"What Kind of 'Power' Is This?!"

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

Long Yao's words, brimming with absolute confidence, were like the final straw that completely snapped the last thread of rationality belonging to Moon, the Sea God Pavilion Master.

"...Fine."

After an unknown amount of time, a hoarse word laden with complex emotions slowly emerged from Moon's mouth.

That word was like a silent pardon.

Having received his approval, the youth merely gave Moon a slight nod before calmly walking up to the young girl who still wore a sweet smile, under that cold gaze filled with utter shock and disbelief.

For the first time, the smile on Tang Wan'er's face froze.

Her cold, emotionless eyes stared fixedly at this youth who had suddenly intervened and ruined all her plans. She looked at him as though he were a true madman—someone even more incomprehensible and impossible to judge by common sense than herself.

"Let's go."

Long Yao gave her no time to react, merely speaking those two words.

Then, beneath Tang Wan'er's wary and astonished gaze, he led this young girl who radiated ominousness and evil aura out of the oppressive, imposing room, through the deep and silent corridor, and finally to a secluded grove behind the dormitory building, where no one was around and only chilly moonlight filtered through the dense canopy in mottled light and shadow.

The evening breeze was slightly cool.

It rustled the leaves in the forest, producing faint, scattered "shh-shh" sounds.

"Think we can have a proper chat now?"

The youth looked at her, and a trace of pure, inquisitive curiosity surfaced on his usually calm face.

The instant his words fell, before Tang Wan'er could answer, a cold pair of handcuffs forged from Deep Sea Sinking Silver mixed with Star Essence Gold appeared in the youth's hand as if from thin air. Their surface was inscribed with dozens of intricate, profound runes specifically designed to seal the flow of Soul Power.

Click—!

The crisp sound of metal closing rang especially clear and piercing in the silent night.

Those Soul Power-restricting handcuffs, filled with cold sealing power, were effortlessly locked around Tang Wan'er's slender, fair wrists, as white and smooth as the finest mutton-fat jade.

Only after doing all this did the youth take two steps back as though nothing had happened, studying her with great interest through curious eyes, as if admiring an interesting work of art.

Unexpectedly, Tang Wan'er neither resisted nor struggled after being restrained by the specially made Soul Tool.

She merely slowly raised her bound small hands, lowered her head, and carefully examined the exquisitely crafted metal object around her wrists, which even possessed a cold sort of beauty.

After an unknown amount of time, a soft "pfft" of light laughter, as crisp as a silver bell and full of barely suppressed amusement, slowly escaped her lips.

"Hehe... have a chat?"

She shook the cold shackles around her wrists. Their crisp metallic clinking sounded especially pleasant in the quiet night.

"Does big brother think this little thing can make me talk?"

Her voice returned to that sweet, innocent, adorable tone, even carrying a hint of acting cute. Yet the lofty contempt and disdain, filled with absolute confidence, within her words were like sharpest invisible ice needles stabbing fiercely at Long Yao.

"Do you know that disobedient little 'toys' like you, who only think about resisting their Master, are the ones I find most... most in need of a proper 'lesson'?"

"Actually, I'm more interested in knowing who the Master behind you really is."

That casually spoken question, as though he had simply asked it in passing, drifted lightly into Tang Wan'er's ears with a calmness that seemed to see through everything.

The mocking, contemptuous curve on Tang Wan'er's face, which always bore a sweet smile, became even more pronounced at that moment.

"Hehe..." She shook the cold shackles symbolizing restraint around her wrists, producing a crisp "jingle." "Big brother, are you... trying to get information out of me? Learning Master's name isn't something you can accomplish with a little toy like this."

It was as if, in her eyes, so long as she had "Master," her ultimate trump card, this youth before her would remain a pitiful prey unable to escape her palm no matter how much he struggled—and would soon become her most interesting and perfect new "collectible."

Yet in the face of her teasing, which brimmed with a sense of superiority and resembled a cat toying with a mouse, the youth merely smiled faintly without comment.

