Douluo Continent: Taking Tang San as a disciple, with a ten-thousand-fold return for teaching him.

Liu Erlong also said, "Yes, these days evil spirit masters are so rampant that they dare to attack an entire city. We must teach them a lesson!"

The golden trio remained as fiercely opposed to evil as ever.

Chen Luo seemed to have anticipated this outcome and calmly said, "Since it's all decided, let's go back and say hello to the little monsters before we set off. Maybe we can even come back before the qualifiers begin."

"Xiaogang, you had this plan in mind from the beginning, right?"

Flander sensed something was wrong and squinted at Chen Luo.

Chen Luo replied, "Indeed, we have some plans."

"You're actually trying to play tricks on us? This is no fun." Flander gave Chen Luo a disgruntled look.

Chen Luo didn't explain further. His original plan was indeed to go to Cuofeng City with Flander and Liu Erlong as soon as he returned to investigate what the evil soul masters were up to. However, he realized that things in Cuofeng City were definitely not that simple. In addition, the preliminary rounds of the Soul Master Elite Tournament were about to begin, and he felt that he needed to focus his energy on the latter. So he didn't have such a strong idea anymore.

He knew that Flander and Liu Erlong both hated evil, but he didn't expect them to make such a decisive choice.

In comparison, Chen Luo felt that his conviction in this regard was not as strong as that of Flander and Liu Erlong. He also hated evil, but he didn't have many convictions.

After setting a new goal, Chen Luo and his group quickly returned to Shrek Academy and found the Shrek Seven Devils. After briefly explaining the matter of evil soul masters, to Chen Luo and his companions' surprise, the Shrek Seven Devils also wanted to go.

But it was obvious that Chen Luo and his group would not agree.

While the matter of the evil spirit master could be considered a good training opportunity for the Shrek Seven Devils, it would be too risky for them to go there rashly with their current strength.

Chen Luo encountered Soul King-level evil Soul Masters on the road, which shows that there must be extremely powerful evil Soul Masters in Cuofeng City. If it weren't for the unknown powerful opponent he was wary of, Chen Luo would have stopped by to investigate on his way back to Tiandou City.

"Your most important task right now is to prepare for the preliminary rounds of the Elite Soul Master Tournament. If you enjoy adventure and fighting evil after you graduate, I will never stop you," Chen Luo said.

On the second floor of Shrek Academy's cafeteria, Chen Luo and all the others gathered together for dinner. It was just a simple get-together, where they also took the opportunity to discuss some things.

"Understood, teacher, we will definitely not let you down!" Tang San nodded, and the other little monsters nodded in agreement.

"Speaking of the preliminary rounds of the Elite Soul Master Tournament, I wonder how my brother Yuan is preparing. I really look forward to meeting him in the competition." Ma Hongjun talked about it every day while Yu Xiuyuan was away.

Dai Mubai smiled and said, "With Lao Ba and the others' strength, winning the preliminaries shouldn't be a problem either."

Compared to Ma Hongjun, who always called Yu Xiuyuan "Brother Yuan," Dai Mubai and the others preferred to call Yu Xiuyuan "Old Eight."

Tang San nodded: "I also believe in the strength of my junior brothers!" Tang San was an exception; he basically called Yu Xiuyuan his junior brother.

At dinner, Chen Luo and the others briefly explained the preliminary rounds and shared the joy that Flander and Liu Erlong had received their eighth spirit rings. All the little monsters were very happy and also very eager to participate.

If one had to point out something different about her, it would be Xiao Wu. Although she was smiling, she looked a little forced. Anyone who paid a little attention could tell, but only Chen Luo noticed this. Everyone else was immersed in joy.

As for the preliminary rounds of the Elite Soul Master Tournament, Chen Luo and his team were quite confident in the strength of the Shrek Seven Devils. In addition, even if they were not in Shrek Academy, they had many excellent teachers who could lead the team. At the very least, those teachers were capable of handling some basic and simple matters very well.

Besides, with the Shrek Seven Devils' abilities, they wouldn't have much of a problem even without a teacher leading the team.

Furthermore, Chen Luo and the others might be able to return before the qualifiers, at which point everything can proceed smoothly.

The next morning, Chen Luo and his group set off, their destination being Cuofeng City.

Chen Luo didn't expect that he would be on the go again so soon after returning from his trip. The main reason was that the matter of the evil soul master was of great importance and had to be taken seriously.

Even though they all knew that there must be some conspiracy in Cuofeng City, they were fearless.

Chen Luo might be hesitant to go alone, but if the Golden Iron Triangle went together, there would be nothing to fear. At worst, they could just unleash the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon at the slightest provocation.

Chapter 163 Arrival, Off-Peak City

Tangyuan Town.

"We'll reach Cuofeng City in about two more hours. We haven't seen anything unusual along the way. If there really is something wrong with Cuofeng City, the surrounding area must be quite dangerous."

Flanders began.

At this moment, the three members of the Golden Iron Triangle were walking on the streets of the town of Tanyuan.

There weren't many people in the town, but they all looked perfectly normal, no different from any other small town. If you had to point out anything special about it, it would probably be that there were relatively few people, less than half the population of a typical small town.

As Chen Luo and his group were walking, a group of guards suddenly emerged from the street corner ahead. They were wearing the guard uniforms of the town of Tangyuan. There were fifteen of them in total, only five of whom were ordinary people, while the rest were Soul Masters, though the strongest among them was only at the level of a Soul Venerable.

Such a configuration is extremely rare in ordinary small towns.

