Douluo Continent, during the era of Legend of the Dragon King.
"Gu Yue, why are you giving me that stern look again?"
Today was the day another batch of new students enrolled at Shrek Academy.
In Shrek Square, a boy and a girl of fifteen or sixteen stood side by side.
They were Luo Chen and Gu Yue.
Gu Yue swept an indifferent glance over him. It held no sharp edge, yet carried a distance of its own, as though a veil of mist lay between them, her coldness shutting others out.
By now, Luo Chen had grown used to it. He was even a little pleased. Because...
He had awakened a romance system.
In the system, Gu Yue's affection for him had been climbing steadily.
[Gu Yue's affection +1]
Luo Chen opened the romance system.
The very first character to pop up was none other than Gu Yuena.
However, Gu Yuena's progress bar had been divided into two sections, representing Na'er and Gu Yue.
[Current Gu Yue affection: 79/100] [Current Na'er affection: 78/100]
Below Gu Yuena's character entry were several others. Without exception, their progress bars were full, had even overflowed, and were still gradually rising.
They were Qian Renxue, Hu Liena, Ning Rongrong, Wang Qiu'er, Wang Dong'er, Xu Jiujiu, and Vina.
First came Huo Linfei, speedrunning the Seven Parallel Universes in seven days.
Then came Luo Chen, speedrunning the heroines of Douluo's various eras in a few years.
Yes, thanks to this system, Luo Chen could travel to the Spirit Hall era and the Peerless Tang Sect era to win over the heroines, but...
Just when their affection had maxed out and he was about to finish winning them over, the system actually stopped him from traveling across time and space!
It had stranded him in the Dragon King era!
This damned system!
Because he could not confirm the final step, the system would not even give him his rewards. Everything remained stuck!
Just then, cheers from the new students in the square interrupted Luo Chen's thoughts.
He looked up and saw that Cai Yue'er was recounting Shrek's twenty-thousand-year history to the new students.
"Twenty thousand years ago, Flender, Yu Xiaogang, and Liu Erlong founded Shrek."
"Back then, Shrek was only a tiny courtyard, without towering walls or grand buildings, without fame or glory."
"But the first Shrek Seven Monsters burst onto the scene. Led by our ancestor Tang San, they defied the heavens, ultimately defeated the evil Spirit Hall, and saved the continent. Shrek became the continent's number one academy!"
Just then, a deafening sound rang out over Douluo Continent in both the Spirit Hall era and the Peerless Tang Sect era.
An enormous sky screen suddenly unfurled in midair.
"What's going on?"
Everyone across Douluo Continent noticed the anomaly in the sky, whether in the Spirit Hall era or the Peerless Tang Sect era.
They looked up. On that pitch-black sky screen, the scene being shown was precisely the one around Luo Chen!
Those few short sentences from Cai Yue'er sent a shock through the mighty figures of twenty thousand years earlier.
On Douluo Continent in the Spirit Hall era, Qian Renxue had returned to Spirit Hall after the palace coup in Heaven Dou City.
Outside the Worship Hall,
Qian Daoliu looked incredulous. "Twenty thousand years ago? Is this an era twenty thousand years in the future? Has Spirit Hall ceased to exist by then?"
Beside Qian Daoliu, Qian Renxue stared fixedly at Luo Chen, clutching a handwritten Marriage Contract in her hand.
Though twenty thousand years separated them, Qian Renxue was absolutely certain that this was the Luo Chen who had once clamored about marrying her.
"Luo Chen, I've finally found you..."
Outside Spirit Hall.
Bibi Dong's expression shifted uncertainly. The evil Spirit Hall-were they talking about her?
Hu Liena, standing beside Bibi Dong, was thrilled. "Teacher, look! Is that Luo Chen?"
Others reacted differently from those at Spirit Hall.
At the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well in Sunset Forest, Tang Hao, who had severed his own right arm and left leg, was carefully tending a stalk of Blue Silver Grass, murmuring as he did.
"Ah Yin, did you hear that? Little San destroyed Spirit Hall."
Just then, a breeze passed, and the Blue Silver Grass in Tang Hao's hand gently swayed its delicate stem and leaves. Tang Hao was overjoyed.
"Ah Yin, is that you? Did you hear it? Ah Yin!"
Had a party of Soul Masters happened to pass by, they would surely have wondered whether Tang Hao had lost his mind. He was actually talking to a blade of grass.
Yu Xiaogang and the others in Heaven Dou City were equally excited.
"Xiao Gang, did you hear that? Our Shrek Academy became the continent's number one academy!" Flender said excitedly.
