Spirit City, Empress's Personal Disciple

The instant the Emergency Communication Crystal at the Nuoding City Martial Soul Branch Hall erupted with dazzling light, the entire city—even the upper ranks of the Martial Soul Main Hall in Fasnuo Province—exploded into chaos like cold water thrown into boiling oil!

"Twin God-Tier Martial Souls? Innate Soul Power Level Thirty?! Her Majesty the Empress personally came to take him as a disciple?! Su Yuntao! Have you fucking lost your mind?! Or were you possessed by an Evil Soul Master?!" The branch hall master of Nuoding, a Soul King-level deacon, stared at the incoherent Soul Thought transmitted through the crystal, which nonetheless contained world-shaking information. His eyes nearly bulged from their sockets as his uncontrolled roar echoed through the hall. The fat all over his body trembled violently, and the immense shock made him feel as though his heart might stop at any moment.

"Investigate! Immediately! Right now! Seal off Sacred Soul Village! No—seal off all of Nuoding City! Don't let even a fly escape! Detain every witness present! This is classified at the highest level! Move!!" After receiving the urgent Secret Report passed up through layer after layer and finally confirming that it was not some prank, Salas, the Platinum Bishop of the Fasnuo Province Martial Soul Main Hall, turned as pale as gold paper. He stumbled out of his meditation chamber, his hoarse voice completely distorted by overwhelming terror and excitement. He knew all too well what kind of horrifying tidal wave this news would unleash across the continent if it got out! And Her Majesty the Empress had personally descended to accept a disciple... What did that mean? It meant that the value of that child named Yang Yu surpassed even every existing Titled Douluo of Spirit Hall!

Every Spirit Hall institution throughout Fasnuo Province became like a War Machine forced into overdrive. Countless orders were issued madly at the highest priority. The elite Hall Protection Knights mobilized in full force, while the lights of Soul Guidance Communication flashed frantically between branch halls. In an extremely short time, Nuoding City and its surrounding regions were completely shrouded beneath an invisible iron curtain, the atmosphere so oppressive it was like the coming of the apocalypse. Every villager of Sacred Soul Village, including Old Jack and Tang San in the corner, was immediately "invited" into the heavily guarded secret chambers deep within the Nuoding branch hall to await an unknown fate. Tang San lowered his head, hiding the cold turmoil in his eyes and a trace of... disappointment he was unwilling even to admit to himself. That pillar of light shooting into the heavens, that outstretched Purple-Gold Glove, and that retreating figure being taken away... they were like a thorn driven deeply into his heart.

Yet the center of this storm had already stepped outside it, far away from that remote little village.

The sensation of Space Travel was exceedingly strange. One moment, Yang Yu had been amid the dust and panic of the dilapidated branch hall; the next, an irresistible yet gentle force completely enveloped him, and his vision was abruptly filled with endless spatial turbulence flowing with Purple-Gold Flame. There was no sound, no direction—only the violent dizziness and weightlessness brought by being pulled at high speed. If not for the powers of the two God-Tier Spirits within him circulating on their own, the Power of Time slightly slowing the savage spatial tearing while the Power of Creation continuously nourished his lightly shaken organs, he had no doubt that his frail six-year-old body would have been torn to pieces in an instant.

His tiny hand was still held by that jade-like hand clad in a cold Purple-Gold Glove. Bibi Dong stood ahead of him, her purple-gold gown utterly unmoving amid the spatial turbulence, like a pillar stabilizing the sea. She did not even turn back to check on Yang Yu's condition, as though she was certain he could endure it—or perhaps his endurance was also part of her test.

No one knew how long it lasted. Perhaps it was an instant, perhaps a very long time. The flowing Purple-Gold Flame ahead suddenly collapsed inward, forming a stable exit.

"Buzz—"

His feet touched solid ground, and the dizziness receded like a tide. Yet an indescribable wave of nausea surged up his throat. Yang Yu forcibly suppressed the urge to vomit, his little face turning slightly pale as his body swayed. A gentle yet extraordinarily pure stream of Soul Power passed from Bibi Dong's hand at just the right moment, instantly calming the churning blood and energy within him. Only then did he have the strength to raise his head and look at this new world.

Then he froze.

Magnificent!

It was the only word that could describe the sight before him.

He stood at the edge of a vast plaza beyond imagination. The ground was paved with whole slabs of some unknown stone that radiated a warm, jade-white luster. It was so polished that it reflected people's figures and stretched all the way to the horizon. At the center of the plaza stood a colossal Angel Statue hundreds of meters tall! It had been carved from some incomparably pure golden crystal. Six enormous wings spread beneath the sunlight, every feather flowing with sacred radiance. It held a giant sword blazing with holy fire, its tip pointed straight at the heavens, emanating an overwhelming aura of majesty, sanctity, and inviolability! Merely standing in the plaza and gazing up at the statue stirred an irresistible urge deep in one's soul to kneel in worship.

