An ominous atmosphere faintly showed through the skies of the Douluo Continent.
For days, the void across the entire plane had trembled silently, with faint rumbles of thunder. Layer upon layer of crimson-gold divine radiance shrouded the nine heavens, and vast, boundless pressure descended upon the earth, making every Soul Master's martial soul instinctively tremble and bow.
The whole world knew-two years later, Qian Gu Fenfeng would finish climbing the long stairway to godhood and transcend mortality completely.
At the summit of Eastsea City, the wind whipped fiercely.
Tang Wulin stood quietly atop a tower, his short black hair fluttering in the wind, the dormant Golden Dragon King Bloodline within him boiling wildly.
The divine might from the pinnacle of heaven and earth was no outpouring of destruction, yet it carried absolute suppression from a higher order, as though all mortal beings before it were mere ants and dust.
His heart was clear.
Time and space had now reversed, returning him to childhood, but the perspective of his previous life and his experience with self-created soul skills remained. Even his soul power seemed like young swallows returning to their nest. Cultivation went exceptionally smoothly, as though that soul power had flowed within his body all along.
A full year had passed since his rebirth. In that time, he, who should have been seven, had already reached a height of 170 centimeters. His face was composed, without a trace of childishness, and even his soul spirits from his previous life had awakened within his Sea of Consciousness.
Yet now Gu Yuena's whereabouts were unknown, without a trace to follow. The Douluo Plane was so vast-when would he ever find his heart's beloved...
"Wulin, you're back!"
Xie Xie, Yuanen Yehui, Xu Xiaoyan, Yue Zhengyu, Ye Xinglan, and Xu Lizhi-the Shrek Seven Devils whose names had once resounded across the continent-were now gathered together, looking at Tang Wulin, who had just returned from outside.
Yet they were missing that most dazzling, graceful silver dragon figure after all. The vacant place was cold and desolate, weighing down their hearts with an unspoken gravity.
"Qian Gu Fenfeng is about to become a true god."
Tang Wulin's voice was low and steady. Suppressing all the turmoil and concern in his heart, he enunciated every word clearly. "We need to bide our time!"
"Huh?" Xie Xie looked bewildered. His Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger martial souls grew slightly hot within him, restless and uneasy. "Can't we ride his coattails anymore?"
"We're not sitting idly by. We're lying low." Tang Wulin's gaze was resolute as he looked toward the distant edge of the plane. "The Federation has already issued warrants for us. We can only abandon every trace of ourselves on the Douluo Continent and withdraw together to the Heaven Dou Continent. It's far from the upheaval at the center, the situation is stable, and no one will know our whereabouts."
"Huh? Why do we have to run?"
"Xie Xie! Where's your brain?" Xu Xiaoyan shot Xie Xie a vicious glare.
Seeing this, Xie Xie immediately fell silent and mimed zipping his mouth shut.
Yuanen Yehui clenched her fists, all the defiance in her eyes subdued. In this life, the Yuanen Family had sided with the Spirit Pagoda. After returning through rebirth, she had immediately confronted Yuanen Tiandang and Yuanen Zhentian, but her father, who had always stood firmly on her side, had actually slapped her in the face. A deep sense of grievance welled up in her heart. "Hmph, I'll build up my strength before unleashing it. I'll show the clan elders who's right and who's wrong!"
"But... what about Shrek..." Ye Xinglan hesitated.
"Shrek isn't safe anymore!"
"As long as the green hills remain, we needn't fear running out of firewood!"
"Run for it!"
They exchanged glances. No more words were needed; their minds were already as one.
Just after Qian Gu Fenfeng entered seclusion, the Sun Moon Federation and the Spirit Pagoda brazenly issued the highest-level red warrant across their entire territory.
Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, Yuanen Yehui, Xu Xiaoyan, Yue Zhengyu, Ye Xinglan, and Xu Lizhi were all designated plane-level felons.
They were made wanted criminals on trumped-up charges-remnants of the treasonous organization, the Tang Sect.
Overnight, a net stretching from heaven to earth spread across all of Douluo.