Then Tang Wan'er felt that the world around her had become somewhat... not right.

It was not the oppressive Soul Power pressure of a strong person.

Nor was it terrifying Dragon Might, filled with destructive aura and capable of making one tremble from the depths of the soul.

It was a... stranger, deeper, more... indescribable distortion of essence.

The evening breeze seemed to stop moving in an instant.

The faint chirping of insects and rustling leaves in the woods seemed to have their throats tightly gripped by an Invisible Big Hand, becoming incomparably distant and muffled.

Even the chilly, mottled moonlight spilling through the canopy onto the ground seemed to be pulled and twisted at that moment, transforming into bizarre, ominous streaks of light.

The entire world seemed to have been shrouded within an absolute domain made of viscous, transparent amber.

"Do you want to know what my Second Martial Soul is?"

The youth's faintly smiling voice rang out again. It remained calm, yet it was like an invisible, icy wedge driven brutally into Tang Wan'er's heart, which was filled with evil and the desire to devour.

The confident, superior curve on the face that always wore a sweet smile quietly receded somewhat. Her eyes, always carrying a hint of mockery and disdain, narrowed unconsciously. Her gaze resembled that of a Female Leopard leisurely patrolling her territory when it suddenly caught a strange scent that did not belong there, filled with danger and the unknown.

She saw the terrifying smile on the youth's face, one that sent a chill through her entire body and brimmed with absolute confidence.

"I guarantee that after one look, you won't dare take a second."

Those words were like a spell full of Magic Power, completely igniting Tang Wan'er's intense curiosity and competitive spirit—the instincts of a top Predator originating from deep within her bloodline.

"Oh? Then let Wan'er broaden her horizons properly."

"I'd like to see what kind of Martial Soul gives you the nerve to make such a boast..."

Before she could finish speaking—

Her bewitching eyes, full of mockery and ridicule, suddenly froze.

It was not light.

Nor was it shadow.

It was even less any known substance or energy in this world that she could comprehend.

It was a... hole.

A twisted, slowly rotating, infinitely profound humanoid black hole that had emerged from thin air with the youth at its center, as though it would completely devour the entire world and return it to nothingness!

No...

That was not a black hole.

Because in its deepest depths, Tang Wan'er saw a pair of... indescribably enormous golden Dragon Pupils, more vast than a galaxy and more ancient than an abyss!

Those Dragon Pupils quietly opened from within that endless, twisted void.

There was not the slightest emotion, not the slightest pressure, and even less killing intent.

There was only an absolute, pure existence, transcending Time and Space and standing above laws and Causality—an existence like that of the Creation God!

The moment Tang Wan'er was gazed upon by those Dragon Pupils, she felt as though her incomparably resilient soul, long fused with Taotie Demonic Energy, had been fiercely gripped by an invisible, icy giant hand from the Primordial Chaos!

The Taotie Demonic Energy she had always been so proud of, capable of devouring all things, was like a ridiculous infant who had only just learned to walk under the gaze of those Dragon Pupils. Before a true ancient Demon God from the depths of chaos that had already devoured billions of stars, it uncontrollably let out a mournful cry filled with utter terror!

Her powerful heart, inhuman and filled with evil and the desire to devour, seemed to have been viciously clenched by an invisible, icy iron hand at that moment! Even beating became incomparably, incomparably difficult!

Within that twisted humanoid void, she saw the outline of a gigantic dragon, whose majesty and terror could not be described in words, slowly emerge.

Its dragon body seemed to be formed from the purest, most primordial chaos.

Its dragon scales were countless ancient galaxies collapsing and annihilating.

With the slightest movement of its dragon claws, it could easily tear apart Time and Space and reverse Causality.

With a single flap of its Dragon Wings, it could instantly bring the entire world to heat death.

It was an... absolute, utterly unreasonable, ultimate power that surpassed all known and unknown things and stood above every law!

