Chapter 135: Return to the Star Dou Great Forest, A Hundred-Thousand-Year Spatial Beast
"Mhm. That is how it should be."
Elder Mu observed the two figures standing before him. They had just clasped hands, sealing a solemn vow. A faint glimmer of relief finally pierced through the murky anxiety that had clouded the old man's eyes for days.
To the master of the Sea God Pavilion, the situation was dire but not unsalvageable. Shrek Academy had been stripped of its ten-thousand-year crown at Star Luo Plaza. Their ancient dignity had been dragged through the mud and trampled upon by Liu Yuan. Yet, as long as their internal backbone remained unyielding, this massive, continent-spanning teaching machine could grind back into motion. Everything they lost could be reclaimed.
Elder Xuan's overwhelming combat power and Huo Yuhao's limitless potential were the two core trump cards left in his withered hands. Only by perfectly aligning these two forces could Shrek Academy forge a path toward a new future.
The crushing weight on Elder Mu's chest lightened considerably. He settled back into the main seat of the pavilion, his frail body sinking into the wood before he leaned forward slightly. It was time to issue the first directive of their reorganization.
"Elder Xuan," the old man began, his voice raspy but steady. "Since the knot in your heart has finally been untied, do not delay for another second. Set off immediately. Take Huo Yuhao to the Star Dou Great Forest once more and secure his third soul ring."
Elder Mu shifted his gaze to the young boy. Undisguised expectation burned in his ancient eyes.
"Yuhao has now reached the bottleneck of rank thirty. With just this final soul ring, he will undergo a qualitative transformation and officially step into the world of a Soul Elder. This threshold is absolutely crucial for his future cultivation speed. More, it is the key step he must take if he ever hopes to catch up to Liu Yuan."
At the mention of that name, the atmosphere in the room plummeted. The temperature seemed to drop. Elder Mu's tone hardened into something resembling cold steel. He locked his gaze onto Elder Xuan, enunciating every single syllable with crushing weight.
"Elder Xuan. This time, there must be absolutely no mistakes. Do you understand me? If a similar situation of inadequate protection or arrogant misjudgment occurs again... do not even think about returning to the Sea God Pavilion for the rest of your life."
The sheer gravity of the ultimatum pressed down on Elder Xuan's shoulders. His jaw tightened. The usually unkempt and casual elder straightened his posture, his expression turning deadly solemn. He agreed without a fraction of hesitation.
"Rest assured, Elder Mu. I accept this order." Elder Xuan's voice was hoarse, scraping like grinding stones, yet exceptionally firm. "This time, there will absolutely be no more oversights. If I cannot even protect a rank thirty soul ring acquisition, I will end my own life on the spot as an apology."
Deep within his chest, a fire of desperation burned. Elder Xuan had already framed this mission as his ultimate battle for redemption. He knew perfectly well that his reputation within the Sea God Pavilion had shattered into pieces. The face he had lost in front of the entire continent, the sheer humiliation he had endured, still clung to him like a foul stench.
If he could execute this soul ring hunt to absolute perfection, if he could help Huo Yuhao secure a top-tier attribute soul ring, he might just barely salvage his remaining prestige within the academy. But if even the slightest thing went wrong again? He would truly be nothing more than a hopeless, worthless sinner.
That very afternoon, the expedition party moved out. Elder Xuan did not even bother to rest and recuperate from his lingering injuries. Gathering Huo Yuhao and a small, elite squad of inner court Soul Masters dedicated to support and logistics, they slipped out of Shrek City in complete secrecy. Cloaked by the afternoon shadows, they rushed toward the Star Dou Great Forest at maximum speed.
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, deep within the treacherous edge of the Star Dou Great Forest's core zone.
Two figures darted silently between the towering, ancient trees. Liu Yuan and Du Busi moved like phantoms through the dense foliage.
