Chapter 98: Ambushing Changli

Xu Jiujiu buried her head deep in Lu Jingming's embrace, her hands gently wrapped around his waist. Her voice, tinged with an undeniable sense of lingering affection and reluctance, softly asked, "A'Ming, are you really leaving tomorrow?"

Due to the change in their relationship, Xu Jiujiu's way of addressing Lu Jingming had also become much more intimate.

"I can't help it. Since the Soul Master Tournament is set to be held in Sea Abyss City, many preparations require my return. If it's messed up, I'll disappoint you."

Lu Jingming gently stroked her golden hair. With the beauty in his arms, Lu Jingming wasn't idle, his hands moving ceaselessly.

Xu Jiujiu looked up, her eyes shimmering. She wasn't a clingy little girl by nature, nor would she tie Lu Jingming down for this reason.

Hesitating for a moment, her pearly teeth lightly bit her lower lip, and a blush quietly crept onto her cheeks. She softly said, "Since that's the case, I won't keep you. It's just... tonight, what you mentioned before, I agree."

"Really, Sister Jiujiu, you're so good to me."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jingming's eyes instantly lit up. Excitedly, he scooped Xu Jiujiu up and spun around, eliciting a series of playful complaints from her.

Then, he leaned forward, kissing those intoxicating red lips once more, their passionate breaths intertwining.

In the distance, Nebula Douluo Manyi quietly appeared. Seeing the intimate scene between the lovers, a satisfied smile bloomed on her face.

Immediately, she quietly spread her spiritual power, silently keeping watch for the two, lest some tactless person disturb them.

That night, in this tender embrace, Lu Jingming experienced a charm utterly different from Zhang Lexuan.

Princess Xu Jiujiu's status, along with her innate noble temperament and unique allure, further ignited one's desires.

Like Zhang Lexuan, Xu Jiujiu was equally inexperienced. Her first time doing such a thing inevitably caused little Lu a bit of tribulation.

The next morning, sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, scattering into the room and onto the embracing man and woman.

Waking up amidst the fragrant warmth, and the inevitable intimacy, led to a somewhat late start to the day!

Even though Lu Jingming had spent the night in the princess's boudoir, Emperor Xu Jiawei showed no displeasure. Upon seeing Lu Jingming again, his smile grew even warmer, and his attitude became more cordial.

Changli's assistance in helping Skyhawk Douluo break through, inadvertently revealing her Rank 98 cultivation, further solidified Emperor Xu Jiawei's thoughts.

The progress in Lu Jingming and Xu Jiujiu's relationship relieved him immensely. For years, the Sun Moon Empire had been eyeing them covetously, the Star Crown Sect was in decline, and the White Tiger Duke's lineage was rising again. Numerous challenges had left him mentally and physically exhausted.

Now, with Sea Abyss City's clear stance, he could finally breathe a little easier.

As for whether Lu Jingming coveted the throne, Emperor Xu Jiawei simply thought, so what if he does?

The Star Crown lineage was struggling to find new talent; besides him, there were only two princesses. In the entire Star Luo Empire, who wouldn't have some thoughts?

If the Star Crown lineage were strong, supporting a female emperor might be feasible, but now, times had changed, and they could only let nature take its course.

Moreover, Xu Jiujiu was already in love with Lu Jingming. When they had children in the future, what was wrong with supporting that royal bloodline to inherit the throne?

In the eyes of these long-established powers on the Douluo Continent, the inheritance of bloodline and martial soul was far more important than a mere surname.

Lu Jingming bid farewell to the reluctant Xu Jiujiu and, accompanied by Changli, embarked on their journey back towards Sea Abyss City.

Although Changli had been in seclusion assisting Skyhawk Douluo in his breakthrough, she keenly sensed the subtle change in Lu Jingming and Xu Jiujiu's relationship.

That once vague layer of ambiguity had faded, replaced by the intimacy and frankness of lovers.

A smile played on her lips as she teased, "What, reluctant to leave?"

Lu Jingming openly admitted, without any shyness, "Not at all, Sister Changli, have you forgotten? We can meet anytime in the Simulated Universe."

Changli crossed her arms, propping her chin with one hand, and asked with interest, "You took down that princess so quickly. When do you plan to take in my Jinhsi?"

Lu Jingming wore a helpless, wry smile: "Sister Changli, how can you encourage someone to pursue your own disciple?"

Changli chuckled, her eyes full of playfulness: "I'm growing more and more curious about your affairs. I wonder who'll be next?"

