No escape from death

At Shrek Academy, the Golden Tree no longer shone with its former brilliance. Instead, it seemed steeped in a growing air of decline. Beneath its shade, an old man reclining in a lounge chair raised his head slightly, a sharp gleam flashing through his murky yellow eyes.

This old man was Mu En, Shrek's current leader and one of the three beings in the world closest to godhood.

As thunder split the void, Mu En hastily lowered his stooped body and prostrated himself on the ground.

Amid the surging thunder, the hem of Tang Wutong's phantom skirt descended. A nine-ring Titled Douluo from the Clear Sky Sect stood atop a cloud and looked down at Mu En. "The Goddess's sacred decree-The vile beast, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, has stolen the fortune of our human race. You are hereby ordered to capture her within three months and present her before the Goddess for judgment-This is the reckoning of the Supreme One."

"My thanks for my sovereign's boundless grace."

Hearing Mu En's aged voice rise from below, the herald departed.

"Without godhood, one remains beneath the gods in the end." After seeing off the swaggering herald from the Clear Sky Sect, Mu En smiled bitterly.

As the ancients said, "When the God King attained enlightenment, even his chickens and dogs ascended to heaven, yet Yu Xiaogang was nowhere to be seen in the Divine Realm!"

Back when the Supreme God Tang San attained enlightenment in the mortal world, destroyed the [Evil Angel God], and saved the world, everyone directly connected to him had been exalted.

Only Yu Xiaogang, too deeply entangled with the fiends of Spirit Hall, had been left in the mortal world to die of old age.

"I am no Divine Descendant, after all, but without this bloodline, I could never have come this far."

As a descendant of Yu Xiaogang, a [Famous Teacher] of his generation, Mu En differed from his ancestor in that he knew his own limitations. Naturally, he understood the purpose behind the Goddess's decree.

"The fortune upon this Golden Tree is showing signs of dispersing. An auspicious creature must be refined to sustain it for a while. Otherwise, she can only eat me first."

"But an auspicious creature is bound to have a guardian, and killing it will surely invite a backlash. I suppose this is the price of becoming Shrek's ruler."

Although Mu En knew the risks of this undertaking, he did not hesitate. Without even notifying the other Elders, he set out, for unlike [Famous Teacher Yu Xiaogang], he knew his proper place before the Tang Family.

Mu En did not head straight for the Star Dou Great Forest, however. Instead, he first traveled toward Sun Moon to find his mistress, Ye Xishui, even though he already had a wife, children, and grandchildren.

Though he was no Divine Descendant, Mu En was of noble blood, and his journey to becoming a Peerless Douluo had been littered with countless romantic affairs. Whenever he took a beauty to a room and switched off the lights, he always left the girl thoroughly satisfied.

Yet among all these beauties, the only one Mu En truly thought highly of besides his own wife was the Holy Spirit Cult's actual decision-maker, Ye Xishui, who, like him, was one of the world's three Peerless Douluos.

"Xishui, several disciples from my academy lost their aura of invincibility during this Soul Fighting Tournament. Once that dejection takes root in their hearts, they will struggle to reach greater heights."

As a Peerless Douluo, Mu En traveled swiftly. Even at a leisurely stroll, he reached the Holy Spirit Cult's headquarters in Mingdu the next day and met Ye Xishui.

"En, do you want me to prepare places for them in the Holy Spirit Cult?" Despite having lived for over a hundred years, Ye Xishui still looked very young.

"I truly have no other choice!" Mu En fell silent for a while before continuing. "These Divine Descendants are the present-day representatives of that legendary generation. If they all prove incompetent, it is the gods who saved the world back then who will lose face."

As he spoke, however, Mu En's gaze remained fixed on Ye Xishui's ample breasts and shapely rear. Even though she had given her body to Long Xiaoyao, Mu En knew that he was the one she had always held in her heart.

There was no request of Mu En's that Ye Xishui would not fulfill.

