Word Count: 3,675 Words
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Shrek was in on this?!
The Heavenly Soul experts stood with mouths agape, utterly incredulous. The Body Sect's corpses were not yet cold, the bloody truth laid bare for everyone to see, and Yan Shaozhe stood there spinning black into white without so much as a blink!
"Dean Yan, I truly cannot bear the reverence of the entire continent. After all, the Spider Emperor Martial Spirit is itself of the evil attribute, and the Shrek Guardians have always despised evil as they would a mortal enemy. If the Dean wishes to kill me, I shall stretch out my neck and await execution..."
On the surface, Ling Bai sounded righteously unyielding. In truth, he was signaling Yan Shaozhe to keep playing along.
"Even though you have already graduated, this Dean will teach you one final principle." Yan Shaozhe's face darkened with displeasure. "Do not belittle yourself.
There are no evil Martial Spirits in this world, only evil Spirit Masters!"
Evil Martial Spirit ≠ Evil Spirit Master!
Ling Bai marveled inwardly. What a beacon! What an upright judge come down from the heavens!
Back when he was still at Shrek Academy, Great Dean Yan had often disgusted him. Now that he had graduated, however, the more he looked at the man, the more agreeable he became!
With the Martial Spirit Department Dean personally certifying it, Holy Evil Douluo possessed both Holy and Evil Martial Spirits, yet was, beyond all doubt, a righteous Spirit Master!
Yan Shaozhe's lips crooked into a small smile. Out in the world, it all came down to one thing: knowing how to read people!
"Everyone, allow this old man to say a fair word..."
A Titled Douluo elder well past a hundred and fifty stepped forward. All eyes turned his way. He stroked his graying beard and offered a calm, measured assessment:
"Holy Evil Douluo is Senior Jianmu's direct disciple. He was raised by the ten-thousand-year Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan and cultivated by the continent's foremost academy, Shrek. His character is of the highest worth, and the tempering of experience has borne rich fruit.
This old man is truly senile, that I failed to see through the evil true face of Death Abyss Douluo Du Busi. It is a sin, a sin indeed!
Dean Yan speaks most rightly. Holy Evil Douluo is open and aboveboard, and has rendered great merit to the Douluo Continent. My Tianyuan Sect too has deeply benefited from his blessings!
Holy Evil Douluo, please accept a bow from this old man!"
With that, Tianyuan Douluo bent his knees, body trembling as he prepared to kneel. The others cursed this old fox silently. He had snatched the first chance right out from under them!
This was a world where martial force reigned supreme. The monk might run, but the temple could not. Compared to ordinary commoners, these experts who dragged entire clans and sects behind them were far easier to control.
The dead could not open their mouths, and so Body Douluo had become Death Abyss Douluo.
With the ten-thousand-year prestige of Shrek Academy and the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan behind them, white could be turned to black without breaking a sweat. And while the Body Sect might not have been guilty of every evil under the sun, its record was certainly far from spotless. Saddling it with a few extra sins was only natural.
With both sects collaborating to embellish the tale, the fine brushstrokes of future historians would record only a single tidy line:
Blood Desolation Town. Holy Evil Douluo Ling Bai slew Death Abyss Douluo Du Busi.
Tianyuan Douluo could already see the outcome was decided. Stubborn resistance now would only see the Tianyuan Sect lumped in with the Body Sect as accomplices, exactly like the Tyrant Body Sect before them. Better to submit early, stand visibly on Ling Bai's side, and leave a good impression.
Ling Bai quietly dispersed the Snowless Glacier he had been holding at the ready. He stepped forward to support Tianyuan Douluo and spoke with deep, earnest sincerity:
"Tianyuan Douluo, please rise. Death Abyss Douluo brought calamity upon the world, and every man had the right to strike him down. I merely did what an Angel ought to do. It is not worth mentioning."
"Holy Evil Douluo is the very picture of righteousness!"
Ning Fengyu pitched her voice low and called out. The other experts caught on at once, and cries of "Holy Evil Douluo is the very picture of righteousness!" rang all the way to the clouds.
