Douluo Continent: Starting with the Tiger Emperor Template

"After all, you were the one who started this whole mess in Mingdu."

Shangguan Wei'er's voice remained gentle, yet it carried a hint of hidden sharpness.

"Our Ordinary Alliance and the Aodu Chamber of Commerce have taken so many blows for you, and the losses have been enormous. Now you say you want to help solve the trouble, but instead you want to take advantage of me."

Lu Ren seemed completely oblivious to the deeper meaning in her words. He leaned back on the sofa, gently swaying his crossed legs, and smiled with a raised eyebrow.

"My conditions are simple." He held up one finger. "First, I want Ye Guyi to stay with me from now on."

The moment the words fell, Ye Guyi, who was standing next to Shangguan Weier, was startled.

She subconsciously turned her head, her eyes wide open, looking at Lu Ren with disbelief in her gaze.

This guy... actually wants me to go with him?

Was he joking?

She originally thought Lu Ren just wanted her help to deal with the evil spirit master, but she didn't expect him to directly ask Sister Shangguan for people.

But after the initial shock, a complex mix of emotions welled up inside her.

It seems he really has a grudge against the Holy Spirit Cult...

We must cooperate with her at all costs.

She recalled her experiences over the years. Possessing the Holy Angel Martial Soul, she was born to be the mortal enemy of evil soul masters. From the day she awakened her Martial Soul, she had been persecuted, hunted down, and betrayed.

She once thought she was alone, the only person in the world who had to be an enemy of evil spirit masters.

But now, another person with the same ability to counter evil spirit masters has appeared.

Looking across the entire Douluo Continent, she and Lu Ren are probably the only ones with obvious methods to counter evil soul masters.

In the long run, once the two of them grow stronger and join forces, the Holy Spirit Cult will have no chance of recovery.

"Secondly," Lu Ren held up his second finger, "as a condition for helping the Ordinary Alliance deal with the Evening Water Alliance, I need your assistance."

"The scope of assistance must be to the best of your ability. Of course, I won't make unreasonable demands, because you wouldn't accept them anyway."

"It's that simple."

Shangguan Wei'er maintained her smile as she fell into deep thought.

These two conditions are simple in some ways, and difficult in others.

The second condition is alright; we can assist him and do our best without making unreasonable demands. The Ordinary Alliance can certainly meet these demands, but we are afraid that the other party's demands might be too excessive.

Not to mention the first condition, Ye Guyi is a genius that the Ordinary Alliance has painstakingly recruited. The Holy Angel Martial Soul's restraining effect on evil soul masters is the Ordinary Alliance's biggest trump card in its fight against the Xi Shui Alliance.

Especially since Shangguan Weier has invested an astronomical amount of resources in Ye Guyi, if she were to just give it away like this, wouldn't she have wasted her time nurturing Ye Guyi?

To ask her to hand over Ye Guyi to someone else would be like tearing out a piece of her heart.

Lu Ren took in Shangguan Wei'er's hesitation, remaining outwardly calm, but inwardly he was already making other preparations.

He silently channeled his soul power into his feet, and from the point where his shoes touched the carpet, the soul power spread outwards along the ground like a trickle.

If negotiations break down, then action will be the only option.

Lu Ren thought to himself silently.

Although he didn't want to go that far, he never did anything he wasn't sure of.

Since he dared to step into the territory of the Ordinary Alliance, he had already prepared for the worst.

Just then, the brows of the ninth-level Soul Master behind Shangguan Wei'er suddenly furrowed.

His mental strength was the highest among everyone present. Although he could not penetrate the aura concealed by Lu Ren, his combat intuition, honed from years of walking on the edge of life and death, allowed him to detect an extremely subtle anomaly.

Therefore, he once again used his soul power to transmit his voice into Shangguan Wei'er's ears:

"Alliance Leader, something's wrong with this kid. He's secretly channeling his soul power to his feet and then spreading it outwards. His movements are very discreet, but I can sense that the distribution of soul power on the ground is changing."

He paused, his tone becoming even more serious:

"I suspect he's up to no good, and a large amount of spiritual power is surging from his body. The level of that spiritual power is also quite high. He's not simple."

Shangguan Wei'er's eyelashes trembled slightly.

But what the ninth-level Soul Master said next made her heart clench suddenly.

"Furthermore, he gave me a very deadly sense of danger."

"This feeling is hard to explain, Alliance Leader. My intuition tells me that if I rashly fight him, I may be in mortal danger."

A titled Douluo, a level nine Soul Master, and a top expert dispatched by the Sun Moon Empire's royal family to the Ordinary Alliance, actually sensed a life-threatening danger from a fifteen-year-old boy during a direct confrontation.

At the level of a Title Douluo, intuition is an indescribable perceptual ability.