That terrifying power of the so-called "Master," which she had always regarded as her greatest trump card and enough to make her disdain every strong person in the world, was so... laughable before this... this chaotic, ultimate creation that seemed to have existed since the Beginning of the Universe!

So... insignificant!

So... like a lowly, pitiful ant that could be crushed to death at any moment!

"N-No... impossible..."

Tang Wan'er's exquisite little face, always adorned with a sweet smile and delicate as a doll's, turned paler than a corpse in an instant!

Her eyes, once full of mockery and disdain, were now completely filled with indescribable, absolute horror and... despair from the deepest depths of her soul!

Her full lips parted uncontrollably as she tried to scream, only to discover that her throat seemed to be tightly gripped by an invisible, icy hand! She could not make even the slightest sound!

She instinctively tried to retreat.

But her legs felt as though they had been filled with lead, so heavy that she could not muster even a trace of strength!

She could only watch helplessly as that... that terrifying giant dragon representing "ending" and "nothingness" slowly turned its enormous, savage head—large enough to swallow the entire starry sky in a single bite—toward her from within the twisted humanoid outline.

Those... those golden Dragon Pupils, more vast than a galaxy and more ancient than an abyss, quietly met her tiny, dust-like eyes, filled with utter terror.

Time: Douluo Calendar Year 2030 Season: Autumn Third day of enrollment, 7:22 PM

Location: Shrek Academy, room of Sea God Pavilion Elder Moon

Viewers: 670,000

Equipment: Shrek Academy Uniform x1, True Vast Sea Ring (Divine Artifact), Inspection Token

Items: Shrek Academy Uniform x1, Student Badge x1, Dormitory Key x1, [Ancestor's Relic - Handwritten Copy] x1

First Martial Soul: Soul Breaking Spear [Traits: Armor Breaking, Soul Devouring, Penetration]

Second Martial Soul: Chaos Holy Dragon (Hidden) [Traits: Strength, Time, Space]

Soul Power: Level 45 (Soul Ancestor) [Status: True Vast Sea Ring Shielding, External Perception is Level 24]

Spirit Rings: [Soul Breaking Spear] First Soul Ring (Yellow · Hundred-Year), Second Soul Ring (Purple · Thousand-Year), Third Soul Ring (Black · Ten-Thousand-Year), Fourth Soul Ring (Black · Ten-Thousand-Year)

[Chaos Holy Dragon] First Soul Ring (Black · Thirteen-Thousand-Year), Second Soul Ring (Black · Twenty-Eight-Thousand-Year), Third Soul Ring (Black · Forty-Six-Thousand-Year), Fourth Soul Ring (Rose Gold · One Hundred Ten-Thousand-Year)

Spirit Skills: [Soul Breaking Spear] First Spirit Skill · Swift Shadow Stab, Second Spirit Skill · Whirlwind Spear, Third Spirit Skill · Armor Breaking Spiral, Fourth Spirit Skill · Thousand Spirit Spear Rain

[Chaos Holy Dragon] First Spirit Skill · Star Ring, Second Spirit Skill · Holy Dragon Claw, Third Spirit Skill · Void Claw, Fourth Spirit Skill · Time and Space Roar

Soul Bones: None

Soul Spirits: None

Reward Stash: [Million-Year Spirit Beast Inverse Scale] x1, [Starlight Sapphire Brooch] x1, [Tsundere Princess Strategy Manual Platinum Edition] x1, [God-Bestowed Soul Ring (Hundred-Thousand-Year)] x1, [Spring of Life (Concentrated Liquid)] x1, [Constant Temperature Double Jade Bed] x1, [Calming Incense (Early Snowmelt)] x1, [Dragon Blood Body Tempering Pill] x10, [Space Storage Bracelet (Couple's Edition)] x1, [God King-Level Spatial Laws Comprehension Crystal] x1, [Super Divine Artifact · Fragment of the Time and Space Wheel] x1, [God King Godhead (Incomplete)] x1, [Playful Rabbit Ear Headband]