[Please leave your brains behind] [Age has been slightly modified]
It had already been more than fifty years since coming to this The Ultimate Douluo world.
Tang God-King's ten-thousand-year grand plan had finally reached its initial stage. Bei Bei and Tang Ya had already set off for the Great Star Dou Forest to help Tang Ya hunt her third spirit ring. Everything was proceeding step by step just like in the original work, but Yan Jingzhe knew that the mastermind behind the scenes in the God Realm had already started making moves.
By the lake beside Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion, the setting sun sank into the surface of the water, scattering fragments of gold all across the rolling waves.
Soul Guidance Device Dean Yan Jingzhe stood with his hands behind his back, his silvery-white long hair casting a faint sheen in the moonlight, making his entire person resemble an unsheathed long sword—his sharp edge restrained, yet naturally possessing a dignified authority.
He gazed at the lamplight reflected on the surface of the lake and let out a lingering sigh.
Fifty years, a mere snap of the fingers.
He raised his hand, looking at the phoenix mark on his palm as his thoughts drifted back fifty years to that morning when his martial soul awakened at the age of six.
At that time, he and his younger brother Yan Shaozhe had awakened their martial souls simultaneously, scorching golden light soaring into the sky as the phantom images of two light phoenixes circled three times above Shrek City, startling all spirit masters within a radius of a hundred miles.
Innate full spirit power, Radiant Phoenix Martial Soul.
Upon hearing the news, Shrek Academy immediately dispatched teachers to welcome him. Afterwards, he was directly taken in as a disciple by the contemporary Sea God Pavilion Master, Dragon God Douluo Mu En, and carefully nurtured.
At the age of twelve, he was already a level-34 spirit elder, standing in the arena of the Freshman Competition with Xian Lin'er and Feng Ling by his side. In that battle, he turned the tide of the battle with his own strength, defeating his younger brother Yan Shaozhe. With flames scorching the heavens and the phoenix being reborn, the three young men and women stood side by side and raised the championship trophy.
At the age of nineteen, a level-73 spirit saint.
At the once-every-five-years Continent-Wide Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament, Yan Jingzhe led the Shrek Representative Team to victory with an overwhelming momentum. On the finals stage, he used the battle skill taught by his teacher, Sovereign Over All, knocking a defense-system spirit emperor off the arena with a single strike. The entire venue fell silent, followed by cheers rolling in like a tidal wave. Mu En stood on the spectator stand, his aged face rarely revealing a gratified smile.
At the age of thirty, he broke through to Titled Douluo, becoming a Rank-9 Soul Engineer in the same year and crafting two Rank-9 life soul guidance devices: the Radiant Tower possessing absolute defense and the Radiant Sword possessing absolute attack.
The moment nine spirit rings rose from beneath his feet, Mu En personally crowned him with the "Radiant" title and solemnly announced before all the elders of Shrek Academy: Yan Jingzhe would be the next Sea God Pavilion Master.
As for matters of the heart, well.
The corners of Yan Jingzhe's mouth curved slightly; he was certainly not someone with the timid and shrinking personality of Yan Shaozhe.
Xian Lin'er was fiery and resolute, while Feng Ling was gentle and steadfast. Two equally exceptional women, both of whom admired him, made it truly impossible for him to bear letting go of either.
Therefore, children made choices, but as an adult he wanted all of them.
Originally Xian Lin'er had been somewhat reluctant, but under his aggressive advance and the anticipation of her good friend Feng Ling, she ultimately agreed.
Yet all of this was still not enough.
After fifty years of bitter cultivation, his spirit power had already reached the peak of level 98, just a step away from a Limit Douluo.
That step seemed close enough to touch, yet felt like a natural chasm. Sea God Pavilion Deputy Master Xuan Zi had been stuck at level 98 for many years, and even now had failed to break through that layer of shackles.
As for him, Yan Jingzhe, if he were to cultivate step by step without any fortuitous encounters, he estimated it would still take twenty years to even have a chance of taking that step—and that would only be through the most ordinary co-position resonance. His ambition was huge, and he wanted to use the Yin-Yang Resonance Method to break through to a Limit Douluo.
Yet even if he crossed that threshold, so what?
