Even if the Soul Tool Department starts catching up with all its might now, it may not necessarily close the gap much with the Sun Moon Empire. That is a research organization fully supported by a nation; its talent cultivation, education, and resource reserves possess a lead that is almost a total generational fracture.
But if they don't start catching up now, the gap will only grow wider in the future. One can't exactly expect the Sea God to suddenly descend and intervene in the wars between the nations of the Douluo Continent, right?
That Sea God doesn't even care about the life or death of the Tang Sect he founded; would he really care about Shrek Academy? At any rate, Mu En didn't think so.
Before his own death, he wanted to leave a few more seeds and a bit more hope for Shrek.
...
On a canyon path in the outskirts of Star Net City, a crack suddenly and abruptly tore open.
It was a greyish-black rift, tens of meters high, looking as if space had been forcibly ripped open, with irregular spatial fluctuations radiating around it.
As if resisting something, the rift was being forcibly suppressed by an invisible surge, forcing it to heal, but it seemed a bit too late.
In the next instant, a massive creature crawled out from within.
This creature looked extremely eerie. Overall, it resembled a giant lizard with an exceptionally large head that occupied nearly one-third of its body, and a total length exceeding fifty meters. Its limbs were incredibly thick as it crawled on the ground, its entire body covered in dense, greyish-black scales.
Its most distinctive feature was its eyes—bulging outward, the interior seemed to be composed of countless compound eyes, emitting a sinister blue light.
The moment this creature crawled out of the hole, a great blue light burst from its eyes, turning into a layer of blue light film that instantly covered its body. Immediately following that, its massive body actually vanished into thin air.
The greyish-black rift vanished as well.
"Tch! Is the life force of the Douluo Planet in this era actually this strong? Just sending one Abyssal Spirit Dragon King has already reached the limit..."
"But this is enough. Let this seat see exactly how far those two fellows, Tang Hao and Tang San, have progressed..."
Though the voice carried a high-and-mighty, all-controlling calmness, it harbored a deep, suppressed, and surging rage.
...
Star Net City, Star Emperor Hotel.
Shrek Academy has monopolized all the Soul Master Tournament championships for ten thousand years. As the defending champions and the number one Soul Master academy on the continent, Shrek's participating students were arranged in the luxury rooms on the top floor.
Each person had a bedroom, and there was even a spacious meeting room specifically for Shrek Academy to use for tactical arrangements.
At this time, all the participating team members, along with the leading teacher Wang Yan, were sitting in the meeting room holding a pre-match mobilization meeting.
Elder Zhuang sat in the head seat, with Xian Lin'er and Zhang Lexuan sitting beside him. Behind them were Gong-yang Mo and Ling Luochen, whose faces remained pale.
They had both suffered internal injuries. Although they had received treatment from Elder Zhuang and their own recuperation, the rush of the journey via flying soul tools had instead caused their injuries to worsen. Their recovery time might even be longer than expected.
As for the preparatory team, except for Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi—who had the heaviest injuries but insisted on coming to compete and were still resting in their rooms—the injuries of the others were not too severe and would be mostly fine after about a week of rest.
Ma Xiaotao's situation was actually better. As long as she didn't use her full strength on the field, normal matches shouldn't be a problem. Besides, didn't she have the "good medicine" named Huo Yuhao by her side?
Xian Lin'er said solemnly: "...The situation is as it is. Elder Mu's intention is to leave it to your own discretion, with self-preservation as the priority."
The three from the Inner Court looked at each other, somewhat at a loss, but Huo Yuhao frowned deeply, his mind thinking rapidly.
Frankly speaking, in Huo Yuhao's view, Shrek's wisest choice at the moment should be to give up this tournament and return home.
There was no shame in it; even if it were told to the world, there was a justifiable reason.
But the higher-ups did not; instead, they planned to keep fighting.
Glory, glory... is this thing really more important to Shrek than the lives of their students?
Huo Yuhao suddenly really wanted to know: what if their glory was lost right here?
"!!!"
While Huo Yuhao was preoccupied, he suddenly felt an extremely abnormal fluctuation of mental power flash by.
That feeling was just like when he scanned others with his Spiritual Detection, but the difference was that this mental power was dark and deep, vast as an abyss, yet hidden extremely well. It made him feel a stinging cold rush from the soles of his feet straight to his skull.
He couldn't help but release his Spiritual Detection, wanting to capture the source of this mental power, which immediately startled the few people present.
Zhang Lexuan held Huo Yuhao's hand and asked with concern: "What's wrong, Yuhao? Why release a soul skill?"
Not only Zhang Lexuan, but Xian Lin'er and Elder Zhuang also turned their puzzled gazes toward him.
