After staying within the Sea God Pavilion for a period of time, Su Yunlin returned to the outer court. By coincidence, he happened to see Bei Bei and Tang Ya, who seemed to be saying their farewells.
"Hm?"
In an instant, Su Yunlin appeared beside Bei Bei, staring at Tang Ya with a look of surprise.
Both Bei Bei and Tang Ya were startled. Neither of them had noticed when Su Yunlin arrived.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Tang Ya asked nervously.
"Release your Martial Soul and let me take a look," Su Yunlin said calmly as he looked at her.
Bei Bei was utterly confused.
"Little junior brother, what are you doing?"
Tang Ya, meanwhile, felt extremely nervous, but she still slowly raised her trembling hand. Immediately afterward, a blue-black vine appeared in her palm.
This was no longer the original Blue Silver Grass.
The Blue Silver Grass before them looked incomparably strange and sinister.
At the same time, Spirit Rings rose from Tang Ya's body—two yellow and two purple. A standard Spirit Ancestor configuration.
One had to know that before Bei Bei departed, Tang Ya had only been a Rank 34 Spirit Elder. Yet within merely a few months, she had already broken through to the Spirit Ancestor rank and even obtained her fourth Spirit Ring.
"T-This! This is! Xiao Ya, you—!"
Bei Bei possessed the aura of the Radiant Holy Dragon within his body. The moment Tang Ya released her Martial Soul, he immediately sensed the dense dark attribute aura emanating from her Blue Silver Grass.
"As expected, your Martial Soul has mutated," Su Yunlin said with an expression that clearly said just as I thought. "Your emotions have been fluctuating intensely lately, haven't they? Your mind has been filled entirely with thoughts of revenge. You want to destroy the Ironblood Sect completely and avenge yourself, correct?"
Tang Ya's expression had initially remained fairly normal, but the moment she heard the words "Ironblood Sect," her eyes instantly turned violet-red.
Her eyes became filled with the flames of vengeance, and her entire temperament underwent a massive transformation.
The Tang Ya of the past had been cheerful and optimistic, radiating youthful vitality wherever she went.
Now, only a sharp, chilling coldness remained around her.
"Xiao Ya! Xiao Ya, wake up!"
Bei Bei immediately pulled Tang Ya into his embrace. Upon sensing Bei Bei's aura, the violet-red color in Tang Ya's eyes gradually faded away, and the icy aura surrounding her slowly dissipated as well.
"Mhm… You have quite the potential to become an Evil Spirit Master," Su Yunlin remarked. "Tang Ya, have you ever killed anyone? No—more accurately, have you ever used your Martial Soul to devour the lives of innocent people?"
Tang Ya hurriedly shook her head.
"No! Absolutely not!"
A sharp light flashed through Su Yunlin's eyes as his pitch-black pupils turned purple.
This was the Purple Demon Eyes, one of the Tang Sect's secret arts.
That's right—Su Yunlin had ultimately failed to withstand Wang Dong's relentless pestering. Under Wang Dong's enthusiastic offensive, Su Yunlin finally surrendered and became a disciple of the Tang Sect.
In other words, he had officially begun working for the Tang God King.
Since he had already joined, Su Yunlin naturally intended to learn some worthwhile techniques. The first thing he chose to cultivate was the Purple Demon Eyes, an ocular technique capable of gradually increasing one's spiritual power.
While cultivating the Purple Demon Eyes, Su Yunlin paired it with his already powerful spiritual power. As a result, he successfully mastered the technique after only a single morning session.
Moreover, within just several days of cultivation, he had directly advanced the Purple Demon Eyes to the Mustard Seed Realm.
The Purple Demon Eyes possessed four realms:
Observe, Detail, Mustard Seed, and Vast Sea.
It could be said that Su Yunlin had become the fastest cultivator of the Purple Demon Eyes in the entire history of the Tang Sect.
Previously, the fastest had been Huo Yuhao, who skipped past the Observe Realm and entered the Detail Realm in one leap.
But Su Yunlin had directly reached the Mustard Seed Realm.
Using the Mustard Seed Realm Purple Demon Eyes, Su Yunlin carefully examined Tang Ya from head to toe.
She truly had never devoured humans before. There was no dense blood aura lingering around her body.
"Purple Demon Eyes? How do you know the Purple Demon Eyes? Could it be that you…?"
Tang Ya stared at him in complete shock. After being rejected by Su Yunlin countless times before, she had already long since given up hope.
Bei Bei coughed awkwardly.
"Little junior brother joined the Tang Sect during the Spirit Master Tournament after being relentlessly clung to by little junior sister. Only a few of us know about this so far—we haven't informed Sect Master yet. Please forgive us, Sect Master."
"Oh, right! Little junior sister is Wang Dong. She's actually a girl disguised as a boy. As the saying goes, even heroes cannot resist a beauty's charms. No matter how formidable Su Yunlin is, he still fell beneath her skirts in the end."
Tang Ya nodded. Deep down, she still felt somewhat happy. With Bei Bei and the others around, the Tang Sect was already in good hands, making her, the sect master, seem almost unnecessary.
In truth, Tang Ya's greatest obsession regarding the Tang Sect was her home itself.
