Chu Ye Again?
As expected of the Dragon God Douluo, his way of doing things was far better than Yan Shaozhe's.
Straight to the point.
As for the Spirit Pagoda's purpose, there was nothing to hide.
Chu Ye's original body had founded the Spirit Pagoda to change the future fates of the many people on the Douluo Continent and thereby earn more Fate Points.
Besides, Soul Beast lives mattered too.
The Spirit Pagoda he intended to build would undergo extensive reforms from the one in the original story. For example, the contracts between Soul Spirits and Soul Masters would be equal contracts.
Soul Spirits could even be passed down from one generation to the next like family heirlooms, receiving the nurturing of several generations of Soul Masters.
They might even become Soul Spirit ancestors.
And the Spirit Pagoda, which brought about all these changes, would reap a great many Fate Points.
There was a great gold mine here, waiting to be dug.
He would also use an entirely different method to assess the humans selected to form contracts with Soul Spirits.
So Wei Goat, as the pagoda master, held nothing back and explained to Mu En:
"The Spirit Pagoda's purpose is exactly what it says. As its name suggests, it is to spread Soul Spirits throughout the world."
"The Spirit Pagoda will remain neutral in the future and provide Soul Spirits only to Soul Masters with talent and sufficient character, allowing them to sign equal contracts with Soul Spirits."
"Regardless of their background or status, anyone a Soul Spirit accepts may form a contract."
"One month from now, our Spirit Pagoda will hold its founding ceremony. Many Soul Spirits will be waiting there to form contracts with those fated to meet them. Shrek Academy is welcome to visit our Spirit Pagoda then."
"Of course, it would be best if those fated to meet them were from the younger generation."
Mu En nodded.
"Thank you for clearing that up, Pagoda Master."
He knew there should be little falsehood in Wei Goat's words.
As a rank 98 Titled Douluo and the leader of this newly established faction, he had no reason to lie to him about such things.
For anything deeper, he would probably have to wait until the Spirit Pagoda's founding ceremony a month later.
Mu En believed most of it, but Yan Shaozhe, who had just suffered a terrible fright, did not believe it at all.
Just to spread Soul Spirits?
How could that be?
In his view, there had to be a deeper conspiracy.
Wei Goat could not be bothered with the two of them.
He did not care in the slightest whether they believed him.
"This is our Spirit Pagoda's handbook, with information about the founding ceremony and an introduction to Soul Spirits. Senior Mu En, you may take it back and look it over."
With that, Wei Goat strolled back into the Spirit Pagoda.
The Ferocious Beasts had yet to arrive and help, so he was the only one doing the grunt work. He had no time to waste chatting with these two.
He had notified Shrek; his other clones could take care of the other places.
Having received the handbook, Mu En and Yan Shaozhe naturally knew when to take their leave.
Inside the Sea God Pavilion.
Yan Shaozhe recounted everything that had happened at the Spirit Pagoda.
The assembled elders could not help drawing sharp breaths.
Even Yan Shaozhe, a rank 95 Super Douluo, had his soul seized by that giant soul hand in a single move.
It had completely disregarded Yan Shaozhe's Soul Power and Martial Soul. What a terrifying ability!
Qian Duoduo was astonished.
"Even an Evil Soul Master couldn't do something like that, could they?"
Xuan Zi reacted most strongly.
He sprang to his feet and began to curse.
"This Spirit Pagoda is far too arrogant! They simply don't take our Shrek Academy seriously at all!"
"That Wei Goat is plainly an Evil Soul Master, yet he calls himself the Spirit Pagoda master?"
"And Di Tian has actually joined forces with those people from the Zodiac Temple. Just what is their Star Dou Great Forest plotting?"
Xuan Zi took a fierce swig of wine and said:
"Mu En, I propose that we stay away from this so-called founding ceremony. It's obviously a trap."
"We'd be better off gathering our forces at once. I'll lead them myself and raze that Spirit Pagoda to the ground."
In Xuan Zi's view, it was one thing that they could never find anyone from the Zodiac Temple.
But now that they had suddenly set up this Spirit Pagoda, it was undoubtedly the best chance to wipe it out!