The air in this region was suffocatingly thick and heavy with dampness. The canopy above was so dense that it choked out the sunlight entirely, leaving the forest floor bathed in perpetual twilight. Layers upon layers of thick, rotting leaves carpeted the earth. Every step they took produced a dull, squelching sound, releasing the pungent scent of decay into the stagnant air.
However, ever since they crossed an invisible threshold into this specific sector, the atmosphere had shifted into something distinctly eerie.
Liu Yuan suddenly dug his heels into the soil, halting his momentum. He tilted his head, his sharp gaze sweeping across their surroundings. The massive trees encircling them were completely identical in shape. Even the sprawling, dark green moss patterns clinging to the bark were exact replicas of one another.
"Master, halt for a moment." Liu Yuan's brows knit together, his voice dropping to a cautious whisper.
Du Busi came to an immediate stop. The towering master of the Body Sect had already sensed the unnatural stillness. A suspicious, dangerous glint flickered within his own emerald-green eyes.
The two of them had been handling this specific stretch of woods for a full hour. Given their monstrous physical speed, that amount of time should have been more than enough to traverse a massive chunk of the core zone. Yet, looking at the identical trunks and the unchanging gloom, it was painfully obvious. They were completely lost.
It did not matter which direction they chose to break through. It did not matter how much terrifying soul power Du Busi unleashed to forcefully carve a path through the vegetation. Every single time they advanced a few hundred meters, the scenery around them would undergo an incredibly smooth, almost imperceptible distortion. A blink later, the master and disciple would find themselves standing exactly where they had started.
"There is definitely something wrong here." Du Busi let out a cold, disdainful snort. The terrifying, suffocating soul power of a rank ninety-eight Super Douluo vibrated outward from his massive frame. The sheer pressure blasted the rotting leaves beneath his feet into a swirling vortex of debris. "This sort of ghost-wall trickery does not feel like a man-made array formation. It feels organic. Like the natural instinctual domain of a beast overlaying the environment."
Du Busi continuously projected his immense spiritual sense outward, sweeping the area like a tidal wave in an attempt to capture any abnormal soul power fluctuations. Yet, the feedback he received only deepened the frown on his rugged face. The ambient energy flow in the air was flawlessly natural. There was absolutely no trace of an artificial formation, nor the deceptive haze of a mental illusion.
Beside him, Liu Yuan had not been idle. He channeled his soul power into his Double Pupils. A deep, purple-gold brilliance ignited within his eyes, casting an ethereal glow in the dim forest. His enhanced vision pierced through the thick mist and the dense layers of ancient wood.
However, even within the absolute visual clarity of the Double Pupils, the spatial logic of their surroundings appeared completely self-consistent. He could trace the complex growth patterns of every single plant down to the cellular level, yet he could not locate the anchor point of the spatial distortion.
A camouflage so flawless that even the heaven-defying Double Pupils could not immediately dismantle it. Liu Yuan's lips pressed into a thin line. A rare sense of genuine challenge welled up within him.
Just as their investigation ground to a frustrating deadlock, a shift occurred deep within Liu Yuan's spiritual sea. The ancient, unfathomably steady voice of Electrolux echoed in his mind.
'Although your Double Pupils possess the divine right to see through all falsehoods, you are limiting yourself. If you only stare at the solid, material objects before you, you will never find the flaw in the canvas.'The old necromancer's tone was instructive, carrying the weight of countless lifetimes.'Calm your mind, Liu Yuan. Shift your focus. Perceive the formless currents in the air that the naked eye ignores.'Following his words, a delicate wisp of Electrolux's divine sense unfurled from the spiritual sea, temporarily merging with a fraction of Liu Yuan's visual perception.'Pay close attention to the coordinates thirty degrees to your front-left, exactly three zhang away,'Electrolux guided smoothly.'The ambient airflow in that specific pocket is entirely divorced from the surrounding environmental loop. It is caught in an extremely secretive, localized spiral backflow.'