"...Teacher Lexuan, didn't you feel it? That very strong mental power..."
Xian Lin'er frowned slightly and shrugged naturally. "Star Net City is the capital of the Star Net Empire; it's not strange for there to be experts skilled in mental power."
Elder Zhuang stroked his beard and smiled kindly. "Little Huo, is it that you've been too tired and stressed lately?"
"Is... is that so... probably..."
Huo Yuhao sighed in his heart. They are both Elders, so why is the gap so big? This Elder Zhuang is countless times better than that old fellow Xuan Zi. Why didn't they let him lead the team before?
"Let's settle it like this for now. Until Ling Luochen and Gong-yang Mo recover, the participating members will be Ma Xiaotao, Huo Yuhao, He Caitou, Ning Tian, Wu Feng, Jiang Nannan, and Wang Dong—you seven."
Xian Lin'er finalized the decision. "Tomorrow is the first match, Shrek Academy's elimination round. I'm counting on everyone!"
After the group walked out of the meeting room, Ma Xiaotao pulled Huo Yuhao toward her room.
The official competition starts tomorrow; she wanted to seize the time to have her younger brother help her recover as much as possible—or so Ma Xiaotao thought.
But Huo Yuhao hesitated, stopping his footsteps when they reached the room door.
"Sorry, Sister Xiaotao, I... I need to go out for a bit. You go back to your room and rest first."
"But Yuhao, the match is tomorrow..." Then Ma Xiaotao seemed to realize something and looked at Huo Yuhao with a half-smile. "Oh, oh, are you going to call your mother over to see your heroic figure on the field?"
Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched a few times.
"It's not that. How should I put it... forget it, I'll be back before dinner tonight."
Ma Xiaotao immediately stood up. "Then I'll go with you, so we can look out for each other on the way."
This time Huo Yuhao's attitude was quite firm. "No! Sister Xiaotao, your injuries aren't fully healed yet. Rest first."
Seeing Huo Yuhao's extreme determination, Ma Xiaotao didn't push further.
"...Alright then, don't do anything dangerous."
After making the agreement with Ma Xiaotao, Huo Yuhao quickly walked out of the hotel.
But once he reached the street and saw the crowds coming and going, Huo Yuhao realized that he hadn't actually captured the source of that mental power. Even if he looked, he wouldn't find it...
First of all, it was certain that the person was definitely a mental power expert! At least, Huo Yuhao had never heard of a soul master with such prowess from the Star Net Empire side.
Was it from the soul beast side?
The number of mental-type soul beasts is very rare, and those whose cultivation reaches one hundred thousand years are even fewer. He remembered that among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, there seemed to be only one skilled in mental power—the Evil Eye Tyrant King, Evil Emperor, who lived in the Fiend Forest of the Sun Moon Empire and had a full 790,000 years of cultivation.
Could it be that it had come to Star Net City?
This guess was quickly dismissed by Huo Yuhao himself. If that being had come to Star Net City, his own bit of mental power cultivation certainly wouldn't have been able to detect it; he had that much self-awareness.
This mental power was extremely deep and dark; it didn't seem like something a human soul master could possess either.
He remembered that among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, there seemed to be one called Yao Ling, ranked tenth, who had always lived in the Star Constellation Great Forest. Could it be him?
But Huo Yuhao only knew such a figure existed among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts; as for his specific abilities and type, humans were completely unclear.
Forget it, better to call for backup.
When Huo Yuhao took out the [Douluo World] and sent messages to the Snow Emperor and Long Qiu'er, he discovered that these two were already in a nearby cafe...
This wasn't surprising. For this grand event of humanity that happens once every five years on the Douluo Continent, these two soul beast bigshots would definitely be interested in coming to see.
Only then did Huo Yuhao realize something was wrong. He hadn't introduced Long Qiu'er and the Snow Emperor to each other yet... sitting together so abruptly... there shouldn't be a problem, right?
For some reason, Huo Yuhao felt that something incredible might happen next.
When Huo Yuhao pushed open the door, he naturally saw the two girls, who radiated a strong sense of presence, each sitting in a corner tasting the coffee in their hands.
Upon seeing Huo Yuhao, Long Qiu'er and the Snow Emperor smiled simultaneously and raised their right hands to wave at him—then they both turned their heads at the same time, spending about two seconds looking at the person who had made the same gesture as themselves.
As the Emperor Auspicious Beast, Long Qiu'er's power of destiny came with the ability to mask her aura. Coupled with the black dragon reverse scale given by Di Tian, hiding her aura was naturally simple.
