Long ago, while calibrating the spatial coordinates and casting his gaze from the Undead Demi-plane toward the Douluo Plane, Electrolux had discovered something interesting.
For some unknown reason, wherever he passed, a special domain would naturally form, one capable of concealing the flow of energy.
This domain covered an enormous area—so large that it nearly encompassed all of Shrek City and part of the Star Dou Great Forest.
With this domain in place, any being outside the Douluo Plane observing it with divine sense would be unable to see any fluctuations in energy. They could only observe it with their naked eyes.
According to Electrolux, beings below the divine level couldn't even sense this domain. Only gods could detect it.
After Jiang Ci'an learned this, he combined it with some information from earlier and arrived at a bold guess:
Tang San, far away in the Divine Realm, had also been affected by this domain!
He couldn't clearly sense the specific situation on the Douluo Plane in real time, and couldn't see the fate trajectories that should have been perfectly clear.
And if Jiang Ci'an's guess was true, then many things could be explained.
For example, why had Da Ming and Er Ming appeared in Shrek City?
They were there to investigate the anomaly—to find out what was going on with this domain that had suddenly spread across all of Shrek City.
But there was still one question:
Why had Da Ming and Er Ming brought Wang Dong'er along?
Bringing a child along on a mission—how could that possibly make sense?
Especially since Wang Dong'er herself was involved in Tang San's plans concerning the favored child of fate.
Putting one of his important chess pieces in a place of unknown safety, where she was entirely unnecessary, made no sense at all.
Although God King Tang had plenty of things worth criticizing, surely he wasn't so stupid as to do something like that. Unless...
This wasn't God King Tang's arrangement at all. It was Da Ming and Er Ming's own idea.
In other words, Da Ming and Er Ming weren't entirely in the same boat as God King Tang. They had ideas of their own...
Standing at the edge of the Jade Phosphorus Seven-Absolute Flower Poison Array, Jiang Ci'an looked at the expanse of purple mist and shook his head, setting the thought aside for now.
It was only a guess. It didn't prove anything.
Still, according to his theory, Da Ming and Er Ming had indeed come to Shrek City to target him.
But judging by the situation so far, things didn't seem too bad.
Da Ming and Er Ming hadn't attacked him right away. They'd even rented his shop politely, and had let Wang Dong'er come befriend him and Xiao Xiao.
That proved they didn't know anything about him. He was safe.
That alone left him plenty of room to maneuver.
As his thoughts settled, Jiang Ci'an took another look at the purple mist. His gaze seemed to pierce through layers of poisonous haze and glimpse the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well deep within. Then he looked away.
He had already marked the coordinates of this place.
Once he had the means to do so, he would return and claim what was there.
With that, Jiang Ci'an turned and stepped through the gray doorway.
The doorway closed, and the gray light faded.
The forest returned to silence. Only the purple poisonous haze continued to roil, guarding the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well within.
Shrek City, the backyard of Ping'an Pharmacy.
Jiang Ci'an appeared inside the room.
He looked at the familiar furnishings around him and couldn't help relaxing a little.
Home really was the most comfortable place to be.
Relaxed, Jiang Ci'an pushed the door open and stepped outside.
But after only a few steps, he spotted a blue-and-pink figure struggling hard on the training ground in the backyard.
Two small black cauldrons floated above Wang Dong'er's head. Their bodies trembled as circles of black suppressive force pressed down on her small frame, making every movement seem especially difficult.
Beside her, Xiao Xiao stood with her arms crossed, watching Wang Dong'er intently. The focused expression on her little face made her look like a schoolteacher checking her students' homework.
Whenever Wang Dong'er moved a little too fast or a little too slowly, Xiao Xiao would quietly remind her. Wang Dong'er would then grit her teeth and correct herself, looking incredibly determined.
Leaning against a column in the covered walkway, Jiang Ci'an watched Wang Dong'er's movements with interest, faint golden light glimmering in his eyes.
He noticed that the Soul Power within Wang Dong'er's body was circulating along a particular path.
And this path... seemed to have traces of the Mysterious Heaven Skill?
Jiang Ci'an carefully examined it for a moment and felt fairly certain. This seemed to be a modified version based on a certain abridged form of the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
Was it an incomplete version of the Mysterious Heaven Skill that had spread from the Tang Sect, later modified by the Clear Sky Sect?
Jiang Ci'an pondered.
With the Tang Sect's increasingly steep decline, whether willingly or unwillingly, the Tang Sect Secret Arts were bound to spread beyond its walls.
After all, these were cultivation arts once practiced by a god. He didn't believe the various major powers wouldn't be tempted.
No doubt, every major power now had a copy of the abridged Mysterious Heaven Skill. But to save face, they would modify it, making it hard to recognize its origins while adapting it to their own inherited Martial Souls.
That was probably how the top meditation techniques passed down by the major powers on the continent had come about.
In the distance, Xiao Xiao's peripheral vision happened to sweep over the walkway, where she spotted the figure leaning against a column.
The girl's eyes immediately lit up.
"Ci'an!"
Her voice brimmed with delight, and she turned and hurried over.
Wang Dong'er, still balancing the cauldrons above her head: ???
Come on, girl! Couldn't you put the cauldrons away before you left?!
As Xiao Xiao ran off, the suppressive force of the Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, which had been holding steady, suddenly slipped out of control. Wang Dong'er felt the pressure increase dramatically, nearly causing her to stumble and fall.
Fortunately, the pressure came and went quickly. Xiao Xiao ran away, and the Soul-Suppressing Cauldrons above Wang Dong'er's head naturally flew back, vanishing into Xiao Xiao's body.
The suppressive force on Wang Dong'er disappeared along with them.
Feeling the weight lift from her body, Wang Dong'er steadied herself and let out a breath, relaxing a little.
Then she turned to look over and saw that Xiao Xiao had already run up to Jiang Ci'an. She was looking up at him and saying something, her little face smiling, her eyes curved into crescents. She looked so well-behaved it was hard to describe.
"Ah..."
Wang Dong'er couldn't help sighing.
Her best friend was hopeless.
She'd completely become this guy's girl.
She'd probably help him count the money after he sold her.
Wang Dong'er grumbled inwardly and shook her head. Then her gaze shifted and landed on Jiang Ci'an.
She paused slightly.
She looked Jiang Ci'an up and down, then finally settled on his face.
Why did it feel like... this guy had gotten a little taller after coming back from closed-door cultivation?
And somehow,
he looked even better?
Wang Dong'er blinked, confusion filling her blue-and-pink eyes.
Did closed-door cultivation come with a beauty effect?
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