She had been born into the Tang Sect and had grown up listening to her parents tell stories about its history. As a child, she had greatly yearned for the glorious era of the Tang Sect.
Until the day she turned ten.
That was when her family was mercilessly slaughtered by the Ironblood Sect.
Su Yunlin looked at Tang Ya and sighed softly.
"You really shouldn't leave Shrek Academy. If you go out carrying this burning desire for revenge and happen to encounter Evil Spirit Masters, they'll immediately lure you away. By then, there'll just be another powerful Evil Spirit Master in the world."
Tang Ya took a deep breath.
"No. I'll control myself. I understand what you mean, but I already have no face left to remain by Bei Bei's side. I'm sorry, Bei Bei. I'm not worthy of—mmph!"
Tang Ya's eyes rolled back as she collapsed unconscious into Bei Bei's arms.
At some point, Su Yunlin had appeared behind her and casually withdrew his hand.
"What nonsense are you babbling about? I've got no interest in listening to her ramble on. Let's go. Bring her back to Sea God Island."
Holding Tang Ya in his arms, Bei Bei hesitated.
"Wouldn't it be inappropriate to bring her to Sea God Island? After all, her Martial Soul…"
Su Yunlin immediately shot him a cold glance.
"Are you even a man? Why are you acting so hesitant? She hasn't slaughtered innocents or devoured people with her Martial Soul. You know perfectly well whether she's an Evil Spirit Master or not.
"If you're afraid Tang Ya will end up branded as an Evil Spirit Master and tarnish your identity as Shrek Academy's prized student, then pretend I said nothing."
The moment those words fell, Bei Bei exploded in anger.
"What are you talking about?! Xiao Ya isn't an Evil Spirit Master! I won't let her become one! For her sake, I'd even stand against the entire world!"
Su Yunlin nodded slightly.
"Hmph. Big words without strength are meaningless. Back then, my mother was falsely accused of being an Evil Spirit Master as well. You've already seen my second Martial Soul—its dense evil aura was inherited from my mother. To ordinary people, it would appear as though I was born an Evil Spirit Master.
"Guess how my father protected my mother back then? At the time, my father had already reached Rank 90, while my mother was an eighty-plus-ranked Spirit Douluo. Even my grandfather was a Super Douluo, yet it still wasn't enough.
"You're merely a Spirit Ancestor. What qualifications do you have to make others change their views of Tang Ya?
"You're too weak."
Bei Bei held Tang Ya tightly as he gazed at her sleeping face. Soon, his eyes gradually became incomparably resolute.
"What should I do?"
"What else? Become stronger, obviously," Su Yunlin replied calmly. "If one day you possess Mu En's level of cultivation, then whether someone is an Evil Spirit Master or not would be determined by a single sentence from you. Let's head to the Sea God Pavilion."
Thus, Su Yunlin and Bei Bei brought Tang Ya to Sea God Island.
Mu En personally came out to take a look. The moment his gaze fell upon Tang Ya, he let out a soft sound of surprise.
"Oh? This girl's fate has changed? No… more accurately, she has encountered the benefactor destined for her life. That person will save her from her sea of suffering."
Mu En also felt great pity for Tang Ya.
At her age, she should have been living the happiest years of her life, yet instead she carried the burden of vengeance and the responsibility of reviving the Tang Sect. Those pressures were already close to crushing her completely.
Because of this, Mu En had arranged for Bei Bei to join the Tang Sect and assist Tang Ya in rebuilding it. In time, Bei Bei had gradually fallen in love with her.
Mu En had once performed a divination for Tang Ya as well. He discovered that she was destined to encounter a great calamity in her life, but that a benefactor would appear to help her.
And now, that benefactor had finally appeared.
Mu En gently patted Tang Ya's head.
"Fortunately, you brought her here in time. This old man can purify her Martial Soul. Let her remain in the Sea God Pavilion to cultivate for now and use the power of the Golden Tree to cleanse the impurities within her Martial Soul."
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Su Yunlin asked,
"Teacher, Tang Ya—ah no, Sect Master—her dark attribute should have formed acquiredly due to her own negative emotions. But her devouring ability should be innate.
"Devouring… how should I put it? Even eating food counts as devouring, doesn't it? Isn't Elder Xuan the perfect example of that?
"Besides, some plants naturally possess devouring abilities. It's simply a method they use to protect themselves.
"So shouldn't we guide and develop her talent properly instead? I remember that the first-generation Seven Monsters' Tang San possessed an external Spirit Bone from the Man-Faced Demon Spider, which also had devouring abilities."
Mu En fell into deep thought as well.
Broadly speaking, anything related to darkness, evil, or devouring was often immediately labeled as belonging to Evil Spirit Masters. Yet in doing so, people frequently overlooked many things—such as certain animals and plants naturally possessing such abilities from birth.
Abilities themselves had no distinction between good and evil.
What truly mattered was the person using them.
Evil Spirit Masters were simply cruel and bloodthirsty individuals who abused their power to slaughter recklessly.
"That's an interesting thought." Mu En nodded slowly. "This old man will think of a solution. But first, we need to remove the dark attribute from her Martial Soul. That darkness is too likely to influence her mind."
...
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