Without becoming a god, one ultimately could not attain eternal life.
But becoming a god? Easier said than done, especially in this worst of eras. Tang God-King's ten-thousand-year grand plan was like an invisible giant net enshrouding the entire continent, making it hard for people to breathe.
Godhoods were monopolized, inheritances were monitored, and every powerhouse attempting to touch the god rank would be unconsciously strangled in secret.
In the original work, Tang San had schemed in every possible way even regarding his own daughter's path to godhood, let alone outsiders?
Yan Jingzhe retrieved an item from his storage soul guidance device.
It was a carving knife, flawless and transparent, with green light rain seemingly flowing slowly within it, exuding vibrant vitality.
This was Life Gold—that same Spirit Devouring Carving Knife from the Star Luo Empire's auction in the original work, which Yan Jingzhe had purchased from them.
The description of it in the original work was that it could increase lifespan, possessed extremely strong vitality, delayed aging, and broke through the lifespan limit of human spirit masters.
He gripped the Life Gold tightly, feeling that warm energy seep along his palm into his meridians, generating a wondrous resonance with the Radiant Phoenix Martial Soul within his body.
Pity that he did not know how to refine this piece of Life Gold. He certainly dared not swallow it casually; if he swallowed it at random, that golden tortoiseshell in the Great Star Dou Forest would be a cautionary tale.
Yan Jingzhe shook his head and said with a sigh.
"However, it doesn't matter. With this piece of Life Gold, coupled with the radiant aura of my Radiant Phoenix Martial Soul, I refuse to believe I cannot attract that demigod Calamity of the Undead."
Yan Jingzhe muttered to himself, light flashing in his eyes.
"As long as I can intercept the remnant soul of Electrolux, I can make a deal with him—using the vitality of the Life Gold as bait, I will ask him to help me break through to a Limit Douluo, and then I will absorb all the vitality of the Life Gold to break the lifespan restriction set for spirit masters by the Tang God-King."
And after that, he would wait until the Sun Moon Empire launched its war of aggression. He would appear as a level-99 Limit Douluo, leading Shrek Academy to unite the three empires and crush the Sun Moon Empire's Soul Guidance Device Legion head-on.
He would seize the opportunity to gather humanity's power of faith, and then create the Spirit Pagoda to collect the power of faith from soul beasts.
To ensure absolute safety and prevent himself from being spied upon by the Tang God-King, he would go directly into Electrolux's Undead Half-Plane to gather the power of faith of all humans and soul beasts on the Douluo Continent, ignite the divine fire with the power of faith, open up godhood, and attain the God-King Realm.
By then, the sky would be vast for birds to fly.
Hmph, Tang God-King, you have your ten-thousand-year grand plan, and I have my hundred-year little plan to become a god. When the time comes, I'll achieve the God-Kinghood right under your nose and see if I don't scare you to death.
The night grew deeper, and Yan Jingzhe took a deep breath, hesitating no longer.
"It's time to set off."
He leaped upward, nine spirit rings suddenly blooming from beneath his feet—yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, red, red, red! One yellow, two purple, three black, and three red, the ultimate configuration. Just the pressure emitted by those three hundred-thousand-year red spirit rings caused the surface of the lake to churn with layer upon layer of ripples, flattening the grass and trees along the bank simultaneously.
"Radiant Phoenix, Avatar!"
A clear and piercing phoenix cry resounded through the night sky as a pair of scorching golden wings unfolded behind Yan Jingzhe, every single feather resembling molten sunlight—burning and sacred. His pupils transformed into golden vertical slits, and his silvery-white long hair fluttered like a banner amidst the blazing flames. Majestic spirit power fluctuations soared into the sky, causing even the veteran elders who had been in closed-door cultivation within the Sea God Pavilion for many years to open their eyes one after another, gazing blankly toward the lake.
That golden figure did not linger, tearing toward the Great Star Dou Forest outside Shrek's east city like a meteor slashing through the night sky.
The wind howled as Yan Jingzhe looked down at the earth flashing backward beneath his feet, his mind completely clear.
Great Star Dou Forest, I am coming.
Electrolux, I am coming.
This world ruled by the Tang God-King would change its skies starting today.
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