Not for the Greater Good

"At the time, only two Soul Douluo remained in the sect, utterly incapable of facing Shrek's siege. Fortunately, most of the sect's clansmen had been preparing for battle at the border where the Sun Moon Continent and Douluo Continent met, so the sect's mid-level combat forces still managed to respond."

"Faced with Shrek's attempts to wipe us out and the Titled Douluo of the Three Douluo Kingdoms who had colluded with them, our ancestors, in a fit of rage, directly joined the Sun Moon Empire and became a force in the counterattack against Shrek. From that point onward, we began combining our ancestors' fighting methods with the Sun Moon Empire's Soul Tools, forming the Dragon Elephant Soul Master Legion, whose combat power was formidable at both long and close range."

"The Dragon Elephant Legion itself held an overwhelming advantage over low-level Soul Masters and ordinary soldiers. And because every member was exceptionally strong, nearly all of them could carry heavy Soul Cannons that ordinary people found difficult to wield effectively."

"Before battle, we would first unleash blanket bombardments with Soul Cannons, then charge forward. With Soul Tools working in tandem with battle formations, several of Douluo Continent's most elite forces were nearly crushed to pieces by our Dragon Elephant Sect."

"But those damned Shrek bastards... they, they..." Chen Li's voice caught in his throat at this point.

"Those sons of bitches stripped three Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones from that generation's Sect Master, then poured all their resources into nurturing a student with an Extreme Attribute Martial Soul, allowing him to become a Level 99 Peerless Douluo... It was precisely because of that Peerless Douluo's arrival that the balance was broken and the Sun Moon Empire ultimately marched toward defeat..."

"At that time, our Dragon Elephant Sect had already completely become the enemy of Douluo Continent. In most people's eyes, we had truly become spies of the Sun Moon Continent, while Shrek was genuinely eliminating evil for the people..."

It was perfectly normal for Chen Li's voice to choke up. In Douluo World, this was truly one of the hardest things to accept, no less humiliating than being cuckolded—perhaps even worse.

Their strongest expert had been schemed to death, the inherited Soul Bones on his body taken away to nurture another powerful figure, only for that person to defeat them in turn.

To Soul Masters, this was undoubtedly the ultimate humiliation. Especially when that strongest expert, who had been killed through trickery, had been expected to become a Peerless Douluo and possessed three Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones as well as three top-tier Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones.

"Under normal circumstances, how could grudges and enmities possibly last ten thousand years?" Chen Li continued, his voice thick with hatred for Shrek.

"When the war ended, our Dragon Elephant Sect had dwindled from nearly a thousand people to only a few dozen. The entire sect had nearly been wiped out. Without exception, those who remained were the finest among the clan, whether in talent, actual combat ability, or luck."

"Because the Dragon Elephant Sect had contributed so much during that battle, even after its defeat, the Sun Moon Empire still granted the Dragon Elephant Sect extremely generous rewards. Thus, the Dragon Elephant Sect settled down in the Sun Moon Empire and continued its legacy."

"Perhaps because of the culling back then, ever since we came to the Sun Moon Empire, the average Innate Soul Power within our sect has been higher than before. Yet at the same time, perhaps due to not adapting to the local conditions, the Dragon Elephant Sect's numbers have never been large."

"On top of that, because of our hatred for Douluo Continent and Shrek, the Dragon Elephant Soul Engineer Regiment remained active on the front lines for thousands of years. As a result, the clan's casualty rate remained high. Although our Innate Soul Power had steadily remained around Innate Level Seven through constant culling, stimulation, and medicine, the Dragon Elephant Sect still never produced someone capable of turning the tide."

"Our ancestors were not actually fanatical followers of Spirit Hall—or rather, they were no longer fanatical followers of Spirit Hall. But in order to find spiritual support, to give their revenge against Shrek a justification, a declaration everyone could accept and believe in, our ancestors once again picked up Spirit Hall's faith and opposed Shrek in Spirit Hall's name."

"In truth, our Dragon Elephant Sect forcibly tried to align itself with Spirit Hall. This applied to our conduct, customs, and beliefs alike. Even among the so-called Spirit Hall relics we enshrined, most had been forged over the past several thousand years. Only a few genuinely belonged to Spirit Hall, and those had been scattered when Spirit Hall fell apart before later being found and recovered by us."

"We were, in reality, a sect driven by private vengeance, pretending that we stood for a righteous cause."

"Xiao Ming, I have actually been thinking about whether I should tell you this so early. Because before I became a Titled Douluo, I knew nothing about this either. I truly believed that our sect was Spirit Hall's legitimate successor and was a Soul Master who held faith in the Angel God."

As Chen Li said this, he exchanged a glance with Chen Ping. Both of their eyes were filled with deep, complicated emotions.

Before becoming Titled Douluo, the two of them had both been genuine believers in the Angel God. Though they had not been fanatical, they had at least been devout. Learning the truth had dealt them a considerable blow. It had taken both of them several years to adapt, and they even deliberately ignored the matter in their daily lives.

Sometimes, they both thought that perhaps they should simply take this truth to their graves and stop passing it down, allowing everyone to truly believe that they were Spirit Hall's successors.

But upon further thought, the things passed down by their ancestors naturally had their own purpose.

Ancestral Law Is Unchangeable. This secret had been passed down by word of mouth for thousands of years; they could not let it disappear with them.

"It was only after I became a Titled Douluo and prepared to succeed as Sect Master that I learned of this matter from the previous Sect Master..."

"Within the Dragon Elephant Sect, this history is our highest secret, an absolute secret known only to the Titled Douluo and Sect Masters of each generation. But times have changed. Given your talent and temperament, I believe that the earlier you learn of this, the less it will affect your state of mind in the future."

Chen Li seriously suspected that one major reason he had been stuck for nearly twenty years without becoming a Super Douluo was that this matter from back then still stuck in his throat like a bone, lodged deep in his heart and becoming the threshold that prevented him from crossing into the realm of Super Douluo.

So today, taking advantage of Chen Ming obtaining his First Soul Ring, he decided to lay everything out plainly and do his utmost to let Chen Ming understand these matters.

After hearing the Sect Master's story, Chen Ming fell silent for a moment. He wiped his mouth, looked up at the moon overhead, then looked toward Shrek. Under the nervous gazes of the two men, he calmly nodded.

"So that's how it was. I thought it really was a grudge that had gone unresolved for ten thousand years. So that's it. This makes much more sense..."