Tang Ya slowly opened her eyes. Sensing the newly surged soul power within her body, an irrepressible spark of excitement flickered in her gaze.
Yet, before she could even savor the joy, the crisp sound of clapping echoed from behind her, accompanied by a distressingly familiar voice:
"The Dark Blue Silver Grass. Who would have thought? Not only was Tang San, the ancestor of the Tang Sect ten thousand years ago, the progenitor of the evil soul masters, but even his descendant has walked down the exact same path."
Following the words, a handsome man dressed in green robes slowly rose from the ground.
Tang Ya's eyes widened in shock. Her three soul rings flared simultaneously, and in the next instant, the surrounding hundred meters of forest were engulfed by a deep, suffocating layer of darkness.
Thick strands of Blue Silver Grass burst from beneath the earth, twisting and coiling tightly.
Within mere moments, the intruder was bound secure inside a cocoon woven entirely from the Dark Blue Silver Grass.
Tang Ya turned around, her gaze staring ice-cold at the cocoon ahead as she said in a freezing tone, "I don't know who you are, nor do I care to know. But since you've seen something you shouldn't have, then for the sake of the Tang Sect—and for myself—I have no choice but to ask you to die."
As she spoke, she slowly raised her right hand, her five fingers curving into a hollow claw.
Pfft!
Just as Tang Ya was about to trigger the Dark Blue Silver Grass to devour the man's soul power, a flash of sword light ripped through the void like a gale.
The grass cocoon shattered into pieces, revealing the familiar figure of a young man, his hand resting on the hilt of the longsword at his waist. It was none other than Feng Piaoling.
"We can consider ourselves acquaintances, yet you immediately resort to lethal force upon meeting. Don't you think that's a bit too heartless?"
Tang Ya was struck with immense shock. "It's you... You're not dead?"
"Of course I'm not dead. Shrek only sent a single Soul Emperor and five Soul Kings—just a handful of trash like that. How could they possibly kill me?" Feng Piaoling smiled, his right hand slowly relaxing away from the Lightning Tribulation Sword, a Class 5 soul tool at his waist.
"It was Shrek Academy that sent people to hunt you down?" Tang Ya's face filled with disbelief.
Feng Piaoling replied, "What, are you surprised? In that case, let me tell you a joke."
"While your Tang Sect was sliding into decline, Shrek Academy, upholding its so-called policy of strict neutrality toward the various nations of the continent, sat idly by and allowed a sect whose highest-ranking cultivator was a mere Soul Emperor to seize the Tang Sect's property and slaughter your parents."
"On the other hand, look at Zhang Lexuan, the Eldest Senior Sister of the Inner Court. She was born into a noble family in the Heavenly Soul Empire. When her family was exterminated by another great noble clan, she was the sole survivor, having escaped death only because she hid beneath a bed."
"Don't you find that hilarious? An entire family wiped out, yet Zhang Lexuan, who was just a little girl at the time, managed to survive."
"Put yourself in her shoes. If you had hidden under a bed back then, do you think that Soul Emperor's family would have let you off?"
Tang Ya furrowed her brows deeply and questioned loudly, "What exactly do you mean by telling me all this?"
Feng Piaoling said, "Don't be impatient. Let me finish. There's an even funnier part. The Master of the Sea God Pavilion, Mu En—the old man by the dormitory entrance who looks like he has one foot in the grave—is one of the three current Ultimate Douluos of this world."
"A long time ago, he was crippled in a fight with another powerful Title Douluo. Yet, by some miraculous coincidence, he just happened to appear in the Heavenly Soul Empire right around that time, and he just happened to run into Zhang Lexuan."
"Ultimately, on the condition that Zhang Lexuan become a child bride for his great-great-grandson, he slaughtered every single member of that great noble clan from the Heavenly Soul Empire. By the way, Mu En's great-great-grandson is none other than your boyfriend, Bei Bei."
Upon hearing these words, Tang Ya, who had been brimming with fury just moments before, turned completely pale. Her voice trembled as she stammered, "No... That's impossible. How could Bei Bei already have a child bride? No... It's impossible. You're lying to me."
Feng Piaoling expressed his speechlessness. "Hey, hey. Your focus seems entirely misplaced. Shouldn't your main takeaway be that that old codger Mu En, Bei Bei's great-great-grandfather, deliberately orchestrated the slaughter of Zhang Lexuan's entire family just to force her loyalty to Shrek and make her a child bride for his descendant?"
"Furthermore, since he was capable of plotting the destruction of Zhang Lexuan's family, and then turning around to openly wipe out another great noble clan of the Heavenly Soul Empire, why didn't he raise a single finger to help when your Tang Sect faced its destruction?"
Hearing this, Tang Ya finally recalled Bei Bei's past anomalies. Indeed, he had gone to find that old man sitting in front of the dormitory building on more than one occasion.
Even when Huo Yuhao was caught allegedly cheating, it was resolved only after Bei Bei went to consult that old man.
Did this not imply that Bei Bei had possessed the capability to help her seek revenge all along, yet chose to do absolutely nothing?
If so, what did she, his girlfriend, truly amount to in his eyes?
A side piece?
At this realization, Tang Ya's heart turned to ash. She closed her eyes directly and said in a sorrowful voice, "Just kill me."
"Why should I kill you?" Feng Piaoling still felt that it was impossible to communicate with someone blinded by romance using a normal logical framework.
Her thoughts jumped erratically from one thing to another; her mind was practically a mess.
Tang Ya said with complete despair, "Your parents were killed by evil soul masters. And as you saw just now, I have already become an evil soul master. Most importantly, I will likely never have the chance to avenge my parents in this lifetime. Rather than dying at the hands of the enemies who murdered my parents, it would be a greater release to die by the hand of an acquaintance like you."
Feng Piaoling shook his head. "In my view, power itself is not inherently evil; the key lies in the person wielding it. If someone holds power and uses it to commit murder and arson to achieve their goals like Mu En, then even if his martial soul is the Radiant Holy Dragon, he is still an evil soul master."
"Conversely, even if someone possesses a malicious martial soul, as long as they use it for the right purposes, they remain a normal soul master. You haven't used your martial soul to devour innocent civilians, nor have you slaughtered soul beasts; you merely drained a few trees. I've chopped down more trees than I can count, so why should I kill you?"
"Besides, it's not as if you have no chance for revenge."
Tang Ya's eyes lit up instantly. "You're willing to help me get revenge?"
If it was Feng Piaoling, it might actually be possible. After all, he had just mentioned that he killed a Soul Emperor and five Soul Kings sent by Shrek to assassinate him.
"A vendetta must be settled by one's own hands. I can provide you with a path to grow stronger... But then again, you tried to kill me just now, and we can't simply let that slide." Feng Piaoling's gaze turned sharp.
"Speak. What do you want? As long as I can get my revenge, you can do whatever you want with me afterward. I don't care," Tang Ya replied indifferently.
"Good. Very good..." Feng Piaoling let out a sinister chuckle. "Jie jie jie. Tang Ya, you wouldn't want anyone else to find out that you've become an evil soul master, right?"
"What do you want to do?" Tang Ya gasped, instinctively taking a few steps back.
"Do..." Feng Piaoling almost let a crude word slip out of habit, but fortunately, he caught himself just in time and quickly corrected his phrasing: "Undercover work."
"Undercover work?" Tang Ya asked in confusion. "Undercover at Shrek?"
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