Liu Yuan's expression sharpened. He instantly adjusted his line of sight, following the ancient master's guidance. He funneled the entirety of his mental strength into his Double Pupils, locking his purple-gold gaze onto those exact coordinates.
Under that extreme, pinpoint focus, the fabric of reality finally betrayed itself. A microscopic wrinkle materialized in the empty space that had previously looked like nothing but thin air. The distortion was incredibly subtle, mimicking the faintest, most delicate ripple on the surface of a still pond. Without knowing exactly where to look, it was a flaw impossible to detect.
Liu Yuan's arm snapped up, his finger pointing directly at the anomaly.
"Master, strike there!" he commanded sharply. "The airflow in that specific pocket of space is rotating in reverse. That has to be the anchor point of this spatial maze!"
Du Busi's head snapped toward the target. Even with his immense cultivation, he could not see the microscopic spatial ripple. But it did not matter. His trust in his disciple's judgment was absolute. He did not hesitate for a fraction of a second.
"Shatter for this old man!"
Du Busi unleashed a thunderous roar that shook the ancient canopy. His right arm surged with explosive muscle mass, his hand morphing into a colossal, emerald-green claw projection. Carrying the tyrannical, overbearing power to physically tear through the void itself, he slammed his monstrous strike directly into the coordinates Liu Yuan had marked.
Crack—!
A sharp, deafening sound, exactly like a massive pane of glass shattering under a hammer, echoed violently through the damp forest.
The seemingly stable fabric of space caved in instantly beneath the Super Douluo's devastating blow. The uniform, infinitely looping scenery of identical trees dissolved like a torn painting, peeling away to reveal the true, untamed, and pitch-black depths of the core zone.
Right at the epicenter of the collapsed spatial domain, a bizarre entity tumbled out of the void. It was a strange soul beast, its figure phantom-like and cast in a translucent, ethereal light purple. Because its innate domain had been violently ruptured, it crashed heavily onto the rotting leaves, looking thoroughly disheveled.
Its physical structure vaguely resembled a sleek leopard, yet sprouting from its back was a pair of crystal-clear wings that shimmered like those of a cicada. Faint clusters of starlight flickered at the tips of its four paws. With every breath it took, an incredibly pure, highly concentrated spatial fluctuation pulsed from its body, warping the air around it.
This was the exact prey Liu Yuan had been hunting for. A Spatial Beast.
Dark, blood-red light patterns pulsed rhythmically beneath its translucent fur. That crimson glow was the ultimate insignia of power in the Star Dou Great Forest. Its cultivation had undeniably reached the terrifying threshold of a hundred-thousand years. The beast scrambled to its feet, its muscles coiling tight as it entered a state of high-alert combat readiness.
The moment Du Busi laid eyes on the majestic creature, a dazzling, predatory brilliance erupted in his emerald eyes. His blood boiled with extreme excitement.
"Hahaha! It really is you, you slippery beast!" Du Busi's booming laughter rattled the surrounding trees. "A hundred-thousand-year Spatial Beast, actually hiding in the mud playing hide-and-seek with your betters!"
The master of the Body Sect took a heavy step forward. His rank ninety-eight soul power crashed down like a surging tsunami, instantly sealing off every conceivable escape route the creature could take. The sheer atmospheric pressure caused the ground to crack and splinter.
"We wore out our iron shoes hunting for you, only to find you right on our doorstep!" Du Busi grinned, baring his teeth. "To become my disciple's fifth soul ring... you can only die here today!"
Sensing the apocalyptic, destructive aura radiating from the human before it, the Spatial Beast let out a sharp, ear-piercing hiss. Its crystal wings vibrated at a blinding frequency, desperately attempting to warp the surrounding space and tear open a rift for escape.
But in the face of Du Busi's absolute, overwhelming strength, such frantic resistance was nothing more than the futile struggling of a trapped insect.
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