"My lord, I'm sorry, I was too busy the other day and forgot to reply to your messages."
While Xu Jiawei and Xu Jiujiu were discussing the future of the Star Luo Empire in the study, Di Tian was also preparing for his trial.
Gu Yuena was holding a cup of pearl milk tea from Snow King Ice City, taking small sips.
Behind her, a little golden retriever rolled his eyes and mocked Di Tian:
"Busy? Hmph, I bet you've been gallivanting off somewhere."
"You don't respect my lord sister at all, unlike me, I only care about my lord sister."
Di Tian looked at Gu Qiu'er hiding behind Gu Yuena, her smug expression and disgusting squeaky voice, and his fists hardened.
However, he couldn't discipline the child in front of Gu Yuena.
This naturally evil little auspicious beast must have been possessed by some evil spirit!
After Gu Yuena left, Di Tian would personally use the Black Dragon Belt to pull that evil spirit out!
She seemed to sense the dangerous look in Di Tian's eyes.
She immediately shrank behind Gu Yuena, only poking out her little head to stick her tongue out at him.
Gu Yuena let out a helpless sigh, gently patted the little golden-haired girl's head behind her, and said,
"You two, stop fooling around."
"I already know what happened."
"Wan Yaowang told me that the day before yesterday, you beat up the others, and you even met the Water Dragon King."
"By the way, what are you all doing in Star Luo City?"
"Someone is still guarding the Lake of Life, right?
Don't let anyone sneak in and steal your home."
Di Tian's fists clenched once again.
This time, however, his anger wasn't directed at the Imperial Auspicious Beast, but at Wan Yaowang.
That bootlicking tree actually dared to report directly to their lord, bypassing him.
It was utterly outrageous! It seemed the last beating hadn't been severe enough.
"Please don't worry, My Lord."
"The Lake of Life is being guarded by Yaoling."
"As a ferocious beast, its strength is quite formidable."
"Besides, there are numerous Beast Kings stationed in the core area, so nothing should go wrong."
Gu Yuena tilted her head, a puzzled look appearing on her face as she asked in a confused tone...
"Hmm? Who is Yao Ling?"
"Is there such a person in the Star Dou Great Forest?"
"How come I've never heard of him?"
Di Tian suddenly realized that Yao Ling had indeed never shown his face before his master.
In fact, if Zi Ji hadn't reminded him, he would have forgotten that there was such a ferocious beast in the Star Dou Great Forest.
"Uh, Yao Ling is the tenth ranked ferocious beast among the ten great ferocious beasts."
"Because of his low profile, many beast kings don't even know that Yao Ling is also a ferocious beast from the Star Dou Great Forest."
"During the time you came out of seclusion, Yao Ling was in seclusion, so you didn't see him."
"As for why we came to Star Luo City,"
"It's because the Star Luo royal family invited us here to watch the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Competition a while ago."
"Essentially, these humans want to win us over to fight against the Sun Moon Empire."
"However, we also need the Star Luo Empire's cooperation in building the Spirit Transmission Tower, so we accepted the invitation."
"We've already reached a preliminary agreement on the general direction of cooperation."
"The Star Luo Empire has agreed to enact a law prohibiting Soul Masters from hunting Soul Beasts."
"..."
Di Tian recounted the results of their discussions to Gu Yuena in detail. Gu Yuena listened thoughtfully, then said,
"You've really worked hard."
"I've certainly been a very incompetent Soul Beast Master, but thankfully you're all here."
"If there's anything I can do to help later, just let me know."
"There's no one on this planet who can rival me."
Di Tian hurriedly waved his hand, saying,
"Master, please don't say that!"
"You've already done your best."
Gu Yuena tucked a strand of silver-white hair behind her ear, revealing her delicate, small ear.
"Whether I'm competent or not, I know it in my heart."
"The most important thing I learned from my boss is to recognize myself, acknowledge myself, and then surpass myself."
"If you can't even admit your own incompetence, how can you call yourself your master?"
"Now that you've already dealt with the Star Luo Empire, I will use my passion to help the Soul Beasts deal with the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Sun Moon Empire."
"We have people in both of these empires."
"By the way, send me the bill you negotiated with the Star Luo Empire later, and I'll help you refine it."
"Humans are very complex creatures; they might play word games in the bill. I've seen this kind of thing many times in Shrek City."
"Just in case, I'll personally oversee this bill."
Seeing Gu Yuena's reliable demeanor, a hint of barely perceptible satisfaction flickered in Di Tian's golden eyes, and he immediately bowed respectfully, saying:
"Yes! Master!"
"I will..."
"Crack~"
A crisp sound broke the conversation between the master and servant.
Gu Yuena and Di Tian turned around together and saw Gu Qiu'er eating potato chips, with crumbs still on her lips.
Gu Qiu'er sensed their gazes with her spiritual power, looked up, and saw Di Tian and Gu Yuena staring at her.
Her hand holding the potato chips froze in mid-air.
Then, his gaze darted back and forth between the potato chips and the two of them a few times, and he said innocently,
"You guys continue talking."
"Don't mind me."
"Um, or do you want some potato chips too?"
Di Tian smiled and said,
"Qiu'er, you seem pretty relaxed? Next month's exam seems to be next month, right?"
"You know the rules."
"If you don't get into the top 300 in the grade this time, you know what I'll do."
Gu Qiu'er immediately revealed a pained expression, pouting and saying,
"Are you kidding me?!"
"Top 300?!"
"If I can get into the top 400, my ancestors' graves will be emitting auspicious smoke."
"You're ignoring the facts; to use a textbook term, it's like building castles in the air!"
"Forget it, I can't explain it to an illiterate like you. In Soul Master terms, it's like asking a Great Soul Master to fight a Soul King! Unrealistic!"
