Even though they had learned about Lingbing Douluo's divine skills from countless legends and records, experiencing them firsthand still astonished the elders. With the blessing of shared consciousness, they felt as if they were in a higher-dimensional world, where any movement in reality could be easily detected. The three-dimensional world seemed to be written on a flat canvas; with just a glance, the entirety of the world filled their minds.
This is the Spirit Ice Douluo from ten thousand years ago.
Mo Fang took a while to calm his surging emotions before trying his best to speak in a composed voice: "Your Majesty, Spirit Ice Douluo, it really is you. As the honorary pavilion master of the Sea God Pavilion, one of the Shrek Seven Devils, and the founder of the Spirit Pagoda, Shrek Academy will unconditionally support your actions." He raised his head and looked into Huo Yuhao's somewhat gray eyes. "As for these matters, please come to the Sea God Pavilion; I need to discuss them with you in detail."
"Thank you for your understanding. Let's go then." Huo Yuhao nodded, and the elders took their leave one after another, some even turning back several times. Mo Fang gestured for him to enter, and the two moved into the house.
“Ten thousand years is indeed enough to change many things,” Huo Yuhao suddenly said. But Mo Fang just smiled bitterly and then said, “I know what you want to ask most. Your original intention in building the Spirit Pagoda was to protect soul beasts, so why are soul beasts now on the verge of extinction? You must suspect that there is a problem inside the Spirit Pagoda, and that is indeed the case.”
"About three thousand years ago, the collision of continental plates led to the unification of the original three kingdoms of the continent with the Sun Moon Empire, thus forming the prototype of the Douluo Federation. After that, the population of Douluo Star experienced a surge, while the proportion of Soul Masters hardly decreased. This led to a sharp increase in the price of natural Soul Spirits, and the research on artificial Soul Spirits was also put on the agenda."
"Fortunately, they actually did it. Because most of the researchers were students of Shrek Academy, Shrek Academy and the Spirit Pagoda maintained a very close relationship for a long time afterward. The Spirit Pagoda provided soul spirits to Shrek Academy students, and the students of Shrek Academy, after receiving the soul spirits, could provide them with regular data monitoring to advance their research. The two sides maintained friendly relations for nearly a thousand years."
"But once the Qian Gu family truly established themselves in the Spirit Pagoda, they constantly emphasized the uniqueness of the soul spirits they provided. They attempted to use their dictatorial soul spirit production to restrain the military, Shrek Academy, and the Tang Sect."
"So in the last thousand years, the Spirit Pagoda has gradually distanced itself from us. It has taken advantage of the trust of some soul beast leaders to control most of the remaining soul beasts. Except for a few places with extremely harsh environments, such as the far north, the ocean, and the Star Dou Great Forest, we can no longer see soul beasts that live outside of data."
"This may be the story you want to hear."
The room fell completely silent. An elderly man stood facing another, even older man, as time marched on on its own.
"Thank you." Huo Yuhao's face betrayed no emotion; perhaps he was hiding something, but perhaps at this moment he truly couldn't express the anger and sorrow he should be displaying. "Regarding this matter, I will personally deal with the corrupt insects." Then, with a half-smile, he said, "Now, let's change the subject to something lighter."
"For example?" Mo Fang looked at him with great interest.
Are you still hiring teachers in your foreign language department?
"?...? You want to...?" Mo Fang was already a little confused about this old ancestor's thought process.
"I just want to experience what it was like for the teachers who taught me back then." As he said this, he looked out the window somewhat absentmindedly. "Also, if possible, could you please send me a report on the development of soul guidance technology over the years and the current top soul guidance technology? Oh, and it would be best if you could give me a laboratory."
"You truly live up to the rumors, a veritable king wherever you go." Mo Fang was somewhat amused and exasperated. The powerful figure before him was unusually reserved in expressing his emotions, but when the topic of soul tools came up, an invisible light seemed to gleam in his eyes. "Just call me Xiao Fang. I'll contact the outer courtyard right away. If you don't need to travel recently, I'll arrange for you to stay in the inner courtyard."
"Thank you, Xiao Fang. Don't worry, I'll definitely teach your student very well. As for how I teach, don't worry about that." Huo Yuhao smiled, his eyes narrowed, but to Mo Fang, the empty gaze paired with the indifferent smile looked incredibly strange. His ancestor was quite different from the rumors! But perhaps their ancestor was like this hundreds of years ago… No…
Suddenly, the word "winter" flashed through Mo Fang's mind. With that thought, he stopped the internal struggle between his left and right brains, looked up and stared directly into Lingbing Douluo's peculiar eyes—beautiful, cold, and empty.
He probably guessed the reason, so he didn't say anything more.