Huo Yuhao opened his eyes, finding himself in a familiar room.
It was a unassuming bland room with barely any items besides the necessary furniture.
He didn't move and activated his Sharingan, his Spiritual Detection skill quickly enveloped a 100 diameter range around him. It scanned through every nook, cranny, and atom in the area.
After a few moments of checking his surroundings several times, he let out a sigh of relief.
He might be just a clone, but he also shared the main body's trait of being cautious. His destruction wouldn't damage the original in any way but it would slow down his mission of collecting information.
The place he was at was one of many shacks Huo Yuhao had made that were scattered around the perimeters in between the outer walls of Shrek City and just outside the territory of the Great Star Dou Forest.
He had secretly constructed them with his clones in case of a situation where either his relationship with Shrek Academy, Great Star Dou Forest, or even the entire world goes awry.
Many would say it was a stupid idea to build a safe house so close of the areas that would want to find him if things went south.
But as some has stated: "The most unlikely place is often the safest." Huo Yuhao believed in this principle deeply.
No one would expect the cautious and intelligent Heavenly Demon of Shrek Academy to hide right under their noses, mere steps away from the academy and the forest's edge.
Huo Yuhao, the clone, could've teleported into other safe houses he bought/build in Shrek City but he felt that there would be a trap waiting for him within the city.
He didn't want to suspect the elders and his friends from Shrek Academy, but that territory was firmly under Tang San's influence. A relentless demon god who would do almost anything within the bounds of divine laws to have Huo Yuhao killed.
Why within the divine laws? Also, with all the things he had done, why wasn't he held accountable by the other Gods? Especially by the God of Destruction, who constantly looked for faults in him and sought to have him punished.
Simple. Tang San was the pure, innocent, and kind God that he portrayed himself to be in front of others.
If he wanted the Gods to keep following him, he had to follow and impose the divine rules as the righteous leader he claimed to be.
It wasn't simply deception either.
Tang San was a new God in the eyes of immortal beings, exceptionally talented because of his two divine positions, thus earning him praise and awe. Yet he was heavily scrutinized by a majority of the Gods.
He was a newcomer, and suddenly, in just a short time, he had become the de facto leader of the Gods? Well, not technically, but he effectively was.
The previous God Kings; Evil and Kindness, also known as the strongest Gods of their realm, had given the control and key of the Divine Core to Tang San before they entered the cycle of reincarnation to enjoy their so-called "honeymoon."
That kind of power and action was like giving the keys of the ultimate destruction that could destroy the world to a newly elected leader who had not yet proven himself.
Such authority, handed to someone who had not earned the recognition or trust of a large majority of the Gods, was bound to create hidden undercurrents of tension in the Divine Realm.
And he wasn't being held accountable is because, well, he had given out well thought out excuses that worked well within the divine laws of the Gods.
Basically, he used loopholes!
The Heavenly Punishment? Tang San had given the excuse of wanting to test a potential successor to his position. He made it out that the person he was using the Heavenly Punishment on was particularly outstanding and told many that the successor/victim had survived, which was all according to his long plan of testing his successor.
Which many believed as some had used a similar test to their successors in the past as well.
Mobilizing his Apostle? He used the Demon Empress as an excuse, saying that as the Sea God he has a great duty to eliminate evil sea creatures that seek to upset the natural order of the mortal world. But as a God, he couldn't easily descend. So he sent out his Apostle to take care of the problem.
He completely left out any mention of Huo Yuhao on his report.
Sending out his clone? None of the Gods know about that.
As a clone that was ripped from the timestream of ten thousand years ago, the threads of karma and fate that connected it to the present day Tang San was simply non-existent.
As for Da Ming and Er Ming?
It wasn't as if Tang San was the only God who had divine vassals within the mortal realm. So long as they didn't display God-level power that could destroy the mortal world, no Gods would ever look into their activities.
Moreover, the Gods were preparing for a war that could lead to the extinction of all living beings in the universe! So minor disturbances in the lower realm were hardly worth their attention right now.
Huo Yuhao has the Dragon Kings' memories so he knows about the Divine Laws of the Gods and realized that Tang San had used loopholes.
However, as someone who knows the rules as well, how could he not take advantage of it as well and counterattack Tang San's plans? He might even start by contacting one of the other God Kings.
He didn't hope that they would stop Tang San, but at very least it would obstruct him for a while.
Unfortunately, Huo Yuhao didn't know about the true situation happening in the Divine Realm. If he did, he wouldn't think to try and contact any God there lest they found out about his bloodline that ties him to the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
"It'd be strange if the Sea God hasn't already brainwashed all of the elders, staff, and students in the academy." Huo Yuhao muttered with a dark expression and with a puff of white smoke, he transformed.
