Douluo Continent: The Eternal Order of the Azure Sky.

Yan Shaozhe did not join the others in making a move.

He took a deep breath, his chest heaving as if he were doing something to ease his tension. The forced arrogance on his face gradually faded, replaced by a solemn expression. He seemed to be soaring through the air, climbing step by step towards the pitch-black night.

Although Shrek Academy is currently facing a difficult situation, it is, after all, an academy with a millennium-long history and unfathomable depths. How could its intelligence capabilities possibly be weaker than those of the three upper sects?

Therefore, Yan Shaozhe, as the acting head of the Sea God Pavilion, not only knew that Long Xiaoyao was stationed on the border of the Sun Moon Empire, but also knew his exact location.

Right here.

The night stirred.

Thousands of meters above the ground, the thick darkness of night suddenly surged, like a black dragon stretching its body under the cover of night.

An aged yet warm voice then rang out from behind Yan Shaozhe:

"It seems you know I'm here, yet you still dare to bring a bunch of scoundrels to cause trouble. It seems Mu En's disciple has something to rely on."

Yan Shaozhe turned around, and the ruddy-faced old man in white looked at him expressionlessly.

Upon seeing that gentle yet dignified face again, Yan Shaozhe suddenly felt an urge to cry, for some reason.

His lips trembled, and after struggling several times, he suddenly shouted with all his might:

"Your Majesty the Dragon Emperor, please stop aiding and abetting evil! If my master saw this, he would never forgive you!"

"Huh? Nonsense! Since you're here, you'd better be prepared!"

Long Xiaoyao casually pulled out a palm, seemingly just wanting to slap Yan Shaozhe to wake him up, but every move of the Limit Douluo contained the ultimate truth of heaven and earth, and one palm strike caused a series of strange phenomena.

In the night sky, it looked like an old dragon turning over!

A deep dragon roar, like rolling thunder, echoed through the air. A black palm shadow swelled in the wind, quickly transforming into a colossal palm, hundreds of meters high, as majestic as a mountain.

Wherever the palm strike passed, the air was pushed aside, forming a visible white shockwave. Even before the attack was fully launched, Yan Shaozhe could feel the powerful wind rushing towards him!

Strangely, facing such a powerful blow that could have severely injured him, Yan Shaozhe neither dodged nor evaded, nor did he even use basic soul power to protect himself. He simply gritted his teeth, tears streaming down his face.

He shouted!

"grandfather!"

The churning night seemed to pause, as if it had sensed great confusion from Yan Shaozhe's words.

This sounds like... playing the emotional card?

However, Long Xiaoyao's combat instincts, honed over two hundred years, were incredibly strong. Even with doubts in his heart, he still struck with ruthless precision!

"Snapped!"

A resounding slap.

"--grandfather!"

Yan Shaozhe covered his face, his eyes filled with disbelief.

He really wanted to play the emotional card!

Over the past year, the situation on the mainland has visibly deteriorated into a period of intense turmoil, and war is imminent.

However, Shrek Academy was not prepared at all. In terms of high-end combat power alone, they always lacked a powerful expert at the level of Limit Douluo who could make the final decision. In terms of potential, they were at a complete disadvantage because of Kong Tianxu's existence.

Chapter 362 A Child Hit by His Grandfather

Beset by internal and external troubles, with a bleak future, Yan Shaozhe's position as the master of the Sea God Pavilion was far from pleasant.

If Shrek Academy could barely protect itself before thanks to its transcendent status as a ten-thousand-year-old holy land of soul masters, now, in the face of the impending all-out war, this ten-thousand-year-old academy is in danger of collapsing at any moment.

The Sun Moon Empire's war mobilization has fully stirred the enthusiasm of the people. After the brief chaos caused by the purge of Xu Tianran's faction, the newly enthroned Sun Empress Xu Tianzhen stabilized the situation with swift and decisive measures, and then launched a new wave of military expansion. The number of Soul Master Corps directly under the royal family's jurisdiction has begun to increase at a breathtaking rate.

With the continuous deployment of various new soul tools, the border pressure on the former three kingdoms is increasing day by day.

If looking at the data on paper isn't enough to make it more intuitive, then the numerous small-scale invasions carried out by the Sun Moon Empire under the pretext of searching for Huo Yuhao against the original three kingdoms turned these numbers into a bloody reality.

