Word Count: 3,527 Words
******
A Pavilion Master of merely twenty-five years was utterly unprecedented in Shrek Academy's vast, ten-thousand-year history.
Elder Xuan had long since designated Ma Xiaotao as his next-generation successor, yet the moment she truly inherited the seat of Holy Pavilion Master still left her heart pounding. The searing aura of Ultimate Fire leaked from her unbidden, and the temperature inside the Ancient Golden Tree climbed rapidly.
"Grandteacher, Elder Xuan, I will not fail your expectations. I will shoulder the responsibilities of the Holy Pavilion Master!"
Ling Bai watched Ma Xiaotao practically ignite, and a faint curve tugged at the corner of his lips. Her succession bound Shrek Academy to him. From this day forward they were a single body of shared interests, and everything he did from now on would be far more convenient.
Elder Mu smiled warmly. "Xiaotao, now that you are the Holy Pavilion Master, it is time for your grandteacher to teach you the methods only a Pavilion Master may learn."
"Yes, Grandteach—"
Ma Xiaotao suspected nothing and was about to agree outright when Ling Bai suddenly seized her hand. The spike of pain made her fine brows knit, and she turned toward him in confusion, only to find his gaze fixed on Elder Mu with blazing intensity.
"Methods only a Pavilion Master can learn... Would that be the Ancient Golden Tree?"
Elder Mu fell silent. He knew Ling Bai never spoke without reason, but the other members of the Holy Pavilion could only look on in bewilderment.
The Ancient Golden Tree was the very foundation of Shrek Academy, harboring a might that surpassed even a Limit Douluo. It was Shrek's ultimate trump card. By wielding the Ancient Golden Tree's power in concert with Elder Xuan, Elder Mu had once managed to seal Beast God Di Tian, a Demi-God level existence. None of them could fathom why Ling Bai would take a stance against Ma Xiaotao so much as touching it.
"By fusing your soul with the Ancient Golden Tree, you must have discovered something, Elder Mu," Ling Bai said.
The Light Holy Dragon and the Ancient Golden Tree both bore the light attribute. Among all the Pavilion Masters throughout history, Elder Mu was arguably the one most compatible with the Ancient Golden Tree, which made him the most likely to have pierced through to its true condition.
"He ignored Shrek's safety and caused the beast tide. Is there any point in continuing to cover for him?" Ling Bai's voice was quiet, almost distant.
"I merely wanted Xiaotao to learn to wield the Ancient Golden Tree's power. Even if you had not spoken up today, I would have told her that the Holy Pavilion Master's soul must never fuse with the Ancient Golden Tree." Elder Mu sighed. "Why tear away the last fig leaf..."
"Elder Mu, every Pavilion Master in history who chose to merge with the Ancient Golden Tree was a person of profound righteousness. They should never have met so wretched an end. Tang San schemed against Shrek Academy for ten thousand years, and Shrek Academy has already resolved to wash away his Sea God imprint. So his true face ought to be known by everyone."
The Holy Pavilion members' eyes darted between the two of them, thoroughly dizzied by the riddles passing back and forth.
At those words, Elder Mu's soul flickered faintly. After a long silence he gave a weary sigh, and for a moment his ethereal form seemed once again the bent-spined old man of his final years. One of his reasons for supporting the erasure of the Sea God's name was precisely that he had seen through the Ancient Golden Tree's nature.
"Everyone, come with me."
Golden light enveloped the group. A breath later they all stood deep beneath the Ancient Golden Tree, and a sprawling mass of golden roots filled their vision, twisted and knotted together like colossal dragons. Elder Mu's melancholy voice rose in the darkness.
"My teacher, the previous Holy Pavilion Master, likewise chose to become one with the Ancient Golden Tree. After so many years apart, I had thought to pay my respects to him. Instead..."
