Douluo Continent: The Eternal Order of the Azure Sky.

……

Where am I?

Consciousness, like a frozen river, slowly and laboriously began to flow again. Tang Wutong slowly awoke from her coma, only to be met with a thick darkness.

It was so thick it seemed to have a physical form, as if it could be squeezed in from all directions at any moment.

Tang Wutong flinched slightly.

A soft laugh echoed in the darkness.

Tang Wutong suddenly looked up. Her eyes, adjusted to the darkness, finally caught a blurry outline.

It was a tall girl standing not far away, wearing a well-tailored black dress with delicate white lace trim at the hem. The neckline was very low, revealing a section of her fair, almost glowing collarbone.

A faint smile played on her lips, appearing dreamlike in the dim light.

Memories began to slowly return. She had been defeated. She had been captured.

That silver-haired, purple-eyed face flashed through her mind, carrying a condescending, almost indifferent calm.

A surge of humiliated anger welled up in her chest.

"How dare you!" Tang Wutong sat up abruptly, her voice trembling slightly with excitement. "Let me out! Do you know who I am?!"

The laughter grew more intense. It wasn't just coming from the woman in front of them; laughter seemed to also emanate from the deeper shadows behind them. The sounds layered upon each other, like the low hooting of a pack of owls in their nest, sending chills down one's spine.

Wu Yu approached with elegant steps, a slender leather whip appearing in her hand. The whip was entirely black, with a faint, eerie sheen, as if it were made from the tendons of some deep-sea monster.

The whip tip dragged across the ground, making a series of fine rustling sounds.

"W-what are you going to do?" Tang Wutong subconsciously shrank back.

Her back slammed against a cold, damp stone wall. The rough stone surface pressed against her shoulder blades through her clothes, startling her so much that she gasped.

Wu Yu didn't answer, she just smiled, her eyes crinkling and her lips red, like a blooming poppy.

But Tang Wutong detected something in that smile that sent chills down her spine—

That's the excitement a hunter feels when he sees his prey.

Tang Wutong's breathing quickened. She mustered her courage and played her last card:

"You can't touch me! My father is the Sea God! The Sea God Tang San! He's the enforcer of the God Realm! If you dare to touch a single hair on my head, he will beat you, and all of you—to death!"

“Daughter of the Sea God…” Wu Yu finally spoke. Her voice was very soft and slow, making muffled “plop plop” sounds, “It’s truly rare.”

"It's precisely because we know who you are that we can't let you go."

She crouched down and gently lifted Tang Wutong's chin with the tip of the whip. The whip felt cool and smooth, like the skin of some living creature, making the hairs on Tang Wutong's body stand on end.

In that instant, Tang Wutong saw her eyes—those eyes were deep purple, and something seemed to be slowly flowing in the pupils, like mist or flame.

The darkness suddenly became even deeper.

Tang Wutong felt a wave of dizziness, and the scene before her eyes began to distort and deform. The stone wall disappeared, the ceiling disappeared, and the woman in front of her also disappeared.

Instead, there was an endless void, and phantoms slowly emerging within it.

She saw the vast, boundless blue sea, its waves surging. On the surface, a golden figure stood suspended in mid-air, holding a trident, with a blinding golden light behind him. That was her father, Tang San, the Sea God, the enforcer of the God Realm, a legend who ascended from Douluo Continent ten thousand years ago.

She opened her mouth to shout, but found that she couldn't make a sound.

A storm suddenly arose on the sea. Black clouds surged in from all directions, swallowing the golden light inch by inch. Amidst the thunder, a dragon-shaped black shadow leaped out of the deep sea. It was a giant dragon with a body entirely of purple-gold, its eyes as fiery as molten lava, and its wings spread wide, blotting out the sky.

The dragon fought alongside his father.

It was a war between gods. The entire ocean was overturned, waves turned into sharp blades, and lightning condensed into long spears, each strike containing the power to destroy the world.