He now looked like an average twenty year old man dressed in black with spiky black hair, similar colored eyes, and an ordinary face that no would look twice at. He also had a simple backpack slung over one shoulder.
'Good. The soul power and spiritual power within my body is very little, even a Transcendent Titled Douluo wouldn't be able to see through me so easily.'
Shrek City, Northern Gate.
As an independent power that does not pay taxes to any empire, Shrek City didn't impose entrance fees but have strict entry inspections.
The guards, all soul masters that were washed out by Shrek Academy in the outer-courtyard, carefully scanned every person entering the city.
Though washed-out, they were still elites of Soul King cultivation and are somewhat stronger than their peers.
Huo Yuhao's clone maintained a relaxed posture as he approached the checkpoint, his ordinary face showing mild curiosity like any other traveler. The backpack on his back contained only some spare clothes and dried rations; nothing that would raise suspicion.
When it was his turn, a stern guard stepped forward and held up a soul tool that scans soul power below Soul Emperor.
[Soul Power: 23 Soul Grandmaster]
Huo Yuhao kept his expression neutral, allowing the inspection to pass without resistance.
After a few seconds, the guard nodded curtly.
"Purpose of visit?"
"Sightseeing. I'm from a small village in the Dou Ling Empire and I don't have much talent as a soul master. Heard Shrek City is the best place on the continent, so I wanted to take a look before I settle down somewhere."
The guard snorted lightly, "Yeah, I understand the feeling. Gotta enjoy your youth for a while before settling down."
"Alright then. Go in. Don't cause trouble."
Huo Yuhao purposely paused for a moment and hesitantly asked, "Hey, is it just me? Or did something happened?"
He had quickly noticed the increased security around the gate and the walls, a handful of people were heading into the city when typically there'd be hundreds of people coming in and out, and a part of the city was destroyed.
'Did the Holy Spirit Cult launched an invasion again?'
The guard raised an eyebrow. "Shit. You didn't hear on the way? The alliance between Shrek Academy and the soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest had fallen out. A few weeks ago the Pavilion Master, Xuan Zi - the Taotie Douluo, had suddenly attacked a student in the academy.
Turns out that student was a transformed, 100,000 thousand year old soul beast! He said it had evil intentions and he had to capture it. But before he could, Di Tian suddenly appeared and fought the Pavilion Master!
The result of their battle was both being severely injured. The Pavilion Master then announced that Shrek Academy would no longer work together with the soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest. And in retaliation of the previous events, a beast tide had occurred and destroyed a part of the city!"
The guard sighed deeply, he and others have been deeply stressed with the recent events that he couldn't help but gossip right beforehand a stranger.
He understood the shock on Huo Yuhao's face but it wasn't over.
He continued,
"And as if that wasn't weird enough, the Pavilion Master then announced that the Ten Heavenly Demons are found to have connections with Evil Soul Masters! Man, could you believe that? They were known to be the geniuses of the century, especially their captain who's called the Ice King."
"The academy has ordered the return of the Heavenly Demons for investigation. I don't know what else...oh! The academy had also reinstated the title of Shrek Seven Monsters once more. They're to fight in the upcoming grand tournament in a couple of years."
"Hey man, you're holding up the line!" A middle-aged man spoke up from behind Huo Yuhao, who looked utterly dumbfounded.
The guard scratched his cheek, slightly flustered, and said, "Ah, sorry about that! Welp, come on in kid. If you wanna know more, just ask around in a nearby cafe or a pub later at night."
Huo Yuhao nodded and hurriedly entered the city, his thoughts churning violently like a stormy sea.
Xuan Zi went insane and attacked Di Tian? Teh Great Star Dou Forest retaliated with a beast tide? The Ten Heavenly Demons connected to Evil Soul Masters? The academy ordering their return for investigation? And the sudden reinstatement of the Shrek Seven Monsters title?
A cold sneer almost broke through his ordinary face. 'Sea God.... you're really not wasting any time, are you?'
Labeling him and his comrades, the Ten Heavenly Demons, as having ties to Evil Soul Masters was the perfect excuse to turn the entire academy and the continent against them.
It was a clean, righteous move that no one would question on the surface.
And he did all that by controlling Xuan Zi.
'But how? And when?' Was the questions that entered the clone's head.
As he walked deeper into Shrek City's outer district, Huo Yuhao's mind raced. The main body needed to know about this development as soon as possible.
But he was still lacking more information, the entire narrative of everything happening in Shrek Academy. To Xuan Zi.
As the clone walked up the academy, he heard a weak and helpless voice that caused his eyes to widen.
"Help... Me... Chosen..."