Several hours had already passed since Zhou Linlan ventured into the Star Duo Forest, walking with firm steps and a clear direction. The dense, damp foliage muffled the crunch of her footsteps. Only a little could be seen under the light of the moon. The air was thick with moisture, and the cold was quite intense.
Even though she was only walking along the edges of the forest, she didn't let her guard down. Even in this area, where most beasts were barely a 10 to 100 years cultivated, a single moment of distraction could mean death.
That's when she felt it.
An almost imperceptible shift in the atmosphere. The tension in the air, the murmur of the leaves... something snapped.
Zzzt!
From a thorn-covered, mossy bush, a venom dart scorpion launched a needle—thinner than a hair but laced with enough poison to kill a soul master or even a grand master within a few hours.
Zhou Linlan didn't move.
Clang!
The projectile struck an invisible barrier, solid as steel, that coated her skin several centimeters away. A white glow flashed across the surface of her soul power shield, dispersing the attack without leaving a trace.
"Stupid creature," she murmured coldly.
A throwing dagger appeared in her hand. It was a storage-type soul tool. For anyone who understood the value of such items, that alone was enough to covet it.
With a swift motion, she threw it.
The dagger pierced between the scorpion's eyes, which let out a sharp screech before collapsing. A white soul ring emerged from its body.
Zhou Linlan didn't even flinch. She wasn't there to hunt.
"How long do you plan to keep following me?"
The question floated in the air like a stone dropped into a well. Silence lingered for just a few seconds… until two shadows emerged from the undergrowth. They weren't soul beasts.
They were two men.
Both were burly, hardened by years of violence. The first had a cross-shaped scar running across his face, splitting his right eye as if a knife had cut it in two. The other, shorter and hunched, had knobby fingers covered in rings stained by blood.
"Shit," grunted the one with the scar. "She noticed us."
"How did you sense our presence?" he asked, his coarse voice laced with both curiosity and restrained rage.
Zhou Linlan didn't answer.
"Brother! Why the hell are you wasting time with questions?" snapped the other. "She's alone! Let's use her quickly before her teacher notices she's gone! It's been a long time since we've played with someone this young—and she's a Shrek student, from the same place that gave you that ugly scar. Just thinking about abusing her gets me hard."
They were evil soul masters. Criminals. Killers. And worse, one of them was a cultivator whose martial soul devoured the souls of its victims to grow stronger.
They had planned to attack a small group maybe rookies with some mercenary soul masters paid to help hunt soul rings. But the unexpected arrival of a Shrek Academy teacher in town made them lie low. Until they saw her. A student slipping out a hotel window at dusk. A strange enough scene to raise suspicion. Fearing a trap, they followed her cautiously for hours.
But they saw no sign of an ambush. Just her, walking alone into the forest.
"I don't get it… a Shrek student climbing out a window, alone, at night?" muttered the scarred one. "We almost didn't act, thinking it was bait."
"Bah!" spat the other. "We were shitting ourselves like idiots, and turns out she's real. Lucky us! This little girl must be from some noble family, she's definitely carrying valuable stuff."
The scarred one, Bao Ren, looked more closely at Zhou Linlan. He had seen her use a dagger that didn't seem to be her martial soul, which could only mean one thing.
"She has a storage essence tool… even the smallest ones are worth at least a thousand gold coins. We won't just walk away rich, she's also damn beautiful," he said, his voice dripping with greed.
The other, Qian Mu, let out a twisted laugh.
"Girl, if you answer my question, maybe I'll leave your body intact after we use it," he said with a warped smile. "My martial soul is the Soul-Devouring Shadow, and I can completely camouflage myself in the dark. You shouldn't have been able to sense us. So tell me… how the hell did you detect us?"
Qian Mu took great pride in his stalking and stealth abilities. Being detected so easily made him uneasy. What if Shrek Academy had developed new methods to track nearby evil soul masters like him?
Zhou Linlan didn't say a word. She remembered one of Zhen Len's lessons, 'When facing an opponent who hasn't made a move, analyze and observe them without losing track of their every little action. Every second you gain is an advantage to find a way to kill them. And never, ever, lose sight of your target'.
Then she spoke.
"I don't owe you an explanation!" she shouted, pulling a crossbow from her necklace while simultaneously releasing a few orbs with small dots around her.
A black crossbow. Forged by Zhen Len. As a former member of the Tang Sect, he had deep knowledge of hidden weapons. He gave her a few because they were much more versatile and faster to activate and master than cannons. The design was compact, deadly, and easy to wield. Perfect for rapid bursts.
She fired.
The arrows sliced through the air in a deadly barrage, leaving trails of light that lit up the forest's darkness. Each one was laced with a paralyzing venom, designed to cause unbearable pain and a slow, agonizing death.
"Watch out!" Bao Ren shouted. "She's got Tang Sect weapons!"
