Shrek City stood on the Lima Plain at the center of the continent, overlooking the Star Dou Great Forest.
With a population exceeding two million, both its size and population surpassed one-third of the Federation capital's. It was unquestionably the largest city on the Douluo Continent.
Its internal powers were even more intertwined. Superpowers such as Shrek Academy, the Spirit Pagoda headquarters, and the Tang Sect headquarters were all stationed here.
Shrek City's architectural style was also exceptionally inclusive. Though Soul Tool technological structures dominated, traditional ancient elements from the three great empires could also be found.
An aerial Soul Tool arrived from the East Sea Coast, flying beneath the clouds to the Lima Plain before vanishing into thin air...
Immediately afterward, a streak of platinum light transformed into a fleeting shadow and shot toward the eastern part of Shrek City—the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda.
At this moment, inside the vice tower master's office.
"Clear half a day from my schedule. I want to meet this Xu Zijing in person."
"The Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon, a God Rank Martial Soul said to command destruction."
"I hope it isn't too different from what the history books recorded."
The red-haired woman known as the vice tower master, Heavenly Phoenix Douluo Leng Yaozhu, smiled with great interest.
After two seconds of silence, the female assistant replied, "Reporting to the vice tower master, the envoy who delivered the secret letter left word that the person assigned to the directed training quota has already set out and will arrive by this afternoon at the latest."
"I presumed you would not agree, so I did not reply."
"Oh?" The red-haired woman raised a brow and gave a soft "Hah." "They informed me after the fact. It seems they're quite confident I'll accept this Xu Zijing."
Suddenly, the Soul Tool communicator at the female assistant's waist buzzed.
She immediately activated it, then reported, "Vice Tower Master, a message from the registration desk at the first-floor entrance. A boy named Long Zijin is waiting downstairs with a letter of introduction from Councilor Xu."
"So soon." Though Leng Yaozhu felt utterly unprepared, she still rose and swept out of the office.
As he entered the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda, Long Zijin's view immediately opened up.
This was a massive hall spanning several thousand meters.
Led by a staff member, Long Zijin proceeded deeper into the hall.
He looked around at the glowing doorways and counters, then followed the towering stone pillars dozens of meters high with his eyes up to the murals on the domed ceiling...
Even though he had peered into the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda countless times through the Xu Clan's genetic memories, when he truly entered this place, he still could not resist examining these artworks, so completely different from the Dragon Clan's rugged style.
At the very center of the dome was an epic account of the first tower master, Spirit Ice Douluo: leading human Soul Masters against a beast tide, defeating the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, and finally disappearing into the skies...
Long Zijin was instantly intrigued. Turning back, he said, "Hey, Old Di, look at your son Xiao Tian. He got taken out as part of someone else's test."
The Holy Dragon King's face twitched for quite a while. He opened his mouth, but stopped himself from speaking...
In the end, the two were led into a private reception room to wait.
Di Guangming finally could not hold back his question. "Your Majesty, why choose Leng Yaozhu? Inside and outside Shrek City, there are clearly others who would be easier for us to suppress..."
Long Zijin's expression changed. He put away the unserious, curious-child demeanor he had worn before entering the lounge and regained the solemnity and majesty proper to a Dragon Emperor.
In a slightly somber tone, he said, "We old remnants from the previous era, before the laws of the universe were changed, all left behind legacies in this world. On the Douluo Plane, those legacies exist in the form of Martial Souls."
"Take me, for example—the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon Martial Soul."
"As everyone knows, all the continents on the Douluo Plane are constantly drifting, slowly but continuously. The Dragon Tomb World where we were buried is no exception."
"Moreover, the spatial barrier of the Dragon Tomb is extremely unstable. It has been drifting continuously through the skies above the Douluo Plane. By chance, when it drifted above the Sun Moon Continent tens of thousands of years ago, I happened to awaken once beneath the earth."
"So I seeped a drop of my legacy through the barrier and let it fall upon the Sun Moon Continent, enlightening a group of humans and beasts. Thus, I bestowed the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon Martial Soul upon the Xu Clan, and it has been passed down to this day."
"As for the Light and Dark Sacred Dragon that you, Old Di, and your wife left behind on this plane, there's no need for me to mention it. You can sense it yourself."
The Holy Dragon King nodded.
The Dragon Emperor continued with a sigh. "Even Mountain Dragon has recently left behind a legacy over on the Star Luo Continent. Let alone Phoenix and Tiger King, who are stronger than your nine sons and stand on the same level as me?"
The Holy Dragon King understood at once and suddenly came to a realization. "Thank you for enlightening me, Your Majesty. This humble king understands now. You mean that Leng Yaozhu is a legacy Phoenix left in this world?"
"More or less. A small part of it." The Dragon Emperor closed his eyes and nodded, a smile unconsciously appearing at the corner of his lips.
Back in the old era, he and the Phoenix God King had commanded destruction and creation respectively.
The Dragon Emperor and Phoenix had brought auspiciousness to one another. They had been close friends, jointly maintaining the balance of laws throughout the universe. What a beautiful myth that had been.
In that era, creation and destruction were balanced. Civilizations would not multiply excessively, nor would they suddenly wither away. Everything had flourished in prosperity.
Unfortunately, all of it had been ruined by a Nine-Colored Dragon, who brought nine adopted sons and joined forces with a Gold-Black Evil Tiger to...
Thus, whenever the Dragon Emperor mentioned the Phoenix God King, a smile would involuntarily form at the corner of his lips.
Yet whenever he came back to himself, he was always filled with endless emotion and boundless regret.
Suddenly, a series of clicking footsteps sounded across the floor outside the door. Respectful forms of address such as "Vice Tower Master" and "Your Excellency Heavenly Phoenix" faintly drifted in.
"Perhaps I miss Phoenix." The Dragon Emperor opened his eyes.
His Golden Pupils were already filled with longing.
At that very moment, the lounge door opened with a click.
Leng Yaozhu's ruby-red eyes met Long Zijin's Golden Pupils.
Sensing in his gaze a longing that did not belong to someone of his current age, Leng Yaozhu froze on the spot, still holding the doorknob in the motion of pushing it open.
Yet Long Zijin could not help but smile and softly call out, "Long time no see."
Leng Yaozhu was stunned, then even more bewildered.
She had thought of many possible openings on her way here, but she had never imagined that his first words would be such a greeting.
She was certain she had never met this boy, who looked eleven or twelve but was actually only nine. Even if he had been a three-year-old child when they first met, she would definitely have remembered him.
Because this boy was simply too beautiful—so beautiful that one glance would remain in memory for a hundred years.
Leng Yaozhu did not even dare use such crude words as "heaven-defying beauty" to describe a beauty that transcended gender and species alike, like gazing upon a field of blossoms that would never wither or fade.
The moment her gaze touched his face, she began to wonder whether the most beautiful deity in continental poetry should look like this.
Yet when she met those Golden Pupils, another kind of familiarity stirred from within her Heavenly Phoenix Martial Soul.
Leng Yaozhu did not even realize that a phantom image of a Phoenix had emerged within her eyes.
Was this what it meant for a single glance to span ten thousand years?
No, perhaps they had already been apart for a million years, ten million years, only to finally wait for this one glance.
Then, a sentence that went against her true feelings slipped from Leng Yaozhu's lips. "Yes."
"Long time no see."
Before you continue