The flames burned, and the three of them sat around the fire.
Although they had stopped to rest along the way, the fatigue brought by a whole day of traveling made the youth Zhang Jian yawn incessantly while eating his dry rations.
Wang Lin beside him, although somewhat weary, was in much better spirits than Zhang Jian.
As for Zhang Peng, he showed absolutely no signs of fatigue; one could only say he was worthy of being a Super Douluo.
After finishing the dry rations, Zhang Jian fell asleep immediately.
Wang Lin sat cross-legged and entered a state of meditation cultivation.
Whoosh!
A clear breeze brushed past.
It seemed no one noticed that this red maple forest appeared to have become slightly darker.
Crackle!
The crimson firelight shone on Zhang Peng's dark face, which could not be called handsome, highlighting a different kind of eeriness.
Zhang Peng's deep purple eyes stared at the firelight, occasionally looking at Zhang Jian who was already asleep beside him.
It was unknown if, like Long Xiaoyao, a heart of cherishing talent had risen within him.
Suddenly, an aged voice came from the woods opposite Zhang Peng.
"What, has the vicious Scorpion Tiger also developed a heart of cherishing talent?"
Immediately after, a tall figure walked out of the dense forest.
That face, rosy as an infant's, carried a thick look of exhaustion.
"Elder Long, how can someone like me accept a disciple?"
Hearing this, Zhang Peng withdrew his gaze from Zhang Jian and looked up at Long Xiaoyao, who had already walked over to sit opposite the bonfire.
He naturally noticed the exhaustion on Long Xiaoyao's face.
"Was the situation very tricky, Elder Long?"
"I got it. That kid Du Busi... give him another twenty years, and he won't be weaker than his brother."
As he spoke, Long Xiaoyao's face actually carried a rare look of nostalgia, but it disappeared very quickly.
He looked up at Zhang Peng and noticed the worry on Zhang Peng's face.
"What, are you afraid your new disciple will end up with the same fate as you?"
"Mn."
Zhang Peng nodded.
"Actually, there is no need to worry. If you accept a disciple, there is still this kid. He has the ability of purification."
Long Xiaoyao said, pointing to Wang Lin who was meditating to recover his soul power.
"That is true. But even if he didn't have that purification ability, as long as Zhang Jian doesn't go astray, Wang Lin would guarantee Zhang Jian's safety."
Zhang Peng spoke, and then directly recounted the conversation between him and Wang Lin to Long Xiaoyao.
"His nature is not bad; he has the demeanor of my youth."
Long Xiaoyao listened with a smile on his face.
"Then what are you afraid of? Accept the disciple if you should. As for your problem, don't struggle with it too much; it's all that old fellow Mu En's fault."
"Elder Long, if Elder Mu hadn't been willing to let me off back then, I might not have lived to..."
Zhang Peng was only halfway through his sentence when he was directly interrupted by Long Xiaoyao.
"Bullshit. Zhang Peng, it's fine if you say that rhetoric to people from Shrek Academy. But if not for that old fellow Mu En, how would you have ended up mixing with me now!?"
"Elder Long..."
Zhang Peng clearly didn't want to discuss this issue too much.
"Hmph!"
Seeing this, Long Xiaoyao showed a look of helplessness, snorted coldly, and said no more.
Soul Masters like Zhang Peng had actually always been in the gray area between Soul Masters and Evil Soul Masters.
Simply put, there was a problem with the martial soul, but no problem with their behavior.
Therefore, in Long Xiaoyao's view, Zhang Peng's situation was Mu En's fault.
Zhang Peng was originally this kind of gray area Soul Master.
As long as he hadn't harmed anyone, even if some people had opinions about him, it wouldn't affect Zhang Peng's legitimacy in the Soul Master world.
But Mu En beat Zhang Peng up indiscriminately, and then realized he had hit the wrong person.
It would have been fine if he didn't apologize; after all, Mu En had the bigger fist.
If it had been him, Long Xiaoyao, who beat up Zhang Peng back then, he wouldn't have apologized either.
Zhang Peng could only blame his own bad luck.
