Chapter 165: Just So-So, Really
The barely breathing Sleep Demon Douluo was taken away by Neuvillette. About ten minutes later, the gates of the Ironblood Sect opened once more.
Tang Ya walked out.
Bei Bei and Long Ziyun followed close behind, but as far as the group's eyes could see, there was no longer any trace of Tie Li. In all likelihood, he had been personally finished off by Tang Ya. As for whether his body was left inside the gate or disposed of, Furina didn't ask, nor did she care about such details.
"Well? All settled?" Furina waved at them, her tone light and easy.
Tang Ya nodded silently. She drew a deep breath, as if trying to expel every last wisp of stale air that had been trapped in her chest for years. Only then did she speak, her voice slightly hoarse but utterly resolute: "Yes. All settled. I have finally... avenged this blood debt."
She walked forward two steps and bowed deeply toward Furina. "Thank you, Furina."
Furina waved a dismissive hand, a gentle smile on her face. "It's nothing, no need to stand on ceremony. As I've said, you are a member of my Church of the Water God. Helping you take revenge is only right and proper."
She raised her eyes toward the gate behind Tang Ya, the plaque still bearing the three characters "Ironblood Sect," and shifted the subject: "But what do you plan to do next? This place is, after all, the foundation of your Tang Sect. Will you buy it back?"
Tang Ya followed her gaze, and a complex swirl of emotions flickered in her eyes.
She nodded. "Mm. I will buy it back. Even if it sits empty for a while, that doesn't matter. In the future, it can be reopened and put to use as a Tang Sect property."
"Then I'll leave it in your hands," Furina said with a smile, then turned to Long Ziyun. "Protector Long, the matters on my end are dealt with. You may return first. Attend to whatever you need to, or take some time to rest. Balance work and leisure."
Long Ziyun gave a slight bow. "As you command, Your Holiness."
He paused, then asked with concern, "But Your Holiness, what do you and your companions plan to do next? Will you tour Heaven Dou City, or head directly back to the Church of the Water God's headquarters? Do you need this subordinate to arrange an escort?"
"That won't be necessary." Furina shook her head. "We'll arrange our own time. Rest assured, I will also soon return to the headquarters to see how the Church's development is progressing."
Long Ziyun inclined his head. "Understood. Then this humble subordinate will take his leave first. I shall also pass this news on to Lei Bao and the others."
No sooner had his words ended than a pair of enormous dragon wings abruptly unfurled from his back. With a single beat of the wings, his entire form shot into the sky and vanished among the clouds in the blink of an eye.
Xiao Xiao tilted her head back, gazing at the distant retreating figure, unable to resist a sigh of admiration: "Having wings must be so nice... Still, it looks like his flight speed can't compare to that Monsieur Neuvillette from earlier."
She remembered it with absolute clarity—Neuvillette had appeared without the slightest warning and vanished just as suddenly. It was practically like he possessed the ability of instantaneous movement.
Furina smiled faintly, her tone carrying a note of pride as if sharing in the glory: "Naturally. Neuvillette is my Church of the Water God's Water God Envoy, the person I trust most. As for his strength... naturally, it cannot be mentioned in the same breath as others."
Wang Dong scratched his head, speaking with a touch of embarrassment: "I never imagined your Water God Church had someone so powerful. The gap between him and those Protectors really is vast..."
His embarrassment stemmed from recalling the bizarre thoughts that had bubbled up in his mind earlier—things like "the Water God Church is nothing special" or "joining the Water God Church would be somewhat disgraceful."
Thinking back on it now, it was absolutely laughable.
With such a formidable foundation, how could the Water God Church possibly be weak?
On the surface, the few Protectors were merely at the Soul Sage level, making it seem as though there was no Titled Douluo to anchor them. But hidden in the shadows, they had a Limit Douluo! No wonder Furina dared to be so audacious even within Shrek Academy.
Thinking to this point, Wang Dong suddenly felt like laughing.
The great Shrek, the continent's number one academy for ten thousand years, was being openly poached from right under its nose. Times truly had changed—much like the saying, "the waves behind drive the waves ahead."
Tang Ya and Bei Bei were utterly lost in the conversation.
Bei Bei couldn't help but ask, "During the time we were gone... what exactly happened?"
Tang Ya also nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes! From the way you're all talking, it sounds like some incredible figure showed up?"
Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao exchanged glances, their gazes landing, as if by unspoken agreement, on Furina.
Furina raised an eyebrow. "What are you all looking at me for? Go on, tell them. I'm not stopping you."
