"Let's go. Gengxin City."
Mu Changqing urged them on. The round trip would take five or six days, and he really wanted to go back and pinch Na'er's little cheeks now. Going a single day without pinching them made him uncomfortable all over.
"Let's go!"
Qian Duoduo led the two toward the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest. Two hours later, the three finally returned to the town on its outskirts, climbed into a carriage, and drove out of town.
Just after their carriage left, a middle-aged man in a tattered black robe, his face covered in black spots, held a portrait and stared at the departing carriage.
He was an evil Soul Master, a disciple of the Holy Spirit Church's Seventh Elder. What he held was none other than a portrait of Mu Changqing from two and a half years ago.
"To think I'd run into him here. He's fallen into my lap without the slightest effort."
Li Gou gave the portrait a sinister smile and immediately used his Soul Power to leave. He had to go back and report to the Seventh Elder.
The main reason the Holy Spirit Church wanted Mu Changqing was that a flying Soul Tool had recorded the scene of Mu Changqing and Na'er using their Martial Soul Fusion Skill two years ago. After passing through several hands, the recording had reached Zhongli Wu, the Holy Spirit Church's leader.
The Holy Spirit Church had held a meeting over this. During the meeting, Dragon Emperor Douluo Long Xiaoyao had personally said that the Seven-Colored Divine Dragon in the projection made him want to bow his head in submission. He could not help marveling that Shrek had produced two such monstrous geniuses.
Long Xiaoyao was not the only one who felt powerless before the Seven-Colored Divine Dragon. Every Titled Douluo in the meeting hall felt the same. For this reason, Zhongli Wu ordered that they be killed, no matter what.
If Mu Changqing and Na'er were both allowed to mature, they would deal a devastating blow to their Holy Spirit Church in the future.
Zhongli Wu dispatched several Titled Douluo elders to the Douluo Continent. Apart from hunting down Mu Changqing, their tasks included establishing bases for the Holy Spirit Church and finding Soul Masters with evil Martial Souls to recruit into the church.
The Holy Spirit Church had dispatched four Titled Douluo two years ago, the Fifth through Eighth Elders. The Seventh and Eighth Elders mainly established camps within the Star Luo Empire, while the other two Titled Douluo, the Fifth and Sixth Elders, were stationed in the Heaven Soul Empire and the Dou Ling Empire respectively.
Li Gou arrived at a mountain range in the Star Dou Great Forest. Poisonous gas spread throughout these mountains, and the surrounding flowers, grasses, and trees all contained poison. There were also swamps constantly spewing poisonous mist.
This was a gathering place for evil Soul Masters. Li Gou passed through a stretch of woods and reached a mountain stronghold, where no more than twenty evil Soul Masters were stationed.
Li Gou followed the path toward a cave deep in the mountains. Along the way, the smell of blood drifted through the air, and human and Soul Beast bones littered the ground.
"Seventh Elder! I have information!"
Li Gou bowed and called respectfully into the cave. Poisonous gas began spilling out continuously, followed by an endless stream of Demon Maggots.
"Enter!"
An indifferent voice echoed inside the cave. Li Gou stepped in cautiously, keeping his head lowered the entire time.
Before long, Li Gou reached a spacious clearing. The place was very crude. The Seventh Elder was gnawing on an infant's internal organs, his mouth covered in blood.
The Holy Spirit Church's Seventh Elder held the title Mask. His Soul Power was at rank 91, and his Martial Soul was a Demon Maggot. His favorite pastime was gnawing on the internal organs of humans or Soul Beasts.
Who knew how many ordinary people Mask Douluo had murdered to pile up his cultivation to this level? It was an outrage against heaven itself.
"Speak. If this information isn't important, you know what happens."
Elder Mask pointed at the piles of human bones beside him. He kept licking the blood flowing from the organs, then swallowed the still-beating heart in his hand in one bite.
"I found the child in the portrait, though he seems to have grown."
Trembling, Li Gou pulled the portrait from his robe and pointed at Mu Changqing's image, terrified of angering Mask Douluo.
"Who would have thought? I actually ran into him on my own turf."
Mask Douluo let out a sinister sneer, his bloodstained hand repeatedly stroking his maggot-covered old face. If he really killed Mu Changqing, it would be a great merit to his name.
The four elders had been on the Douluo Continent for two and a half years and had always wanted to infiltrate Shrek City to assassinate Mu Changqing. Unfortunately, Xuan Zi patrolled the area around Shrek City every day.
The Holy Spirit Church's four elders had no choice but to abandon the idea and seek another opportunity later.
"This time, hmm, you've earned some credit. Go collect your reward."
Mask Douluo waved Li Gou away, then used a Soul Tool communicator to contact the Eighth Elder, asking him to join him in hunting down Mu Changqing.
Mask Douluo had learned from Li Gou that Mu Changqing was traveling in a group of three. That meant the other middle-aged man had to be a Titled Douluo. To be safe, both of them would have to act together.
"You, go monitor their route!"
Mask Douluo issued an order toward the shadows, and a masked man dressed in a black robe stepped out.
"Yes!"
This man was named Demon Eagle, and his Martial Soul was also a demon eagle. His cultivation was that of a rank 77 Soul Sage. He transformed into a demon eagle covered in an evil presence and shot into the sky.
"Mask! What do you want me for?"
Nightmare Douluo stood there with his arms folded across his chest and an unapproachable expression on his face. Mask Douluo had summoned him without saying anything.
"The target the leader ordered us to assassinate has appeared. We're moving now."
"All right!"
Nightmare Douluo and Mask Douluo exchanged a look. Twelve evil Soul Masters had already gathered in the bushes beside the cave.
Fourteen of them would be acting together this time. Apart from the two Titled Douluo, even the weakest among these fourteen was a Soul King.
"Demon Eagle is already monitoring them. Let's go."
The fourteen figures vanished from the spot once more, heading toward a canyon beneath a sheer cliff.
The carriage carrying Mu Changqing kept rolling along. They were gradually approaching a canyon, which was now shrouded in thick mist.
"Strange. There wasn't this much mist when we came through."
Mu Changqing poked his head out and looked at the sinister mist within the canyon. He kept feeling that something bad was going to happen.
Demon Eagle was hiding in the shadows within the canyon. He had arrived ahead of them and filled the canyon with poisonous mist.
The moment the carriage entered the canyon, the fire horse died from the poison. Qian Duoduo immediately summoned his Martial Soul and released his Soul Power to shield Bei Bei and Mu Changqing.
A blast of dark power hurtled toward the carriage, and the three leaped off the instant it was destroyed.
Fifteen black-robed figures surrounded the three of them, each exuding an evil presence.
Mask Douluo had not expected Qian Duoduo to be leading the group. He had fought Qian Duoduo before.
"Sixth Soul Skill, Absolute Defense!"
Qian Duoduo immediately used his Soul Skill. The ten-thousand-year Soul Ring beneath his feet flashed, and the Dark Dragon Shield formed a barrier of power to protect Mu Changqing and Bei Bei.
"You evil Soul Masters want to hunt us down?"
Qian Duoduo raised the Dark Dragon Shield in his hand and stepped forward. His rank 94 cultivation erupted with waves of pressure that left the other thirteen struggling to breathe.
"The Eighth Elder and I will hold him off. Go kill the two little brats behind him!"
"Seventh Soul Skill, Demon Maggot Mask!"
Mask Douluo's body transformed into a ten-meter-long Demon Maggot, rotten all over.