Douluo Dalu 2: You are an Evil Soul Master, but also a good person ?

Domain-type skill: [Crimson Moon's Eye].

In the sky, there exists a crimson moon, which is also a blood-red pupil. When the crimson moon awakens and the blood-eye opens, the entire spiritual world will ignite with crimson flames that will burn everything to ashes.

It leans towards the spiritual type.

"Teacher."

Xu Cheng stood up and respectfully bowed.

From now on, he also has a strong backing.

"Good, very good..." Old Master Cheng stroked his chin, his eyes filled with satisfaction.

"Alright, it's getting late. Go wash up, and then we can go straight to the competition."

"…"

Xu Cheng looked up in surprise and glanced outside the window.

The sunlight was still there, but it was more vibrant, no longer the lazy feel of twilight...

Had he really been cultivating all night?

"Understood."

After quickly washing up, Xu Cheng bid farewell to Old Master Cheng and walked out of the Mingde Hall.

The air outside was fresh, as if it had just passed through a night of stillness, filled with the scent of plants in the morning.

Many students had already headed towards the Soul Guidance Device Trial Ground.

As Xu Cheng followed the crowd forward, he began to assess the growth of his spiritual power.

After absorbing the Evil Eye Tyrant's skull, his soul power had increased by two levels, and his entire spiritual ocean had undergone a significant change, expanding by about double.

Suddenly.

His perception became sharply clearer, and his vision broadened.

He could see from the ground shooting upwards, looking down, a group of girls were yawning and chatting, while boys discussed the victories and losses of the day. Through the gaps of the long corridor, a group of ants were busily relocating, and overhead, behind stone slabs, spiders were weaving dense webs.

He could even clearly see the fine hairs on the spiders' bodies.

The detection range extended to about two hundred meters, but what expanded wasn't just the range, but also the level of detail and a sense of "prediction."

Xu Cheng secretly nodded to himself.

This was the skill the soul bone granted him, [Neural Prediction].

It allowed him to precisely predict his opponent's next move, and with the addition of his original skill, [Mental Detection], he could almost see every muscle movement of his enemies.

Much like around him, he could detect the subtle movements of countless students — walking forward slowly, stopping, turning their heads, all the minute details were clear in his mind.

"This is a divine skill..."

Xu Cheng marveled.

For a Soul Master, especially a spiritual-type ranged Soul Master, this was a monumental improvement.

What is the focus of ranged Soul Guidance Devices?

Firepower suppression?

No, the premise of firepower suppression is that it's difficult to hit the target in a single strike, especially when facing agile attacking Soul Masters, so the aim is to increase the chance of hitting through quantity (particularly in one-on-one arena matches).

In battles of the same rank, even with a thousand Soul Guidance Devices, the result is much like carpet bombing. After all, the enemy isn't just going to stand still waiting for you to hit them, so many attacks simply force the enemy into a corner, making them suffer.

The effect, of course, is very limited.

Because firepower is dispersed, the final attack hitting the target is essentially the same as using one or two Soul Guidance Devices.

But what if...

Those thousand Soul Guidance Devices are all concentrated in one place?

That would increase the efficiency of ranged Soul Masters' attacks to an unimaginable level.

And that's what Xu Cheng had now.

"This competition is a perfect chance to experiment." Xu Cheng thought to himself.

"Hey, you brat didn't come back all night! We even waited for you," Xiao Hongchen shouted as he ran over and draped his arm around Xu Cheng's shoulders.

"Teacher needed me for something, couldn't refuse," Xu Cheng apologized.

"Teacher?" Xiao Hongchen froze for a moment.

In the past, Xu Cheng always referred to him as 'Teacher Cheng,' but now he dropped the 'Cheng'—that implied everything.

"Not bad, not bad! This is something you deserve." Xiao Hongchen patted Xu Cheng's shoulder, feeling happy for his good buddy getting a good teacher.

Over these past days, Xiao Hongchen had noticed Xu Cheng's efforts. He even thought about asking his grandfather to take Xu Cheng as an apprentice, but unexpectedly, Old Master Cheng had beaten him to it.

But in terms of benefiting Xu Cheng, Old Master Cheng was even more advantageous than his grandfather.

"But why did Old Master Cheng suddenly take you as his apprentice? Was it because of your performance in the test?" Xiao Hongchen was puzzled.

The timing seemed too perfect.

He hadn't taken Xu Cheng in earlier, but after the first day of the assessment, suddenly…

"Remember the short dagger that Meng asked me to repair?" Xu Cheng smiled.

"Of course, you were completely obsessed for a whole month, and luckily you didn't develop a heart demon, otherwise, I'd feel so guilty…" Xiao Hongchen shrugged.

"You feel guilty for what? It was your grandfather and Old Master Cheng who set the test for me."

"…Huh?" Xiao Hongchen widened his eyes.

"Let me get this straight—they used a seven-level Soul Guidance Device to assess you? Am I crazy or is this world crazy?"

"…" Xu Cheng shrugged.

"So, the truth is this! They gave you a task that was essentially impossible, just to assess how far you could get!" Xiao Hongchen adjusted his nonexistent glasses with a smug "I knew it" look.

"No," Xu Cheng shook his head, "I completed it."

"You completed…" Xiao Hongchen's eyes widened in shock, "You really did it?!"

…

In the Soul Guidance Device Testing Ground.

"Meng, that short dagger…"

Xiao Hongchen carefully said.

"I gave it to Grandpa, after all, it's a level-seven Soul Guidance Device, and it's normal that it couldn't be repaired, right?" Meng Hongchen shot a glare at her older brother, afraid it would upset Xu Cheng.

Xiao Hongchen sighed.

"What I mean is, that short dagger—did you use it after I gave it back to you?"

"No, I haven't used it. What are you trying to say?" Meng Hongchen crossed her arms and frowned.

"Actually… before I gave it to you, Xu Cheng had already repaired it." Xiao Hongchen said with difficulty.

Meng Hongchen's beautiful eyes widened in disbelief: ???

…

On the arena, Xu Cheng had already entered.

Compared to yesterday, there were a lot more people watching him today.

Not only because of his status, but also due to his strength.

The absurd death of Wang Shaojie was something they couldn't understand.

Xu Cheng's methods were mysterious and unpredictable; he might just be the dark horse of this assessment!

"The second round of the elimination match, now starting!"

Lin Jiayi's voice echoed throughout the training ground.

Xu Cheng's opponent, a boy, had appeared across from him.

"Class Two, Feng Ying, Martial Soul: Qing Luan Bird, a sensitive attack type Soul Master. Please, let's have a fair match!" The slender boy struck an attacking pose, speaking solemnly.

[T/N: Qing here refers to Blue or Green and Luan is a Mythical bird often seen as the Companion of Phoenixes]

Xu Cheng wasn't sure about him either.

After all, Wang Shaojie had been killed in such an absurd manner. Although he was glad to see it due to the insult to his late mother, now that it was his turn, he couldn't help but feel uneasy...

Xu Cheng's strength was unquestionable, and his mysterious methods were still unknown to anyone.

If he was a bloodthirsty person, then…

"Class One, Xu Cheng, Martial Soul: Blood Pupil." Xu Cheng gave a simple introduction.

"Also, I'm not a bloodthirsty person, what happened yesterday was an accident…"

Looking at Feng Ying, who clearly relaxed after hearing that, Xu Cheng couldn't help but shake his head. It seemed his reputation needed to be carefully maintained from now on…

(End of this chapter)