Again, Long Xiaoyao's fist was bigger.
But Mu En absolutely shouldn't have defined Zhang Peng's nature.
Once this happened, the problem became huge.
What was Mu En's status? He was the White Dragon of the Black and White Holy Dragons—the Dragon God Douluo.
And the title of Black and White Holy Dragons was carved out by Long Xiaoyao and Mu En in their youth by killing Evil Soul Masters one by one.
Once the Dragon God Douluo spoke, nominally saying Zhang Peng hadn't harmed anyone and sparing his life...
But the sentence forbidding Zhang Peng from appearing in the world again, otherwise he would kill him, directly turned Zhang Peng, a Soul Master originally in the gray area, into an Evil Soul Master that everyone wanted to beat overnight.
Poor Zhang Peng wasn't even a real Evil Soul Master.
Just like that, he was beaten up innocently and became an Evil Soul Master overnight.
When Long Xiaoyao found Zhang Peng, he discovered that he actually hadn't degenerated into an Evil Soul Master.
One must know that for a Soul Master like Zhang Peng, degenerating into an Evil Soul Master was the easiest thing in the world.
If Long Xiaoyao himself had experienced all this, he couldn't guarantee that he would still be able to stay true to his heart.
This showed Zhang Peng's mental resilience.
But in the end, he was still pulled into the Worship Hall of the Holy Spirit Cult by Long Xiaoyao, becoming one of the twelve Enshriners of the Evil Soul Masters.
If Mu En had been willing to pull Zhang Peng into the Sea God Pavilion back then and been willing to protect Zhang Peng...
Now Zhang Peng might have become a capable general of the Shrek Inspection Team, and could also serve as an example for those Soul Masters in the gray area.
If that were the case, the Worship Hall of the Holy Spirit Cult wouldn't have been established at all.
Most of the Enshriners in the Worship Hall were gray area Soul Masters who had martial soul problems but were unwilling to become Evil Soul Masters.
If there was a place to go, these people naturally wouldn't choose to join the Worship Hall of the Holy Spirit Cult.
But under the premise of having nowhere to go, the Dragon Emperor Douluo, who became famous for killing Evil Soul Masters back then, became the Chief Enshriner of the Holy Spirit Cult, setting a "good" example for these powerhouses.
So the Worship Hall of the Holy Spirit Cult naturally became the best place for these powerhouses.
If it weren't for him, Long Xiaoyao, these people would mostly still be hiding in some dark corner, avoiding the world.
Instead of becoming accomplices helping the tyrant Holy Spirit Cult do evil.
So rather than saying Long Xiaoyao was blaming Mu En, wasn't he actually blaming himself?
He knew Mu En was wrong, but his own mistake was greater and unforgivable.
"Stop pretending if you're awake, kid."
Long Xiaoyao suddenly looked at Wang Lin, who was beside him with his eyes still closed, seemingly meditating.
"Haha, good day, Master!"
Wang Lin opened his eyes, scratched his head, and laughed it off.
"Kid, let me ask you a question. If your martial soul required absorbing blood and souls, and slaughtering lives to cultivate, what would you do?"
Long Xiaoyao suddenly asked.
"Uh, would my martial soul affect me after killing people?"
Wang Lin was stunned for a moment, and asked back instead.
"Of course not. Evil Soul Masters are basically caused by martial soul mutation due to stimulation before awakening. Rarely are they affected by the martial soul, because a martial soul is just a martial soul."
Long Xiaoyao explained.
"Then of course I would kill people to cultivate."
As soon as Wang Lin said this, the faces of Long Xiaoyao and Zhang Peng instantly turned cold.
"Three-legged toads are hard to find, but aren't two-legged bad people easy to find? Four empires, an entire continent; bad people can never be killed off completely. Power is innocent; the key depends on the person wielding the power. Just stay true to your heart."
Ignoring the changes in Long Xiaoyao and Zhang Peng's expressions, Wang Lin just continued speaking on his own.
"Power is innocent; the key is the person wielding the power. Just stay true to your heart..."
Hearing this sentence, Zhang Peng couldn't help but be somewhat lost in thought.