You, and the people behind you, will all listen to me!

Facing Zhongli Wu's stunned, questioning gaze, Li Changsheng's expression remained utterly calm. A faint, untroubled smile rested on his lips.

"That isn't important."

Li Changsheng gently shook his head and continued, "What matters is whether you want it."

Those four simple words struck Zhongli Wu's heart like thunder, ruthlessly piercing the obsession and resentment he had buried for a century.

For a moment, the courtyard fell completely silent.

The evening breeze stirred his black robes and silver hair. Zhongli Wu stood where he was, the shock in his eyes gradually fading, replaced by endless complexity and melancholy.

After a long silence, he watched the drifting clouds overhead and finally let out a slow sigh, voicing all the forbearance and helplessness he had endured.

"Of course I do."

His voice carried a trace of barely perceptible hoarseness, concealing the unwillingness of a supreme powerhouse.

Who in this world wished to remain in darkness forever, never seeing the light of day?

As an expert standing at the continent's pinnacle, he possessed extraordinary talent and heaven-reaching cultivation, commanding countless followers of the Holy Spirit Cult.

With enough power to overturn an entire region in his hand, he should have stood openly in the world and received the reverence of thousands. Yet he could only hide in the shadows generation after generation, branded as the chief evil, slandered and hunted by the righteous path at will, like a rat in the gutter that could never see the light.

"Tell me, among all the powerful people beneath heaven, who wishes to hide in the darkness for a lifetime and become a gutter rat despised by everyone?"

Zhongli Wu's gaze darkened, filled with self-mockery and indignation. "Our Holy Spirit Cult has lain low for centuries, enduring and yielding again and again, yet we are still viewed as heretics by the world. The structure of this world has long since solidified. Shrek Academy controls the voice of the righteous path; its roots run deep, and its influence towers over all."

"Replace them? It's too difficult. There isn't even the slightest possibility."

He shook his head, his tone filled with powerlessness. "So even if my heart is filled with unwillingness, there is ultimately nothing I can do. I can only hold to the darkness and maneuver passively."

The fixed pattern of good and evil that had lasted ten thousand years was not something one person or one sect could easily shake.

Yet Li Changsheng gently shook his head. His eyes were clear and resolute as he said, word by word, "No. There is a way."

He raised his eyes to meet Zhongli Wu's shaken gaze and presented his most weighty condition. "But the prerequisite is that you, and the people behind you, must listen to me."

Boom!

The instant those words fell, Zhongli Wu's entire body jolted, and his expression changed completely!

All composure vanished from his refined, profound face in an instant. Stormy waves churned in his eyes, setting off monstrous tides.

The aura around him surged violently. He stared fixedly at the youth before him, his voice filled with extreme alarm and disbelief as he demanded sharply, "Who exactly are you? What else do you know?"

His thoughts had already descended into complete chaos. His shock had reached its limit!

The Holy Spirit Cult had a strict hierarchy and countless secrets.

Outsiders all knew that Zhongli Wu was the leader of the Holy Spirit Cult, the ruler at the peak of darkness.

But only the core upper echelon of the Holy Spirit Cult knew that above him stood two true supreme rulers!

One was the Holy Spirit Cult's Grand Consecrator, the level ninety-nine Dragon Emperor Douluo who intimidated the continent—Long Xiaoyao!

The other was his birth mother, and the Holy Spirit Cult's true highest ruler, Ye Xishui!

The existence of these two was the Holy Spirit Cult's deepest and most confidential foundation. Not a trace of it had ever been revealed to outsiders.

Even within the cult, only figures at the elder level and above knew of the two of them.

Yet this youth, who had only just awakened his martial soul, had openly declared that he would make Zhongli Wu and the people behind him obey his orders!

That also meant the other party knew the Holy Spirit Cult's deepest secret perfectly well!

So what exactly was this child's background?

Faced with Zhongli Wu's nearly unrestrained sharp questioning, Li Changsheng remained calm and unruffled, without the slightest panic. He said lightly, "There is no need to ask. Once I return and meet them, you will naturally understand everything."

His tone was composed and full of confidence, as though he had long stood on equal footing with the Holy Spirit Cult's two supreme rulers.

