Douluo: The Unrivaled Demon Lord

Chapter 148: Unresolved Issues and Leisurely Moments, Jiang Nannan's Awakening and Transformation from a Simp to a Spoiled Bet
After using teleportation to leave Yan Shaozhe's office, Shu Yan's mood was not affected and remained quite good.

He knew Yan Shaozhe quite well. Yan Shaozhe's talent for cultivation was much higher than that of Shu Hong in the past. The Bright Phoenix was the best among all beast martial souls, and in some ways it could be said to be on the same level as the Bright Sacred Dragon. If Yan Shaozhe had a bit more "magnanimity" in his personality, he certainly wouldn't be stuck at level 95 now.

To be honest, Yan Shaozhe has the potential to become a Limit Douluo, but his mindset and personality limit his potential. If his mindset and personality do not change, he can only reach the level of Xuanzi or Elder Song at most in his life. As for Limit Douluo... that is completely impossible.

As for Yan Shaozhe's previous attempt to "sell" Ma Xiaotao to him, Shu Yan couldn't comment, but frankly, such behavior was not exactly right.

He had very indifferent feelings for Ma Xiaotao; they were just normal classmates who would greet each other occasionally when they bumped into each other. But to say that he had any special feelings for her would be complete nonsense.

Ma Xiaotao is very beautiful and sexy, but Shu Yan isn't the type to be easily swayed by beautiful women. Besides, he already has a "live volcano" at home. After her transformation, Wu Ming can rival or even surpass Ma Xiaotao in every aspect. After all, Ma Xiaotao is only nineteen years old this year, while Wu Ming is nearly thirty. The nearly ten-year age gap makes their temperaments very different. Compared to Ma Xiaotao, Shu Yan actually prefers Wu Ming.

But he did know that Ma Xiaotao treated him differently. It was probably because his appearance in Ma Xiaotao's world was too sudden and domineering, which caused a great fluctuation in the mind of the usually invincible and proud Ma Xiaotao. Those strange feelings arose from this.

Putting aside the troublesome "evil fire," Ma Xiaotao is in the prime of her youth, with the same mindset as many other young girls. It's unlikely that she would remain completely unmoved by Shu Yan. However, compared to ordinary girls, Ma Xiaotao can be described as both lucky and unlucky...

Shu Yan understood a principle very well: one should not meet someone too amazing when one is young, otherwise, when one meets other people later, one will subconsciously compare this person with the person one meets. The result is obvious: with the passage of time, no one can be more wonderful than the person in your memory... Therefore, people will eventually be troubled for a lifetime by the things they could not obtain in their youth.

A knot in one's heart is a problem of one's state of mind, and it is the kind that is the hardest to eradicate. And Ma Xiaotao's feelings for Shu Yan inexplicably seem to be evolving in this direction.

Looking at the bright sunshine, Shu Yan stopped thinking about these things. He went home and called Wu Ming, who was sleeping in late. The two hit it off immediately, grabbed their fishing rods, and headed straight to Poseidon Lake, planning to catch fish and eat them on the spot.

As for Han Ruoruo, she made an appointment with Hua Yao to buy clothes and went to Shrek City early in the morning. Ling Luochen, on the other hand, was the most diligent and should still be in the simulated training ground at this time. In the afternoon, she would most likely train with Dai Yueheng and the others.

As for training... Shu Yan wasn't interested. He would only occasionally watch the excitement. His strength was obvious, and with him around, Shrek Academy's victory was a sure thing. But perhaps to avoid an easy win, or perhaps to prevent others from becoming mere foils for Shu Yan... for various reasons, Xuan Zi had already approached Shu Yan. Except for a few crucial matches, Shu Yan wouldn't need to participate, and his schedule would be completely flexible. After arriving in Star Luo City, he would only need to participate in a few matches on time, and the rest of his time would be entirely under his control.

……

While fishing, Wu Ming curiously inquired about what had happened when Yan Shaozhe had just summoned Shu Yan.

Shu Yan did not hide anything and chose to honestly tell the whole story.

After hearing this, Wu Ming fell into deep thought. Perhaps it was because Shu Yan had opened up her "Ren and Du meridians" that she became much more rational and clear-headed in her dealings with people, no longer acting recklessly and blindly as before.

"So... do you have feelings for Ma Xiaotao?"

After thinking for a moment, Wu Ming asked tentatively.

Shu Yan rolled his eyes and said helplessly, "If I were really interested in her, you would have been kneeling down next to her tonight..."

Wu Ming blushed deeply upon hearing this. Talking about these things in broad daylight—wasn't she afraid of being overheard?

Well… although no one else could hear it, she still found it a little hard to bear hearing Shu Yan say such things in broad daylight.

