Douluo Continent Tradition: Melodramatic Love

[But in the end, I still overestimated myself and underestimated the power contained within the Dragon Core. No sooner had I begun absorbing it than I discovered the problem. It turned out the malevolent energy within the Dragon Core had never disappeared!]

[In my prime, the Dragon Core's power wasn't enough to harm me, so I came to believe that its malevolent energy had long since been dissolved through years of nurturing. But who could have imagined that the malevolent energy hadn't vanished—it had merely hidden itself.]

[When I started absorbing the Dragon Core's power, this malevolent energy sensed that I was severely wounded and weakened from my ordeal. Instead of continuing to hide as before, it erupted completely, rampaging unchecked through my body.]

[My great battle with Du Bisi left me gravely injured. Though it meant I could never stand straight again for the rest of my life, it didn't truly damage my core essence. So my condition was still much better than Du Bisi's. But because of that disastrous decision with the Dragon Core, the malevolent energy ravaged my body, dealing a genuine blow to my very foundation.]

[I barely escaped death. After enduring countless hardships, I finally managed to suppress the Dragon Core completely. Using this as an opportunity, I employed the method of same-frequency resonance to form a second Soul Core, becoming a Limit Douluo!]

[But in exchange, I absorbed all of the Dragon Core's malevolent energy, which fully merged into my body. For the rest of my life, I have been ceaselessly struggling and contending against that malevolent energy.]

[It was precisely because of this that I completely missed the chance to seek out Xishui and uncover the truth of what happened back then.]

Inside the Ben Ti Nei Zong, Du Busi sighed with emotion: "Every Titled Douluo who achieves the Limit realm truly isn't just a matter of great fortune—they also possess extraordinary perseverance that transcends the ordinary!"

Although Du Busi had always harbored enmity toward Mu En, after learning about the path Mu En had walked, he couldn't help but feel moved.

He asked himself honestly: if he had been in the position of dealing with that Dragon Core malevolent energy crisis, forget about suppressing it and using it to condense a second Soul Core to break through to the Limit realm—whether he could even survive was still a question.

A Dragon Core, formed from the essence of a dead giant dragon's power, was not only a great opportunity but also a great danger!

Under those special circumstances, anyone else might not have handled it as well as Mu En did.

In the Star Dou Great Forest, the Scarlet King, who was hunting, sneered: "The power of a pure-blooded dragon isn't something a mere human can absorb so easily. Serves you right for being crippled."

As a Soul Beast, the Scarlet King understood the power of dragons all too well.

They were the apex existences among the Soul Beast race!

Besides, the Scarlet King had no goodwill toward humans. Even if the other party was a top-tier powerhouse of the human world, so what?

He, the Scarlet King, would mock him all the same!

'Teacher Mu actually faced such a life-and-death crisis back then?!' Inside Shrek Academy, Xuan Zi, who was eating a chicken leg, was utterly stunned.

These hidden experiences—if the person involved hadn't spoken of them personally, no one else could have learned the details.

For example, what Xuan Zi had previously known about the matters between Teacher Mu, Long Xiaoyao, and Ye Xishui was mostly hearsay.

Before the Heavenly Curtain was exposed, Xuan Zi had always believed that Ye Xishui hadn't directly chosen between Teacher Mu and Long Xiaoyao back then.

Instead, she had let Teacher Mu and Long Xiaoyao prepare for a year, then duel after that year was up.

Whoever won, she would go with. And then neither of them showed up...

Another example: when Teacher Mu was severely injured, Xuan Zi had naively thought it was all Du Bisi's fault.

'Teacher he...' Inside the Martial Soul Department Dean's office, Yan Shaozhe never imagined that his teacher had once endured such a calamity.

Back then, he had only recently joined Shrek Academy and hadn't truly become the teacher's disciple yet, so naturally, he knew nothing of these matters—only the surface.

In the more than eighty years since he joined Shrek Academy, his teacher, Dragon God Douluo Mu En, had felt to him like a blazing sun illuminating the academy.