Soul Masters have very limited resources. While all the Soul Masters gathered together seem to have a certain number, when they are actually dispersed to every city and town, the number of Soul Masters is pitifully small. A guard team with ten Soul Masters is already considered a very luxurious configuration.

Chen Luo said, "If nothing unexpected happens, we'll encounter an unexpected situation soon."

Liu Erlong said, "I think so too."

"I saw a guard team when I entered the town, and I didn't expect to see it again. Moreover, a large proportion of them are Soul Masters. No other town's guard team would be so responsible. The only reason they are so diligent is that something must have happened in this town."

Flander adjusted his glasses: "We just happen to be passing by. If anything unexpected happens, we can help them out. And this unexpected event will most likely be related to those evil spirit masters. We can find out about the situation beforehand."

The reason Chen Luo and his group stopped in Tangyuan Town was because they wanted to find some useful clues. They had stopped in some towns or secondary cities along the way, but all of them came up empty-handed.

As before, Chen Luo and his group started asking passersby about the situation.

"Brother, has anything unusual happened in town lately?"

Flanders approached a passing middle-aged man and asked him with a smile.

The middle-aged man looked slightly surprised and flustered: "Something's wrong? You're from out of town, right? Let's run..."

After saying that, the uncle ran away as if he were fleeing.

Flander looked at Chen Luo and Liu Erlong, his brows furrowing slightly: "It seems there really is a problem."

"boom!!!"

"Help! Murder!!"

"Help! The monster has appeared again!"

A loud bang suddenly came from a street on the left, followed by cries for help, which immediately caught Chen Luo and his group's attention.

The three exchanged a glance and then immediately headed toward the source of the sound, arriving at their destination in just a short while.

That was in a relatively remote corner of the town of Tanjung. A large hole had appeared in an old residential building, with broken stones and bricks scattered all over the ground. Countless black vines were bursting out from it, and the explosion just now must have been caused by those black vines.

As if sensing something, the black vines suddenly stopped spreading and quickly retracted.

Almost the instant the black vines retracted, a fiery red figure rushed in.

The next second, a strange black figure was thrown out and slammed hard onto the ground.

"This thing is so strange. It looks like a person and a tree at the same time. This is the first time I've ever seen such a strange creature."

A fiery red figure then emerged; it was Liu Erlong.

Chen Luo and Flander had already reached the black figure, both of them with somewhat strange expressions.

The black figure was covered with dry tree bark and looked somewhat like a human, but more like a withered tree.

"This guy seems a bit like Que Zeyu," Flander couldn't help but say, glancing at Chen Luo at the same time.

Chen Luo nodded slightly, then slowly said, "Somewhat similar, only much inferior."

Liu Erlong noticed that Chen Luo and Flander looked a little strange and immediately asked, "What's going on? Do you two know each other?"

Flander glanced at Chen Luo: "Should you speak, or should I?"

Chen Luo said, "Go ahead and tell me."

Flander then brought up Que Zeyu's matter, and after Flander finished speaking, Liu Erlong couldn't help but frown slightly.

Why didn't you kill him?

Liu Erlong's question left both Chen Luo and Flander silent.

Yeah, why not kill him?

If we had just killed him back then, maybe none of this would have happened.

Judging from the strange person in front of me, these things are very likely related to Que Zeyu.

Do they genuinely believe Que Zeyu is a victim, or do they want to use Que Zeyu to help them build the academy?

Both have some degree of similarity.

Rather than answering Liu Erlong's question, Chen Luo and Flander hoped that these matters were not related to Que Zeyu, but they also knew that they were just deceiving themselves.

Liu Erlong didn't say much about this topic. At this moment, the guard team of Tangyuan Town arrived.

When the guards saw the black figure on the ground, they all became alert, but when they saw that the figure had lost its fighting ability and was on the verge of death, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you so much for your help, three seniors!"

A middle-aged man in his forties came up to Chen Luo and the others, clasped his hands in thanks, and bowed.

Before Chen Luo and the others could ask, the middle-aged man took the initiative to explain the situation.

"I am Xu You, the captain of the guard team of Tangyuan Town. Seven days ago, some strange phenomena appeared in our town. Some black vines were seen in many buildings. Soon, people died because of these black vines. Our guard team was ordered to investigate and has lost three members. Yesterday, we finally locked onto the target, but due to our limited strength and ability, the target escaped. It is this monster!"

"Without the help of the three seniors, we would have lost even more lives. We are truly grateful for your assistance!" Xu You bowed again, clasping his hands in thanks.

Flanders asked, "Has anything else strange happened recently?"

Xu You shook his head: "No, in recent decades, this matter has been extremely serious. We mobilized the entire town's soul master resources for this matter, but in the end, we still failed to minimize the impact of the matter."

"A total of five townspeople and three guards died. Many townspeople chose to leave the town because of this incident."

"I guess another town resident just died..." Xu You seemed very downcast.

Flanders said, "Please accept my condolences."

Liu Erlong glanced coldly at the withered tree monster on the ground, then looked at the dilapidated residential building.

Chen Luo had already entered the dilapidated residential building and found a mummified corpse inside, with a large hole in its chest.

"This kind of method is undoubtedly the work of an evil spirit master..."

Chen Luo sighed inwardly: "I hope all of this wasn't caused by Que Zeyu..."

Stepping out of the dilapidated apartment building, Chen Luo looked at Liu Erlong and Flander and asked, "Is there anything else going on?"

Flanders shook his head.

"Let's keep going!" Chen Luo said.

An hour later.

Off-peak city east gate.

Chen Luo, Liu Erlong, and Flander arrived safely.