Lost?
Tang Hao, watching from the stands, was dumbfounded. In his past life, after the Soul Master Tournament, he had always kept track of Tang San's performance in these matches. In Tang Hao's understanding, any battle involving Tang San was destined to be a victory.
And precisely because of that belief from his previous life, Tang Hao had been so assured, so bold, in letting Tang San grow on his own.
But now—that ingrained conviction had shattered!
He looked at Tang San, lying among the ruins, then at the other man who had fused spirits with Xiao Wu. Haozi clenched his fists, his mind racing on what to do next!
The match had ended, but both teams were gravely injured. Some members had even damaged their very foundations—and that was not something a healing-type soul master could simply restore. The foundation was the root of everything!
Both Shrek and Spirit Hall's teams had soul masters who had suffered such root damage.
Surveying the chaotic scene before her, Bibi Dong frowned slightly. This was not the outcome she had hoped for. She was just about to summon the healing-type soul masters when—
Huo Qiqiang stepped forward and addressed her:
"Your Holiness, whether it is the Spirit Hall team or the Shrek team, both have given us an extraordinary battle. Yet both sides have paid a heavy price. While this does not prevent them from becoming strong, it does hinder their future potential. I happen to have a way to resolve this issue."
"In that case, I must trouble you, Sect Master Huo," Bibi Dong said.
Huo Qiqiang nodded, then flashed to the center of the battlefield ruins. On both sides of him lay the battered members of the Spirit Hall and Shrek teams.
He activated his Martial Soul True Body. Crimson light erupted around him, vertical beams of red splitting open, forming a deep, mysterious eye!
Yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, red, red, red—
Nine soul rings circled him. The sixth ring shone brightly!
"Destiny Source Eye—Sixth Soul Skill: Time Reversal!"
An unseen power enveloped the fourteen team members. Their conditions visibly improved. When the soul skill ended—
Tian Yue stood up first, stunned. Her injuries were gone. Not only that—her soul power had been restored, as if she had returned to the moment just minutes earlier when she was lashing Tang San with her whip!
Qing Ming, Guang Ning, Gui Xuan from the Spirit Hall team, and Yu Tianheng, Er Ming, Dai Mubai from Shrek also rose to their feet.
There was, however, a difference: Dai Mubai, Er Ming, Yu Tianheng, Ma Hongjun—all still bore their wounds!
"Thank you, Sect Master Huo," both teams said as soon as they regained consciousness.
The last to rise was Tang San, his dark skin covered in horrifying whip marks—the most severely injured of all.
He gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand. Though his drained soul power had been restored, the lash marks Tian Yue had inflicted still scarred his body.
Huo Qiqiang explained:
"I am not a traditional healing-type soul master. My sixth soul skill restores your states to what they were a few minutes earlier. Whatever you were then, you are now. Thus, Shrek members—you will still need a healing-type soul master to tend to your wounds."
Everyone understood at last. Minutes earlier, Spirit Hall's team had the upper hand. Shrek had been battered all over. If Xiao Wu hadn't broken through restrictions and triggered the six-person Martial Soul Fusion, Spirit Hall would have already won!
Having spoken, Huo Qiqiang returned to his place.
Then Ning Fengzhi suddenly stood and said,
"Your Holiness, Sect Master Huo, allow me to contribute. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda possesses restorative abilities."
He activated his Martial Soul True Body.
"Seven Treasures Shine with Glazed Light!"
A seven-tiered glazed pagoda appeared above the Pope's Palace, radiating seven-colored healing brilliance. It bathed Shrek's team—and, slyly, Ning Fengzhi also directed part of it toward the Spirit Hall team. Under its rainbow glow, both teams' wounds gradually mended.
With the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's help, the fighters recovered to the state they had before entering the arena.
Looking at the Spirit Hall team, then at Shrek, Ning Fengzhi said:
"You are all the future of the soul master world. In each of you, I see the hope of tomorrow. I look forward to the day you shine brightly across the continent."
With that, he too returned to his seat.
Both teams were restored—but feelings diverged. The Spirit Hall team, victorious, ignored Shrek and left to celebrate and prepare for the next match.
Shrek, however, left with heavy hearts. They had to face a cruel fact: they had lost. Heads lowered, they withdrew from the arena.