But he never knew that behind the scenes, his teacher had suffered such agonizing torment.

It wasn't just Xuan Zi and Yan Shaozhe—those who were intimately familiar with and deeply revered Mu En reacted much the same.

Because regarding Teacher Mu's current nearly crippled state, most people believed it was a lingering aftereffect of that great battle with Du Bisi.

As Mu En aged and grew weaker, he could no longer suppress his hidden injuries as before, leading to this condition.

But now, they finally understood that the suffering Teacher Mu had endured was far more severe than they had imagined.

Resisting it day after day, year after year, for decades... this...

[After breaking through to become a Limit Douluo, I began cultivating the academy's students, hoping to find an heir to my legacy who would one day inherit the position of Sea God Pavilion Master.]

[And so, I discovered a little fellow named Yan Shaozhe. His talent was exceptional, and he possessed the Bright Phoenix Martial Soul, which shared the same light attribute as mine. So I took him as my personal disciple and trained him with all my might.]

[I hoped that a hundred years later, he could help Xuan Zi shoulder the heavy responsibility of protecting Shrek Academy!]

'Uh~' Seeing his teacher's monologue frequently feature scenes from his own youth, Yan Shaozhe felt not joy but extreme embarrassment.

He was all too aware of his youthful romantic entanglements and dark history.

Now that it was being exposed across the entire continent, where was he supposed to put his old face?

"Serves you right!" Xian Lin'er naturally thought of the same thing.

She felt a surge of vindication.

"Lin'er is right," Qian Duoduo chimed in from the side.

Xian Lin'er, Cai Mei'er, Qian Duoduo, and Yan Shaozhe had all known each other since enrolling.

Later, both Qian Duoduo and Yan Shaozhe fell in love with her.

Between the two, Xian Lin'er chose to date Yan Shaozhe, her senior, whom she had feelings for.

What should have been a beautiful story turned sour when Yan Shaozhe's philandering nature emerged. He constantly flirted with other female students at the academy, hurting Xian Lin'er time and again.

After she personally witnessed Yan Shaozhe being intimate with another female student, the two finally broke up completely.

The absurd part was that soon after the breakup, Yan Shaozhe got together with Cai Mei'er and even married her.

This drove a final wedge between Yan Shaozhe and Xian Lin'er, turning them into outright enemies.

In a fit of rage, Xian Lin'er chose to marry Qian Duoduo, who had secretly loved her all along.

However, the two were only married in name and had never been intimate.

One could only say that Shrek Academy—no, the feng shui of Douluo Continent—was truly cursed...

[Yet although Shao Zhe was gifted, he was too arrogant and womanizing. Not only did he flirt around the academy, but when he returned from his journey across the continent, he even brought back an Evil Soul Master with the Evil Phoenix Martial Soul.]

[Stimulated by Shao Zhe's Light Phoenix aura, that Evil Soul Master's Martial Soul quickly awakened, attempting to devour Shao Zhe.]

[After discovering the other's intentions, a great battle erupted between them. Though Shao Zhe suppressed his opponent with his formidable cultivation, he had a moment of weakness and let him go.]

[One must understand, the Evil Phoenix was the most top-tier talent among Evil Soul Masters. Letting him go was equivalent to releasing a great demon. Who knew how many people would suffer in the future because of Shao Zhe's soft heart?]

[Because of this incident, I severely punished Shao Zhe. After all, I had once made the same mistake myself, and I didn't want to see my eldest disciple repeat it. At the same time, I was even more afraid that Shao Zhe would fall into the trap of love like I had, unable to extricate himself...]

[So I confined Shao Zhe for three full years, making him focus on cultivation within Shrek Academy, undisturbed by external matters. Fortunately, Shao Zhe did not disappoint me. The solid foundation laid during those three years of secluded bitter training was what later enabled him to take on the role of Martial Soul Department Dean.]