"It seems Shrek Academy came at the right time this time..."
The Heita puppet stood by the window, gazing across the lake toward the Sea God Pavilion. The instrument in her mind also showed abnormalities—because in that direction, she seemed to sense an unnatural force.
"Just as expected, the plane barrier around Shrek Academy has shown signs of weakening. The power of the Jianmu Tree really is terrifying!"
Although this Heita wasn't the main body, she could still feel the influence brought by the Jianmu Tree—it had already taken root deep within Douluo Star.
Ever since three years ago, when Yao Lan transformed Na'er into his avatar, Na'er had immediately taken action. She had initially intended to search for Gu Yue and Di Tian, the soul beasts—but unexpectedly, they had already left the Star Dou Forest.
Without knowing their whereabouts, Na'er could only proceed with her original plan: she took the seed of the Jianmu Tree and went to Shrek Academy's rival institution—
The Sun and Moon Royal Soul Master Academy!
This academy had an extremely poor relationship with Shrek—evident from the original series: Shrek students were welcomed everywhere except at the Sun and Moon Royal Academy, where they were met with hostility.
So, for Na'er, this place was the most suitable location.
If you, Tang San, can support Shrek, then I, Na'er, can support the Sun and Moon. You have the Golden Tree? Well, I have the Jianmu Tree!
To Yao Lan and his avatars, Shrek Academy was the enemy—no exceptions.
After all, Yao Lan was a transmigrator who arrived in the Douluo Continent. And given Tang San's personality, the logic was always the same—
You dared to touch the backyard of the Tang Family? You must be seeking death!
Everyone who ever opposed Tang San on the Douluo Continent either became part of the Tang Family's faction or was completely wiped out, with no chances given.
Even allies of Tang San had to constantly worry about being stabbed in the back. One careless move, and you could accidentally offend him and be branded with the mark of death.
So when Yao Lan arrived in this world, he really only had two choices: become a vassal of the Tang Family, or completely eliminate their influence from this world… There was really no decision to make. After all, Yao Lan had already been disgusted too many times by Tang San and the Shrek group.
Now possessing the power of a Star God, even if he wasn't yet in his complete form, Yao Lan knew he had far surpassed the divine kings of the Douluo world—he wasn't someone they could compare with. He was determined to oppose the Tang Family to the end.
But for Douluo Continent, this spelled a major upheaval!
And upheaval… requires bloodshed!
If it isn't thorough, it will leave a curse for the future.
So for the past three years, aside from using his avatars to build power, Yao Lan had also made up his mind—the Tang Family and all their forces across Douluo must be purged!
Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect topped that list. Yao Lan sent one of Heita's avatars to Shrek Academy, embedding her alongside Liu Ying and Tang Wulin to groom them for infiltration into the Tang Sect later.
That took care of those two forces. But there remained two bigger issues: the Plane's Master and the Core of Life.
In simpler terms—Tang San's parents.
They stood firmly on Tang San's side, and Yao Lan had to find a way to take them down.
As for the Plane's Master, Yao Lan hadn't yet pinpointed their location. But the Core of Life? That was easy—wasn't it just Shrek Academy's Golden Tree?
So when the Jianmu Tree was planted at the Sun and Moon Royal Soul Master Academy three years ago, the battle for the plane had already begun—just hidden from the eyes of the world.
In terms of rank, the Jianmu Tree was without doubt above the Golden Tree—even in its weakened form. So in the struggle for Douluo's life core, the Jianmu Tree had held the upper hand all along. After three years, it had fully suppressed the Golden Tree.
As long as the Jianmu Tree succeeded, Douluo Star would be elevated to a higher-tier plane.
Sensing a threat to its life, the Golden Tree—or rather, Ah Yin inside it—even without awakening, would instinctively absorb surrounding planar energy to resist the Jianmu Tree.
However, this resistance created a vulnerability—making Shrek Academy's Golden Tree the weakest spot in the planar barrier, which allowed the Abyssal Saint Sovereign to break through.
This was another reason why the Heita puppet came to Shrek Academy—to prevent a massive invasion from the Abyss.
Even though she held no goodwill toward this place—and had even thought of destroying it herself—if the Abyss used this opportunity to break in and damage all the unrelated flowers and plants outside Shrek, that would be a waste, wouldn't it?
Shrek Academy deserved no sympathy, but the rest of the world did.
"And judging by the time, it should be about right to create the next avatar…"
The Jianmu Tree had absorbed immense energy and simultaneously raised Douluo's plane level slightly. So Yao Lan planned to take this opportunity to create a new avatar.
After Heita, Na'er, Huahuo, and Liu Ying, a new figure appeared before Yao Lan—a woman with long waist-length purple hair, dressed in an extravagant outfit of interwoven black and purple.
Her outfit was quite revealing. Tattoo-like flame patterns ran down her legs, and one could glimpse black holes in the depths of her eyes. But what drew the most attention was—
The long blade tightly gripped in her hand!
"So this is what they call 'Void'..."
The beautiful woman looked blankly at her palm, then slowly closed her eyes—seemingly feeling the immense power surging within her body.
In the next second, the space around her lost all color.
Nine translucent gray soul rings appeared around her, and faintly, a dark purple-black vortex could be seen… though it quickly faded.
"Soul rings… martial soul… they don't mean much."
With that transformation, her identity became clear—her name was:
Raiden Mei: Guardian of the Forgotten River.
Or simply—
Huang Quan (Yellow Springs).
The Huang Quan avatar was without question the strongest avatar Yao Lan had created so far—not even Heita, who appeared first, nor Na'er fused with part of the Silver Dragon King, could match her current level.
With the Void Star God IX as her martial soul, fused with Douluo's plane power, and empowered endlessly by Yao Lan, she had become an existence on par with divine kings, capable of slaughtering everything on Douluo Star with ease!
One swing from Huang Quan's blade, and Douluo Star would cease to exist!
But that wasn't her purpose.
Because the affairs of Douluo were already being handled well by Yao Lan's other avatars. Even creating a stronger one wouldn't help much.
So Huang Quan's mission lay beyond Douluo—
It was about the universe beyond, the endless sea of stars!
"Tang San… I'm coming for you!"