Surrounding the immense plaza was an endless cluster of buildings, uniform in style and magnificent beyond measure. They seemed forged from the purest White Marble and some metal that shimmered with starlight. Their lines were rigid yet fluid, filled with a beauty that fused holiness and strength. Towering spires pierced the clouds, massive domes reflected dazzling golden light beneath the sun, and countless intricate Soul Guidance patterns moved across the walls and colonnades like living creatures, emitting heart-palpitating energy fluctuations. The air was thick with heaven and earth energy, so dense it was nearly tangible. With every breath, Yang Yu felt the Soul Power within him cheering and growing on its own!

This was the sacred land of Soul Masters, the core of continental power, the place countless people dreamed of yet revered and feared—Spirit City! The headquarters of Spirit Hall!

Yang Yu's heart began pounding uncontrollably. His modern soul gave him an even deeper sense of shock at the sight before him. How was this merely a city? This was practically a living war fortress, jointly forged by Soul Guidance Technology and Divine Authority Belief! It was the pinnacle of what mortal power could create! The descriptions in the original work seemed utterly pale and powerless compared to the grandeur before his own eyes!

"Welcome, Your Majesty the Empress!"

Just as Yang Yu's mind churned, three figures appeared like ghosts before the plaza without warning. They dropped to one knee, lowered their heads deeply, and spoke in perfect unison, their voices carrying reverence from the depths of their souls.

The man on the left was shrouded entirely in an illusory black shadow. His form flickered erratically, as though he might merge into the surrounding darkness at any moment. Like a solidified shadow, he emitted a cold, deathly aura. He was Ghost Douluo, Gui Mei!

The man in the middle was breathtakingly bewitching. His skin was pale almost to the point of translucence, and his peach blossom eyes gleamed seductively, though they carried a chilling evilness. He wore a bright red ceremonial robe embroidered with Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemums, its fragrance so strong it was almost pungent. Chrysanthemum Douluo, Yue Guan!

The man on the right was short and stout like a ball, his skin a strange bluish-purple. His neck was thick and short, his cheeks bulging high as though stuffed with two balls. As he knelt there, the air around him twisted faintly, carrying a subtle fishy sweetness. Porcupinefish Douluo, Ci Xue!

Three Titled Douluo! Spirit Hall's true top-tier combat strength! Yet at this moment, they knelt before Bibi Dong like the most loyal guards, not daring even to breathe too loudly. From the corners of their eyes, they could not help glancing at the child held by Her Majesty the Empress—Yang Yu. Their gazes were filled with shock, scrutiny, and an indescribable complexity.

Bibi Dong ignored both their arrival and their salute as though they were mere specks of dust. Her gaze did not linger on Gui Mei and the other two for even a second. Still looking ahead, she led Yang Yu forward. Her posture was that of a supreme empress inspecting her own domain.

Her purple-gold heels tapped against the warm jade floor with crisp, rhythmic sounds, echoing through the vast and solemn plaza with an authority that controlled all things and permitted no doubt. Yang Yu followed at her side. He could clearly feel the terrifying auras emanating from the three kneeling Titled Douluo, like three dormant volcanoes. The eruption of any one of them could easily grind a tiny Soul Master like him into dust. Yet beneath Bibi Dong's invisible aura, these three volcanoes seemed so docile. The stark contrast gave Yang Yu a more direct and shocking understanding of the authority and power of the Empress beside him. Her seemingly slender hand, clasping his tiny palm, was cold and steady, yet contained power enough to overturn rivers and seas.

They crossed the enormous Angel Square and entered an even grander, more solemn palace corridor. On both sides of the corridor, every ten meters stood two Palace Guard Knights, their entire bodies encased in heavy silver armor, revealing only cold eyes. They held long halberds, their postures straight as spears, their Soul Power fluctuations condensed and uniform. They were all Soul Kings! When Bibi Dong appeared, every knight moved in perfect unison, slamming their right fists heavily against the armor over their left chests with a dull, thunderous boom!

"Greetings, Your Majesty the Empress!"

The united shout of hundreds of Soul King experts gathered into a nearly tangible wave of sound that surged and echoed through the vast, soaring corridor. The air buzzed from the force, filled with incomparable iron-blooded devotion and reverence! As the sound wave struck him, Yang Yu's eardrums ached and his chest tightened. If not for his two Martial Souls instinctively circulating to offset most of the pressure, he would likely have been knocked unconscious on the spot.

Bibi Dong did not pause for even a moment, nor did she spare these elite knights a glance. Leading Yang Yu as though passing through a silent wheat field, she walked straight toward the tallest and heaviest purple-gold doors at the end of the corridor. Countless complex and mysterious Soul Guidance patterns were engraved on the doors. At their center was a huge blooming chrysanthemum formed from purple-gold gemstones—the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum—alongside a twisted, entwining shadow pattern. The doors slid silently inward, revealing an even more spacious, luxurious, and oppressive space beyond.

