Spirit City.
One of the largest cities in the current Douluo Continent.
It is so named because the headquarters of Spirit Hall is located here.
From a bird's eye view, streams of people flow like ants in and out of the towering city gates. Millions inhabit the city.
At the city's heart stands a magnificent golden cathedral.
Inside the cathedral.
"How are your preparations going for the new tournament?" Sitting in the highest seat, Bibi Dong held her scepter, gazing indifferently at the three half-kneeling people below. Her tone was calm.
"Reporting to Your Holiness, victory is certain!" Yan grinned.
However, Xie Yue frowned slightly, "The only variable in this match likely lies with that Su Lin. The class he's instructed for the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy seems completely transformed, making astonishing progress. Although last time we could still beat them, it's been a few months…"
At those words, Hu Liena recalled the fear that shadow had instilled in her that day; her confidence diminished.
Silence…
The atmosphere turned awkward.
Ghost Douluo glanced at him helplessly. Must you mention the sore spot? Didn't you know His Holiness's greatest headache is that guy?
This was just a routine pre-competition check-in—not to really bring up any issues!
Sure enough, Bibi Dong's face darkened.
But she endured, mindful of the Spirit Hall members around her.
"I will deal with Su Lin myself. What you need to do is utterly crush his students in this competition!" Bibi Dong's eyes carried a cold glint. "My students will never lose to his students."
"If you kill them, so be it. He has healing arts anyway."
Especially after learning that Su Wen forgave Xie Yue's accidental injury, earning the admiration of the trio, Bibi Dong became all the more jealous—and angry. Yet as Pope, she could not display it, lest she lose her composure.
"Yes, Your Holiness!" ×3
"You may leave." Sensing her own slip, Bibi Dong waved them off, taking deep breaths.
But at that moment, a terrifying, nearly tangible pressure spread throughout the great hall.
"Who?!" Bibi Dong's face showed shock as she looked up.
The earth trembled.
A rumbling filled the space.
To the horror of everyone, the walls of the hall slowly lifted, as if its roof had been ripped off, revealing two blazing, gilded giant eyes scanning over them.
Finally, they fixed on Bibi Dong.
"Found you…"
Xuan Ji bared its fangs in a chilling smile.
"I am Xuan Ji, Su Lin's primal beast. Remember my name…"
…
"Tsk, clever…"
High above.
A green and white streak whistled through the air.
The white comet revealed Su Wen's traveling figure, a faint smile forming at his lips.
"Clever? Who?" Airborne beside him, the green figure of Dugu Bo looked confused.
"Not you for sure." Su Wen teased.
"Tch~" Dugu Bo rolled his eyes, though he had no complaints—seeing Su Wen's true power for the first time, he felt he'd hit the jackpot by clinging to such a powerhouse.
No worries about the future!
Too bad this guy probably wouldn't fancy his granddaughter—or becoming kin by marriage would have been perfect…
"Big Eye."
Su Wen called internally.
"What is it?"
Erupting from the sea of spirit, a Cthulhu-styled giant eye surfaced, sounding bored.
"With your current ability, can you conceal something from the temporal correction…?"
"Depends," said Big Eye, perking up.
"If it's saving Qian Renxue, difficult. Killing Tang San—don't even think about it."
"But if it's just killing some unimportant people, like Yu Xiaogang or Liu Erlong, I can probably hide it from the timeline, with no backlash."
"Who said I wanted to kill anyone?" Su Wen replied with a grin.
"What else is there to do?" Big Eye was idly moving its tentacles across the water.
"What if I synchronized this era's soul tool research level with that of the Sun Moon Empire? Would the resulting deficit—where even if they don't catch up, at least surpass their original level a millennium from now—be hidden from temporal correction?"
"Hmm…" Big Eye hesitated.
"If you mean bringing the future's Sun Moon Empire soul tool technology here in bulk and cycling it to push the mainland's soul tool capability to two millennia ahead, that's almost impossible—there are too many connections."
"But just globally boosting the continent's average soul tool level? That's not that hard." Big Eye replied slowly.
"But even so, it's a big cause-effect shift. I'll do my best, but how much escapes correction is a matter of fate."
"Understood…"
Su Wen nodded.
This was as he'd expected.
Compared to Douluo Continent, the Sun Moon Empire's edge was almost entirely in soul tool research. If he could erase or narrow that edge, the big war in the future wouldn't be so one-sided, at least there'd be a resistance buffer.
Don't want to wake up one day and find the Sun Moon Empire's iron hoof already reached the Star Luo border, standing before Shrek Academy.
Even though with him around, that was just a joke…
But since the enemy is Sun Moon, undermining their power comes first.
Of course, some diehard "glory of the soul masters" types would resist modern soul tools, but there are also wise rulers like the Star Luo emperor.
Like the Dou Ling Empire in the original, who focused on soul tools to good effect.
What he most hoped, though, was for Shrek Academy's soul tool standards to spike overnight—save endless resources and time, just open and close your eyes, and the department's a thousand years stronger. Why not try?
Big Eye: "..."
Open and close your eyes?!
Me?! I'm the one shouldering all the burden!
Can you be more considerate?
As for the renaming thing… forget it. I'll talk to Su Wen when the simulation arena is fixed…
Big Eye sank quietly back into the spiritual sea.
…
At that same moment, elsewhere.
Spirit Hall.
Bibi Dong's spider lower body had been smashed into the earth, oozing green venom, the ground hissing from contact. Once-glorious and untouchable, now her hair was tousled, her face wild.
Blood trickled from her lips as she glared hatefully at the colossal figure in midair—even some fear in her eyes.
The assailant had come out of nowhere; Bibi Dong and her trusted circle—just-recovered Ghost Douluo, Chrysanthemum Douluo, and several Titled Douluo elders—were all beaten half-dead.
If not for a golden angelic vision appearing and shielding her, Spirit Hall would have been destroyed.
"May I ask when Spirit Hall offended your master?" Qian Daoliu, eyes grave, fixed upon the apocalyptic beast before him, speaking slowly.
…