I started by submitting to the Douluo Continent, and the nation helped me become a god.

Chapter 76 Hu Liena extends an invitation to you

As soon as I stepped out of the Papal Palace through those heavy doors that seemed to separate life and death, a wave of fresh air rushed in.

Xiao Wu's body was still trembling slightly, a kind of stress response ingrained in her bones.

Li Fulan didn't speak, but simply reached out and embraced her slender waist with remarkable ease. His thumb, through the thin fabric, gently massaged the taut muscles of her back. His body heat flowed through his palm, like a silent soothing balm, gradually softening the stiff body of the girl in his arms.

"Master..." Xiao Wu raised her head, her eyes red-rimmed, her voice still filled with lingering fear, like a young rabbit that had just escaped from the edge of a trap.

"It's alright." Li Fulan rubbed her head, a relaxed smile playing on her lips. "That woman may be fierce, but as long as you pay enough, she's just a more expensive business partner."

Before Xiao Wu could even stop crying and start laughing, a seductive figure drifted over with a fragrant breeze.

Hu Liena leaned against the white marble railing, her slender fingers twirling a strand of golden hair at her temple. Her alluring eyes, seemingly capable of speaking, swept over the two men before finally settling on Li Fulan. Her tone was full of curiosity: "Tsk, you're out so quickly? Her Majesty didn't detain you? What did she tell you?"

"It's nothing serious." Li Fulan shrugged, her tone as casual as if she were talking about what to have for dinner. "It's just that I need to help the Spirit Hall train a few alchemists."

"Alchemy?"

Hu Liena paused in her hair-rolling motion, nearly tearing off a strand of her blonde hair. She stared wide-eyed at Li Fulan, looking him up and down as if she were meeting him for the first time.

"You can refine pills? Don't be ridiculous." She couldn't help but laugh out loud, pointing at Li Fulan's handsome and excessively youthful face. "In my impression, aren't all alchemists old men with white beards, reeking of medicinal dregs, and walking with a shaky gait? You? Refine pills? Are you sure you're not going to blow up the furnace?"

"Prejudice, that's prejudice." Li Fulan wasn't annoyed, merely raising an eyebrow, a hint of mockery flashing in her deep black eyes. "Who says an alchemist can't be a handsome, elegant man? What, don't you think so?"

Hu Liena was momentarily speechless at his self-righteous narcissism, then covered her mouth and chuckled, her eyes sparkling: "Fine, fine, you're handsome, so you're right. Since our 'Great Alchemist Li' is so free, how about he do me the honor of accompanying me to the Star Dou Great Forest?"

"Starry Sky Forest?" Li Fulan tilted her head slightly.

"Hmm." Hu Liena stretched, revealing her perfect curves. "My soul power has reached a bottleneck, and I need to hunt for my fourth soul ring. In addition... I also want to see if someone whom His Majesty values ​​is as eloquent in actual combat as they are in words."

Although she spoke in a teasing tone, her eyes revealed an undeniable force and invitation.

Li Fulan glanced down at Xiao Wu and saw a clear longing for her hometown flash in the girl's eyes when she heard the words "Star Dou Great Forest." She nodded and said, "Alright, I was just thinking of taking Xiao Wu there to relax. Let's go together."

……

Outside Wuhun City, on the official road.

As the three of them walked out of the city gate, Hu Liena was about to rent a carriage when Li Fulan waved her hand.

"Why sit in that slow, bouncing wooden box?"

A mysterious smile curved Li Fulan's lips as she gently stroked the seemingly ancient storage ring on her right hand with her left.

"I'll show you a big treasure."

As soul power was injected, a faint blue light flashed across the surface of the storage ring. Immediately afterwards, with a muffled "boom," a massive black beast appeared out of thin air on the wide official road.

It was a steel creation that was completely incomprehensible in this era.

The entire vehicle was jet black, with sharp, angular lines, resembling a lurking beast. The enormous tires were more than half a person's height, and the rims were engraved with some strange patterns that gleamed with a cold metallic sheen in the sunlight.

The front of the car is sharp and edgy, with the front grille resembling the gaping maw of a ferocious beast, while the headlights on both sides look like two deep, dark eyes, emitting a chilling light.

