Douluo Continent: I, an evil soul master, work nine-to-five in the Tang Sect.

Chapter 104 Ma Xiaotao

"What are you saying, Brother Luo? I started selling grilled fish at the square just to make a living, but now I don't need the money. It's just a hobby."

"Besides, to be honest, I still owe you a lot, Brother Luo. Just those few Xuan Shui Pills you gave me before are worth far more than these grilled fish. I'm afraid even if you sold me, you still couldn't pay me back."

Hearing that Luo Chen was going to compensate him for the loss of his grilled fish, Huo Yuhao felt a warmth in his heart. However, he had no intention of letting Luo Chen pay for it. After all, even if he sold hundreds of grilled fish a day, it would only be worth five hundred copper coins.

With his current status as a core disciple of the Soul Guidance Department, appointed by his Soul Guidance Device teacher Fan Yu, he can enjoy the highest level of treatment at Shrek Academy even if he doesn't set up a stall to sell grilled fish.

He eats top-quality nourishing meals every day and drinks highly nutritious supplements. How much is this grilled fish worth? It's only for Wang Dong and Senior Brother Bei Bei's sake. Otherwise, why would Huo Yuhao waste his cultivation time to come to the outer courtyard every day to sell grilled fish? It's not that he really can't afford to eat.

"Haha, since you said so, then I won't compensate you. But give me one of these grilled fish. I've been sparring and cultivating with those guys in the inner courtyard every day lately, and I haven't had your grilled fish in ages."

Seeing that Huo Yuhao was determined to do so, Luo Chen had no choice but to smile and listen to Huo Yuhao's suggestion. However, his eyes involuntarily fell on the grilled fish on Huo Yuhao's grill.

His time in seclusion on Poseidon Island was incredibly dull and monotonous. He spent every day cultivating his soul power and mental strength, sparring with other inner court students, and improving his combat skills.

Although he would occasionally visit his cheap teacher, Mu En, in his room to ask about the mysteries of the few special moves Mu En had taught him, to be honest, even with Luo Chen's terrifying talent for cultivation, he had not been able to fully comprehend them.

After all, these few ultimate moves were created by Moon based on his hundreds of years of experience. How could he possibly understand the secrets they contain in just a day or two?

The deeper Luo Chen delved into the subject, the more he could sense the terrifying power of Mu En. Whether it was the Dragon Emperor's Domain Shaking Technique or the Intent Technique created by Elder Mu, "Reigning Supreme," these were all extremely high-quality ultimate moves.

With Luo Chen's current level of Soul Master, it's impossible for him to fully understand all of these techniques. He can only start by focusing on the form of the moves.

According to Luo Chen's own estimation, he would only be able to truly comprehend Elder Mu's "intention" of ruling the world after he truly stepped into the Soul King realm and took that extremely important step in his plan.

Ironically, Luo Chen originally wanted to broaden Mu En's horizons and let him experience his talent in cultivation techniques, but even after the end of his seclusion and the breakthrough to the Soul Sect realm, he still hadn't been able to truly comprehend these two ultimate moves.

Although all of this was already quite astonishing in the eyes of Elder Mu and Elder Xuan, Luo Chen was still not satisfied. He always felt that there were still some areas where he could improve. Therefore, in order to pursue a deeper level of understanding, a group of inner court students suffered.

To this day, the only inner court students who haven't suffered at Luo Chen's hands are those with average cultivation and strength, who are also low-key and have little presence, or those who are simply beyond Luo Chen's ability to fight. As for geniuses like Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng, they have all suffered considerable losses at Luo Chen's hands.

"Okay, Brother Luo."

Upon hearing that Luo Chen wanted to eat his grilled fish, Huo Yuhao did not hesitate at all. He handed the already grilled fish to Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao, and then placed the largest river fish on the grill.

Although Luo Chen hadn't spent as much time with him as Bei Bei and Wang Dong, he had been the one who helped him the most. It could be said that without Luo Chen's help, he might have spent a year and still not reached his current level.

