Journey to the Star Dou Great Forest, Intercepting Sky Dream Ice Silkworm?

Shrek Academy, Outer Court dormitory building.

The corridor, once quiet in the early morning, felt somewhat oppressive with the arrival of two figures.

The ones who appeared here were not the two ordinary teachers responsible for patrols earlier, but Shrek Academy's Dean of Instruction, Du Weilun, and the Sea God Pavilion elder who never went without wine and meat—Xuan Zi.

The two had merely happened to pass through the Outer Court area. Xuan Zi had just swiped a roast chicken from the cafeteria and was looking for somewhere quiet to feast on it.

However, as they passed downstairs just now, both of them had keenly caught an extremely faint wave of Spirit Power—yet one of terrifyingly high quality.

So, following the lingering trace, they found this dorm room at the end of the corridor.

"This is..." Du Weilun looked at the room number and froze slightly before realizing. "This is Liu Yuan's dorm."

The door was slightly ajar, clearly indicating that whoever had been inside had already left.

Du Weilun pushed open the door and entered first.

The room was completely empty. All of Liu Yuan's personal belongings had vanished, leaving only the furniture originally provided by the academy. That strange spiritual fluctuation still lingered faintly in the air, not yet fully dissipated.

Du Weilun stood in the center of the room, frowning deeply. He closed his eyes and sensed carefully for a moment before speaking hesitantly.

"Elder Xuan, this lingering Spirit Power... seems to have erupted from this room. Could it be that Liu Yuan's Martial Soul underwent some further mutation before he left?"

A trace of unease rose in his heart.

This lingering aura was far too unusual. Though it was not particularly strong in itself, it carried an ancient, eerie quality that he found deeply strange.

"A mutation?"

Xuan Zi followed him inside, still holding the half-eaten roast chicken in his hand, his mouth shining with grease.

He casually swept his gaze across the room and scoffed. "Weilun, you're overthinking it. If that little blind brat could mutate for the better, it would've happened long ago. Why would he wait until the day he was expelled?"

Xuan Zi took a gulp of wine and burped, looking utterly unconcerned. "I'd say that useless Martial Soul of his probably acted up again."

"Or maybe he was unwilling to accept it and used some method to overdraft his potential in an attempt to force a breakthrough, only for it to end the same way. Enough. Since he's already gone, let's not waste any more time here. Let's go."

To Xuan Zi, paying attention to a student already deemed trash was simply wasting his life.

With that time, he might as well take a few more bites of meat.

Du Weilun nodded helplessly at that.

Elder Xuan's words were harsh, but they were true.

Six years were enough to prove everything. How could miracles happen so easily?

"True. Then let's go as well." Du Weilun sighed and prepared to turn around.

However, at the instant he turned, the corner of his eye suddenly caught sight of the windowsill.

"Hmm?"

Du Weilun's steps abruptly halted.

The morning sunlight streamed through the window, falling directly upon several iron guardrails.

The refined iron rails, which should have been straight and sturdy, had somehow been twisted into intricate spiral shapes.

At the very center of the distortion, the surface of the iron bars even bore stretched metallic striations caused by extreme force.

"Elder Xuan, look at this!" Du Weilun pointed at the window, surprise in his voice.

Xuan Zi stopped impatiently and looked in the direction Du Weilun was pointing.

When he saw the rails twisted into spirals, no gravity or contemplation appeared in Xuan Zi's murky old eyes as Du Weilun had expected. Instead, a trace of disgust flashed through them.

"Hmph, grandstanding."

Xuan Zi snorted. The fat on his face quivered, and his tone was full of disdain. "That brat had to cause damage before leaving. Is he venting his dissatisfaction with the academy? Ruining public property like this—his character is utterly vile!"

"But, Elder Xuan..." Du Weilun could not help trying to argue.

"These rails are forged from refined iron. Twisting them into this shape through brute force alone would require tremendous strength. Yet Liu Yuan couldn't possibly have done this through physical force alone. Combined with that Spirit Power from earlier..."

"Enough!"

Xuan Zi directly cut off Du Weilun's analysis and waved a dismissive hand. "Weilun, you're too sensitive. These rails have been neglected for years. They were already brittle."

"Besides, even if a level-nine Soul Scholar bent them, so what? What does that prove? Does it prove he can defeat a Soul Elder? Does it prove he can become a Title Douluo?"

Xuan Zi stuffed the last piece of chicken into his mouth and said indistinctly, "A temperament that can only vent on dead objects will never amount to anything."

"Looks like making him leave was an incomparably correct decision. Stop looking and hurry up. This old man still needs to visit the Inner Court and see those promising seedlings."

With that, Xuan Zi walked out of the dorm room without looking back, as though staying here for even one more second would dirty his shoes.

Du Weilun remained where he was, looking at the twisted rails and then at Xuan Zi's departing back.

In the end, he could only give a bitter smile and shake his head.

Perhaps Elder Xuan was right. They were only a few guardrails. They truly proved nothing.

Du Weilun gave the empty room one last deep look, then closed the door, shutting what might have been Shrek's greatest regret in a hundred years behind it.

Shrek City, East District.

The streets were bustling in the morning, with the cries of vendors and the sounds of carriages rising one after another.

As a city built around Shrek Academy, its prosperity was no less than that of the capitals of the great Empires.

At an inconspicuous breakfast stall, Liu Yuan sat in a corner with a steaming bowl of savory tofu pudding and two fried dough sticks before him.

