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"Hmph! With a formidable enemy right here, you still have time for internal bickering? Are you looking down on me?!"
Ye Zhiqiu—a proud Soul King—fumed at being ignored by a group of children. It was utterly disrespectful.
"Third Soul Skill: Mystic Water Surge!"
His spirit power swelled once more as he unleashed a jet of inky cold tide aimed straight at Oscar.
But Oscar neither dodged nor deflected—instead, his body blazed with golden radiance. A thin veil of golden light formed around him, effortlessly blocking Ye Zhiqiu's icy torrent. Even the frosty chill embedded in the water technique could not penetrate that golden barrier.
A faint smile curved Lan Minghua's lips. He had every confidence in Oscar. After all, the Indestructible Vajra had two applications: one, to absorb golden light into the body, making the skin impervious to water and fire; and two, to project the golden light outward, much like a Taoist protective charm that could both shield and take offensive forms. Crucially, this technique ignored all negative effects—so Ye Zhiqiu's freezing water had no effect on Oscar.
"Oscar, show me just how much you've grown in my absence!"
Lan Minghua sensed that Oscar's golden aura had multiplied many times over; even the Zhuge Divine Crossbow might struggle to breach his defenses now.
Undeterred, Oscar advanced step-by-step through Ye Zhiqiu's assault, completely unfazed—a stark contrast to Dai Mubai and the others.
At that moment, Zhu Zhuqing moved like a phantom. With Netherworld Strike and Phantom Claw Barrage unleashed in rapid succession, Ye Zhiqiu could not evade every attack. At the critical moment, his entire head actually retracted into his tortoise shell, narrowly avoiding her flurry of strikes.
"Damn it! Who would've thought these two children would wield spirit power every bit as strong as the others?"
Ye Zhiqiu's voice was thick with frustration—his spirit power reserves were nearly exhausted.
Before he could recover, Oscar's voice rang in his ear: "Watch out!"
Sensing danger, Ye Zhiqiu triggered his first soul skill, Tortoise Shell Aegis, just as Oscar raised his right hand. Golden light coalesced above him into the shape of a colossal palm. With a single, thunderous sweep, that golden hand slammed into Ye Zhiqiu's shell.
Crack—Ye Zhiqiu's tortoise-shell barrier split under the impact.
Remember, Oscar was only level thirty—and a support-type Spirit Master at that. Yet his single blow had cracked a Soul King's defense! It was the stuff of legends.
Even Oscar himself could hardly believe it. He recalled Lan Minghua's promise when he was taken as a disciple—and marveled that it had come true so swiftly.
Nearby, Ning Rongrong stared in stunned disbelief. "Impossible! How can a support-type Spirit Master have offensive power surpassing a battle Spirit Master's?"
Her envy was palpable. Why did Oscar—a fellow support-type—possess both self-defense capabilities and such devastating offense?
As word of Oscar's feat spread, the onlookers erupted in astonishment.
"What? That handsome youth is a support-type? I'd have sworn he was a battle-type!"
"Hey, hey—what kind of support-type has defense and offense like that?!"
"I'd believe you if you told me he was a battle Spirit Master. But you're telling me he's a support-type?!"
Tang San—burning with wounded pride—could not stand being overshadowed. Dragging himself upright, he glared at Oscar.
"Tch! That kind of attack—I could do it just as easily!"
His voice carried across the clearing. Lan Minghua's lips curved in amusement. "Can't hold it in, can you? I thought you'd show more restraint."
Realizing his moment in the spotlight had been stolen, Tang San threw caution to the wind. With Zhao Wuji—an actual Soul Saint—present, he felt safe exposing his Zhuge Divine Crossbow, certain that no one would dare intervene.
But the crowd pounced on Tang San's boast.
"You? Even the four of you together couldn't pull it off—stop acting so tough!"
"I hate people like you—no real skill, all talk!"
Their mocking pierced Tang San's ego like daggers. In a blind fury, he snatched the crossbow from his storage belt and leveled it at the scoffers.
"Bastards! You dare look down on me? Go to hell!"
He trembled with rage at the indignity of it all, at the suggestion that he was inferior to Oscar the support-type—an unbearable affront.
"Xiao San, calm down!" Xiao Wu cried out, knowing the crossbow's terrifying power.
But Tang San only saw red. He was determined to kill his critics and show them who the true genius was.
At the sight of the crossbow's glinting bolts, everyone's blood ran cold. They took a collective step back.
"Go to hell! All of you!" Tang San bellowed, his face a mask of rage.
Lan Minghua, however, was disappointed. He had expected a more powerful hidden weapon. "Is the Zhuge Divine Crossbow your ultimate trump card? How disappointing." To be sure, he instructed, "Zhao Wuji, knock him out and toss him up here."
With a swift nod, Zhao Wuji vanished from the second floor.
Just as Tang San's finger tightened on the trigger, he felt a jolt behind him. His vision swam as his head was slammed into the ground with a sickening thud, and he lost consciousness.
"Teacher Zhao!" Dai Mubai and the others gasped, shocked at Zhao Wuji's decisive intervention. Zhao Wuji hoisted Tang San by the ankle and flung him onto the hotel's second-floor balcony.
"Dai Mubai, you boys sure know how to cause trouble! Have I been too lenient with you?!"
As he spoke, seven spirit rings—two yellow, two purple, three black—materialized around his feet.
Those who had just been mocking Tang San fell silent, choking on their words.
Cold sweat beaded on Ye Zhiqiu's brow. He had never imagined Shrek Academy's escorting teacher would be a Soul Saint!
"Disperse. If any of you still have a problem, I'll be waiting!"
Zhao Wuji's voice brooked no contradiction. This was the true law of the jungle, not Dai Mubai's petty provocations.
On the second floor, Lan Minghua looked down disdainfully at the unconscious Tang San—a hypocrite through and through. Placing his hand on the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges, he invoked Mystic Mechanism Tempering. In seconds, the belt's contents were his to command.
"Let's see what marvels you regard as treasures: your Xuan Tian Record and Tang Sect Hidden Weapons manual."
Lan Minghua drew out two volumes written from Tang San's memory.
He flipped through them—and was unimpressed.
"Trash."
That was Lan Minghua's verdict on the Xuan Tian Record. The Tang Sect hidden weapons manual, however, was decent. Still, compared to the Supreme Matriarch's Summoning Artifact, it offered nothing extraordinary.
"So the Zhuge Divine Crossbow was your ultimate trump card? You're lucky."
Had Lan Minghua discovered a more powerful hidden weapon, he would have crippled Tang San. But most such weapons required rare materials Tang San could never gather.
"Fine. Two worthless books."
He returned the volumes to the belt, but whether Tang San could ever retrieve them again was not his concern.
Leaving a note in Zhao Wuji's room, Lan Minghua departed the hotel and set off for the Star Dou Forest.
At the same time, at the forest's edge, the Titled Douluo Yue Guan and Gui Mei also arrived.
"It's such a vast place—how do we find him?" Gui Mei sighed.
Even for Titled Douluo, locating someone in the Star Dou Forest seemed impossible.
Yue Guan's voice was cool and effeminate. "Tang Hao is injured—he couldn't have ventured deep inside. We only need to search the perimeter."
They nodded, splitting up to comb the forest's rim.
Meanwhile, deep within a Mating Ape encampment, Tang Hao lay sprawled on the ground, his eyes vacant. He had endured an ordeal he would never forget. But now, with his spirit power finally recovered, his suffering was at an end.
"Damn you, Mating Apes—die, all of you!"
(End of Chapter)