A wisp of gray light shot out from his forehead, landing on the ground and transforming into the figure of Electrolux.
"You may call this the Necromancy Demiplane."
As Electrolux spoke, a unique staff condensed in his hand. With a gentle wave of the staff, a massive swarm of undead creatures surged toward them. There were as many as thirteen different types, among which a particular bone dragon was incomparably powerful. Judging by its sheer aura alone, it was surprisingly not much inferior to Zhongli Wu or Elder Xuan.
Seeing the bone dragon, Electrolux nodded in satisfaction. "This Necromancy Demiplane was created by me. It has been a long time, and I did not expect it to evolve such a decent bone dragon. With this bone dragon and myself, I believe that even an Ultimate Douluo would find it very difficult to keep you here."
At this point, his expression suddenly turned serious. "However, I do not intend to let you use him directly, lest you form a dependency. You must walk your own path yourself. I can only protect you and the people around you."
"To have the power to protect myself is already enough to satisfy me," Feng Piaoling let out a long sigh.
When he stepped out of the Necromancy Demiplane and returned to his hotel room, he impatiently opened the window. He felt that the air was unprecedentedly fresh and sweet.
"Is this the taste of freedom? It truly is wonderful."
For the longest time, he had constantly worried about the dangers from Xu Tianran, the Holy Ghost Cult, and even Shrek. But today, all of those threats no longer existed.
From now on, the sky was high and the sea was wide, allowing him to roam freely.
Perhaps because his mind had been tense for so long, Feng Piaoling suddenly felt his mental energy grow a bit hazy, and a massive wave of fatigue washed over him. He smiled faintly, willingly lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and slowly drifted into dreamland.
When Feng Piaoling woke up and walked out of his room, the members of the Spirit Hall had already been waiting for a long time.
Jiang Nannan, Xiao Xiao, Nanmen Yun'er, Cui Yajie, Zhu Lu, Lan Susu, Lan Luoluo, Na Na, Huang Chutian, Wang Gang, Mu Jin, Mu Zhan, and Xuan Ziwen—everyone was there. Even Meng Hongchen, who had recently joined the Spirit Hall, was present.
"What are you all doing here?" Feng Piaoling asked in surprise.
"You still have the nerve to ask? Of course we were worried about you! You slept for two days and two nights straight. We were all worried that something happened to you, so we stayed here to watch over you."
With red eyes, Xiao Xiao stepped forward and grabbed Feng Piaoling's arm. It was clear that she had been incredibly worried about him. The others also showed expressions of deep concern.
Feng Piaoling felt a warmth in his heart and smiled gently. "It's nothing, I just had a dream."
"A dream?" Everyone looked puzzled.
"Yes, a very good dream." Feng Piaoling nodded without explaining further, changing the subject instead. "Since you're all here, what about the competition?"
Xiao Xiao replied, "We left it all to Xiao Hongchen and the main team. These past few days, Xiao Hongchen has been controlling one hundred and twenty-eight level-five soul tools all by himself. He certainly showed off a lot."
It was obvious from her tone that she was not at all fond of the constantly arrogant Xiao Hongchen.
"Oh right, Chutian's grandfather, Yajie's grandmother, and my father have all arrived. They all want to meet you."
When mentioning her father, Xiao Xiao's face noticeably turned red.
Feng Piaoling smiled and invited everyone into the room. "It is indeed time to meet them. I will go pay them a visit tomorrow. Besides that, has anything else happened over the past few days?"
He still remembered the auction regarding the Snow Empress embryo. Although he really wanted to obtain the embryo at the first opportunity, it was clearly unrealistic. Setting aside the fact that he didn't have that much money, buying it would likely cause him to be targeted by the Body Sect. Trading with Jing Hongchen was undoubtedly the best choice.
"A few days ago, my grandfather attended an auction and bought a hundred-thousand-year soul beast embryo and a seventy-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion left arm bone. It's said that the soul beast embryo has a certain chance of allowing a soul master to awaken a second martial soul, so my grandfather bid on the embryo for my brother, and the seventy-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion left arm bone for me."
Meng Hongchen truly did not treat Feng Piaoling like an outsider, sharing everything with him.
In the original timeline, Jing Hongchen had not come to watch this Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Duel Tournament. This time, having been called over by him, Jing Hongchen had actually gone ahead and successfully bid on both items.
Feng Piaoling said, "You haven't absorbed that soul bone yet, right?"
Meng Hongchen blinked in surprise and replied, "Not yet. My grandfather said that the tournament has too many eyes on it, so to prevent me from being targeted, he plans to let me absorb it after we return."
"It's fortunate that you haven't absorbed it. This Ice Jade Scorpion soul bone is extremely unique; it requires someone with an Ultimate Ice martial soul to absorb it. If anyone else tries to absorb it, they will instantly explode and die," Feng Piaoling said with a serious expression.
"Ah?" Meng Hongchen was thoroughly frightened, and the others couldn't help but break into a cold sweat for her.
Mu Jin said with some anger, "Isn't the Star Luo Empire just trying to scam people? To actually put out a soul bone with such a severe side effect."
"That might not necessarily be the case. After all, they didn't know who would win the auction. If the Sun Moon Empire bought it and someone exploded upon absorbing it, it would naturally be a joyous occasion for them. But if it were bought by Shrek or another major power, they would only be offending people."