He had removed his sunglasses, but he had deliberately chosen a shadowed corner and kept his head lowered, allowing the loose hair over his forehead to conceal those startling Double Pupils.

"Phew..."

Liu Yuan took a sip of the savory tofu pudding. Feeling the warmth slide into his stomach, his whole body relaxed considerably.

Though he had been expelled, his mood had never been better.

As he ate breakfast, Liu Yuan's mind raced as he considered his next plan.

"I'm already level twenty. The most urgent matter is obtaining a Soul Ring."

Liu Yuan calculated inwardly.

His Martial Soul was the Spirit Eye, and it was the evolved Double Pupil Spirit Eye, far more powerful than an ordinary Spirit Eye.

He had to be extremely cautious when choosing a Soul Ring.

"Judging by the timeline, it's currently the season when new students enroll. In other words, Huo Yuhao should have only recently left the Duke's Mansion and be preparing to head for the Star Dou Great Forest."

At that thought, Liu Yuan's hand holding the spoon paused slightly, and a glint flashed through his eyes.

As someone familiar with the original story, he naturally knew what Huo Yuhao would encounter in the Star Dou Great Forest.

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm!

That super tonic with a million years of cultivation, whose combat power was so pathetic that he could only serve as a Wisdom Soul Ring.

To the former Liu Yuan, this had only been an impossible dream.

After all, he had been blind. Going there would have been useless.

But things were different now.

His Double Pupils had opened, and his Soul Power had reached level twenty.

"Sky Dream Ice Silkworm is a spiritual-attribute Soul Beast with a cultivation of a million years. He's practically tailor-made for my Double Pupils."

"And compared to an ordinary Spirit Eye, my Double Pupils must be of a higher grade, right? If I can catch up in time, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm should choose me instead."

Liu Yuan continued pondering.

Since heaven had allowed him to transmigrate and awakened his Double Pupils, he could not possibly watch such an opportunity slip away.

Besides, he was merely making reasonable use of his information...

"I've decided. I'm going to the Star Dou Great Forest!"

Liu Yuan quickly finished the remaining fried dough sticks and made his decision.

However, there was still a very practical problem before him.

Safety.

The Star Dou Great Forest was a forbidden zone for humans. Even the Outer Zone was filled with ten-year, hundred-year, and even thousand-year Soul Beasts.

Liu Yuan touched the stored-value card in his pocket. The money left by his parents was enough for him to live on, but it was absolutely not enough to hire a powerful soul-hunting team.

Moreover, mercenaries were often untrustworthy. If they discovered the secret he carried, they might very well murder him and steal his possessions.

"I can only rely on myself."

Liu Yuan continued thinking.

"The power that twisted space when my Double Pupils awakened last night..."

That was his only support for now, and the confidence that gave him the courage to enter the Star Dou Great Forest alone.

But his control over that power was still extremely unfamiliar.

That burst last night had been unconscious. If he did not practice, he might not be able to use it when life and death truly hung in the balance.

"I have to find a place to test it first and completely master this ability."

Liu Yuan stood up, left several copper Soul Coins on the table, then lowered the brim of his hat and blended into the bustling crowd.

Half an hour later.

Liu Yuan left Shrek City and arrived at a secluded small forest.

Few people came here normally, making it perfect for his experiment.

After confirming that no one was nearby, Liu Yuan removed his sunglasses and revealed those demonic Double Pupils.

"Phew..."

He took a deep breath, adjusted his breathing, and tried to mobilize the Soul Power within his body, guiding it toward his eyes.

As Soul Power flowed in, that familiar burning sensation appeared once more. But this time, it was no longer pain—it was a feeling of abundant power.

The world before him became clear and three-dimensional again. He could even see the movement of tiny dust particles in the air with perfect clarity.

Liu Yuan fixed his gaze on a dead tree as thick as a bowl ten meters away.

"Distortion!"

He shouted inwardly, his Spirit Power intensely focused. The two pupils within his eyes suddenly contracted and overlapped.

Buzz—!

An invisible wave erupted from his eyes in an instant, crossing the ten-meter distance and landing precisely upon the trunk of that dead tree.

The next second, an astonishing scene unfolded.

Crack! Crack!

Without any external contact, the middle of the dead tree's trunk seemed to be gripped by an invisible giant hand, then violently twisted!

Wood chips flew everywhere. The hard trunk instantly underwent horrifying deformation, twisted directly into a spiral. Then, with a crisp bang, the entire tree snapped at its middle, and its upper half crashed to the ground.

"Success!"

Liu Yuan only felt his mind sink slightly as a trace of dizziness washed over him, but he quickly returned to normal.

He hurried over to the broken tree. Looking at the uneven break, where the wood fibers had been completely twisted and torn apart, his eyes were full of delight.

"The power isn't bad..."

"This should be some kind of special ability inherent to my Double Pupils?"

"Though it consumes some Spirit Power and my control is still somewhat crude, it's the best option for me right now."

"Hmm... with this move, dealing with some low-level Soul Beasts shouldn't be a problem. After all, it has practically no windup, and it works at range. It should be quite useful."

Liu Yuan put his sunglasses back on and turned toward the south—the direction of the Star Dou Great Forest.

"Alright, no time to lose. I'll set out immediately."

"Star Dou Great Forest, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm..."

"I'm coming."