"Reporting to His Holiness the Pope, this subordinate has completed the investigation. Her Highness the Saintess is indeed in love with that good-for-nothing Yu Xiaogang."
The Soul Douluo serving under Qian Xunji knelt on one knee, continuing to report the details of Bibi Dong and Yu Xiaogang's relationship.
After a long while, Qian Xunji finished listening to the report and said, "Summon the Saintess."
"Yes, Your Holiness." The Soul Douluo acknowledged the order and left.
Once the Pope's Hall fell silent, Qian Xunji felt stifled. How had the Saintess, whom Spirit Hall had spent so many resources and so much effort nurturing, been stolen away by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan?
He rose from the papal throne and headed straight outside the Pope's Hall, wanting some fresh air to ease the gloom in his heart.
Outside the hall, Qian Xunji muttered, "Perhaps I should lock Dong'er up, then send Yu Xiaogang back to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and forbid him from entering Spirit City."
As he considered how to handle the matter, heaven and earth suddenly changed, and the entire world turned blackish-purple. Qian Xunji paled in shock as a purple giant appeared in the sky.
The purple giant reached straight for Qian Xunji. Under its overwhelming pressure, Qian Xunji could not move so much as half a finger. The next instant, he was seized and lifted into the air.
He looked back toward Spirit City, only to see that the guards showed no reaction whatsoever. His own physical body was still standing intact where he had been, but a sinister smile had appeared on its face.
With a slight squeeze of the purple giant's hand, Qian Xunji's soul shattered into hundreds of fragments, scattering across Douluo Star. Having done all this, the purple giant vanished into thin air, as though nothing had happened.
Time flowed on, and ten thousand years passed in the blink of an eye.
Little Forest Village, in the Heavenly Soul Empire on the Douluo Continent, had been a remote mountain village that stood apart from worldly strife, but now it had suffered utter devastation. An Evil Soul Master calling himself the Soul Ferryman had come to the village and extracted the souls of all its inhabitants to cultivate his evil power, leaving not a single person alive. Only then did the Soul Ferryman leave the village in satisfaction.
Shortly after he left, a flash of golden light swept through the village, and a handsome middle-aged man in luxurious clothing appeared. He walked up to the corpse of a black-haired little boy and said expressionlessly, "Martial Soul: Seven Kill Sword. Innate Soul Power: level seven. A pity he died like this before even undergoing his Martial Soul Awakening."
With that, the man extended his left hand, released a soul, and infused it into the little boy's body. The next moment, the boy's formerly black hair turned golden, and his ordinary features became handsome.
Qian Xunji's consciousness slowly awakened within the little boy's body. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw the village's shattered walls and the dead villagers strewn haphazardly across the ground.
"Where is this? It's practically hell on earth!" Qian Xunji blurted out.
"This is the Douluo Continent ten thousand years later. This village was just wiped out by an Evil Soul Master," the middle-aged man answered in a tone devoid of joy or sorrow.
Only then did Qian Xunji notice another living person nearby. He also discovered that his body had changed, returning to its state before his Martial Soul had awakened.
"Who are you? Why am I here? Were you the one who brought me here?" Qian Xunji demanded sternly. Having served as Pope for many years, he possessed the bearing of one in power and showed not the slightest timidity.
"Is that how you speak to the man who saved your life?" the middle-aged man asked in return.
Qian Xunji also sensed that the man before him was extraordinary. Though he was now merely a child whose Martial Soul had yet to awaken, his spiritual power had not diminished in the slightest and remained at the Titled Douluo level. Yet to his senses, the man before him was like an abyss, his depths utterly impossible to fathom.
Qian Xunji instantly understood that the other party was immensely powerful. Hearing him claim to be his savior, he knew a powerhouse like this would never speak recklessly. He immediately adopted a respectful tone. "Please enlighten me, Senior."