But Tang Wutong was horrified to discover that every attack her father made was easily neutralized by the giant dragon, while the dragon's counterattacks forced her father to retreat step by step, and the golden light on his body grew dimmer and dimmer.

"No...no..." she murmured, tears already streaming down her face.

The dragon opened its mouth, and a deep purple beam of light shot out from its throat, piercing through the father's chest.

The golden light shattered.

The trident fell from the sky, into the dark depths of the sea, and disappeared.

The father's body began to dissipate, turning into countless golden specks of light, which were swallowed whole by the dragon.

The purple-gold dragon turned its head, its vertical pupils coldly fixed on her.

In Tang Wutong's vision, the silver dragon's face gradually changed, transforming into a human face—with cold, sharp lines, deep purple eyes, and a faint, cruel smile on its lips.

"No...it's impossible..." Tang Wutong murmured, trying to look away, but found that she couldn't control her gaze at all.

The illusion shifted.

The man appeared in the realm of the gods, followed by countless believers and followers, all kneeling on the ground, their foreheads pressed to the earth, offering the most humble submission to this newly ascended deity.

Meanwhile, in the sky, those once high and mighty gods are falling, like shooting stars, burning as they streak across the heavens, ultimately plunging into nothingness.

Tang San was among them.

His divine armor shattered, his trident broke, and his body was torn apart by some unseen force, turning into dust bit by bit.

"Dad!" Tang Wutong screamed, reaching out to grab the disappearing figure, but only grasping at nothingness.

The illusion shifts again.

This time, it was herself who appeared before her.

She knelt at Kong Tianxu's feet, her expression one of utter submission she had never seen before, a surrender from the depths of her soul, tinged with almost fanatical worship.

She was kissing the tips of his boots, murmuring "Master," "Master," like a tamed dog.

"No...no...no..."

She shook her head vigorously, trying to banish these images from her mind. But they seemed to have taken root, deeply embedded in her subconscious, impossible to eradicate no matter what she did.

Wu Yun and Wu Yu stood in front of her, frowning and talking in hushed tones.

"That shouldn't be the case. With her mental strength, even if she were protected by divine power, there should be some reaction in our dream spell."

After their martial souls were purified, the sisters became Dream Curse Spirits, specializing in weaving illusions.

"It's not a problem with the dream curse. Our power was applied to her but was blocked by something, but her defenses were too weak, and she started scaring herself."

"So, what she's seeing now has nothing to do with what we've done?"

"It has nothing to do with her. It's all based on the materials we provided that she imagined. And... she's completely immersed in it."

Tang Wutong did not hear their conversation.

A new scene appeared before her eyes.

She saw herself standing in a ruin, surrounded by collapsed buildings and burning flames, with only a white-clad figure holding a chain around her neck.

She saw herself locked in a huge cage, surrounded by people: nobles from the Sun Moon Empire, protectors of the Holy Spirit Cult, and even… students from Shrek Academy. They were all laughing, pointing and whispering, as if looking at a rare animal, except for a pair of serene purple eyes.

She saw the dragon sitting on a high throne, while she knelt below, dressed in thin clothes, trembling under the feet of countless people. But the roar from the throne dispelled the heavy pressure on her, and from then on, she existed for only one person.

The scenes come one after another, so real that every detail is vividly shown, playing out in turn, over and over again, without end.

Each scene was more absurd, more humiliating, and made her want to die even more than the last.

But there was always a blurry figure guarding her side, never abandoning her.

But in the end, she became a prisoner, an enslaved person, a vassal, and a toy.

In the end, Tang Wutong huddled in a small, dark corner of the dungeon, hugging her extremely long legs. Her chin was buried between her knees, her shoulders were trembling uncontrollably, and the sounds coming from her throat were no longer sobs, but extremely low moans, almost whimpers.

"I know I was wrong... I know I was wrong... Please come quickly, take me away..."

The voice echoed repeatedly in the empty cell, but no one answered her.

……

Mingdu.

This most prosperous city on the continent has recently been experiencing an almost eerie calm.

