Angel Beneath the Mask

The doors closed softly, leaving only Meng Xinghe and the icy beauty in the VIP room.

"Dong Qianqiu pays her respects to Your Heavenly God."

The icy beauty lifted her skirt and curtsied gracefully, her manner poised and proper.

Dong Qianqiu was someone who should not have existed in this era. More precisely, she was a soul beast that had taken human form and should not have existed in this era.

In the original timeline, Dong Qianqiu had been a ninety-thousand-year Demon Soul Great White Shark. Her mother had been a Hundred-Thousand-Year Demon Soul Great White Shark, the mount of Poseidon, the first Sea God.

Before Meng Xinghe took human form to cultivate anew, he had once ventured deep into the ocean. Perhaps due to the butterfly effect caused by that journey, the Deep Sea Demon Whale King had attacked Sea God Island thousands of years ahead of time.

Not Shrek's Sea God Island, but the Sea God Island left behind in the ocean by Poseidon, the first Sea God.

Of the entire Demon Soul Great White Shark clan, only Dong Qianqiu had escaped disaster by chance because she had been away from home, fooling around.

While out playing, Dong Qianqiu met him and invited him to visit her home.

Yet when they returned, every member of her clan had already been slaughtered by the Deep Sea Demon Whale King. All that remained was the Shark Pearl left behind by her mother.

Thus, Meng Xinghe took Dong Qianqiu away and raised her as one of his own.

After consuming the Shark Pearl her mother had left behind, Dong Qianqiu cultivated to the hundred-thousand-year level with the luck bestowed by the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.

Later, Dong Qianqiu participated in that plan. Along with the other selected soul beasts, she took human form and cultivated anew, integrating herself into human society.

No one would have imagined that Dong Qianqiu, the master of the East Sea Spirit Pagoda and the Demon Soul Douluo, was actually a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that had taken human form and cultivated anew.

That was not entirely accurate, though. Once a soul beast that had taken human form reached rank seventy, it would enter maturity, completely shed its soul beast body, and become a true human.

"There's no need for this."

Meng Xinghe shook his head slightly. "According to the plan, you are temporarily my teacher."

"If we're putting on an act, we have to see it through. Before others and in private, you are my teacher. You need to get used to that, so you don't expose any flaws."

Although Douluo Continent did not have the saying, "A teacher for a day, a father for life," it was still a world that valued lineage and mentorship.

Moreover, Dong Qianqiu's apparent strength was not yet enough for her to be his teacher. She could only be his temporary teacher.

"Yes, Heavenly God..."

"Just call me Xinghe."

"Alright, Xinghe."

Dong Qianqiu did not seem restrained around Meng Xinghe.

She had always possessed the temperament of a little girl. It was only because of the deaths of her parents and clansmen that she had been forced to mature.

The cold aloofness on her face, the kind that kept people at a thousand miles' distance, was for outsiders to see. Around her own people, she was still just a little girl.

"Xinghe." Dong Qianqiu quickly slipped into the role of teacher. "According to procedure, your physical data must be tested before you absorb a soul spirit."

"Do you want to take the test, or should I just fabricate a set of data and leave it in the soul tool system?"

"I'll test myself. I just need to control the score. Faking the data could easily leave evidence behind."

With that, Meng Xinghe followed Dong Qianqiu to the testing room.

After a series of operations, the results of his physical data test quickly appeared on the soul tool screen:

Physical condition: Rank 30

Spiritual power: 361

...

Shrek City, Spirit Pagoda.

Ten thousand years ago, although Huo Yuhao had not joined Shrek Academy or the Tang Sect, the Spirit Pagoda headquarters had still been established in Shrek City because of Tang Wutong.

The difference was that Shrek City no longer had an inner city and an outer city. Instead, it had been divided into the northern and southern cities.

The northern city belonged to Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect, while the southern city belonged to the Spirit Pagoda.

At that moment, on the top floor of the Spirit Pagoda headquarters, a white-haired, purple-eyed little girl stared at the freshly issued report in her hands, lost in thought.

Seriously? We agreed to control our scores together, and you pull something like this?

Beside the little girl sat a beautiful red-haired woman. Seeing her disciple lost in thought, she smiled gently.

