Holy Spirit Church.
Main Headquarters.
Deep underground, through winding and twisting passages whose depth was unknown, a massive underground palace stood silently. Within this palace, countless people in black robes were moving items recently transported from the Sun Moon Empire, along with some sacrificial offerings—considered as "rent" paid to the true sovereign of this forest.
At the highest seat.
Ye Xishui wore an indifferent expression as she quietly overlooked a few trembling elders below, as well as dozens of altar masters from the various regions of the Sun and Moon—these were the backbone of the Holy Spirit Church. Yet at this moment, they were all crouched at her feet like dogs, awaiting her command.
If she had had so many followers and could control the life and death of so many people in her youth, she would have been so delighted she wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
But after being defiled by that old ghost Zhongli, everything changed. She became cynical, obsessed with mad cultivation. But unfortunately... the one she most wanted revenge on died too early. Now, even with all her power, she could easily crush that beast, but it was all meaningless.
"Continue."
She spoke again.
"The Second Elder died last night, in a sanctuary within Mingdu. The Saintess was at his side at the time, but her whereabouts are unknown since that night. All 123 followers in that sanctuary were slaughtered."
"The Fourth Elder, Seventh Elder, and Eighth Elder were burned to ashes last night in a small alley. According to the severely injured Fourth Elder who barely escaped, the assailant possessed the ultimate fire, even greater than Ma Xiaotao's during the grand tournament."
"Even together, they barely managed to resist. The opponent's strength was simply absurd..."
"As for the sanctuaries, all thirteen in Mingdu were eradicated overnight; 723 of our brothers were executed..."
Upon hearing this, all the Holy Spirits trembled in fear.
It was terrifying.
If only the sanctuaries were destroyed, they might still have confidence to find the culprit. But even four elders, when confronted, ended up with three dead and one badly injured.
Who had the Holy Spirit Church offended?!!
"Shrek?" Long Xiaoyao mused.
Ye Xishui pursed her lips and shook her head. "No, if Shrek Academy was taking revenge, they wouldn't be targeting Nangong Wan and the others. Besides, the sequence of events..."
She took a deep breath, a name coming to her mind, but she forcefully suppressed the thought, comforting herself.
He's already dead! You saw him turn to ashes with your own eyes!
"Besides... as far as I know, Shrek Academy doesn't have such a powerful Super Douluo, let alone one with the ultimate fire."
"If it's not Shrek, could it be those from the Sun Moon Empire are plotting against us?" Long Xiaoyao raised an eyebrow.
"No! That's not it!" Ye Xishui's tone suddenly turned anxious. Her dark purple pupils scanned the surroundings. "Who's missing?!!"
"Reporting to the Supreme Elder, the Third Worship hasn't arrived today," a servant replied.
"Why didn't you say so earlier?!!!" Ye Xishui exploded in rage, grabbing the servant by the neck. The latter paled in terror. "You yourself said, the worships need not all be present, and those absent need not be reported..."
But in the next instant, accompanied by a shrill wail, that servant's soul was forcibly ripped from his body and clutched in Ye Xishui's hand.
"Damn it."
Ye Xishui's face was cold as she kneaded the soul in her palm like dough.
Yet her body was trembling slightly.
That youth was simply too terrifying. At such a young age, she had been forced to use all her trump cards just to "kill" him. That night, she had finally slept well for once, but now... it seemed he had crawled back from hell.
If Su Wen, with his talent, hadn't died, what would happen?
It would be a calamity for the Holy Spirit Church.
Just like right now...
"There's actually one more who isn't here," Long Xiaoyao finally spoke after a long silence. "Zhang Lin, whom you sent to the Dongyang City branch sanctuary, still hasn't sent word back."
"Send a letter!" Ye Xishui's voice turned sharp. "Tell the Eighth Worship to return to headquarters immediately upon receiving it! No mistakes allowed!"
"Yes!"
"Xiaoyao, come with me to Mingdu." Ye Xishui finally said gently.
"All right."
…
Mingdu.
