Revealing Hidden Secrets: Shrek Academy Roasted Over the Flames

After explaining what a Demigod was, Lei Chen's calm gaze settled on Du Bushi. Those profound eyes seemed capable of piercing through the ages. He spoke casually, yet his voice exploded in everyone's hearts like thunder:

"In this plane, over the past ten thousand years, the only one to walk the mortal world and reach that level was the founding ancestor of your Noumenon Sect. With unparalleled willpower and talent, he forged his mortal flesh into a true Divine Body and reached the Demigod realm."

"What?!"

The moment those words fell, everyone was stunned.

Every gaze instantly converged on Du Bushi, filled with disbelief. Even Mu En and Xuan Zi had brilliant light erupt in their eyes.

Shrek Academy had been passed down for ten thousand years. Though its records described the Noumenon Sect's founding ancestor as possessing heaven-shaking combat prowess, they had never contained such a clear account—the ancestor had actually stepped into the realm of Demigods!

Du Bushi himself trembled violently, the muscles in his face twitching slightly from extreme shock.

As the current sect master of the Noumenon Sect, he naturally knew of the legend recorded in the sect's supreme inheritance, the Innate Secret Art: that cultivating it to grand completion could forge an "Indestructible Divine Body."

Yet in the ten thousand years since then, no one in the sect had reached such a realm. Over time, even he and the successive sect masters before him had come to half-believe and half-doubt those descriptions, treating them merely as a beautiful aspiration left behind by their ancestor, or perhaps an exaggeration.

Hearing Lei Chen say this now, his voice trembled with excitement he had not even noticed himself. "R-respected Plane Lord... could it be... could it be that what our sect's secret art records—that one can attain a Divine Body upon cultivating it to grand completion... is actually true?!"

"Of course it is true." Lei Chen's tone remained calm, yet it carried unquestionable certainty. "Your founding ancestor was a peerless genius, unmatched throughout the ages."

"Not only did he defy the heavens with a mortal body and successfully forge a Divine Body, but he also summarized his insights and left behind this supreme secret art, pointing out a path to the heavens for future generations."

"Unfortunately, after him, not a single disciple of the Noumenon Sect was able to cultivate it to grand completion. The secret art was left to gather dust, until even you, its inheritors, no longer dared to be certain whether what it recorded was true."

"So... so that was it..." Du Bushi muttered. Endless pride and glory first surged onto his face, as though he could see his ancestor's majestic bearing as he looked down upon the world. Yet it was immediately drowned by immense loss and shame.

He let out a heavy sigh, his voice low. "It is the incompetence of us descendants. Each generation has fallen behind the last, unable to recreate even a fraction of our ancestor's greatness, bringing disgrace upon our sect..."

As he watched the deeply emotional Du Bushi, an imperceptible sharpness flashed through Lei Chen's profound eyes. He continued calmly, throwing out an even more pointed question:

"Du Bushi, do you know that in the past, anyone in this plane who cultivated to the plane's limit—namely, the Demigod realm—would possess the qualifications to inherit a Divine Seat? Nearly all of them could gain the favor of deities from the Divine Realm, receive a Divine Seat, ascend to the Divine Realm, and obtain eternal life."

"Yet your ancestor, a truly extraordinary existence who had reached the Demigod realm, ultimately failed to get what he wished for. Instead, like an ordinary soul master, he languished in depression and eventually died of old age in this world. Do you know why?"

Du Bushi's body jolted. Snapping out of his self-reproach, he abruptly raised his head, his eyes filled with urgency and confusion. "Why?! Please enlighten me, Plane Lord!"

Lei Chen's voice was still calm, but the meaning contained within it sent a chill through everyone present. "The reason is simple. Because he was unwilling."

"Unwilling?" Du Bushi froze, and the others also revealed puzzled expressions.

Achieving godhood and eternal life was practically the ultimate dream of every soul master. How could anyone possibly be unwilling?

"That is right, unwilling." Lei Chen affirmed it. His gaze seemed to casually sweep over Mu En and Xuan Zi, while a trace of cold mockery entered his tone.

"Ever since the Sea God Tang San attained a Divine Seat ten thousand years ago—especially after inheriting the Asura Godhood and gaining great power in the Divine Realm—he had treated this plane as his private garden and personal territory."

"He would never allow any existence beyond his control to appear in this plane. Want to become a god? Fine, but you had to submit to him, obey his will, and become a piece on his chessboard—or rather... an obedient dog."

"Your Noumenon Sect's founding ancestor was proud and unyielding by nature. How could he be willing to abandon his dignity and freedom for a Divine Seat, wag his tail and beg for favor from another, then kneel in submission?"

"Because he refused to yield to Tang San's will, despite possessing the potential to become a god, he never received so much as an olive branch from the Divine Realm throughout his life. In the end, he could only perish in this mortal world, carrying regret and resentment with him."

"So... that was how it was!!!"

Du Bushi's eyes flew wide open in fury. An indescribable, towering rage burst from his chest—not for himself, but for that extraordinarily gifted ancestor who had suffered such injustice!

So his ancestor had not been incapable of becoming a god. He had merely refused to lose his pride, and had therefore been suppressed so viciously by the lofty Sea God!

He abruptly turned his head. Those eyes blazing with fury were like two sharp swords as they stabbed viciously toward Mu En and Xuan Zi, who stood to one side!

At the same time, Ye Xishui, Long Xiaoyao, Zhongli Wu, Kong Deming, and everyone else all turned their gazes toward Shrek Academy's two representatives. Their eyes held strange expressions.

The relationship between Shrek Academy and the Sea God Tang San was widely known throughout the Douluo Continent.

Ten thousand years ago, Tang San had been Shrek Academy's most outstanding student, and Shrek Academy had always taken pride in that fact.

Not only did the academy erect a statue of Tang San, but it also named places after the "Sea God" everywhere—Sea God Lake, Sea God Island, Sea God Pavilion... all of it displayed Shrek Academy's reverence and faith in the Sea God Tang San.

Yet now, from the mouth of this Plane Lord, who was clearly at odds with the Sea God Tang San, such a shocking secret had been exposed.

The Sea God Shrek Academy had worshipped for ten thousand years was actually someone so narrow-minded, so obsessed with control, that he would even suppress geniuses from his own plane!

Then what role had Shrek Academy, which revered Tang San so deeply, played in all this? Had they known these things all along? Was their reverence today born of ignorance, or were they... themselves the executors of Tang San's will?

Feeling the strange and even hostile gazes around him, Mu En's already somewhat stooped body seemed to sink even lower. Deep wrinkles lined his face, filled with complicated emotions.

Xuan Zi, meanwhile, flushed red. He wanted to say something in defense, but before the Plane Lord's vast pressure and this shocking truth, he was left speechless, unable to know where to begin.