Bloodline

"Yu Tong, did you ever hear your mother talk about the family?"

After making sure no one nearby could overhear, Du Busi suddenly asked this question.

Huo Yutong's expression immediately darkened. She had never had a favorable impression of the word "family." Her memories contained nothing but endless coldness and humiliation within the White Tiger Duke's Mansion.

She remembered how her mother had knelt on those icy stone steps until her knees turned blue. She remembered how those people had humiliated her mother with the most vicious words. More than anything, she remembered her mother's frail body, so thin it had seemed almost transparent before her death, and those tearful eyes that had never held any resentment.

To her, family had never been a shelter from the storm. It was the grave that had buried her mother's entire life. Even hearing the word now made her heart ache.

"Was your mother called Huo Yun'er?"

Du Busi's next words were like a stone thrown into the long-still lake within Huo Yutong's heart, instantly stirring towering waves.

"You!"

Huo Yutong froze, her pupils suddenly contracting. She had never mentioned her mother's name to anyone. It was the deepest secret in her heart. Even Brother Feng, whom she trusted most, only knew that she was an illegitimate daughter. He had no idea what her mother was called.

She had never spoken of it voluntarily, nor had she ever imagined that anyone would know. Why had Du Busi called out her mother's name so precisely upon meeting her for the first time?

Shock and vigilance churned within her. At the same time, she gripped the Soul Tool Brother Feng had left her. With a single press, it could pinpoint her location and deploy a shield capable of withstanding three attacks from a Super Douluo.

"Actually, you should call me Great-Granduncle..."

Du Busi did not notice that Huo Yutong had already become tense to the extreme. He simply muttered that title, one utterly unfamiliar to her.

"Huh?"

Huo Yutong felt as though her mind had been struck. She had never heard that her mother had an uncle, much less that this uncle was the sect master of the Body Sect—the famed and feared master of the Body Sect on Douluo Continent.

"Ah, but I have no right to ask you to call me that. After all, I only knew of Yun'er's existence."

Du Busi gave a bitter smile, filled with self-mockery. He knew just how inadequate he had been as an uncle. It could even be said that he had never truly fulfilled the responsibilities that came with that role.

Back then, he and his elder brother had only wanted to turn the Body Sect into the strongest force on Douluo Continent. They challenged schools everywhere, made countless enemies, stole every treasure they saw, and fought anyone they encountered.

Wherever the two brothers went, bloodshed followed. Their reputation spread far and wide, but it also filled those around them with fear and estrangement.

Yun'er's mother—their younger sister—could no longer endure the lawless, reckless behavior of her two brothers. In the end, she decisively chose to leave.

Carrying disappointment toward her brothers and a longing for a peaceful life, she went far away and never sent word again.

Later, their sister had Yun'er with a man surnamed Huo. Yet even then, he and his elder brother, her uncles, had never found their sister. They had only learned of their niece's birth through that letter, and only knew the name Huo Yun'er.

Before his elder brother died, he lay in his sickbed, murmuring their sister's name, yet he never got to see the sister he had once driven away one last time.

"I see. You're no different from Dai Hao."

Huo Yutong understood why she had never heard of any great-granduncle. Her mother had likely never known that she even had uncles, because those two uncles had never appeared in her life at all.

"What do you mean? What does this have to do with Dai Hao?"

Du Busi did not understand why that name had come up at a time like this. He frowned, unease flashing through his eyes.

Dai Hao, the White Tiger Duke—of course he knew that name. But hearing it from Huo Yutong's mouth now gave him an inexplicable stab of pain.

Huo Yutong directly explained what she had endured in the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, as well as the many forms of abuse her mother had suffered.

Her voice was so calm it was almost cold, as though she were telling a story that had nothing to do with her. Yet every word was like a poisoned needle piercing Du Busi's heart.

She spoke of how her mother had been punished by kneeling in the snow during freezing winters, how those people had whipped her, how they had stripped her of even the most basic dignity, until she finally died amid illness and loneliness.

She spoke quickly, unwilling to let those images linger too long in her mind. Yet every detail was clear enough to suffocate one, and she declared that she would personally avenge her mother.

