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"According to my teacher, you and the Sky Phoenix Douluo had a conflict, after which you disappeared. Such a drastic change could have been a triggering factor. If negative emotions tainted your martial soul, it might have led you to..."
Xu Yuan didn't care anymore if this story was true or not.
His top priority now was to save his life.
Currently, the outside world still didn't know that Leng Yulai had joined the Holy Spirit Sect, and Xu Yuan shouldn't know either.
Thus, he fabricated a story from the perspective of someone who didn't know about her involvement with the Holy Spirit Sect—or at least, someone who hadn't known until now.
He could only use the information he had to fight for a slim chance of survival.
Fortunately, this time it was Leng Yulai who came, not one of the other three Heavenly Kings. Otherwise, Xu Yuan truly would have had no way out.
"Oh? So do you think I've fallen?" Leng Yulai's face turned cold as she stared at Xu Yuan, her voice icy.
Xu Yuan forced himself not to answer her question and continued speaking instead.
"My teacher doesn't know why you and your sister had a falling out. After carefully recalling, he believes it was likely a misunderstanding. Back then, the Sky Phoenix Douluo approached him, saying that you had feelings for him and hoped he would pay more attention to you. It was shortly after they finished speaking that you arrived on the scene. After that, you clashed with the Sky Phoenix Douluo and disappeared without a trace."
Leng Yulai's previously cold expression froze.
Her gaze became distant.
"You..." She wanted to challenge Xu Yuan's words.
But upon reflection, everything Xu Yuan said seemed plausible. If it weren't true, how could he have known?
After all, only three people should have been aware of these events. Unless Yun Ming told Xu Yuan, there was no way for him to have learned about it.
As for why Yun Ming would share such personal stories from his youth with his disciple?
Never mind whether Yun Ming suddenly became self-indulgent.
Hadn't Xu Yuan already provided an explanation?
He was researching evil soul masters.
This point also gave Leng Yulai an answer.
The reason was simple: Xu Yuan was the son of Xu Zhi.
Carrying on his father's legacy—this reasoning was solid and reasonable.
In reality, by the time Xu Yuan finished recounting the final part of his story, especially the crucial last sentence, Leng Yulai's heart was already in turmoil.
Back then, both she and her sister, Leng Yaozhu, had feelings for Yun Ming. One day, she accidentally stumbled upon Yun Ming and Leng Yaozhu meeting privately. Assuming her sister had secretly confessed behind her back, she furiously confronted Leng Yaozhu. Afterward, she vanished from public view and eventually fell into the clutches of the Holy Spirit Sect.
She had harbored so much hatred.
But now, Xu Yuan's words had shattered that hatred in an instant.
Because her hatred had been based on nothing but a misunderstanding.
Everything was just a mistake.
Leng Yulai's gaze grew vacant as she seemed to reflect on her actions over the years.
A flicker of sorrow passed through her heart, followed by guilt.
The sister she had hated for so long hadn't wronged her at all. In fact, everything her sister did was for her own good.
"Senior, you haven't really become an evil soul master, have you?"
Seeing Leng Yulai's emotional fluctuations, Xu Yuan waited for a while before steering the conversation back to the unanswered question from earlier.
"Yes, I'm already an evil soul master despised by everyone for my many misdeeds."
If Xu Yuan had answered her earlier, he might have faced icy killing intent. But now, what he received was Leng Yulai's bitter self-deprecation.
"Did you come here to kill me?"
Leng Yulai glanced at Xu Yuan.
"Yes, and also no."
"Oh?"
"The Holy Spirit Sect indeed plans to take action against you. I came here with a mission, but my task isn't to kill you—it's to capture you."
Xu Yuan nodded, understanding Leng Yulai's intentions.
"And now?"
Leng Yulai shook her head.
"In light of the truths you've shared with me, I'll give you a warning. Don't leave Yun Ming's side. Your whereabouts have always been under the Holy Spirit Sect's surveillance."
"Senior means that if you fail this time, another evil soul master will come after me? And as long as I leave the Sea God Pavilion, you'll know my location?" Xu Yuan frowned.
This statement carried a wealth of implications.
Was there a mole among Shrek's upper echelons?
Xu Yuan immediately dismissed this possibility.
His trip this time was entirely impromptu. He hadn't informed anyone in advance, not even himself. Even when he left, Yun Ming was the only one present.
If there was no mole, how could the Holy Spirit Sect track his movements in real time?
Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes, staring intently at Leng Yulai.
"The Spirit Pagoda?"
Leng Yulai neither confirmed nor denied.
After issuing her warning to Xu Yuan, she activated the Space-Time Divine Shuttle in her hand.
Under the twisting of space, Leng Yulai vanished.
Xu Yuan didn't linger. He quickly piloted his mech at maximum power, heading toward Tianhai City.
He had to reach Tianhai City as soon as possible.
Fortunately, perhaps to avoid complications, Leng Yulai chose to ambush him far from Shrek City. By the time she appeared, Xu Yuan had already traveled more than halfway.
Now, with full speed ahead, it was only half a continent's distance. He arrived in less than half a day.
---
Tianhai City.
The Xu Family.
"You were ambushed by an evil soul master? By Leng Yulai?" After hearing Xu Yuan's account, Xu Shengqun's expression turned serious.
"Leng Yulai has been missing for years. As expected, she joined the Holy Spirit Sect."
Xu Shengqun paced twice in place, took out his soul-guided communicator, hesitated for a moment, and then put it away.
He turned to Xu Yuan and asked carefully.
"After hearing you recount the truth from back then, she simply abandoned her attack?"
Xu Yuan nodded and described Leng Yulai's demeanor at the time in detail.
Xu Shengqun nodded thoughtfully after a moment of contemplation.
He exhaled deeply and returned the soul-guided communicator to his storage soul-guided device.
"Based on what you've said, the root cause of her disappearance and joining the Holy Spirit Sect was indeed her conflict with her sister—and it was all a coincidental misunderstanding. If we can get Leng Yaozhu's cooperation, there's a good chance we can persuade her to act as our insider within the Holy Spirit Sect."
The Holy Spirit Sect had always operated in secrecy, and its internal intelligence remained highly mysterious.
Having an insider like Leng Yulai in a high-ranking position would make future operations against evil soul masters much easier.
However, from another perspective, they couldn't notify Leng Yaozhu this time.
From the information Leng Yulai provided, it wasn't hard to deduce that the Spirit Pagoda must have a surveillance system capable of monitoring Shrek's personnel movements in real time.
Perhaps it wasn't complete surveillance, but the extent of their monitoring was undoubtedly absurd—even Xu Yuan, whose strength was at the level of a Titled Douluo, couldn't evade it.
Keep in mind, Xu Yuan had departed directly from Sea God Island.
Now that Xu Yuan knew about the existence of such a tight surveillance system through Leng Yulai, they needed to make good use of this knowledge to counteract it as soon as possible.
Otherwise, if the Spirit Pagoda's Vice Tower Master discovered that they were onto them, there was no telling what preventive measures she might take.
As for Xu Shengqun's own ties to the Spirit Pagoda, he didn't take it seriously.
Years of confrontation had created a thick barrier between him and the Spirit Pagoda.
In his view, he was simply working for the Spirit Pagoda from a different angle now.
Correcting the Spirit Pagoda's path was ultimately for the greater good of the organization.
It wasn't just the interests of Qiangu Dongfeng and her faction that represented the Spirit Pagoda's interests.
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