Watching Shangguan Wei'er's figure recede until she vanished from sight, Lu Jingming fell into deep thought.
Accepting the Common Alliance would undoubtedly strengthen Haiyuan City overall.
At the same time, it would certainly draw more fire from the Sun–Moon Empire. But to Lu Jingming, that wasn't much to worry about.
"Can we really trust her?"
Gu Yue frowned slightly, full of doubt.
She found it hard to believe that the leader of a major force would so willingly abandon her hard-won power based on some baseless suspicions and intuition, and turn to a foreign power instead.
There had to be deeper reasons.
"She's definitely hiding something. But that she wants to submit to us is real. And her fear of Xu Tiannan isn't an act."
Lu Jingming's lips curved in a meaningful smile.
Working with the Lord Ravager was tantamount to digging your own grave. Those who walked the Path of Destruction were all madmen, filled with thoughts of annihilation—be it self-destruction or destroying others, it was commonplace to them.
In their eyes, civilization was a cancer that had to be excised.
Thus, Xu Tiannan was merely a tool to be used.
Shangguan Wei'er's behavior now confirmed that.
Those great nobles had likely been influenced by the ideology of destruction long ago—so much so they'd become completely different people.
A mere Xu Tiannan—no matter how brilliant and how much a born schemer—was like a firefly before the bright moon if set against the Lord Ravager. Even just a memory fragment of that being left him without any advantage.
Across endless years, the Lord Ravager had wiped out civilizations beyond counting and witnessed innumerable heroes.
Ambitious human warlords like Xu Tiannan, with such obvious weaknesses—the Lord Ravager had seen far too many.
Without exception, they all ended up as soldiers in the antimatter legion, paving the way for the cause of annihilation. Xu Tiannan would be no different.
Perhaps, right now, Xu Tiannan still believed he held the initiative, that everything was under his control.
But in truth, reality might be the opposite of what he imagined.
Shangguan Wei'er was fundamentally different from Jing Hongchen and the other elites of the Sun–Moon Empire.
She had clawed her way up from the bottom, mingled in noble circles for long years, and, since the Common Alliance dealt largely with the underclass, she was more sensitive to shifts in society's dark side.
Changes Jing Hongchen might not yet have noticed, Shangguan Wei'er had already keenly detected.
This was why she was so desperate to flee—even if it meant abandoning decades of hard-won gains in Mingdu.
What's more, the Common Alliance's decades of accumulation—money and resources—were all firmly in Shangguan Wei'er's hands.
Before leaving, she could even give the nobles a vicious parting blow.
So Lu Jingming could understand her choice.
Staying in Mingdu truly was like waiting for death.
After all, Shangguan Wei'er was a Titled Douluo. If she were thrown into the antimatter crucible, she would produce an excellent virtual trooper.
"Celenova—now that's a troublesome headache."
Lu Jingming narrowed his eyes. Despite his words, a faint, hard-to-detect excitement flashed in them. His fingertips tapped the armrest in a steady rhythm.
"Is that Celenova really so terrifying? We have an absolute advantage in power—do we need to worry that much?"
Gu Yue was confused. She really didn't understand why Lu Jingming held Celenova in such regard.
From what she knew, the forces Lu Jingming had arranged, both overt and covert, were terrifying—enough to sweep the entire Douluo Continent.
Openly, there was Jingliu—by Gu Yue's estimation, already at god-tier combat power.
In the shadows was Dan Heng, a dragon like her, but not the kind of dragon she knew—his strength was on par with Jingliu.
Add to that many other carefully laid arrangements, and Gu Yue couldn't see why Lu Jingming needed to go to such lengths.
With power like this, who could stand against them?
Moreover, with Lu Jingming's help, her true body had recovered most of its strength and could now leave the Star Dou Forest.
She could merge with her true body at any time and act as the Silver Dragon King herself.
With such strength, it was like a dragon landing on a chessboard—Gu Yue could not imagine how they could lose.
"You're not wrong. In terms of outcome, it's unlikely we'll lose. But trouble is inevitable. Think of Celenova as a super-enhanced Robin—one extremely specialized for combat."
Lu Jingming tried to use Robin as an analogy to help Gu Yue grasp how fearsome Celenova was.
Gu Yue fell silent at that.
Robin's terrifying support abilities were something even she had to admit were powerful.
Even the Emerald Swan Bi Ji—ranked fourth among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts—couldn't compare in support.
Robin also possessed the power of Harmonization: understanding, supporting, coordinating—these were just surface manifestations.
Deeper still, Harmonization encompassed assimilation, fusion, and collectivization.
And Celenova was a super-enhanced version of Robin.
The strange changes Shangguan Wei'er had noticed among the Sun–Moon Empire's nobles were precisely the result of Celenova's ideology assimilating them.
They had begun to understand destruction, support destruction, coordinate with destruction; given time, they would throw themselves into destruction and become part of it—only a matter of time.
Perhaps Celenova had only just begun to act, so those people were currently only at the stages of understanding and supporting destruction.
But as time passed, the next steps would inevitably be coordination and total commitment.
Robin wouldn't forcibly assimilate others. She would, by sincerity of idea and songs that resonated with people, win recognition.
Celenova, however, was not so courteous. She would impose her doctrine by any means necessary.
Thus, the changes among the Sun–Moon Empire's upper circles did not surprise Lu Jingming.
"Things are getting more interesting. To stand against an existence like the Lord Ravager—that's a rare experience."
Lu Jingming clenched his left hand. In a flash, lightning flared, and a ring of thunder-god light flickered like a phantom behind him. For an instant, the radiance seemed to tear space itself, carrying an indescribable, majestic power.
