73 Arrival

Nero, Yuanen Yehui, and the other Shrek Academy students, along with the Star Luo representatives, had gathered on the deck of the ship. as after countless days of travel, they had finally arrived at the Star Luo Continent.

The local residents of the Star Luo Continent cheered in unison, expressing their joy at returning to their homeland. The Star Luo Continent's coastline, when seen from a distance, bore some resemblance to the Douluo Continent. However, the architectural style of the distant pier was distinct, setting the two continents apart.

For the people from Shrek Academy, all the grand welcoming ceremonies and formalities were mere routine. Here, the two diplomatic corps, representing the Star Luo Continent and the Douluo Continent, finally parted ways after their long journey. The Star Luo Continent's diplomatic corps were granted a well-deserved holiday, while the Douluo Continent's diplomats were just beginning their visit.

"This will be our itinerary. We will first arrive in the capital of the Star Luo Continent, Star Luo City, which is located within the Star Luo Empire. Following that, we will participate in a series of sparring competitions. The primary focus of this exchange program will be the Royal Star Luo Academy's representative team. Afterward, we'll proceed to..." Wu Zhangkong's cold and precise voice laid out the plans for the entire group. He detailed the student exchange activities and mentioned some sightseeing opportunities at various points of interest on the Star Luo Continent.

The prospect of visiting Star Luo City filled everyone with excitement, except for Nero, who appeared less enthusiastic. He yawned, battling fatigue from his disrupted sleep pattern. The past two months had been rather uneventful, and Nero had developed a habit of exploring the ocean at night and taking afternoon naps. If it weren't for Yuanen Yehui's companionship, Nero might have disregarded the potential consequences and teleported to the Star Luo Continent.

Under the arrangement of the Star Luo Empire, they first rested at the seaside city for one night before taking the express soul train to the Star Luo Empire's capital, Star Luo City.

The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Sima Lanxiao, who represented the Star Luo Empire, greeted Elder Cai with courtesy. However, her responses were somewhat dry.

Sima Lanxiao suggested that the Shrek Academy students participate in a grand competition for young Soul Masters taking place in Star Luo City. Despite the students' age, Sima Lanxiao believed they would be the highlight of the competition. Elder Cai initially declined, but Sima Lanxiao persisted, assuring their safety. He was taken aback when Elder Cai requested a soul bone as the prize for their participation.

Soul bones were exceedingly rare and valuable items, originating from certain soul beasts. The rarity and power of soul bones made them treasured possessions in the world of Soul Masters.

Sima Lanxiao explained the prizes for various categories of the competition, including Spirit Refined metals, ten-thousand-year spirit items, and even a piece of heaven-and-earth-treasures spirit grass. The most significant prize was a soul bone for the one-on-one competition, known as the Unlimited Challenge.

Elder Cai was intrigued by the attractive prizes, especially the soul bone. Sima Lanxiao clarified that this category was the most important, allowing participants below twenty years of age to join.

Elder Cai agreed with a simple "okay."

Yuanen Yehui, Tang Wulin, and the others were taken aback by the sudden announcement of another competition shortly after arriving in the Star Luo Continent.

"By the way, Sister Yehui, where is Brother Nero?" Curious about Nero's absence, Xu Xiaoyan asked Yuanen Yehui where he was. The group, including Elder Cai and Wu Zhangkong, turned their attention to her, noticing Nero's absence.

" Well," Yuanen Yehui thinking of what Nero told her explained . "He had some work assigned to him by his grandfather."

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Unknown Location,

Our missing protagonist, Nero, was seated on a boulder facing a black-haired man who bore numerous injuries. What made this situation even more unusual was their surroundings, scattered with mecha debris. Some of these remnants were distinctively black mechas.

Nero, resting his chin on his interlocked hands, inquired, "So, Mr. Whatever-Your-Name-Is, tell me, where can I find the headquarters of your so-called Rebel Organization?" The man before him, instead of offering an answer, hesitantly inquired, "Who are you? How did you discover our whereabouts? We took great precautions to ensure that even your most powerful, the Hyper Douluo among you, couldn't detect our assassination plot."

Nero sported a smirk as he responded, "Well, it's true that you managed to conceal your presence and spirit power fluctuations, but the aura of malevolence was practically radiating from your group. It's like a beacon for someone like me, a Demonic Being."