A "well" shape appeared on Di Tian's forehead as he said,
"How can a Great Soul Master not fight a Soul King?"
"Wasn't there one like that during yesterday's competition?"
"You always say 'too good to be true'."
"Heh, I've set the bar for you. If you don't get in, it's your own problem.
Did you not try hard enough?!"
"Is 300 a lot? Hmm? Look me in the eye!"
"Also, I might indeed be illiterate, my cultural level isn't as high as yours, but I understand physics!"
"I really like the 'Words of Wisdom' by a great philosopher on the Magic Network named Fearful Master."
"I even want to invite him to the Lake of Life for a long talk."
"There's a line in it: 'Learning without thinking is futile; thinking without learning is dangerous.'"
"It means if you learn my combat techniques but not my thoughts, you'll be confused; if you learn my thoughts but not my combat techniques, you'll get killed."
"Qiu'er, I want to tell you, strength and knowledge are both necessary."
Di Tian patted Gu Qiu'er's little head, and Gu Qiu'er looked at Gu Yuena beside her with a wronged expression.
Gu Yuena pulled Gu Qiu'er behind her, her beautiful brows furrowed, and said to Di Tian with dissatisfaction,
"Di Tian, even though I'm enthusiastic, I haven't really looked into children's education."
"Parents can't just set goals for their children; they also need to provide material support.
What you're doing is wrong."
"And you can't just resort to violence like that. You need to be patient with your child."
"Qiu'er, don't worry, it's just the top 300, right?
I'll hire some tutors for you in Xilu City later."
"I'll pay for it. Let him see how a hopeless case can be made to look good."
Gu Qiu'er was initially very touched by Gu Yuena's protection, realizing that this older sister truly lived up to her name; she was genuinely there for her.
But then she became numb.
Looking at Di Tian's stern face and Gu Yuena's gentle expression, she seriously suspected that the two of them were doing it on purpose.
One played the bad cop, the other the good cop; she hadn't gained any benefit, and her quality of life was plummeting.
She already studied until late every day, and now she had to hire tutors?!
Gu Qiu'er now wanted to smash her head against a wall and make them regret it.
Or perhaps he could go back in time and give his past self a good dressing down.
Why did he bother transforming into human form?
Why go to the human world?
Humans are indeed complex beings; he couldn't even sympathize with or understand his past self.
...
In a secret room in Xilu City Prison, undetectable by any soul-guided device, lay Dai Yueheng.
"Drip,"
drops of damp water fell from the moldy ceiling.
A blond man lay on the cold floor.
Water droplets landed on his face, the discomfort gradually waking him from his slumber.
"Where am I?"
The man slowly opened his eyes, his azure eyes holding strange pupils—it was none other than Dai Yueheng, whom the outside world had declared dead.
Dai Yueheng struggled to his feet, seemingly remembering something, clenching his fist and saying,
"My body has recovered?"
He clearly remembered that before he lost consciousness, he had been buried under half a mountain of mud and rocks, all his bones broken.
Now, upon waking, he found his injuries completely healed.
A piercing clang rang out, and a man wearing a white mask entered, saying,
"The monitoring soul tool shows you're awake."
"Not bad, Boss will probably like you a lot in the future."
"Come with me."
Then, without further ado, Geheros dragged Dai Yueheng out of the cell.
Dai Yueheng was startled and tried to activate his martial soul to resist, but found he couldn't feel any soul power within his body.
Geheros glanced at him and said,
"Heh, don't struggle."
"Even if you have soul power, you're no match for me."
Dai Yueheng said hoarsely,
"Who are you?"
"Where is this?"
"Let me go!"
Dai Yueheng struggled frantically in Geheros's grasp, but for an ordinary person without soul power to escape from a high-level Soul Douluo was as absurd as a Soul King escaping from a Super Douluo.
In the cells on either side, many prisoners in yellow uniforms watched in terror as Geheros carried Dai Yueheng to the far end of the cell.
They all knew that was the most terrifying place in the entire prison.
Every so often, an unlucky soul would be chosen and sent inside, and no one had ever returned alive.
"Who's that guy? A complete stranger."
"Why was he taken behind the Stone Gate so soon after arriving?"
"Did he blow up the Passion Leader's hometown?"
Only after Gherros had walked away did the prisoners dare to whisper among themselves; this was the first time someone had been taken there so soon after arriving.
Dai Yueheng was roughly pressed into a chair by Gherros, his hands and feet restrained.
Then, the Soul Guidance Lamp was turned on, the blinding light causing tears to stream from Dai Yueheng's eyes.
Once his eyes adjusted to the light, three bottles of spring water of different colors appeared on the table in front of him.
"Red mature woman, yellow girl, blue loli."
"Dai Yueheng, make your choice."
"Your chair is an electric chair. If you don't choose one in one minute, you'll feel great."
Dai Yueheng couldn't understand what the other person was saying at all.
He looked sharply at Geheros in front of him and said,
"Who exactly are you?!"
"I am the child of the White Tiger Duke. Aren't you afraid of retaliation?!"
Geheros put his hands behind his back and looked at him coldly through his mask.
This was a distinguished guest personally selected by the boss, and he had to be treated well.
"Five, four, three... one."
Geheros coldly finished the countdown and pressed the button in his hand.
Blue electricity instantly filled the entire chair.
Dai Yueheng's whole body tensed up, his eyes bulged, the veins on his arms stood out, and his clenched teeth gradually loosened, succumbing to instinct.
"Ahhhhhhh!!!"
"What! You! Want! To! Do! Anything! You! Want! To! Do!?!"
I spent another 648 yuan, and I messed up again. My Uncle Blade is already at three souls, aha ... Turns out I'm not a lucky person! I'm just an unlucky one on the street.
(End of this chapter)
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