"Come on, Flender, what are you getting so excited about? Isn't that only natural? With my Ten Core Theories of Martial Souls, of course we would become the continent's number one academy."
Yu Xiaogang spoke as though it went without saying.
Unlike the excited group, Tang San, who was heading toward Sea God Island, remained composed.
"With the Mysterious Heaven Skill and Tang Sect Hidden Weapons, defeating Spirit Hall is only a matter of time. I just wonder whether the Tang Sect has manufactured hidden weapons like the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus twenty thousand years from now."
But when Tang San's gaze fell on Luo Chen, he could no longer restrain the hatred in his eyes.
"Luo Chen, I'll repay the humiliation you inflicted on me back then twice over!"
Within the sky screen,
Luo Chen scoffed at those words. Having personally lived through the Spirit Hall era, he had more right to speak than anyone.
[The evil Spirit Hall? Shrek really knows how to fabricate history. Spirit Hall awakened martial souls for commoners free of charge, and even handed out Gold Soul Coins once they became Soul Masters. What did you at Shrek ever do? You can't even deal with mere Evil Soul Masters.]
[That's why the Holy Spirit Cult runs so rampant now.]
[Then again, Shrek was practically related to the Evil Soul Masters ten thousand years ago.]
[Sea God Pavilion Master Mu En's beloved was Ye Xishui, the Holy Spirit Cult's supreme leader, and his close friend was Long Xiaoyao, the Holy Spirit Cult's Great Enshrined.]
[After Mu En died, Xuan Zi succeeded him as Sea God Pavilion Master-and the less said about him, the better. How many outstanding students died at the hands of Evil Soul Masters? How many Evil Soul Masters did he let escape?]
[Yan Shaozhe was just as outrageous. As the descendant of Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao, he was an Evil Soul Master heir through and through.]
[And then there was Ma Xiaotao, who eventually succeeded to the position. As the Holy Spirit Cult's former Fire Phoenix Saintess, didn't she know how many people she had killed? Someone like that could become Sea God Pavilion Master?]
[Huo Yuhao had clearly wiped out the Holy Spirit Cult. For it to rise from the ashes and become a thorn in the Federation's side today, perhaps that former Fire Phoenix Saintess deserves all the credit!]
Luo Chen said inwardly.
And the sky screen transmitted Luo Chen's inner voice, without missing a single word, to the Spirit Hall era and the Peerless Tang Sect era.
Qian Daoliu flew into a rage. He understood now: twenty thousand years later, and even ten thousand years later, Evil Soul Masters not only ran rampant but had formed an organization called the Holy Spirit Cult.
"What a fine Shrek! Actually sheltering Evil Soul Masters!"
"Is there no one left in my angelic lineage twenty thousand years from now? Can they not even eliminate Evil Soul Masters?"
In the Peerless Tang Sect era, Huo Yuhao was currently studying at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy as an exchange student.
Inside Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion, the atmosphere sank into awkward silence.
Only one person was an exception.
"No, that's impossible! Fake! It's all fake! My martial soul is the Bright Phoenix! How could I be an Evil Soul Master? There has never been any such record in history!" Yan Shaozhe roared furiously.
He was the dignified dean of Shrek Academy and the successor to the Sea God Pavilion. How could he possibly be an Evil Soul Master? Nor could he ever be allowed to be one!
"Luo Chen! He must be spouting nonsense!"
Xuan Zi was equally furious. He angrily threw his chicken drumstick onto the ground.
"What do those students' deaths have to do with me? They clearly weren't strong enough!"
Deep within Sea God Island, the Golden Tree suddenly trembled.
Countless streams of golden light gathered from deep within its trunk, slowly tracing the figure of a stooped old man.
With white hair, a white beard, and an aged face, he was none other than Dragon God Douluo Mu En, who had long since passed away.
"Xishui, in the end, the one you loved wasn't me..."
Within the Holy Spirit Cult in the Sun Moon Empire,
Zhongli Wu fell into thought.
"Yan Shaozhe is actually the descendant of Mother and Senior Long? Doesn't that mean he and I are related by blood?"
Then he considered something else: if things truly were as Luo Chen had said, and the Holy Spirit Cult was destroyed by Huo Yuhao while Ma Xiaotao became Sea God Pavilion Master in the future...
A mocking smile crossed Zhongli Wu's face, and he immediately ordered the Evil Soul Master beside him.
"Have the Fire Phoenix Saintess come to my room. I have important matters to discuss."
"While you're at it, summon the Blue Silver Saintess as well."
Before you continue