As frenzied discussions about Wu Tianque's identity and origins raged across the sky screen, Xiao Wu stood in Shrek Academy, staring blankly at the pink-haired, red-eyed young man on it. Her entire body went rigid, and a tear slipped involuntarily from the corner of her eye.
Those unmistakable red eyes, that same gentle gaze-her heart clenched, and the blood in her veins nearly froze.
The tenderness in those eyes was a memory etched into her very marrow from the countless times she had nestled in her father's arms as a child.
Her father had been the strongest Soul Beast in the known regions of the Star Dou Great Forest. Back then, Xiao Wu had been only a little rabbit who had just awakened her intelligence, while her father was already a mighty Soul Beast at the hundred-thousand-year level.
Her favorite thing had been spending time with her mother and father. In those days, she had been carefree.
Once her mother's cultivation reached the hundred-thousand-year level, her father resolutely left.
As a genius, he would never allow himself to be trapped in this narrow patch of heaven and earth. He wanted to seek stronger opponents, to become stronger himself!
Before that, he had always worried about Xiao Wu and her mother's safety, so he had never set out.
Now that Xiao Wu's mother had cultivated to the hundred-thousand-year level, she had enough strength to protect herself in the Star Dou Great Forest, and he could leave with peace of mind.
Though his wife did everything she could to make him stay, though his little Xiao Wu cried as if her heart were being torn apart, he still hardened his heart and left without looking back.
That resolute figure walking away was the last impression he left with mother and daughter.
Xiao Wu had thought her father had long since died deep within the Star Dou Great Forest, somewhere no one knew.
Yet she had never imagined she would see him again on this sky screen!
But now, she bit down hard on her lip, suppressing the impulse in her heart as she watched quietly, not daring to utter a sound.
Amid the utter shock and uproar on the sky screen, a trace of weathered sorrow crossed Wu Tianque's eyes. After slowly nodding to Ye Su, he began to speak, recounting a blood-and-tears past that had lain buried for years.
"What the First Prince said is indeed true. I came from the Star Dou Great Forest on the Douluo Continent."
"Over two hundred thousand years ago, I was born in the Star Dou Great Forest on the Douluo Continent, nothing more than a Soft Bone Rabbit, one of the weakest creatures in the Soul Beast Realm."
"But my talent was indeed quite good. After struggling to reach a thousand years of cultivation, I gradually mastered several extraordinary techniques. Then, after tens of thousands of years of arduous cultivation, I broke through the shackles of my species and reached the hundred-thousand-year realm, a height my kind had never attained!"
"Back then, my ambitions towered higher than the heavens. Unwilling to remain confined to one corner of the world, I wanted to venture out, temper myself, and explore higher realms."
"But worldly affairs are ever-changing, and fate makes fools of us all."
Wu Tianque's voice deepened slightly, a hint of reminiscence and regret passing through his eyes, yet his tone remained calm. It was all in the past:
"I left the heartlands of the Star Dou Great Forest and ventured deep into the perilous Life Forbidden Zone, only to encounter a peak-level Ferocious Beast.
It was a giant dark-gold bear. Only later did I learn that he must have been the legendary Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear.
At the time, I had only just reached the hundred-thousand-year level, and my foundations were still shallow. Though my various Soul Skills were exceptional, I could not withstand an opponent with several hundred thousand more years of accumulated strength."
"I fought a bitter battle and lost. My body was grievously wounded, my Soul Beast essence nearly shattered, and I came close to losing both my life and my cultivation. Still, thanks to my species' innate talent, I managed to escape that area."
"But Xiong Jun's savagery knew no bounds. He would not rest until I was dead and pursued me relentlessly."
"I fled north, far from the Star Dou Great Forest, until I finally reached the sea and drifted away on a slab of ice."
Wu Tianque's voice carried a loneliness that spanned the ages. There were things he had left unsaid.
His wife and daughter were still in the Star Dou Great Forest. He had not mentioned their existence at all, for fear that powerful figures on the Douluo Continent would hunt them down.
As for fleeing north while Xiong Jun pursued him, that, too, had been to protect his Xiao Wu and his wife.
Had he fled toward the Lake of Life, Xiong Jun would inevitably have discovered them. What would have happened then was something he never wished to witness in his lifetime.
So he had chosen to head north, out to sea.
"Dragging my broken, dying body out to sea, I lost consciousness completely and let that slab of ice carry me across the vast ocean."
An ocean without bounds, wind and waves without end.
"I drifted with the currents across endless seas, passing between life and death time and again, until I unexpectedly washed up on an ancient continent cut off from the world.
The land now known as the Blue Silver Continent."
"The spiritual energy here was richer than on the Douluo Continent. I spent tens of thousands of years repairing my damaged essence, lying low and cultivating tirelessly. I broke through one realm after another, until I finally entered the realm of a top-tier, two-hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beast."
"Later, the Azure Emperor swept across all under heaven and united the Blue Silver Continent. I once had the good fortune to meet him. His divine power reached the heavens, and I was bea... won over by him, willingly following at his side. After the Azure Emperor disappeared, I became an imperial guardian. More than fifty thousand years have passed since then."
His account slowly drew to a close.
The sky screen fell utterly silent, then erupted into an even greater storm!
A top-tier Ferocious Beast over two hundred thousand years old!
And he had once followed the Azure Emperor himself-the ancestor of the Blue Silver Empire, the peerless figure who had united the continent.
Though the pink-haired young man had corrected himself in time, everyone had caught it. This fellow had clearly taken more than a few beatings when he met the Azure Emperor back then.
Even so, that still made him an ancestor-level figure.
Standing opposite Wu Tianque, Heaven Dragon Douluo looked at him, then asked in puzzlement,
"As far as I know, a two-hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beast is only about as powerful as a Super Douluo. You..."
At those words, Wu Tianque smiled faintly.
"Heh, the Azure Emperor once guided my cultivation. When we parted, he also gave me a piece of Blue Silver Wood Heart."
"It was this piece of Blue Silver Wood Heart that made my strength soar over ten thousand years. Now, I can already be considered a six-hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beast."
As he spoke, Wu Tianque lifted his chin, revealing the jade-like piece of wood heart hanging around his neck. A clear set of teeth marks marred its surface.
If he swallowed it all, his strength could increase by another two hundred thousand years.
But whenever he thought of his wife and daughter still waiting bitterly for him in the Star Dou Great Forest, he abandoned that idea. He had saved the remaining half of the wood heart for the two of them.
What he did not know was that his casual remark had left everyone on the sky screen utterly numb.
What the hell? One piece of wood heart was worth four hundred thousand years of grueling cultivation?!
How the fuck was anyone else supposed to live with that?
Meanwhile, in the Star Dou Great Forest, at the Lake of Life.
Deep within the boundless sea of trees, in a lake as clear as a mirror, two Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts gazed up at the sky screen hanging high above, speechless for a long while.
The next moment, both sent a scrolling comment at the same time.
[Douluo Continent · Star Dou Great Forest's Sky Azure Bull Python]:
"Godfather, it's me, Little Snake!!"
[Douluo Continent · Star Dou Great Forest's Titan Giant Ape]:
"Godfather, it's me, Monkey! It's so wonderful that you're still alive!"
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