Just as Wu Ming was about to say something more, the fishing rod in her hand suddenly dipped. Wu Ming's eyes lit up, and her shyness was instantly forgotten, replaced by surprise.

After waiting so long, she finally caught a fish.

With a strong tug from Wu Ming, a silver-scaled fish weighing at least three pounds was pulled from the water and fell onto the grass behind the two of them.

"Yay! Tonight I'll make you braised fish, so you can see what my cooking skills are like..."

Wu Ming quickly went over, picked up the fish, and then looked at Shu Yan with an excited smile.

Shu Yan looked at Wu Ming, whose face was splashed with a few drops of water, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his lips. Seeing his beloved happy made him feel just as wonderful...

Well, he subconsciously overlooked the fact that Wu Ming was going to cook for him.

The Shu family's ironclad rule number three! Wu Ming and the dog are not allowed to enter the kitchen at will...

……

For the next few days, Shu Yan lived a leisurely and carefree life.

Every day, he either spends time with Han Ruoruo and the other two girls, or takes the restless Hai Xunxun around Shrek City.

Xie Ji would occasionally come out for a stroll. Observing the human world was a completely different experience from living in it herself. Besides teasing Hai Xunxun, Xie Ji's favorite thing to do was to tease Shu Yan in various ways, and then be severely punished by Shu Yan, who was already used to it...

However, Xie Ji didn't mind Shu Yan occasionally teaching her a lesson; after all, evil soul beasts were all about being perverted and unrestrained...

The Snow Empress and the Ice Empress were also subtly influenced by the Evil Princess. The two sisters would occasionally go out for a stroll. Having lived in the icy wilderness for hundreds of thousands of years, they were quite interested in the prosperity and liveliness of the human world.

Han Ruoruo and Wu Ming would occasionally take the Ice and Snow Emperors to experience the life of human women, including but not limited to buying clothes, shopping, getting manicures, makeup, and a series of other trivial things that Shu Yan found troublesome.

Unlike others, the Demon Emperor scoffed at these things. Apart from nourishing her soul, she remained in slumber and rarely spoke in her spiritual sea. The last time she was heard speaking was when she entrusted Shu Yan to search for her daughter in a distant sea. After that, the Demon Emperor never spoke again, but silently "watched" everyone.

Tianmeng also condensed a body for herself. Of course, this body was still in the original form of an ice silkworm, small and cute. Whenever she had free time, she would sit on Shu Yan's shoulder to bask in the sun, or bicker with Han Ruoruo and the others. She lived a carefree life.

With more frequent visits to Shrek Academy, Shu Yan and his companions encountered quite a few acquaintances.

Bei Bei and Tang Ya remained inseparable. With Mu En's approval, they had been residing in the Sea God Pavilion for cultivation. Bei Bei's cultivation had broken through to the Soul Master level, and Tang Ya had completely stabilized her Blue Silver King Martial Soul. Nourished by the rich life force of the Golden Tree, her Blue Silver King Martial Soul was even slightly stronger than the ordinary Blue Silver King, and even possessed a faint light attribute. Seeing that both of them were developing in a positive direction, Shu Yan felt somewhat gratified.

During their conversation, Tang Ya invited Shu Yan and the others to sit for a while at the Tang Clan's current headquarters.

It was located on the outskirts of Shrek City, which could be described as extremely remote, but for the Tang Clan, which had been resurrected, it was already quite good.

Shu Yan did not interfere much with the development of the Tang Sect. He simply told Bei Bei and Tang Ya some things. To him, the Tang Sect, whether now or in the future, was too insignificant to warrant his attention.

Besides that, Shu Yan did see Huo Yuhao again at the Tang Sect's base.

As time passed, the once somewhat thin boy grew taller and more energetic. Perhaps it was because Elder Zhuang had nurtured and dispersed his meridians, or perhaps it was because he had taken some kind of elixir that could enhance his aptitude. His true talent had begun to show, and he had gained considerable attention within Shrek Academy. Although his foundation was somewhat weak, his martial soul strength and tenacious will still made him stand out among his peers…

Perhaps he is no longer the complete chosen one, but he is still special, and his luck far exceeds that of ordinary people, which Xie Ji can confirm.

Well, in a way, Huo Yuhao can be said to be enjoying both career and love success these days, after all, Wang Dong'er is always by his side... However, Wang Dong'er currently presents herself with a male face, which makes their relationship seem rather "bromance-filled," and it's quite an unusual way to attract attention...

As for Wang Dong'er... Shu Yan had also had some conversations with her.

But Shu Yan's overall impression of her was actually okay; she wasn't too bad, but she wasn't particularly outstanding either.

