"Qingjia?"
Shen Xi called softly, worry in her voice.
Deeply protective of their beloved son, the couple feared that their own power might interfere with his martial soul awakening, so they dared not exert any more of it.
But if Xu Qingjia failed to respond, they would interrupt the ceremony immediately. Damage to his foundation could be repaired. At worst, they would pay the price, swallow their pride, and approach the Tang Sect's higher-ups to trade for a hundred-thousand-year spiritual treasure.
"Father," Xu Qingjia said. His voice no longer sounded merely young and clear. Instead, it seemed layered with overlapping echoes, carrying an inhuman calm and a deity's indifference.
He raised his little face, a smile of heartfelt happiness on his lips. Yet his black eyes were cold and detached, filled with an absolute majesty that stood above the mortal world-a faint trace of divinity.
A human's joy, a god's indifference.
"I've never felt better."
As his words fell, the ink-black energy that had spread into the surroundings returned at tremendous speed. Everything looked as though nothing had happened.
Shen Xi placed a hand on Xu Qingjia's shoulder and carefully examined the fluctuations of his soul. Gentle silver-moon soul power entered his meridians. Only after it completed a full circuit through his body without finding anything unusual did some of the worry fade from her eyes. She nodded lightly to Xu Ye.
The tension in Xu Ye's heart slowly eased.
A trace of warmth flashed through Xu Qingjia's eyes.
He liked this feeling of being loved, of having someone worry about him.
"A special body martial soul, similar to a ghost," Xu Qingjia suddenly said. He knew what he could say and what he could not.
The ghost martial soul had first appeared in historical records with the Spirit Hall Empire's Ghost Douluo. As for why it counted as a body martial soul, the ghost was actually Ghost Douluo's spirit-his soul. Naturally, that was part of his own body. The distinction was that a soul usually meant a living soul, whereas a ghost was dead.
"He is called Yama."
Yama, King Yama.
If King Yama called for your death at the third watch, who would dare keep you alive until the fifth?
As for the rest, outsiders could not be allowed to know.
Xu Qingjia winked lightly at Shen Xi. She and Xu Ye understood.
Xu Ye spoke, establishing the official version of events, and the matter was soon put behind them.
There was no shortage of powerful people among the guests. Naturally, they knew the Xu Family's young master was hiding something. They had never seen a ghost martial soul, but that extraordinary aura clearly could not be explained so simply. There was also the projection of a building that had appeared earlier. That hardly looked like part of a martial soul; it seemed more like a domain.
But what of it? Their relationships were not so close that every secret had to be laid bare.
After Xu Qingjia tested with innate full soul power, as expected, the guests offered their congratulations and carefully prepared gifts. They were allies, after all. The stronger the Xu Family's young master was, the better he could curb the arrogance of those fellows from Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect in the future.
Only Xu Ye, the sole Limit Douluo present, showed a thoughtful glint in his eyes.
Earlier, he had been wholly occupied with worrying about his precious son. Thinking back now, he seemed to have sensed a faint, elusive trace of divinity within the boy-the very thing every Limit Douluo had been pursuing.
Xu Qingjia was receiving the information fed back by his martial soul and adjusting to his powerful soul, whose spiritual power had just surged again. With his martial soul awakened, the supernatural power hidden within him had been released, giving his spiritual power another boost.
Xu Qingjia silently assessed his condition and considered the road ahead. Only by possessing a divine domain of my own can I be called a true god.
That was one of the pieces of information his martial soul had given him.
King Yama was not a ghost, but a god of the dead.
Yet he was not the true King Yama at present. He could not fully display Yama's might. Many of King Yama's abilities, along with the garments symbolizing his authority, such as the Mianliu and Ceremonial Robe, remained beyond his ability to manifest. But a god was still a god, even one who had not matured, even one who was incomplete.
Simply put, he had the makings of a great emperor.
But he was not a great emperor yet.
At most, he could be called a young great emperor.
How was a god supposed to establish his own divine domain?
Incense faith power.
But wouldn't King Yama's divine domain be the Underworld?
Yet he seemed to have already visited a place resembling the Underworld.
Next, as expected, Ye Xinglan awakened the Stargod Sword with innate full soul power. The excited little girl instinctively wanted to find the person on her mind and share her happiness, only to discover that he was already beside her.
"Congratulations." With a smile on his lips, Xu Qingjia offered her the first congratulations.
"Th... thank you." Ye Xinglan's little hand instinctively tightened around the Stargod Sword's hilt. The joy of awakening the martial soul she wanted, along with outstanding talent, was instantly overwhelmed by complicated emotions. She wanted to look at Xu Qingjia's face, but when she met his sincere gaze, she could not help looking away in embarrassment. Her mind seemed to jam for several seconds before she squeezed out a sentence. "Congratulations to you too, on awakening such a powerful body martial soul."
Usually straightforward and spirited, the little girl was so nervous before Xu Qingjia that she could barely speak.
