Time flew by, and half a year passed amidst focused forging.
In a secluded mansion purchased by Gu La in Shrek City, the glow of fire and fluctuations of soul power never ceased day or night.
Gu La meticulously sorted and purified all his stockpiled rare metals while recalling every avatar scattered across Shrek City and its surrounding areas.
His main body and five avatars worked together like the most precise machinery, surrounding the core forge.
Designing, manufacturing, shaping, engraving the core array, assembling, testing... every step was infused with Gu La's understanding of the essence of forging and his plans for the future path.
The main material of his "Eternal Solidity" Two-Word Battle Armor was Starfall Secret Silver, known for its resilience and energy conductivity. Rare Void Sinking Gold was incorporated into the core joints, granting it a touch of spatial stability.
The core array was intricate and ingenious, not only enhancing the extreme fire and earth attributes of Groudon but also reserving interfaces for integrating space and time powers in the future. The deep gray armor surface flowed with restrained dark gold patterns, exuding stability and depth.
The Battle Armors of other avatars also had their own focuses: Bai Yuan's "Devourer" pursued ultimate offense-defense and devouring attributes; Mu Yi's "Nature" emphasized life recovery and natural affinity; Qing Luli's "Mind" enhanced spiritual perception and communication...
Each set of Battle Armor was a pinnacle creation among Two-Word Battle Armors, crystallizing Gu La's combination of Pokémon world technology knowledge and this world's top forging techniques.
When the final piece of armor completed its final quenching, the humming sound slowly subsided in the forge room. Six sets of Two-Word Battle Armors, shimmering with different glows and emanating powerful auras, floated in the air, akin to sleeping behemoths.
Gu La exhaled a breath tinged with metallic scent, his eyes flashing with satisfaction. Thus far, the foundational combat framework of the core team was finally preliminarily constructed.
Almost simultaneously as Gu La finished forging all the Battle Armors, the Shrek Academy team that had gone to the Star Luo Continent for exchange and learning returned to the academy after a year of tempering and growth.
Gu La found time to meet them.
Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, Xu Xiaoyan, Ye Xinglan, Yuan'en Yehui… each person's aura had become much more condensed, their eyes sharper. Clearly, their year of foreign training yielded significant gains, advancing their soul power cultivation and practical combat experience considerably.
Reunited friends naturally engaged in reminiscing and sharing experiences. Gu La quietly listened, occasionally nodding, playing the role of a listener.
After catching up, Gu La formally submitted an application for early graduation to the Outer Court Dean, Cai Yue'er.
When Cai Yue'er learned that Gu La was not only already a six-ring Soul Emperor but also possessed a complete set of Two-Word Battle Armor, despite her myriad feelings of reluctance and regret—such a remarkably talented student should have been a treasure of Shrek's Inner Court—she understood that Shrek's Outer Court could no longer provide him with greater growth space.
She could only sign her name on the graduation documents with mixed emotions.
What surprised Cai Yue'er even more was that almost at the same time Gu La applied for graduation, Gu Yue calmly submitted an application for early graduation as well.
Her soul power had broken through to Soul King, and her Battle Armor was long ready. Cai Yue'er's first reaction was refusal; she couldn't understand why Gu Yue was so eager to leave.
But under the calm yet exceptionally determined gaze of Gu Yue's purple eyes, and considering Gu La's graduation, Cai Yue'er ultimately sighed helplessly and approved Gu Yue's application.
"Go ahead, I get irritated just seeing those people from the Spirit Pagoda," she consoled herself.
By the Sea God Lake, Gu La bid farewell to Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and Xu Xiaoyan.
"Big Brother Gu La, are you leaving already?" Xu Xiaoyan was somewhat reluctant.
"Mm, I've learned enough here, and it's time to see a bigger world out there."
Gu La patted Tang Wulin's shoulder, "Wulin, train hard. Shrek's foundations run much deeper than what you see. And you two, don't slack off."
"Don't worry, we'll work hard!" Xie Xie nodded firmly. Having seen a broader world, he finally understood why Gu La and Tang Wulin always trained diligently. Under Wu Zhangkong's guidance, he became much more serious and made remarkable progress.
Tang Wulin's eyes were complex, filled with both sadness over parting from Gu La and firm determination for the future path: "Take care, looking forward to the day your name spreads across the continent!"
Gu La smiled, said nothing more, and turned along with Gu Yue, disappearing beyond the grand gates of Shrek Academy.
Leaving behind Tang Wulin and the others gazing in the direction they departed, their hearts filled with bittersweet farewells and anticipation for the future.
However, this faint melancholy was quickly dispelled by a familiar, slightly lazy mental fluctuation.
Instinctively turning their heads, they saw not far away under a large tree, the avatar "Bai Yuan" leaning against the trunk, tossing a silver coin in hand, a familiar, slightly teasing smile on his lips, winking at them.
The three: "..."
Xie Xie couldn't help but roll his eyes: "This guy… even after graduation, he still haunts us, playing tricks!"
