Douluo Continent: We agreed on a simulation, but they've come to life?

"..."

Upon hearing this, Xue Di's pretty face softened a little.

She held a towel in her delicate hand and gently wiped the boy's forehead, her beautiful eyes still carrying a hint of worry.

For some reason, this boy, who was clearly much younger than her, had a strange charm that made people want to follow him. She had also talked to Jiao Jiao about it, and the latter felt the same way.

The boy's figure was all alone, which inexplicably evoked a sense of pity in her, and she had a constant urge to pull him into her arms and cherish him dearly.

"call……"

Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.

Lu Cheng exhaled a breath of turbid air, and the icy mist around him slowly dissipated. The 70,000-year-old Ice Jade Scorpion Soul Bone completely transformed into a drop of pale blue solution, merging entirely into the 700,000-year-old left leg bone given to him by the Snow Emperor. (In the original novel, Huo Gua used a secret technique to fuse the left arm bone into the Ice Emperor's torso bones; soul bones from different locations could also be fused.)

The soul skill given to Lu Cheng by the 700,000-year-old left leg bone of the Snow Emperor is called "Snow Emperor's Realm". It is actually a domain-type soul skill. Within a range of 500 meters in diameter, everything is the snow's domain, and it amplifies the ultimate ice attribute by 50%.

After the synthesis, the Snow Emperor's soul bone still dominated, but it amplified a soul skill... Ice Explosion Technique.

However, this Ice Explosion Technique is definitely not from a soul bone with 70,000 years of cultivation, but rather... 700,000 years.

Because the two soul bones have merged into one, and the Snow Empress is in a dominant position, the power of the Ice Explosion Technique has also increased significantly, essentially becoming one of the soul skills of the Snow Empress's left leg bone.

"So this is the power of synthesized soul bones?"

Lu Cheng's eyes were filled with joy.

Ice Blast.

This thing is incredibly powerful. After all, any soul skill that triggers an explosion is basically considered a divine skill, and this one is at the 700,000-year level, making it even more formidable...

Lu Cheng rubbed his fingers together, when a tall, slender figure emerged from behind, gently wrapping her arms around his neck. Cool, delicate fingers brushed against his cheek, and she breathed a sweet fragrance: "Did you succeed?"

Lu Cheng's body stiffened.

His throat moved.

Why is Xue Di starting to resemble... a mother more and more?

Regardless of his actions or expressions, there was a subtle doting and tenderness in his gaze, making it hard for anyone to believe that this was once the ruler of the far north.

Judging from the blank look in Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's eyes, one could tell just how shocked this scene was to the soul beasts of the far north.

"Ah."

Lu Cheng's eye twitched, and he nodded slightly.

“Soul bone synthesis is not difficult. Under your suppression, the Ice Jade Scorpion has no choice but to obey. The greater the age difference, the smoother the synthesis will be.”

"Don't call me 'you,' it's too formal..." Xue Di gently touched Lu Cheng's lips with her delicate, white fingers, as sharp as scallions, and whispered in his ear.

"What's it called?" Lu Cheng's expression tightened.

"If I hadn't sacrificed myself for you, it would be normal for us to be more polite and distant. But now... I have sacrificed myself for you, giving you everything I have, including my soul rings, soul bones, and myself. So tell me... what should you call me?" Xue Di said with a playful expression, seemingly finding it quite amusing to tease the young man.

"Mom...Mom?" Lu Cheng asked hesitantly.

The scene suddenly fell silent.

Tianmeng Ice Silkworm stared in astonishment and gave a thumbs up.

Electrolux shook his head repeatedly, looking regretful.

Xue Di stood frozen in place, only slowly moving after a long while. A blush rose to her fair earlobes as she leaned close to Lu Cheng's ear and whispered, "Sigh..."

……

"Elder Yi, you've recovered?" Lu Cheng asked with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

“Not bad…” Electrox stroked his beard, expressing his disdain for his apprentice’s shamelessness in claiming a mother, but still nodded slightly.

"Now I have recovered a trace of my divine consciousness, nurtured by the vast life-gold within your spiritual sea, and I now have some confidence."

"As for your little girlfriend, whenever you call her over, I can remove the imprint in her mind."

"Will you get hurt?" Lu Cheng asked, frowning slightly.

If Electrolux were to be injured, it would be a huge loss. Wang Dong'er's mark could wait, but Electrolux has just recovered. Although he seems strong, he is still extremely weak when facing a God King of Tang San's level.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Electrolux laughed heartily, quite pleased with his disciple's concern. He patted Lu Cheng on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry. Only those who reach the level of a god are worthy of being called divine consciousness. Even if I am just a fragment of divine consciousness, the Great Bug and the others can't do anything to me because my status is far higher than theirs. Similarly, even if the Great Bug's mental strength is strong, it can't shake that guy's divine consciousness imprint. But I'm different. A mental imprint and divine consciousness are worlds apart. The former is just a wisp of afterimage set by the main divine consciousness, without any independent consciousness, while the latter... is a divided soul that carries the origin of the main divine consciousness."

"Moreover, with the blessing of abundant and rich spiritual metal, crushing that spiritual imprint is just a matter of course."

Electrolux said with a smile.

Lu Cheng nodded slightly, about to go find Wang Dong'er, when the door was suddenly pushed open and Wu Feng rushed in. Ignoring Lu Cheng's bare upper body, revealing his strong but well-proportioned abs, he grabbed his arm and rushed out.

