"Don't dwell on what happened today."
Leng Yaozhu led Luo Yang out of the testing area.
"Qiangu Zhangting was scolded by his grandfather in front of everyone. He probably won't dare bother you again for a while."
Luo Yang nodded, though he didn't think so.
A leopard couldn't change its spots.
Some people wouldn't learn their lesson from a scolding.
You had to beat them until they were terrified—until the sight of you made them tremble. Only then would they truly learn what it meant to fear and respect someone.
Qiangu Zhangting was clearly one of those people.
"Come on. I'll show you where you'll be staying from now on." Leng Yaozhu ruffled his hair.
The three of them entered a private elevator engraved with phoenix patterns.
Standing beside Luo Yang, Blood Eight glanced over the control panel at the floor buttons that only senior personnel could access.
"The top floor is my living and office area. It'll be your home from now on, too." Leng Yaozhu pressed the button for the highest floor. "The floors in the middle are the research area, the Soul Spirit breeding center, and the Soul Beast enclosures.
"As for the basement..."
She paused. "There are thirty levels. Don't go near certain areas without my permission."
The elevator began to rise.
Through its curved glass walls,
they saw researchers operating sophisticated soul-guidance devices, technicians debugging Artificial Soul Spirits, and an entire floor devoted to a simulated ecosystem, where precious Soul Beast cubs were raised.
"People from Qiangu Dongfeng?" Blood Eight suddenly asked.
The smile on Leng Yaozhu's face faded a little. "You know quite a bit."
"The legion has an intelligence network," Blood Eight replied coolly. "The Qiangu Family has been making big moves in recent years."
The elevator stopped at the top floor.
The moment the doors opened, Luo Yang held his breath.
This wasn't a "room." It was a "sky garden" suspended among the clouds.
Beneath a glass dome nearly twenty meters high stood artificial hills and flowing streams, a little bridge over a lotus pond, and blooming phoenix-flower trees.
Sunlight poured through the glass, breaking into rippling golden light across the water. Most astonishing of all, a cluster of crimson flames burned eternally in the center of the garden. Within the flames, the faint image of a phoenix circled overhead.
"This is my Martial Soul Origin," Leng Yaozhu explained. "Practicing fire-attribute techniques here will make twice the progress with half the effort."
She led Luo Yang through the garden, then stopped in front of a carved redwood door.
"Your room."
She opened the door.
The room was larger than he'd imagined, but its furnishings were simple: a broad bed, a solid-wood desk, and a wardrobe that reached the ceiling. The window faced the Phoenix True Flame in the center of the garden, with an expansive view overlooking most of Shrek City. Several books had been neatly arranged on the desk: An Introduction to Soul Power Fundamentals, Essentials of Martial Soul Taxonomy, and A Brief History of the Spirit Pagoda.
"Thank you, Aunt Leng," Luo Yang said sincerely.
Leng Yaozhu ruffled his hair again, her eyes as tender as if he were her own child.
Standing in the doorway, Blood Eight watched them, that familiar pang of heartache rising in her again.
She suddenly remembered the day six years ago when she'd first picked up that swaddled baby from the battlefield ruins.
So tiny and soft, his cries as thin as a kitten's, eyes barely open.
She'd clumsily learned to change his diapers, mix his formula, and rock him to sleep.
The first time he'd called her "Aunt Eight," she'd been so excited she hadn't slept all night.
In the blink of an eye, the child could run, talk, and cultivate.
And now... he was leaving her.
"Luo Yang." Blood Eight spoke, her voice a little hoarse. "Listen to Aunt Leng in your new home. But if anyone gives you trouble, contact me anytime. The Blood God Legion... will always have your back."
She meant those words for Luo Yang, but even more so for Leng Yaozhu.
Leng Yaozhu understood.
She stepped over to Blood Eight, her crimson eyes meeting the other woman's. Her voice was soft but solemn. "I'll protect him. I swear it in the name of the Leng Family and on my honor as the Heavenly Phoenix Douluo."
The two women held each other's gaze for a long while.
At last, Blood Eight nodded.
"Then I should get going," she said. "The legion still has missions to handle."
She crouched down and gave Luo Yang one last hug.
She held him so tightly that Luo Yang could hear her heart pounding in her chest.
"Grow up well," Blood Eight whispered in his ear, her voice painfully hoarse. "When you have time... come back and visit."
Luo Yang felt warm dampness against his neck.
He reached out and hugged her back.
"I will, Aunt Eight."
Blood Eight let him go and stood up, walking toward the elevator without looking back.
Her back was ramrod straight, like a sword that would never bend.
As the doors closed, Luo Yang saw her raise a hand and quickly wipe her eyes.
Leng Yaozhu gently drew him close by the shoulder.
"She thinks of you as family," she said softly. "The people of the Blood God Legion are like that. Once they accept someone, it's for life."
Luo Yang didn't say anything. He only stared at the closed metal doors.
A piece of his heart felt empty.
At the same time, in the Spirit Pagoda Master's office.
"Grandpa! Why didn't you do anything?!"
As soon as the door shut, Qiangu Zhangting couldn't hold back his angry growl.
A handprint still marked his face, burning with pain, but the humiliation in his heart hurt even more.
"That beast almost killed your grandson! And you just let them walk away?!"
Qiangu Dongfeng stood with his back to him in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the nighttime view of Shrek City.
After a long while, he finally turned around.
"How many times have I warned you," he said, his voice so calm it sent a chill through the room, "to learn to read the situation and control your temper?"
"I was almost killed! How was I supposed to control myself?!" Qiangu Zhangting's eyes were bloodshot. "And that Blood God Legion or whatever it's called—it's some nobody faction I've never even heard of. What's there to be afraid of?! Grandpa, are you getting old? Have you lost your nerve?!"
Qiangu Dongfeng's gaze turned cold.
"If it really were some nobody faction," he said, slowly walking over to his desk and lightly tapping his fingers against it, "do you think... I would be afraid?"
Qiangu Zhangting froze.
Thinking it over, it was true.
Who had his grandfather ever been afraid of? When the Federation's Speaker had come, he'd merely shown him some respect. Even when the War God Temple's master had come in person, they'd spoken as equals.
There was no reason for him to lose his nerve just from hearing the words "Blood God Legion."
"The Blood God Legion is a special case."
Qiangu Dongfeng sat down and poured himself a cup of tea.
"It doesn't belong to the Federation, and the Federation doesn't even govern it. Its base is deep within the Endless Mountain Range."
"The Endless Mountain Range?" Qiangu Zhangting frowned. "That desolate, snowbound wasteland?"
"Wasteland?" Qiangu Dongfeng laughed, his smile tinged with mockery. "Beneath it lies the passage connecting to the Abyss Plane. Six thousand years ago, the Abyss invaded and nearly wiped out the entire continent. The First-Generation Shrek Seven Devils and countless other powerful experts paid with their lives to seal the passage. And the Blood God Legion has guarded it for generations."
He took a sip of tea and continued, "The legion's minimum requirement is Soul Saint. Every one of the Nine Blood Gods possesses strength at or above the Peerless Douluo level. They don't take part in the continent's conflicts or ally themselves with any faction. Their sole mission is to guard that passage."
Qiangu Zhangting's expression changed.
A minimum rank of Soul Saint? Nine experts at the Peerless Douluo level or higher?
That force was already stronger than any faction operating in the open!