Then came his younger cousin Xu Lizhi, his youngest uncle's child, who was half a month younger than him. He awakened the Steamed Bun, becoming a rare food-type Soul Master with innate full soul power.
Fair-faced and chubby, Xu Lizhi held up a steaming bun like a treasure as he approached Xu Qingjia. "Cousin, look! It smells so good."
"It's an excellent martial soul, and it suits your wishes perfectly," Xu Qingjia said gently. "Once you've absorbed a soul spirit and gained a soul skill, you'll be able to make delicious buns for yourself anytime, anywhere."
A somewhat sickly voice rang out. "Cousin Qingjia."
Xu Qingjia turned to look. It was a pale, sickly-looking boy with gray hair and gray eyes.
He instantly recalled the relevant information.
Xu Yucheng, two years older than him, was the son of a rather distantly related uncle. He had appeared in the original story, competing with Tang Wulin for the position of class monitor at Shrek. Known as the Undying Xu Yucheng, his martial soul was the Death God's Scythe.
"Your martial soul is very powerful," Xu Yucheng said. "And the aura it gives off feels familiar to mine."
It even inspired yearning.
Xu Qingjia's eyes held a faint smile, gentle as polished jade and soothing as a spring breeze. "Our martial souls probably have similar energy attributes."
Just as the Dragon God and lesser dragons were both dragons.
Xu Qingjia was not being
arrogant. He genuinely felt that, if he wished, the soul power within this older cousin of his, whose soul power level was already approaching twenty, would instantly fall under his control.
The gulf between them was no smaller than that between an ordinary elemental martial soul and an ultimate elemental martial soul.
"Then can I spar with you once you've obtained a soul spirit?" Xu Yucheng asked eagerly. "Don't worry. I'll only use eighty percent of my strength."
"Of course." Xu Qingjia agreed without hesitation, then added with courteous modesty, "I was hoping to learn more from you, Cousin."
The elders had their own conversations, and the youngsters had theirs.
"Young Master Qingjia." A gentle, elegant noble daughter, whose chest obscured her toes when she looked down, approached. In the bloom of youth, she radiated youthful and feminine charm. "Will you be enrolling in the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy soon?"
With his looks, family background, and reputation as a child prodigy since infancy, Xu Qingjia was practically the perfect example of someone else's child in the mouths of every family's elders. He had long since entered their shortlists for marriage alliances. Now that his outstanding talent was confirmed, making him a likely candidate to become the Xu Family's next head, he had instantly become a coveted prize in their eyes.
An unfamiliar feminine fragrance wafted toward him. Xu Qingjia smiled politely. "Unless my elders have other arrangements, that should indeed be the case."
Just as the noble daughter whose toes were hidden from view tried to move closer, a little "golden kitten" bristled on the spot and instantly planted herself between her and Xu Qingjia.
"Ha!" Ye Xinglan looked fierce in an adorably childish way as she shielded Xu Qingjia behind her.
She did not know why she was doing this. She simply wanted to.
Seeing someone else draw close to Xu Qingjia sent an indescribable sourness surging into her heart. It was like someone suddenly appearing one day to snatch away the little wooden sword she loved so much and played with every day.
"Little Sister Xinglan?" Seeing Ye Xinglan blocking her path, the noble daughter looked briefly startled. Her gaze swept over the girl, then a faint, unconcerned smile appeared. She lifted her chest, stretching her high-quality dress into an exaggerated curve.
Ye Xinglan felt a little dizzy from the sight.
She grumbled inwardly. What's so great about that? Such huge burdens would be terribly inconvenient in a fight.
"Come with me." The little unripe apple took Xu Qingjia's hand and headed for the hall's entrance.
"There are still guests."
"I'm a guest today too!"
The spirited golden-haired girl carried her star sword as she led the rosy-lipped, white-toothed young boy out of the hall, like a wandering heroine eloping with her beloved after successfully stealing him from a wedding.
Meanwhile.
Within an unknown space, the myriad laws of the world flowed.
A burly man's face suddenly went pale, as though he had suffered a severe blow.
"That damned beast!" Tang Hao cursed.
"Brother Hao." Ah Yin appeared beside Tang Hao and supported him. "What happened?"
"What else but that damned Plane Spirit!" Tang Hao snapped.
"A hundred years ago, it secretly drew in the Netherworld's aura to create a Plane Favored One, hoping that once he grew up, he would summon the Netherworld's power to put up a desperate last stand."
"Who would have thought that, a hundred years later, that damned beast would start acting up again?"
"A few hours ago, the Netherworld's aura suddenly struck me. It caught me somewhat off guard, but fortunately, the blow wasn't too heavy."
"Then just now, the Netherworld's aura slammed into me again. I nearly took a tumble."
Hearing this, Ah Yin understood.
The Netherworld was the Divine Realm's opposite. Almost every time a Divine Realm was established, a Netherworld would quietly be born. It was said that the Netherworld currently covering the region around the Douluo Plane was far larger than even the Douluo God Realm, because it corresponded to the Douluo God Realm at its peak-the powerful Divine Realm known as the Divine Dragon Realm.