Feng Piaoling shook his head, then turned to Meng Hongchen. "Have your grandfather keep that soul bone for you first. In the future, I will see if I can find a way to help you absorb it safely."
"Mm-hmm! I'll go find my grandfather right away." Meng Hongchen possessed a near-blind trust in Feng Piaoling. With that, she ran right out of his room.
As soon as Meng Hongchen left, Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo stood before Feng Piaoling.
"What is it?" Feng Piaoling faintly guessed what was happening.
Lan Susu took a deep breath and said, "Boss, just yesterday, two people claiming to be from the Body Sect approached us. They wanted to force us to join them."
Lan Luoluo added, "If Teacher Xuan and Old Ma hadn't been by our side, we would very likely have been abducted by them."
Feng Piaoling suddenly understood. "Has what was bound to come finally arrived?"
"Benefactor, you seemed to know they would come?" Jiang Nannan asked in surprise.
Feng Piaoling nodded. "Yes. Since the Body Sect takes its name from the body, they naturally place extreme importance on body martial souls. Especially for talented soul masters who possess body martial souls, they are prime targets for recruitment."
"And in truth, even if the Body Sect hadn't approached you, I was planning to find an opportunity to send you to them."
"Because this concerns the secondary or even tertiary awakening of your martial souls. Only by awakening your martial souls to the Golden Rank can you maximize the potential of your martial souls."
"But with Boss's Azure Lotus Sword Art, we can still become strong anyway," Lan Luoluo said, her eyes turning slightly red. It was clear that she was unwilling to leave Feng Piaoling.
Lan Susu felt the same way, looking at Feng Piaoling pitifully. "Can we choose not to go?"
Feng Piaoling stood up and patted both of their heads. "Although the Azure Lotus Sword Art is powerful, it is ultimately a cultivation method I created based on my own martial soul characteristics. It is most suitable for sword martial souls. According to my estimates, ordinary soul masters will find it very difficult to continue progressing after reaching the fifth or sixth layer."
"The compatibility of you two is slightly higher, and your inherent talent is good, so you might be able to reach the seventh or eighth layer. But reaching the ninth or tenth layer will be very difficult, and at that point, you will need to find another path."
"Furthermore, joining the Body Sect doesn't mean separating from me. As far as I know, the lifespan of an Ultimate Douluo is as high as three hundred years. By my estimates, at most ten years from now, we will have fully grown. After that, I will invite many sects, including the Body Sect, to jointly establish the Spirit Hall."
"When the time comes, I might even need to rely on you to persuade the upper echelons of the Body Sect."
After hearing Feng Piaoling's words, Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo no longer had any reason to refuse.
Lan Luoluo looked at him longingly. "Will we really be able to help Boss that way?"
"Of course," Feng Piaoling nodded.
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Is it really true?"
"It is really, really true..."
After repeating it several times, the two sisters finally broke into smiles through their tears. After exchanging a glance, Lan Susu said, "Boss, I will become the Sect Master of the Body Sect."
Lan Luoluo chimed in, "Then I'll be the Vice Sect Master. When the time comes, we'll abduct the whole Body Sect together to expand our Spirit Hall."
"Then I shall look forward to your good news." Feng Piaoling smiled, and the others laughed along.
Feng Piaoling then turned his gaze toward Na Na. "And you too, Na Na. Your Ghost martial soul also belongs to the category of body martial souls. You will need to go to the Body Sect to unlock its maximum potential."
"Understood, Mas... Boss." In her heart, Na Na had already long acknowledged Feng Piaoling as her master, so she naturally followed his words implicitly.
At the exact same time Feng Piaoling decided to let Na Na, Lan Susu, and Lan Luoluo join the Body Sect, a completely different scene was unfolding inside the Shrek residence.
Inside Shrek's private meeting room.
Elder Xuan was squatting in a corner, gloomily gnawing on a chicken leg and drinking liquor like a child who had done something wrong.
Yan Shaozhe and Zhang Lexuan looked at the silent, head-bowed Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yaoheng, Ling Luochen, Xi Xi, Dai Huabin, Huo Yuhao, Dong'er, and Wu Feng. They looked at Xu Sanshi and Gongyang Mo, who sat in wheelchairs with hearts as cold as dead ashes, and at the completely helpless Zhou Yi. For a long time, they didn't even know what to say.
After a long silence, Yan Shaozhe finally let out a long sigh. "I truly did not expect things to turn out like this. Just a regular Guardian task, yet it caused our Shrek to lose three students, and left Xu Sanshi and Gongyang Mo... Sigh..."
"This is all my fault. If I had chosen Wang Yan to lead the team back then, with his cautious nature, the children wouldn't have suffered such devastating losses." Elder Xuan took a fierce bite out of his chicken leg.
Yan Shaozhe naturally didn't dare to blame Elder Xuan, quickly saying, "Elder Xuan, you mustn't say that. If anything, the blame lies with me. If I hadn't insisted on recommending Zhou Yi to lead the team, things wouldn't have ended up like this."
"No, blame me."
"No, it's my fault..."
The two of them kept taking the blame, but every word spoken explicitly pointed the finger at Zhou Yi.
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