The winds reversed to the opposite extreme in a heartbeat. Jianmu Douluo watched from the side, momentarily dazed. That old saying rang true after all. Truth is born beneath the fist!
Jianmu Douluo had always been fiercely protective of his own. Learning that Ling Bai was Death Abyss Douluo drew no special reaction from him at all. His obedient disciple must have had his hidden reasons!
A patient man biding his time on a bed of thorns and gall. A righteous mole burrowed deep for justice's sake!
Ning Fengyu, for her part, couldn't have cared less. Her standards were like a nimble mountain dog, sinking lower and lower wherever Ling Bai went!
After two and a half minutes of flattery, Ling Bai pressed his hands down. The crowd, tactful to the extreme, shut their mouths at once.
"Death Abyss Douluo Du Busi may be dead, but he commanded the Body Sect for many years. Its interior is unlikely to be a pure land.
The Body Sect and Blood Desolation Town lie close to one another. We ought to...
Eradicate evil down to the last root!"
Both Ling Bai and Jianmu Douluo carried veiled threats in their tones, and Shrek Academy had already thrown its weight behind them. The others had no room to refuse. Half willing, half under pressure, they flew off toward the Body Sect's lair.
High above the clouds, Ling Bai drifted alongside Yan Shaozhe. The latter spoke with a hint of gratification:
"Over six years ago, when you entered Shrek Academy, eleven years old with Rank 41 spirit power, I already knew your future would be boundless.
At that time, Xiaotao was tormented by the Phoenix evil fire. I once suggested she learn from her ancestor Ma Hongjun and find ways to release the pressure. But that child's temper is stubborn as an ox. She refused outright, choosing to be scorched by the evil fire day and night rather than surrender her purity for the one she loved.
Fortunately, she later met you. That was Xiaotao's good fortune. She was freed from the Phoenix evil fire entirely, her Martial Spirit evolved into Ultimate Fire, and the Sea God Pavilion council unanimously agreed that she should inherit the seat of Sea God Pavilion Master."
The old fox was playing the emotional card. From how ruthlessly Ling Bai had kicked Shrek Academy out of the tournament, it was obvious his feelings toward the academy were shallow at best. So Yan Shaozhe praised Ma Xiaotao from every angle he could find, from her untouched purity to the Sea God Pavilion Master's seat.
"During the month or so you were missing, Xiaotao tried to charge to Mingdu several times to avenge you. Ruoruo and Mei'er barely managed to hold her back. She misses you dearly. When you have the time, remember to come back to the academy and see her."
Ling Bai gave a light nod. His palm brushed across his storage device and produced a crimson crystal. Its searing heat twisted the surrounding air into shimmering distortions.
"Dean Yan, Xiaotao should be about ready to break through to Titled Douluo by now. This is a Magma Divine Crystal from a submarine volcano. It holds abundant fire-attribute energy and will serve her well when she condenses her Ultimate Fire Spirit Core."
"Good. I thank you on Xiaotao's behalf."
A satisfied smile appeared on Yan Shaozhe's face. Shrek Academy and the Body Sect shared nothing but enmity. The Sea God Pavilion itself had been established in the aftermath of their defeat at the Body Sect's hands. Later, when the Body Sect slaughtered seven 100,000-year spirit beasts in the Star Dou Forest and enraged Di Tian, Shrek Academy had been the unlucky party that took the fallout. Even Elder Mu's spine had been crippled by Du Bisi.
Even without Ling Bai, Yan Shaozhe would have been happy to stomp on the Body Sect. Ling Bai simply gave him ample justification to stomp a few extra times. In any case, there was no conflict between Shrek Academy and the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. Beyond that, Ma Xiaotao's intimate relationship offered yet another layer of assurance. As long as Shrek Academy did not overstep, its position would remain rock-solid.
"How bold! Who dares intrude upon the Body Sect!"