Du Busi immediately saw red. His face flushed crimson, veins bulging across his forehead as terrifying fury burst from his eyes.

He slammed his palm onto the stone table beside him, shattering it instantly. No matter how unworthy he had been, he was still Huo Yun'er's uncle and Huo Yutong's great-granduncle.

How could he possibly not react after hearing that a child of his family had been bullied? It was rage born from the depths of his bloodline, guilt and hatred delayed for decades and now intertwined.

At that moment, he wanted to charge into the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, drag out that so-called Dai Hao, and teach him what it meant to repay blood with blood. And he truly did act on it.

"Dai Hao!"

Du Busi's figure turned into a dark green afterimage, tearing straight through the Star Luo Empire army's defensive line.

The soldiers did not even have time to react before the invisible shockwave sent them flying. Dai Hao had just raised his head and had yet to see who it was when a fist carrying the aura of Destruction crashed into his chest.

"Bang!"

The dull impact was deafening. Dai Hao flew backward like a kite with its string cut and crashed heavily into a carriage behind him. He rolled several times in a wretched state before barely stabilizing himself. Blood spilled from the corner of his lips, and his eyes were filled with shock and fury. This was the closest he had ever come to death.

"Du Busi?! What are you doing?! Does your Body Sect intend to strike at the Star Luo Empire at a time like this?" Dai Hao clutched his chest, desperately holding back the blood rising in his throat.

He knew full well that he possessed only eighty-eighth-rank Soul Power, while the Body Sect's sect master before him had entered rank ninety-eight years ago and might touch the threshold of rank ninety-nine at any moment.

Meeting him head-on would be like smashing an egg against a rock. He could only invoke the interests of the empire, attempting to force the other party to back down through diplomatic pressure.

After all, at such a critical juncture, turmoil within any side would become ammunition for other forces.

"Quit spouting bullshit!" Du Busi spat. "This old man is only targeting you! I'm here to make you pay a blood debt!"

He closed in step by step. Every footfall sent spiderweb cracks through the ground. Cold sweat instantly soaked Dai Hao's back. He could feel that undisguised killing intent—the rage of many years, long fermented into intense hatred.

In the distant Star Luo Empire camp, the soldiers looked at each other, but no one dared step forward to stop him.

Giant Strength Douluo quietly asked Emperor Xu Jiawei beside him, "Your Majesty, are we just going to watch? The White Tiger Duke is still an imperial duke. If we allow the Body Sect's sect master to assault him in public, then..."

"What? Do you want to go up there and have a match with them?"

Giant Strength Douluo froze, then lowered his head and said nothing more. Xu Jiawei sneered inwardly. He would have loved for Dai Hao to die here today.

This White Tiger Duke had commanded heavy troops for years and possessed tremendous prestige in the military, which had long made Xu Jiawei wary. He had kept Dai Hao before because the Sun Moon Empire had been aggressively pressing in, and he needed a capable general to hold the front line.

But now, the Sun Moon Empire's strength had expanded to an overwhelming level. Whether Dai Hao was there or not, the outcome would be the same. They would lose regardless. Since that was the case, he might as well kill with a borrowed blade, use this chance to reclaim military authority, and enjoy a little more carefree time himself.

Thus, the entire battlefield fell into a strange tacit understanding. The Star Luo Empire soldiers remained still, while the Heaven Dou Empire and Dou Ling Empire watched from afar. No one wished to interfere in this private grudge.

Although Du Busi desperately wanted to smash Dai Hao's head with a single punch, Yu Tong's stubborn eyes flashed through his mind. That child had said she wanted to take revenge herself, so he would let her do it herself.

Therefore, Du Busi merely beat Dai Hao until he was half-dead. Punch after punch, every blow precisely avoided fatal points, yet each one was enough to leave the once-arrogant White Tiger Duke in unbearable agony. His bones shattered throughout his body, and he collapsed on the ground like a heap of mud.

Shrek Academy

"Du Busi seems to have started fighting them?"

Qian Duoduo held up a telescope and looked toward the dark mass of troops ahead. At the center of that army, a terrifying Soul Power fluctuation erupted. At that level, only an old monster like Du Busi possessed such power on the entire continent.