After giving her a few subtle hints, Shu Yan said nothing more. Perhaps what awaited her was pain and torment, but when the truth was laid bare before her, Shu Yan felt that she should make the right decision.

After all, in the Douluo Continent, the power of love is a supreme power on par with the power of creation; as for mere parents, they're not worth having...

At the same time, Shu Yan also witnessed a scene that he found quite interesting.

That is, Jiang Nannan, the goddess of the Foreign Languages ​​Department, has actually started to entangle herself with Xu Sanshi, her former simp...

Originally, it was common knowledge throughout Shrek Academy that Xu Sanshi was Jiang Nannan's simp. However, after Shu Yan enlightened Xu Sanshi, he gradually and actually let go of Jiang Nannan and instead started to pester Bei Bei every day, spending all his time either cultivating or busy with other things.

The awakening of a simp is undoubtedly special and novel anywhere, especially for a famous super simp like Xu Sanshi. His change and awakening have aroused curiosity and astonishment among countless people. Jiang Nannan, who had always been indifferent and disgusted with him, was also quite surprised.

At first, she was indeed extremely relieved and happy when she realized this, but slowly, looking at Xu Sanshi who was becoming more and more indifferent and distant towards her, she quietly felt an indescribable sense of grievance and disappointment.

Jiang Nannan was relatively rational. She knew very well that she shouldn't have such emotions, but she still couldn't control them. These emotions affected her cultivation life, so she simply took a leave of absence and went home to visit her mother.

But during this trip, she unexpectedly learned something else from her mother…

It was precisely because of this that Jiang Nannan was deeply shocked and moved. She never imagined that during the years when she felt ashamed to face her mother due to her physical and mental trauma, it was Xu Sanshi who helped take care of her mother. He frequently traveled between the two places, always setting aside time each year to accompany her mother.

Even in the initial period, Xu Sanshi disregarded the threat that the second awakening of his martial soul might damage his vital energy, and repeatedly performed bloodletting and medicinal refining for his mother, until he finally collapsed from exhaustion...

There were so many such scenes. If these words hadn't come from her beloved mother, she would have even thought that it was all a charade orchestrated by Xu Sanshi to make her accept him...

Jiang Nannan couldn't quite describe her feelings. Guilt, shock, confusion, regret, and many other emotions filled her heart, making her somewhat unwilling to face reality.

Finally, after saying goodbye to her mother, Jiang Nannan embarked on her journey back to Shrek Academy.

She pondered for a long time on the way, and finally decided to sincerely apologize to Xu Sanshi after returning to Shrek Academy, and thank him for his efforts over the years.

But when she mustered up the courage to go find Xu Sanshi with this belief, she saw him chatting and laughing with his classmate as they went to the cafeteria to get food.

In that instant, Jiang Nannan was suddenly overwhelmed by a huge, unknown emotion. She wanted to step forward and stop Xu Sanshi, then sincerely apologize and thank him to clear up the misunderstanding between them, but she couldn't take that step. Just as she was overwhelmed by the surging emotions and couldn't breathe, Xu Sanshi noticed her standing by the roadside, motionless like a wooden sculpture.

Hope rekindled in Jiang Nannan's heart. At that moment, a strange sense of anticipation overwhelmed that other inexplicable emotion.

But this sense of anticipation quickly vanished as Xu Sanshi calmly withdrew his gaze.

As Jiang Nannan watched, her expression somewhat dazed, the two figures walked further and further away until they disappeared into the crowd of students from the outer academy…

Later, Jiang Nannan didn't know how she got back to the dormitory. She just felt like something was missing in her heart, and she felt extremely empty and uncomfortable.

She knew who the female student following Xu Sanshi was. That person also came from a large sect in the Heavenly Soul Empire, and her talent was second only to Xu Sanshi in the class. She was a true genius with a powerful background, good looks, and ability...

As heirs of large sects, objectively speaking, Xu Sanshi and she are absolutely a perfect match, at least much more so than an ordinary girl with no background...

Jiang Nannan lay on the bed, lost in thought, her mind flashing back to the moments she had shared with Xu Sanshi over the years. These memories weren't exactly pleasant, but they made Jiang Nannan increasingly clear-headed and resolute…

It wasn't until dawn broke that the sound of her roommate getting up jolted her awake from her reverie and inner turmoil.

It was at this moment that Jiang Nannan suddenly saw through her own heart. She realized that she also had feelings for Xu Sanshi, but these feelings had been trapped in the deepest shadows of her heart due to misunderstandings. Now that the shadows had dissipated, these feelings finally regained life, like a drowned fish returning to the sea, and were able to see the light of day again…

The interesting scene that Shu Yan mentioned occurred based on this...

……

(End of this chapter)