden flames erupted from Xiao Lin's body, and a third soul ring, glowing deep violet, lit up beneath his feet.