The mountain-guarding disciples had no idea their sect had already been sentenced to death. They still believed they belonged to that Body Sect standing at the very pinnacle of the continent, and even faced with so many experts radiating overwhelming auras, they dared open their mouths and shout curses.
Countless brilliant golden swords poured down in a slanting rain. Ten Thousand Blades Radiant Glory turned every mountain-guarding disciple into a porcupine. The Seraphim had yet to absorb its ninth spirit ring, but Rank 95 spirit power greatly amplified every spirit skill's might. The killing was no different from chopping melons and slicing vegetables.
They broke through one barrier after another, and Ling Bai and the others pushed right up to the Body Sect's castle. Every disciple left guarding the sect had gathered together, staring at the uninvited guests as though facing mortal enemies.
"Jianmu Douluo, Taotie Douluo, Bright Phoenix Douluo, Tianyuan Douluo..."
The Body Sect's Spirit Douluo elder recognized these Titled Douluo, and cold sweat instantly drenched his brow. The Sect Master had led a party down the mountain to seize treasure. How had the sect been so unlucky as to have an entire flock of granddaddies suddenly barge in?!
"S-Seniors..." the Spirit Douluo elder stammered. "The Sect Master is away. Please wait a moment. This junior will send someone to summon him!"
No one spared him a glance. Pair after pair of eyes fixed on Ling Bai. He drew a deep breath and spoke slowly:
"The stench of evil here is thick beyond measure.
The Body Sect has been overtaken. Every last person in sight is an Evil Spirit Master!"
"Ah???"
The Body Sect elder was dumbstruck.
Evil Spirit Masters?
Where had Evil Spirit Masters come from?
"Cut the weeds and pull up the roots. It's a principle even small children understand. I shouldn't need to teach it to you."
Ling Bai looked toward the Heavenly Soul Empire's experts with a faint smile on his lips. Color drained from their faces in an instant, and they lowered their heads with heavy sighs.
The subtext was unmistakable. Exterminate the sect!
Someone couldn't bear it. He stepped forward and cupped his hands. "Holy Evil Douluo, heaven cherishes all living things. Might we spare a single thread of the Body Sect's bloodline?"
"Of course," Ling Bai said mildly. "As long as you can tell me which ones are Evil Spirit Masters and which ones aren't."
He casually seized the Spirit Douluo elder and dragged him before the compassionate Titled Douluo.
"Tell me. Do you think he is an Evil Spirit Master?"
"N-no," the Titled Douluo forced out.
"You're wrong. He is an Evil Spirit Master."
Ling Bai removed the Thousand Illusion Charming Appearance and pressed it onto the Body Sect elder's face, activating the disguise. The elder's spirit power fluctuations shifted to an evil attribute, and his features twisted into something ferocious and monstrous.
The Titled Douluo staggered back several steps in fright. Ling Bai ended the elder's life, his voice perfectly calm:
"The entire Body Sect has fallen into depravity. We are all mighty powers of the Heavenly Soul Empire, and we share a responsibility to purge evil. Those who cannot bear it may leave. I'll simply pay them a personal visit myself later.
As you know, the Seraphim is quite sensitive to Evil Spirit Masters. Who's to say I won't discover that certain sects have been privately harboring them..."
Every person present trembled from head to toe. If an ordinary man accused them of sheltering Evil Spirit Masters, the words would mean nothing. The Seraphim was something else entirely!
This was very much his area of expertise!
One line of 'you colluded with Evil Spirit Masters' was all it took for a sect to detonate on the spot and spiral into oblivion!
"Everyone, please."
After a moment's mental preparation, no one dared risk Holy Evil Douluo turning up at their own gates. They began cutting down the Body Sect's disciples. Ling Bai kept Jianmu Douluo, Ning Fengyu, and everyone from Shrek Academy out of the killing.
Once blood stained their blades, they became accomplices. For the sake of their sects' good names through the ages, they would spare no effort smearing the Body Sect and singing the praises of Holy Evil Douluo's greatness.
"Teacher, keep an eye on them. Don't let a single Body Sect disciple slip away.
