Huo Yuhao wasted no time and released his third martial soul, the Holy Magic Angel.
A pair of gray-gold wings suddenly unfolded behind him, rippling with purple-gold light. Along with three rings of varying colors, the sight was so extraordinary it hardly looked like a martial soul at all.
Huo Yuhao's physical appearance shifted as well; his hair rapidly lengthened and turned gray-white, cascading past his waist. His heterochromatic eyes—one purple and one gold—became cold and sharp.
In the Holy Magic Angel state, Huo Yuhao possessed a strange, heterodox charm—both sacred and fallen, an indescribable paradox.
"A third martial soul with the Ultimate Light and Darkness attributes? You really are a monster..."
As an ultimate attribute soul beast herself, Long Qiu'er had seen powerful beings—Di Tian, for instance, possessed the pure Ultimate Darkness—but those with more than two ultimate attributes were rare, aside from herself and the Silver Dragon King, Gu Yuena.
"No, no... ultimately, this is power bestowed upon me by my teacher, not something I was born with."
"What I wanted to say was..." Huo Yuhao hesitated before asking tentatively, "My uncle and my teacher said that I am the Child of Destiny of the Douluo Continent. I don't know if I'm worthy of that title, but Miss Qiu'er is a divine beast who wields the power of destiny. Your very existence must be inextricably linked to the Douluo plane itself."
"You certainly know a lot..." Long Qiu'er chuckled softly. "Since you know you are the Child of Destiny, I don't need to explain further. I am similar to you—we are both existences born of circumstance, favored by fate."
Huo Yuhao raised a hand and opened it before him. Purple-black and pale-gold halos rotated like a yin-yang fish; though opposites, they were strangely unified.
"Strictly speaking, the core of this martial soul comes from another plane called the Demonic Plane—a world that harbors ill will toward the Douluo Continent."
Long Qiu'er blinked. "You mean..."
Huo Yuhao exhaled. "Logically, a plane instinctively rejects creatures from a foreign world. The Demonic Plane's overall strength is not high, yet it can connect to and invade the far stronger Douluo Continent. That can only mean one thing."
Long Qiu'er finished the sentence for him.
"There is a problem with the Douluo Continent itself."
Huo Yuhao nodded silently.
No one wants a thief suddenly eyeing their family property, nor do they want parasites living in their home for free. If such a situation occurs, it means the house has been broken into.
Long Qiu'er narrowed her eyes, her voice cold. "So, do you know who that 'thief' is?"
"I'm not entirely certain, but I can infer a few things based on the intelligence we currently have."
Huo Yuhao retracted the light and dark yin-yang fish. "What is certain is that when we exchanged memories, the deity who secretly struck at us was one of the original Shrek Seven Monsters who achieved godhood ten thousand years ago—the ancestor of the Tang Sect, Sea God Tang San."
Sea God Tang San...
When I get back, I'm telling the Scarlet King to roast every Soft-boned Rabbit in the forest!
"My teacher blocked Tang San's Divine Consciousness and a soul fragment hidden within it. Tang San likely realized things were going south and forcibly erased most of the memories in that strand of consciousness, so the information we have is limited."
Huo Yuhao's voice grew more serious. "It is very likely that right now—at this very moment—Tang San is conducting a comprehensive takeover of the Douluo Continent."
"As a God King, he certainly won't control the entire continent personally. In all probability, he will support proxies. As for who those proxies are, I imagine they would be his family and friends."
Long Qiu'er didn't speak immediately. She tapped her chin thoughtfully, pacing in a small circle within the virtual Douluo World.
The intellectual development of soul beasts compared to humans was usually disastrous; a ten-thousand-year soul beast could understand human speech, but only a hundred-thousand-year soul beast possessed wisdom rivaling a human's.
However, as the Emperor Auspicious Beast, an existence of enlightened spirit, her wisdom was not inferior to any hundred-thousand-year beast. Having spent a long time in isolation, she had contemplated many things.
She had once wondered: why was she the Auspicious Beast and not just a normal soul beast?
Furthermore, if previous Auspicious Beasts were like her—free from the threat of Heavenly Tribulations and blessed with luck that doubled their cultivation efficiency—why hadn't they survived indefinitely? Why did the Star Constellation Great Forest give birth to them generation after generation?
It defied logic. The God Realm maintained a rejection of the beast race, and there were no records of any Auspicious Beast from the Star Constellation Great Forest or other gatherings ever achieving godhood.
In fact... most Auspicious Beasts died unnatural deaths, rarely living past a hundred thousand years of cultivation.
Why?
Long Qiu'er had her own theory.
They were born of circumstance. That is to say, these Auspicious Beasts who enjoyed the favor of fate were meant to use their lives to combat some irresistible catastrophe, seizing a sliver of survival for the other creatures not favored by destiny.
Is fate fair?
It seemed fair, yet also unfair.
So... was her and Huo Yuhao's responsibility to trade their lives for the lives of other creatures in this world?
Long Qiu'er clenched her fists. No!
She didn't want to die! Nor would she let Huo Yuhao die! And she wouldn't let Tang San, who tried to control her, die easily!
"No matter how intense the conflict between humans and soul beasts is, as long as we work hard, there is always a chance for reconciliation. But Tang San is the public enemy of us all. As the saying goes, 'to resist foreign aggression, one must first stabilize the interior.' It's obvious we should deal with the Tang family first. I assume Miss Qiu'er agrees."
How do you build an unbreakable alliance? You have a powerful common enemy.
Long Qiu'er smiled. "No wonder you brought me here to say this. You're afraid the thief will use the authority of the plane to eavesdrop on us, aren't you?"
"Better safe than sorry. No one knows how far that guy has progressed. Though... I suspect he hasn't fully controlled the Douluo Continent yet; otherwise, the Child of Destiny would have been replaced by one of Tang San's own long ago."
"I understand your meaning. At least on my end, I am willing to form an alliance with you. As for the Ferocious Beasts of our Star Constellation Great Forest..." Long Qiu'er hesitated and didn't continue.
The ones sharing life and death were the two of them, not those Ferocious Beasts who had lived through eons.
As she had theorized, why hadn't Di Tian protected the Auspicious Beasts before her? Long Qiu'er didn't want to think too deeply on that.
Huo Yuhao expressed his understanding. Regarding the soul spirits, he wouldn't be so foolish as to seek cooperation from those territorial soul beast overlords before he had produced complete results.
As the two ended their conversation and left the Douluo World, a piece of "great news" arrived.
Zhang Lexuan and Ma Xiaotao had actually tracked him down from Shrek Academy.