The streets remained bustling, the square in front of the Holy Spirit Church's headquarters was always teeming with people, and the storyteller in the teahouse was recounting how Kong Tianxu thwarted the Upper Three Sects and Shrek Academy's hostage rescue operation—

Of course, in the official narrative of the Sun Moon Empire, it was described as a "terrorist attack by the Three Kingdoms and Shrek Academy on our Sun Moon border city."

"Back then, the allied forces of the three kingdoms, still harboring malicious intentions, gathered several thousand Soul Masters, hoping to launch a sneak attack on my Sun Moon City..." The storyteller on the Soul Guidance Screen slammed his gavel, spittle flying as he spoke, "But unexpectedly, the Holy Emperor was prepared! That night, flames soared into the sky, and the sounds of battle shook the earth..."

The tea drinkers listened with great interest, occasionally bursting into cheers. Some whispered amongst themselves, their conversations mostly consisting of anger towards the Three Kingdoms and praise for the imperial military might.

This is the norm for ordinary residents of Mingdu. They feel that since the Holy Spirit Church became the state religion and the Sun Empress ascended the throne, their living standards have improved visibly, and they have become extremely wealthy both materially and spiritually.

Taxes were reduced, grain prices stabilized, the patrolling clerks on the streets were orderly, public security improved day by day, the Holy Spirit Church's free medical care benefited every street and alley, and even the irrigation system for farmland outside the city was renovated into an automated system.

The opposition from the nobles to Xu Tianzhen's ascension to the throne as a woman, after being subtly and overtly suppressed by the Holy Spirit Church, became noticeably weaker and milder.

These seemingly coquettish voices of opposition vanished completely after the Empress gave birth to her eldest daughter—the legitimate successor was found, and those neutral nobles who had been observing quickly expressed their loyalty.

However, anyone with a discerning eye knows that beneath the calm surface, undercurrents are surging.

More than a year has passed, and the people's anger over the massacre of millions of civilians a year ago has not diminished with the passage of time. On the contrary, under some conscious guidance, it has intensified, and the hostility towards the original three kingdoms has reached an unprecedented level.

The Sun and Moon Army is also constantly integrating and expanding, and a large number of military soul tools are being produced and deployed, including terrifying weapons such as high-level fixed-equipment soul tools.

The Sun and Moon Army is like a giant beast being fed, lying in quiet slumber, its muscles slowly expanding beneath its skin, waiting for it to gather its strength before tearing everything in its path to shreds.

……

Meanwhile, deep within the Sun and Moon Palace.

The palace gates, adorned with golden dragons coiled around pillars, slowly closed behind Xu Tianzhen, shutting out the outside noise and the voices of the ministers who were paying their respects.

Two palace maids stepped forward and skillfully removed the magnificent yet heavy Emperor's Dragon and Moon Robe from her body. The gold-threaded brocade slipped from her shoulders, revealing a plain white everyday dress underneath.

Xu Tianzhen let out a long breath. The majesty between her brows dissipated most of its intensity the moment she took off her dragon robe, and she transformed back into the playful young woman with a hint of mischief in her eyes and brows.

She rubbed the back of her neck, which was stiff from being pressed down by the crown, and gently pushed open the door to the inner room.

The charcoal fire in the stove was burning brightly, making the whole room warm and cozy, and Kong Deming was already inside.

This pillar of the Sun Moon Empire was sitting unceremoniously in a grand chair, happily cradling an infant in his arms, while the soul-guided device he was activating emitted a soft hum, his face full of benevolent smiles.

The soul tool was about the size of a palm, carved entirely from warm jade, and would automatically transform into the shapes of various small animals in the air. One moment it was a butterfly with outstretched wings, the next a puppy wagging its tail, and then a small whale spouting water.

The baby giggled and stretched out its two tiny, lotus-root-like hands to grab the light and shadow.

At this moment, Kong Deming was not as sharp and outspoken as he was a year ago. His every move exuded a naturalness that seemed to have reached a state of returning to simplicity and authenticity, which inexplicably reminded people of the feeling of being one with heaven and earth that Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui had.