Wang Dong couldn't hold back any longer and blurted out first: "Well, an evil soul master showed up just now. A Titled Douluo-level expert, at that. He wanted to kill us or something."
Xiao Xiao immediately supplemented: "And then Furina summoned a Limit Douluo-level expert, who just wiped out that evil soul master in an instant! Then he took that half-dead old man back to the Water God Church."
The two spoke with an air of casual indifference, but the sheer magnitude of the information was staggering.
However, neither Bei Bei nor Tang Ya noticed that both Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao had, whether intentionally or not, glossed over one detail—that the Sleep Demon Douluo had said he wanted to capture Huo Yuhao and make him a Holy Son.
It was best not to mention such things. Bringing it up would only create unnecessary misunderstandings. Who would ever want to become an evil soul master's Holy Son? Huo Yuhao was an outstanding young man, a member of the Water God Church, someone Furina valued highly. His future was boundless. Why would he ever be associated with evil soul masters?
After hearing the account, Bei Bei was completely stunned: "What did you say? An... evil soul master Titled Douluo? And a Limit Douluo?"
He struggled to digest those two terms. "The Limit Douluo is actually from the Water God Church? That powerful? Where is he? He left that quickly?"
Tang Ya's shock was mingled with unconcealable delight. She was a member of the Water God Church, and the Tang Sect was a subsidiary sect. The stronger the Water God Church was, the more beneficial it was for her!
At this very moment, she was more certain than ever: she had truly latched onto a powerful patron, an extraordinarily thick and mighty one!
Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, and Huo Yuhao all nodded in unison, confirming that she hadn't misheard.
Bei Bei sucked in a breath of cold air and murmured, "My heavens... that powerful?"
He now fully realized that the Water God Church's foundations ran far deeper than he had ever imagined. This was a patron that not only the Tang Sect, but even Shrek Academy itself, had to embrace.
Although it might not sound pleasant to say, the facts were plain before his eyes: if Shrek could not cooperate with the Water God Church, the losses would be anything but small.
Moreover, Shrek's sole current Limit Douluo—his great-great-grandfather, Elder Mu—was already a half-crippled shell, fundamentally unable to truly act and capable only of serving as a deterrent. And Elder Xuan, who ranked just below Elder Mu, was certainly a powerhouse among Hyper Douluos, but he still fell far short of Elder Mu. Elder Mu had expressed to Bei Bei on more than one occasion that he was deeply uneasy about letting Elder Xuan succeed him.
If Shrek could latch onto this patron—the Water God Church, backed by a Limit Douluo—it would undoubtedly be a tremendous blessing. Especially after Elder Mu's eventual passing.
Furina merely smiled lightly, her tone as casual as if remarking that the weather was fine today: "Just so-so, really. After all, I am the Water God. Is it not perfectly normal to have a Limit Douluo expert by my side?"
Bei Bei and Tang Ya exchanged a look, momentarily at a loss for words.
Normal? In what world was that normal?!
The total number of Limit Douluos across the entire continent could be counted on one's fingers! Wasn't her standard for "just so-so" a bit too high?
Furina paid no mind to the speechless expressions on their faces. She clapped her hands to rally everyone: "Alright, alright, no more spacing out. Let's quickly buy this place back, and then head back to my Water God Church."
Tang Ya quickly nodded. "Alright!"
Bei Bei, however, sank into thought and murmured, "But come to think of it... for a Titled Douluo-level evil soul master to appear in Heaven Dou City... it seems the evil soul masters' influence has already expanded to this extent."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Xiao added another detail: "Oh, right. That old evil soul master said he was from the Holy Spirit Cult."
Wang Dong also recalled: "He said something about... being the Eighth Elder?"
Huo Yuhao picked up the thread, his voice calm but the information precise: "Eighth Elder of the Holy Spirit Cult, titled 'Sleep Demon,' soul power Rank 91. But I could sense that his spiritual power was extremely strong, probably far surpassing other Titled Douluo of the same rank."
"The Holy Spirit Cult, is it..." Bei Bei mused thoughtfully, then turned to Furina. "I would like to report this matter to Shrek Academy, especially to my great-great-grandfather. Would that be permissible?"
Furina gave a slight nod. "Of course. No problem at all."
Yet, within her heart, a thread of complex emotion stirred.
The Holy Spirit Cult and Elder Mu... they did share a certain connection.
The woman he loved was in the Holy Spirit Cult. His closest friend was also in the Holy Spirit Cult. He alone remained in Shrek, having never fallen into becoming an evil soul master for the sake of so-called love.
What did one call that? Pitiable? Or lamentable?
Perhaps a little of both.