Douluo Dalu 3 | Divine Destruction

"What is her cultivation?" Muttering to himself in confusion, Zhuo Shi couldn't comprehend what was happening. It was well known that among his grand students, Mu Xi had the highest cultivation base but this took it far beyond that limit.

Her cultivation itself hadn't increased, remaining at a stagnant 67, and yet it had grown to rival Tang Shen's cultivation of 84. It wasn't a quantitative change but a qualitative one; her lesser soul power somehow increased in quality until it borderline surpassed Tang Shen's! No, it already had surpassed Tang Shen.

"Who knows?" Vaguely responding to the Scarlet Dragon, Yun Ming could tear the grin off his face even if he wanted to. Mu Xi was… interesting. Due to her age, he originally thought she wasn't quite as talented as her peers and he was correct. She was a genius but she was no Tang Wulin.

But that changed when she reached rank 40. Her fourth soul ring was monstrous, so much so that even Yun Ming found it hard to rationalize. It was a simple ability and was actually more of a passive ability than anything though it did require to be activated.

Depending on the time of day, or more accurately the strength of the sun, she would be strengthened dramatically. She was weakest at night and strongest during the height of the day, an impressive fourth ring to be sure.

Her only weakness was the rate at which she absorbed the energies of the sun. There were two conditions, cultivation and affinity to the sun. Her cultivation would grow over time but her affinity could only grow once or twice if she was lucky. So Yun Ming sent her to where her luck would be the highest.

She had been tasked to get a stone from the top of the Weeping Mountain but really, that was just an excuse. The stone wasn't worth much and was mostly just a collector's piece for those with enough money to spend on sending somebody up there and Yun Ming had plenty. The real purpose was to increase her affinity to the sun.

The bonus of her fourth ring went for moderately helpful to a massive boon that practical defined her entire fighting style. During the day, she was nearly unstoppable, and at night she was only an immensely talented mortal. 

'It looks like she figured that part out though.' Snorting at the cocky expression on her face, Yun Ming was jealous of this generation. His own was boring and bland with too many weaklings to give him a challenge. If he had been born in this generation…

No, that wasn't an illusion he was willing to consider. He may not be the strongest anymore but his presence was a pillar that allowed the very generation he envied to grow freely. It was a shame but he'd surrender that envy for their futures.

After all, that was his duty as an educator.

|DD|

If there was a weakness to Mu Xi's fourth ring ability, it was the fact that it was dependant on the power of the sun to exist. If the sun was blocked or if she was simply separated from it somehow she'd return to her normal state. For most her age that'd be fine but she wasn't content with just fine.

Luckily, it didn't take too long for her to figure out a solution. It probably only took her a few seconds really. After all, the answer was so easy to find that even Xie Xie noticed it immediately and that was saying something.

Snorting at her wandering thoughts, Mu Xi extended her free hand with her palm pointed toward the ground. In an instant, the ground dozens of meters around her sunk into the ground as gravity itself grew heavier.

"...!" Falling to the ground, Tang Shen had once again distorted the flow of time and approached her. From what she could tell, he could stop time for a split second which he used to sneak attack his opponent and that wasn't enough. Even if he could stop it for even longer than that, it wouldn't be enough.

Gravity didn't care about the presence of time and it went without saying that Mu Xi didn't either, she'd bash his skull either way. Looking down at him, Mu Xi's thoughts inevitably wandered back to blacksmithing. 

Any smith worth their hammer could resist this level of gravity and Tang Shen couldn't despite his imposing frame. It was probably because he was an agility type soul master but even then it was odd. Ignoring his own space time manipulation, Xie Xie could almost certainly break free from this level of weight. Was Xie Xie actually strong physically?

"It's heavy, isn't it?" Returning her attention to her opponent, Mu Xi returned her hammer to her soul tool and raised her hand high above. She had figured out a solution to her fourth ring's issue but she didn't need to use it on him. For Tang Shen, a massive meteor of pure flames was more than enough

Glaring at her with one last burst of determination his expression fell at her smug expression that clearly indicated she wasn't bluffing. Tang Shen was almost certainly a member of the team battle after this so he couldn't allow himself to be too injured. That unwillingness to be damaged 

ensured that he could never win.

"You win. Thank you for your guidance." Sighing at his own failure, Tang Shen wore a mixture of disappointment and respect in his eyes as he bowed at her. Though he may have lost and she was less than kind to him, he still sincerely admired her.

"You've got a troublesome martial soul. If I didn't have experience with something similar, I would have lost." Shrugging her shoulders Mu Xi was only half sincere. She would have had a harder time winning and victory wouldn't be guaranteed but she was still confident she would win if it came down to it. 

"The Jade Shadow, huh? I'd like to ask him for pointers as well…" Muttering to himself with his hand on his chin, Tang Shen bowed one last time and walked off the stage deep in thought. She had only known him for a few minutes but Mu Xi was absolutely sure that Tang Shen took everything too seriously.

As a smith, she liked it!

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Hey there, hope you liked the chapter.

I don't usually like asking for opinions since I mostly write this story for my own satisfaction and the visions of other people don't fit with mine but I'm a little torn here. It's a bit of a spoiler but I never planned for Mu Xi to have a partner since she's so devoted to smithing. However, her interactions with Tang Shen made me reconsider a bit. Should I include romance with her? It's not necessarily with Tang Shen but just in general.

If you want more chapters, head to patre*on.com/TrapOverlord for up to 25 extra chapters. It isn't required but it'd be much appreciated.