Chapter 118: The False Grand Elder Ye Xishui, the True Grand Elder Xuan Zi
The world of evil soul masters is too deep, Beibei you won't be able to grasp it. Saying you'll never share the same sky with them is easier said than done. You won't be able to wipe out the entire Holy Spirit Church. Even if you return to Shrek Academy and ask Mu En to step in, he would hesitate when facing Ye Xishui from the Holy Spirit Church. After all, Mu En had feelings for Ye Xishui.
According to the laws of romance in Douluo Continent, no matter how powerful someone is, once they fall in love, they are bound to do something unexpected for that person.
With this thought in mind, Huo Yuhao said, "Brother Bei, I suggest you focus your search on the evil soul masters within the three Douluo nations. Evil soul masters are cruel, but they don't always kill their captives. There's a strong possibility they kidnapped Sister Xiao Ya to demand ransom from Shrek."
Beibei sighed. "Yuhao, you have a point. I'll contact the academy soon and have them intensify efforts against evil soul masters in the three Douluo nations. Honestly, I think Elder Xuan would be very interested in a campaign against evil soul masters…"
Halfway through his sentence, he stopped. He realized that mentioning Elder Xuan was essentially bringing up one of Shrek Academy's greatest humiliations. A ninety eighth rank Super Douluo had led a team, yet a mere Soul King had caused catastrophic losses to his squad and that Soul King had even escaped in the end!
Hearing Beibei mention Xuan Zi, Huo Yuhao secretly scoffed. In truth, Ye Xishui was a false Grand Elder of the Holy Spirit Church.
Ye Xishui spent most of her time in the Sun Moon Empire, busy using wraiths to fuel the Death God Tower. She had no time to hunt down Shrek's geniuses. As for staking out around Shrek Academy, that was even more impossible.
Moreover, Ye Xishui had sent her son, Yan Shaozhe her child with Long Xiaoyao to Shrek Academy, where he became the powerful Bright Phoenix Douluo. In a way, she had contributed significantly to Shrek.
At present, the Holy Spirit Church had yet to directly clash with Shrek Academy. Many of the evil soul masters roaming the three Douluo nations were, in fact, independent practitioners. The Holy Spirit Church had never declared that all evil soul masters must be part of their organization.
As for Xuan Zi… Well, Xuan Zi had led two missions where Shrek's top talents suffered devastating losses. He had severely hindered Shrek's ability to cultivate geniuses something even many evil soul masters had failed to achieve.
After all, geniuses are the foundation of future powerhouses. If Shrek Academy weren't so well established and capable of recruiting top talent from across the continent, these losses would have been catastrophic.
So really, calling Xuan Zi the true Grand Elder of the Holy Spirit Church wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Seeing that Beibei didn't want to continue discussing Xuan Zi, Huo Yuhao swiftly changed the topic. "Brother Bei, I can arrange for people to help search for Sister Xiao Ya. As for a reward, I'm not particularly interested in soul bones. The Sun Moon Empire has been investing in me, so I don't really lack soul bones."
Shrek Academy probably wouldn't even give him any high quality soul bones, anyway those were reserved for their own core members.
Beibei's face brightened. "Yuhao, I really appreciate your willingness to help. If you don't need soul bones, I can offer you something else as compensation."
Naturally, he couldn't offer Tang Sect secret techniques. According to Tang Sect's rules, those could only be passed down to members, and Huo Yuhao had already refused to join. That meant he had to find something else to offer.
"Something else?" Huo Yuhao asked curiously.
"Yes." Beibei nodded. "Are you interested in Sovereign's Might? It's a battle technique not a soul skill, but it surpasses one in power. It should be particularly useful for a spiritual type soul master like you."
Beibei was willing to risk his own life for Tang Ya, so to ensure that Huo Yuhao would take this seriously, he was offering Sovereign's Might as payment. After all, Huo Yuhao had already declined precious soul bones. Technically, offering Sovereign's Might didn't violate any rules, since Grand Elder Mu En had never explicitly forbidden its transmission. For the sake of Tang Ya, Beibei was willing to give it away.
Huo Yuhao was slightly surprised. Then he remembered that, in this altered timeline, he had never officially apprenticed under Mu En. This meant Beibei must have been personally taught Sovereign's Might by Mu En in private.
After a moment of thought, he agreed. After all, it was just a matter of deploying people to search for Tang Ya whether they found her or not was another matter entirely. Beibei then began teaching him Sovereign's Might.
Sun Moon Royal Palace
Seated in his wheelchair, Xu Tianran wore a somber expression. These past few days, he had been pondering how to reconcile Kong Deming and Zhongli Wu.
These two men represented the soul engineering faction and the Holy Spirit Church, respectively. To him, they were both indispensable.
Of course, if he had to choose whom to trust more, it would undoubtedly be Kong Deming. Despite Kong Deming's royal bloodline, he had no interest in becoming Emperor. Otherwise, with his prestige, he might have had a real chance.
Every Rank 9 soul engineer in the Sun Moon Empire had received guidance from Kong Deming at some point. Even Ye Xishui, the Holy Spirit Church's Grand Elder, had consulted him about soul tools.
However, trusting Kong Deming didn't mean Xu Tianran was willing to discard Zhongli Wu. At present, Zhongli Wu was still an extremely useful tool one that could help the Sun Moon Empire wage war against the three Douluo nations. For Xu Tianran, maintaining a working relationship between Zhongli Wu and Kong Deming was crucial.
Yes, the Holy Spirit Church's act of using royal ancestors' corpses to create corpse slaves was an unforgivable insult. But to Xu Tianran, unifying the Douluo Continent took priority. He had to endure this humiliation for now one must sometimes sacrifice the small for the sake of the grand plan. The Holy Spirit Church's power was still necessary.
The Sun Moon Empire had no native Rank 99 Limit Douluo. The only two such powerhouses in the empire were Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao. Based on what Xu Tianran knew of them, Ye Xishui was the key Long Xiaoyao only listened to her.
Yet now, Kong Deming had publicly blocked Zhongli Wu from becoming the Empire's Grand Preceptor and was also opposing the Holy Spirit Church's status as a national religious order. This put their cooperation at risk.
Not only was Zhongli Wu the leader of the Holy Spirit Church, but he was also Ye Xishui's son. There was no way that Limit Douluo would take this lightly.
This was not a situation Xu Tianran wanted.
His plan was to use the Holy Spirit Church to help him ascend as the empire's greatest ruler, uniting the Douluo Continent. Then, at the right moment, he would destroy the Holy Spirit Church, boosting his prestige even further.
But first, he needed a way to overcome Kong Deming's resistance. Now, he had devised a solution a strategy to persuade Kong Deming to step aside and reconcile with Zhongli Wu.
Knock, knock, knock!
A maid's voice called from outside. "Your Highness, as per your orders, I have brought Lady Juzi."
"Good. You may leave. Send Juzi in," Xu Tianran instructed.
"As you wish, Your Highness," the maid replied respectfully.
The doors opened. Juzi entered, and the maid retreated.
Xu Tianran looked at Juzi with a faint smile. "Juzi, I've called you here because I have a task for you."
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