Those invasions were not large-scale; they were often just a Soul Master Corps coordinating with a few mobile squads, crossing the border into the depths of dozens of miles, attacking a few strongholds, doing some propaganda in the border towns, and then leaving.

But this was a purely humiliating provocation. They were not after money or land; it seemed they were simply training their troops. However, almost every clash ended in a crushing defeat for the original three kingdoms.

People's hearts were shaken, especially Yan Shaozhe and many elders of the Sea God Pavilion. They had personally experienced Kong Tianxu's terrifying potential and the powerful strength of the Sun Moon Empire. Their already limited confidence was inevitably eroded little by little.

The hope of creating a top-tier expert in a short period of time is already slim. Yan Shaozhe's imprisonment of Xuanzi in the Bright Pavilion is at most a desperate measure.

As for placing hope in the future?

Haven't Huo Yuhao and his group suffered enough defeats at Kong Tianxu's hands?

They haven't won a single game.

Having gone from being single-minded to facing two dead ends, Yan Shaozhe now only has one solution left to consider—

Using his family background.

Yan Shaozhe knew that the Sun Moon Empire's real advantage lay in its large group of Soul Masters.

Perhaps the Sun Moon Empire has far fewer high-level Soul Masters than any of the original three kingdoms, but it is far ahead in terms of the number of low-level Soul Masters.

All of this is also a result of the development of soul tools.

In the Douluo Continent, every child can awaken their Martial Soul at the age of six. Regardless of what Martial Soul they awaken, as long as they are accompanied by Soul Power, they can embark on the path of cultivation.

But those who can truly stand out in the world of Soul Masters can never be summed up by the simple phrase "able to cultivate".

Most people, even those who awaken with soul power, typically only reach level one to three. This meager starting point severely limits their future cultivation; the difficulty of slow cultivation speed isn't limited to the initial ten levels but persists throughout their entire cultivation career. Limited by talent, even with tremendous effort, the rewards are often negligible.

Moreover, if the awakened martial soul itself has no practical significance, such as a useless martial soul like a hoe, cup, or plate, then there is no need to cultivate it at all.

Therefore, the vast majority of people with poor talent cannot sustain their training. Their lack of talent means they won't be favored by top academies, and the exorbitant tuition fees of Soul Master academies are an unbearable burden. Cases like Huo Yuhao, who overcame innate deficiencies through hard work, are extremely rare.

The situation in the Sun Moon Empire was quite different. Hundreds of years ago, with the development of soul tools, this situation was fundamentally improved.

In the Sun Moon Empire, as long as a martial soul awakens with accompanying soul power, the nation will provide free training and even medicines to help upgrade soul power.

Especially after the current Sun Empress Xu Tianzhen came to power, she regularly issued allowances and provided special subsidies for the purchase of medicines.

Although these drugs often have certain side effects, becoming a Soul Master means becoming a superior person! Who would be willing to give that up?

So what if you have a useless martial soul? As long as you have soul power, you can use a soul tool. With a soul tool, neither attacking nor defending is difficult.

Perhaps these Soul Masters, whose talents are mediocre and who have been forcibly enhanced by drugs, will ultimately only reach the second or third ring. But when their numbers increase, the situation will be completely different.

Their existence forms the most solid foundation of the Sun Moon Empire's Soul Guild. At the same time, it is precisely because of their existence that more and more civilian soul tools are able to enter the daily lives of the people of the Sun Moon Empire.

How did the Sun Moon Empire manage to fight against the three former feudal kingdoms all by itself? This is one of its important cornerstones.

Undoubtedly, in the field of soul guidance technology and in the concept of cultivating soul masters, the Sun Moon Empire has long been far ahead.

However, in terms of high-end combat power, the Sun Moon Empire is still far from being comparable to the original three kingdoms of Douluo Continent, even if it produces a level 10 Soul Master. This is a fundamental difference in terms of foundation.

The only concerns are Kong Tianxu's growth rate and the Limit Douluo couple, Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui.

He can't control the former, but the latter are his grandparents!

If we could win them over, or even just persuade one of them to remain neutral or not attack Shrek Academy, it would be a huge benefit and could even revitalize this stagnant situation!

