From the fact that Xiao Wu never mentioned Tang Hao being Tang San's father from start to finish, in an attempt to make him show mercy, it was clear that his arrangements had gone very smoothly.
This meant that after three years, Xiao Wu not only hadn't formed a genuine bond with Tang San but had instead grown more distant.
The main reason You Chen had come to Shrek Academy was to confirm whether there had been any oversights in the initial "simp cultivation plan."
After all, You Chen wasn't a god. Even if the initial plan had gone smoothly, he couldn't guarantee that nothing had changed after three years.
For example, although Xiao Wu was under Tang Hao's control, she had developed a Stockholm syndrome towards Tang San, who had been kind to her. This was far from cultivating a simp; it was likely that things would circle back to the original plotline.
The fact that she didn't care at all about how Tang San's father would be dealt with, or about Tang Hao's life or death, spoke volumes about her feelings towards Tang San.
Even if Xiao Wu herself hadn't noticed this neglect, You Chen, who had come with the intention of testing, wouldn't overlook it.
However, even so, You Chen still didn't feel entirely secure. He proactively revealed that he knew about Xiao Wu's identity as a spirit beast to bring them closer.
After taking advantage of this vulnerability, Xiao Wu's heart could no longer be moved by Tang San.
Whether Xiao Wu saw him as a close friend, an elder, or even a romantic interest didn't matter. What was important was that he occupied this position.
As for why he didn't just fulfill Xiao Wu's wish and take her away?
It was because he had already sensed Xiao Wu's desire to leave. Even without him, after Tang Hao was captured, Xiao Wu would likely leave soon enough.
And when that happened, Tang San would inevitably suffer a massive mental blow.
If he could then find an opportunity to deliver a precise finishing blow, he could steer Tang San's thoughts in the direction he wanted...
The exact timing would require flexibility.
So he prepared to temporarily station a clone here.
When necessary, he could completely control this clone to transform into Xiao Wu's appearance and say the necessary things to Tang San.
The best scenario, of course, would be if he didn't have to do anything and the actors performed perfectly on their own...
Inside the girls' dormitory, just as You Chen had anticipated, Xiao Wu was already contemplating leaving.
'What kind of secret technique is this? It's so powerful! Just by starting to learn it, it's already significantly concealing my spirit beast aura!'
Xiao Wu was shocked as she tried out the specialized version of the Aura Concealment Art that You Chen had given her. Thinking that this was a secret technique You Chen had specially developed for her, a sweet smile appeared on her face: 'He must have spent a lot of time researching this for me... Hmph, considering this technique, I'll go a bit easier on you when I find you, you scoundrel.'
Xiao Wu silently waved her pink fist, a fierce expression on her face, clearly imagining herself beating up You Chen in her mind.
'With this technique, I can go anywhere in the world. And that old man Tang Hao is gone, so no one can keep an eye on me anymore!'
A restless spark ignited in Xiao Wu's eyes.
Was Shrek Academy a good place?
Honestly, for Xiao Wu, it was quite good.
The place was remote, and the two strongest individuals there were only Soul Saints, not Soul Douluos who could see through her.
Moreover, Xiao Wu didn't need much in terms of cultivation resources or equipment, so she didn't mind the academy's modest training environment.
If it weren't for Tang Hao constantly watching her like a hawk, Xiao Wu felt she could have been quite happy here.
However, while Shrek Academy was fine, Xiao Wu didn't like the people there.
Especially that playboy Dai Mubai, who kept chattering around her like an annoying fly. Xiao Wu had wanted to slap him to death countless times.
But, on one hand, she hadn't revealed her true strength, and on the other, this nuisance helped her deal with another nuisance, so she chose to ignore him for the time being.
Now that she had the specialized Aura Concealment Art, her options had become much more varied, and Xiao Wu naturally wanted to shake off these two nuisances.
Moreover, the nuisances in Shrek Academy weren't limited to just these two. Whether it was the lecherous Oscar or the constantly whoring Ma Hongjun, no normal female Soul Master would like them.
