I've also recently started a new translation, please check it out and show your support! Douluo: Seven Kill Shock the World
----------------------
"…What you said… is it all true?" Leng Yulai's voice was dry and hoarse, filled with unprecedented weakness and uncertainty.
She stared intently at Gu La's eyes beneath the mask, trying to detect even the slightest trace of deception.
The molten intensity in Gu La's gaze had receded, returning to its previous calm, like a deep, still pool.
He gave a slight nod—a simple gesture, yet one that carried an undeniable certainty. "Every word is true. Yun Ming's heart has always belonged solely to Ya Li. You and Leng Yaozhu were merely deluding yourselves."
The brutal words struck home, causing Leng Yulai's body to tremble imperceptibly.
She lowered her eyelids, her long purple lashes casting shadows over her pale face.
The immense shock left her mind in chaos. Decades of hatred, built like a sandcastle, began to crumble in the face of absolute power and harsh truth. But its foundations ran too deep to be completely eradicated, leaving only endless emptiness—and a faint, unacknowledged yearning for the truth.
Silence stretched across the deathly quiet valley entrance. After a long while, as fear gradually receded in the stillness, Leng Yulai raised her head with difficulty, her voice tinged with tentative inquiry: "You… you're not going to kill me?"
"Kill you?" Gu La's voice came through the mask, flat and emotionless. "It holds no meaning for me. Your life or death depends on your own choice."
Leng Yulai felt a slight sense of relief. The fact that he possessed the power to crush her effortlessly yet refrained from doing so spoke volumes.
She took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil within her and struggling to steady herself, though she still appeared unsteady on her feet.
"I… I need to confirm." Leng Yulai's voice carried a stubborn resolve, as if clutching at the last lifeline. "Yun Ming… he wouldn't lie to me. If he personally confirms what you've said…" She trailed off, but the confusion and wavering in her eyes were unmistakable.
Gu La seemed to have anticipated this reaction, simply watching her in silence.
Leng Yulai bit her lower lip, her purple eyes filled with complex emotions as she looked at Gu La. "You… went to such lengths to tell me all this, luring me out, even exposing… such power. What do you want from me?"
She didn't believe his actions stemmed purely from "goodwill."
Gu La slowly shook his head, his voice clear and icy. "For now, I don't need anything from you. Just follow two conditions."
He raised one finger. "First, regarding everything you've seen and heard tonight—about my identity and power—you are not to disclose it to anyone. Not even your sister, Leng Yaozhu. If she learns even a fraction of it…"
Gu La's voice suddenly turned frigid, an invisible, soul-freezing killing intent locking onto Leng Yulai, plunging her into an icy abyss. Her barely suppressed injuries threatened to flare up again! "The consequences… are beyond what you can bear."
Leng Yulai's face paled, and she instinctively nodded. In the face of overwhelming power, secrecy was the most basic requirement.
Gu La raised a second finger, his tone even colder. "Second, regarding any future plans of the Holy Spirit Sect—especially major operations targeting Shrek Academy or the Spirit Pagoda—you are not to leak any information to Yun Ming or the Shrek side in any form."
Leng Yulai's head snapped up, her eyes flashing with suspicion. "Why? If the Holy Spirit Sect…"
"There is no 'why.'" Gu La cut her off, his tone brooking no argument. He had no interest in wasting time on someone as foolish as her. If not for the fact that she was Leng Yaozhu's beloved younger sister, whom she had worried about for years, he wouldn't have cared whether she lived or died.
"This is an order, not a negotiation. The Holy Spirit Sect's actions follow their own trajectory. Premature interference would only alert them and ruin my plans. If you agree, we may have the possibility of cooperation. If you refuse…"
He didn't finish the sentence, but the bone-chilling gaze and the faint resurgence of divine authority emanating from him conveyed a threat far more potent than words.
Leng Yulai forced herself to meet his gaze, clinging to the last shred of dignity. She harbored no doubt that if she dared utter a single word of refusal, she would meet the same fate as Blood Bone Douluo—reduced to dust in this Burial Soul Valley the very next moment.
"…I agree." Leng Yulai ground out the three words through clenched teeth. She had no other choice. Under the weight of incomprehensible power and irresistible pressure, submission was her only option.
Deep down, she couldn't help but feel that this mysterious figure's schemes and plans far surpassed the struggles between the Holy Spirit Sect and the Spirit Pagoda—both in depth and terror.
Cooperating for now might be her only chance at survival, and perhaps… her only opportunity to uncover the truth and even break free from the shackles of the Holy Spirit Sect.
Even her half-mad thoughts were forced to think rationally under the weight of divine authority.
"Good." The oppressive aura around Gu La vanished abruptly. Beneath his black robes, the surface of his skin once again bore the imprints of red molten lava patterns. "Remember your promise. Go now, and verify the truth for yourself. When the time comes, I will find you."
With that, Gu La's figure faded and disappeared into the shadows, as if he had never been there.
Only Leng Yulai remained, standing on the cold black glass-like ground, feeling the turmoil of her injuries within and the even greater storm raging in her heart.
She cast a deep, complicated glance at the spot where Gu La had vanished.
Then, summoning her remaining soul power, she enveloped herself in a thin layer of dark purple light, carefully concealing her malevolent aura. Like a wounded night owl, she staggered into the darkness, stealthily making her way toward Shrek City.
That night, Shrek City.
Leng Yulai hid in the shadows atop an abandoned building, gazing from afar at the colossal academy bathed in brilliant lights—the symbol of the continent's sacred ground for soul masters.
She dared not approach. Shrek City was guarded by Yun Ming and protected by powerful detection soul-guided arrays. Her dark aura, originating from the Holy Spirit Sect, would be detected the moment she let her guard down.
She expended tremendous effort, even depleting some of her essence, to suppress her potent evil soul master aura to its lowest level, disguising herself as an injured ordinary Title Douluo with a cold-tinged soul attribute. But this disguise was fragile and would crumble instantly before true experts.
"Yun Ming…" Leng Yulai whispered the name, her purple eyes swirling with hatred, resentment, and a flicker of something buried for decades—expectation and vulnerability, unnoticed even by herself.
She believed in Yun Ming. She believed in that man, radiant like the sun and steadfast like a mountain, who would not deceive her in such matters.
But if even he confirmed what the mysterious person had said… wouldn't her dark, fallen life become a complete joke?
Yet, Leng Yulai needed an answer.
After observing Shrek Academy's defenses, she devised a covert method to contact Yun Ming—one that wouldn't be detected by anyone, especially not the Spirit Pagoda.
A few days later, a meticulously planned "accident" occurred.
At the soul-guided train station in Shrek City, a "female soul master" dressed plainly, wearing a veil, and exuding a weak aura "accidentally" bumped into a young boy in the crowded flow of people. The ancient wooden toy in the boy's hand fell to the ground, cracking slightly.
The boy burst into tears. The "female soul master" quickly apologized and handed him a more intricate-looking soul-guided trinket as compensation, soothing the child. Hidden within the trinket was an extremely faint, unique spiritual imprint that only Yun Ming could recognize.
The boy's crying drew the attention of patrolling Shrek enforcers. After questioning and inspecting the compensation item, the small toy accompanied the boy back to his home within Shrek Academy. At the right moment, the faint spiritual imprint was triggered.
------------------------------------------------------
40+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)