14: First Tell Me, How Exactly Did Spirit Hall Fall?

The first rays of morning sunlight pierced the branches and leaves of the Star Dou Great Forest, casting mottled shadows across the ground. The scent of grass and trees hung in the woods, and clear birdsong drifted from afar. It should have been a peaceful, tranquil moment, yet Wang Dong'er felt nothing but turmoil in her heart.

She lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously twisting at the mud stains on the hem of her pale blue dress. Lu Jing's question still echoed in her ears. Follow him? Go face the world of ten thousand years ago that existed only in history books?

"I'm only doing this because you spoke up for me earlier."

Lu Jing's voice broke the silence. His tone was calm, yet carried a trace of sincerity that was hard to detect. "If it were anyone else, I couldn't be bothered. If you want to stay here, I won't force you."

Wang Dong'er abruptly raised her head, shock still lingering in her pale blue eyes. "We... really came to ten thousand years ago?"

Even now, it still felt like some absurd dream. One moment, she had been fighting Lu Jing and Bei Bei; the next, she had run into Qian Daoliu and Yu Yuanzhen from the history books, and had even watched Bei Bei die before her eyes... It was all beyond anything she could comprehend.

Leaning against an ancient tree, Lu Jing looked up at the sunlight filtering through gaps in the leaves and nodded. "Unless Qian Daoliu and Yu Yuanzhen have nothing better to do than put on some mystical act, then... it should be real."

After a pause, he suddenly asked, "Aren't you curious? What was Spirit Hall, the one described in the history books as ambitious and ruthless, really like? Were their methods truly as cold-blooded and merciless as the records claimed?"

Wang Dong'er froze.

Yes, she was curious.

As a new student of Shrek Academy and the young sect master of the Clear Sky Sect, she had grown up learning that Spirit Hall was synonymous with "evil." Yet Qian Daoliu's words and actions just now had overturned everything she believed—the legendary Limit Douluo, said to be cold and bloodthirsty, had not judged good and evil based solely on martial souls. He had even spared Lu Jing because of a single word from his granddaughter.

Was such a man truly the Great Enshrined Elder from the history books, the one who would stop at nothing for power?

"And besides,"

Lu Jing added, "we have nowhere else to go but with them. Do you know how to get back?"

Wang Dong'er fell silent. She didn't know. The spatial rift had appeared by accident to begin with, and the way back was even more uncertain.

After thinking for a moment, she drew a deep breath as though making up her mind, then looked up at Lu Jing. "I'll go with you."

At the very least, she had to figure out what was really going on.

Lu Jing raised a brow but said nothing more. He turned and headed toward the edge of the forest. Wang Dong'er hesitated briefly before quickly following him, and the two figures soon vanished into the dense woods beneath the morning light.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the forest.

Yu Tianheng clutched the corner of his grandfather's robe, his little face full of confusion. Yu Yuanzhen had shielded him behind his back earlier, so he had not seen the fight clearly, but he had still felt that suffocating pressure and caught fragments of the later conversation between Lu Jing and the others.

"Grandpa, those people just now... what exactly was going on?"

He tilted up his little face and asked.

Yu Yuanzhen held his grandson's hand, his brow tightly furrowed. He looked back in the direction Lu Jing had left, his gaze complicated. "Don't ask too many questions."

He could sense that behind what seemed like a chance encounter lay a secret capable of shaking the entire Douluo Continent. Several people of unknown origin, the words "Spirit Hall has fallen," and the grave look that had flashed across Qian Daoliu's face... It was all like a boulder cast into the lake of his heart, stirring up wave after wave.

"We won't concern ourselves with that. We'll find a suitable soul ring for you, then leave."

Yu Yuanzhen stroked his grandson's head, his voice turning grave. "But I can be certain of one thing. This Douluo Continent... is afraid to undergo a change in heaven and earth."

That child named Lu Jing was hiding secrets far too shocking. The fall of Spirit Hall, and those names even Qian Daoliu did not know... all of it might become the fulcrum that pried history apart.

Yu Tianheng nodded as though he understood, though he sensibly did not ask any more questions despite his curiosity. He merely sighed like a little adult and followed his grandfather deeper into the forest.

Elsewhere, in a clearing among the trees, Qian Daoliu stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the sky gradually brightening in the east. Qian Renxue stood beside him, her golden eyes filled with worry.

"Grandfather, are they... really people from ten thousand years in the future?" she asked softly, her voice carrying an almost imperceptible tremble.

She had actually become a god in the end? But if she had become a god, why had Spirit Hall still lost?

Qian Daoliu slowly nodded. His fingers absently toyed with the cuff of his gray robe, his brows tightly knit. "Judging from their reactions, it should be true. Especially that youngest child—his shock when he mentioned you and me didn't seem feigned."

What he could not understand most was something else. Since Qian Renxue had ultimately become the Angel God, how could Spirit Hall have lost with the power of a god? Could it be... that other gods had appeared during those ten thousand years?

Gods on the Douluo Continent were already scarce, and the Angel God was a top-tier god with a ten-thousand-year inheritance. If Qian Renxue had become a god, there was no reason Spirit Hall should have lost to two empires. Unless... the other side had gods supporting them as well.

"What should we do?" Qian Renxue asked, her small hands tightly clutching her clothes. Spirit Hall's future end was destruction, while she herself had disappeared without a trace. It made her heart inexplicably uneasy.

Qian Daoliu was about to answer when he caught sight of two figures approaching from the corner of his eye. They were Lu Jing and Wang Dong'er.

He immediately cut himself off and turned his golden eyes toward them. His expression returned to its former calm, as though his deep thoughts from moments ago had never occurred.

Lu Jing did not beat around the bush. He led Wang Dong'er before the pair and got straight to the point. "We're here. Ask whatever you want to know."

He could tell that Qian Daoliu had deliberately avoided Yu Yuanzhen, clearly not wanting too many people to know about the future. That cautious attitude did match the shrewd, calculating figure described in the history books.

Wang Dong'er stood half a step behind Lu Jing, lowering her head and trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. Yet her eyes could not help secretly studying Qian Renxue—this future Angel God looked about the same age as her at the moment. Her golden hair glowed softly in the morning light, and she possessed none of the majesty expected of a god from the legends. Instead, she carried a young girl's innocence.

Qian Daoliu's gaze swept over Wang Dong'er. Seeing that her aura was pure and that her martial soul seemed to be some sort of bird, he did not pay her much mind. He turned to look directly at Lu Jing, his tone stern. "First tell me, how exactly did Spirit Hall fall?"

The question was like a stone thrown into a still lake, instantly making even the air around them grow heavy.

Lu Jing met Qian Daoliu's gaze without the slightest retreat. He knew that from the moment he had decided to reveal the truth, he was destined to stir the winds and clouds of this era ten thousand years ago.

"Because of one person." Lu Jing spoke slowly, uttering the name repeated time and again in the history books. "Tang San."

Qian Daoliu and Qian Renxue frowned at the same time—this name again.

"Who is he?" Qian Daoliu pressed, a sharp glint flashing in his golden eyes. Anyone capable of bringing down Spirit Hall, which possessed a god, was certainly no ordinary person.