Southern City.
A roar echoed in the sky.
A gigantic six-winged Dark Angel phantom was forcibly torn apart by a beast that seemed to have come from ancient times. Its wings were ripped off, its head devoured in one bite, and the dark energy rampaged within the beast's body, only to be forcefully absorbed and gradually dissipate...
"Looks like your luck is truly terrible." Su Wen stood with his hands behind his back, calmly observing the battered middle-aged man across from him.
Just like the phantom, the man's six black wings had been violently torn off, his back still stained with dark red blood and wounds.
Once the Third Worship of the Holy Spirit Church, now he was like a stray dog, barely hanging on.
"You only used one soul beast..."
What made him even more desperate was that Su Wen had only used one pet beast from start to finish to force him into such a desperate situation.
This youth was clearly weak—only at the Soul Sage level—but the hundred-meter-tall ferocious beast behind him was imposing, leaving the man unable to move.
"As a man approaches death, his words become kind." The Fallen Angel, Lu Yang, panted heavily, covering a deep wound on his chest. "Since I'm about to die, may I ask one question? How did you survive that day?"
"Want to know?" Su Wen smiled.
"Yes." Lu Yang nodded.
"Because I can transfer myself to another space. That's the special trait of my martial soul." Su Wen opened his palm, revealing a red spirit ball spinning silently.
"So that's how it is..." A hint of joy flashed in Lu Yang's eyes.
"But there's a drawback," Su Wen said with some dissatisfaction. "For example, if I enter that space here, no matter when I reappear, it will always be at this spot... If you all had been more patient that day, you'd have caught me for sure."
"I see." Lu Yang suppressed his smile. Since that's the case, there's no need for you to dirty your hands—I'll end myself.
As he finished speaking, his six wings instantly regenerated, but now each feathered wing seemed to have an eyeball glaring at Su Wen.
The wings scattered in all directions.
At the same time, Lu Yang's figure slowly faded away, as if he really had committed suicide.
But Su Wen only smiled.
He opened his palm.
A blazing fire surged out, dyeing the entire sky in flames. Countless black wings were burned to ash, but one suddenly cried out, "Su Wen! Spare me! I'll do anything for you... ahhh!!!"
"Actually, if you didn't know my secret, you might not have needed to die..."
"Su Wen! You won't die well! The Supreme Elder and the Grand Worship will find you sooner or later and torture your soul forever..."
"Sigh..." Su Wen boredly picked his ear.
"Just kidding. You'd have to die even if you didn't know."
He watched that last tuft of feathers burn to nothing, and hundreds of small light dots rose from the North City—these were the Sun Moon Empire's royal soul engineers, maintaining the city's security. He shook his head.
His figure flickered, as if time and space had frozen.
He reappeared, pausing in front of hundreds of well-equipped Sun Moon Empire soul engineer soldiers. Their expressions were anxious or bewildered, but their actions were disciplined—a testament to the strength of this unit.
What surprised Su Wen even more:
All these soldiers were equipped with soul-engineered armor, the cutting edge of soul tool technology. Su Wen stroked his chin, analyzing them. A six-ring soul master with mecha could reach Soul Sage level power. With milk bottles and heavy firepower, they'd be top among traditional Soul Sages.
Two hundred Soul Sages.
Even in the whole Sun Moon Empire, such a soul engineer army was rare—but terrifying.
For the original continent, this was a devastating force.
No wonder they conquered so quickly.
The Sun Moon Empire's centuries of soul tool technological accumulation—and the mass training of mid- and high-level soul engineers, even if these people were burning through their potential, before their lifespan ended, they'd make a formidable army.
Abandoning traditional soul master concepts, by stacking soul power and squeezing every drop of potential from soul engineers, maybe they'd lag in tournaments, but on the battlefield... they were disaster-level forces.
Their only match would be battle armor.
Sigh, now, with the Heaven Forging method, it was possible to make battle armor, but only for high-end fighters. Without a way to forge one- or two-word battle armor, battle armor was just a castle in the sky—out of reach for most.