The Papal Palace Council Hall!

The dome, dozens of meters high, was covered in huge murals depicting the battles and miracles of the Angel God, their colors brilliant and sacred. An enormous crystal chandelier hung from the dome, radiating a soft yet bright glow that illuminated every detail of the hall. Thick handwoven carpets covered the floor, their patterns intricate, so soft beneath the feet that they felt like clouds. Along both sides of the hall stood twelve colossal dragon-carved pillars that required several people to encircle. The dragons were lifelike, their eyes set with massive rubies that gleamed with majesty. At the far end of the hall, atop nine elevated steps, sat an immense throne carved from a single piece of amethyst marrow. At the top of its backrest was embedded a black-purple gemstone the size of a human head, radiating a deep, ghostly glow like a demonic eye gazing down upon all living beings.

The entire hall was empty, solemn, and sacred, yet permeated by a suffocating pressure of power. This was the place where the fates of billions across the continent were decided!

Bibi Dong finally stopped. She released Yang Yu's hand, and as that cold touch vanished, Yang Yu inexplicably felt relieved, as though an invisible mountain had been lifted from him. But the heavier, more solemn atmosphere within the hall immediately enveloped him again.

Bibi Dong slowly turned to face Yang Yu. Against the backdrop of the vast hall and towering throne, she appeared even taller, more majestic, and untouchable. Her purple-gold papal robes flowed with a starlike luster, while the gemstone atop her scepter radiated a dim, cold light. Her deep purple eyes, like two bottomless pools of icy spring water, settled on Yang Yu once more, carrying scrutiny—and a trace of... expectation that was difficult to detect.

Like three shadows, Gui Mei, Yue Guan, and Ci Xue appeared silently behind and to either side of Bibi Dong. Their hands hung respectfully at their sides, but their eyes remained fixed on Yang Yu like tangible searchlights.

"Yang Yu." Bibi Dong spoke. Her voice no longer carried the faintly fate-declaring seduction it had held in Sacred Soul Village. Instead, it returned to absolute coldness and majesty, like a god proclaiming divine law. Every word echoed clearly through every corner of the hall. "This is the Papal Palace. From this moment on, you are my personal disciple."

She paused slightly, her icy gaze sweeping across Yang Yu's small face, pale but still striving to hold his back straight.

"Spirit Hall has only one rule." Her voice suddenly became as cold as ten-thousand-year black ice. An invisible pressure, even more terrifying and concentrated than in Sacred Soul Village, descended in an instant. It was like an unseen giant hand closing around Yang Yu's throat, making his breath catch sharply! This pressure did not target his body, but struck directly at the depths of his soul, filled with the cold intent of bloodshed, slaughter, betrayal, and Absolute Control! It was as if countless wronged souls were shrieking miserably in his ears!

"That is—absolute loyalty! Loyalty to me! Loyalty to Spirit Hall!" Bibi Dong's voice was like an ice awl steeped in poison, viciously drilling into Yang Yu's mind. "The price of betrayal is nothing less than the destruction of body and soul, followed by eternal damnation in hell!"

The terrifying pressure surged like a tide, instantly forcing the two God-Tier Spirits within Yang Yu to their limits! On the spiritual plane, the power of the Dragon of Eternity and Time let out a silent roar, struggling to resist the almost tangible mental assault as it attempted to "slow" and "strip away" that horrifying pressure. Meanwhile, the Chaos Creation Lotus spun madly within his Dantian. Verdant life radiance intertwined with chaotic black annihilation energy, forming a thin membrane of light that protected his Sea of Consciousness and internal organs, driving away the bone-piercing killing intent.

Even so, the enormous disparity made him feel as though he had fallen into an icy abyss. All color vanished from his little face in an instant, his body trembling uncontrollably, and cold sweat the size of beans immediately soaked through the clothes on his back! He bit down hard on his lower lip, the taste of blood spreading through his mouth. Relying on the tenacious will of someone who had lived two lives and the instinctive protection of his Martial Souls, he barely kept himself from collapsing to the floor beneath this targeted divine pressure!

A subtle flicker of surprise passed through the eyes of Gui Mei and the other two. Although Her Majesty the Empress had released only a trace of this pressure in a targeted manner, it was still not something an ordinary Soul Elder could endure! This child... truly was strange! Those two entirely different yet equally ancient and powerful auras rising spontaneously from within him... were they the legendary Twin God-Tier Martial Souls?

