Arthur immediately cupped his hands in a respectful bow and walked briskly toward the door.
Fearing that Cai Yueer wouldn't take the bait, he didn't forget to turn back and wink at her before leaving; the provocation and anticipation in his eyes were practically overflowing.
Watching his behavior, Cai Yueer's teeth ground together audibly, and the Soul Power around her nearly burst through its restraints.
However, Ya Li's gaze locked onto her like a sharp sword, making her ultimately afraid to act rashly.
Pressure!
She couldn't beat Ya Li.
Although Ya Li was not skilled in combat, the suppression of their Realm was right there; Cai Yueer was far from being her match.
She could only watch helplessly as Arthur's figure disappeared outside the door.
"Ya Li! Look at him! Look at this kid's arrogance!" After Arthur left, Cai Yueer roared at Ya Li, "You're just letting him go like this? He's fundamentally playing us for fools!"
No, he's playing you for a fool.
Ya Li slowly withdrew her Soul Power and shook her head with a weary expression: "Enough, Cai Yueer. Regarding today's matter, you were too impulsive."
She walked to the window, gazing in the direction Arthur had gone, a flicker of complex light flashing in her eyes. "Being friends with him is far better than being enemies."
...After returning to the hotel with Wu Zhangkong, everyone began packing their luggage upon seeing the two return, preparing to head back to East Sea City.
Na'er was the first to pounce to Arthur's side, her small hand grabbing his sleeve and shaking it as she asked curiously, "Brother Arthur, what did they want with you?"
Gu Yue also set down the luggage in her hands, her gaze falling on Arthur as she waited for his answer.
The others also stopped what they were doing and looked at him with faces full of expectation.
Arthur smiled slightly and briefly recounted what had just happened, only omitting his little plan to'scam' Cai Yueer, saying only that he had temporarily declined Shrek's invitation.
"What? You declined?" Xu Xiaoyan's eyes widened, half a pastry still stuffed in her mouth. "That's Shrek Academy! How many people would break their heads just to squeeze in!"
Arthur patted her shoulder, his tone certain: "What's the rush? Once our strength is sufficient, it won't be too late to go to Shrek."
"When the time comes, we'll go together, and I'll put on a show for you all."
Xu Xiaoyan was exceptionally excited, not because of what Arthur said, but because Arthur had patted her shoulder.
She had long been his little fangirl, but due to Na'er's strict guarding, this was the first time Arthur had made physical contact with her.
It's decided; she won't wash these clothes; she'll enshrine them when she gets back.
Wu Zhangkong stood to the side, watching the youth's high-spirited appearance, and murmured under his breath: "Go together, huh..."
He paused and added, "However, Cai Yueer has an impulsive personality. Since you offended her today, I'm afraid..."
Because he understood Arthur too well, he suddenly realized halfway through that this wasn't the boy's usual style. He said in surprise, "Wait, you did it on purpose?"
"You..."
"Shh—" Arthur immediately raised a hand to stop him: "Don't say it out loud!"
"As long as you know what you're doing." Wu Zhangkong shook his head.
"I've got this."
Arthur was full of confidence; as long as Cai Yueer dared to take action, four big men would immediately appear to beat her up.
Although Zhen Hua and Mu Chen were a bit weak, they had Mu Ye, whose combat power far exceeded his Soul Power Rank.
Cai Yueer wouldn't be able to stir up any waves.
Shortly after, the group headed to the soul tool train station.
"Wow, the youth genius ranking has updated again!" Xu Xiaoyan, who often stayed home and loved surfing the internet, let out an exclamation and showed the soul guidance communication device in her hand to everyone.
"Arthur rose to second, and wow, Gu Yue is first!"
"What about me, what about me?" Na'er rushed over and leaned in to look: "Eh... how am I only ninth?"
"And this nickname... Golden Dragon Girl. It's only off by one word; it would be better if 'Girl' was changed to 'King'."