"Maybe... I should take a look ten thousand years in the future?"
Su Wen shook his head.
He wondered when Big Eye's next time anchor would refresh. In ten thousand years, everyone would be super powerful, with extreme Douluos everywhere, unrivaled combat power...
He looked southward.
"Next... who was it, Zhang something?"
"Hurry up and follow!"
Su Wen's figure faded away.
The soldier whose mecha he had dismantled looked bewildered, as if he'd been completely seen through—but couldn't tell why.
"Zhang Qiang, what the hell are you waiting for!"
The captain's angry shout came through the comms, and only then did he hurriedly catch up.
…
Outside Dongyang City.
Su Wen looked at the black-robed man he had already crushed, as well as the letter in his hand, and grinned.
"Looks like they've noticed me."
"But that's fine. So your name is Zhang Lin..."
He strolled into the city, sat down at a roast snow pig shop, ordered a plate, and calmly began asking the waiter for information.
Though the Holy Spirit Church was arrogant in the Sun Moon Empire, the sanctuaries were still somewhat secretive—not easy to find. He should have kept the messenger alive...
"H-how would we know that?" The waiter turned pale, put down the cutlery and snow pig meat, and left without looking back.
As the waiter left, several black-robed figures in the restaurant cast glances at Su Wen.
After all, in the Sun Moon Empire, the Holy Spirit Church was notorious. For someone to openly inquire about them naturally drew their attention.
"..."
Seeing Su Wen finish his snow pig and prepare to leave—
The leader of the black-robed men signaled to the others to follow.
"Hey, he definitely came in here!" One black-robed man looked at the empty alley, frowning.
"Discovered? Interesting." The leader smiled, "Looks like he knows asking about us will get him killed. Since he's slipped away, let's—"
"Killed?"
"Slipped away?"
A mocking voice sounded behind the five of them.
"Do you think Zhang Lin knows you said that?"
"Who are you?!! You recognize our Worship?!" The leader immediately realized something was wrong. To dare address an Worship like that, this person must be of equal status.
"Su Wen—you recognize the name?"
"Su Wen..."
They all shook their heads in confusion.
"Looks like news from Mingdu hasn't reached you yet..." Su Wen sighed, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"But that's fine. Soon, you'll know."
…
"Hahaha, those guys are so easy to fool—so naïve. In the Sun Moon Empire, even three-year-olds know that dealing with the Holy Spirit Church is a losing proposition."
"Enough talk, that best-talented mermaid is mine. My Ten-Thousand Soul Banner still lacks a main resentful spirit. With all twelve, I might even challenge for the Worship seat," scoffed the thin old man.
"Of course." The fat old man nodded. "But that eighty-thousand-year Demon Soul Great White Shark is mine. If it drops a soul bone, it might suit me."
"Deal!"
They exchanged grins.
"Who knows where Worship Zhang is."
"He can never sit still—always going to the seaside to catch sea soul beasts to roast. He loves octopus. Meanwhile, we should think of ways to swindle more benefits from those guys." The Ten-Thousand Soul Douluo grinned.
"Also, I need to prepare materials for refining. I'll be in closed-door cultivation for a while. Remind the underlings not to bother me."
"Of course, after all these years." The Abhorrence Douluo waved his hand. "I wonder how things are in Mingdu. I heard Worship Zhang was sent here to avoid someone..."
"Could there have been a conflict with the Sun Moon Empire? Mingdu is our headquarters, with two Ultimate Douluos suppressing it. What could go wrong? Probably just minor disputes."
"Keep drinking!"
"Cheers!"
…
Under Dongyang City.
In a vast underground chamber, countless sea soul beasts were imprisoned. Most looked sick and spiritless, caged by iron bars, their hopes of escape cut off.
Su Wen stared wide-eyed at a nearly twenty-meter-long Great White Shark.
Completely dumbfounded.
No way—why was this girl here?!!
"Wait—Bai Xiuxiu?!"
"What are you doing here?!"
…