Tang Wulin and Xu Xiaoyan couldn't help but laugh, the heaviness of parting instantly dissipated.
Indeed, although Gu La left the academy, his "presence" wasn't so easily forgotten.
Back at the mansion purchased in Shrek City, Gu La dispersed the avatars again to execute their respective missions.
He sat comfortably on a sofa, his fingertips unconsciously tapping the armrest, starting to seriously consider the next direction.
In the 'Legend of the Dragon King' timeline, everything was indeed calm for the short term.
The large-scale invasion of the Abyss Plane would take time, Tang Wulin's growth needed time, and although internal struggles within the Spirit Pagoda were brewing, the avatar Qing Luli was sufficient to handle and steadily advance the plan.
Staying any longer would yield diminishing returns for his strength improvement and knowledge acquisition.
Qiangu Dongfeng? A cold intent flashed in Gu La's eyes. That old man's desire to kill him had never ceased.
If not for the concern that upon his death, the Spirit Pagoda would inevitably be deeply infiltrated or even taken over by the Federation, disrupting his layout for using the Spirit Pagoda to gather faith and resources, Gu La would have sent him to join Zhang Geyang long ago.
Now, it wasn't the best time to act against him.
"Why not… go play in a new timeline?"
Once this thought arose, it could no longer be suppressed. Crossing parallel timelines and experiencing unknown lives, Gu La finally understood the essence of Celebi's wandering nature. With such convenient abilities to traverse time, no wonder Celebi loved to play around.
As for returning to an earlier point in the current universe? It wasn't impossible, but he didn't want to bear the unpredictable risks of disturbing the known timeline. Parallel timelines were much safer.
His consciousness sank deep into the Sea of Knowledge, communicating with the forces of time and space. An endless river of time and space unfolded before his "eyes," countless world bubbles with different glowing halos floating within.
His "gaze" acted like the most precise probe, rapidly screening targets.
"Fate... destiny force... Imperial Auspicious Beast..." Gu La's core demands were clear and explicit. Soon, a world bubble exuding dense life energy and strange fate fluctuations, with its time anchor locked in the "Unrivaled Tang Sect" era, captured his full attention.
"It's decided." His intent locked on.
Crossing initiated!
The kaleidoscopic scene of the time tunnel enveloped him once again.
This time, he was fully prepared, avoiding being pulled into an unknown timeline.
Moreover, to avoid detection by Tang San, who monitored the chosen ones of fate, he meticulously fabricated a complete "Young Gu La" growth trajectory.
Born in a remote small village, his parents were ordinary low-level soul masters. Upon awakening his martial soul, latent bloodline powers were unexpectedly triggered, awakening the powerful "Sun Angel" martial soul. This incident drew the attention of evil soul masters, leading to the destruction of the village, and he escaped under his parents' sacrifice.
(T/N: Previously I translated the spirit soul as Sun Elf to avoid confusion with the Six-Winged Angel/Seraphim martial soul of the Qian Family (Qian Daoliu, Qian Renxue) but it can also be translated as Sun Angel which I'm assuming he's going. So going forward, I'll be using Sun Angel as the translation.)
In the river of time, Gu La watched his virtual shadow conversing with others. All memory fragments, emotional traces, and soul fluctuations were perfectly forged, as if he had genuinely existed in Douluo Continent for twelve years.
Simultaneously, his body was temporarily adjusted to exhibit the youthful form of a twelve-year-old boy.
Martial soul? He used the Sun Angel spirit soul as a disguise.
In this era, where soul-guidance devices had not yet fully risen and ultimate attributes were still considered top-tier, the "Ultimate Fire" Sun Angel martial soul would earn him sufficient attention and resources without drawing excessive notice.
This identity served as the perfect cover for him to access the core secrets of this era.
When Gu La stepped onto solid ground again, he stood on the bustling streets of Shrek City, holding a recommendation letter stamped with the seal of a major city in the Star Luo Empire.
A twelve-year-old handsome face, faded white cloth clothing, clear and naive eyes, and a soul power fluctuation perfectly sealed and disguised, stabilized at Level 31—a "genius youth" harboring dreams and apprehension, ready to knock on the doors of the continent's premier academy.
The morning mist of Shrek City carried its unique freshness and vitality, penetrating the thin fog and gilding the grand academy gates with a pale golden hue.
Above the massive lintel, the five ancient and vigorous characters "Shrek Academy" settled with millennia of glory and history.
At this moment, the front gates were already bustling with voices. Youth from all over the continent, brimming with excitement and anxiety, gathered here, awaiting the life-changing assessment.
Gu La took a deep breath, naturally exuding the appropriate nervousness and anticipation of "Young Gu La."
He took steady steps, quietly lining up at the end of the queue, waiting for his "new student assessment."
The loud voice of the examining student rang out: "Next!"