This is a heavily modified off-road vehicle, which is like a dimensional attack in the Douluo Continent where horse-drawn carriages are commonplace.

"What...what the hell is this?!"

Hu Liena's previously elegant expression completely crumbled. Her eyes widened, her red lips parted slightly, and she circled the "steel monster" without any regard for her image. She tentatively reached out and poked the hard body with her finger. The cold touch from her fingertip told her that this was not an illusion.

"Made of iron? This huge lump of iron... how do you move it? Are we supposed to push it with our soul power?" Hu Liena turned her head, looking at Li Fulan as if she were a madwoman. "Li Fulan, you don't mean to make us sit in an iron box and then have you pull the cart, do you?"

Xiao Wu was equally bewildered. She circled the SUV several times, then knocked on the door, producing a dull metallic sound. She had never seen anything like it before; even after living in the Star Dou Great Forest for a hundred thousand years, she had never encountered a soul beast that looked like this thing.

Li Fulan didn't explain; she simply stepped forward and opened the car door.

"Get in the car."

Hu Liena glanced at him suspiciously, but out of curiosity about the unknown, she lifted her skirt and gracefully sat in the passenger seat. Xiao Wu obediently climbed into the back seat, curiously touching and looking around, showing great interest in the buttons and instrument panel inside the car.

Li Fulan sat in the driver's seat and gently pressed the start button.

"boom--!"

The engine roared with a deep, powerful sound, and the entire carriage trembled violently as if a giant beast had been awakened. The sound echoed across the empty road, startling the birds by the roadside into flight, and causing several horses pulling the carriage to neigh in fright, almost throwing the driver off.

"ah--!"

Hu Liena gasped, instinctively grabbing the carriage door handle, her alluring eyes wide with shock. She could clearly feel the vibrations coming from under the seat, a force unmatched by any other carriage.

"This...this thing can move?! Without horses? Without soul power to propel it?"

"Of course." Li Fulan shifted gears and lightly pressed the accelerator. "Hold on tight."

The SUV smoothly drove off the official road, its wheels crunching over the bluestone surface. At first, Li Fulan intentionally slowed down, allowing the two passengers to adjust to this new mode of transportation.

But soon, he began to speed up.

With a deep press of the accelerator, the SUV shot forward like an arrow. The trees on both sides rushed past, becoming blurry green shadows. The wind whistled in her ears, and the extreme speed made Hu Liena's breathing quicken.

"Too fast...too fast!"

She gripped the handrail tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force, her beautiful face filled with a mixture of shock and excitement. In all her years, the fastest mode of transportation she had ever ridden was the Spirit Hall's special soul-guided flying vehicle, but that vehicle was so stable, it felt like floating in the clouds. How could it compare to the thrill of speeding close to the ground like this?

Xiao Wu, sitting in the back seat, adapted quickly. She pressed her face against the window, watching the scenery rushing past, her eyes sparkling with childlike joy. The journeys that usually took several days seemed to be traversed in the blink of an eye under the wheels of this steel monster.

"Master, what is this thing called?"

"A car." Li Fulan held the steering wheel with one hand and rested the other on the window frame, his posture casual and composed. "A kind of... transportation invented in a very far place."

"A very far place?" Hu Liena finally recovered from her shock, turning her head to look at Li Fulan's profile. "How far? Poseidon Island? Or even further?"

"Much farther than Poseidon Island." Li Fulan's lips curled slightly, offering no further explanation. "Far beyond your imagination."

Hu Liena didn't press the matter. She was a smart woman and knew that some secrets couldn't be answered simply by asking. But the look in her eyes as she gazed at Li Fulan grew increasingly complex.

A young man from a commoner background carries one million gold soul coins, possesses strange treasures that even she, with her vast knowledge, has never heard of, and can even be personally summoned by His Holiness the Pope... Just how many secrets does this man still hold?

The off-road vehicle sped along the official road, leaving a long trail of dust in its wake. Pedestrians and carriages along the way scrambled to make way, watching in horror as the roaring steel behemoth roared past, leaving behind a sea of ​​dumbfounded faces.

What would normally take three days to complete was covered in just half a day by this off-road vehicle.