"I went to collect whale glue. I heard it's useful for you humans, so I wanted to repay your kindness. I waited for you in that sea area for a long time but didn't see you. On my way back, I ran into the Sea Princess. She (Li Ya) was leading the merfolk to land as a sacrifice. I got curious and followed along."
Bai Xiuxiu sobbed.
Her previously spotless body now bore several wounds, obviously from being beaten by the evil soul masters for being disobedient...
Su Wen's mouth twitched.
He could even imagine the faces of Wan Hun and Zeng E when they caught her—probably grinning from ear to ear.
"This is a piece of ten-thousand-year-old whale glue." Bai Xiuxiu opened her mouth, spit out a chunk of black, charcoal-like material, and handed it to Su Wen, explaining in detail. "Don't let the color fool you—this is actually top quality..."
Su Wen shook his head, taking the whale glue.
She was a silly girl, but at least loyal.
That was a virtue.
If he'd known she was so honest, he'd have set a time and place to receive her gratitude.
"Li Ya is hurt too?" Su Wen turned to another beautiful mermaid.
Her chest was covered by two shells, her fish tail swaying as she eyed Su Wen warily.
Clearly, the Holy Spirit Church had destroyed her trust in humans.
"Not all humans are evil..." Su Wen hesitated, then explained.
To think, the mastermind behind the Holy Spirit Church ten thousand years later was a sea soul beast.
So, "evil" is about good and evil, not about whether you're human or soul beast.
"That's right, Li Ya! He's a good person! Really, trust me!" Bai Xiuxiu swam happily, the danger already forgotten.
"You're too naïve; humans will trick you," Li Ya remained wary.
Bai Xiuxiu: "..."
She sank underwater, blowing bubbles.
Might as well play dead.
"Aren't you the same?" Su Wen squatted, smiling.
"If you'd all been more cautious, you wouldn't have been lured ashore with your families, and your mother wouldn't be planning to send another batch of your people for experiments."
"No!" Li Ya bit her lip, golden tears streaming down her face.
The few people left at her side were all she had.
They had been dragged away by those two evil humans right in front of her, to who knows where, for who knows what...
She suffered in agony.
But could only watch helplessly. Against those two powerful humans, her strength was meaningless.
Her mother still had no idea of her plight, and yet...
"Sigh, you really do need to be on your guard. I hope after this, you'll all be more careful." Su Wen sighed. "This world isn't all sunshine and rainbows."
In the original novel, this girl was tormented terribly, especially mentally—close to madness...
"I can get you out." Su Wen smiled.
"But you have to pay me."
At this, Li Ya's eyes brightened for a moment, then dimmed again. This kind of opportunistic human would surely take advantage of her misfortune, but...
For her mother to stop making mistakes, for her siblings not to be sent into the abyss, she was willing to pay any price.
"Deal!"
Su Wen smiled, bent down, and in Li Ya's confusion, gently picked a few golden pearls from her cheek.
"There, that's enough."
"..."
Li Ya stared at Su Wen in disbelief.
"That's... enough?"
"Enough."
Su Wen grinned. "After all, I'm here to wipe out the Holy Spirit Church and save you two silly fish. It's just a bonus."
Li Ya glanced at Bai Xiuxiu, still blowing bubbles, her feelings complicated. Though Su Wen lumped her in with Bai Xiuxiu, she wasn't angry. In the face of death, being saved by this man, who cared about pride?
Su Wen only took a few mermaid tears from her—hardly anything of value in her eyes.
She was the daughter of the Sea Princess, ruler of this sea region. Su Wen could have taken all sorts of treasures, or, if he were cruel like those evil soul masters, used her to threaten her mother.
But he only took a few worthless tears...
She gave Su Wen a deep look.
As if to carve his face into her memory. The merfolk were all beautiful, but this human was different—not in appearance, but in temperament, something soul beasts couldn't match.
Like a child of destiny—something only humans had.
He, meanwhile, was studying the pearls.
He swallowed one.
With his current spiritual power, he'd hit a bottleneck. But this golden tear gently loosened it.
The sea was full of precious things.
The coral reefs he'd seen earlier were also treasures for boosting spiritual power. Truly, humans on the continent had explored too little of the ocean. It was only ten thousand years later, when soul tools penetrated the seas, that spiritual power standards rose.
"Stop blowing bubbles."
Su Wen patted Bai Xiuxiu's belly. "I'm going to deal with the Holy Spirit Church. You two stay put, don't run off and make trouble for me. This is land, not the deep sea—you can't use even a third of your strength."
"Oh, okay." Bai Xiuxiu flipped over.
"Well then, see you in a few minutes."
Su Wen smiled as he faded away.
"He saved you before?" Li Ya turned to Bai Xiuxiu.
"Yeah, he's a really good guy. He likes to mess with me, but he's kind-hearted. I'm not stupid—if he were an evil soul master, I wouldn't have approached him..." Bai Xiuxiu said seriously.
"Then why are you here?" Li Ya was skeptical.
She remembered Bai Xiuxiu had been excited to come see the so-called plan for human-soul beast coexistence. That was the only reason Li Ya brought her...
"Glug glug~"
Bai Xiuxiu rolled over, playing dead and blowing bubbles.
Li Ya: "..."
…
"Where have you been?"
"We're short one for cards, Worship Zhang."
