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Wu Zhangkong's gaze turned icy.
Evil soul masters?
He never expected that after so many years of peace on the continent, evil soul masters would once again start stirring up trouble!
The continent had never truly been at peace. Ten thousand years ago, the Holy Spirit Sect reached its peak and wreaked havoc across the land, causing disasters everywhere. After being annihilated once, they repeatedly resurfaced from time to time.
There was no way to completely eradicate them. The path of an evil soul master was simply too enticing—no need for arduous cultivation, only the abandonment of humanity and a descent into depravity to quickly gain strength. As long as there were people with mutations offering this shortcut to power, there would always be evil soul masters carrying on the teachings of the Holy Spirit Sect.
Wu Zhangkong had suffered greatly at the hands of evil soul masters in the past, which fueled his deep hatred for them. Now, upon seeing the Plaguebringer and confirming through his aura and methods that he was indeed an evil soul master, Wu Zhangkong's killing intent flared.
The frost energy of his Skyfrost Sword swept across the battlefield.
The Plaguebringer's specialty lay in spreading toxins and creating widespread panic. His individual combat strength was never particularly strong—he merely possessed the ability to fight on par with a normal genius soul master due to the wicked nature of evil soul masters. He lacked the terrifying ability of other evil soul masters who could leap one or even two major levels above their actual rank.
His escape techniques, however, were extraordinary—his fleeing skills unmatched. Yet, his first instinctive attempt to flee was thwarted when Xu Yuan's mech pierced the ground to a depth of five or six meters, forcing him out and completely cutting off any chance of escape.
"Damn brat!"
The Plaguebringer glared at Xu Yuan with venomous eyes.
The frost energy of the Skyfrost Sword slashed through, shredding him to pieces, yet his gaze remained locked on Xu Yuan until the very end.
Wu Zhangkong's expression shifted.
This evil soul master was far too weak.
And such weakness often indicated that his abilities leaned toward other, more insidious aspects.
Wu Zhangkong wanted to intervene, but it was already too late.
At the moment the Plaguebringer died, a beam of deep green light shot straight toward Xu Yuan.
It was impossible for Wu Zhangkong to intercept in time.
The deep green light surged into the mech and directly targeted Xu Yuan's physical body.
Wu Zhangkong's face changed drastically, his eyes filled with anxiety and regret.
The mech slowly dissipated, transforming into light that merged into various parts of Xu Yuan's body.
Xu Yuan landed safely and steadily.
"Little Yuan, are you alright?" Wu Zhangkong approached, carefully examining him.
"Teacher Wu, don't worry, I'm fine." Xu Yuan circulated his soul power to show Wu Zhangkong that there was no issue.
Wu Zhangkong frowned.
"The abilities of evil soul masters are unpredictable. You haven't encountered them before, so you don't understand. After reaching the Super Douluo level, it's one thing, but before that, evil soul masters often possess the ability to fight far above their rank—not just ordinary ranks, but against geniuses. Even battle armor masters who graduated from Shrek's Inner Court have been known to be killed by evil soul masters of lower ranks!"
"That evil soul master earlier was a Soul Emperor, yet the force he unleashed wasn't even on par with a Soul Sage using their true martial soul form. His skills likely didn't lie in direct combat, which makes his abilities all the more insidious."
He carefully reminded Xu Yuan to closely monitor any changes in his body, leaving no room for carelessness.
Xu Yuan nodded, fully cooperating with Wu Zhangkong in a serious manner.
In truth, he was completely unharmed.
That beam of green light hadn't managed to harm him at all—it hadn't even entered his body. Instead, he had converted it into dream space energy using his third brain martial soul skill.
Sometimes, his brain martial soul's third soul skill was truly overpowered.
Pure energy-based attacks had almost no effect on him.
Especially with the cultivation of the Seven Forbidden Techniques, Xu Yuan's mastery of the dream space and his understanding of the connection between inner and outer worlds had deepened. With experience in forging using the dual realms method, his ability to convert physical energy into void energy became increasingly effective against energy-based attacks.
As long as the attack didn't instantly exceed the limits of his dream space's capacity, it couldn't harm him.
Unless it was purely physical damage.
That beam of green light had felt somewhat strange to Xu Yuan, but there hadn't been enough time to study it. Once he had some free time, he planned to investigate it further.
Seeing that Xu Yuan showed no abnormalities after a thorough self-check, Wu Zhangkong let out a sigh of relief.
But deep down, he was still uneasy.
Not detecting anything was the most frightening possibility.
That beam of green light undoubtedly carried some extremely unique ability.
"Teacher, I'll continue with my assessment now."
Wu Zhangkong was momentarily taken aback, remembering that the assessment was still ongoing.
He nodded, watching as Xu Yuan walked away. From a distance, he continued to observe him.
At the same time, he retrieved his soul-guided communication device and contacted the academy to report the appearance of the evil soul master.
After so many years, the frequency of evil soul master sightings was increasing once again. Within a few years, it was inevitable that there would be another era overrun with them. The academy needed to prepare early.
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Shrek Academy
Sea God Pavilion
Yun Ming hadn't expected that during this year's Outer Court first-year assessment, an evil soul master would make an appearance.
However, this was likely part of the evil soul master's own plan and unrelated to the Outer Court assessment. Still, the resurgence of evil soul masters was something that warranted attention.
Yun Ming had a vague sense that the Holy Spirit Sect was about to reemerge, and this time, it would be more intense than ever before.
The current balance of power on the continent hadn't always existed. In many eras, quasi-gods were few and far between. True golden ages like the present were exceedingly rare.
With so many talented and powerful figures representing the forces of light, the dark side, represented by evil soul masters, had also accumulated a significant number of formidable individuals.
The reappearance of evil soul masters meant that the Holy Spirit Sect now possessed the ability to resist the pressures of institutions like Shrek Academy and other major powers.
Yun Ming looked toward the horizon, his gaze shifting as he contemplated something unknown.
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Tiandou City
Forging Association
Xu Yuan headed directly to his destination.
Wu Zhangkong followed discreetly behind.
"Hmm?"
Upon arriving at the Forging Association, Xu Yuan spotted Tang Wulin.
At this moment, Tang Wulin was busy showing off.
He was the second student after Xu Yuan to earn travel expenses through forging, and also the fastest among the remaining students. His Thousand Refinements Grade-One efficiency was incredibly high, requiring only sixteen strikes to complete an exceptional piece of Thousand Refinements Grade-One metal.
After earning enough for his fare, he naturally caught the earliest soul-guided train.
However, he hadn't been in Carriage Five, and news of what happened there hadn't spread, so he was unaware of it.
Without curiosity or delay, he headed straight to the Forging Association after disembarking, where he encountered Zhen Hua demonstrating his insights and sharing forging techniques.
Zhen Hua was explaining small tricks for fusion forging, which perfectly aligned with what Tang Wulin was currently practicing. After listening, Tang Wulin gained immense insight and wanted to try it out immediately.
When Xu Yuan arrived, Tang Wulin had already completed his fusion forging. Before him lay a piece of Star Silver, successfully forged by fusing Sunken Silver and Celestial Star Iron.
"Good lad!" Zhen Hua exclaimed, his eyes gleaming.
He smiled at Tang Wulin and said, "You must be Tang Wulin, Mu Chen's disciple, right?"
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