'That Dai Mubai and Oscar are about to reach level 40 and level 30 respectively. When that happens, the dean will most likely take us out to hunt for Spirit Rings. I'll take that opportunity to run away.'
Xiao Wu secretly made up her mind.
...
At the top of a watchtower in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
"Chen Xin, what's wrong with you, old man? It's fine if you're in a bad mood, but you're scaring our little princess with that grim face of yours. That's not right!"
Bone Douluo Gu Rong arrived at the observation deck and immediately began scolding Chen Xin, who was silently looking down from above.
"I just feel inexplicably uneasy."
Chen Xin, for once, didn't argue with Gu Rong and instead honestly shared his feelings.
He knew in his heart that Gu Rong wasn't really here to scold him but to show concern.
"Uneasy? What do you have to be uneasy about, old man?" Gu Rong frowned and asked.
Chen Xin still didn't turn around, his eyes somewhat unfocused as he looked down at the peaceful and harmonious scene within the sect. "I didn't mention it to you before, but at my level, I sometimes get premonitions. I feel like something bad is about to happen. Hmm, you haven't broken through to level 96 yet, so you probably wouldn't understand."
Hearing this, Gu Rong's eyes widened, and he rolled up his sleeves: "Come on, look at you, acting all high and mighty! If you're so amazing, let's spar! I'm definitely going to beat you today!"
Chen Xin didn't pay attention to Gu Rong's inevitable defeat and the beating he was about to receive.
He furrowed his brows and continued, "I feel like the Beast Soul Commerce isn't as simple as it seems on the surface."
Gu Rong pouted, "What? You're worried about that? It's done, we've already beaten them up, and it's too late to regret it now. If someone comes for revenge, we'll just team up and deal with them. With the two of us together, can't we handle a Titled Douluo? Besides, I think that Dugu Bo was just bluffing!"
Chen Xin remained silent.
To preserve Gu Rong's dignity, he had never told him about the gap between a Super Douluo and an ordinary Titled Douluo (original content).
And based on Dugu Bo's attitude, he definitely knew about the existence of the Super Douluo level, and... it was very likely that he was the "big brother" he had mentioned!
'I hope my premonition is wrong.'
"Come on, let's go, don't just stand here being a gloomy gus. Let's go drink!"
Gu Rong couldn't stand Chen Xin's gloomy demeanor and immediately slung an arm over his shoulder.
But at that moment.
With a slap, Chen Xin abruptly knocked Gu Rong's hand away.
Gu Rong was stunned and genuinely hurt.
But then he heard Chen Xin, after swatting his hand away, slightly raise his head, his eyes sharp and focused, staring into the distant dark sky: "He's here."
Gu Rong was dumbfounded: "Who's here?"
"The strong one I was anticipating, he's here!"
Chen Xin roared, stepping on his flying sword, his figure shooting out like lightning.
Boom—.
Two powerful soul power fluctuations collided in the air, the intense impact making all the disciples of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect aware of the anomaly in the sky.
"Who goes there?"
Although he already had a plan in mind, Chen Xin still asked.
He looked towards the newcomer's face from afar, but to his dismay, he found that the other's face seemed shrouded in mist, making it impossible for him to see clearly.
"Chen Xin!"
Gu Rong quickly followed, using his Martial Soul's unique spatial teleportation ability to catch up to Chen Xin, fulfilling his earlier promise to "team up."
Chen Xin didn't turn his head to respond, just silently nodded. With his close friend by his side, he felt inexplicably more at ease.
"Sword Douluo Chen Xin, you bullied my little brother, and now you're asking who I am? How... ridiculous!"
Accompanied by the newcomer's deep voice, an even stronger soul power and spiritual power fusion wave surged forth.
The person who had deliberately changed his tone from a scholarly style to a domineering alliance leader style was, of course, You Chen.
'What a masterful technique!'
Chen Xin was solemn. The earlier soul power fluctuation had just been a simple probe, but he hadn't been able to gauge the other's soul power level from it.
Now, the aura had become even stronger, but because it was a dual-power mixed aura, similar to Bo Saixi's perfect fusion of spiritual and soul power, Chen Xin still couldn't accurately assess You Chen's strength.