A low dragon's cry rumbled through the cavern. A massive golden dragon tore away the outer layer of roots, and the truth lay bare before them. Inside the Ancient Golden Tree ran thick blue-gold vines, one after another, woven into an airtight, suffocating net that locked the roots in an iron grip.
"What... what is that?!" Huo Yuhao cried out.
A chill of revulsion swept through them all. Anyone with functioning eyes could see that the blue-gold vines and the Ancient Golden Tree were entirely different species. The vines clung to the tree like a parasite, ceaselessly gorging on its power.
"You don't recognize her?" Ling Bai gave Huo Yuhao a sidelong glance. "Because Tang San became a God, this thing became famous all across the Douluo Continent. A top-tier plant-type spirit beast, the Blue Silver Empress."
Ma Xiaotao seized on the critical point. "Why would the Blue Silver Empress be inside the Ancient Golden Tree's roots?"
"She's been there from the very beginning. For ten thousand years she has eroded the Ancient Golden Tree's consciousness. Every Pavilion Master who offered themselves up to Shrek became nothing more than fertilizer, and Elder Mu would have been next."
Ling Bai let out a cold laugh as he unveiled the buried truth. The others turned to Elder Mu in absolute horror, and the old man gave a bitter nod.
"Damn it!"
Ma Xiaotao erupted. Her nine spirit rings burst forth, the sixth igniting with blinding intensity, and Phoenix Cloud Piercing Strike roared to life. A torrent of phoenix flames screamed toward the Blue Silver Empress!
Nearly half of Shrek's successive Pavilion Masters had sacrificed their souls, including three Ultimate-attribute Titled Douluo. They were peerless legends in Shrek's history, figures who had thought only of giving back to the academy even on the brink of death. Yet this Blue Silver Empress had actually dared to feast upon the souls of Shrek's revered ancestors!
BOOM—
The phoenix fire slammed into the vines with unstoppable force, yet even Ultimate Fire failed to burn the Blue Silver Empress away. Golden radiance surged in answer. The Ancient Golden Tree's power of light rushed outward and snuffed the phoenix flames out in an instant.
"Xiaotao, don't waste your effort," Elder Mu urged gently. "The Ancient Golden Tree's original consciousness has scattered beyond any hope of recovery. The Blue Silver Empress has slowly usurped its place.
The Ancient Golden Tree was already the foremost plant on the continent, and the Blue Silver Empress has devoured the souls of a great many Limit Douluo besides. Only a God out of legend could obliterate her."
Every eye in the chamber turned toward Ling Bai, heavy with pleading. Not one of them was willing to sit back and watch Elder Mu's soul become the Blue Silver Empress's nourishment, denied rebirth for all eternity.
Ling Bai received their silent appeal and gave a soft chuckle. "Everyone here is intelligent. You all know perfectly well who arranged for her to be planted down here, so let's open the skylight and speak plainly. She is Tang San's birth mother, Ah Yin.
Compared with killing Ah Yin, renaming the Sea God Pavilion was a child's joke. Do this, and Shrek Academy and Sea God Tang San will stand as absolute enemies.
Elders of Shrek, Elder Mu or Ah Yin? Have you decided?"
"Holy Evil Douluo, Tang San no longer deserves to be called human. Do it." Killing intent poured off Elder Xuan in waves.
Tang San's credibility had never sunk lower, while Elder Mu stood at the exact opposite extreme. Ma Xiaotao, the four deans, and Huo Yuhao all belonged to his lineage. Zhang Lexuan had been cultivated into greatness by his own hand. Elder Xuan, Elder Lin, and Elder Zhuang regarded him as an elder brother and trusted him without reservation.
This choice was far too simple. Even Huo Yuhao's heart leaned toward Elder Mu.
"Step back a little, so I don't hit our own people by mistake."
The Angel God Position manifested at Ling Bai's brow. Nurtured by the Angel Spirit Core, it had been recovering drop by drop. Given another five or six hundred years of life, the God Position would return to its peak of its own accord. Even now it was vastly stronger than before, and a fourth wing flickered faintly in and out of existence.