The ninth-level Soul Master's expression was extremely solemn; to be honest, he was also quite surprised.

His intuition told him that if a fight broke out, he might die.

"It seems this young man really has a powerful protector behind him. If we rashly attack him... that powerful figure will probably kill us too... Perhaps this is the danger my intuition tells me..."

The level nine soul master knew that only by explaining things to Shangguan Wei'er in this way could he explain why he felt threatened.

He would never have believed that it was this boy, who was only fifteen or sixteen years old, who gave him such a deadly sense of danger...

Shangguan Wei'er frowned deeply.

She felt it herself without him saying it.

The other party was actually threatening them.

How dare he, a mere fifteen-year-old boy?

However, the other party did just that, and the resulting sense of oppression made them feel like they had thorns in their backs.

Shangguan Wei'er maintained her smile, but her back had subtly straightened a bit.

Having struggled in Mingdu for so many years, she rose from a woman to the leader of one of the three major underground forces, and has seen all sorts of people.

Some are domineering and tyrannical, some are cunning and scheming, and some will resort to violence at the slightest disagreement.

But she had never seen a boy like this before.

He didn't care about the power of the Ordinary Alliance, or even that he might die here.

This composure is not feigned, but rather based on something genuine.

He must be holding a trump card that could make the Ordinary Alliance pay a heavy price.

Shangguan Weier is Shangguan Weier after all. A woman who has been able to establish herself in the underworld of Mingdu for many years and turn the Ordinary Alliance into one of the three major forces would never lose her judgment due to momentary emotional fluctuations.

She suppressed her anger and buried the feeling of being threatened and humiliated deep within her heart:

"I don't think these two conditions are excessive. It's just that Ye Guyi is a genius that our Ordinary Alliance has worked hard to recruit. She is not only our trump card against the Xishui Alliance, but also our family. We will never give her up so easily."

Lu Ren did not answer immediately, but instead said:

"Alliance Leader Shangguan, let me ask you a question first. What do you think is the reason behind the Xishui Alliance's huge commotion this time, even going so far as to wage war against both the Aodu Chamber of Commerce and the Pingfan Alliance simultaneously?"

Shangguan Wei'er remained silent for a few moments, her slightly drooping eyelashes casting two faint shadows on her eyelids as she pondered his question repeatedly.

A moment later, she looked up:

"Naturally, it's because of you, young friend. You wiped out eight of their branch altars in one day, making them feel a deadly threat. They went to such great lengths to find you at all costs."

Lu Ren nodded:

"That's right. I'm sure you already know, they're a group of evil spirit masters, otherwise you wouldn't be in such a hurry to train a spirit master with the Holy Angel Martial Soul that can counter evil spirit masters, am I right?"

"Through this incident, you should all understand why the Xishui Alliance dared to attack you so brazenly in Mingdu. Don't you all think that someone is controlling the Xishui Alliance behind the scenes?"

"If you have something to say, please speak frankly." Shangguan Wei'er's voice was still steady, but this time, her tone lacked the previous gentle concealment and carried a hint of seriousness.

Lu Ren sneered:

"My presence has already made them feel threatened. But they have no idea who I am or where I am, otherwise the Xishui Alliance wouldn't have gone crazy for no reason."

"Whether it's the Aodu Chamber of Commerce, the Ordinary Alliance, or even the entire Douluo Continent, only you, Shangguan Wei'er, have a Divine Attribute Martial Soul Master."

He paused, then continued:

"I dare to make a bold statement: within a few days, members of the royal family will come to the Ordinary Alliance to investigate the specific situation."

"If Ye Guyi is still in your Ordinary Alliance by then..."

"Are you capable of protecting her?"

Shangguan Wei'er's hands clenched almost imperceptibly.

"No need for you to trouble yourself, young friend. I have the connections to handle this."

Lu Ren shook his head.

"Of course I know that Alliance Leader Shangguan is incredibly powerful. It's just a pity that with the people behind you, you can't protect Ye Guyi."

"Not to mention you, even the people behind you have to step aside when they see the backer of the Xishui Alliance."

He stood up and looked down at Shangguan Weier, who was sitting in the main seat:

"I'll be blunt, Alliance Leader Shangguan, you can't protect Ye Guyi."

Shangguan Weier raised her head and looked into the boy's eyes:

"Then you have the ability to protect her?"

Her voice finally turned cold, no longer concealing her suppressed anger.

Lu Ren chuckled lightly:

"Of course I have it, otherwise why would I dare to come here?"

He turned his head, his gaze passing over Shangguan Weier and landing on the silent middle-aged man behind her.

The man stood half a step behind Shangguan Wei'er, his posture respectful but not humble, his aura restrained like a sword in its sheath, yet the chill of the blade still faintly seeped out.

"Senior, you've been trying to probe my abilities with your mental power since just now, but you haven't found anything, right?"