The Haodong Three Ultimates

"I don't know."

"I don't know either."

Bai Haoze and Bai Zhicen wore Spirit Pagoda uniforms similar in style to Esdeath's. They both helplessly spread their hands.

Although they had both grown up in the Spirit Pagoda, they knew no more about Huo Yuhao, its founder, than anyone else did. Their knowledge was limited to the widely circulated legends about him.

After all, Huo Yuhao had lived ten thousand years ago. Who would go out of their way to find out what his Innate Soul Power had been?

More than that, the two of them were bothered by how brazen these two little kids were.

They kept saying "Tang San" and "Huo Yuhao" as casually as could be, showing none of the reverence one ought to feel toward gods.

They weren't fanatics like the people at Shrek Academy. They just felt that, since those two had ascended to godhood, it wasn't quite right to call them by their names like that.

Seeing that the two couldn't answer, Na'er didn't press the matter. She gave her head a little turn and looked back at the words on the screen.

Seeing this, An Lan lightly swiped his finger across the screen and pointed to another line, sneering, "Look at this. What an outrageous load of nonsense. It openly credits Shrek Academy with the origins of Soul Spirit technology. They don't have a shred of shame."

"And here." He pointed at another line and rolled his eyes. "'Xuan Zi had a discerning eye and devoted himself wholeheartedly to his duties'—what a load of crap."

"Who doesn't know that old Xuan Zi was good for nothing but making a mess of things?" An Lan twisted open a carton of yogurt and took a sip, each word cutting deep. "Take this 'discerning eye' business. When Huo Yuhao first joined Shrek, he fought tooth and nail for a place among the core disciples. That old fool looked down on him and crossed his name off without a second thought."

"And this 'devoted himself wholeheartedly to his duties'—don't make your Brother Lan laugh." An Lan gave a derisive snort. "You could call Xuan Zi the Holy Spirit Cult's Grand Elder and be none the wiser."

"First time, he took twelve elite Inner Court disciples into the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt Soul Beasts. And what happened? He drank himself into trouble, got separated from the students, and left the group to encounter a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Eight dead and four gravely wounded. He nearly wiped out that generation of Shrek's promising young talents."

"The second time was even more outrageous! He led the Shrek Academy team to Star Luo City for the Soul Master Tournament. On the way, they went through the Mingdou Mountain Range to hunt down the Evil Soul Master known as the 'Death Messenger.' And what did that old fool do? He was drinking himself silly at the crucial moment again, leaving the students to fend for themselves. And then?"

An Lan swallowed, then continued, "One dead and six crippled, every last one of them injured! The 'Death Messenger' not only escaped unscathed right under his nose, but also kidnapped Huo Yuhao on the way. Can you believe that?"

"Then... was this 'Death Messenger' very powerful?" Na'er guessed.

After all, Xuan Zi was a Level 98 Super Douluo. Anyone who could get away from him couldn't be weak.

If the other person had been Level 98, there'd have been no need to run from Xuan Zi. So they must have been Level 97.

The Shrek Academy team had only lost one person when facing a Level 97 Super Evil Soul Master. That was pretty impressive.

That was what Na'er thought.

An Lan took another sip of yogurt and drawled out two words: "Soul King."

"A Soul King?" Na'er's eyes widened.

A Soul King had managed to get away from Xuan Zi, who was Level 98? Couldn't Xuan Zi have simply released his pressure and crushed him to a pulp?

"Thank goodness. Thank goodness." She suddenly patted her little chest, then leaned back against the sofa with a relieved expression. "Thank goodness I didn't agree when that uncle tried to take me as his disciple the day before yesterday. Shrek Academy is just too crazy."

As soon as she finished speaking, Na'er turned her head. Seeing that Bai Haoze and Bai Zhicen were also listening with great interest, she couldn't help asking, "Sister Dabai, Sister Xiao Bai, you two didn't know all these stories about the founder of the Spirit Pagoda?"

Bai Haoze and Bai Zhicen shook their heads at the same time.

Both of them were breathtakingly beautiful. Anyone who saw them would have to marvel: what a pair of twin lotuses, growing side by side!

Na'er pressed further. "Then what do you know? Surely you can't know nothing at all?"

Bai Zhicen furrowed her brows slightly and rolled her eyes. As if she'd just thought of something incredibly fun, she said excitedly, "I know the Haodong Three Ultimates!"

An Lan and Bai Haoze both changed expressions at her words, but Na'er grew interested and asked curiously, "What are the Haodong Three Ultimates?"

Bai Zhicen stood up, struck a pose, and launched into an impassioned performance:

"The Winter-Longing Fist, thoughts surging like a spring!" She clenched her fist and swung her arm with all her might, her face filled with bitter yearning.

"The Winter-Yearning Sword, unforgettable forever!!" She shaped her right hand into a sword, Soul Power swirling at her fingertips and condensing into a hazy glow. Tears went plop as her body trembled with exertion.

"The Haodong Palm, for all eternity!!" She slowly pushed both palms forward, their light growing brighter. Arching backward, she gazed up at the sky, her face set with a resolve born of "the deepest devotion." Then she shouted at the top of her lungs, "Dong'er, Dong'er, Dong'er!"

After finishing the whole routine, Bai Zhicen even flicked her sleeves with obvious satisfaction and looked at everyone, eagerly awaiting their reaction.

But An Lan, Bai Haoze, and Na'er had all already put on the faces of people in deep distress.

Na'er bared her teeth. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to slap the version of herself from one minute ago for running her mouth.

She slumped against the sofa, completely deflated, and complained to Bai Zhicen in a listless voice, "Sister Xiao Bai, when you were doing all those moves... didn't you feel embarrassed?"

"Uh..." The smile on Bai Zhicen's face froze. She gave an awkward laugh. "A little, I guess..."

As she spoke, she edged closer to Bai Haoze. But Bai Haoze moved sharply to the side as though afraid something filthy might rub off on him, putting distance between them.

Bai Zhicen: "..."

She fell silent.

At that moment, Bai Haoze had only one thought: I can't keep this little sister.

The expression on Bai Zhicen's face crumpled completely. Without a word, she shuffled to the sofa in the farthest corner and buried her head between her knees, radiating "emo" energy.

An Lan opened another carton of yogurt and gulped down a big mouthful to calm himself.

It took him quite a while to recover. At last, he gave Bai Haoze a helpless sigh, then tried to comfort her. "It's fine, Sister Dabai. Sister Xiao Bai can still be used after a wash. If all else fails..."

He paused, then continued, "She's your biological little sister, too."

At that moment, An Lan felt an urge to keep some insulin on hand.

Inside the mecha's front cabin, light and shadow flowed across the space. Le Lingzhao watched the images on the screen and listened to the voices, laughing so hard her whole body shook.

"Hahaha." She turned to Leng Qingning. "This is hilarious, Qingning. I had no idea your Xiao Bai had such a cute side."

Leng Qingning's lips curved up slightly too. She shook her head helplessly.

She saw through Bai Zhicen's intentions at a glance: with Leng Qingning and Le Lingzhao not there, Bai Zhicen had deliberately put on a show to tease An Lan and Na'er, the two kids.

But that was truly hard to handle. Even if you beat her to death, she couldn't come up with a Soul Skill like that.