Lu Jingming's lips curved, half-jokingly saying, "Who knows? Maybe you'll be next, Sister Changli."

Upon hearing this, Changli's eyes narrowed slightly. Her fingertips sliced through the air, instantly creating a shower of sparks, and the surrounding temperature sharply increased: "Oh? Are you sure you can subdue me?"

Lu Jingming showed no weakness, confidently stating, "It's only a matter of time!"

Changli extended a finger, gently lifted Lu Jingming's chin, and leaned close to his ear, whispering, "Then I'll look forward to it, little one."

Lu Jingming's heart stirred. Taking Changli by surprise, he suddenly turned his head, precisely kissing her delicate red lips.

A hint of surprise flashed in Changli's eyes. She clearly hadn't expected him to be so bold and for a moment forgot to resist, letting him have his way.

However, when Lu Jingming tried to make further moves, Changli instantly snapped back to reality. Her figure transformed into a flash of fire and rapidly retreated. When she reformed, she had already put distance between herself and Lu Jingming.

"Sister Changli, thank you for the treat." Lu Jingming licked his lips, a teasing smile on his face.

Changli gently touched her lips. Far from being angry, her smile became even more radiant and captivating: "Interesting. You've got guts. That just now was your reward. It won't be so easy next time."

Lu Jingming shrugged. He knew he was merely taking advantage of Changli's affection for him to be so presumptuous.

If it were any other unfamiliar female Titled Douluo, even if he had ten times the courage, he would never dare to be so unrestrained.

Of course, he wouldn't act that outrageously with strangers.

Despite the ambiguous scene that had just unfolded, the two quickly returned to their normal state, their interaction still as comfortable and casual as ever.

Lu Jingming also knew very well that truly "conquering" Changli would not happen overnight. This older sister was not so easily won over.

Sea Abyss City, on the verge of hosting the 2024 All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament, was already bustling with enthusiastic preparations.

The city's commoners, nobles, and merchants were all full of vigor, actively cooperating with various tasks.

After all, those who remained in Sea Abyss City now were all discerning individuals. They understood that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

With the Soul Master Tournament being held here, everyone, regardless of their background, could get a piece of the pie.

As soon as Lu Jingming returned to Sea Abyss City, he waved his hand, and hundreds of millions of gold soul coins flowed out like water.

Keqing immediately received a task: to supervise the construction of a super-large arena capable of accommodating hundreds of thousands of spectators.

At the same time, the Golden Guard was deployed in full force, recruiting commoners throughout the city to establish a dedicated city guard for maintaining order.

Given the immense popularity of the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament, the number of tourists flowing into Sea Abyss City was conservatively estimated to exceed one million.

Relying solely on the limited numbers of the Golden Guard and the previous city guard to maintain order was clearly insufficient.

While the Golden Guard possessed formidable strength, they couldn't be everywhere at once. Therefore, expanding the city guard to a massive scale was imperative, with a minimum of ten thousand personnel.

Furthermore, construction was in full swing across various parts of Sea Abyss City, with new hotels, inns, and restaurants springing up, all to welcome the upcoming Soul Master Tournament.

With a year remaining until the tournament's opening, Sea Abyss City's advanced soul tool technology was more than sufficient to complete these preparatory works.

Despite the entire Sea Abyss City being incredibly busy, Lu Jingming lived a remarkably relaxed and carefree life.

During the day, he would be at St. Freya Academy, listening to Robin sing, feeding Firefly, laughing and playing with March 7th, sparring with Gu Yue, discussing Castorice's newly written novels with her, or accompanying Jinhsi in the kitchen to make steamed buns.

At night, he would slip into Zhang Lexuan's bed, embracing her warm and soft body as he fell asleep. The life of a hands-off manager was truly this simple and unadorned.

Lu Jingming contentedly teased the little fox in his arms. Now, without him providing Truth Power, who knew when the little fox would recover into the graceful and cunning Lady Yae Miko?

But Truth Power had always been scarce, and Lu Jingming also felt that the little fox form of Yae Miko was more lively and adorable, so he had never let her return to her original appearance.

And in this form, Yae Miko lived a carefree life every day, either playing wildly everywhere or blissfully receiving various tributes and enjoying her favorite fried tofu, living a truly comfortable existence.

Currently, the little fox was not only the pampered darling of everyone at St. Freya Academy but also the mascot of the entire Sea Abyss City.

