The world wasn't black and white

Behind Shrek Academy, a cold wind carried a fine drizzle across the mountain.

Just half an hour earlier, Yan Shaozhe had landed soundlessly outside the Sea God Pavilion, his body still radiating heat that had yet to dissipate.

With a single Phoenix Cloud-Piercing Strike, he had wiped the Death Messenger's base in the Ming Dou Mountain Range clean off the map of the Douluo Continent.

Not even a dead rat had remained.

Yan Shaozhe had barely finished reporting the results to Mu En, without even a chance to catch his breath, when Xian Lin'er and Qian Duoduo, who had caught wind of the news, cornered him.

"I heard there's a secluded powerhouse at Back Mountain who can predict the future? And he even champions our Soul Tool Department?!"

Qian Duoduo, the hot-tempered deputy dean of the Soul Tool Department, was as excited as a two-hundred-pound child. "Pavilion Master, take me along to listen today! I want to see which peerless master has such discerning eyes!"

Watching Qian Duoduo, Mu En rubbed his brow helplessly and warned in a lowered voice, "I can take you, but remember this: no matter how shocking the senior inside sounds, if you dare interrupt with so much as half a word, I'll stuff you into a Level 9 Fixed Soul Guidance Cannon and fire you all the way to the Star Luo Empire!"

"Rest assured, Pavilion Master! I, Qian Duoduo, am famous for keeping my mouth shut!" Qian Duoduo thumped his chest thunderously.

And so the four of them, each with their own thoughts, quietly crept up to the village house at Back Mountain.

Mu En withdrew his Limit Douluo pressure, resumed his stooped posture, and pushed open the door. "Teacher Su, I'm terribly sorry. I went to heat some food on the stove and nearly burned the pot dry. I'm late."

"As long as it didn't burn."

Inside, Su Xian was sitting cross-legged on the bed, bored out of his mind. Hearing the voice, he complained, "Old village chief, staying in this room every day is suffocating! Even if I can't walk around the village, at least let me breathe some fresh air at the door. Besides, I can't even let my family know I'm safe. My parents must be frantic."

"Your eyes are still injured. The doctor said you mustn't expose them to the wind." Mu En deftly employed the modern vocabulary he had learned from Su Xian over the past few days. "As for your family, don't worry. The government's repair crews are working through the night on the base station. The internet will be back soon."

A seamless load of nonsense.

Outside, Yan Shaozhe's mouth twitched as he listened. His teacher was really getting deeper and deeper into his role as "village chief."

Su Xian sighed and could only give up. Suddenly, he smiled. "Old village chief, since the base station still isn't fixed and the afternoon students haven't come, let me tell you another Shrek joke for your daily laugh."

Mu En's heart tightened, but he smiled. "Of course. This old man will wash his ears and listen."

Su Xian cleared his throat and said loudly, "Question: over the Douluo Continent's ten thousand years of history, which organization has the most righteous reputation but acts like the biggest thug? Answer: Shrek Academy. They shout about defending the continent and safeguarding peace every day, but all the god-level geniuses they train just dust off their backsides and head to the Divine Realm to enjoy an easy life. Down below, people fight to the death and civilians lose their homes, while they sit high above it all and couldn't care less. They even forcibly lock down the lower realm's technology tree."

At those words, the air outside the door instantly froze.

Yan Shaozhe and Xian Lin'er both fell silent.

Qian Duoduo, who had only just come along, was a blunt man to begin with, and he had an immense sense of pride in Shrek. However much he championed the Soul Tool Department, he couldn't bear to hear anyone call Shrek a thug!

"Bullshit!!"

Blood rushed to Qian Duoduo's head, and he flung Mu En's warning beyond the ninth heaven. Pushing open the half-closed wooden door, he bellowed in his cracked-gong voice, "How much blood has Shrek shed over ten thousand years to eradicate Evil Soul Masters? How many geniuses have died?! How dare you call Shrek a thug?!"

At that roar, Yan Shaozhe covered his face in anguish.

It's over.

Xian Lin'er wanted nothing more than to kick this husband of hers, who could accomplish nothing but ruin everything, straight back to the Soul Tool Department.

The deafening voice startled Su Xian on the bed, but then he exclaimed in delight, "Who's that? Is someone else here?"

If Mu En's gaze could kill, Qian Duoduo would already have been sliced into sashimi.

But Mu En reacted swiftly. Forcing down the urge to slap Qian Duoduo dead, he improvised in desperation. "T-Teacher Su, don't be alarmed! This is our village Party secretary. His name is... Mo Niu. He hurt his back in a fall a while ago and only got out of bed today. He came especially to see you."

"Oh! So you're the Party secretary!"

Understanding dawned on Su Xian, and his imagination once again filled in the blanks perfectly. "Ayimo Niu... from the sound of it, doesn't that name mean immense wealth? Uncle Mo Niu, what a loud voice you have! So full of vigor!"

Uncle Mo Niu?!

Qian Duoduo's dark face turned purplish red from holding it in.

