Shrek's Double Standards, a Beautiful "Girl"

"Ugh..." Xiao Changge looked around the tavern. Most of the people here were quite happy, drinking and chatting about their dreams in life, speaking freely of the future. But what did his future hold? Revenge.

He had awakened a divine beast-grade Martial Soul—the legendary Vermilion Bird Martial Soul—and possessed Innate Full Soul Power at level 30. It should have been something worth celebrating, yet Shrek had crippled him, and his benefactor had been killed. He still remembered that hatred. He had to avenge his benefactor.

That nameless Soul Engineer had helped him awaken his Martial Soul. He should have gained a lofty status, but what happened? Shrek had destroyed everything, and when his benefactor was exposed, he hadn't been able to avenge him.

He had even had to endure the mockery of those hypocrites.

He truly couldn't stand Shrek.

Besides, Shrek had always been utterly double-faced.

Shrek Academy's "double standards" weren't unique to any single generation. They became more institutionalized and sanctified with each generation—from Tang San's "protect-your-own double standards" in Douluo One, to Huo Yuhao's "justice-packaged double standards" in Douluo Two, and then to the era of Tang Wulin in Douluo Three, where "Shrek itself is the law."

The tone was set by Tang San in Douluo One: "When I kill, it's justice. When you kill, it's evil."

Double standards in hunting Soul Beasts: Tang San swore to Xiao Wu's face that he would "only kill evil Soul Beasts that attacked first and never slaughter indiscriminately." Yet he turned around and swept through the top-tier Soul Beasts of the Star Dou and Sunset Forests for Clear Sky Hammer Soul Rings. He killed so many Man Faced Demon Spiders that they nearly went extinct, slaughtered the three Qian Jun Ant Emperor brothers, and ultimately took all of Da Ming, Er Ming, and Xiao Wu's Soul Rings and Soul Bones. When Spirit Hall hunted Soul Beasts, it was evil; when Tang San did it, he was carrying out heaven's justice.

Double standards in protecting his own during matches: Zhao Wuji hadn't dealt a killing blow during the entrance examination and had merely knocked Xiao Wu unconscious, yet Tang San immediately greeted him with poison and hidden weapons. When Xiao Wu was injured because she lacked the skill, he told Dai Mubai to "avenge Xiao Wu." But when Tang San used hidden weapons, poison, sneak attacks, traps, and schemes, it all counted as "cleverness and wit."

Spirit Hall's standards versus his own: Spirit Hall's centralization was tyrannical evil; Tang San borrowed the power of two great empires, industrialized killing with Tang Sect hidden weapons, and ultimately crushed others with god-level power, calling it "ending the chaotic age." He verbally opposed sneak attacks, yet infiltration, poisoning, and assassination—he did every last one of them.

Douluo One's double standards were mainly sustained by Tang San's personal moral flexibility. The academy itself hadn't yet reached the point of "cross-jurisdictional law enforcement." At most, Flender and the others were greedy and only accepted monsters.

The tone of Shrek in Douluo Two was this: Shrek had been elevated into a "moral court," and double standards had been written into its school rules.

Double standards over life and death in the arena: when Shrek students injured their opponents, it was "inevitable in sparring"; when opponents injured Shrek students, it was "Sun Moon and the Holy Spirit don't observe martial ethics—the vice pavilion master will personally demand compensation." When Huo Yuhao's side deliberately killed Sun Moon or Holy Spirit contestants, it was called "eliminating evil." If the other side fought back, it was "despicable."

Double standards in using evil arts: when the Holy Spirit Cult drank Soul Beast blood, evil Soul Masters deserved extermination; when Huo Yuhao learned Electrolux's necromancy, used Life Gold to seize life essence, and tortured ghosts through carving, it was called "necessary for justice, Necromantic Sacred Law."

The Mingdu bombing: Huo Yuhao blew up half of Mingdu to erase traces, and Shrek brushed it off with laughter. Yet when the Sun Moon Empire truly struck back, Xuan Zi jumped out again, saying, "If something happens to my students in Star Luo City, I'll go mad." He simply treated different people by different standards.

At the level of Mu En and Xuan Zi: Mu En watched as the Martial Soul Department suppressed the Soul Guidance Department, cheated Jing Hongchen, and pretended to be a good old man regarding his old debts with Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui. No wonder he was called a "top-tier hypocrite." Xuan Zi led a team and got geniuses killed, failed to defeat the Death God Messenger, yet returned to the academy and remained the Taotie Douluo all the same.