Bibi Dong took in Yang Yu's reaction completely. Under the pressure she had deliberately released, he was on the verge of collapse, yet he had stubbornly endured it with his own strength—mainly those two extraordinary Martial Soul auras. He had not broken down, nor cried out. Beyond pain and fright, his clear eyes held a beastlike stubbornness and refusal to yield. There was even... a hidden understanding, as though he had seen through some part of her intention?

This temperament... this instinct to still mobilize his Martial Soul power in a desperate situation... and those eyes... all far exceeded her expectations!

The cold killing intent in her eyes receded swiftly like a tide, and the suffocating pressure vanished with it, as though it had never existed. The stagnant air in the hall began flowing again.

"Very good." Bibi Dong's voice returned to its usual chill, but much of its icy severity had faded. There was even a barely perceptible trace of... satisfaction? "Remember how you feel at this moment. Remember my words."

She turned her head slightly, looking toward Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan standing respectfully behind her.

"Yue Guan."

"Your subordinate is here!" Yue Guan immediately bowed, his manner incomparably respectful.

"Yang Yu has just arrived in the Sacred City. You will personally handle everything he needs." Bibi Dong's voice permitted no challenge. "The first six floors of Spirit Hall's Library Pavilion are fully open to him. Prepare a Simulated Cultivation Environment at the highest standard. Let him use the Medicine Garden resources as he pleases. As for any Soul Rings he requires, you and Gui Mei will personally hunt them. The target... must not be below five thousand years."

Yue Guan's pupils contracted sharply, and even the bewitching smile on his face froze for a moment. The first six floors of the Library Pavilion? Those contained countless precious texts accumulated by Spirit Hall over tens of thousands of years, Soul Master theories, and even the cultivation insights of certain Titled Douluo! A Simulated Cultivation Environment of the highest standard? The resources it consumed were astronomical! Free access to the Medicine Garden? Spirit Hall's Medicine Garden contained countless heavenly treasures long extinct in the outside world! Soul Rings starting at five thousand years? And this was only his first Soul Ring?! Such treatment... not even the Holy Son or Saintess had ever received it. Even the direct descendants of Worship Elders had never enjoyed anything like it!

Yet he did not dare hesitate in the slightest. He immediately bowed deeply. "This subordinate obeys Your Majesty the Empress's decree! I will certainly spare no effort and will not fail the trust placed in me!" His voice carried excitement and reverence he could not fully suppress. He knew that this child held a weight in the Empress's heart greater than a thousand mountains!

Bibi Dong's gaze returned to Yang Yu. Deep within her cold purple eyes, a flash of complete control appeared, as though she were watching a peerless treasure being carved into shape.

"I look forward to the day when you..." Her voice carried a strange penetrating quality as it entered Yang Yu's ears clearly, "truly reveal the potential of these Twin God-Tier Martial Souls."

With those words, she said no more. Holding her scepter, she turned and ascended the nine steps one by one toward the Amethyst Throne, symbol of the continent's highest authority. Her purple-gold gown trailed across the scarlet carpet, her back solitary and powerful, as though separated from the whole world.

Gui Mei and Ci Xue silently withdrew like two shadows into the darkness on either side of the throne.

Within the vast Papal Palace Council Hall, only Yang Yu remained, along with Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan standing beside him, his signature bewitching smile once again spread across his face.

Yang Yu stood in place. The cold sweat on his back was made chilly by the hall's temperature-controlled air, while his heart still pounded fiercely. The terrifying pressure of facing death just moments ago continued to reverberate in the depths of his soul. He looked at the figure seated upon the Amethyst Throne, gazing down below like a god, then at Yue Guan beside him, smiling warmly while his eyes remained unfathomably deep.

Spirit City... the Empress's personal disciple... Titled Douluo attendants... the Library Pavilion... a simulated environment... Soul Rings starting at five thousand years...

It all felt like a dream. Yet the lingering cold touch in his palm, along with the stirring of the two Martial Souls deep within his soul, reminded him that this was reality.

Crisis and opportunity, like twin serpents of poison and sweet spring water, had already entwined themselves around his fate.

He drew a deep breath, suppressing his turbulent emotions. His small body straightened a little further, and the flame of ambition in his eyes, rather than being extinguished by the baptism of overwhelming pressure, burned even more fiercely!

"Elder Ju," Yang Yu raised his head and looked at Yue Guan. His young voice echoed through the vast, solemn hall with a calmness that did not match his age. "I'll be troubling you."

The smile on Yue Guan's face deepened, and a sharp glint flashed through his peach blossom eyes. Interesting. This little fellow... had adjusted so quickly? He gave a slight bow, lowering his posture considerably, his voice deliberately gentle. "Your Highness the Holy Son is too kind. It is Yue Guan's honor to serve Your Highness. Please follow me."

Your Highness the Holy Son... The title was like an invisible boulder pressing heavily upon Yang Yu's heart, and it also quietly reached the ears of the Empress on the throne, who sat with her eyes closed in feigned rest.