It was precisely because of Luo Chen that Huo Yuhao was able to rise from the initial eleventh level of soul power to the current nineteenth level of soul power, and even the spiritual power of a Soul King!

Therefore, Huo Yuhao has always regarded Luo Chen as his elder brother and has always listened to his words. Moreover, Luo Chen's talent is the strongest he has ever seen since entering Shrek Academy, without exception!

However, just as Huo Yuhao was focused on grilling the fish, Xiao Xiao, who was standing to the side, had just recovered from her shock and was still looking at Luo Chen, who had sword-like eyebrows, bright eyes, and a head of enchanting white hair, with disbelief in her eyes.

"Um, may I ask what level your soul power cultivation is at now, and also your soul rings...?"

Although Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong did not speak, Xiao Xiao could sense just how powerful this guy, who looked to be about her age, was. However, what puzzled her was how he managed to possess four ten-thousand-year soul rings at the level of a four-ring Soul Master.

Seeing that Xiao Xiao had asked a question, Wang Dong, who was standing to the side, also looked over, because Xiao Xiao's question was also something he wanted to know.

For a normal Soul Master, having two purple thousand-year Soul Rings is probably the limit. Such a Soul Ring configuration can be called the best Soul Ring configuration. Although there are Soul Master geniuses in Shrek Academy who can absorb a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring in the fourth Soul Ring position.

However, no matter how dazzling a monster's talent is, it's impossible for him to absorb a ten-thousand-year soul ring with his first soul ring. Moreover, he had heard about Luo Chen before. When he entered the academy, he was only a two-ring Great Soul Master, and his first and second soul rings were only hundred-year soul rings. His strength was far less terrifying than it is now.

So what kind of drastic change occurred that could have caused such a huge increase in the opponent's strength, and even transformed their spirit rings?

However, upon hearing Xiao Xiao's question, Luo Chen smiled helplessly and then explained:

"I don't know the answer to that question either, but I can tell you that if you think of me as one of those so-called geniuses, you'll understand better if you think of me as a monster. After all, even the senior students in the inner academy call me a monster."

"By the way, I can tell you about your soul power level..."

Upon hearing Luo Chen's words, Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao both perked up their ears. Although they could see that Luo Chen was a four-ring Soul Master, they had no idea about his actual Soul Power level.

"I recently broke through to the fourth-ring Soul Master level. However, because I accumulated a lot of cultivation before breaking through, I reached level 44 in Soul Power cultivation after breaking through to the fourth-ring Soul Master level..."

"Perhaps it's because my talent is too strong. Not long after I absorbed the soul ring and broke through to the Soul Master level, my soul power broke through again, reaching level 45. In the inner academy, I can be considered to have barely caught up with those inner academy students."

As Luo Chen spoke, a hint of reminiscence flashed in his eyes.

While in the Star Dou Great Forest, Elder Mu personally examined his physical condition and even personally selected a 50,000-year-old soul beast from the core layer of the Star Dou Great Forest for him to absorb. With the life force of that 50,000-year-old soul beast as a medium, Luo Chen also smoothly reached the level of 44 soul power cultivation.

The life force of just this one 50,000-year-old soul beast allowed Luo Chen to increase his soul power by three levels in one go!

If Mu En hadn't been afraid that Luo Chen's martial soul absorbing too much life force would affect Luo Chen's mental state, he wouldn't have let Luo Chen absorb the soul ring and then left the Star Dou Great Forest with him.

After all, in Mu En's memory, there were many evil soul masters like Luo Chen who had become mentally unstable and neither human nor ghost because they had absorbed too much life force.

For Luo Chen's safety, and also to prevent Luo Chen from becoming too reliant on the power of this martial soul, Mu En strictly controlled Luo Chen's cultivation speed.

The soul power cultivation gained through these unorthodox methods is far less reassuring than the soul power cultivation gained through genuine self-cultivation.

Although Luo Chen knew that the life force absorbed by the Death Scythe Martial Soul could be transformed into the purest energy to remove all negative effects, even if Luo Chen said so, Mu En might not be at ease.

