Douluo Continent: My name is Lu Mingfei, and my martial soul is Lu Mingze.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Hyotei and Yukitei finally had enough fun.

The 100,000-year-old soul beast was on its last legs, its body covered in frostbite and impact wounds. It lay on the ground, panting heavily, too weak to even lift its claws.

Xue Di withdrew her hand, turned around and walked towards Lu Mingfei, her white dress without a single wrinkle.

Hyotei followed behind, stretching as they walked, a satisfied smile on their face.

"That feels good."

Lu Mingfei muttered to himself in his mental sea, "Are you two fighting soul beasts or getting a spa treatment...?"

"What did you say?" Hyotei's gaze swept over them in an instant.

Lu Mingfei immediately stood at attention: "It's nothing, I just said you two have worked hard, you've worked hard."

He carried his Tang sword and walked towards the soul beast lying on the ground.

Only when he got closer could he truly see the full appearance of this soul beast.

It was a huge ape-shaped soul beast, covered in thick, dark brown fur, with limbs as thick as four stone pillars.

Its eyes were half-closed, but a trace of resentful ferocity remained in its pupils.

Lu Mingfei stood in front of it, raised his Tang sword, and aimed it at the vital spot behind its eyes.

Lu Mingfei stabbed him with a knife.

The Tang sword pierced through the soul beast's skull, and the cold light on the blade flashed briefly within the flesh and blood.

The soul beast's body twitched violently, then remained completely still.

A red halo slowly rose from its corpse.

It was a pure red soul ring, as red as blood, as red as a burning flame, radiating a heart-palpitating light in the dim light of the dense forest.

A 100,000-year soul ring.

Lu Mingfei looked at the red halo and then reached out his hand.

His spiritual power and soul power surged forth simultaneously, enveloping the soul ring and drawing it closer to his body.

When Zhang Lexuan saw his actions, her expression changed drastically. Just as she was about to step forward to stop him, a fair hand blocked her way.

Xue Di looked at her and shook her head slightly.

"A 100,000-year soul ring can't be absorbed by someone at level 30!" Zhang Lexuan's voice trembled with anxiety.

"Forcing him to absorb it will cause him to burst! He'll die!"

"He won't." Xue Di's voice remained calm.

"Do you know how much energy a 100,000-year spirit ring contains? Even for me now, absorbing it would require a huge amount—"

"He won't."

Xue Di interrupted her, her tone as if stating a fact that did not need to be proven.

"He's different from you."

Just as Zhang Lexuan was about to say something more, she suddenly noticed that Xue Di's gaze went over her shoulder and landed on Lu Mingfei behind her.

Then Xue Di's lips curled up slightly.

"Look."

Zhang Lexuan suddenly turned around.

Then she saw a scene she would never forget for the rest of her life.

The red 100,000-year soul ring had already entered Lu Mingfei's body. Countless red light threads emerged from the surface of his body and flowed under his skin, like countless tiny red rivers.

This process would be long, agonizing, and dangerous for an ordinary Soul Master, but for Lu Mingfei at this moment—

He stood there, eyes closed, his expression as calm as if he were asleep.

There was no struggle, no pain, not even a frown.

The violent energy of the 100,000-year-old soul rings flowed through his body, as if forcibly tamed by some more powerful force, obediently circulating along his meridians.

In the time it took to blink five or six times.

Lu Mingfei opened his eyes.

He looked down at his hands and then flexed his fingers.

"It's pretty fast," he said.

Moreover, he directly reached level 40, which means there was still some residual soul power in his soul bone.

Zhang Lexuan flashed to Lu Mingfei's side, grabbed his wrist, and probed into it with her soul power.

Her fingers were icy cold, and her strength was somewhat out of control, causing Lu Mingfei's wrist to ache. Her soul power quickly circulated through his meridians, and then Zhang Lexuan's expression changed from tension to confusion, and then from confusion to disbelief.

The pulse was steady, the soul energy was abundant, and the meridians were intact.

The energy of the 100,000-year-old soul ring lay dormant within him, without any rage or backlash, as still as a stagnant pool.

Zhang Lexuan stood there, completely petrified.

She opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, then closed it again.

The same question kept echoing in her mind.

What kind of monster is this?

If it were someone else, absorbing a 100,000-year spirit ring would take at least a considerable amount of time, and they would also need someone to protect them and bear the impact and backlash of the spirit ring's energy.

She watched as Lu Mingfei absorbed the soul ring in just a short time.

Zhang Lexuan withdrew her soul power, looked at Lu Mingfei, and wanted to say something, but couldn't find the right words for a moment.

The scene was still replaying in her mind—the two ridiculously strong women, the 100,000-year-old soul beast that was being beaten like a toy, and Lu Mingfei's calm yet infuriating expression when he absorbed the soul ring.

This junior had much more to him than she had imagined, so much so that even she, the senior student of the inner courtyard, felt a sense of unfamiliar distance.

"Couldn't you have told me beforehand?" she said.

"I already told you," Lu Mingfei blinked innocently.

"Didn't I tell you, I have a way to deal with it?"

"That's not speaking, that's speaking in riddles."

Lu Mingfei scratched his head and chuckled.

Looking at his carefree attitude, Zhang Lexuan suddenly felt powerless.

This junior not only didn't run away when facing a 100,000-year-old soul beast, but he also had the nerve to banter with her.

But then she thought about it again. If he hadn't stayed behind, she would probably be lying under the claws of that soul beast now, just like her companions who were forever left in the Star Dou Great Forest.

"How are your injuries?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"It's just a superficial wound, nothing serious." Zhang Lexuan looked down at her injured arm. Her sleeve was torn, revealing a thin bloodstain on the exposed skin.

"As for you, shouldn't you tell me about what happened with those two earlier—"

She looked back as she spoke.

The spot where Hyotei and Yuki-tei were standing is now empty.

Zhang Lexuan paused for a moment, then turned back to look at Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei said without changing his expression, "The two of them suddenly had something to attend to and left first."

"Are you leaving now?"

"Yes, they've left first. They always come and go in a hurry; that's how experts are."

Zhang Lexuan was silent for two seconds, then slowly nodded.

As for why she didn't sense any soul power fluctuations at all, and why they came and left silently.

That's not important anymore.

"Then please tell them thank you for me." Zhang Lexuan's voice returned to its usual gentle tone.

"Although I don't know who they are, none of us would have made it here today without them. Shrek Academy will remember this kindness, and will certainly not refuse them if they ever need anything in the future."

Lu Mingfei nodded, silently relaying those words verbatim to the two people in the Sea of ​​Spirit.

Hyotei lay on the ice floe with their legs crossed, and snorted upon hearing this: "Shrek's favor? Do you think I care?"

Xue Di nodded slightly: "This girl is quite polite."

Lu Mingfei ignored Hyotei's complaints and said to Zhang Lexuan, "Let's go, senior sister, let's go find the others first."

Zhang Lexuan nodded and turned to walk in the direction the students had fled.

The two walked back along the path they had come from, passing through a forest ravaged by the battle. After walking for about 15 minutes, they heard voices ahead.

Yao Haoxuan was the first to rush forward. When he saw that Zhang Lexuan and Lu Mingfei were still alive, he breathed a sigh of relief. Then, when he glanced behind them and did not see the two students who had been knocked away earlier, his face darkened again.

"The two of them...?"

Zhang Lexuan didn't speak, but simply shook her head gently.