The Douluo Era.
The Worship Hall.
As Qian Daoliu watched the last sentence Angel God had said, excitement surged through his entire being.
He nearly forgot that he was still injured.
Qian Daoliu murmured, "If I really make it to Douluo Era 2, I might actually be able to become a god by killing Evil Soul Masters."
"Our ancestor became the first Angel God by suppressing the fallen across the entire continent and uniting their faith."
"If I follow his example, this might actually work!"
"I just wonder which of the two Angel Gods would have to change their name..."
As he spoke, Qian Daoliu naturally slipped into his own fantasy.
Who didn't want to become a god? Who didn't want to live forever, beyond death?
Golden Crocodile Douluo and the others were thinking it over too, and they felt the idea wasn't bad.
Golden Crocodile Douluo thought, If Big Brother becomes a god someday, maybe he could take us to the Divine Realm too.
I just wonder how we could get to Douluo Era 2—or find a way to live for ten thousand years...
The other enshrined elders murmured along, lost in their own fantasies.
The Douluo Era 2.
Inside the Holy Spirit Cult.
Long Xiaoyao found Ye Xishui in her palace.
His expression was deadly serious as he stared at her.
He paid no attention to the comments about Angel God or her ability to counter Evil Soul Masters.
He only wanted to know the truth!
The Light Screen had made it perfectly clear: Ye Xishui was the one who had harmed all three of them emotionally.
Long Xiaoyao was already on the verge of breaking down. He hurriedly demanded,
"Xishui, the Light Screen has made everything perfectly clear!"
"Even now, you're still going to hide it from me?"
"What happened back then between Mu En, you, and me?"
"Why does the Light Screen say you toyed with us?"
"I've lived with guilt for decades—almost a century! Don't tell me it was all a lie!"
Ye Xishui looked at Long Xiaoyao helplessly.
She knew better than anyone that there was no way to keep what she had done hidden any longer.
All these years, Ye Xishui had lived in hesitation and pain.
That didn't mean she felt all that guilty. She was simply afraid the truth would come out, and that she wouldn't be able to face Long Xiaoyao and Mu En.
That was why, in the original story, Ye Xishui only revealed the truth on her deathbed.
But the Light Screen was merciless. The truth would come out sooner or later.
Now even Long Xiaoyao, the man she loved most, had come to question her. She couldn't hide it any longer.
Perhaps this was the judgment she deserved.
Faced with Long Xiaoyao's questions, Ye Xishui couldn't answer.
"Xiaoyao, please don't ask... You'll find out. The Light Screen will tell you."
"I know nothing I say can change the past."
"When the truth comes out, you might leave me. But I've been prepared for that."
"Just know that I never meant to hurt you. I never wanted to harm you!"
"Never meant to hurt me?"
Long Xiaoyao still frowned. "Xishui, what exactly happened back then?!"
As Long Xiaoyao pressed her, the Light Screen began revealing what Ye Xishui had done.
On the Light Screen.
[To explain all this, we have to start with Ye Xishui's real purpose from the beginning.]
[Back then, this girl was a spy sent out by the Holy Spirit Cult to enter the continent-wide Soul Master tournament and scout its promising young talents.]
[Would you look at that? An evil cult running a talent-scouting operation by sending its most gifted juniors to compete in public?]
[That's an awfully expensive way to do research.]
[But it worked. She really did catch two big fish: Long Xiaoyao and Mu En. Both had top-tier talent, and both were fierce.]
[Even crazier, they both fell for her.]
[Seems the Holy Spirit Cult had a good eye for spies. Whatever else you could say, she had the looks.]
[Ye Xishui liked Long Xiaoyao more at first, but then Zhongli Old Ghost from the Holy Spirit Cult gave her an order: "Choose Mu En. He'll make it easier to get close to Shrek."]
[And Zhongli Old Ghost's way of thinking was strange enough all by itself.]
[To stop the two young men from growing strong enough to threaten the Holy Spirit Cult, he sent its most talented female spy to use her beauty to drive them apart.]
[Hold on, big brother. If Ye Xishui could charm these two prodigies until they were completely besotted, why not just have her find a chance to kill them?]
[You say you're afraid they'll become a threat, but you can't bring yourself to kill them.]
[You say they aren't a threat, but then you go to all this trouble to drive them apart.]
[Zhongli Old Ghost, do you have some strange idea of what "threat" means?]
[All right, let's continue.]
[A year later, Long Xiaoyao returned. Ye Xishui was ordered to sow discord. So what did she do?]
[She got Long Xiaoyao drunk and slept with him.]
[That's your carefully planned scheme to drive them apart?]
[Get him drunk? Sleep with him? Lady, is this a beauty trap or a record of a drunken hookup?]
[And what did your plan need in order to work?]
[For Long Xiaoyao to wake up and not realize that he'd been plied with liquor, but instead think he'd betrayed his brother?]
[Did you give any thought at all to the odds of success?]
[It only works if a whole bunch of coincidences fall into place. That counts as a plan?]
[Fine. Let's say Long Xiaoyao's brain was waterlogged too, and he thought he'd done something unforgivable to Mu En—and just happened to be willing to become enemies with him.]
[Afterward, Ye Xishui got pregnant with Long Xiaoyao's child, then gave birth and sent the baby away, claiming she was afraid the Holy Spirit Cult would drag the child into its troubles.]
[You were pregnant and you ran away?]
[The baby was Long Xiaoyao's! Why not go find him? Get him to take you away!]
[You were afraid the Holy Spirit Cult would hurt Long Xiaoyao and Mu En, right?]
[Then why not all three of you run off to Shrek together?]
[It's the strongest faction on the continent, with thousands of years of history. It couldn't protect three geniuses?]
[Fine, what if you say your Martial Soul was evil and you couldn't join Shrek?]
[But didn't you say yourself that your goal was to protect the two of them?]
[In that case, you didn't have to go to Shrek yourself!]
[Just send the two of them there and be done with it!]
[They'd be safe, and you could do whatever you wanted. You could even keep working as a tool for the Holy Spirit Cult. Wouldn't you feel more at ease?]
[Wouldn't that have been a thousand times better than getting involved and breaking them apart yourself?]
[Then, decades later, when Zhongli Old Ghost was on the verge of death, he forced Ye Xishui to bear him a son.]
[Remember, decades had passed.]
[Ye Xishui, Long Xiaoyao, and Mu En—three people with top-tier Martial Souls and talent. Becoming Titled Douluos was practically guaranteed!]
[And yet three Titled Douluos with top-tier Martial Souls and strength couldn't beat one decrepit old man on his deathbed?]
[You're telling me you were afraid of him? What were you afraid of?]
[Afraid he'd die in some terrible way? He was practically in his grave already. Why not stand up to him?]
[And at that point, couldn't you have told them the truth?]
[Let Long Xiaoyao and Mu En know they'd been manipulated all those years ago. Then the three of you could team up and take down the Holy Spirit Cult. What a perfect story!]
Before you continue