As for the Snow Emperor, she carried a sub-controller of the [Douluo World], and combined with the uniqueness of her own race, she could naturally mask herself as well. Moreover, when necessary, she could exert an effect similar to Huo Yuhao's Simulation soul skill. This resulted in neither of them discovering anything unusual about the other.
"..."
Long Qiu'er used her left hand to support her right elbow, with her right hand pressed against her mouth, sizing up the Snow Emperor with a scrutinizing gaze.
The Snow Emperor, on the other hand, crossed her arms, elegantly crossed her legs, and took on a thoughtful expression.
"Where are you from?"
With just this one sentence, Long Qiu'er seemed to have guessed who the other party was.
"This seat is the Emperor Auspicious Beast, the Three-eyed Golden Lion."
"Oh... so it's the little princess of Star Constellation who has run out..."
"By the looks of it, you must be the Ice Sky Snow Emperor."
"Mhm, quite perceptive. However, this is human territory; that soul beast set of rules won't work here."
"Naturally."
It was a relief that the two didn't break out into the fight Huo Yuhao had imagined, though the atmosphere could hardly be called harmonious...
Huo Yuhao said with trepidation: "Sorry... I was really too negligent. If this causes any trouble in the future, I will take full responsibility..."
The Snow Emperor gave a gentle smile and gestured for Huo Yuhao to sit in front of her. "No matter, you needn't worry. I am naturally very happy to get to know the Auspicious Beast."
Long Qiu'er huffed, stood up of her own accord, and sat down opposite the Snow Emperor, gesturing for Huo Yuhao to sit beside her. "Then I can also be happy for a moment to know the dignified Snow Emperor. However, with your cultivation, how could you possibly have transformed into a human now?"
The Snow Emperor swirled the coffee cup on the table. "...We'll talk about that later. Speaking of which, with you running out of the Star Constellation Great Forest so abruptly, can Di Tian and the others be at peace?"
"Of course. That lord gave a supreme order, I..."
At this point, Long Qiu'er did not continue, shaking her head and timely changing the subject.
"Business first. You both should have sensed that abnormal mental power, right?"
Both the Snow Emperor and Huo Yuhao nodded repeatedly.
"Then I'll speak plainly. That mental power is wrong; it's a bit excessively strong—at least at the level of a mental-type Ferocious Beast. But in my memory, there has never been such a soul beast powerhouse in the Star Constellation Great Forest."
The Snow Emperor frowned deeply. "The Extreme North definitely never had a mental-type soul beast of such a level either. Although it was very brief, I could feel that its mental power was extremely dark. To be honest, I don't think it's a mental-type soul beast, but rather an evil-type or dark-type Ferocious Beast..."
Long Qiu'er said: "Di Tian wouldn't be so bored as to come to the human world. The Demon Queen's mental power isn't that dark. As for whether it's the Evil Emperor... no, it's also impossible for it to be the Evil Emperor. Although its name carries the word 'evil,' its abilities are all mental-type and have nothing to do with evil."
Huo Yuhao looked at the two soul beast bigshots who were deep in thought and raised his hand to ask: "I heard there's one called Yao Ling among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts; could it be him?"
Long Qiu'er shook her head decisively. "Also impossible. Yao Ling is still in secluded cultivation, and he doesn't have this level of cultivation. However, I am curious about its motive."
"Motive?"
Long Qiu'er also crossed her arms like the Snow Emperor. "That mental power was like... how should I put it? It was like Yuhao's Spiritual Detection, scanning and scouting us once. At least, that's what I believe."
Everyone knew what Spiritual Detection was used for.
"So, Auspicious Beast, you mean... the owner of that mental power was probing our reality?"
Among the three, the one with the deepest foundation was undoubtedly the Snow Emperor, who had transformed after nearly 700,000 years of cultivation. But the Snow Emperor, after all, was not a soul beast skilled in mental power. If one were to talk about the highest realm of mental power, it was still Long Qiu'er, who possessed the Eye of Destiny. Since she said so, the credibility was naturally very high.
Long Qiu'er said seriously: "Not just us, but the entire Star Net City. I wanted to counter-probe, but I was sensed by the other party, and they slipped away very quickly. I failed to locate its mental power, so I don't know exactly what it wants to do."
Speaking of which, Long Qiu'er was also a bit frustrated. Although she possessed what the Lord called that ultra-divine artifact, the [Eternal Eye], which was extremely compatible with her, her current re-cultivated level did not support her using this divine artifact.
Furthermore, she could feel that the state of this divine artifact was incomplete and was still slowly recovering. All she could do was use this ultra-divine artifact to amplify mental power attacks and soul power.
It was also thanks to this divine artifact that Long Qiu'er was able to discover exactly what that mental power was trying to do.