Zhongli Wu stared at him fixedly, his mind trembling. Countless guesses surged through his heart, yet he could not see through this youth in the slightest.

Li Changsheng no longer dwelled on this matter of cooperation and turned his gaze toward the girl behind him.

At this moment, Jiang Nannan's mind had long since gone blank. She stood there in a daze, her thoughts tangled in complete confusion.

Before this, her greatest dream had been to enter Shrek Academy, step onto the righteous path of a soul master, cultivate peacefully, and protect her mother.

But in just half a day, the double standards, tyranny, arbitrary judgment, and stubborn prejudice of Shrek Academy's disciples had completely shattered all her beautiful hopes for that sacred land of soul masters.

That so-called leader of the righteous path made no distinction between good and evil, caring only about strength. They would rather wrong the innocent than let anyone go, hypocritical and domineering.

At this moment, she was utterly lost.

She did not dare go to Shrek Academy, nor did she want to anymore.

But if she did not go to Shrek Academy, the road ahead was boundless and uncertain. She had no idea where she should go or what she should do in the future.

Seeing the helplessness and confusion in the girl's eyes, Li Changsheng spoke softly. "I'm leaving this place. What are your plans?"

Jiang Nannan raised her head blankly, her golden eyes filled with confusion and hesitation.

After a moment, she gently shook her head, not knowing how to answer.

"I know a good place."

Li Changsheng looked at her, his tone gentle yet certain. "Perhaps it will be of immense help to your future cultivation and your life."

A glimmer of light flashed through Jiang Nannan's eyes as she quickly asked, "Where is it?"

"You don't need to ask yet."

Li Changsheng smiled slightly and deliberately kept her in suspense. "You only need to tell me whether you are willing to come with me."

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Nannan fell silent.

On one side lay an unknown future; on the other, a shattered dream and the confusion of remaining where she was.

Her heart was conflicted, and she could not make up her mind.

But at that moment, the old wooden door behind them was gently pushed open from within.

A somewhat weak yet exceptionally gentle figure slowly walked out.

It was Jiang Nannan's mother, fully recovered and restored to health after her serious illness.

She had long since heard every word of the conversation outside from within the house. She had witnessed all the conflict and maneuvering, as well as the youth's character.

Jiang Nannan's mother looked gently at her anxious, hesitant daughter, then at Li Changsheng, who stood tall and composed. Her eyes were filled with absolute certainty and trust as she slowly spoke, her voice gentle but firm:

"Nannan, go with him."

"I've lived for so many years, and I've never misjudged a person. This child has a world in his heart and knows right from wrong. He is absolutely not a treacherous or wicked person. You will not be wrong to follow him."

Her mother's gentle yet resolute voice was like a stabilizing pillar, instantly sweeping away all the confusion and inner conflict in Jiang Nannan's heart.

She lifted her clear eyes and looked at the youth before her, so composed and unhurried, steady in the face of trouble, with a clear sense of right and wrong.

She recalled everything that had happened today.

It was Li Changsheng who had acted, defying heaven to cure her mother's illness that had gone untreated for years, forcibly pulling her out of the mire of a fate doomed to lifelong darkness.

It was Li Changsheng who had not feared power, publicly tearing apart Shrek Academy's hypocritical mask of double standards and arguing for justice on behalf of the innocent.

And it was Li Changsheng who, despite wielding terrifying power capable of bringing ruin on a colossal scale, had never harmed the innocent and remained open-hearted and clear-minded.

In contrast, that so-called sacred land of the righteous path stood arrogantly above others, arbitrary and prejudiced, bullying the weak with strength—utterly contemptible.

The difference between them was immediately clear.

Jiang Nannan gently bit her lip, and the last trace of hesitation in her heart completely vanished.

She nodded heavily, her gaze firm. "Mother, I'll listen to you."

Then she turned to Li Changsheng. Her golden eyes were clear and bright, filled with absolute trust and entrustment as she said earnestly, "I'm willing. I'll go with you."

So what if the road ahead was unknown?

Rather than remain where she was, blindly following that hypocritical so-called righteous path, following the benefactor who had saved her entire family and possessed an upright heart was the right choice.