"Quick, Teacher Wang Yan sent me to get you. We're losing the match. Today's team battle has a Soul King expert on our opposing team. Without your help, we'll probably have a hard time winning..."

Who will they face?

Lu Cheng was somewhat taken aback.

"Qianling Advanced Soul Master Academy," Wu Feng said hastily.

"Qianling..."

Lu Cheng suddenly realized that there was indeed such a team in the original work, but they were just extras. They achieved a hard-won victory with the help of Xu Sanshi, Bei Bei, and Cai Tou. But things are different now. With Ma Xiaotao and others recovering from their injuries and unable to participate, the Shrek reserve team only has two Soul Masters they can rely on: Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan. The opponents they encountered a few days ago were mostly a mix of Soul Venerables and Soul Masters, with no Soul Kings involved, so they were able to deal with them relatively easily.

But the Thousand Spirits team is still quite capable.

The main force is almost entirely composed of Soul Masters, and they also have a Soul King expert among them, so their combat strength is indeed not to be underestimated.

"Let's go."

Lu Cheng nodded slightly.

He needs to finish in the top two in the group stage to advance to the round of 16. Although he's sure he'll give Shrek a big surprise in the finals, for now... it's better to play it safe.

Moreover, Xuanzi will also arrive today.

"But could you wait until I've put my clothes on first?" Lu Cheng asked Wu Feng, who was only focused on rushing forward, with a hint of helplessness.

"……what?"

Wu Feng turned around casually and suddenly bumped into Lu Cheng's arms.

The strong, youthful, and sunny scent rushed into the girl's nostrils, instantly making her blush. She secretly touched him in the chaos, then turned her head away, somewhat reluctantly, saying, "Then hurry up and put it on, I don't want to see..."

"If Miss knew that I had taken advantage of Lu Cheng, whom she had been longing for, before she could, wouldn't she be angry?" Wu Feng stood outside the bedroom door, her back to the door frame, lightly tapping her little leather boots, her pretty face flushed.

She used to feel disgusted whenever she saw a man.

In addition, her frequent close contact with Ning Tian led her to mistakenly believe that she liked women. However, as Lu Cheng pointed it out to her, she realized more and more these days that she had no feelings for Ning Tian. Even if he hugged her waist or smelled his faint body fragrance, she felt nothing.

On the contrary, today...

The strong masculine scent filled her nostrils, making her suddenly feel weak in the knees.

"Could it be... that I actually like men?"

Wu Feng scratched his head, drawing a conclusion that seemed hard to believe.

"..."

The door slowly opened.

Lu Cheng was dressed neatly, but he caught a glimpse of disappointment in Wu Feng's crimson eyes. He raised an eyebrow, curled the corners of his mouth, and pulled the girl toward the arena.

Xingluo Square.

The referee then announced the match roster.

The crowd erupted in cheers and applause once again.

Shrek!

Shrek!

Shrek!

"..."

The Star Luo Emperor, perched atop the imperial city wall, gazed at his side with a smile in his eyes for a long time: "After that Shrek kid made a huge purchase at my Starlight Auction a few days ago, he hid in a hotel and hasn't shown up since. I don't know what he's been up to. He didn't even participate in today's crucial team battle. Isn't he afraid that Shrek will fall because of this?"

“Shrek Academy cannot lose…” Xu Jiujiu’s beautiful eyes were complicated: “Although there is room for error in the group stage, if Shrek Academy loses, even if it is only by one game, the road ahead will only be more difficult.”

"Could he have gone to research the Soul-Devouring Carving Blade?"

At this point, a hint of worry flashed in the girl's eyes.

That was a vicious weapon that had turned on more than a dozen masters.

Even if he were incredibly talented, if he dared to study that thing, he would probably be cursed with misfortune. We can only hope that he just looked at it and didn't study it in depth.

"It's hard to say..."

Xu Jiawei shook his head, his gaze falling back on the Shrek rest area.

"What should we do? Has that girl managed to call anyone?" Wang Yan paced back and forth like an ant on a hot pan, his eyes bloodshot, glancing up every now and then in the direction of the Xingluo Hotel.

If Lu Cheng doesn't show up, then it's highly likely that the game will be lost.

After all, they were short one player, all of them were reserves, and there wasn't a single regular player to fill the gap. Even if they were hiding their strength, they shouldn't have done it this way. Lu Cheng set a good example, deterring a group of restless guys who wanted to fight Shrek Academy with knives, making them all restrain themselves. That's why they were able to get to where they are now.

But if we lose this round, then we've revealed our secret.

Everyone could see Shrek's emptiness.

This means that Shrek Academy currently has no top-tier combat power to fight, so when subsequent teams target Shrek, they will not hold back and may even go all out.

It will be difficult for Shrek Academy to win as easily as they did in the previous two matches.

This "empty city strategy" can no longer be performed.

"Please, both contestants, come to the stage!"

The referee spoke slowly.

The seven members of the opposing Thousand Spirits team had gloomy expressions and moved slowly, clearly not expecting to encounter one of the teams they least wanted to face. On the Shrek side, Bei Bei, Jiang Nannan, and the other four also looked hesitant as they prepared to enter the fray.

“How about I…” Ma Xiaotao stepped forward, about to speak.

But a hand landed on his shoulder.

Lu Cheng's tall figure appeared beside her, a smile playing on his lips: "Sister Xiao Tao, let me do it..."