Many shops had even specially made sculptures of the little fox, placing them in the most prominent positions in their stores as treasures.

No matter which restaurant the little fox visited, she would receive abundant culinary "offerings," living a truly unrestrained life.

On a leisurely afternoon, Lu Jingming was comfortably half-reclining on a soft sofa, his long fingers casually flipping through Castorice's latest novel.

Sunlight filtered through the thin curtains, casting fragmented shadows, adding a touch of languidness to the serene scene.

Suddenly, Lu Jingming's previously relaxed brow slightly arched, as if he had sensed something.

He received an information prompt from the Simulated Universe: someone had randomly encountered his virtual data body in the Simulated Universe again.

This situation was not uncommon for Lu Jingming. After all, the user base of the Simulated Universe was enormous. Although the Simulated Universe's database stored vast amounts of data, the probability of encountering his data body was still quite high.

Previously, if he was interested, he would log in with his main body to act as a stand-in, but if he was not in the mood, he wouldn't bother; his virtual data body would handle it.

This time, he initially didn't plan to bother either, as, in his opinion, logging in to fight was far less interesting than Castorice's novels.

However, when he took a closer look, he found that the information was not from the Simulated Universe of his own world, but from a Simulated Universe in another parallel world.

Lu Jingming couldn't help but inwardly click his tongue. Herta's technology was becoming increasingly profound; she could even transmit Simulated Universe information across dimensions from parallel worlds.

Truly worthy of being a "Pure Beauty Emissary." Such technological prowess indeed lived up to the name of a genius.

Lu Jingming was already interested in the parallel world anchored by the Cosmic Juggernaut. With such an opportunity before him, he naturally wouldn't miss it easily.

Although his main body couldn't directly enter that parallel world, being able to indirectly interact through the Simulated Universe was an appealing prospect for him.

Parallel World – Douluo Continent. Soto City in the Barac Kingdom was bathed in a golden afterglow.

Shrek Academy, located in a remote village in Soto City, was currently enveloped in a serious atmosphere.

A middle-aged man with a crew cut stood on the academy's training ground. His face was stiff, yet his eyes revealed full anticipation for the seven young men and women before him.

This person was Yu Xiaogang, known as the Grandmaster in the Soul Master world for proposing the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls.

"Your performance during this period has been excellent,"

Yu Xiaogang's low voice echoed across the training ground, "Now, it's time to test the results of your training during this period."

Saying this, his gaze slowly turned to the delicate, pink-haired girl among the seven, "Rongrong, bring it out."

Ning Rongrong moved gracefully, stepping forward elegantly.

Her fair, small hand brushed lightly over a storage soul tool, and seven uniquely shaped Simulated Universe login devices appeared in her palm.

These login devices were exquisitely crafted, emitting a faint glow, clearly not ordinary items at first glance.

With a hint of pride, Ning Rongrong handed the login devices one by one to Tang San and the others, saying, "This is an extremely rare soul tool. It allows people to enter an illusory world. Even in our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, we don't have many."

Her words were full of pride. After all, recently, Simulated Universe login devices had become hot commodities throughout the Douluo Continent, with countless powers vying to collect them. The fact that she could produce seven at once for her companions demonstrated the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's profound resources and their affection for her.

"Illusory world?" Tang San, Xiao Wu, Oscar, Ma Hongjun, Zhu Zhuqing, and the others looked puzzled, their gazes turning to the soul tools in their hands.

During this period, they had been fully focused on the devilish training arranged by Yu Xiaogang, knowing very little about external events.

Dai Mubai, however, was different. Being a few years older, he was well-informed and had heard of these Simulated Universe login devices.

Seeing their confusion, he voluntarily stepped forward and patiently began to explain.

As Dai Mubai's clear and concise explanation unfolded, Tang San and the others gradually gained a preliminary understanding of the Simulated Universe.

When they heard that defeating opponents could yield generous rewards, their eyes instantly lit up.

After joining Shrek Academy, under Yu Xiaogang's guidance and the influence of other teachers, they all believed they were the cream of the crop among their peers, undisputed monsters.

In their minds, wasn't this so-called illusory world a treasure trove of rewards specially prepared for them?

"What are we waiting for? Quickly teach us how to use it!" Ma Hongjun was the most impatient, already rubbing his hands together, unable to contain his excitement. He wished he could immediately rush into the Simulated Universe, sweep through it, and collect all the generous rewards.

Xiao Wu also echoed him from the side, her nimble eyes sparkling with eagerness.