"It's probably because you didn't take action much," Xie Xie guessed from the side.
Na'er's performance in the competition was quite minimal; every time, she would just charge across the arena, and then it would be over.
The Spirit Conduction Tower was also in a difficult position; usually, when Na'er was in the pagoda, she would find Leng Yaozhu to suppress others with her status whenever she felt like it.
Aside from seeing that she had a lot of strength, they couldn't see anything else at all.
Her nickname was also just randomly given based on her Martial Soul.
As for Gu Yue, because she defeated Arthur, she ascended directly to the altar of gods.
In the youth genius ranking, the weight of strength is very heavy, but it's not everything. Otherwise, the list would be entirely filled with eighteen-year-olds at the limit.
An achievement like Arthur's, defeating a One-Word Battle Armor Master while being at a lower level, was the true mark of high quality.
Originally, the Spirit Conduction Tower intended to give him the first spot.
But they couldn't ignore that Gu Yue had beaten him! This was also a solid achievement.
Watching the video replays, Arthur had intended to unleash his Holy Sword, but he was interrupted by Gu Yue. Therefore, Gu Yue's achievement was still recognized.
This also caused everyone who had been amazed by Arthur's victory over Qian Wu to suddenly realize that Arthur's move also had a weakness.
The wind-up was too long, making it easy to interrupt.
Arthur: I lied to you; actually, I can start with zero frames.
"Eww, Qian Wu is getting trashed so hard," Xu Xiaoyan remarked in amazement.
As soon as the new list came out, people on the internet who noticed Gu Yue's achievement—especially the crazed Shrek fans—began their crusade against Qian Wu.
They questioned why he didn't interrupt Arthur back then.
Instead, he stood there arrogantly waiting for the opponent to charge up.
To this, Qian Wu had grievances he couldn't voice. How could he possibly have interrupted Arthur!
That pressure.
At that moment, even his life's memories were almost knocked out of him!
Wu Zhangkong looked at the noisy group and shook his head helplessly, but his gaze unconsciously softened.
But he quickly pulled himself together: "Stop playing around, the train is almost here."
The group walked quickly toward the soul tool train entrance.
Xu Xiaoyan was still scrolling through the comment section, making 'tsk tsk' sounds from time to time: "Qian Wu and the Shrek fans are arguing. He says Arthur's move was fundamentally impossible to interrupt and that he couldn't move at all at the time."
"Impressive, Qian Wu is a brave man," Xie Xie said in admiration. "He actually didn't choose to play dead."
As they chatted, Arthur suddenly froze in place.
The others didn't react at all, continuing to walk forward, completely failing to notice him.
He glanced at the surrounding crowd who were ignoring him.
At this moment, Arthur felt as if he had become disconnected from the World.
An inexplicable chill crawled up his spine to the top of his head, and his Soul Power began to circulate subconsciously.
He could clearly feel that the surrounding environment seemed to be isolated by an invisible force.
The clamor of the crowd, the sound of footsteps...
Even Xu Xiaoyan's exclamations instantly became blurred and distant, as if separated by a thick barrier.
"Is it Cai Yueer..." Arthur's heart sank. He tried to step forward to catch up with his companions, only to find that countless invisible threads were firmly binding him in place.
He looked up and saw Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and the others still walking forward talking and laughing; even Wu Zhangkong hadn't noticed anything unusual, and they were getting further and further away.
Among them, Na'er and Gu Yue silently exchanged a glance.
Anger was present in the depths of Na'er's eyes.
Gu Yue shook her head: "Don't be in a hurry; there's no need for us to take action."
A figure slowly appeared, walking toward Arthur.
It was indeed Cai Yueer.
Her cold voice rang out: "Arthur... your potential is very interesting. It's a pity you didn't join Shrek just now. Since that's the case..."
"What was that move you used to defeat Qian Wu?"
"A Spirit Elder should absolutely not possess such power."
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