"Is there something special about your Martial Soul Fusion Skill?" Dugu Bo couldn't help but feel curious as he observed Li Xun and Ning Rongrong.
"Grandpa Dugu, trust me, you wouldn't be able to handle our Martial Soul Fusion Skill," Li Xun quickly advised, noticing Dugu Bo's eager expression.
"That's right, you really shouldn't think about trying it," Ning Rongrong also chimed in. She had heard from Dugu Yan about the incidents that had occurred in Dugu Bo's family.
At his age, experiencing such things again might be too much for him to bear.
Moreover, their Martial Soul Fusion Skill wasn't just about revisiting past memories; it also adapted to the person's deepest fears.
"Hmm?"
Dugu Bo looked at the two in surprise. "I was just curious and didn't plan to test it."
If it were just Li Xun advising him, he might have still tried it. But since Ning Rongrong also spoke up, he knew the skill must be quite dangerous.
He was someone who listened to advice.
As the pagoda disappeared, Yu Xiaogang and the other two gradually returned to reality from the illusion. When the three of them looked at each other, their expressions changed.
"Xiaogang, even though our family has declined, you still haven't forgotten her?" Liu Erlong's face was streaked with tears as she looked at Yu Xiaogang with blurred eyes.
In the last illusion, she had witnessed Yu Xiaogang admitting in front of her father that he wanted to change the genes of his next generation through her. Her father, enraged, fell ill and passed away with resentment.
She also saw Yu Xiaogang, after failing in his plan, turn to Bibidong, and together they destroyed the Blue Lightning Tyrant School out of spite.
All of this felt too real, pushing her emotions to the brink of collapse.
"..." Yu Xiaogang, his eyes also red, looked at Liu Erlong, momentarily at a loss for words.
The impact inside the pagoda had been immense. Although he now knew it was just an illusion, the vivid scenes kept replaying in his mind, making it hard for him to accept.
"Xiaogang, Erlong, snap out of it! Everything we just experienced was an illusion created by those kids' Soul Skills, it's not real."
Flender looked up at Li Xun, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Don't let the illusion affect your real emotions."
Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong, hearing Flender's voice, both looked up. Though they hadn't completely shaken off the effects of the illusion, their emotions calmed down somewhat as they focused.
"Brother, why does our Martial Soul Fusion Skill have the least effect on that Flender?" Ning Rongrong looked up at Li Xun, puzzled, as she watched Flender glaring at them from below.
She had clearly seen Flender suffering in the illusion too!
Watching the person he loved marry, consummate, and have children with someone else, he sat silently outside the room. Over time, he experienced Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong's love turning to abandonment, the academy's rise to fame and then its collapse, and the students' gratitude turning to desertion.
Until finally, Flender, in utter despair, died leaning against a bridge.
Each of these events was a blow, so how did Flender recover so quickly after leaving the illusion?
"Perhaps that's the resilience of a simp," Li Xun said, looking at Flender with a hint of admiration.
It had to be said, although this man was somewhat selfish, his feelings for Liu Erlong far exceeded those of Yu Xiaogang by ten thousand times.
If it weren't true love, who would have the courage to personally officiate their wedding, and who would repeatedly send a man into the arms of his beloved?
Perhaps Flender's feelings for the academy weren't even a tenth of Liu Erlong's.
"Brother, what does 'simp' mean?" Ning Rongrong asked with a puzzled expression, looking at Flender.
"Well, a 'simp' is someone who abandons their dignity and has no bottom line in catering to others, usually referring to someone in a love triangle, but it's not limited to triangles; it applies to quadrilaterals, pentagons, and hexagons too," Li Xun explained with a serious tone, clearing his throat.
"So, among you, Zhu Zhuqing, and me, who's the simp?" Ning Rongrong suddenly understood, her eyes gleaming as she posed a sharp question.
"???"
Li Xun was taken aback, then gritted his teeth and pinched Ning Rongrong's bottom hard: "Our relationship is so harmonious, there's no simp here!"
"Then what do you call our relationship?" Ning Rongrong, feeling the pain, quickly changed the subject to appease him.
"Harem," Li Xun stated boldly without any hesitation.
"Ugh, brother, you actually want to emulate ancient emperors with polygamy, how shameless!" Ning Rongrong's face turned red as she pinched Li Xun's soft flesh fiercely: "Zhu Zhuqing and I won't agree to this."
"Hehe, it's not up to you."
Li Xun endured the pain and sneered coldly: "Besides me, I dare anyone to marry you, any man who dares to approach you, I'll kill one by one, a group by a group."
Ning Rongrong pouted and snorted lightly: "What if I decide not to marry anyone and plan to live alone till old age?"
"Rongrong, don't worry, I won't let you live alone till old age," Li Xun chuckled: "Wherever you live, Zhu Zhuqing and I will move in to accompany you, and I won't even have to buy a house."
"How shameless! I'll bite you to death." Ning Rongrong, unable to contain her anger, bit Li Xun's arm hard.
"Ouch~ be gentle." Li Xun pretended to grimace in pain.
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The actions of the two in the sky left Dugu Bo dumbfounded; he hadn't expected such shameless people to exist.
"Tsk tsk, youth is indeed wonderful!" Dugu Bo sighed, then turned his gaze to Yu Xiaogang and the other two: "Will you surrender yourselves, or shall I make a move?"
Even their recent Martial Soul Fusion Skill hadn't affected him, and now that the giant dragon had disappeared, he didn't believe they could summon a stronger creature again.
Due to the previous illusion, Liu Erlong was somewhat broken and hadn't recovered yet, while Flender adopted a desperate stance.
"Elder Flander, Erlong, let's just surrender," Yu Xiaogang slowly closed his eyes, trying to suppress what had happened in the illusion.
"Xiaogang!"
"..."
Flender was stunned, looking at Yu Xiaogang with some confusion.
Everything that happened in the illusion felt like a humiliation, and with their pride as Soul Masters, how could they just surrender as if nothing had happened.
"Wake up, the opponent is a Title Douluo, what can you achieve by being desperate? You'll just end up as three corpses."
Yu Xiaogang clenched his fists tightly, speaking in a low voice with his eyes closed: "Think about Xiao San and Xiao Wu, although Tang Hao fled first, I believe Xiao San won't give up on us."
"Alright."
Flender sighed deeply, then walked over to Liu Erlong and patted her on the shoulder: "Erlong, Xiaogang is right."
"."
Liu Erlong looked up at Li Xun and the other figure floating in the sky, then turned her gaze to Yu Xiaogang, falling into silence.
Seeing this, Dugu Bo pointed his finger, and several pills floated in front of the three of them: "Don't think about escaping. This poison is specially made by me. If you don't take the antidote within twelve hours, your intestines will rot, and you'll die."
Yu Xiaogang picked up the pill and, without a word, swallowed it immediately. Seeing this, Liu Erlong and Flender had no choice but to follow suit and take the poison prepared by Dugu Bo.