Douluo Continent: The Underworld Emperor Halosa Lets Three Fly

Chapter 80 Hypocritical Double Standards? Just a Shrek Tradition

His deep gray eyes pierced through the thin clouds, precisely locking onto the towering tree deep within Shrek Academy—the Golden Ancient Tree—which, even from such a distant distance, still radiated a unique life force and divine radiance!

However, in Harosa's perception, this sacred tree, which once symbolized Shrek's eternal glory and embodied vast faith and the essence of life, was now in extremely poor condition.

Its radiance was no longer dazzling, like gold covered in dust, exuding an indescribable weakness and decline. Within its massive canopy, the life force flowed intermittently, like the labored breathing of a critically injured old man.

On the tree trunk, Harosa could clearly "see" the traces of his own depleted essence, like huge scars, left after his last rampage.

And the hollows where the souls of the successive Sea God Pavilion masters had been forcibly swallowed up.

But what truly piqued Harosa's interest was an extremely powerful and resilient spiritual imprint entwined around the core of the ancient golden tree! That imprint carried an indomitable will, an almost obsessive belief in protection, and was nothing short of a heaven-shaking will.

"Spit it out," Harosa's lips curled into a cold smile, filled with undisguised sarcasm. "As expected of the Sea God Pavilion Master..."

Yun Ming, the Golden Tree is so weak and feeble, and instead of thinking about how to protect yourself, you're thinking about nourishing it? Truly, you have a deep and abiding affection for it.

What he sensed was not the lingering aura of Yun Ming's true form, but a deeply bound, almost symbiotic, soul imprint! This indicated that Yun Ming had not only not abandoned the Golden Ancient Tree, but had instead connected his core spiritual essence even more deeply with it, attempting to use his own power to nourish and repair this dying sacred tree!

In Harosa's view, this behavior was foolish and paranoid.

"?" Harosa's perception, like the most precise probe, delved deeper into the subtle details of that soul imprint. The shortened distance brought by several spatial jumps allowed him to capture details he had previously overlooked. "This aura—it's interesting."

He stared intently, a flicker of surprise crossing his greyish-white eyes, which quickly transformed into a deeper mockery, culminating in a low, malicious laugh:

"Hahaha! Shrek Academy truly is 'full of talent'! Yun Ming, oh Yun Ming, you truly deserve to be hailed as a prodigy! To repair your Sacred Tree, you actually—you actually 'devoured' the remaining remnant souls of the Sea God Pavilion Masters?! Hahaha! You're so incredibly filial! You're truly incredibly filial!"

Harosa's laughter echoed in the gale, filled with the smug satisfaction of discovering a secret and utter contempt. He clearly sensed that deep within the vast soul imprint belonging to Yun Ming, there were several extremely faint fragments of soul, yet imbued with ancient vicissitudes and an unwilling will!

Those were the remnants of the past pavilion masters' souls that he had devoured last time, not yet completely dissipated! They were forcibly restrained, crushed, and integrated into himself by Yun Ming's powerful spiritual force, and then transformed into streams of pure soul energy through the bridge of the soul imprint, feeding back to the Golden Ancient Tree!

In the past, the souls of those Sea God Pavilion masters resided within the Golden Ancient Tree, allowing them to exist for countless generations. No one would believe it wasn't because they absorbed the blood of the Golden Ancient Tree.

Now that the Golden Ancient Tree is weakened and unable to nourish the souls of these Sea God Pavilion Masters, Yun Ming decisively devoured them, which was a great tonic!

This behavior is such a scathing irony compared to the image of the righteous and upright master of the Sea God Pavilion that he remembered!

"Hypocrisy! Utter hypocrisy!" Harosa sneered inwardly. The memories of Blue Star's soul surged like a tide, connecting the various details about Yun Ming in the original work and sketching out a completely different image in his eyes.

Biao Bing's devotion? Harosa scoffs. Who doesn't know that Yun Ming had countless romantic entanglements in his youth? How many women did he seduce, how many emotional debts did he incur? His so-called devotion is just a persona he created after meeting Ya Li!

Of course, Harosa didn't care much about this; it's common for powerful men to be promiscuous, and as long as it's not marital infidelity, it's not a big deal. But to force a moral high ground just seems ridiculous.

A noble character? Harosa recalled how Yun Ming, in the original story, brazenly attacked Mingdu in order to seize the Federation's successor as his wife! That battle affected innocent people, and if no one had intervened, the entire city might have been torn apart by its terrifying power!

Afterwards, he showed no remorse whatsoever and even made threats! How is this any different from the behavior of evil soul masters who bully the weak? "Forget being the master of the Sea God Pavilion, wouldn't it be more enjoyable to be a brother in the Holy Spirit Cult?" Harosa thought maliciously.