Qian Mu cloaked himself in shadow, vanishing as he activated his second soul ring. Bao Ren triggered his first. A dark shield formed from his arm, protecting him from the arrows, though not without effort. Each impact sent harsh vibrations through his defense, and one arrow managed to pierce the shield, slashing a deep wound across his cheek.
Five rings spun around him: one white, two yellow, and two purple.
"You fucking bitch!" he roared, activating his second soul ring. His shield turned black, and he slammed it into the ground.
A wave of dark energy swept across the terrain, lifting earth and leaves into a chaotic storm. Zhou Linlan leapt to keep her footing, twisted in mid-air, and fired again while airborne. One of the arrows embedded itself in Bao Ren's leg. He screamed in pain and fury, collapsing to his knees as blood gushed from the wound.
From the shadows, Qian Mu's voice oozed like whispered venom.
"By the time we're done with you, you'll wish you'd never crossed us."
Zhou Linlan landed just behind her original position.
"You haven't even made me release my martial soul and you're already bragging?" she mocked, fully prepared for them to fall into her trap.
The battle had barely begun, and yet Bao Ren knew something was wrong. It wasn't just the pain, it was a chilling sensation creeping from his leg and cheek, like his muscles were turning to stone. A violent tremor shook his body. Suddenly, the swelling on his wounds turned dark purple, almost black, and the nearby veins bulged like rotting roots. Small, hard, translucent bumps emerged on his skin in a grotesque pattern, pulsing with a faint greenish light.
"Brother, the arrows are poisoned, get the anti…" But before he could finish, paralysis took hold. His eyes widened in terror as his own arm refused to obey him. He dropped to his knees, his face twisted in helplessness, and finally collapsed. His cheek and leg weren't just swollen and discolored anymore, they were stiff like wood, with the grotesque bumps spreading all over.
At that moment, Qian Mu, who had planned to ambush her from the shadows, shuddered. He may have killed hundreds without flinching, crushing lives like ants, always cold and collected, but harming his sworn brother, the one who shared his fetishes, tastes, misfortunes, and triumphs, struck a nerve. They had even promised that if they reincarnated, they'd be husband and wife in the next life.
So, enraged, he activated one of his purple soul rings, massively increasing his movement speed in the darkness. Then he readied his other purple soul ring, which made him immune to physical attacks for a few seconds at the cost of heavy soul power consumption. He planned to take her by surprise, ignore her arrows, and kill her instantly—no room for mistakes. He didn't care what happened after—he would find the antidote on her corpse if needed. But he knew he couldn't give her even a single chance to counterattack. He might end up like his brother.
As expected, Zhou Linlan fired several arrows at him, but they passed through his body with no effect, it was as if they pierced nothing but air.
When he was just a few meters away, confident of his victory, certain he'd be safe once he snapped her neck using his third soul ring, a transparent wall suddenly materialized in his path. Then he felt his entire back being pierced by tiny needles.
Paralysis enveloped him, and he could only murmur, "How?" before turning his head slightly and seeing the small balls she had thrown earlier, ones he hadn't noticed due to the darkness, scattered around the area. He'd let his guard down at the last moment and failed to see the needle-firing balls Zhen Len had designed, inspired by the Bloodspine Crown Tree and porcupines. They were triggered by the barrier-type soul tool Zhou Linlan had used.
Though Qian Mu was now paralyzed and near death, with the same venom signs as his brother spreading across his back, Zhou Linlan kept her distance. This time, she activated her martial soul and began firing arrows made of pure soul power. She knew Zhen Len had to work to replenish the soul tools she used, so she didn't want to burden him more than necessary.
She also made sure to fire plenty of arrows from a safe distance until she was absolutely sure they were dead. Zhen Len had taught her: always finish off your enemies, even if they seem dead already. He'd once shown her a 100 years giant-pincer ant that kept attacking even after its head was severed, it only stopped once its skull was pierced. Zhen Len had drilled that lesson into her.
She approached the corpses and stored them in a soul tool embedded in one of her arms. It disgusted her to put dead bodies into the first gift Zhen Len had ever given her, that necklace she always wore.
But as she looked over the aftermath, she felt a pang of uselessness. Everything she'd just accomplished was thanks to Zhen Len. Seeing the effectiveness of his soul tools made her question whether soul masters truly deserved the prestige they held. In under three minutes, she had taken down two Soul Kings making her wonder if she was any better than cannon fodder unless she became a Title Douluo.
That thought rekindled her conviction to grow stronger. Then, a small doubt crept in.
'Would he be disgusted that I'm bringing him corpses?' She wondered whether showing up with the bodies would make Zhen Len see her as cold and emotionless, diminishing her appeal as a "cute girl." But remembering how he had taught her to always loot everything she could, she pushed those feelings aside and continued on her way to him, with a smile full of anticipation for the praise he'd give her after seeing that she had taken down two Soul Kings... even if it was thanks to the weapons he gave her.