Underground.
This place is a branch of the Tang Sect in the eastern part of the continent.
Like the branch in Heaven Dou City, it possesses a concealed underground base.
It houses a great deal of advanced soul tool technology, as well as some of the top soul tool researchers of the current era.
Some of this technology is even more advanced than what the Sun Moon Federation possesses.
Generally, a Tang Sect branch with an underground base functions as a proxy for the Tang Sect headquarters.
And this role had always been fulfilled by the Heaven Dou City branch.
Even when Di Tian and Gu Yue Na, two divine dragons, descended upon Heaven Dou City and destroyed most of its structures, this status remained unchanged.
The higher-ups of Tang Sect unanimously decided to rebuild the Heaven Dou City branch, and the collapsed underground base was also quickly repaired.
This was mainly because many of the large-scale soul tool machines had been fixed in place underground for centuries and were not easily movable.
However, after Di Tian and Gu Yue Na were taken away by other fierce soul beasts, during the period when Tang Sect disciples were rushing to repair the Heaven Dou City branch—
Suddenly, a white-haired woman in black robes appeared. Without a word, she unleashed terrifying strength, single-handedly slaughtering all the disciples working on the repair.
And with blatant looting, she took away all the soul tool technology and equipment from the underground base.
This was akin to a violent demolition—she didn't care if anything was damaged.
From that point on, the Heaven Dou City branch lost all value for reconstruction.
The disciples of the Tang Sect were reaped like growing chives—utterly wiped out.
The leadership was unable to quickly gather a new batch of disciples and feared that the white-haired woman might return and strike again.
Thus, the Heaven Dou City branch, which once acted as the Tang Sect's headquarters, vanished into history.
Later, Xie Xie and Xu Xiaoyan each took control of their respective families, and their cultivation rapidly soared. Their family forces became dominant powers in the eastern continent.
Yali, the Holy Spirit Douluo—acknowledged as the strongest and most virtuous human soul master of the era—also decided to settle in the east.
After careful deliberation, the Tang Sect leadership chose this small eastern city, where Yali, Yue Zhengyu, and others were located, to rebuild their underground base and establish a new Tang Sect branch with headquarters-level authority.
Once Yue Zhengyu stepped out of the underground elevator and hurried into the underground base, from a broader perspective, he had arrived at the Tang Sect's de facto headquarters.
But when he finally entered the prearranged secret chamber and pushed open the alloy-heavy door, the intimate scene inside caused him to freeze and stare in shock, unable to breathe properly.
In the dimly lit underground chamber, a twin-tailed girl and a shirtless man were standing very close.
The girl's hand was reaching toward the man's back, seemingly fiddling with something.
There was no need to explain who the twin-tailed girl was—it was none other than his wife, Xu Xiaoyan.
Then, who was the man beside her? Was it Xie Xie? And what were they doing?!
Rubbing his eyes hard, Yue Zhengyu's heart, tangled with conflicting emotions, finally settled down.
"Phew—"
He let out a huge sigh of relief.
The term "secret chamber" doesn't exactly inspire wholesome associations.
The newly built Tang Sect underground base still lacked proper equipment. Under the dim lighting, what he saw could easily be misunderstood.
With his cultivation, just a moment of careful observation—no matter how dim the light—was enough. As a soul master with the Bright Holy Angel martial soul, his vision was exceptional.
Under his light-empowered gaze, he saw clearly: Xu Xiaoyan was applying medicine to a wound on Xie Xie's back.
There was a shocking injury on Xie Xie's back, apparently caused by a bladed weapon.
It was saturated with dense, dark elemental energy, pervaded by the sinister aura typical of evil soul masters, and tainted with cursed energy that corroded flesh and bone.
On top of that, Yue Zhengyu could sense the purifying power of Yali's Holy Angel spirit being gradually applied to cleanse the evil energy.
The ointment Xu Xiaoyan was using had been personally prepared by Yali.
To preserve Xie Xie's cultivation foundation and avoid side effects, Yali opted for a gentle, long-term treatment instead of using her high-level angelic power to forcefully purify the wound.
Hence, the scene that Yue Zhengyu witnessed—and nearly misunderstood.
"What happened to you?" Yue Zhengyu asked with concern as he took the ointment from Xu Xiaoyan, squeezed into the space between them, and began helping apply the medicine himself.
Ye Xinglan and Xu Lizhi, who had followed behind, also arrived with expressions of concern and curiosity.
Seated cross-legged and facing the wall, Xie Xie turned his head toward them. Though in pain, he looked relatively stable and said with a bitter smile:
"Sigh—"
"The soul beast clan possesses numerous sets of four-word battle armor and god-level mechas. Over at the Body Sect, we lost contact with Sect Master Mu Ye for many years. He had gone missing along with the Divine Craftsman Zhen Hua at the Blacksmith Association in Heaven Dou City. Recently, we finally confirmed that Mu Ye had died—likely at the hands of the soul beasts."
"After that, they finally agreed to our terms and promised an alliance. If Shrek Academy is rebuilt, they would join with the full strength of the Body Sect, and their new leader would serve as an elder in the Sea God's Pavilion."
"Their only condition was to fight the soul beast clan to the bitter end."
"But when I went to the Body Sect today to formalize the alliance, we were suddenly ambushed by a large group of evil soul masters from the Holy Spirit Church, completely wiping them out."
"I only just barely managed to escape."
Le Zhengyu, who had just finished applying the ointment, frowned deeply.
He asked suspiciously:
"That doesn't make sense."
"According to our intel, the high command of the Holy Spirit Church has fallen into internal conflict. Evil soul masters like the Ghost Emperor and the Underworld Emperor are all dead."
"Only a few low- and mid-level evil soul masters remain. How could they wipe out the Body Sect under your protection?"
It wasn't unreasonable for Le Zhengyu to feel skeptical. Their rapid cultivation progress had been due to receiving red-grade divine trials and top-tier four-word armor crafted by Tang Wulin. Low- and mid-level evil soul masters simply shouldn't be a threat.
How could they possibly destroy the Body Sect with Xie Xie there?
Xie Xie remained silent at this, but Xu Xiaoyan angrily jumped in.
"Hmph!"
"It's because their leader was Yuanen Yehui—who's rumored to be the new leader of the Holy Spirit Church! She has twin martial souls and is terrifyingly talented."
"She's the traitor from our own Shrek Seven Monsters! Of course Xie Xie held back against her!"
But at that moment, Xie Xie interrupted her and shook his head vigorously.
"I didn't hold back—really, I didn't."
"If you meet her again in the future, don't underestimate her because of this."
"Yehui didn't just surpass me in combat strength—she surpassed me in soul power level, too."
"If not for my twin martial souls—Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger—evolving into a time-space dragon under the influence of Wulin's Golden Dragon King bloodline, and for the top-tier four-word armor Wulin made for me, I wouldn't have even been able to escape."
(End of Chapter)