This Deformed World

"How could it be you? How could you become an Evil Soul Master? Why? Have you forgotten how Evil Soul Masters slaughtered our hometown?" Hua Qiang demanded furiously.

"Forgotten? How could I forget, Hua Qiang?" He Hua said. "But do you think I had a choice?"

"My Innate Soul Power was only two. In a world with nothing but noble academies, where academies only recognize talent, what chance did I have besides becoming an Evil Soul Master?" He Hua said mockingly.

"But you were different. From the moment you awakened a martial soul with Innate Full Soul Power, we no longer belonged to the same class. To embark on the path of a Soul Master, without resources, class, or pedigree, I could only take the path of an Evil Soul Master." He Hua said.

"Why did I become an Evil Soul Master? Because I didn't need you to help me take revenge. I wanted to take revenge with my own hands." He Hua gritted out.

"But do you know what I saw after joining the Evil Soul Masters?"

"So many people just like me, with no background, no Soul Power, no status. Some were slaves; some had their wives taken by local landlords and, consumed by resentment, plotted to kill those landlords before becoming wanted criminals. And some... some were... were—"

"Graduates of your Shrek Academy." He Hua's voice was as shrill as that of a vicious ghost.

"Th-that's impossible. How could Shrek Academy cultivate Evil Soul Masters?" Hua Qiang felt as if her entire worldview were falling apart.

"Hahahaha." He Hua said, "I wonder if you remember how your academy distortedly pursues student talent. It wants only monsters, not trash. Every student pays an enormous price to enter the academy. Some even exhaust their life savings just to graduate from Shrek Academy, only to be casually expelled because of a single sentence from one of your academy's instructors. Everything from the first half of their lives goes to waste, while the second half becomes bleak and lightless. Tell me, do they hate it?"

Did they hate it?

As one of the Shrek Seven Devils, Hua Qiang had received Shrek Academy's focused education. She had only heard of such matters in passing, but He Hua's words struck Hua Qiang like thunder!

"I hate Evil Soul Masters. But when I willingly became one of them, when I came to understand them more and more, I realized something. Only a small fraction of Evil Soul Masters are truly, truly evil. The vast majority are people like me!" He Hua said. "They have suffered far too much injustice in this world. They hate this world, and their resentment drives their martial souls toward evil and corruption!"

"It is this deformed society that created us. And what can your hypocritical Shrek Academy do?"

He Hua said, "We hate this world, so we bring disaster wherever we go. Your Enforcement Team then comes in the name of saviors, rescuing those who have not yet suffered. Some of those people turn to Evil Soul Masters out of hatred, while the others become deeply grateful to the Shrek Enforcement Team and the Sea God."

"But whether they are followers of the Sea God or Evil Soul Masters like us who hate this world, who among us did not come from the common people?" He Hua said. "Even you, lofty Soul Master miss, didn't you also rise from among us common people?"

"Can you completely eradicate Evil Soul Masters? No, you never can—unless you destroy everyone. Otherwise, the darkness in people's hearts will never cease."

Upon hearing this, Hua Qiang's eyes became lost. Both Evil Soul Masters and Soul Masters came from the common people. As long as evil thoughts existed in people's hearts, Evil Soul Masters could always emerge. How could they possibly be eradicated?

Hua Qiang and He Hua's opposing experiences had given them different perspectives. When He Hua revealed the nature of Evil Soul Masters to Hua Qiang, Hua Qiang's worldview shattered.

Life was slipping away, yet He Hua showed no fear. Instead, she said with a self-mocking smile:

"Let me ask you something. Why are the Shrek Enforcement Team and the imperial armies always so late when facing other Evil Soul Masters, yet when it came to the Evil Spirit Hall I created, they were willing to spare no effort to destroy me?"

"Why?" Hua Qiang asked.

"Scattered Evil Soul Masters don't dare lay hands on major powers like the Two Great Empires, the nobility, or Shrek Academy. To strengthen themselves, they can only draw power from ordinary people and refine their cultivation. Their existence does not affect the rule of Shrek or the Two Great Empires. On the contrary, whenever they wreak havoc in a region, the Shrek Seven Devils and the Two Great Empires suppress them once, and the people become deeply grateful. It actually benefits them by maintaining their rule. But I am different."

"I gathered the power of Evil Soul Masters and organized them. I wanted to overthrow this unjust society, overthrow the rule of Shrek Academy and the Two Great Empires, and destroy faith in the Sea God." He Hua said. "Only when I truly endangered their rule did they take me so seriously and try to crush me."

"The existence of Evil Soul Masters merely serves to display their justice and mission. Ordinary people provide them with taxes, labor, and faith, while they remain high above everyone else. In this deformed world, anyone who dares challenge the class system will be ruthlessly suppressed."

"You won, Hua Qiang." He Hua said. "But did you really win? You are merely a sword in their hands. Even without you, they would have used another sword to kill me."

"Enough. Kill me. Take my head and trade it for your power and status. Forget your past, and become a lofty Soul Master."

"No," Hua Qiang said. "He Hua, I have never forgotten my past, and I never will!"

"Perhaps the methods I once used against Evil Soul Masters were too extreme. But I will still uphold my beliefs: Evil Soul Masters must be eradicated, only through different methods. Go."

Hua Qiang's thorns released He Hua. He Hua's words had made her begin to examine herself. Yet when she returned to Shrek Academy that night, she unexpectedly saw He Hua's corpse hanging high in the air, suspended amid the banners of the three-way allied forces of Shrek, the Heaven Dou Empire, and the Star Luo Empire. In every city and village they passed through, countless people witnessed their majesty, as though they were proclaiming to the world that this was the fate of Evil Soul Masters—or perhaps—

This was the fate of anyone who dared challenge them!

At the sight of this, Hua Qiang's heart ached unbearably. She had been willing to spare her childhood companion, but could Shrek Academy, the Two Great Empires, the Tang Sect, the Clear Sky Sect, and these other powers possibly spare her?