After the meeting ended, the Sea God Pavilion elders gradually dispersed, leaving Su Yunlin and Wang Dong beside Elder Mu.
"Teacher, are you alright?" Su Yunlin asked with concern.
Elder Mu shook his head.
"I'm fine. Thanks to you, this old man is finally no longer a Limit Douluo who only appears strong on the outside while weak within. The only thing that concerns me now is that the Evil Spirit Masters have formed an organization.
"I more or less have a guess as to who is leading them. Yunlin, can you agree to one request from this old man?"
"Please speak, Teacher."
Elder Mu nodded.
"If one day you possess the strength to kill a Limit Douluo, and you encounter an Evil Spirit Master named Ye Xishui... kill her."
Su Yunlin was stunned.
He had never expected Elder Mu's request to be this.
Meanwhile, Wang Dong asked curiously, "Elder Mu, who exactly is this Ye Xishui?"
A trace of nostalgia flashed through Elder Mu's aged eyes.
"This can be considered a tangled fate. I suppose I'll have to start from when this old man was young..."
Elder Mu began telling the two disciples about his experiences when he had met Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui in his youth.
Su Yunlin already knew the truth.
Elder Mu had always been the one deceived. Ye Xishui had never truly loved him.
Wang Dong was equally surprised. She had not expected their teacher to have experienced such events in his younger days.
Elder Mu let out a long sigh.
"It's been a long time since I talked about the past. Thinking back on it now, some things do seem rather strange.
"That year when I fought Du Busi's elder brother, Du Bisi, it happened to coincide with the year of my decisive battle with Xiaoyao.
"My battle with Du Bisi disrupted that duel. Although I was fortunate enough to break through to Limit Douluo and kill Du Bisi, I myself suffered severe injuries as well, and so my battle with Xiaoyao ended without resolution.
"And when I think back carefully on every detail from those years, something always feels off. I've met countless women in my life, yet Ye Xishui felt different.
"How should I put it... she possessed that sort of cold and aloof temperament that made people feel the desire to conquer her.
"To put it bluntly, I was attracted by her appearance. But I was young at the time, and it was my first time meeting a woman so different from everyone else, so perhaps it was only natural.
"Ah... when you get old, you start liking stories from the past. Just treat it as an old tale."
Su Yunlin nodded.
As expected of Elder Mu.
He had already noticed that something was wrong. Back then, his experiences and understanding had been different from now. There had been many suspicious details, but no evidence to support them.
"Teacher, did you and Senior Dragon Emperor Douluo have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill?"
Su Yunlin suddenly brought up the question.
"Your Martial Soul is the Bright Holy Dragon, while his was the Dark Holy Dragon. Your dragon bloodlines were at the same level, and light and darkness are opposites, just like Tongtong and me."
Elder Mu nodded slightly.
"Xiaoyao and I indeed had a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. However, our compatibility was not particularly high.
"You and Wutong, on the other hand, are the kind that only appears once in ten thousand years. Your compatibility is not only between Martial Souls—it extends to your souls themselves. Only that kind of bond can achieve a Martial Soul Fusion Skill with one hundred percent compatibility."
"Hiss—"
Su Yunlin sucked in a cold breath, his expression instantly turning unusually profound.
Elder Mu looked at Su Yunlin. "Do you have some thoughts on the matter?"
Su Yunlin appeared to "ponder" for a moment before speaking slowly.
"I have a rather dark idea. I'm looking at it entirely from the perspective of someone standing against you, but the more I think about it, the more reasonable it feels. Teacher, would you like to hear it?"
"Go ahead."
Su Yunlin nodded before continuing:
"Back then, you and Long Xiaoyao were known as the Black and White Holy Dragons. The two of you were the greatest prodigies of your era, and you even possessed a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. If I were your enemy, I definitely wouldn't sit around and watch you grow into the strongest beings alive.
"I would find a way to divide you, or even make you become enemies.
"You and Senior Long were both men. If one of you had been a woman instead, then your relationship would have been nearly impossible to break."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"After all, a married couple with a Martial Soul Fusion Skill would be inseparable. Other than killing one of them, there would be no practical way to split them apart.
"But you and Senior Long were both men, so if I wanted to divide you, perhaps the best method would be using a beauty trap.
"And the best kind of beauty trap would involve emotions—creating emotional entanglements between the two of you.
"After all, both of you had your pride. You probably wouldn't openly discuss every detail. So the two of you ending up never seeing each other again… wouldn't that fit perfectly with an enemy's plans?"
"What?!" Golden light instantly flashed within Elder Mu's eyes as his entire aura became incomparably sharp.
"What happened? Elder Mu is angry!" Elder Xuan immediately appeared.
The moment he sensed Elder Mu's fury, he rushed over.
"Not good!"
Elder Xuan instantly moved to stand in front of Su Yunlin and Wang Dong, afraid that Elder Mu might accidentally injure them.
