Chapter 137: Across Mountains and Rivers, Will You Walk With Me?
Through thousands of mountains, across countless rivers.
Well, maybe not that exaggerated—but every day it was the same: running, standing at attention, surviving in the wild.
Xie Xie couldn't help grumbling.
Wasn't this worse than Shrek Academy?
Not that he'd ever studied there, but it sounded that way. He rowed up beside Sima Jinchi, frowning.
"Instructor, what exactly is our mission?!"
Wasting three months like this felt pointless. Wouldn't intense cultivation yield better results?
He'd rather soak in the Spirit Transmission Tower's training facilities than paddle bamboo rafts all day.
"No comment," Sima Jinchi said coldly.
Sitting cross-legged atop one of several bamboo rafts lashed together, he let his subordinates row across the wide river. Eyes closed, his face stayed as unreadable as ever.
"Uh, seriously?"
Defeated, Xie Xie turned silently back to rowing.
What else could he do?
Curse you, he thought bitterly. One day when I become a Titled Douluo, I'll beat the crap out of you!
Sadly, that ambition was doomed from birth. Even if he evolved his martial soul into the Time-Space Dragon, he would never overcome the Dragon-Slaying Blade—the natural nemesis of all dragonkind.
Even Di Tian feared it. Perhaps even the original Dragon God couldn't withstand it.
What kind of lunatic divides his power into rival halves anyway? Split personality much?
"Ancestor, when will this miserable life end?"
Huo Yun'er sighed listlessly. She'd grown up in comfort, the only "rough" place she'd ever known being the underground forge she used for training.
But this? Sleeping outdoors and eating grilled fish every day? Pure torture.
Everyone felt the same—Qian Gu Zhangting included. The Spirit Ascension Platform wasn't good enough now? The Sky Tower facilities too boring?
Wilderness survival? What were they, cavemen?
Still, with an instructor carrying the title "Di Tian's First Disciple," no one dared complain aloud.
Even the proud heir to the Spirit Transmission Tower couldn't utter a peep.
The name Di Tian alone was law.
As for the Snow Empress, Jiang Chen, and Gu Yue—they were unfazed.
The wilderness? That was home.
For soul beasts, nature's embrace brought comfort, not hardship.
…
Meanwhile, Yun Ming's life in Shrek Academy wasn't going well.
The so-called strongest man on the continent couldn't even manage his own academy.
A council full of self-deluded elders clinging to ancient pride.
It was all too familiar—Shrek repeating the same mistakes of its past, blinded by nostalgia.
Worse yet, his deputy and closest assistant, Long Yayue, hadn't sided with him at all.
How could he expect understanding from a widow driven half-mad by grief?
Yet every time he returned home, to the isolated courtyard he shared with Yali, peace finally returned.
"You're back," Yali greeted gently as she took his hand and guided him into a wicker chair. "Rough meeting again?"
She began massaging his shoulders, her soft touch easing the tension etched into his body.
"It's the same," he sighed. "Those stubborn old fools still won't face reality. Tell me, Yali… can I really lead Shrek back to its peak?"
His eyes dimmed with uncertainty.
Ever since the fall of the Eternal Heaven—since the destruction of the Golden Tree that had sustained Shrek for ten thousand years—the Academy's glory had collapsed.
Banished from the ruined Shrek City, now relocated to the Star Luo Continent…
"My name will go down as the most disgraced Pavilion Master in history," he murmured bitterly.
Even the gluttonous fool Taotie Douluo Xuanzai, as incompetent as he'd been, still had others to prop him up.
Yun Ming? He was on his own—dragged down by a council of old, fearful men.
It was enough to break anyone's spirit.
He'd even begun contemplating resignation.
Yali's voice was soft but firm. "Enough. Just be true to your heart. You've done your best. And if you ever decide to leave the Pavilion behind and retire quietly… I'll go with you."
Her words pierced straight through his exhaustion.
In that instant, Yun Ming remembered exactly why he had no regrets about his choices—why falling in love with this woman had been the greatest decision of his life.
Yali wasn't born a Shrek scholar, nor did she belong to noble lineage. She came from the Spirit Transmission Tower.
A girl from the slums.
Her martial soul—the Prayer Angel—was a rare healing type. Her soul power was weak, and her path as a soul master had been grueling.
But she chose a different way to cultivate: staying behind to heal the poor rather than leaving for a better life.
Her unique spirit could draw strength from the faith of others—the foundation of godhood itself.
When the Spirit Transmission Tower learned this, it immediately brought her in.
Together with the Federation, they spent immense resources to erase poverty nationwide, offering homes and jobs to every citizen.
Yali became their beacon of hope—a living saint. The Federation and Spirit Transmission Tower poured everything into her, attempting to create a god.
But love… love had no logic.
She met Yun Ming and abandoned it all for him.
For his sake, she erased her identity and disappeared from public memory. The "Holy Spirit Douluo" had faded into myth.
Of course, at the time, the Federation and Spirit Transmission Tower weren't nearly as unified as now. Letting her go was easier than fighting over which side her divine ascension would serve.
Besides, with the Divine Realm sealed off, even Limit Douluos knew the truth: godhood was no longer attainable.
Create your own divinity? Even then, with no realm to sustain your soul, eternal life was impossible—a false god at best.
They let her go in peace, using her departure as a way to curry favor with the strongest man alive—Yun Ming.
A noble gesture.
Even so, the world had never forgiven her.
Half the continent's young Titled Douluos had idolized Yali… and she had chosen Yun Ming—the one man no one wanted to see win.
The man who had crushed sixteen Titled Douluos single-handedly and, ten years later, stood unmatched at the summit of humanity.
"Sigh…"
Yun Ming's voice softened. "Right now, my only wish is to train Na'er well—to prepare her to inherit everything from me."
"When that time comes, we can finally lay down these burdens and live for ourselves."
"I'm sorry, Yali. You've endured too much because of me."
(END CHAPTER)
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