The oppressive presence of the Angel God descended, and the Blue Silver Empress stirred. Like an ancient behemoth waking from slumber, she recalled the mortal enemy of her husband and her son, and a wave of absolute fury poured out from the vines!
Six golden wings tore from Ling Bai's back. Nine fearsome spirit rings pulsed in orbit around his body, and the sacred aura spreading from them made every heart in the chamber lurch. Refracted through the Ancient Golden Tree's radiance, those angelic wings looked holy and unyielding, wreathed in sacred flames that purified all evil in the world.
The Blue Silver Empress seized control of the Ancient Golden Tree. A flood of light poured down like a waterfall, venting her hatred for the angel clan, and locked squarely onto the Seraphim below whose aura was climbing higher with every breath!
Angelic divine power flooded his body. The white-gold ninth spirit ring bloomed in full, and the gate carved open by the Angel Sword blazed through the underground space alongside a savage spike in temperature. The Ancient Golden Tree's own light was rendered pale by comparison.
Divine Edict: First Light of Dawn!
A round sun poured its scorching heat down in an even wash, and an ultimate daybreak rose without warning. Holy light swallowed the vision of every person present in an instant.
Beneath that supreme radiance, the blistering, berserk heat brought their breathing to a halt. Every mouthful of air drawn in felt like an insult to the divine!
Ling Bai gazed coldly at the Ancient Golden Tree ahead, white smoke rising off it in slow tendrils. Remnants of the angelic divine power of his godly state still clung to his body.
The smoke gradually thinned. The ground lay charred pitch-black, and cracks spread across the blue-gold vines like a spider's web.
Crimson blood flowed from the Blue Silver Empress. A blue-gold spirit ring rose into the air, and at its center, floating in perfect stillness, was a dazzling spirit bone shaped like a human skull.
The Blue Silver Empress had fallen!
Ling Bai turned to Elder Mu. "The Blue Silver Empress is dead, but the Ancient Golden Tree has taken wounds that cannot be reversed.
Elder Mu, are you willing to become the Ancient Golden Tree's new will?"
"That is precisely what I desire," Elder Mu said with a smile.
Martial Spirit switch. Death Abyss Spider Emperor.
The gray spirit ring formed from Electrolux blazed with intense brilliance.
Necromancy, Tree Spirit Fusion!
Using the Blue Silver Empress's spirit ring and spirit bone as the medium, Elder Mu merged with the Ancient Golden Tree, to guard Shrek Academy forevermore.
…
Somewhere on the Douluo Continent, an illusory expanse of white.
Savage roars echoed through the boundless pale void like those of a wounded beast.
"Ah Yin! Ah Yin! Ah Yin!!!"
A blazing white sphere of light flickered erratically nearby. A middle-aged man clutching a giant hammer had crashed to his knees, his eyes flooding crimson as he watched the final scene his wife had transmitted in the instant before her death.
"Seraphim, you have already found your path to death!
Xiao San, I'm done being Planar Lord. I'm going to avenge your mother!"
An urgent voice answered him. "Father, don't be hasty! Only when you become the Planar Lord and control the Douluo Continent can Mother be revived. We absolutely cannot let everything fall apart at the final step!"
"Fine... fine... For Ah Yin!"
Far above, in the Divine Realm, hatred saturated Tang San's face. His flawless plan had actually sprung a leak, and the plane's future life core had become someone who was not of the Tang family!
That made it all the more imperative that nothing happen to the plane's consciousness. Ah Yin's soul had been cut clean out of existence by that angelic divine power. His words a moment ago had been nothing but a lie to keep his father Tang Hao steady.
'Faster... I need to recover faster...'
Tang San closed his eyes and threw everything he had into mending his damaged divine soul.
