Innate Martial Soul Domain: Narak

Monster Academy.

Warm sunlight streamed in as an elderly man in white robes and old-fashioned attire sat quietly at his desk, his fingers stroking the book's cover.

The soft click of a door opening sounded by his ear.

Setting down the book, En Ci looked toward the sound. A silver-haired boy dressed plainly, his skin deathly pale, was walking in. Perched on his shoulder was a round-bellied bat heavy with sleepiness, constantly on the verge of falling before fluttering its wings to keep its balance.

The boy and beast slowly made their way into the room.

"It's En Zuo and Demon Ding." En Ci's long hair draped past his shoulders behind his back, and a kindly smile rested on his face. As though accustomed to this, he asked, "Did that child Long Yue lose control of his Martial Soul again and hurt someone?"

En Zuo froze. That was not why he had come. Although Long Yue was prone to going mad and losing control when he unleashed his Martial Soul at full strength, the academy's teachers could always stop him before he truly went berserk.

"Senior Brother... is quite measured when he acts..." En Zuo forced himself to make up an excuse.

Seeing this, En Ci smiled helplessly. Of his two disciples, Long Yue was the one he worried about most.

"Long Yue is a good child. It's just that he cannot control himself when using his Martial Soul at full power. In the future, the academy will still have to rely on you and that child Long Yue to uphold its reputation."

"Waaah, meow..." Demon Ding, dark circles beneath its eyes and two sharp fangs protruding from its mouth, glared at En Ci in dissatisfaction.

What about me?

En Zuo lifted Demon Ding from his shoulder and reprimanded it. "Demon Ding, do not be disrespectful to Teacher."

Demon Ding's mood sank. It could not even be bothered to flap its wings, lowering its brows and eyes with the appearance of humbly accepting the lesson.

"Hahaha." En Ci laughed. "With Long Yue and the two of you, Monster Academy is fortunate, and so is the Star Luo soul master world."

Upon hearing En Ci's praise, Demon Ding's mouth curled up. Its tail wagged back and forth as it let out cheerful cries.

After placing Demon Ding back on his shoulder, En Zuo explained why he had come. "Teacher, I came to see you today because of the Eight Heavenly Kings."

"The Eight Heavenly Kings?"

En Ci was somewhat surprised. As Monster Academy's benchmark modeled after the Shrek Seven Monsters, the seed spots for the Eight Heavenly Kings had long since been decided. Though En Zuo was only eleven and had not even reached the usual age for enrollment, his soul power had already reached the rank of a three-ringed Soul Elder, and his name was among them.

Was he dissatisfied with his teammates?

En Ci's aged body rose from his seat, and En Zuo carefully supported him at the side, fulfilling his duty as a disciple.

En Ci's gaze softened further. Unlike Long Yue, who had become his disciple at the age of ten, En Zuo had been picked up by him at the academy gates and raised under his watch.

Unlike other children, who loved to cry, fuss, and get into trouble, En Zuo had never caused any problems since childhood. He had displayed an unusual obedience, and this talent showed not only in his temperament, but even more so in his Martial Soul aptitude.

A trace of sentiment flashed through En Ci's eyes. Come to think of it, this was the first time En Zuo had ever asked anything of him. "Are you dissatisfied with the companions selected for the Eight Heavenly Kings?"

En Zuo nodded lightly without denying it. "In my view, aside from Senior Brother Long Yue, the other candidates for Monster Academy's Eight Heavenly Kings are not particularly gifted."

That was indeed the truth. Aside from Long Yue and Dai Linger, who would enroll in the future, the rest would only reach the rank of Soul King at the age of twenty.

Their combat strength was even more unbearable to behold.

Even with the amplification of a one-word battle armor, they had reached the rank of Soul King yet could not even deal with a Soul Ancestor.

"If we rely only on candidates like these, then four years from now, at the All-Continent Youth Advanced Elite Tournament, we may surpass Shrek..."

En Zuo did not say Monster Academy would certainly lose. Instead, he framed it in an unflattering light. It was a reasonable explanation.

"Even if we win, it would be a dishonorable victory."

The All-Continent Youth Advanced Elite Tournament was held once every three years. En Ci and Dai Tianling had already discussed that if Monster Academy performed exceptionally in next year's tournament, they would invite a delegation from Shrek Academy to participate in the following one.

As En Ci's disciples, En Zuo and Long Yue knew the details.

As a transmigrator familiar with the plot, En Zuo knew the results of the exchange tournament four years later: two losses and one win in the team, two-person, and individual events.

It would be utterly humiliating.

Even with himself as an unexpected variable, he was not yet sure whether they could withstand Tang Wulin and Gu Yue's Martial Soul fusion skill, Divine Dragon Dance of Heaven's Sorrow.

In En Zuo's eyes, Monster Academy needed more outstanding students—a group of exceptional students who, once grown, would be enough to overturn the existing order.

"I have my own pride. That is not the outcome I want to see."