"How is it, Nana? There are always greater people beyond people, greater heavens beyond heaven. You believe now that you aren't the only genius in this world, right?"

"Your innate spiritual power is 361, a full 111 higher than yours. I never imagined that the upper limit of a Noumenon Martial Soul could reach such heights."

What upper limit of a Noumenon Martial Soul? That is the foundation left behind after a million-year soul beast with God King Bloodline cultivated anew!

Gu Yuena refuted inwardly, but she could not say such things aloud. Unable to speak, unable to voice her grievances, she suddenly felt a little wronged, tears faintly glimmering in her eyes.

Had she known this would happen, she should have been bolder when controlling her score.

The martial soul she had fabricated was called "Elementalist." Her physical condition could remain as it was; there was no need for it to stand out too much. But she should not have controlled her spiritual power to 250. She should have gone straight for an even 400.

Leng Yaozhu keenly noticed the subtle change in Gu Yuena's emotions and sighed inwardly.

Nana may be a genius, but she is still a child after all!

So she immediately began consoling her. "Our Nana is the best. A Noumenon Martial Soul may be powerful, but it still can't compare to an Elementalist who can control six elements."

As she spoke, Leng Yaozhu reached out to stroke Gu Yuena's hair, but Gu Yuena dodged away.

This child still isn't used to being close to me... Perhaps the problem is me. I don't understand children.

With that thought, she asked herself inwardly, Should I sign up for an early childhood education course?

They said preschool teachers were the best at coaxing people. They could even coax adults into becoming embryos; soothing a child like Nana should be effortless.

Mingdu, the former imperial capital of the Sun Moon Empire and the current capital of the Douluo Federation, was an ultra-modern metropolis that combined the four major centers of politics, military affairs, culture, and commerce. It was also known as Sun Moon City.

Skyscrapers rose everywhere, traffic flowed ceaselessly, and the city was steeped in a futuristic cyberpunk atmosphere.

At the heart of Mingdu stood an ancient, majestic cathedral. Towering above the bustling city center, it seemed to symbolize the opposition between Heaven and the human world.

This was the headquarters of the Holy Spirit Cult—the Holy Spirit Cathedral!

It was also the only cathedral among all cathedrals to bear the title "Holy Spirit."

Because it was located in Mingdu, the Holy Spirit Cathedral was also called the Holy Spirit Mingdu Cathedral and the Holy Spirit Sun Moon Cathedral.

Holy Spirit Cathedral, Inquisition.

Sunlight streamed down through the skylights, brightly illuminating the interior of the cathedral. A figure stood upon the high platform.

She was a hooded woman. On her hood was the Eye of the Heavenly God, symbolizing omniscience. She wore a white robe inlaid with gold and a bronze mask that seemed to be both smiling and crying.

No one knew her name, nor had anyone seen the face beneath her mask. Yet no one dared underestimate her, for she was the head of the Holy Spirit Cult's Inquisition—the Angel Douluo!

The Inquisition was an institution under the church. Internally, it possessed the authority to supervise and punish clergy members, even dismissing the pope. Externally, it was responsible for capturing heretics and followers of other faiths, subjecting them to cruel punishments. One of its most important duties was the extermination of all evil soul masters.

With such immense authority, the head of the Inquisition was usually the Holy Spirit Cult's strongest person. If the strongest person became pope, then the position of inquisitor chief would be held by someone second only to the pope.

The current pope of the Holy Spirit Cult was a healing-type soul master. Therefore, the Angel Douluo who headed the Inquisition was the Holy Spirit Cult's strongest person.

Everyone knew that Shrek's Atlas Douluo, Yun Ming, was the strongest person in the world. They also knew that Yun Ming loved the Holy Spirit Cult's pope, the Holy Spirit Douluo Ya Li, and had even publicly declared that he would marry no one but Ya Li in this life.

But few knew that Yun Ming, once incomparably arrogant, had gone to seize Ya Li by force, only to be stopped by the Angel Douluo.

The two immediately erupted into battle. No one knew the outcome of that fight. They only knew that day, Yun Ming had arrived alone in high spirits and left alone, utterly dejected.