However, the ruler of this Netherworld, the Underworld King, and the powerful beings under his command had been killed by an immensely powerful God King many years ago. That had happened long ago, back in the era of the legendary Divine Dragon Realm. The Divine Realm and the Netherworld were natural opposites, and the God King and Underworld King were born enemies. With different allegiances and goals, each sought the other's death.
The Netherworld had no master.
Yet no deity dared claim it, unless they were another Underworld King.
That was because the Netherworld was part of the universe's operating mechanism. The Underworld King was also born from the Netherworld itself, much like its Plane Master.
Unless a God King had the power to overturn the laws of the entire universe, even merely entering the Netherworld would subject a weaker God King to the backlash of all its laws. Everything about them would be eroded by immensely powerful universal origin laws.
The Plane Spirit's former plan had been to draw the Netherworld's aura onto the Douluo Continent. The Netherworld and the Douluo Plane were like two places separated by a thin membrane. If someone poked even a tiny hole through it, the Netherworld's vast energy would flow continuously through that opening into the Douluo Plane, causing its energy to strike the plane instinctively. At that point, the being who occupied the greatest share of the Douluo Plane's energy-Tang Hao, now at the peak of the half-step Plane Master level-would naturally bear the brunt of that impact.
...But
Ah Yin was somewhat puzzled.
Brother Hao had already reached the final step of refining the Plane Spirit.
Did the Plane Spirit really still have the ability to fight back?
But if it was not the Plane Spirit, no one else had that ability.
According to Brother Hao, someone had recently traveled between the Netherworld and the Douluo Plane, or else established an extremely deep connection with the Netherworld.
Pluto Douluo Ha Luosa?
Suppressed by the Douluo Plane as it currently was, he could not become a true god, so he could not possibly accomplish that. At most, he could attract a little of the Netherworld's aura. As for breaking the membrane between the Netherworld and the Douluo Plane, if he could truly do that and travel between the two, his strength would already be no different from a true god's.
But with them here, no one on the Douluo Plane could possibly become a god!
"Ah Yin," Tang Hao said. "Is that Golden Tree fellow still unwilling?"
Ah Yin shook her head gently. "I've sounded it out repeatedly, but it still refuses to cooperate."
"Ungrateful wolf," Tang Hao cursed. "Little San transplanted it into Shrek Academy back then. Now we're merely asking for its life, yet it won't even contribute a little strength to our Tang family's grand plan."
"Forget it. Ah Yin, help me suppress the Plane Spirit first. Later, we'll find an opportunity to finish off that Golden Tree directly,
and you can take over the Douluo Plane's natural ecology."
"Mm." Ah Yin nodded lightly, an affectionate expression appearing on her face. "Brother Hao, Linlin is six this year."
"Is he?" Tang Hao's expression softened a little. Then a trace of regret appeared as he brought up another matter. "Not long ago, I detected the Silver Dragon King's aura in the Star Dou Great Forest. I never imagined she was sleeping there. The Golden and Silver Dragon Kings attract one another, so she'll certainly sense the Golden Dragon King's aura inside Linlin later."
"I noticed that her aura was very weak and that she was preparing to take human form. I was planning to give her a hammer blow, then send her, wounded, to Linlin in Eastsea. Working together with Little San's divine sense, I wanted to see whether we could turn the Silver Dragon King into an asset for Linlin."
"Perhaps we could even help Linlin become the legendary Dragon God."
"But now that Netherworld aura suddenly ambushed me, giving the Plane Spirit a chance to struggle. I can't spare a hand."
"What a pity," Ah Yin sighed.
She was not skilled at fighting and could not handle that task. Nor could she easily suppress the Plane Spirit alone.
"It doesn't matter." Tang Hao wore the confidence of a man who had everything in hand.
"The Silver Dragon King is very weak. Recovering will take her a long time. But our plan has already reached its final stage. We only need a few years. Once we've completely refined the Plane Spirit, destroyed the Golden Tree, taken full control of the Douluo Plane together, and dealt with the Abyss Plane, we'll have our hands free to deal with the Silver Dragon King."
"With the aura of the golden dragon king bloodline inside Linlin drawing her in, the Silver Dragon King won't willingly leave the Douluo Plane just like that. And with Little San's divine sense inside Linlin, the severely weakened Silver Dragon King can't do anything to him. She's out in the open; we're in the shadows."
"That's true." Ah Yin nodded lightly.
Thousands of years of planning were about to bear fruit.
Their most pressing task now was to refine the Plane Spirit completely.
With the couple working together, the Plane Spirit, already weakened to its limit, would certainly struggle to resist. Ten years at most would suffice.
As for Wulin.
Although they would find it difficult to interfere with the Douluo Continent during that time, their grandson Linlin had Little San's divine sense within him.
A God King's divine sense, even if it contained only a tiny fraction of a God King's power, was still more than enough to stand invincible across the Douluo Continent.