The middle-aged man nodded. "That's more like it. I am the physical manifestation of the Douluo Plane Consciousness. As for you, Qian Xunji, ten thousand years ago, the previous Asura God crushed your soul into fragments. I spent a considerable amount of time recovering the fragments scattered across Douluo Star, then used this dead child's body to resurrect you."
Only upon hearing this did Qian Xunji learn that the purple giant who had brutalized him back then was actually the Asura God. He immediately bowed. "Thank you for saving my life, Senior. Whatever instructions you may have in the future, Spirit Hall and I will do everything in our power to carry them out."
The Plane Consciousness smiled faintly. "Heh, Spirit Hall? Spirit Hall was destroyed ten thousand years ago by the current Asura God, Tang San. There are hardly any members of your Angel Clan left either, and every one of them is like a rat crossing the street, hounded and beaten by Evil Soul Masters."
Seeing Qian Xunji's shocked, disbelieving expression, the Plane Consciousness casually waved his hand, and a streak of white light sank into Qian Xunji's brow. Everything that had happened ten thousand years ago was imprinted in his memory as though he had experienced it himself.
From his being crushed by the Asura God, to the false Qian Xunji defiling his disciple Bibi Dong, Bibi Dong giving birth to Qian Renxue and killing the false Qian Xunji with her own hands, to Tang San bursting onto the scene, slaying Bibi Dong, shattering the Angel Godhood, and finally ascending to the Divine Realm with the other six members of Shrek.
Learning of these world-overturning changes shook Qian Xunji to his core. He sank onto one knee, bracing both hands against the ground, his entire body trembling uncontrollably. He gritted his teeth, his voice filled with towering humiliation and fury. "Impossible, this is impossible! How could I defile my own disciple? How could I lose to that brute Tang Hao?"
Suddenly, as though something had occurred to him, Qian Xunji looked at the Plane Consciousness's physical manifestation. "Senior, you went to such trouble and spent so much time resurrecting me ten thousand years later. Surely it wasn't merely to do a good deed?"
"Correct. There is indeed something I need you to do," the Plane Consciousness said. "Back then, the previous Asura God did not kill your physical body outright and even made it commit all manner of atrocities. His aim was to destroy the Angel Inheritance and throw the continent's established order into chaos, paving the way for his successor, Tang San, to take control of the entire plane. I am the Plane Consciousness, formed from the heavenly laws of the Douluo Plane. My standing is equivalent to a Second-Level God in the Divine Realm, and I can be considered Douluo Star's actual administrator. But the current Asura God, Tang San, forcibly established the divine position of Plane Master to secure a divine position for his father, Tang Hao. And I am the nourishment for Tang Hao's Plane Master divine position. Thus, I must stop Tang San and Tang Hao. You are one of the helpers I intend to use against Tang San."
Qian Xunji said dejectedly, "Although my hatred for the previous Asura God and Tang San is irreconcilable, I have no power to fight back against gods."
"I never said you had to face gods directly. Never mind, let me awaken your Martial Soul first, lest you lack the confidence to keep listening." With that, a six-pointed awakening array of light immediately formed beneath Qian Xunji's feet. Without the slightest obstruction, the Holy Angel Martial Soul appeared behind him. A keen, cutting presence emanated above his right hand as a Seven Kill Sword manifested at the same time.
"The Seven Kill Sword! This body of mine actually has twin Martial Souls!"
"This Seven Kill Sword belonged to the body's original owner. When I merged your soul with it, I deliberately preserved it for you," the Plane Consciousness said. "Though your Angel Clan's Angel God Sword is a divine artifact, it is ultimately an external object, and no new Soul Rings can be added to it. After my modifications, the Seven Kill Sword can be used simultaneously with your Angel Martial Soul, making it far more useful in practice than wielding the Angel God Sword. And you can also sense that your current body has innate level 20 Soul Power, can't you?"
"Yes. You have done so much for me, my lord, and I am sincerely grateful. But no opportunity in this world comes for free. Please tell me plainly what exactly you need me to do."