Only one thing was clear: the newcomer was strong!
This was his intuition as a strong individual, as a swordsman!
Even if experience couldn't determine the other's strength, his intuition assured him of the other's power!
Chen Xin's blood began to boil, his fighting spirit surging. If this were a wilderness setting, he wouldn't mind having a thrilling duel with such a strong opponent.
But...
His gaze swept over the sect disciples and Ning Fengzhi, who had appeared on the watchtower and was locking eyes with him from afar.
Chen Xin suppressed his fighting spirit and retorted to You Chen, "What do you mean by bullying the weak? If using strength to oppress the weak is bullying, then this world is indeed a world of bullying. Using that as a reason to seek justice doesn't hold water. Why don't you just come and 'bully the weak' yourself?"
Gu Rong also stepped forward and scolded, "Chen Xin, he's already come to our doorstep, why are you still wasting words with him?"
The two exchanged glances, already understanding each other's thoughts.
As the strong individuals conversed in the sky, the disciples of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect on the ground only panicked briefly at first. Upon seeing the Bone Douluo and Sword Douluo appear, they quickly calmed down and even began joking and watching the show.
In the eyes of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect disciples, the two Titled Douluos were their pillars of strength, their absolute protectors.
With these two protectors present, what was there to fear?
"Look, it's Grandpa Sword and Grandpa Bone!"
The most obvious example of this was naturally the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's little princess, Ning Rongrong.
The young lady, dressed in a sky-blue luxurious gown, was proudly watching the two, telling her admiring companions, "It's just some random bad guy who showed up. Grandpa Sword and Grandpa Bone will definitely teach him a lesson!"
At that moment, it was precisely when the Bone Douluo had just finished exchanging glances with the Sword Douluo.
You Chen, watching the two exchanging glances, burst into laughter: "Hahaha! What a Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, what a domineering Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect! I, the one seeking justice, haven't even decided to act, and you're already planning a righteous gang-up!?"
His voice, like before, was deliberately amplified, reaching the ears of all the disciples.
Chen Xin's expression darkened slightly.
But before he could say anything, You Chen's voice turned cold, filled with killing intent: "Good, very good. You want to fight? Then I'll gladly oblige. However, I hope you know that forcing me to act comes at a high cost. You two initiated this conflict. If you can't even last three minutes and fail to satisfy me... then this Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has no reason to exist."
Just as You Chen finished his threat, the Sword and Bone Douluos' killing intent surged.
Whoosh—.
Without any hesitation, Gu Rong, who had been gathering soul power during his exchange of glances with Chen Xin, unleashed his soul power. The dark soul power fluctuations blended into the night, and in the blink of an eye, he teleported behind You Chen.
A massive bone claw reached out towards You Chen's shoulder, aiming to take him away from the area to prevent collateral damage on the ground.
However, the soul power-formed bone claw didn't even get within five meters of You Chen before it disintegrated into dust.
"What!?"
Gu Rong was horrified.
And You Chen just happened to turn his head to look at Gu Rong.
Screech!
A piercing sword cry rang out as a massive Seven Kill Sword shot towards them.
Chen Xin, with a grave expression, had already activated his Spirit Avatar without hesitation, simultaneously shouting to Gu Rong: "Gu Rong, this opponent is no ordinary person. Don't hold back!"
The Spirit Rings on the Seven Kill Sword lit up one by one, and Chen Xin was nearly going all out from the start.
His goal wasn't to immediately defeat You Chen but to sense the danger Gu Rong was in and attempt a diversionary tactic.
The giant sword soared through the sky, and countless Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect disciples looked up, their eyes filled with admiration.
But the next second, the overwhelmingly powerful giant sword was caught by You Chen with one hand.
Chen Xin's pupils constricted. Although he had anticipated that You Chen's strength was extraordinary, he never expected the gap between them to be this vast!?
"Go."
You Chen, holding the giant sword with one hand, hurled it towards Gu Rong.