Fortunately, Luo Chen complied with Mu En's wishes and tried his best to absorb energy using the Xuan Tian Gong passed down by the Tang Sect to improve his soul power cultivation, rather than relying on the life absorption ability of the Death Scythe.

However, whether it's absorbing life force or relying on his own absorption of the energy of heaven and earth, it's all the same to Luo Chen now; the speed at which his soul power cultivation improves won't decrease because of this.

After all, Luo Chen usually absorbs the life force that fills the Seagod Island at all times to improve his soul power cultivation, and puts most of his energy into comprehending ultimate moves and improving his combat skills.

Now that Mu En is unwilling to let him continue to rely on the Death Scythe Martial Soul, he can only rely on his own Xuan Tian Gong to breathe energy.

However, given Luo Chen's current meridian absorption capacity, even if he only relies on the Xuan Tian Gong to improve his soul power cultivation, his speed is already comparable to absorbing the life force on Seagod Island to improve himself.

However, what intrigued Luo Chen was whether the life force of this golden ancient tree on Seagod Island was truly so abundant. It had already brought him to the Soul Sect realm, yet the life force on Seagod Island had not decreased at all; in fact, it had increased instead.

This puzzled Luo Chen. Normally, life force has a limit, but after absorbing the life force on Seagod Island for the past two months, Luo Chen did not feel the life force around him weaken or decrease at all.

As Luo Chen gradually increased his absorption of the surrounding life force, these gaps in life force could be filled in an instant, as if the life force were inexhaustible.

Luo Chen still had no clue about this. The only thing he could think of was that the amount of life force he absorbed was probably, perhaps, or even a drop in the ocean compared to the golden ancient tree.

Although Luo Chen didn't absorb much life force, that was only for a so-called Title Douluo-level powerhouse. If it were an ordinary soul beast, perhaps the life force of hundreds or thousands of hundred-year-old soul beasts combined wouldn't be that much.

In the end, Luo Chen came to the conclusion that he might have underestimated the level of the golden ancient tree. According to Luo Chen's original idea, a golden ancient tree could not possibly be that old.

After all, the Star Dou Great Forest is not without ferocious tree-type soul beasts. Not to mention tens of thousands of years old, there are even kings among tree-type soul beasts that are hundreds of thousands of years old.

Given the age of the Golden Ancient Tree, it is no match for those powerful soul beasts. But if its age is not high, then where does it get so much vitality?

Therefore, Luo Chen also came to the conclusion that the Golden Ancient Tree must be comparable to a 100,000-year-old soul beast, or even a tree-type soul beast above that, but its own consciousness may not be the so-called soul beast consciousness, but rather replaced by the successive deans of Shrek Academy.

With the support of the bodies and energy of the successive deans of Shrek Academy, this ancient golden tree is able to exude such a rich aura of life and light.

The deans of Shrek Academy, and even the heads of the Sea God Pavilion, are not all like Mu En, who has one foot in the demigod realm and is a level 99 Limit Douluo. At the very least, they are all top-tier experts like Xuan Zi.

Therefore, this ancient golden tree was able to support the entire Poseidon Island, turning it into its own domain, and even the entire Poseidon Lake became its nourishment, with its roots deeply embedded in Poseidon Island and Poseidon Lake.

Over time, this area became the sacred ground of Shrek Academy, a place for all the inner court students to cultivate, and also the true core of Shrek Academy!

Just as Luo Chen was explaining his soul power level to Xiao Xiao, two approaching footsteps caught his attention, causing him to turn his head to look. Huo Yuhao and the others also noticed the approaching figures.

The one leading the group was none other than Xu Sanshi, who had recently been defeated by Luo Chen and Huo Yuhao. His face was ashen, as if he had suffered some great torture.

Behind her followed a woman with a beautiful figure dressed in red. However, a veil covered her face, obscuring her features, yet one could still sense the breathtaking beauty hidden beneath.

"Ma Xiaotao?"

(End of this chapter)