"No problem. But En, you must arrange everything carefully. Make it look as though they were forced to join the Holy Spirit Cult, just as I was back then." As Ye Xishui spoke, her delicate face showed none of the ferocity one might expect from the leader of Evil Soul Masters whose hands were drenched in blood.

"Xishui, don't you know me by now?" A wicked smile hung on Mu En's face.

Sensing a pure surge of black dragon power approaching, Mu En swiftly vanished.

Mingdu's Western Mountain was where the Qiankun Asking Love Valley had stood in Huo Yuhao's previous life, the place where his Father-in-law, [Tang Bingqing], had put him through trials. By now, Huo Yuhao had found a way to exhaust the God of Love's divine consciousness. The Tang Family could no longer act through this place under the pretext of divine trials, so the Holy Spirit Cult had laid its plans here instead.

After leading the Shrek group away, Xuan Zi naturally did not retrace their route. Instead, as though he had lost his way, he brought everyone here.

Bei Bei and Zhang Lexuan were not with the Shrek group at this time, since the two of them had stayed in Sun Moon as Exchange Students.

"Xuan Zi, where are we?" Xiaoxiao's voice carried a note of distress.

"Ah, the roads changed after that great explosion. This old man has lost his way." Xuan Zi smiled bitterly.

"Awooo!"

One beast's howl rang out, followed immediately by an endless chorus of roars!

Everyone from Shrek immediately activated Martial Soul Possession, and some even entered their Martial Soul Avatar state. With his godly taotie bull Martial Soul Avatar, Xuan Zi held the entire situation under his control.

What appeared before them was a pack of Wind Wolves!

Dai Yueheng possessed formidable strength in his White Tiger Possession state. Facing the wolves charging at him, he met them head-on, tearing one Wind Wolf after another to pieces with his sharp tiger claws.

Ma Xiaotao, finally released from her pent-up frustration, was even more invigorated.

Blazing phoenix fire greedily devoured the wolves.

Seeing these Divine Descendants fighting so hard, the students of commoner birth, including Chen Zifeng, Xixi, and Gongyang Mo, also did their utmost to prove themselves.

"Everyone, attack! We cannot show these beasts any mercy. When cutting weeds, tear out the roots!" Chen Zifeng's cold voice rang out.

The many souls he had harvested earlier in Mingdu had already restored Chen Zifeng's cultivation to that of a Six-Ring Soul Emperor. Even the urinary and fecal incontinence caused by the backlash during the Soul Fighting Tournament had stopped.

Xuan Zi stood watching nearby in his Martial Soul Avatar state without intervening. To an outsider, it would have seemed as though he wanted these disciples to use the opportunity to hone themselves.

Once the wolves had been swiftly wiped out, the brothers Dai Yueheng and Dai Huabin, along with Zhu Lu, Ma Xiaotao, Ning Tian, Tang Ya, Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, and the others, withdrew to Xiaoxiao's side.

Meanwhile, Shrek's members of commoner birth, including Chen Zifeng, Gongyang Mo, Yao Haoxuan, and Ling Luochеn, stood on the other side.

This division undoubtedly pleased Xuan Zi greatly.

Because...

What rang out next was a furious roar like the prolonged howl of a wild beast. "You dared oppose the Death Messenger! You will all die! You will all become my Corpse Slaves!"

"Oh no!"

Xuan Zi immediately put on an expression of utter shock and cried out a warning, yet happened to be one step too late.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Kaboom!"

Thunderous sounds rang out without pause.

Wave after wave of death power spread outward.

Engulfed by that death power, Yao Haoxuan was instantly reduced to a mist of blood!

Gongyang Mo came next. The violent explosions blasted off both his hands and legs, leaving him a limbless stump, never again able to cultivate.

Then came Chen Zifeng and Xixi. Under the overlapping blasts of countless wolf corpses, their heads became smashed watermelons. They could not have been more thoroughly dead.

Last was Ling Luochеn. Although she had not been crippled, half her buttocks had been reduced to minced flesh. For the rest of her life, she would have to undergo surgery and live with a bag collecting her feces.