Fortunately, the Martial Soul was still under Chen Xin's control, and with a burst of soul power, he forcibly changed the sword's trajectory, causing it to graze Gu Rong's body and crash into the ground!
Boom!
In the explosion, the ground was torn apart, and debris flew everywhere.
You Chen silently glanced at his palm.
The bloodstains were clearly visible, but You Chen's so-called hexagonal attributes had no weaknesses, and even his regenerative abilities were beyond imagination. Such injuries healed in the blink of an eye.
Recalling the original plot, it was only natural that he would be injured by Chen Xin, a level 96 Super Douluo.
With the sharpness of the Seven Kill Sword, even a body at the limit level could be pierced, let alone his body, which hadn't reached that level yet.
However, being able to pierce his defense was one thing, but unless it was a direct hit to a vital spot without any obstruction, Chen Xin had no chance of defeating a body at the limit level.
Moreover, such a person wouldn't foolishly stand still and let Chen Xin hit them. With the sensory abilities of such a body, unless You Chen chose not to dodge and took the hit head-on, Chen Xin would need to perform extremely precise calculations to land a few blows.
As for why he was acting so arrogantly?
You Chen glanced at the task that had been triggered after threatening the Sword and Bone Douluos.
It wasn't a pure defeat task; more importantly, it was about crushing their spirits, making them feel the absolute, overwhelming gap, and causing them to submit.
And this task objective actually aligned perfectly with You Chen's purpose for coming here.
Most of the resource rewards were already self-explanatory, but the key was the special rewards dropped by these two—no, to be precise, the three including Ning Fengzhi.
Reward: "Comprehension" (Choose a technique, martial skill, or soul skill to comprehend, gaining a large amount of experience.)
With just a quick glance, You Chen realized that if used well, this reward was no less valuable than dozens of flashes of insight.
Moreover, since the task objective aligned with his purpose for coming here, there was no reason not to take it.
So the question was, if You Chen went all out now, he could defeat these two in an instant.
But whether that would completely crush the spirits of the three, including Ning Fengzhi, and earn the extra reward was still up in the air.
You Chen didn't plan to use the sect or their descendants as threats this time, so to complete this task, he had to focus on this battle.
You Chen had played many games in his previous life and had a deep understanding of the feeling of being crushed. Compared to the helplessness of being instantly killed, a powerful boss that couldn't be defeated even after giving it your all was more likely to make one feel crushed and despair.
Only those who struggled could be crushed and feel despair.
The three-minute limit he had used to provoke the two was precisely the best leverage to force them to struggle and give them a deeper sense of despair.
You Chen clasped his hands behind his back, his eagle-like gaze piercing towards Ning Fengzhi, who had already begun chanting soul incantations. Ning Fengzhi's face instantly paled, and Gu Rong's expression darkened as he immediately activated his Spirit Avatar, transforming into a massive bone dragon to block between them.
"The Seven Treasure Glazed Pagoda, hailed as the number one support Martial Soul? Don't worry, I was just thinking your strength was too weak to satisfy me."
However, to Gu Rong's shock, You Chen showed no intention of attacking Ning Fengzhi. Instead, he continued to clasp his hands behind his back, smiling: "Go ahead, support and enhance them, then put on a good show for me. Only then... will you understand true despair."
Hearing this, Chen Xin's eyes flickered: 'This person is indeed abnormally strong. I even suspect he's close to the level of the person who defeated my father. But... he's not without weaknesses! Arrogance is his greatest weakness! Even now, he hasn't revealed his Martial Soul! If it weren't for the fact that he's terrifyingly strong, this wouldn't just be arrogance; it would be stupidity! We still have a chance to win!'
"Bastard!"
While Chen Xin was still considering the possibility of defeating You Chen, Gu Rong, enraged by the words, launched an attack.
"Seven Treasures have names: One is Strength, Two is Speed, Three is Soul..."
Ning Fengzhi, who had also heard You Chen's arrogant words, wasn't angry like Gu Rong because of the disdain. Instead, he looked grave, immediately activating his Spirit Avatar and applying a series of enhancements to the Sword and Bone Douluos.