Universal love and compassion? A cold glint flashed in Harosa's eyes. The various difficulties Tang Wulin faced in the original story were simply inexplicable! Na'er clearly left a letter explaining the reason for her departure, but Yun Ming stubbornly blamed all the mistakes on Tang Wulin, believing that he had "let Na'er down."

Harosa really wanted to pry open his head to see what was inside! Tang Wulin's feelings for Na'er were like those of a brother and sister; how could Yun Ming, an old monster who had lived for hundreds of years, not see that? Na'er liked Tang Wulin, so Yun Ming was just playing "forced love"?

Without asking any questions, he slapped her upon meeting her and then threatened her verbally afterward, causing Tang Wulin to bear unwarranted guilt! Yun Ming himself failed to supervise her properly, allowing Na'er to escape, so why doesn't he reflect on his actions?

Typical double standards!

Exceptional intelligence? Effective management? Harosa laughed out loud. In the original story, Shrek City was a chaotic place, with gangsters bullying students and robbing merchants as commonplace, and the city's legal order was practically non-existent!

What is Yun Ming, the Pavilion Master who claims to be the number one person on the continent, doing? He seems completely unaware of this, or simply too lazy to care! A super city that claims to rival Mingdu is being managed like a third-rate town—it's an absolute joke!

Strategic foresight? Humility and prudence? Harosa found it incredibly ironic to think of Shrek City being infiltrated by the Holy Spirit Cult and ultimately blown to smithereens by a soul-guided cannon designed to kill gods.

Shortly after the terrorist attack in Tiandou City, Tang Wulin clearly reported that the Federation had lost a large number of high-risk soul-guided artillery shells! And what happened?

Yun Ming was still immersed in his dream of being "the number one person on the continent," and he treated the security checks in Shrek City as if it were child's play! The border checkpoints were like highway toll booths. The Holy Spirit Cult could easily win over a single border checkpoint officer and drive a car full of evil soul masters and god-killing cannons into Shrek City with impunity! The car windows were tightly closed, and everyone was acting strangely. Such an obvious flaw, yet not a single person investigated or reported it!

Yun Ming was known as possessing the strongest spiritual power in the Divine Origin Realm! And what happened? Until the shells were deployed throughout the city, even right up to Shrek Academy, he remained completely unaware! No warning, no investigation, only the helpless rage after the explosions and the final, desperate self-destruction! Where was the foresight in that?

This is utter arrogance and ignorance! It is a complete and utter dereliction of duty!

"Hmph!" Harosa snorted coldly, his greyish-white eyes reflecting the dim golden ancient tree in the distance. Yun Ming's various actions, in terms of destruction and slaughter, naturally amounted to far less than even one percent of what this "King of the Underworld" had done.

Harosa never denied his infamy; he had killed countless people and regarded all living beings as worthless, yet he was open and honest! He admitted that he was evil, that he was wicked! The arrogance of the strong? Of course he was! He was already a half-step god; if he didn't have a little arrogance, wouldn't his cultivation have been in vain?

What he truly loathed was Yun Ming's extreme hypocrisy and double standards! It was the kind of person who, despite committing evil deeds, was narrow-minded and self-righteous...

Incompetent in management, yet they still wear the cloak of righteousness, loyalty, and superior wisdom, enjoying the admiration and praise of the world! They are the kind of people who claim to be righteous while acting tyrannically; who enjoy power while shirking responsibility!

"To act like a prostitute and still try to maintain a virtuous image. Yun Ming, you are more disgusting than I am." Harosa said to the distant golden ancient tree.

He uttered those words coldly, as if addressing Yun Ming himself.

He devoured the essence of the Golden Tree and the souls of past Pavilion Masters for power, openly and honestly plundering them. Yun Ming, on the other hand, devoured remnant souls to repair the Sacred Tree, but under the guise of protection and sacrifice, committing acts of blasphemy against his ancestors! In comparison, Harosa felt utterly "upright and honorable"!

"I'm still too kind."

Without giving the golden ancient tree, which exuded an aura of decay and hypocrisy, Harosa's figure once again merged into the gray-black spatial ripples, and quietly disappeared towards the designated location outside Shrek City—the hiding place of Deng Zhan and the others.

His real purpose in this trip was to find clues about the Fallen Angel Martial Soul and to devour the Demon Dimension. As for Shrek Academy and Yun Ming? They were merely stumbling blocks on the chessboard that would be crushed sooner or later.

The stronger Yun Ming becomes, the better. The stronger Yun Ming becomes, the more Shrek Academy will follow the same old path as in the original story.

No matter how strong you are, can you surpass him? Impossible. That's the confidence of a strong person.