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

Shrek Academy, Outer Court dormitory building.

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

The people who appeared here were not the two ordinary teachers responsible for patrols, but Shrek Academy's dean of studies, Du Weilun, and the Sea God Pavilion elder who was never 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 preparing to find somewhere quiet to feast.

However, as they passed downstairs just now, both of them had sharply caught an extremely faint spiritual power fluctuation of terrifyingly high quality.

Thus, following the lingering trace of that aura, they found this dormitory at the end of the corridor.

"This is..." Du Weilun looked at the room number, stunned for a moment before realizing. "This is Liu Yuan's dormitory."

The door was slightly ajar, clearly indicating that its occupant 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 disappeared, leaving only the furniture originally provided by the academy. That faint, strange spiritual fluctuation still lingered in the air, not yet fully dispersed.

Du Weilun stood in the middle of the room, his brows tightly furrowed. He closed his eyes and carefully sensed the surroundings before speaking hesitantly.

"Elder Xuan, this lingering spiritual power... seems to have erupted from this room. Could it be that Liu Yuan's Martial Soul underwent some sort of mutation again before he left?"

A faint unease rose in his heart.

This lingering aura was far too unusual. Though it was not particularly strong in itself, it carried an ancient and bizarre quality that left him deeply puzzled.

"A mutation?"

Xuan Zi followed him inside, still holding that half-eaten roast chicken, his mouth glistening with grease.

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

Xuan Zi took a swig of wine and burped, his face full of indifference. "I'd say that useless Martial Soul of his caused some trouble again."

"Or perhaps he was unwilling to accept it and used some method to burn through his potential in an attempt to force a breakthrough, only for it to amount to nothing. Enough. Since he's already gone, let's not waste time here. Let's go."

To Xuan Zi, paying attention to a student who had already been deemed trash was simply a waste of life.

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

Hearing this, Du Weilun nodded helplessly.

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

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

"That's true. Then let's go as well." Du Weilun sighed and was about to turn around and leave.

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

"Hm?"

Du Weilun abruptly stopped.

Morning sunlight streamed in through the window, landing directly on the iron guardrails.

The sturdy, straight guardrails of refined iron had somehow been twisted into a complicated spiral shape.

At the very center of the Distortion, the surface of the iron bars even bore metallic striations produced by immense 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 guardrails twisted into spirals, his cloudy old eyes showed none of the gravity or contemplation Du Weilun had expected. Instead, a flash of disgust crossed them.

"Hmph, grandstanding."

Xuan Zi snorted, the fat on his face trembling as his tone filled with disdain. "That brat is causing damage even as he leaves. Is he venting his dissatisfaction with the academy? Ruining public property like this—his character is simply atrocious!"

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

"These railings were forged from refined iron. Twisting them into this shape through brute force alone would require tremendous strength. Yet Liu Yuan should not have been capable of this through sheer strength. Combined with that spiritual power from earlier..."

"Enough!"

Xuan Zi directly interrupted Du Weilun's analysis and waved his hand dismissively. "Weilun, you're too sensitive. These railings have been neglected for years. They were already brittle."

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

Xuan Zi stuffed the last piece of chicken into his mouth and said indistinctly, "A temperament that only knows how to vent on inanimate objects will never achieve anything great."

"It seems letting him leave was an incomparably correct decision. Stop looking. Hurry up and go. This old man still needs to visit the Inner Court and see those promising seedlings."

With that, Xuan Zi left the dormitory without looking back, as though staying here one second longer would dirty his shoes.

Du Weilun remained where he was, looking at the twisted railings before looking 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 railings. They truly proved nothing.

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

Shrek City, East District.

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

As a city built around Shrek Academy, its prosperity was in no way inferior to the capitals of the great empires.

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

He had removed his sunglasses, but deliberately chose a corner away from the light and kept his head lowered, allowing the loose hair over his forehead to conceal those astonishing Double Pupils.

"Whew..."

Liu Yuan took a sip of the savory tofu pudding. Feeling its warmth slide into his stomach, his entire 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. My top priority is obtaining a Soul Ring."

Liu Yuan calculated inwardly.

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

He had to be extremely cautious in choosing his Soul Ring.

"Judging from the timeline, it's currently the season when new students enroll. That means 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 sharp glint flashed in 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 supplement with a million years of cultivation that could only serve as an intelligent Soul Ring because its combat strength was too pathetic.

To the Liu Yuan of the past, it had only been a fantasy.

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. It's practically tailor-made for my Double Pupils."

"Besides, compared with an ordinary Spirit Eye, my Double Pupils must be of a higher grade, right? If I make it in time, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm should choose me instead."

Liu Yuan continued to ponder.

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

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

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

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

However, another very practical problem stood before him.

Safety.

The Star Dou Great Forest was a forbidden zone for humans. Even its outer region 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 behind by his parents was enough for him to live on, but nowhere near enough to hire a powerful soul-hunting team.

Moreover, mercenaries were often untrustworthy. Once they discovered the secret he carried, they might very well kill him and steal his belongings.

"I can only rely on myself."

Liu Yuan continued thinking.

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

That was his only reliance at present, and the source of his confidence in daring to venture alone into the Star Dou Great Forest.

But his control over that power was still extremely unpracticed.

What happened last night had been an unconscious outburst. If he did not practice it, he might not be able to use it in a life-or-death moment.

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

Liu Yuan stood, left several copper soul coins on the table, lowered the brim of his hat, and turned to blend into the bustling crowd.

Half an hour later.

Liu Yuan left Shrek City and arrived at a secluded grove.

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 eerie Double Pupils.

"Whew..."

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 again. This time, however, it was no longer pain, but a feeling of overflowing strength.

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

Liu Yuan fixed his gaze on a withered tree ten meters away, its trunk as thick as a bowl.

"Distortion!"

He shouted inwardly, concentrating his spiritual power to the utmost as the two pupils in his eyes suddenly contracted and overlapped.

Bzz—!

An invisible ripple burst from his eyes in an instant, crossed ten meters, and descended precisely upon the trunk of that withered tree.

The next second, an astonishing sight unfolded.

Crack! Crack!

Without any external contact, the middle of the withered trunk seemed to be gripped by an invisible giant hand, then viciously twisted!

Wood chips flew everywhere. The hard trunk underwent a horrifying deformation in an instant, twisting directly into a spiral. Then, with a crisp bang, the entire tree snapped in half, and its upper section crashed to the ground.

"It worked!"

Liu Yuan felt a slight heaviness in his head as a trace of dizziness washed over him, but he quickly returned to normal.

He hurried to the broken tree and stared at the jagged break, where the wood fibers had been completely twisted and torn apart. His eyes were filled with delight.

"The power isn't bad..."

"This should be some special ability innate to my Double Pupils?"

"Though it consumes some spiritual power and my control is still somewhat crude, it's the best choice for me right now."

"Hm... With this move, I should have no problem dealing with some low-level soul beasts. After all, it has practically no casting delay, and it works at range. It should be quite useful."

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

"Right, no time to waste. I'll set out immediately."

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

"I'm coming."