Chapter 52: Ah Yin: Wuwuwu, There's Nothing I Can Do!
Inside the secret chamber.
The fragrance of orchids intertwined with candlelight and distorted shadows, forming an atmosphere that was eerie yet ambiguous.
Bibi Dong was completely immersed in her own world.
She failed to notice that several faint green strands of Blue Silver Grass quietly extended out from Lin Qingmo's body.
Ah Yin's branches and leaves trembled slightly in the air.
She could sense Bibi Dong's intense possessiveness, could feel that suffocating aura of danger.
She wanted to protect Ah Qing, wanted to do something, but under Bibi Dong's overwhelming soul power suppression, even spreading her leaves was difficult.
All she could do was sway anxiously at the side, like a silent scream.
"I'm sorry, Ah Qing…"
Ah Yin's consciousness was filled with helplessness.
"I… can't do anything at all…"
Her branches drooped, as if crying.
The Extreme North.
Amidst the eternal wind and snow, countless snowflakes drifted down like goose feathers.
The biting cold wind howled past, emitting sounds like the wailing of ghosts.
The Snow Empress and the Ice Empress stood at the heart of the blizzard.
Their figures were especially striking against the pale, boundless world.
The Ice Empress's crystalline shell reflected cold light, her jade-like scorpion tail swaying gently—each movement stirring up fine shards of ice.
The Snow Empress, clad in white, had long hair cascading down like snow itself. The cold aura radiating from her merged seamlessly with the surrounding storm, as though she were the wind and snow.
"Xue'er."
The Ice Empress spoke first, her voice cutting through the howling wind.
"Do you think what Lin Qingmo said is true—that among those who become gods in the future, there really won't be a single soul beast?"
Her tone carried obvious confusion and resentment.
In the chat group, Lin Qingmo had mentioned that all future gods would be humans—
Tang San would become the Sea God.
Bibi Dong would become the Rakshasa God.
Qian Renxue would become the Angel God.
The list was long, yet not a single soul beast was included.
This made the Ice Empress deeply uncomfortable.
Soul beasts cultivated for thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands—millions—of years. The effort they put in, the dangers they endured, and the loneliness they bore were countless times greater than any human soul master.
Why could humans with lifespans not even reaching ten thousand years become gods, while soul beasts that had lived for hundreds of thousands of years could not?
"I don't know."
The Snow Empress gently shook her head, her flawless face devoid of expression.
She had lived for hundreds of thousands of years, witnessed the birth, growth, and fall of countless powerful soul beasts—yet she had never heard of a soul beast breaking the boundary and stepping into godhood.
"Could it be that soul beasts truly cannot become gods?"
The Ice Empress's voice carried unwillingness and faint, suppressed anger.
"We've paid so much, cultivated for so many years—are we destined in the end to become nothing more than human soul rings and soul bones, stepping stones for their strength?"
The question was as heavy as the ten-thousand-year ice pressing down on the Extreme North.
The Snow Empress fell silent for a long time.
So long that the Ice Empress thought she wouldn't answer.
"Not necessarily."
She finally spoke, her voice cool like an icy spring.
"That Ah Qing knows many secrets of the future. He also knows of the gods and the path to godhood."
She raised her hand. A snowflake landed on her palm—rather than melting, it condensed into an even more exquisite crystal.
"If he can speak of humans becoming gods, perhaps he also knows whether soul beasts can."
"You mean…"
The Ice Empress's eyes lit up.
Her scorpion tail swayed excitedly, carving deep marks into the ice.
"Can we get the answer from him?"
"Mm."
The Snow Empress nodded gracefully.
"This chat group is very mysterious—it allows us to communicate across tens of thousands of miles. And that Ah Qing doesn't seem to harbor malice toward soul beasts. He's even protecting Xiao Wu, that hundred-thousand-year Soft-Bone Rabbit."
She paused, then added, "Perhaps we can ask him in the group. We might get the answer we want."
The Ice Empress pondered briefly, then nodded.
"Alright."
But then she snorted coldly.
The poisonous stinger on her scorpion tail gleamed with dangerous cold light.
"However, that human brat looks slick-tongued. There's no guarantee he'll tell the truth. If he dares to deceive us…"
Her voice turned icy, laced with killing intent.
"I'll personally go to the human world and drag him back for answers!"
The Snow Empress gently shook her head.
The corners of her lips curved into an extremely faint, almost imperceptible smile.
"Don't rush."
She looked toward the south, as if piercing through ten thousand miles of wind and snow to see that blue-haired youth.
"Let's observe him for a while—see what kind of person he truly is. If he really knows the secret of soul beasts becoming gods…"
Her voice was soft, yet carried a quiet certainty.
"I believe he won't hide it forever."
Deep into the night, Shrek Academy should have been utterly silent.
Yet a heart-rending roar suddenly tore through the stillness.
"AAAHHHH—!!!"
The sound came from one of the boys' dormitory rooms.
Dai Mubai was curled up on his bed, his body trembling violently from emotional shock.
Both hands clutched tightly at his lower body, his knuckles turning pale from the force.
His face was deathly white.
Cold sweat the size of beans covered his forehead, sliding down his cheeks and soaking his collar.
But this was not physical pain.
It was something deeper—bone-chilling despair and fury.
"I'm ruined…"
Dai Mubai forced those words out through clenched teeth, each one slicing his throat like a blade.
His teeth ground together, as though they might shatter at any moment.
"Tang San! I'll kill you! I will kill you!"
His hoarse, shrill roar erupted again, shaking the windowpanes until they buzzed.
Just moments ago, the academy's healing soul master had told him with a grave expression—the hidden weapon that struck his manhood had been coated with a vicious poison.
The toxin had not only destroyed the local meridians but had also completely damaged his foundation.
"You… will likely never be able to be a man again in this lifetime, unless a Titled Douluo–level healing soul master can regenerate severed flesh."
Those words were like icy spikes, brutally piercing his last shred of hope.
"Ruined… I'm completely ruined…"
Dai Mubai muttered to himself as the light in his eyes gradually went out.
In its place rose hatred that sank into his very bones—dark as night.
What he had always taken pride in wasn't just the formidable power of the Evil-Eyed White Tiger.
It was also the innate pride of a Star Luo prince and a man's dignity.
But now—
Tang San had destroyed everything.
"Tang San! You despicable, shameless bastard!"
"I will never let you go! Never…!"
Out in the corridor, two figures stood silently.
Flender and Zhao Wuji both wore grim expressions.
Zhao Wuji, tall and powerfully built, clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles cracked like popping beans.
"Flender! Did you hear that?"
His voice was low, but it rolled through the corridor like muffled thunder.
"Mubai was crippled by that kid!"
"If Shrek swallows this insult, how will we ever stand in the soul master world again?"
Zhao Wuji suddenly turned, the fury in his eyes nearly bursting forth.
"I'm going right now to drag that brat named Tang San out here!"
"I'll make him taste what it's like to become crippled!"
He had always been fiercely protective.
Every Shrek student was like his own child in his eyes.
Especially Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and Oscar—the infamous trio he was closest to.
Now that Dai Mubai had been hurt like this, how could he not be furious?
—
End of Chapter