The voice was not particularly impassioned, yet it seemed to contain a power that reached straight into the soul. In an instant, it spread across the entire Douluo Continent.
Qian Renxue, who had still been watching the sky screen, suddenly trembled.
Black Impermanence Ghost Douluo!
To the former Spirit Hall, that name was no ordinary title.
He was someone she knew.
And someone she had once believed had vanished from the world forever with the destruction of Spirit Hall!
Qian Renxue looked up at the sky screen. Her Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul trembled gently behind her, golden divine light illuminating her pale, delicate face.
"Ghost Elder..."
Her voice trembled slightly.
In the former Spirit Hall, Ghost Douluo and Yue Guan had stood side by side. One was reclusive, the other witty, but both were indispensable experts of Spirit Hall.
Now, Yue Guan had reappeared in the world as White Impermanence.
And Ghost Douluo had actually appeared on the sky screen as well!
What did this mean?
Qian Renxue did not dare think any further.
Yet deep in her heart, a thought was growing clearer and clearer, leaving her almost unable to control her emotions.
Spirit Hall had not perished!
At the very least, those people from Spirit Hall had not truly disappeared!
Perhaps they had long since crossed the boundary between life and death and become gods in the Underworld!
At that thought, Qian Renxue's eyes filled with tears.
For years, Qian Renxue had borne the pain of Spirit Hall's destruction alone, believing she had lost everyone dear to her.
Bibi Dong's death, Qian Daoliu's fall, and the sight of Spirit City reduced to ruins had haunted her like a nightmare.
Countless times, she had wondered whether the ending might have been different if she had done better back then.
If she and Bibi Dong had not grown apart, if she had recognized the threat Tang San posed a little sooner, would Spirit Hall have been spared destruction?
Qian Renxue had never found answers to those questions.
But now, the sky screen had given her a hope that could change everything.
"If Ghost Elder is still here..."
Qian Renxue abruptly raised her head and looked in the direction of Spirit City's ruins.
"Then what about the others?"
"What about Grandpa? What about Mother?"
"Are they still alive too?"
At that moment, she could no longer concern herself with maintaining the dignity of the Angel God.
The Six-Winged Angel's wings beat fiercely, and vast golden divine power erupted with a roar. She turned into a streak of golden light and sped toward the ruins of Spirit City!
She had to confirm it with her own eyes!
She had to see those familiar faces!
Even if there was only a sliver of hope, Qian Renxue would never let it slip away!
Yet while hope ignited in Qian Renxue's heart, someone elsewhere had fallen completely into terror.
Shrek Academy.
Yu Xiaogang had already been on edge because Tang San had been suppressed by Yue Guan. Now, hearing the voice from the sky screen, he felt as though he had been struck by lightning.
"Black Impermanence... Ghost Douluo?"
He stared blankly at the sky screen, his lips trembling slightly, as though even breathing had become difficult.
"How could this be?"
"It's one thing for Yue Guan to still be alive, but how could Ghost Douluo still be alive too?"
At that moment, Yu Xiaogang felt a chill run through his entire body.
Yue Guan's appearance as White Impermanence had already shattered his understanding of the Divine Realm's strength.
Even Tang San had been forced to flee in disgrace.
And now Ghost Douluo was about to appear on the sky screen as Black Impermanence!
What did this mean?
It meant that the former experts of Spirit Hall had very likely regained their power in the Underworld long ago!
They might even be more terrifying than they had been in life!
An image that left him suffocating involuntarily surfaced in Yu Xiaogang's mind.
What if Bibi Dong was still alive?
What if Qian Daoliu was still alive too?
What if Spirit Hall's former elders and worshippers returned from the Underworld one after another...
Then what did everything he had done over the years amount to?
Could Shrek Academy and Tang San, the ones he relied on, really still protect him?
At the thought of Tang San's sorry appearance as Yue Guan hunted him down, Yu Xiaogang's last shred of hope shattered in an instant.
"No... impossible!"