Holy Spirit Church Dongyang City Branch.
As Zhang Lin walked in with a dark face, the black-robed guards on both sides hurriedly saluted. He ignored them, heading straight for the two men inside.
"No letters from headquarters?"
"Nope, if there were, we'd have told you." The fat old man smiled, eyes squinting kindly.
"Hurry up, we need a fourth."
"I can't play sea cards." Zhang Lin waved, his unease slowly fading. "You all play, don't mind me."
"Come on, this is a retirement paradise. Headquarters has almost forgotten us. What danger could there be... We even have to find idiots ourselves to boost our power. Of course, this time it's thanks to you, Worship Zhang, or we'd never have found their base in the deep sea."
"If you need a soul bone, we can..." The thin old man stroked his beard and smiled.
"No need," Zhang Lin shook his head. "I already have six soul bones, no need to trouble you."
"Worthy of an Worship."
"Someone like me only has four so far—who knows when I'll get all six."
"First you have to become an Worship."
"Sigh..."
Zhang Lin rolled his eyes at their banter. "Wu Yun is dead, but everyone's eyeing that seat. Before I came, I noticed your second brother was interested, too."
"You two were sent here to retire—still planning to fight over it?"
"If I get the last two soul bones and the twelfth main resentful spirit, my power will skyrocket. I might even advance in soul power. At that point, fighting for the Worship position isn't hopeless." The Ten-Thousand Soul Douluo snorted, eyes flashing cold.
"Tsk, nothing to do with me. You two fight if you want." Zhang Lin shook his head, finally relaxing.
With no letter from headquarters, maybe he was just being paranoid.
After all, that guy died under the Supreme Elder's Death Light. He saw it himself—no trace of life left.
"Actually, you're qualified to compete for Worship."
A voice spoke up from the side.
Zhang Lin stiffened.
"Who are you? New to the Holy Spirit Church? Don't you know this is the core of the Dongyang City sanctuary? Regular Holy Spirits aren't allowed in," the Ten-Thousand Soul Douluo frowned.
"Someone slacked off. Don't blame Worship Zhang," Abhorrence said with a smile, but his eyes showed curiosity.
To sneak in silently before three great powerhouses—this person had some real skill.
But showing off in front of three old monsters—clearly courting death...
"Come now, Elders."
Su Wen smiled, sitting casually in a chair.
"The headquarters is short not just one Worship, but two. The Second Elder, your biggest rival, died in a fire recently. With Li Ya the mermaid in your hands, your odds are pretty good, aren't they?"
"Another Worship dead?" The two elders were shocked.
Enforcers were at least Title Douluos above level 94, and as evil soul masters, were nearly untouchable on the continent. Few dared offend them. Now, they were dying one after another.
Who could it be?
Who dared hunt the Holy Spirit Church's strongest?
"Thank you for the information..."
As his men rushed in, the Ten-Thousand Soul Douluo waved them off, frowning. "So my second brother's dead too?"
"Yeah, burned alive. It was tragic... Oh, and the Fourth Elder, the Seven Elder—they all died in the fire." Su Wen sighed.
"Died by 'fire'?"
Ten-Thousand Soul and Abhorrence exchanged glances, finding Su Wen's words suspicious.
How could he know so much?
As if he'd seen their deaths firsthand.
They didn't notice, however, that with every name Su Wen mentioned, Zhang Lin's face grew whiter.
"Sigh, which Worship—who exactly died?" Abhorrence squinted, now on guard.
"And headquarters should have sent a letter..."
"You mean the messenger?" Su Wen sighed, tossing out a shriveled corpse.
"Here, I intercepted him."
"Who are you!!!"
The Ten-Thousand Soul Douluo's pupils shrank as he confirmed the corpse's identity—it was indeed the messenger from headquarters.
By now, even a fool knew this was trouble.
Especially from Zhang Lin's reaction.
"Worship Ye."
Zhang Lin slowly raised his head to look at Su Wen. "He was killed by him."
"What?!!"
"And the other elders—they were all killed by him." Zhang Lin said in despair.
"Because that day, the Supreme Elder led us to hunt Su Wen..."
"First the Second, Fourth, and Seventh Elders. Then Ye Cheng. And finally... me."
"What about the Eighth?" Ten-Thousand Soul Douluo demanded.
"Just a side job." Su Wen smiled.
"I told you, you're just sewer rats. You should stay in the dark, but you insist on coming out to disgust people. Well then—have you heard of Shrek's Inspection Team?"
"Inspection Team?"
The three were confused.
"Tsk tsk, how lame." Su Wen shook his head, disappointed for Shrek.
Look at you—thousands of years, and the Inspection Team has done nothing. The high-ups don't even know you exist, yet Xuan Zi once boasted about it to me.
All your achievements are from the inner court disciples.
Only good for low-level games.
As for the real powerhouses—ha, they've never even heard of you.
"But that's all right." Su Wen smiled. "From today, you'll know what the Inspection Team does."
"We specialize in exterminating evil soul masters like you."
"I just wonder..."
"In all these years, has the Inspection Team killed as many as I have, alone...?"
"BOOM!!!"
A terrifying aura erupted from Su Wen.
Even more terrifying—a massive body burst through the Holy Spirit Church's underground lair, golden armor blazing, blades tearing through all darkness.
Li Ya and Bai Xiuxiu stared, dumbfounded.