In the crowd, Tang Hao was shaken. During Huo Qiqiang's display, Tang Hao had probed the man's true strength.
An Ultimate Douluo!
This life was full of unexpected twists—Tang Hao knew that—but he had not expected the changes to be so drastic.
Damn it! In the last life, was there a Body Sect? Yes—but they remained hidden.
Why weren't they staying hidden this time? Why reveal themselves??
Tang Hao seethed. Yet, calming down, he realized: a Body Sect Ultimate Douluo wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
As long as it didn't affect godhood, didn't interfere with Tang San's divine trial—then no matter how strong a mortal was, in the eyes of gods, they were still ants. Once Tang San became a god, the entire Douluo Continent—who could ascend, who could not—would be decided by the Tang family!
Thus, the Body Sect could be used as a piece in the game against Spirit Hall, even against Spirit Hall's twin gods.
Just like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, that great "pathetic victim"—they too could be used.
Thinking of them, Tang Hao remembered the past life. When Bibi Dong killed Tang San, he and the Sword and Bone Douluos had rushed to save him. Those two fools sacrificed their lives to give Tang San a chance at revival. And what then? Tang San lived, became the exalted God King of the Realm—while those two truly died. But so what? To die for a god—that was their honor.
The same could be done with the Body Sect in the future. Send them to the front lines, use them as cannon fodder. That way, the Clear Sky Sect, Tang Sect, and other Tang family core powers would suffer fewer losses. Meanwhile, Spirit Hall and Body Sect would weaken each other—paving the way for Tang Hao to enforce Tang family order after the war.
For now, though, the Body Sect was not the key. The real key was Xiao Wu—she was the linchpin of the Shura God inheritance, the cornerstone of the Tang family's future domination of the Douluo Continent!
Inside Shrek Academy's residence.
Shrek had been defeated, morale was at rock bottom. Yu Xiaogang wanted to scold Xiao Wu, but when he saw the furious stares of Yu Tianheng, Dai Mubai, and Er Ming, he wilted instantly, shrank back, and retreated into his little room to sulk, drawing circles in frustration.
Flender shook his head at Yu Xiaogang's pathetic display and turned to face the Shrek Seven Devils.
"Teacher Flender, we still lost," Ma Hongjun said with his head hanging low.
"Little monsters, even though you lost, your strength still makes me proud. In any past Spirit Master Tournament, you would've been undisputed champions. But unfortunately, this time your opponents were too strong." Flender lifted his head and encouraged them: "Victory and defeat are both common in battle. Don't dwell on this loss. You are still young and can compete again next time. Remember, you are the best, the pride of Shrek Academy. Our first battle reaching the top three—this alone will be recorded in history!"
Top three—though it wasn't the championship he had hoped for, Flender was satisfied with the result. With this achievement, Shrek could better swindle—ahem, attract more talented students to enroll!
"Dean…" The students were indeed encouraged by Flender's words, but only to a degree.
What Flender didn't know was that this battle carried reasons that left no room for failure. Tang San wanted to reclaim Xiao Wu's mother's spirit bone, to strengthen himself, and to win Xiao Wu's heart. The other men of Shrek wanted the same—recover Xiao Wu's mother's relic to curry her favor. And Xiao Wu herself simply wanted her mother's keepsake back.
But the loss meant they had lost all chance to reclaim those spirit bones.
"Alright, go rest. Don't take this loss to heart. Tomorrow we'll watch the final match, then head home," Flender said.
Once Flender and the teachers left, the Shrek students looked at one another.
"You little wretch, were you too weak to even eat today? If you hadn't failed us at the critical moment, would we have lost this match?" Yu Tianheng jabbed a finger at Tang San's nose and cursed.
"What? We lost and you still want to blame me?" Tang San snapped angrily.
He truly felt wronged. On stage, he had endured a hundred lashes from Tianyue, watched helplessly as his beloved Xiao Wu performed a martial soul fusion with those scoundrels, and at the climax, when they had no soul power left, he swallowed his humiliation and supplied them with his own. Yet after losing, they had the gall to blame him for being incompetent?
"You're so weak, your soul power is so meager—if it's not your fault, then whose is it?" Yu Tianheng barked. "If your level was even a little higher, like Ma Hongjun or Oscar, things wouldn't have turned out this way."