At Xuan Zi's outrageous remarks,
Zhulong, who was undercover, gave a derisive laugh and said:
"Xuan Zi, tell me, what's left in that head of yours besides chicken legs and wine?"
"If you're so damn capable, why didn't you just wipe Mao Rabbit out when you faced her back then?"
"Didn't you hear what Yan Shaozhe said? Wei Goat subdued him in a single move. Can you subdue Yan Shaozhe in one move?"
Hearing that, Yan Shaozhe could not help feeling dark lines appear on his forehead.
Why did it feel like he had become a unit for measuring combat strength?
Xuan Zi flew into a rage.
"Zhulong, what's with that snide tone?"
"My proposal was also meant to uphold Shrek's dignity."
"You boost others' spirit while putting out our own. What are you really after?"
"That Wei Goat merely exploited the fact that we didn't know what he could do."
"Now that we know, how could we fall for it so easily?"
Zhulong could not help finding that amusing.
"What am I really after?"
He looked at Xuan Zi with utter contempt.
"If you're so damn capable, go by yourself. Whatever you do, don't bring me along."
"And don't take our inner court elites with you and get them killed one by one again."
"Then come back and claim it was all one accident after another."
"If you ask me, if you've got the ability, go challenge Wei Goat one-on-one yourself!"
As Zhulong dragged up the past again, Xuan Zi's face flushed red with anger.
The assembled elders fell silent as they watched the two argue.
They found they had grown used to it.
If the two did not argue, they would not be used to it.
Mu En felt a headache coming on and said:
"Xuan Zi, we cannot act rashly now."
"The Spirit Pagoda's foundation runs far deeper than what we see on the surface."
Xuan Zi grew anxious.
"Mu En, this is clearly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
But Mu En sighed and said:
"When you break through to rank 99 and become a Limit Douluo, you can lead a force against the Spirit Pagoda."
"Even I am extremely wary of that Spirit Pagoda master."
Even the Dragon God Douluo was wary of the Spirit Pagoda master.
How could that be?
Xuan Zi was stunned.
He wanted to earn merit, but he also knew that even several of him together could not defeat Mu En.
So he could only lower his banners and silence his drums.
Mu En pointed at the Spirit Pagoda's information handbook and said:
"In thirty days, the Spirit Pagoda will hold its founding ceremony."
"Then they will release a group of Soul Spirits for our Shrek and the various factions, but it mentions that there will be corresponding assessments."
"Although it doesn't specify what form the tests will take, to form contracts with Soul Spirits, we need to send disciples who have just broken through their limits but have not absorbed Soul Rings."
Hearing this, the many elders of Shrek Academy could not help feeling awkward.
For the most part, as soon as students broke through to a bottleneck, they would immediately go and absorb a Soul Ring so as not to delay their cultivation progress.
The inner court's gifted elites, represented by the Shrek Seven Devils-Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, Ling Luochеn, Chen Zifeng, Yao Haoxuan and the others-already had complete sets of Soul Rings, with no slots open at all.
Ordinary new students with one or two rings, on the other hand, had cultivation levels that were too low. If the various factions gathered there, sending them might make Shrek lose face.
Yan Shaozhe spoke up.
"By setting the date one month from now, the Spirit Pagoda is clearly trying to exclude most students."
"Gaining one rank in a month is about as much as one can manage."
The assembled elders nodded.
But Mu En waved a hand.
"Bring however many we can."
"What matters most isn't how many Soul Spirits our students can obtain, but that we must step up our research into the technology behind Soul Spirits."
"In the future, Soul Spirits will surely change the entire continent's landscape."
Yan Shaozhe nodded.
He then took a list from his Space Soul Tool and passed it to the elders present.
"This is the list of those who can participate: those who haven't absorbed a Soul Ring but are on the verge of a breakthrough."
The elders frowned.
Most of them were low-level outer court students.
Yan Shaozhe hesitated to speak.
Zhulong said, "Shaozhe, if you have something to say, go ahead. If you keep holding it in, how are we supposed to know?"
Yan Shaozhe sighed. "There's one more person I didn't add."
Xuan Zi's brow twitched. "You don't mean Chu Ye, do you?"