But weren't they on the same side? Why were allies fighting each other?

Qian Duoduo lowered the telescope and rubbed his aching eyes. He turned to look at Xian Lin'er beside him.

"Do you think it could be internal strife? Du Busi has always been ruthless, but he wouldn't turn on an ally at a time like this, would he?"

"Who knows? Let the dogs bite each other. It doesn't help us anyway."

Her gaze fell upon Shrek City in the distance, a city about to be swallowed by war. Her voice held only a nearly numb calm.

"As long as the army does not withdraw, even if they fight to the death, it will change nothing. Shrek Academy cannot survive against an army like this."

Qian Duoduo fell silent for a moment, then raised his telescope again. Within the lenses, the chaotic Soul Powers continued to collide, but he could no longer be bothered to distinguish who held the advantage.

"You're right... Then let's take one more look at this world. Once the army attacks, we probably won't ever see scenery like this again."

Within Shrek Academy, Lin Lao stood atop a high platform and looked at the hundreds of students gathered below. She had not expected that, even at this point, there would still be students willing to live and die with the academy.

Yan Shaozhe nodded, his gaze sweeping across those young yet resolute faces as complicated emotions rose in his heart.

"Yes. Most are inner academy disciples, and some outer academy students chose to remain as well. I thought that... once the order to disband was issued, everyone would flee for their lives."

"Then organize everyone properly. Even if we die, we must die with Shrek's spirit! Let those enemies see what it means to be unyielding, what it means to have backbone!"

Holy Spirit Cult

"Xishui, are we really going to save Shrek Academy?"

Long Xiaoyao could not understand what his lover was thinking. They were now members of the Holy Spirit Cult, an undeniably Evil Soul Master organization in the eyes of the world, while Shrek Academy had made exterminating Evil Soul Masters its mission. Wasn't it strange for them to go and save Shrek Academy?

"If we don't seek out allies, are we supposed to wait for death?"

Ye Xishui did not particularly want to go either, but the problem was that there were simply too few forces on Douluo Continent she could win over.

"The three great empires have practically surrendered openly to the Sun Moon Empire. Once that brat ascends the throne, the first thing he'll do is kill every one of us! We have so much blood on our hands, and he knows it better than anyone."

Long Xiaoyao fell silent. Of course he knew. That youth they called "the brat," that terrifying Prince of Qin of the Sun Moon Empire, had been exterminating Evil Soul Masters even before he became crown prince. After becoming crown prince, he had hunted them across the entire continent.

"In the past, we Evil Soul Masters could hasten our cultivation by absorbing souls. The resentful souls of the fallen, their unwilling obsessions—those were the source of our power. But ever since that brat appointed those two Kings of Hell, everything changed."

"All souls must enter the Netherworld. That is the rule of this world, an iron law of Heaven. Try to steal souls from the Netherworld? How many lives do we have?"

Ye Xishui had personally witnessed what had happened to her subordinates. When those two Kings of Hell first appeared, some still refused to believe it and tried to seize souls. The instant such thoughts arose, their souls scattered and they perished.

"Then there's that woman with the Angel Martial Soul under his command. Killing by day, slaughtering by night—she is like a holy sword hanging over every Evil Soul Master's head. Wherever she goes becomes a Sea of Blood. Over these years, our Holy Spirit Cult has had fewer and fewer people, and our territory has grown smaller and smaller. If this continues... sooner or later, we'll all be killed."

By hunting Evil Soul Masters, Ye Guyi had nearly developed into the youngest Titled Douluo on the continent. After all, the Angel Martial Soul possessed an innate sense for them. No matter where they hid, she could find them, and being found meant only death.

This was not a battle they wanted to fight. It was a battle they had no choice but to fight. Although Shrek Academy stood irreconcilably opposed to them, before a common enemy, the enemy of an enemy might be their only ally.

While the two of them were still discussing this, an unexpected guest arrived at Xu Feng's tent—an uninvited guest.

"I truly didn't expect a stranger to appear in my tent. So tell me your purpose. Are you here to assassinate me, beg me for mercy, or make some sort of deal, Mu En?"