The Outside World.
News of the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's attack on Spirit Hall gradually spread across the continent. A huge storm of public opinion was brewing, yet Shendu, at its center, remained remarkably calm.
His crimson eyes glittered in the dark chamber.
"Several days have passed. Everyone outside must have heard about Hsi Wu by now! Only, at this point, they still think Hsi Wu is just a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Heh!"
"That woman, Bibi Dong, actually hasn't revealed anything about the demons. Looks like she's hiding some little scheme of her own. Hmph! But that suits me just fine. I can't let her words ruin the demons' mystique!"
"The demons should appear in a different way."
Shendu spoke his thoughts in a magnetic voice, his gaze resolute.
The next second.
He took out the Chronicle of Ages, condensed divine power into a pen, and wrote stroke by stroke, patching it once again.
"According to the records of Ning Xiaoyao, ancestor of the Ning Clan, there is a secret realm five hundred li north of Heaven Mountain. Within it lie the ruins of a god, which state: demons were born before the gods..."
"I am Yu Qingtian. In a desolate wilderness, I obtained an ancient divine artifact—the power of a demon—and my Martial Soul evolved into the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. I hereby found the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. May future generations honor the demon as their ancestor and repay his kindness. The demon's name is: Thunder Demon—Zhong Su!"
"The Qian Clan, servants of the gods, have searched the Douluo Continent for generations at the behest of the Angel God, ever vigilant for the emergence of the Sky Demon! Should they find any trace, they must report it at once..."
After writing a great deal, he finally stopped.
"Phew, finally finished!" He let out a long breath and rubbed his arm.
Altering history was a physical job, too. The pen, condensed from divine power, wasn't easy to control. And just now, he had used up most of his divine power writing all that. Now, only a wisp remained.
The three patches consisted of two books and a stone tablet. Ning Xiaoyao's Adventure Diary had been placed in a remote corner of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's Library Pavilion.
The Collection of Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Legends, meanwhile, had been placed in the tomb of an ancestor, deep within the ancestral grounds of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had not originally lived at its current location. They had moved there only within the past century. Their former ancestral grounds had long since been abandoned, but they remained important to the clan. If anyone wanted to research the clan's history, they would certainly think of those old grounds.
The last patch, which had taken the most divine power to create, was a stone tablet imbued with Angel Divine Power. It was hidden in the Angel Statue, deep within the Worship Hall of Spirit Hall.
He had spent a great deal of divine power making the tablet, nearly as much as ten books would have taken.
That should make everything foolproof.
Shendu thought it through once more, confirmed there were no oversights, and prepared to begin his plan. First, he summoned Bibi Dong.
Before long, Bibi Dong arrived in high heels.
"Shendu, what did you want?" she asked calmly, with an almost haughty air.
Several days had passed, and the shadow Shendu had cast over her had faded considerably.
But Shendu didn't care.
"Bibi Dong, how is the search for the Talismans going?"
The statue's red eyes lit up. Bibi Dong felt as if a dragon were watching her, and her heart tightened.
She took a breath before answering calmly, "I've already sent people to look. But the continent is simply too vast. Finding twelve Talismans across such a huge continent is incredibly difficult. So far, no one has reported finding one."
"Not just the continent. My Talismans could be anywhere in this world!" Shendu promptly reminded her.
"That makes it even harder. If they're in the sea, they'll probably be harder still to find!"
"I told you, they might be on other continents, too—not just the Douluo Continent!"
"Other continents?"
Bibi Dong looked up in surprise. Could there really be other continents in this world?
"Of course. But with your strength, you probably can't reach them. For now, all I can do is hope my Talismans are relatively close to me, not too far away. Otherwise, it'll take much longer for me to reclaim them."
Shendu spoke gravely, his magnetic voice echoing through the chamber.
Hearing his certainty, Bibi Dong tightened her grip on the Pope Staff, astonished.
She had never imagined there were other continents.
By the looks of it, conquering the Douluo Continent didn't necessarily mean conquering the world. What sort of place could the others be?
Would they have Soul Masters? Or something entirely different?
Perhaps I should rethink my plans for the future. Her eyes shifted as she pondered.
As she was thinking,
several black figures suddenly rose from the floor of the chamber, appearing before the statue.
"Who are you?"
Bibi Dong immediately stepped forward. The Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring at her feet thrummed as she stared sternly at them.
"Don't be alarmed. They're mine."
Shendu reassured her, and only then did she relax.
Bibi Dong withdrew her Soul Ring and eyed the dark figures before her suspiciously. They seemed to be made entirely of shadows. Each wore tightly wrapped clothing and a face covering, with a red glint shining in their eyes.
They didn't look human. Like Shendu, they had no eyes—most likely, they were lifeless things just like him.
That was her conclusion.
"Shendu, what are these?"
"My Shadow Legion, one of my finest helpers. They usually hide in the Shadow World, and I summon them when I need them. Their strength is a little lacking, but they're endless in number, immortal, and can travel anywhere in the world through the shadow realm. I'll leave the search on the Sun Moon Continent to them."
Shendu gave a brief introduction to the Shadow Ninjas. He didn't know if they were truly immortal, but that was how he presented them. It certainly sounded convincing.
Bibi Dong was shocked.
"Something immortal?" she exclaimed, clenching her fist as excitement stirred within her.
Although she longed to become a god and destroy Spirit Hall to avenge the harm Qian Xunji had inflicted on her, even she couldn't help being tempted when faced with the power of eternal life.
What living creature in the world wouldn't want immortality?
But the desire had barely arisen before she forcibly suppressed it.
Bibi Dong forced herself to look away and swallowed. These shadows seemed lifeless, perhaps not even living beings. If that was what immortality meant, it was no different from being dead.
She gazed longingly at Shendu. He was the one who truly possessed eternal life.
She would have to obtain the power she wanted from him.
Bibi Dong's eyes flickered, and she swiftly cleared the thoughts from her mind to keep him from reading her memories.
"Go find my Talismans. Don't leave a single place in this world unchecked."
"Go!" Shendu's cold voice rang out.
Before him, several Shadow Ninjas bowed, then sank into the floor and disappeared into the shadows.
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