Aunt Yu, let's head to the Body Sect treasury."
Ling Bai blasted the vault doors open with a single sword stroke and led Ning Fengyu inside. Unlike the Holy Spirit Cult's dazzling variety, the Body Sect's hoard was rather monotonous. Every last item was a Spirit Master cultivation resource!
"Damn, so many spirit bones!"
Ning Fengyu rubbed her eyes. A 100,000-year bone on the left, a 100,000-year bone on the right. The Body Sect's spirit bone reserves were several times those of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan!
When it came to spirit bones, some factions died of drought while others drowned in flood. Superpowers like these only accumulated more and more as the years passed. Back when the Body Sect triggered the Star Dou beast tide, they'd killed seven 100,000-year spirit beasts. In this generation alone, Du Busi had absorbed three 100,000-year spirit rings. Du Bisi and Du Busi were hailed as the Twin Heroes of the Body Sect, and their spirit ring configurations were logically identical.
By that reckoning, the Body Sect's 100,000-year spirit bones easily numbered in the double digits. Add in the bones left behind by fallen Sect Masters of past generations, and their reserves were nothing short of heaven-defying.
Ling Bai openly summoned spectral creatures to do the heavy lifting. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Ning Fengyu slipping a 100,000-year spirit bone into her bosom, and he couldn't help but laugh.
"Aren't you already fully equipped with spirit bones?"
"So what? I'm saving it for my son!" Ning Fengyu replied without the slightest shame.
Ling Bai: ...
Spectral creatures knew no fatigue. They were the ideal workhorses for any ruthless capitalist, and they emptied the entire warehouse in short order.
When the two returned, the Body Sect had already become a river of blood. Not a single trace of life remained.
After the stick came the sweet date. Ling Bai distributed some 10,000-year spirit bones among the group, rewarded Tianyuan Douluo with a few cultivation resources, and quietly slipped Yan Shaozhe an extra 100,000-year spirit bone on the side. Having all feasted on the Body Sect's 'human-blood bun,' the assembled experts broke into delighted smiles.
Holy Evil Douluo was the greatest good man under heaven! The 'Evil' in his title was there to constantly remind him to stand against evil at every moment!
At last, Yan Shaozhe drafted a public notice. The gist was that Du Busi had been Death Abyss Douluo, that the Body Sect had colluded with the Holy Spirit Cult, and that every disciple within had fallen to evil without exception. Therefore, the major powers had joined hands to execute justice and eradicate the Body Sect.
The Titled Douluo present left their spiritual imprints one by one, lending the notice considerable weight. That done, each returned home.
...
Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan.
"A thunderclap splits the sky, Holy Evil Douluo makes his entrance!"
The familiar voice made Ning Fengya smack her ancient text flat against the desk. A chill swept the room as she teleported outside.
Ning Tian, Wu Feng, and Ling Qiuxi flew out after her. The trio had returned safely, and Ning Fengyu was already glued to Ling Bai's side as his self-appointed bodyguard.
"Step back! Step back! Don't block the path for our family's Holy Evil Highness!"
Ling Bai covered his face. Jianmu Douluo's beard trembled with fury, and he resolved on the spot to draft Ning Fengyu a cultivation regimen so precise it would account for every second of her day.
Ning Fengyu had no idea she was about to undergo devil training. She tugged Ling Bai along like an overexcited puppy and bounded up to Ning Fengya.
"Sis, the sect's blood feud has finally been avenged! We hauled back every treasure the Body Sect hoarded for thousands of years!
You should have seen it. The moment Xiao Bai unleashed his second Martial Spirit, it was pure slaughter. He cut down all nine of the Body Sect's Titled Douluo single-handed. Body Douluo Du Busi didn't even leave an intact corpse behind. Oh, wait, slip of the tongue. From now on it's Death Abyss Douluo Du Busi!"
"Death Abyss Douluo Du Busi?" Ning Fengya's beautiful eyes narrowed.
