Seeing how certain Huo Yuhao was, Yu Longyue lazily opened one eye and studied him.
"What makes you so sure?"
"I followed Tang San for a long time, and he didn't guard against me much. So I still know the rough outline of his current plan, barely."
Huo Yuhao was quite composed.
"On top of that, the current Tang San and I both came from the future. We fell into the Spatial-Temporal Turbulence, which brought us to this timeline. So now there are two Huo Yuhaos and two Tang Sans."
"One is the Tang San who has become a child, just like me now. The other is God King Tang San, far beyond the Douluo Continent."
"Given God King Tang San's personality, if he discovered there was another version of himself, he would strike without hesitation to eliminate him. So the two Tang Sans are destined to be unable to work together."
"In his ten-thousand-year plan for the Douluo Continent, the power the Plane Master and the Core of Life can use is limited. They have to make sure they can kill the Abyssal Sage King in a single blow. So before that, they and Tang San will have a signal. In other words, the Plane Master has only one chance to strike. Otherwise, the Abyssal Sage King will notice, and the plan will be exposed."
"Also, the child Tang San doesn't have the ability to contact the Plane Master right now, unless he's willing to use the last sliver of divine power in his body. But if he uses it, he'll die for sure."
Huo Yuhao spoke with absolute conviction, his fists clenching tighter and tighter as extraordinary spiritual power surged out of him. He made no attempt to hide his deep hatred for Tang San.
Yu Longyue could understand. After all, Tang San had controlled Huo Yuhao's entire life.
But he had also grasped the rough outline of Huo Yuhao's plan. He tapped lightly on the table.
"If the child Tang San dies now, will God King Tang San die too?"
Huo Yuhao shook his head. "No. At most, it'll probably have some effect on God King Tang San and erase his future. The same goes for me."
"In other words, because of the Plane Master and the Core of Life, there's only one chance to strike in the plan against the Abyssal Sage King. So before they strike at the Abyssal Sage King, the child Tang San still has the ability to take you down with him."
Yu Longyue gave Huo Yuhao an indifferent glance.
"Before the Abyssal Sage King dies, there's no absolute certainty of killing Tang San. Otherwise, if you push Tang San too far, he could simply abandon the fight against the Abyssal Sage King and use a sliver of divine power to contact his parents and have them crush you to death."
Huo Yuhao nodded:
"Yes. So the best chance to kill Tang San is after the Abyssal Sage King dies. By then, his parents will have fallen asleep. If we strike then, he'll definitely die."
"Although we'll both be Titled Douluo by then, there won't be a big gap between us in cultivation or strength. I can fight him one-on-one and wear down all his power. Once his divine power is gone, you can wait in the shadows and kill him with one blow."
"Looks like revenge hasn't gone to your head. Since you're absolutely certain you can kill Tang San, I agree."
Yu Longyue agreed at once.
Huo Yuhao was the one taking the risk, not him.
While enjoying the life of a rich man, he could also fulfill the final wish the Seven-Colored Divine Dragon had entrusted to him. Why not?
Anyway, if Huo Yuhao couldn't beat Tang San when the time came, he could just wait for the next opportunity.
He absolutely wouldn't stake his life on it.
Playing it safe was the name of the game.
As for dealing with God King Tang San later, Yu Longyue figured he would have become a God King himself by the time they returned. If he then brought the Silver Dragon King over to his side, and added two Huo Yuhaos as well, God King Tang San would probably be as good as dead.
At that thought, Yu Longyue raised a question:
"Can you bring your future self on board?"
Sure enough, Huo Yuhao said, "Yes. I'll use a sliver of the power the Seven-Colored Divine Dragon gave me to help my future self break free of God King Tang San's control. That's how I escaped his control, so this is destined to succeed."
"And you and I were chosen by the Seven-Colored Divine Dragon. This time, we're destined to change the ending, leave neither Tang San nor me a chance to fall into the Spatial-Temporal Turbulence, and kill him for good."
Well, now it's a closed loop too, huh?
Yu Longyue stood and held out his hand to Huo Yuhao. As people chosen by the Seven-Colored Divine Dragon, the two were driven to join forces against God King Tang.
"Happy cooperation."
"Happy cooperation."
The two shook hands for a moment, then let go.
"I'm leaving tonight to find a place to study and improve my cultivation, and then I'll join Shrek Academy. By the way, your family has money, influence, and power. Can you find out where Tang San is now?"
Huo Yuhao asked eagerly.
"Don't count on me too much." Yu Longyue waved a hand. "I only came to this remote place to escape those tedious lessons. I may be the future clan leader, but right now I'm nobody. I haven't built up my own connections or intelligence network. What, am I supposed to use my father's connections?"
Hearing that, Huo Yuhao promptly shook his head. "Forget it, then. If we use your father's network, Tang San and I might both be exposed."
"Even if I went back now to formally inherit the position, I'd have to wait until I was at least eighteen." The mere thought of the painful experience of going back made Yu Longyue's face twitch.
"And I'd have to gradually take over my father's connections and obligations, paying visits every day and getting to know this elder and that elder. By the time I became clan leader, Tang San would have shown up in front of us long ago."
"That makes sense." Huo Yuhao was embarrassed. Having lived a hard life in his previous life, he hadn't known that things were so troublesome and complicated for the children of great clans.
"What are you planning to do next? Will you join Shrek Academy with me?"
Faced with Huo Yuhao's question, Yu Longyue raised a hand to prop up his cheek, sounding somewhat dissatisfied:
"As a direct descendant of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and its future clan leader, I have to follow the clan's arrangements. I have to enter Shrek Academy."
He really disliked that academy. It was clearly a shady school that brainwashed its students, making them risk their lives to defend the academy's glory and reputation.
Shrek from twenty thousand years ago was especially shady.
Tsinghua-and-Peking-University-level student admissions, teaching conditions like those in an impoverished mountain region, faculty who were capable but couldn't teach and faculty who could "teach" but weren't capable, teachers with the moral standards of gangsters, overseas-study-level tuition fees, finances on the brink of bankruptcy, a student death rate like the Colosseum's, and a diploma from stay-at-home university.
Its later rise to become the strongest power on the continent relied entirely on brainwashing genius students, making them use any means necessary to protect Shrek's glory. For example, ten thousand years ago, Huo Yuhao relied on cheating and deliberate murder. There were also countless records of students defeating stronger opponents as the weaker side, achieved by deliberately making things difficult for students in all sorts of ways.
In short, the students were the ones who had to put their lives on the line, while the academy got the money, reputation, and other benefits.
The only way it rewarded students was with so-called glory and prizes such as becoming a lifelong member of the Shrek Seven Devils. That was plainly just binding genius students to the academy and making them work for it like exploited laborers for the rest of their lives.
If not for the close cooperative relationship between the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon and Shrek Academy...
Yu Longyue really wouldn't go to that lousy academy even if it killed him.
That was the helpless predicament of a great clan's disciples. Everything was good except for the lack of freedom, unless he became strong enough to be the one qualified to change the rules.
"Come to think of it, since we can't deal Tang San a killing blow before his parents deal with the Abyssal Sage King, then..." Yu Longyue paused, then said, "We can still mess with him, right?"
Huo Yuhao said as though it were only natural, "Of course. Anything goes, as long as we don't push him into jumping the wall like a cornered dog, or make him so angry that he disregards the bigger picture and contacts his parents to deal with us."
Yu Longyue froze.
Now that's interesting.
Tang San, Huo Yuhao, and Tang Wulin, the protagonists of three Douluo stories, were on the same stage, with himself as an added variable.
This plot had completely veered off the original main storyline.