The Federation mobilized its entire military. The High-Altitude Suspended Detection Matrix locked down the airspace over the entire continent, and Spatial Teleportation Arrays were sealed throughout its territory.
Countless high-level detection Soul Guidance Satellites hung beyond the atmosphere, scanning every inch of the surface for soul power fluctuations, layer by layer. Encirclement Squads swept designated zones inch by inch. The Spiritual Detection Network linking the Spirit Pagoda and the military covered every blind spot. At the slightest hint of "pro-Shrek" sentiment, they immediately contacted Federation Headquarters to seal off a two-kilometer radius and conduct a carpet search.
For a time, the people of the Sun Moon Federation lived in fear.
They fled through barren ridges, worn and dust-covered.
The six went three days without sleep or rest. Despite their meager cultivation, they repeatedly forced their way out of heavily manned encirclements and escaped with their lives. Everyone's soul power was nearly exhausted, their bodies were covered in bloody wounds, and they dared not fully activate their martial souls.
Somewhere unseen, Ah Yin watched the six little ones below with a gentle gaze and sighed inwardly. Tang Hao and I have already awakened ahead of time twice (one time was when Gu Yuena used the Dragon God's Heart, when we helped). What little remains of the plane's origin has yet to be fully absorbed, yet we're secretly fleeing far away. Who knows whether this is a blessing or a curse...
The instant their soul power fluctuations exceeded the threshold, the Federation's Detection Array would lock onto their coordinates.
Xie Xie kept pushing his body beyond its limits, his face as white as paper. "Hey, hey, hey... I can't go on... the Federation's lockdown is too tight. We have no way out!" As he spoke, he collapsed to the ground.
Yuanen Yehui pressed a hand against the grievous wound on her shoulder, her eyes filled with cold severity and helplessness.
Ye Xinglan drew in all her sword intent, her Stargod Sword sinking into complete stillness within her body. She dared not let even a hint of its edge escape. "If we can't find an opening, sooner or later they'll wear us down to death here!"
The road ahead was blocked, pursuers hunted them from behind, heaven and earth were sealed, and every direction was a dead end.
This was true desperation.
Just as the six neared exhaustion and were about to be completely trapped by another Federation encirclement-
The entire world, clamorous with slaughter, abruptly fell quiet for an instant.
It was not that the wind had stilled or that the fires of war had ceased, but that the rhythmic workings of the entire plane's laws had suddenly been rewritten.
The formless, soundless, colorless, yet boundless Plane Master gently enveloped these barren mountains.
A vast voice of the Dao, tinged with exasperation, rang out in everyone's sea of consciousness at once:
"You have already chosen the path to death... ruining my son's ten-thousand-year plan..."
The next instant, a miracle descended.
In the deepest reaches of the void, beyond anyone's perception, a pure Heavenly Dao Rift silently tore open the Douluo Plane's Plane Barrier, which the Federation had welded shut and completely sealed.
This was a secret passage Tang Hao had opened by personally prying at the laws.
It concealed them from all mechanical detection, all spiritual scans, and all probes of divine sense. At the same time, every Federation lock-on marker covering the six, every soul power tracking mark, and every satellite lock-on coordinate was erased with a single command, wiped completely clean.
They instantly "vanished" entirely from the Federation's detection systems.
"Go!"
Tang Wulin's mind reeled. He instantly realized this was the secret protection of his grandfather, the Plane Master.
He hesitated no longer, drawing in his Golden Dragon King Bloodline with all his strength. The six became six streaks of light and followed that faint, warm guidance of the Heavenly Dao, which embraced all things, into the rift in the void.
The moment they passed through the rift, all the pursuers, detection, warrants, and oppressive mechanical divine might behind them were completely cut off by the Plane Barrier.
Spatial turbulence howled around them, but a gentle barrier protected them steadily, leaving them entirely unharmed.
They crossed the plane in just a few breaths.
When their feet stood firmly on the earth again, an entirely different aura of heaven and earth washed over them.
It was none other than the Heaven Dou Continent!
The planar rift behind them closed silently, leaving not a trace, as though it had never appeared.
The Sun Moon Federation's wanted lists, military matrices, and satellite detection completely lost every lead on the six from Shrek.
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