Moreover, for some reason, ever since he met Ye Xishui by chance that year, Yan Shaozhe had always felt somewhat insecure. It was a feeling that was hard to describe—like a place that had always been empty had suddenly been filled with a small piece.

Therefore, it's hard to say whether his risky act of facing Long Xiaoyao alone this time was more out of public interest or personal motives.

Perhaps he also longs for family affection, especially when he is so exhausted, the support of his family becomes particularly precious.

Although he was still somewhat puzzled by Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao's failure to acknowledge him, and even harbored a slight resentment deep within his emotions, blood is thicker than water after all.

Moreover, the deep affection in Ye Xishui's eyes when she looked at him... didn't seem fake.

So, with six parts heaviness, three parts awkwardness, one part resentment, and ninety parts deep affection, Yan Shaozhe called out "Grandpa".

Then he was slapped back to reality.

Yan Shaozhe covered his face, his eyes inexplicably welling up with tears.

He had imagined a million ways to reunite, and as the one who had been abandoned, he even took the initiative to take that step.

However, he never expected that Long Xiaoyao's response to him would be a slap across the face.

A salty, hot liquid overflowed from his mouth, mixed with the rough, hard foreign object and a strange, rusty taste. Yan Shaozhe stared intently at Long Xiaoyao's face, his eyes filled with helpless resentment, almost uttering each word clearly:

"I will never forgive you in my entire life!"

He never considered that Ye Xishui had never told Long Xiaoyao about their grandson; and because of his years of seclusion, Long Xiaoyao was not entirely aware that Yan Shaozhe's martial soul was the Phoenix of Light, a lineage inherited from Ye Xishui, so...

Long Xiaoyao drew his weapon again with a backhand!

There's nothing special about it; I've just gotten a bit used to fighting Xuanzi so many times!

However, Yan Shaozhe's performance this time overturned some of Long Xiaoyao's previous ideas. He originally thought that Xuanzi was a unique case in Shrek Academy, but he did not expect that Yan Shaozhe, the successor, was even more extraordinary. He was actually a god who would call people "grandpa" when he met them!

Find a fight!

A black wind howled across the sky, sweeping through the clouds.

Like an old dragon whipping its tail, this solid second palm strike sent Yan Shaozhe's teeth flying, and his body was once again sent flying sideways by the impact of this force.

The phantom of the Dark Sacred Dragon Martial Soul behind Long Xiaoyao churned and roared, drawing in the dark elements of heaven and earth like a tidal wave. The Title Douluos who were still struggling against the border Soul Guidance Formation all stopped their Soul Skills and looked in shock at the figure in the sky who had been beaten into a pulp.

"So... this is the method Dean Yan mentioned to 'prevent the Dark Dragon Emperor from attacking us'." The old man from the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School muttered to himself, flicking his finger to slice off an incoming soul-guided cannonball. "Even if it means turning himself into a Limit Douluo's plaything, he's willing to hold off the opponent? Really..."

"Your Majesty Mingfeng is truly virtuous." The white-haired old man from Haotian Sect was deeply impressed. He smashed a beam of energy that was coming at him with a hammer and retreated without leaving a trace.

"We cannot let Yan Shaozhe be isolated and helpless, facing death!"

Yu Nanjue roared, as if his blood had been completely ignited by Yan Shaozhe's "spirit of sacrifice." Without waiting for anyone else's response, he transformed into a dazzling bolt of lightning and charged straight into the dark sky.

Blue-purple lightning exploded in the darkness, instantly bursting forth with enough light to illuminate half the sky.

Amidst the dazzling lightning, a flash of silver light seemed to disappear in an instant.

"what--!"

Immediately afterwards, faint sounds could be heard, such as Yan Shaozhe's muffled groan as he was struck by lightning and Long Xiaoyao's angry growl.

"Sect Master Yu—! Don't make pointless sacrifices! Yan Shaozhe has his own way of escaping!"

Veins bulged on Old Song's forehead as he struggled to survive between the ground attacks and the oppressive darkness from above. The Azure Shadow Divine Eagle dodged left and right, its talons grabbing two of the slower, titled experts in the group, and let out a loud cry:

"withdraw!"

……