…
Once Elder Mu had become the Ancient Golden Tree's consciousness, the Holy Pavilion meeting resumed. Ling Bai proposed establishing the continent's first Angelic Sanctuary in Shrek City and letting Heaven Bestowed Spirit Rings gradually replace ordinary spirit rings, as a means of easing the enmity between the two races. The motion passed unanimously.
The two generations of Heaven Bestowed Spirit Rings each had their own uses. The first generation, a reproduction of the God Bestowed Spirit Ring, leaned toward inward exploration. It suited Martial Spirits that were innately powerful or did not depend on external force, and it was destined to become the mainstream choice for a Spirit Master's seventh spirit ring.
The second generation was, strictly speaking, an artificial spirit beast spirit ring. It suited Martial Spirits with inherent flaws that required outside power to make whole, as when Xu Sanshi's Xuanwu absorbed a Golden Tortoise spirit ring and evolved into the Golden Xuanwu.
The instant Elder Mu heard what both generations could do, he understood their importance and decided at once to mobilize Shrek Academy's full influence in support of the Angelic Sanctuary, sparing no effort whatsoever. The Shrek City Angelic Sanctuary would be helmed by Golden Fairy Douluo Han Ruoruo, once she finished absorbing her ninth spirit ring.
The meeting concluded and the members returned to their own quarters. Elder Xuan flew off toward the Outer Courtyard's freshmen dormitory with his back hunched. Taotie Douluo, who had roamed the continent unchecked for two hundred years, had ultimately chosen to see out his remaining days as an old dormitory supervisor.
Ma Xiaotao's fury had not faded in the slightest. She dragged Ling Bai off to Shrek Plaza, launched a flying kick, and shattered Tang San's statue into pieces. The Outer Courtyard students who saw it stood frozen with their jaws hanging open.
Ling Bai had nearly forgotten about that particular score, so Ning Rongrong's statue promptly suffered a disaster of its own.
"There. Now we're accomplices. Give it a minute and someone will come to arrest the both of us," Ling Bai teased.
"This lady is the Holy Pavilion Master. Who would dare arrest you!" Ma Xiaotao declared, overflowing with tyrannical arrogance.
"The Seven Monsters are treated as a single entity. You might as well have someone pull down the other five statues too."
"Fine by me!"
The two hit it off instantly, then slid into clinging, unhurried affection, ready to relive old dreams. Han Ruoruo was indisposed, deep in seclusion as she absorbed her spirit ring and spirit bone, which left Ling Bai the perfect opening to reclaim his masculine pride with Ma Xiaotao instead.
Now that she had inherited the mantle of Holy Pavilion Master, Ma Xiaotao had relocated to the spacious chambers that once belonged to Elder Mu. She emerged from the adjoining bath wrapped in nothing but a pristine white towel that clung to her full, voluptuous curves. Stray droplets traced glistening paths down the ridge of her collarbones before vanishing into the deep valley the terrycloth barely contained.
Her gold-red hair cascaded over bare shoulders like a river of liquid fire, carrying a fresh, intoxicating fragrance. Her skin gleamed like warm porcelain, flushed rose from the heat of the bath, and every inch of her radiated a mature, blazing allure.
The Phoenix Douluo prowled to the bed and sank onto the mattress with languid, feline grace. She propped her head on one elbow and lay on her side, and the posture put the arch of her waist, the generous swell of her hips, and the long legs left bare by the shifting towel on shameless display. Her free hand gathered the damp gold-red tresses and swept them lazily off her neck, an idle motion so effortlessly provocative it could have driven a monk to sin.
She glanced up at the shadow falling across her body, and a wicked spark lit her crimson eyes. Without warning she surged upward in one fluid burst of strength, seized Ling Bai, and flipped him beneath her. She straddled his waist, and the towel surrendered all pretense of containing those magnificent assets as it slipped to the sheets. Her crimson lips parted.
"This seat is the Master of Shrek's Holy Pavilion. Holy Evil Douluo, submit and accept your punishment!"