The key change in Douluo Two was that the subject of these double standards shifted from Tang San alone to the Sea God Pavilion as a collective. When Shrek students committed crimes—"Shrek students aren't for outsiders to judge." When Shrek judged others—crossing jurisdictions to arrest the Holy Spirit Cult, suppressing Sun Moon, and lecturing the Federation—it was called "upholding the continent's justice."

Douluo Three was even more disgusting: Shrek had become a place beyond the law. "I am order."

The sense of privilege after rebuilding from the bombing: when the Holy Spirit Cult blew up the academy, Tang Wulin's generation cried and shouted that "the Shrek spirit will never perish," while the Federation had to provide money and resources. But when the Federation later wanted to isolate and investigate Shrek students over dangers brought back from an extraterrestrial mission, the Sea God Pavilion directly said, "You've gone too far. What can you do about it?" before taking the people away.

Double standards in the examinations themselves: in Douluo Three, Outer Court assessments had students beat Soul Emperors, steal military secrets, force people to strip, and steal nuclear bombs. The academy called it "tempering." If the Spirit Pagoda or Holy Spirit Cult did the same things, it would be "utterly insane."

At the level of Tang Wulin and Gu Yuena: when Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon King bloodline went berserk and injured innocents, Shrek handled it internally. Gu Yuena's identity as the Silver Dragon King wasn't revealed until much later, yet she had been a teacher at the academy all along and no one held her accountable. By Lan Xuanyu's era in Douluo Four, it became even more thorough—Shrek had essentially degenerated into an NPC organization that "provided resources for the Dragon God's son and took bullets for him." Its double standards no longer needed explanation; bloodline itself was justice.

The reversal of the Soul Beast stance: in Douluo One, Tang San destroyed Spirit Hall while casually treating Soul Beasts as materials. In Douluo Three, Tang Wulin shouted about "humans and Soul Beasts coexisting," but the ferocious beasts ultimately all became human Soul Spirits, while Di Tian helped Lan Xuanyu block a tribulation and perished in body and soul. In Shrek's version, "coexistence" meant Soul Beasts willingly sacrificing themselves for the Tang Clan bloodline.

The same double-standard backbone ran through all three generations:

Douluo One: Tang San's standard—"Only the kindness I define is kindness."

Douluo Two: the Sea God Pavilion's standard—"Only the evil Shrek defines is evil, and whatever Shrek does is inherently not evil."

Douluo Three: the bloodline standard—"What Tang San's descendants, the Shrek Inner Court, and the Dragon God faction do needs no standard."

Its specific manifestations were highly repetitive:

Killing: when they killed, it was decisive justice; when others killed, it was bloodthirsty evil.

Hunting Soul Beasts and seizing resources: when they seized them, it was fate-given heavenly treasure; when others seized them, it was cruel exploitation.

Injuring people in matches: when they hurt others, it was the unpredictability of sparring; when others hurt them, it was deliberate assault, and the pavilion elders stepped in.

Using forbidden arts: necromancy, hidden weapons, spiritual control, stealing nuclear bombs—when Shrek used them, they were necessary measures; when the Holy Spirit Cult or Sun Moon used them, they were world-destroying evil arts.

Judicial authority: Shrek students weren't under the Federation's jurisdiction; the Federation, Holy Spirit Cult, and Spirit Pagoda all had to fall under Shrek's jurisdiction.

To put it bluntly, Douluo One's double standards were protagonist privilege. In Douluo Two, they became academy privilege. After Douluo Three, they had become religious-style storytelling—Shrek had slid from "a school that only accepted monsters" into a tribunal where "the monsters themselves decided what qualified as a monster."

So Shrek had no measuring stick and was utterly double-faced. Tang San had been dark to begin with, and after accepting the teachings of even darker people like Yu Xiaogang and Flender, Shrek became even more disgusting and laughable under their guidance.

And so, they absolutely wouldn't allow the killing of someone who had never done anything bad. That Soul Engineer uncle had done nothing wrong. He had merely been an ordinary Soul Engineer, yet because he wanted to take him, a genius, back to the Sun Moon Empire, he had been killed.

Moreover, no one from the Douluo Three Kingdoms had helped Xiao Changge awaken his Martial Soul in the first place. It was that uncle from the Sun Moon Empire who had helped him awaken it. Of course the man had every right to do so.

Right now, he desperately wanted revenge—to charge straight into Shrek, drag everyone in Shrek into hell, and make them suffer endless pain.

But he still couldn't do that. He needed to grow stronger slowly. Only when he became strong enough could he take revenge.

Just then, a "beautiful young girl" suddenly entered the tavern.

"Wow, she's so beautiful!" One person in the tavern was the first to lose restraint as he looked at the beautiful woman.