The night was as dark as ink.
Sea God Pavilion stood quietly on the island in the middle of the lake, in the inner city of Shrek City. A faint light shone through its windows.
Yan Shaozhe hurried along the long waterside corridor and arrived at the pavilion. He took a deep breath, then pushed open the door and entered.
Inside, Mu En sat by the window, holding a cup of tea and gazing at the lake outside.
Moonlight spilled over the water, which shimmered as it always had.
"Shaozhe, you're here?" Mu En asked without turning around. His voice was calm. "You came so late. Is something urgent?"
Yan Shaozhe walked up behind him and stopped.
"Teacher." His voice was somewhat low. "I had to come tell you about Bai Lan in person."
Mu En turned and looked at him.
Yan Shaozhe's expression was so serious that it hardly seemed appropriate for the Dean of the Martial Soul Department.
"Sit down and tell me." Mu En pointed to the chair beside him.
Yan Shaozhe sat down and fell silent for two seconds, as if organizing his thoughts.
Then he spoke.
"Bai Lan is already level twenty-six."
Mu En nodded. "I know. He went from level eleven to twenty in half a year, then jumped to twenty-three yesterday. That boy's cultivation speed really is astonishing."
"That's not all." Yan Shaozhe cut in. "Teacher, he isn't level twenty-three. He's level twenty-six."
Mu En's brows twitched slightly.
"Last night, he evolved his second Contract Beast."
Yan Shaozhe spoke each word carefully. "That Void Butterfly was five hundred years old. He evolved it twice in a row, and now..."
He paused and took a deep breath.
"Now it's a fifty-thousand-year Void Butterfly King."
A deathly silence fell over the pavilion.
The teacup in Mu En's hand stopped in midair, completely motionless.
After a long while, he slowly set the cup down, turned around, and faced Yan Shaozhe.
"How old did you say?"
"Fifty thousand years." Yan Shaozhe repeated himself. "A space-type beast, fifty-thousand-year level, with at least eight abilities, including Space Imprisonment and Shatter Teleportation."
Mu En fell silent.
For a long time.
Then he smiled.
It wasn't a smile of relief or delight, but a complicated one, tinged with helplessness.
"Fifty thousand years..." he murmured. "A level-twenty-six Soul Grandmaster carrying a black Soul Ring that's fifty thousand years old..."
He looked at Yan Shaozhe. "Do you know what this means?"
Yan Shaozhe nodded. "A tree that stands out in the forest will be battered by the wind."
"That's not all." Mu En rose and walked to the window, turning his back to Yan Shaozhe. "If word gets out that someone at level twenty-six has a fifty-thousand-year Soul Ring, the entire continent will be shaken."
"The Holy Spirit Church will stop at nothing to kill him."
"The other forces, the empires..."
"And those reclusive old monsters will do everything they can to study him."
"Even... there may be people among our own ranks who can't keep the secret."
He turned around, his gaze profound. "Bai Lan is a genius, but he's also a bomb that could go off at any moment."
Yan Shaozhe stood and went to his side. "Teacher, I understand. That's why I came to you at once."
Mu En nodded, then sat back down.
He closed his eyes and tapped his fingers lightly against the armrest.
After a long while, he opened his eyes.
"What about his first Contract Beast? How is it now?"
Yan Shaozhe replied, "The three-thousand-year Arrow Bamboo evolved too. It went from three hundred years to three thousand—a tenfold increase."
Mu En's eyes narrowed slightly.
"The first evolution took it from ten years to a hundred," he said slowly. "The second, from a hundred to a thousand. The third..."
He looked at Yan Shaozhe. "When Bai Lan reaches level thirty, will that Arrow Bamboo become thirty thousand years old?"
Yan Shaozhe nodded. "Based on the pattern so far, yes."
"And the Void Butterfly King?"
"From fifty thousand years to... five hundred thousand?"
Mu En shook his head.
"No," he said. "I don't think five hundred thousand years is likely. A hundred thousand years is a threshold. Once you cross it, the years don't simply add up."
He paused, his gaze growing more profound. "At level thirty, I don't think it'll reach five hundred thousand years, but I believe the Void Butterfly King will become a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast. A true hundred-thousand-year one."
Yan Shaozhe took a deep breath.
A hundred thousand years.
A level-twenty-six Soul Grandmaster with a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.
He had never seen anything like it. He hadn't even heard of anything like it.
"Teacher..." His voice was somewhat hoarse. "What should we do?"
Mu En didn't answer.
He stood, walked to the window, and pushed it open.
The night breeze blew in, cool with the scent of the lake.
"His Martial Soul is called the Contract Book," Mu En said slowly. "He contracts with one beast every ten levels. Each evolves independently, and their abilities are shared. Shaozhe, tell me: has a Martial Soul like this ever appeared in history?"
Yan Shaozhe shook his head. "No. At least, there's no record of one in Shrek's archives."
"Then do you know what that means?"
Yan Shaozhe fell silent.
Mu En turned to look at him.
"It means his potential has no limits."
"It means that if he's given enough time, he could become the most powerful being on the continent."
"It means..."
He paused, his voice growing low.
"It means he's the only one who might become a god."
Yan Shaozhe's pupils contracted.
Become a god?
Mu En walked back to the chair and sat down again.
"But..." he said, his tone shifting. "That's only if he lives long enough to see that day."
He looked at Yan Shaozhe. "Do you know what state I'm in right now?"
Yan Shaozhe lowered his head.
He knew.
Dragon God Douluo Mu En, a Peerless Douluo and the pillar of Shrek Academy.
But his body had long since reached its limit.
"I could die at any moment."
"Maybe next year, maybe tomorrow, or maybe... tonight."
Mu En spoke calmly, as though he were discussing something unrelated to himself.
"Teacher..."
Mu En waved a hand to stop him.
"So I have to think something through."
"If I'm gone, who can protect him?"
Yan Shaozhe raised his head. "I can..."
"You can't." Mu En cut him off, his tone calm but firm. "You're the Dean of the Martial Soul Department. You have a great deal to manage and many people to protect. Besides, you're not strong enough."
Yan Shaozhe fell silent.
He knew Mu En was telling the truth.
A Titled Douluo was a lofty existence in the eyes of ordinary people.
But before those truly formidable old monsters, that wasn't enough.
"Then what should we do?" he asked.
Mu En was silent for a moment.
Then he spoke slowly.
"There's only one way."
"Let him protect himself."
Yan Shaozhe froze.
Mu En looked at him, his gaze profound.
"I can't protect him every moment."
"You can't protect him from every enemy you can't defeat."
"But if he becomes strong enough that no one dares to touch him, then he'll truly be safe."
"But, Teacher, he's only six..."
"Age isn't the problem." Mu En waved a hand. "Time is."
He stood and walked to the window, gazing into the night.
"He's growing faster than I imagined."
"Going from level eleven to twenty-six in half a year—such speed is unheard of."
"If he keeps up this pace..."
Before you continue