A dignified Titled Douluo over rank ninety, the deputy dean of Shrek's Soul Tool Department, had been forcibly saddled with some other name-and he even had to hold his nose and accept it!

Under Mu En's almost murderous stare, Qian Duoduo could only squeeze one word through his teeth. "...Yes."

Su Xian noticed nothing amiss. He merely thought this uncle had quite a temper, so he explained with a smile, "Uncle Mo Niu, you got far too worked up just now! I think your thinking is a little too black and white. Pure diode thinking."

"What kind of Soul Tool is a diode?"

Utterly confused, Qian Duoduo braced himself and followed the thread. "Then by your logic, if Shrek is a thug, are Evil Soul Masters who cultivate using human lives good people? Is the Sun Moon Empire, which wages wars of aggression, some great benefactor?"

"See? See? You're drilling into a bull's horn again, aren't you?"

Su Xian waved a hand and brought out a materialist perspective. "When Shrek kills Evil Soul Masters, of course they're heroes! But when they monopolize the resources of the entire continent and suppress technological development, that's thuggish behavior. The two don't contradict each other."

"Then there's the Sun Moon Empire. They're ambitious, they want to annex the continent, and they start wars. They certainly are villains. But you can't deny that the soul guidance technology they promote-the Soul Guidance Trains and soul guidance lighting they develop-genuinely improves ordinary people's living standards! The productive forces of society advance in their hands. That's a historical achievement!"

"When we look at things, we can't define them simply as good or bad. There is no absolute good or evil in the world."

Getting carried away, Su Xian dropped an ultimate spoiler that surpassed the entire era. "Let me give you the most direct example: Huo Yuhao, the male protagonist of Peerless Tang Sect!"

The four Shrek powerhouses inside and outside the room all pricked up their ears, even their breathing coming to a halt.

"To resolve the irreconcilable conflict over survival between Soul Masters and Soul Beasts, Huo Yuhao founded the Spirit Pagoda, using artificial Soul Spirits to replace the cruel slaughter of Soul Beasts. In its early days, the Spirit Pagoda was absolutely a great institution that benefited all living beings and performed immeasurable good!"

"But then what?" Su Xian sneered. "After Huo Yuhao ascends to the Divine Realm and ten thousand years pass, by the era of Legend of the Dragon King, the Spirit Pagoda has monopolized Soul Spirit resources and become rotten to the core. Its leadership even secretly colludes with the most vile Evil Soul Masters of the Holy Spirit Cult, turning it into the greatest cancer and villain on the entire continent!"

"Uncle Mo Niu, tell me: can you call Huo Yuhao a flawless saint just because he founded the Spirit Pagoda? Can you travel back in time and deny his early greatness just because the Spirit Pagoda becomes corrupt ten thousand years later?"

The Spirit Pagoda? Artificial Soul Spirits?!

Replacing the slaughter of Soul Beasts?!

And... the era of "Legend of the Dragon King," ten thousand years in the future?!

Qian Duoduo was completely dumbfounded. He didn't even know where tomorrow's rare metals would come from, yet this blind young man had just spoiled events ten thousand years into the future?!

How was he supposed to refute that? With his head?!

Outside, Xian Lin'er and Yan Shaozhe felt their scalps tingle as well.

Artificial Soul Spirits!

That was a heaven-defying feat capable of completely transforming the Soul Master cultivation system that had existed on the Douluo Continent for millions of years!

That freshman named Huo Yuhao actually possessed such terrifying fortune, enough to seize the creative power of heaven and earth?!

Su Xian failed to notice their breakdown and continued his barrage. "Then there's that woman called Ju Zi in the Sun Moon Empire later on. For the sake of personal revenge, she launches an all-out war and plunges all living beings into misery. By moral standards, she's a war criminal through and through."

"But on the other hand, she commands a great army, crushes the Heavenly Soul and Dou Ling Empires, unifies the Douluo Continent, and ends thousands of years of division and strife on this land. Viewed through the broad sweep of history, she's also a ruthless conqueror who advances unification. Can you close the coffin on her with a simple verdict of good person or bad person?"

Whether it was Qian Duoduo, who prided himself on hating evil like a mortal enemy, or Yan Shaozhe, who was well versed in the ways of the world, both had lost the ability to speak.

Mu En sat quietly on the little wooden stool. Listening to Su Xian's absolutely objective historical-materialist analysis, which transcended their plane and spanned tens of thousands of years, he felt an unprecedented sense of insignificance arise within him.

Could the absolute justice Shrek had upheld for ten thousand years truly withstand scrutiny before the merciless wheels of history rolling forward, across the span of thousands and tens of thousands of years...?

"So, Uncle Mo Niu."

Su Xian took a sip of water and offered his earnest conclusion.

"We village officials need to broaden our awareness! We need to look at issues through the lens of development and dialectical thinking! Don't spend all day like some adolescent with delusions of grandeur, shouting about who's absolutely righteous and who's absolutely evil! The truth of history is often far crueler and more complicated than the settings in novels."

Qian Duoduo stood rooted to the spot, his lips working frantically, yet unable to force out so much as half a word.