"Spirit Hall has already been destroyed! How could it make a comeback?"
He shook his head again and again, as though desperately denying the facts before him.
But the voice from the sky screen did not waver in the slightest.
Yu Xiaogang could no longer hold himself up and collapsed to the ground.
His face, which so often wore an inscrutable expression, now showed only fear and defeat.
He knew full well that the standing he now held on the Douluo Continent was inseparable from Tang San's rise.
And the reason Tang San had been able to contend with Spirit Hall was that he had ultimately ascended to the Divine Realm and become the exalted Asura God King.
But now, even the Asura God King had been defeated by Yue Guan!
What could he possibly rely on to remain Spirit Hall's enemy?
At that thought, Yu Xiaogang did not even dare look at the sky screen again.
The other teachers of Shrek Academy were silent as well.
Flender and the others looked at Yu Xiaogang's dejected figure, each lost in his own thoughts, but no one spoke up to comfort him.
They had already dimly sensed that a storm poised to sweep across the entire Douluo Continent was quietly approaching.
And Shrek Academy would probably find it hard to stay out of it.
Meanwhile, above the ruins of Spirit City.
With Tang San rescued by the Shrek Seven Devils, the curtain had finally fallen on the fierce clash, at least for the time being.
White Impermanence Yue Guan did not pursue them any further.
Holding the Mourning Staff, he hovered silently above the ruined remains of Spirit Hall, his gaze passing through layers of clouds and mist toward the distant horizon.
On the surface, he appeared to be savoring the battle he had just fought.
In truth, a message from the Fengdu Grand Hall had already slipped quietly into his soul.
It was Chen Yuan's command.
Let Tang San live a while longer.
Since Tang San had done so many things back then, it was time for him to have a proper taste of Spirit Hall's torment and the Underworld's pain.
At that thought, the corners of Yue Guan's lips rose slightly, and he gently stroked the Mourning Staff in his hand.
"Heh heh."
"Asura God King?"
"This is only the beginning."
Before his words had faded, a brilliant streak of golden light came racing in from the horizon.
Terrifying Angel Divine Power swept out in every direction, and six wings spread open in the air like sacred golden petals.
Qian Renxue had finally arrived.
The moment she spotted that familiar figure in white from afar, she could no longer contain her emotions. Her eyes instantly reddened.
"Uncle Yue Guan!"
Her cry seemed to cross the long years.
The next moment, Qian Renxue flew straight toward White Impermanence Yue Guan.
Yue Guan froze for a moment, then instinctively extended both arms and caught the oncoming Qian Renxue in his embrace.
The once-exalted Angel God was now like a child who had finally found her family. She clutched Yue Guan's robes tightly, tears streaming unchecked down her face.
"I'm sorry..."
"Uncle Yue Guan, I'm sorry!"
Qian Renxue's voice was choked with sobs, and she could barely get a complete sentence out.
"It's all my fault... If only I had been able to..."
The words reached her lips, but she could not continue.
The regrets buried deep in her heart seemed to find an outlet at the moment she saw Yue Guan.
Yue Guan looked down at Qian Renxue in his arms, and the faintly teasing expression on his face gradually faded.
He could tell that Qian Renxue's feelings were not feigned.
Her sorrow, her guilt, and her joy at regaining what she had lost were all real.
The Spirit Hall of old had been reduced to ruins.
But the child before him had finally come back.
Yue Guan sighed softly and raised a hand to pat Qian Renxue on the back.
"All right, silly child."
"Let the past stay in the past."
"Now, we're all still here."
Those simple words made Qian Renxue lose what remained of her composure. She buried her face in Yue Guan's embrace and burst into tears.
Just as this scene of reunion appeared on the sky screen, the majestic voice rang out once more.
[Ninth place: Black Impermanence Ghost Douluo!] [Soul Power Level: Level 151, God King!] [Beneath the Soul-Summoning Banner, countless evil ghosts submit!] [He suppresses evil souls and kills decisively!]