Gu Yue's pupils shrank sharply, disbelief filling her eyes.
Lu Jingming hadn't even reached Titled Douluo, and yet he was already condensing a nascent godhood?
That shattered a long-standing rule on the Douluo Continent.
By convention, without reaching level 99 soul power, one had no qualification to bear a godhood—not even a nascent one.
Lu Jingming could clearly feel a faint thread of power slowly emanating from his Stigmata. Its nature was entirely different from soul power.
Though minuscule in quantity—just a wisp—its essence was incomparably mighty, far surpassing soul power.
Take soul skills, for example—using this thread of thunder-god power versus soul power produced worlds-apart effects.
Lu Jingming's soul power was rising at a breakneck pace, marching toward Titled Douluo. At this rate, he might break through before twenty, setting an unprecedented legend.
Yet compared to his advances elsewhere, even his rapid soul power growth seemed almost insignificant.
Both his thunder and life godhoods had formed nascent cores and could even manifest god-rings.
At the same time, these nascent godhoods could assist him in the Stigmata Space, drawing in external energy to condense divine power.
Though the divine power was feeble for now, divine power was still divine power—its potential and might were nothing soul power could match.
Moreover, his Black Abyss White Flower martial soul was undergoing metamorphosis, beginning to evolve toward a companion artifact.
After a few more evolutions, it would completely leave the martial soul system and become a true artifact.
The Douluo soul master system was not without merits—at least after becoming a god, tool-type martial souls had a chance to transform into companion artifacts.
Unlike other deities who either had to forge artifacts themselves or inherit another's.
A companion artifact grew in tandem with its master and had far greater growth potential than other artifacts.
In its master's hands, a companion artifact could even break limits and unleash unimaginable power.
As time passed, Lu Jingming's pace only quickened.
His conditions were simply unparalleled.
He had seized Huo Yuhao's role as child of destiny; the luck of Douluo Star, coveted by Sea God Tang San, lay before him to draw upon at will.
Among soul beasts, Snow Empress and Gu Yue were closely tied to him; the fortunes of the Extreme North and the Star Dou Forest were his to tap at any time—even if he hadn't done so yet.
Beyond luck, he had no shortage of cultivation resources.
Herta had extended her reach into the God Realm and even the universe at large, supplying him continuously.
He also had the Key of Infinity to acquire rare resources from parallel worlds.
On the path of cultivation, he had a host of top-tier mentors to guide him.
Whether Jingliu, Herta, Raiden Makoto, or the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata—all could offer precious guidance and aid.
His conditions were, in a word, perfect.
He had been quietly building his foundation; now, with the groundwork poised to erupt, it was time to reap the harvest—and that moment was near.
…
"What exactly are you thinking?"
Near the front gate, Shangguan Wei'er was suddenly blocked.
She looked up to see an elegant, beautiful blonde girl lounging lazily against a tree, with a pink-haired Servant standing beside her.
Shangguan Wei'er started slightly, then smiled sincerely. "It seems sending you to St. Freya Academy was the wisest decision I ever made."
"That's true. I'm also grateful I could join the academy!"
Ye Guyi nodded lightly.
Without St. Freya Academy, she would never have seen such a marvelous world. She might have kept hiding—or been discovered by the Holy Spirit Cult's evil soul masters and died miserably.
For that, she was truly grateful to Shangguan Wei'er.
Not only had the other woman taken her in, she had planned a better future for her—an utmost kindness.
Because of that, she cared deeply about Shangguan Wei'er.
After all, she knew how the Common Alliance was the fruit of decades of Shangguan Wei'er's toil—hardly something one could abandon lightly.
"I can't help it. If I don't leave now, I might not be able to at all!"
Shangguan Wei'er gave a helpless, bitter smile. Then she slowly removed a cosmetic contact lens from her left eye. At once, a red pupil, radiating destructive light, was exposed to Ye Guyi and Lemuen.
"You—how?"
Ye Guyi instinctively took a step back. Under the gaze of that red pupil, brimming with the desire for annihilation, she shuddered, disbelief written across her face.
Lemuen's smile vanished instantly; her expression grew dark.
That pure aura of destruction made one's heart quake—as if all things under heaven would be mercilessly obliterated before it.
It was an indiscriminate will to destroy—determined to annihilate all things, the universe itself, and even its own self.
"Do you remember my martial soul?" Shangguan Wei'er put the contact back in, a bitter smile on her face.
"The Seven-Emotions Celestial Zither!"
Ye Guyi answered gravely.
"That's right—the Seven-Emotions Celestial Zither. Though it isn't a pure spiritual-type martial soul, I do command spiritual-type soul skills, so my spiritual power is stronger than that of the average Titled Douluo."
A trace of relief crossed Shangguan Wei'er's face. Had her martial soul and soul skills not had these traits, she might have already fully embraced the ideology of destruction like those great nobles.
"I'm just an ordinary Titled Douluo—and the leader of the Common Alliance. Do you think I'd be the one they'd overlook?"
Her voice dripped with bitterness.
She didn't have a powerful backer like Jing Hongchen, nor vast forces of her own, so that terrifying existence hadn't ignored her.
She was merely a Titled Douluo who had built a vast network in Mingdu through social grace—but that network wasn't enough to protect her.
After all, even the nobles behind her could scarcely protect themselves.
So in truth, she had already been targeted by that terrifying being, who had quietly made a move—and she had no power to resist, only to be forced to take the hit.
"I used spiritual soul skills to forcibly partition my soul and mind. Even so, that will of destruction still gnaws at me without pause, trying to replace me and annihilate me completely!"