I've also recently started a new translation, please check it out and show your support! Douluo: Seven Kill Shock the World
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Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
The academy's upper echelons soon issued their decision regarding the punishment for Tang Wulin and his companions.
First, Wu Zhangkong, as the team leader, was stripped of all honorary titles due to a personal decision-making error that led to a reputational crisis for the academy. For the next five years, he would be ineligible for any title evaluations and would instead be responsible for overseeing external missions for the outer court.
As for Tang Wulin and the other five students, considering they had done their best, they were merely punished by being demoted to work-study students. All free benefits were revoked, and they were required to pay tuition fees each semester.
Everything seemed to have returned to normalcy, with Tang Wulin once again becoming a work-study student.
However, none of this concerned Gu La. Having restored Shrek Academy's millennia-old honor, he was officially on vacation, enjoying a rare period of freedom.
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At the entrance of the Burial Soul Valley in the Ming Dou Mountain Range.
It was midnight, and all was silent.
The valley's entrance was strewn with jagged rocks resembling the fangs of a monstrous beast. The dense death qi and chilling earth energy had accumulated here for years, forming a natural miasma that obscured the stars and moon. Even the chirping of insects and birds had vanished, leaving only the mournful wailing of the wind as it passed through the crevices of the stones.
A dark purple figure appeared noiselessly atop a massive black boulder at the valley's entrance, blending seamlessly into the night like a ghost.
Leng Yulai's purple hair cascaded down her back, and her dark purple eyes gleamed eerily in the darkness, like two bottomless, icy pools.
Her powerful spiritual force had already spread out like an invisible web, covering several miles around. No movement, no matter how slight, could escape her perception. She waited, waiting for the "old acquaintance" who had summoned her here.
Time ticked by, second by second. Just as Leng Yulai's patience was about to run out and a cold killing intent began to gather between her brows, the thick miasma ahead suddenly parted as if pushed aside by an invisible hand. A figure slowly emerged from within.
The newcomer stood tall, dressed in an unassuming black outfit. His face was partially concealed by a dark golden mask that covered the upper half, leaving only the lower half visible—his features sharp and cold. It was Gu La.
"You?"
Leng Yulai's voice cracked like shattering ice, laced with undisguised skepticism and a trace of anger at being toyed with.
Her powerful spiritual force instantly locked onto Gu La, attempting to pierce through the mask and reveal his true face. But her efforts met with resistance, as if swallowed by a vast, unfathomable power.
"Playing tricks? Was that Phoenix True Fire also your doing? Who are you? What's your connection to that person?!"
Before her words even faded, a flash of purple light erupted in Leng Yulai's eyes!
"Dark Phoenix Feather!"
She gave Gu La no chance to respond. A person of her caliber trusted only herself. Her figure vanished from its original position like a ghost.
In the next instant, five terrifying phoenix feathers, wreathed in viscous, purplish-black flames, tore through space and materialized around Gu La's vital points! Each emitted a piercing shriek and carried a devouring darkness.
This strike, fueled by the wrath of a Level 97 Super Douluo, was blindingly fast and powerful enough to instantly tear apart an ordinary Title Douluo!
But in the face of this sudden fatal attack, Gu La's gaze behind the mask remained calm and unruffled. He had been prepared for this. Someone as stubborn and obsessive as Leng Yulai would not easily calm down to listen to the truth.
"Shield!"
At that moment, a seemingly fragile yet transparent barrier, rippling with strange spatial waves, enveloped Gu La's entire body.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The five terrifying Dark Phoenix Feathers slammed into the barrier. A force capable of splitting mountains erupted, and the purplish-black flames burned and devoured everything in their path.
Yet, the seemingly delicate transparent barrier merely rippled violently, like a resilient water surface struck by a boulder. It absorbed and neutralized all the destructive force and corrosive dark flames without so much as a crack appearing.
The absolute defense below the godly level—utterly trustworthy!
"Instant Movement!" Gu La silently commanded.
The moment the power of the Dark Phoenix Domain was completely absorbed by the "Shield," Gu La's figure blurred like ripples in water and vanished from his original position.
Leng Yulai's pupils contracted. Her spiritual force had clearly locked onto him, but the instant her attack missed, his presence disappeared entirely—not due to speed, but… a spatial leap?!
The next moment, Gu La's figure reappeared like a ghost atop another massive boulder a hundred meters behind Leng Yulai. His breathing was steady, and not even the hem of his clothes had been disturbed.
"Angered and humiliated are we, Leng Yulai?"
Gu La's voice came through the mask, carrying an omniscient chill. "Afraid that decades of resentment might turn out to be nothing more than a laughable misunderstanding?"
"Silence!"
Leng Yulai spun around sharply, her purple hair whipping wildly. The dark purple soul power around her surged like boiling magma, forcing the surrounding miasma to retreat.
Her eyes burned with deep-seated resentment. "What do you know?! That wretch Leng Yaozhu! She stole everything that should have been mine! Yun Ming's love! All the glory! She's nothing but a hypocritical liar!"
"Stole?"
Gu La's voice carried a hint of mockery. "In the heart of the Atlas Douluo, there has always been only the belief and responsibility of protecting Shrek Academy. He loved only the Holy Spirit Douluo, never once claiming to love you. His feelings toward your sister Leng Yaozhu—and you—never surpassed the bonds of camaraderie."
He stared into Leng Yulai's beautiful yet hate-twisted eyes, his words striking like a heavy hammer:
"Back then, Leng Yaozhu did muster the courage to confess her feelings to Pavilion Master Yun Ming, but she was gently rejected, as he was devoted solely to Ya Li."
"Pavilion Master Yun Ming appreciated her sincerity but could not reciprocate. As she grieved in silence, he entrusted her with these words: 'If anything happens to me, please take care of Yulai on my behalf. Do not let her stray because of me.'"
"Leng Yaozhu and you were once deeply bonded as sisters, but the competition within the Leng family drove you apart, culminating in your rift over Yun Ming. She has always felt guilt and concern for you, her younger sister. She hoped you would let go of your obsession and return to the righteous path!"
"Everything she did wasn't to show off or suppress you—it was to protect you. But you? You only saw the betrayal and stolen love you imagined, blinded by hatred, plunging headfirst into the quagmire of the Holy Spirit Sect! Whom do you think you're avenging? You're only punishing yourself and those who truly care for you!"
"Lies! All lies!"
Leng Yulai screamed like a cornered beast, her voice piercing and shrill!
Gu La's words cut like red-hot knives, stabbing mercilessly into the corners of her heart she least wanted to confront, the truths she most feared to uncover.
The pillar of her decades-long beliefs, the wellspring of her hatred upon which she relied, was now being ruthlessly torn apart and questioned by him.
"Yun Ming must have loved me once! It's all her fault for stealing his attention! Entrusting Yun Ming to care for me? Hahaha! Ridiculous! Absurd!"
Leng Yulai appeared deranged, her purplish-black flames erupting skyward, casting an eerie glow over half the heavens!
"Where's your proof?! Show me proof! Otherwise, I'll extract your soul and refine your essence today, making you regret ever being born!"
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