The sky had darkened at some point. There was nowhere in the village to find entertainment, and most people had turned in early.
The people at Shrek Academy were no different, either meditating to cultivate or falling straight asleep.
Shangguan Hong opened his eyes.
Had a powerful Soul Master observed him closely, they would have discovered a thin layer of Soul Power covering his ears!
The all-around improvements brought by the Recombobulator had made Shangguan Hong's five senses unlike those of ordinary people. With the additional enhancement of Soul Power, he could catch even the faintest movement.
Such as that barely perceptible cracking sound coming from far away.
Such a sound was perfectly normal, at least to anyone else's ears. But Shangguan Hong could hear something different. Unlike the sound of a branch snapping, this was a sound that could only come from a massive ancient tree being broken in half at the trunk and crashing to the ground.
In that direction lay a forest, not far from Shrek Academy.
That fellow Tang Hao really couldn't wait!
Shangguan Hong took off his purple coat, merging completely into the night. Soul Power spilled from his body, and the power unique to the Void devoured the traces of his presence. At some point, the ground beneath his feet had become a purple dead sea. Shangguan Hong took a step, then vanished as though he had fallen into water.
Traveling through the Void was one of Shangguan Hong's trump cards! It was by this very means that he had infiltrated Holy Soul Village and seized the Blue Silver Emperor's Soul Bone.
Tonight, however, his target was no treasure, but a sacrifice the Void craved!
Having just finished an intimate interlude with his young girlfriend, Ma Hongjun returned from a villager's home with satisfaction written all over his face. He hummed a tune, carrying the food that the girl named Cuihua had prepared for him, clearly in an excellent mood.
"Come to think of it, wasn't today the day for recruiting new students? I wonder if there are any new juniors... It'd be great if there were a pretty junior girl. Cuihua's nice enough, but she still falls a little short!"
Ma Hongjun chewed on a steamed bun, but his thoughts were on the beautiful junior girl who might be there. His imagination ran wild, and every so often, he let out a couple of lecherous chuckles.
Yet as he walked, Ma Hongjun suddenly frowned.
"Strange. Am I imagining things? Why can't I hear a single sound anymore?"
The chirping of insects and birds seemed to have been forcibly cut off. His surroundings were terrifyingly quiet. Ma Hongjun looked around, only to suddenly realize that "it had gone dark."
Very dark-the kind of darkness where he couldn't see his own hand before his face. It was nothing like the darkness of night, but more as though all light had been stripped away!
No, it wasn't just light. Both his sight and hearing were gone! If Ma Hongjun hadn't still been holding a bun and retained his senses of taste, smell, and touch, then this space should have stripped him of all five senses. There was nothing at all. Ma Hongjun felt as though he were in outer space. The ground beneath his feet had vanished too, and he drifted and drifted through that dark space. By the time he realized something was wrong and activated Martial Soul Possession, the Evil Fire Phoenix's flames blazed furiously, but to no avail.
Because he was no longer on the Douluo Continent!
The road Ma Hongjun had just been walking along was deserted. Only a peculiar cube remained, giving off a faint blue glow. The ground beneath it was wrapped in dense purple, and then a hand reached out, clasped the cube, and plunged into the abyss with it!
This thing is even more convenient than I thought!
Shangguan Hong looked at the Alternate Dimension Capture Cage (Ma Hongjun version) in his hand, his face full of satisfaction. This thing worked just like catching Pokémon, and its success rate was 100%.
The sounds from the distant forest grew fainter and fainter before gradually disappearing. Shangguan Hong knew the battle over there was about to end.
Struggle away in that darkness! I'm a very merciful man. I'll pick a day with clear skies stretching ten thousand miles and find a place filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers to put that body of yours to the greatest possible use!
A short while later, Shangguan Hong returned to his dormitory and lay down on his bed. In high spirits, he soon fell asleep.
As for guilt... Heh, that emotion simply did not exist for Shangguan Hong. Who knew how much blood already stained his hands! To smooth his path as a Soul Master, the Void had devoured over a hundred lives, not counting Heavenly Spirit Village!
As for whether the Void had eroded Shangguan Hong's mind or whether this was simply his true nature...
Heh, who knew?
The night passed without incident.
Early the next morning, Shangguan Hong got out of bed bright and early, because there were classes that day. Come to think of it, he hadn't attended a class in over two years. Back at Nuo'er Junior Soul Master Academy, once he had finished his fourth year and learned all the basic knowledge, he had gone off to the Great Soul Arena to hone his fighting skills. After all, he wasn't some theoretical grandmaster. Only a certain piece of trash who could never reach the pinnacle of strength and remained trapped at rank 29 for life would painstakingly study that sort of thing.
After a quick wash, Shangguan Hong soon arrived at the meeting place agreed upon the day before. He was the last to arrive. Tang San and the others had already been waiting in the clearing for quite some time, six people in total. All the Shrek Seven Devils except Ma Hongjun were there. And now that Ma Hongjun had vanished, never to return, Shangguan Hong could only graciously accept his seat among the Shrek Seven Devils.
"Morning, everyone!"
Shangguan Hong was as carefree as ever. With easy familiarity, he snatched the half-eaten sausage from Oscar's hand and swallowed it under his resentful gaze. Only then did Shangguan Hong notice that Oscar was actually quite handsome after shaving off his beard.
"Shangguan Hong, have you seen a fat guy with fiery red hair who looks like he's really asking for a beating?"
While Shangguan Hong was chatting with Tang San and the others, Dai Mubai walked over from the side. His brows were tightly furrowed, and he was a little worried about his gluttonous, lustful brother.
"Huh? What fat guy?"
Shangguan Hong froze, his reaction utterly natural, as though he truly knew nothing.
Dai Mubai told him everything about Ma Hongjun. Shangguan Hong listened attentively, but after racking his brains for a while, he still shook his head.
Just as Dai Mubai was burning with anxiety, footsteps rang out. Tang San and Xiao Wu looked up, only to discover in surprise that the person appearing before them was actually that profiteer! Under normal circumstances, the exceedingly petty Flender would certainly have made things difficult for the two of them. But today's main event clearly wasn't that, and even the tuition fees weren't the most important matter.
Ma Hongjun was missing!
When he learned this from Dai Mubai, Flender froze. His instinctive thought was that his disciple had probably failed to restrain himself again and run off to Suotuo City for some fun. He didn't take it too seriously. After all, this wasn't the first time Ma Hongjun had done something like this.
He could just look for him when they went to Suotuo City for special training that evening. Perhaps there wouldn't even be any need to search; Ma Hongjun would come back on his own.
With that thought, Flender turned his attention back to the tuition fees. But never in his wildest dreams would this dean have imagined that his disciple was, at that very moment, inside Shangguan Hong's Storage Soul Tool!