"Quite the nerve you've got. By the time tonight is over, that Ultimate Fire of yours is going to melt into Ultimate Water..."
...
Dawn. The recovery ward of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan.
"I say, Old Du, the beast tide is over. Why are you still lingering here?"
Shadow Dragon Douluo Xie Qin squinted with undisguised suspicion at Du Weilun in the neighboring bed.
Du Weilun puffed his chest out with the air of a man holding the moral high ground. "Old Xie, that's not a very kind thing to say. My injuries are far more severe than yours. Do you really have the heart to watch me drag my battered body all the way back to Shrek Academy?"
"Elder Zhuang is leagues beyond the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's healing Spirit Masters. Everyone can see right through your filthy schemes!" Xie Qin shot back, nearly choking on his own indignation.
"I haven't seen Fengya in twenty years! What's wrong with staying to chat with her for a bit!"
"'Chatting?' The hell you are! You just want to get into her robes, you shameless bastard!"
"Oh, and you're any better? You just never had the guts to act on it!"
Spit flew in every direction as the two Titled Douluo tore into each other.
"Xie Qin, you've hovered around the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan for twenty years. If Fengya had taken even the slightest fancy to you, she wouldn't still be single!"
Du Weilun forced himself upright and leveled a look of pure contempt at his rival. "A real man makes a woman feel his sincerity. Starting today, I'm taking Xiao Tian's surname!"
Xie Qin's jaw dropped. Good grief! This lunatic had found such an absurdly niche angle and charged straight down it!
Smack! Smack!
"Who hit me?!"
Both men received a sharp slap to the crown of the head at the same instant. They whipped around indignantly, only to meet Ning Fengya's cool, scrutinizing stare. The Dragonwoman stood just behind her with a tray of medicine, biting her lip in a desperate, failing attempt not to laugh.
"Fengya, this is all a huge misunderstanding! Listen to my sophis... explanation!"
Xie Qin and Du Weilun waved their hands in frantic panic, yet even in the midst of their fluster they still found time to shoot each other vicious glares.
A distinct flash of disgust passed through Ning Fengya's beautiful azure eyes. She held neither of these worthless men in any regard. Her voice was cool and indifferent.
"I came to deliver a message. The Sun Moon Empire has launched its war. In a single night, they shattered the Heavenly Soul Empire's border defenses and are driving straight for Heaven Dou City.
Spearheading the offensive are the Evileye Tyrant and Terror Claw Beast King-class Spirit Guidance Legions. Their commanders... Dragon Emperor Douluo and Demonic Phoenix Douluo!"
…
Shrek Academy received identical intelligence at that same moment, and an emergency Holy Pavilion meeting was convened.
"The Sun Moon Empire certainly knows how to pick its timing..." Ma Xiaotao said through gritted teeth.
The Clear Sky Clan and the Body Sect, two of the continent's paramount super sects, had been eradicated. The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan had suffered crippling damage at the hands of the Clear Sky Clan, and Shrek Academy had only barely survived a catastrophic beast tide. This was unequivocally the moment when the Heavenly Soul Empire stood at its most vulnerable.
That unfamiliar title, Demonic Phoenix Douluo, sent Ling Bai into deep thought. Good grief. Don't tell me Ye Xishui has fallen to evil yet again!
If so, it proved only two things.
First, Long Xiaoyao was pure garbage. Her Bloody Demon Puppet had been crippled by the Angel of Finality in the battle at Mingdu's western mountains, and the old fossil still couldn't keep control of a Ye Xishui who had nothing left but her Bright Phoenix Martial Spirit!
Second, the gold standard of 'once evil, evil for a lifetime' was still climbing!
Zhang Lexuan's gaze swept across the strategic map. "The Heavenly Soul Empire's terrain is predominantly open plains, and the Sun Moon Empire is advancing as though marching through an uninhabited wasteland, crushing all resistance with ease.
At their current momentum, within three days the frontline will be pushed all the way to...
Jialing Pass."