Elder Mu clenched his fists tightly, causing the surrounding space itself to tremble.
A Limit Douluo was enraged.
It was not as though Elder Mu had never suspected something before. Over the years, he had always felt that incident seemed as though someone had manipulated events from the shadows.
However, Ye Xishui's expressions back then had seemed genuine. At the time, he had truly believed she was not lying.
But if Ye Xishui had really been sent by some organization specifically to divide him and Long Xiaoyao… then her schemes would have run unimaginably deep.
"Heh… what a grand move."
Elder Mu laughed coldly.
"They actually used a supreme genius as bait to ensnare us. Just which organization was it? Could it have been that old ghost Zhongli? Was Xishui threatened?"
Instantly, Elder Mu recalled one of Shrek's greatest enemies.
Old Ghost Zhongli had once been the leader of the Evil Spirit Masters several centuries ago. He had been gravely wounded by the previous Sea God Pavilion Master—who had also happened to be Elder Mu's teacher and Elder Xuan's grandmaster.
Su Yunlin continued:
"Teacher, what if Senior Ye herself was part of that organization? Given your relationship with Senior Long, bringing him into Shrek Academy shouldn't have been difficult. Once both of you joined Shrek, those organizations would never have had room to grow."
Elder Mu's gaze sharpened.
"That's right… I never dared think that way before. Xishui has always been someone special in my heart.
"If things truly happened like this… then the depth of that woman's schemes would be nearly unparalleled in this world."
He laughed bitterly.
"What a tremendous game of chess…"
Su Yunlin silently let out a sigh of relief.
He had used speculation to reveal the real answer to Elder Mu.
At the very least, Elder Mu deserved to know the truth.
He had been kept in the dark all this time.
Still, Teacher's current state should be enough to deal with several Rank 98s without issue, but facing a Limit Douluo is probably impossible.
Ye Xishui has already become a soul engineer, and Long Xiaoyao is still by her side. Teacher wouldn't stand a chance.
If Teacher fought a Limit Douluo in a life-or-death battle, he'd consume an enormous amount of life force. His already crumbling body simply wouldn't be able to withstand that kind of battle.
Unless... he could break and then rebuild himself.
But... how could I make Teacher achieve rebirth through destruction?
Su Yunlin looked toward Elder Mu.
At first, he had only viewed Elder Mu as a protective umbrella.
But after spending time together, Elder Mu had truly taught him everything without reservation and guided him in countless ways.
Su Yunlin genuinely did not want Elder Mu to meet the same fate as before.
Elder Mu let out a weary sigh before slowly returning to his reclining chair.
"You may leave. This old man wishes to be alone for a while."
"Yes."
Elder Xuan brought Su Yunlin and Wang Dong away. Along the way, he asked Su Yunlin why Elder Mu had become so furious.
Su Yunlin explained everything that had happened earlier.
Elder Xuan's eyes widened in shock.
"So it was actually something like this? Such speculation isn't impossible! Damn it! If that's true, then doesn't that mean Elder Mu is at a disadvantage?"
"No! This old man needs to enter seclusion! I'm going to break through to Limit Douluo!"
Then Elder Xuan vanished like a wisp of smoke, immediately rushing off to cultivate in seclusion.
He could not allow Elder Mu to stand alone.
Su Yunlin and Wang Dong held hands as they returned to their room.
Now that they lived on Sea God Island, they could already be considered half Inner Court disciples. The Outer Court curriculum no longer posed any challenge for them.
Wang Dong tugged on Su Yunlin's sleeve.
"Yunlin, do you think what you said is true? If Teacher was really deceived like that... it would be too tragic."
Su Yunlin sighed.
"Who knows? Only the people involved truly know the answer. I was merely looking at things from the most disgusting possible angle.
"But if it really is true..."
"That would be terrifying."
Wang Dong wrapped her arms around Su Yunlin.
"Luckily, something like that would never happen to us.
"Sometimes I wonder... if we didn't have Martial Souls, if we didn't have compatibility, would we still have fallen in love?"
She smiled softly.
"Now that I think about it, this one hundred percent compatibility is actually pretty useful. At least our eyes only hold each other."
"Tongtong..."
Su Yunlin looked at Wang Dong.
Wang Dong looked back at him.
The emotions in their gazes had almost become tangible.
Their faces gradually drew closer and closer until finally, their lips met.
...
Inside Sea God Pavilion—
Elder Mu sat alone in his reclining chair.
His eyes were now bloodshot.
"Heh... Ye Xishui..."
His voice carried a chilling coldness.
"It seems Xiaoyao has been played in the palm of your hand all these years."
"If Yunlin's speculation turns out to be true..."
"This old man will personally kill you."
...
Read Advanced Chapters on : patreon.com/cw/OblivionTL
~ Every 100 PS = Bonus Chapter!
~ Push the Story forward with your [Power Stones]