En Zuo softly asked En Ci, "Teacher, is that truly the Monster Academy you want to see?"

The candidates for the Eight Heavenly Kings surfaced in En Ci's mind. He searched his memories for more outstanding seeds, but the result told him there were none.

"En Zuo, these are already the finest potential students Monster Academy can gather..." En Ci stopped before the window and gazed toward Monster Academy's gates in the distance. "When it comes to student talent, Star Luo Continent can never compare with Douluo Continent."

Monster Academy had been founded with the aspiration of defeating Shrek, and that legacy had been placed upon the shoulders of its president, En Ci.

"With you and Long Yue at Monster Academy, even if it means overpowering the young and winning without honor, victory alone would make it worthwhile. Besides, Monster Academy has no more outstanding students who can replace the Eight Heavenly Kings."

"No, Teacher. I do not want to replace or reorganize the Eight Heavenly Kings. I want to withdraw from them."

En Ci turned to stare at En Zuo in disbelief. Withdraw from the Eight Heavenly Kings? How could the always obedient En Zuo do something so foolish?

Yet all he saw was an unprecedented resolve in En Zuo's eyes.

Since En Zuo had been old enough to remember, he had never asked him for anything. While other children cried and clamored for candy, En Zuo would only silently hold his hand, never making a single request.

In the end, En Ci's heart softened. He felt he owed En Zuo something—the childhood En Zuo had been deprived of. Even if En Zuo withdrew from the Eight Heavenly Kings, with his talent, a mere title could never bind him.

He would treat it as indulging En Zuo's willfulness for once.

En Ci did not object. A doting indulgence from an elder surfaced on his aged face. "Whatever you wish to do, go and do it. Teacher will always support you from behind."

En Zuo, who had been adopted by En Ci since childhood, had long regarded En Ci as family. As the president of Monster Academy, what En Ci most wished to see was Monster Academy defeating Shrek Academy.

That had also become the goal En Zuo would strive toward.

En Zuo understood that Monster Academy's geniuses would only emerge in this generation. The next generation would not have another Long Yue, nor would there be another En Zuo.

This was the generation with the greatest hope of defeating Shrek.

"Give me four years. I will form the strongest soul master team in Monster Academy's history."

"With a team entirely of the same age, I will utterly crush the Shrek Seven Monsters' seeds and restore Monster Academy's name."

"You're going to Douluo Continent?" En Ci looked En Zuo up and down. In his mind, only Douluo Continent possessed enough geniuses; Star Luo Continent's geniuses had long since been divided among the various powers.

"The geniuses of Douluo Continent all favor Shrek..." En Ci could only remind En Zuo this indirectly.

Monster Academy's standards were similar to Shrek's, but the resources it could provide were far inferior. Moreover, Monster Academy had no foundation whatsoever over there.

"Not Douluo Continent. Star Luo Continent."

En Ci stroked his grizzled beard. Though he was unwilling to admit it, the truth could not be concealed. "Star Luo Continent's soul master world... in terms of quality... simply cannot compare with Douluo Continent..."

En Zuo stepped back several paces, his voice firm. "Teacher, I will prove that I am right. Believe in me."

En Ci looked at the spirited En Zuo. Had he not once stood at the gates of Monster Academy with the same fiery ambition, challenging every soul master below the fourth ring?

En Ci revealed a kindly smile and encouraged him. "No matter what, Teacher will support you."

Afterward, the two spoke for a while longer, and their conversation ultimately ended with En Zuo's farewell.

Returning to his room.

En Zuo took a deep breath. A staff-shaped Martial Soul appeared in his hand, resembling a decayed, withered tree branch, with a gemstone wrapped in spiraling vines at its tip.

"Waaah, meow..." Demon Ding flapped its wings and circled En Zuo again and again.

That was right. He possessed twin Martial Souls.

The detached beast Martial Soul, Demon Ding, and... the tool Martial Soul, Crystal Staff.

The Crystal Staff came with an innate Martial Soul domain, the Narak Domain, which possessed the power to traverse time and space.

"Only a forbidden power like Narak can find companions capable of defeating Shrek Academy in the tournament, allowing Monster Academy to trample Shrek Academy beneath its feet and become renowned throughout Douluo Continent."

That was right. En Zuo had indeed promised En Ci that he would find sufficiently outstanding students for Monster Academy, but not from the present-day Douluo Continent, nor from Star Luo Continent.

"Those capable of defeating the Gold and Silver Dragon Kings, aside from me, who stands outside the path of fate, simply do not exist in this era!"

Tang Chen, Qian Daoliu, Bo Saixi, Bibi Dong, even Tang San and Huo Yuhao...

Only soul masters destined to become powerful in the future could possibly defeat the Gold and Silver Dragon Kings, help Monster Academy defeat Shrek, and seize the championship.

"I hope this operation goes smoothly."

En Zuo raised his staff and lightly touched the empty space before him. In an instant, centered on the staff's gemstone, a rectangular portal opened, its edges crackling with blood-red lightning.