Gu La stepped forward, handing over the recommendation letter while extending his right hand. The examining teacher glanced at the letter, confirmed it, and then retrieved a transparent crystal ball for testing.
"Infuse soul power."
Gu La complied, lightly touching the crystal ball with his fingertip. Instantly, the crystal ball lit up with flowing light, stabilizing into three distinct layers of luminous rings.
"A Level 31 Soul Master, hmm, not bad." A flash of approval appeared in the supervising teacher's eyes.
Reaching the third ring at this age was absolutely commendable and considered one of the promising candidates in the major city recommendations.
He looked at Gu La's youthful, calm face, nodded, and registered him in the roster: "Gu La, twelve years old, Level 31 strong-attack system battle soul master. Go inside and find the academic director at the freshmen registration desk."
"Thank you, teacher." Gu La's voice was crisp, carrying the appropriate youthfulness, bowing slightly before following the crowd into the renowned soul master sanctuary of the continent.
Passing through the gates, the noise seemed isolated by some invisible force. Ancient stone paths stretched into the distance, flanked by towering ancient trees with twisted branches and lush foliage casting large cool shadows.
The air was permeated with rich botanical fragrance and accumulated soul power, making the ambient elemental energy notably livelier than outside.
In the distance, the outlines of vast simulated training zones were vaguely visible, and further inside, the direction of the Sea God Lake symbolizing the authority of the inner court.
Gu La's gaze swept over everything calmly. In his true perception, beneath the halo of this thousand-year-old academy lay countless subtle "loopholes" imperceptible to ordinary people.
Soul-guidance technology… Gu La internally shook his head. The soul-guidance devices of this era appeared as rudimentary as tools from the Stone Age to him.
The soul-guidance arrays of the Sun Moon Empire, used for assisting cultivation, maintaining environments, and even surveillance, had crude energy circuits, bloated and inefficient core array structures, and severe energy leakage.
Placed in the 'Legend of the Dragon King' era, such soul-guidance device applications wouldn't even qualify as third-rate academies.
But in Shrek Academy, not even these crude facilities existed—it had completely fallen behind, relying solely on the Golden Ancient Tree to maintain this high concentration of elemental environment.
"Right, the Golden Ancient Tree!"
Gu La's eyes flickered, contemplating whether to take the Golden Ancient Tree and integrate it into his collection?
After some consideration, Gu La abandoned the idea—it wasn't worth the effort and wouldn't significantly benefit the spirit.
He surveyed the academy.
"This is… Shrek from ten thousand years ago?" Gu La mused internally, with a researcher's scrutiny. "The soul master system has yet to be greatly impacted by soul-guidance technology, still following a relatively 'classical' developmental path. Martial soul research, battle skill development, soul beast knowledge… perhaps these core elements can unearth some forgotten brilliance from later generations?"
His mind habitually began analyzing and deconstructing the current environment, seeking valuable "samples" and "data."
Just then, an extremely subtle yet vast spiritual force fluctuation, like an invisible celestial net, gently yet irresistibly swept over the Outer Court area of Shrek Academy.
This spiritual force carried a sense of lofty inspection, cold and indifferent, as if a deity was overlooking mortals.
Tang San's divine consciousness!
Alarm bells rang loudly in Gu La's heart, but outwardly, he maintained a teenager's curiosity and slight nervousness, his "bewildered" gaze admiring the academy's grandeur.
Deep within his soul power core, the "temporal disguise core" constructed from Celebi's martial soul origin activated to its peak!
Buzz!
A pure, scorching, angelic purification-infused ultimate fire soul power fluctuation naturally emanated from Gu La's body, seamlessly blending with his Level 31 Soul Master strength, like the rising sun—warm and full of potential, precisely the most standard and "normal" manifestation of the "Sun Angel" martial soul.
This fluctuation cleverly merged into the various soul power fluctuations emitted by countless new students around, unremarkable and inconspicuous.
The vast divine consciousness lingered on Gu La for less than a millisecond, like a breeze skimming the water's surface, stirring no ripples before continuing to scan elsewhere.
It detected only an ordinary new student possessing a top-tier fire attribute martial soul, with decent talent and pure, flawless soul fluctuations, showing no abnormalities.
Alert lifted.
Gu La secretly exhaled in relief. The soul imprint of this "youthful shell" was meticulously forged by him, with all memories and emotional traces from birth to twelve years old perfectly intact.
Coupled with the impeccable "ID" provided by the Sun Angel martial soul layer, he had successfully deceived the preliminary scan of the God King.
But he knew this was just the beginning. Before truly touching Tang San's core interests, such as the fate force on the Auspicious Beast, he must maintain this perfect disguise without a single slip-up.
"This is quite interesting, isn't it?"
He continued walking toward the freshmen registration desk, passing through a huge square. At the edge of the square, an inconspicuous corner caught Gu La's attention.
------------------------------------------------------
Join my Patreon to read an exclusive novel – 'Douluo: Rebuilding Hao Tian Sect'
40+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)