Er Ming added, "Tang San, if you hadn't dragged us down, we would have won Xiao Wu's mother's relic long ago. It's all your fault. You useless trash—what right do you have to be Xiao Wu's giegie?"
Everyone piled on Tang San. But unlike before, Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and Oscar didn't defend him. They just watched coldly.
After all, in their previous lifetime, they had spent a hundred years together. They already knew Tang San's true nature.
From the moment they fused martial souls with Xiao Wu, they knew their relationship with Tang San was broken beyond repair. Since everything was out in the open, there was no point pretending anymore.
Besides, in that match, both sides had been just a breath away from victory. They too believed that if Tang San had been stronger, if he had supplied a bit more soul power, they could've finished off the Spirit Hall team.
Thus, all the blame for failure landed squarely on this pathetic little fool.
"Enough, don't scold Ah San giegie anymore!" Xiao Wu stepped up to defend Tang San.
Tang San's eyes reddened with gratitude as he looked at her—only for her next words to stab his heart like a blade.
"Although Ah San giegie really is incompetent, failure is everyone's responsibility. How can we blame it all on one person?"
Her words pierced Tang San's chest like thorns, draining all strength from him.
Yu Tianheng smiled faintly, stepped forward, patted Tang San's shoulder, and said, "Xiao Wu is right. You are incompetent. Incompetent Ah San. But failure is everyone's fault. I shouldn't have blamed you alone. Just… behave yourself."
With that, Yu Tianheng and the others returned to their rooms, leaving only Tang San and Tai Long standing in place.
Suddenly, Tang San raised his head, eyes bloodshot, panting furiously as he roared:
"You all betrayed me. You deserve to die. Every man who dares touch Xiao Wu deserves to die. DIE, DIE, DIE—!"
Driven mad with rage, Tang San beat his chest with long ape-like arms, howling like a baboon.
"Young Master, do you not still have me?" Tai Long's voice floated from behind.
Tang San froze. He hadn't realized someone was still standing behind him. His mind went blank, his body frozen mid-motion with arms swinging and fists pounding his chest.
Turning stiffly, he saw Tai Long. He'd nearly forgotten this loyal dog of a servant even existed.
In that moment, he remembered his earlier doubts during the match. Fury surged. He lashed out with a punch, striking Tai Long's unprepared face, sending him crashing into a wall before sliding down.
Charging forward, Tang San seized Tai Long by the throat, his dark face inches away, eyes blazing red, breath ragged:
"Tai Long, you wretched servant! Tell me the truth—do you also have a martial soul fusion with Xiao Wu? I want the truth!"
"Ugh… Y-young Master… Xiao Wu is your beloved. My Strength Clan serves you as our lord. In my heart, Xiao Wu is like the Young Mistress, even like my own mother. How would I dare harbor thoughts of her?" Tai Long gasped.
Tang San slapped him hard several times while still gripping his throat.
"Enough! I'm sick of lies. Prove you haven't touched her!"
"Young… Young Master… you know… the Strength Clan suffered calamity. I lost an arm… and I was castrated. Even if I had the audacity to covet the Young Mistress… I wouldn't have the ability…"
Hearing this explanation, Tang San's grip loosened slightly. His gaze dropped toward Tai Long's crotch—yes, he was indeed a eunuch. Instantly, the inferiority Tang San felt toward Yu Tianheng and the others shifted, and he found comfort in Tai Long's crippled state.
Pulling Tai Long up, Tang San said coldly, without a trace of apology:
"I wronged you, Tai Long."
Even though Tang San realized he might have misunderstood Tai Long, he still refused to give that dog of a lackey a kind face. Pointing toward the door, he said coldly:
"Since this has nothing to do with you, then get out. I want to be alone."
"Yes, Young Master."
Tai Long quickly stood up and walked toward the door. Out of Tang San's sight, a look of resentment flashed across his face.
Of course Tang San hadn't misunderstood him. He and Xiao Wu did indeed have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. Unfortunately, he didn't have the ability to force that brat to wear more green hats.
The Shrek Three Monsters had already been exposed. Xiao Wu couldn't stay by Tang San's side without someone acting as a nail to keep watch, so Tai Long endured humiliation and stayed close.