Ning Fengyu jerked her chin toward Ling Bai. "This brat pointed a finger and declared the Body Sect the Death Abyss on the spot. Even I was floored!"
Ling Qiuxi's expression didn't change; she had known Ling Bai's secret for a long time. Ning Tian was a little surprised but understood him all the same. Wu Feng, on the other hand, ground her little canine teeth.
He hadn't told her!
Punishment. There had to be punishment!
The last time Ling Bai had bullied her, he had left her adrift in a wondrous, boneless bliss she still hadn't quite shaken. If he gave her another night like that, she would forgive him!
"Auntie Yu, Death Abyss Douluo shouldn't really be Du Busi, should he? Isn't it possible there's been a misunderstanding?" Ye Guyi hesitated before venturing the question.
Ning Fengyu nearly choked on her own breath. So our clan really is home to one genuinely sweet, doe-eyed innocent, is it?
"Who Death Abyss Douluo is doesn't matter. If Xiao Bai says Death Abyss Douluo lives, he lives. If he says he dies, he dies. You can't go wrong trusting him."
She flicked Ye Guyi the tiniest of hints and left the rest for the girl to figure out on her own.
With their great vendetta repaid and Ling Bai now standing as Holy Evil Douluo, double happiness had descended upon the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. Ling Bai handed over the 10,000-year spirit bones he had no use for to Ning Fengya, who promptly turned around and gifted them to the geniuses he had recruited. Spirit gold coins flowed like water.
…
That night, Ye Guyi sat cross-legged on her bed and could not, no matter how long she tried, settle into meditation. She was no fool. She had grasped the meaning behind Ning Fengyu's hint. She simply refused to accept the answer.
'No. I have to go and ask him.'
Her thoughts churning and sleep impossible, she resolved to find Ling Bai and get a straight answer from him.
She arrived outside his room and was just about to knock when a faint, sweet, delicate voice drifted through the door.
"Ahh..."
Her hand fell weakly to her side. Ye Guyi leaned against the wall and waited quietly for the clouds to part and the rain to still. Two full hours passed, and the sounds within only grew more heated.
Anxiety gnawed at her. She eased the door open just a crack, only enough to see what on earth was taking so long.
The battle inside was exceptionally fierce. Wu Feng was hopelessly trapped. Her dream had always been to dominate the Bai-Tian pair together, yet she was invariably the one being overpowered by the two of them. Tonight she had been reduced to the hired laborer, working hard to grind down Ling Bai's endurance so she could yield her place to Ning Tian at the critical moment.
Ning Tian had long yearned to bear Ling Bai's eldest son. Unfortunately, the gap between their physical constitutions was far too great. With Wu Feng in the mix, however, things were different. She could wait in peace to receive the rain and dew.
As a pure, unmarried maiden, when had Ye Guyi ever witnessed such a dazzling spectacle? Her cheeks flared scarlet in an instant. Every instinct screamed at her to flee, yet her feet quite honestly refused to move an inch. Her golden eyes could not bear to blink, and she murmured under her breath:
"Heavens... this is too terrifying..."
Another two hours crawled by. Ning Tian looked utterly satisfied, silently praying the seeds within her would take root and bloom. Wu Feng's eyes had lost focus, her body slack as a rag doll played with until it broke.
Ling Bai pulled on a shirt and headed for the door. Ye Guyi darted around the corner and pretended she had only just arrived, nearly walking straight into him as he stepped out.
"What a coincidence. You weren't cultivating either?"
Ye Guyi wore a pretty face still tinged with unfaded blush, but she forced her voice into calm.
"Yeah. Just a bit excited after becoming a Titled Douluo."
Excited over becoming a Titled Douluo, is it? Are you quite certain that's what has you so worked up at this hour? Ye Guyi grumbled inwardly.
"There's something I want to talk to you about. Do you have time now?"
"I do. Things aren't very convenient on my end, though. How about we go to your room?"
"It's too late. If someone saw us, there would be misunderstandings..." Ye Guyi's eyes darted away.
"True. Then...
Let's go to the underground secret chamber."