With a merchant's mindset, Ning Fengzhi couldn't discern the exact strength gap between You Chen and his two uncles, but he knew that someone who could make such bold claims was either insane or truly possessed unmatched power!
He didn't dare to be careless.
Since You Chen was being overconfident, Ning Fengzhi wouldn't choose to uphold the dignity of t
he top three sects. He poured all the enhancements into the Sword and Bone Douluos in one go!
The Seven Treasure Glazed Pagoda lived up to its reputation as the number one support Martial Soul. In terms of enhancement strength, even Soul Masters of the same or higher levels couldn't compare. It was undoubtedly a super support Martial Soul.
Even a Titled Douluo would see a noticeable boost in strength under the enhancement of a Soul Saint.
The Bone Douluo's overall combat power directly leaped to the level of a Super Douluo, and after receiving the enhancement, Chen Xin's combat power was also comparable to that of a level 97 Super Douluo.
If Chen Xin was like those from the Haotian Sect who specialized in hammers, a Soul Master who maximized all Spirit Rings for extreme attack, then Gu Rong's Spirit Ring choices were relatively more varied.
To put it nicely, he leaned more towards a balance of offense and defense, but in reality, he mostly played a supporting role to Chen Xin, acting as a meat shield.
The Bone Dragon Martial Soul, a dragon-type Martial Soul focused solely on bones without flesh, definitely did not lack in defense.
Gu Rong's intentions were not hard to guess; he wanted to entangle You Chen and create an opportunity for Chen Xin to unleash his attacks.
Even though Gu Rong possessed the ability to traverse space, You Chen's speed could easily shake him off.
But what if he did get entangled? You Chen deliberately displayed an attitude of complete indifference towards Gu Rong.
Stardust Power condensed into a fist, and You Chen, after days of research in the North Sea, unleashed a rudimentary fist technique.
Pop, pop, pop—seven consecutive explosive sonic booms rang out simultaneously.
The crisp sound alone was enough to rupture the eardrums of anyone nearby, and the seven consecutive booms even caused Chen Xin, who was attempting a sneak attack, to feel slightly uncomfortable.
And of course, the sonic booms were not the main focus of the fist technique; they were merely a byproduct of the terrifying power.
Unlike Chen Xin, Gu Rong, who faced this punch head-on, felt the distant fist infinitely magnify in his vision, with the word "Danger" faintly appearing above his head.
'Chen Xin, I think I understand what you meant by that premonition now.'
In a panic, Gu Rong quickly activated two defensive Soul Skills. The bones of the Bone Dragon instantly turned a deep, black color, resembling black gold, while a black barrier appeared directly in front of Gu Rong.
But this first line of defense offered no resistance to You Chen's punch, shattering with a crash in an instant.
The remaining force of the punch struck Gu Rong, sending him plummeting and crashing into the ground!
If it weren't for the fact that the area happened to be a forested region on the outskirts of the sect, it would have likely killed many people.
Seeing Gu Rong fall, many sect members who had initially just wanted to watch the spectacle finally showed expressions of shock, becoming flustered and noisy.
Whoosh.
Chen Xin was also extremely worried about Gu Rong's condition, but he knew what needed to be done at this moment. Without shouting, he poured all his strength into a sword thrust towards You Chen.
Despite being an enormous greatsword, under Chen Xin's near-perfect control, it seemed to blend seamlessly with the air, producing little sound.
Clang—.
In the sound of metal clashing, a majestic golden sword appeared.
Chen Xin was slightly stunned: "You... you're also a swordsman who uses a sword!?"
The large and small swords crossed, and while common sense would dictate that the greatsword's force would far surpass that of the smaller sword, the reality was that they seemed evenly matched as they separated.
"One minute has passed."
You Chen did not directly answer, lightly twirling his sword with a smile: "To bring you despair, using a sword like yours is most fitting."
Chen Xin gazed at the golden sword, his expression extremely grave.
His full-powered sword strike had been effortlessly blocked by You Chen. Without a doubt, the power of this golden sword surpassed even his Seven Kill Sword!
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