Before the man could fully grasp the implications of Nero's words, a faint buzz emanated from the wreckage of his black mecha's core, catching Nero's attention. "So, that's where you've stashed your communicator. Clever move, using the mecha core's fluctuations to mask the communicator's signal," Nero praised the man. With a casual wave of his hand, the piece of black mecha shuddered, and a small, circular device was dislodged, landing neatly in Nero's outstretched palm.

Utilizing his hacking skills, Nero swiftly traced the source of the communication signal. After pinpointing it, he decisively destroyed the communicator. Then, Nero turned his attention back to the man and casually remarked, "Just so you know, I attacked you because you were about to interrupt my girlfriend's vacation."

Before the man could even formulate a response to such an absurd reason, his head was cleanly separated from his body.

Turning his gaze towards the headquarters' location, Nero muttered to himself, "Let's wrap this up quickly. I promised Yuanen Yehui a shopping trip, and Mom would give me an earful if she found out I didn't keep my promise to her future daughter-in-law." With that, two pairs of Demonic wings, adorned with intricate blue glowing patterns, unfurled from Nero's back. He gave his wings a little shake and took off in the direction of the headquarters.

-----

Unknown location,

Hidden among natural rock formations was a metal fortress guarded by purple mechas. One of the mechas suddenly exclaimed, "Hmm, what's that?" and pointed in a certain direction. The other mechas turned to see a streak of blue light rapidly approaching them at supersonic speed.

As the streak drew closer, it revealed a white-haired boy with demonic wings on his back. Their leader wasted no time and immediately shouted, "Attack!" All of the purple mechas aimed their launchers at Nero. They fired soul-guided shells his way, but before the shells could even reach him, numerous blue spectral swords intercepted them, destroying the shells mid-air. More spectral swords followed, closing in on the purple mechas.

The ground quaked as explosions erupted all around the fortress due to Nero's exploding spectral swords. Paying no heed to the purple mechas, Nero burst through the fortifications and made his way to the central control room of the fortress.

In the central room of the fortress, a meeting was in progress, led by a Red-Mecha Titled Douluo and attended by dozens of Black-Mecha users. The gathering was abruptly disrupted by ground tremors and the sounds of explosions. Before the leader could inquire about the disturbance, the ceiling of the room was shattered, and Nero descended from above.

The dust raised by the shattered ceiling gradually cleared, revealing Nero in all his glory. His blue demonic eyes blazed, and intricate vein-like patterns adorned his hands and feet. The two pairs of demonic wings on his back symbolized that his Devil Trigger was currently at 50% power.

" Yo," Nero greeted with a smirk on his face. The leader and other were stunned for a second by Nero's nonchalant attitude, as if he had just arrived at a party. The leader, being the first to regain his composure and sensing the pressure from Nero, quickly commanded everyone to attack. In response, Nero instantly created dozens of clones. These clones rapidly converged on the black mecha users, teleporting them out of the room one by one.

Nero acted swiftly, teleporting behind the leader in the Red mecha and delivering a powerful kick to his back. The leader quickly deployed an energy shield, but upon contact with Nero's kick, it disintegrated due to the Law of Separation. The Red mecha, which was in the shape of a minotaur, went flying towards the other side of the room. The leader deployed dozens of boosters in mid-air to stabilize himself and attack back, but Nero's reaction speed was unmatched. He teleported above the leader and delivered a heavy descending slash from Yamato.

The Red mecha was embedded in the ground, and the leader who was commanding the mecha felt increasingly shocked as the spirit core circle links began breaking down gradually due to an unknown force. If Ren were here, he would probably mock the leader for the sheer folly of fighting Nero, who possessed the Law of Separation, with a mecha. This was sheer stupidity, as the Law of Separation could easily break the connections between the different spirit circles in the mecha.

A golden light materialized beside the mecha, revealing a humanoid ape-like spirit soul. Nero smiled as he looked at the spirit soul. "Don't you think it's unfair to fight 2v1 against a Soul Emperor like me?" Nero's tone carried a hint of mockery, and the leader cursed him inwardly. It was quite obvious that Nero was taunting him, as no Soul Emperor could overpower a Red mecha.

The leader's thoughts were interrupted when his spirit soul was suddenly engulfed by a shadow and disappeared. He couldn't even connect to his spirit soul; it was as if their connection had been completely blocked.

"Shouldn't you worry about yourself?" Nero's taunting words snapped the leader back to reality. He suddenly felt the world spinning as Nero grabbed the mecha by its legs and started spinning it. A deafening "Boom" echoed through the room as Nero threw the mecha against the wall.

The mecha crashed through several walls before the leader managed to activate the thrusters and stop it.

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