Douluo: In an extraordinary world, with unparallel understanding!

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The Holy Spirit Cult's plan?

A God-bestowed Soul Ring?

Out of the eight trials, the third one offered a God-bestowed Soul Ring. Compared to the Sea God's trials, which granted one in the very first challenge, it seemed late. But the situations weren't directly comparable.

For Su Yu's personal use, this God-bestowed Soul Ring would need to reach at least 500,000 years of age, which would require an immense amount of energy.

Even if it wasn't for his own use, anyone around him who could utilize it would still need a minimum of 100,000 years to make it worthwhile.

Kong Deming, for instance, still lacked a soul ring. Even with numerous 100,000-year soul rings already burdening him, his body could likely withstand another 200,000 years at least.

After all, God-bestowed Soul Rings were unique—they depended solely on the recipient's physical strength and were astonishingly safe to absorb.

Shifting his focus from the reward to the task itself, Su Yu considered the mission's meaning.

The Holy Spirit Cult was actively corrupting soul masters, and Su Yu's task was to stop them and save those affected.

"The last time I was here, there were five evil soul masters, all of whom I killed. Yet traces of their activity are still present. The Holy Spirit Cult hasn't retaliated against Tianjia City, remaining silent for so long. Their plan must be significant."

With the guidance from the God of Life, Su Yu speculated that the five evil soul masters he killed last time were also part of this scheme. It wasn't clear if their delay in executing the plan was influenced by his previous interference.

"Yuhao, we've got work to do."

Their aimless journey had become somewhat monotonous, so the divine trial's timing was perfect.

"Brother Yu, what's the task?"

Su Yu pointed to the center of his forehead.

"The third trial?"

"Yes, it's related to evil soul masters."

Huo Yuhao refrained from asking for details. Beyond the trials meant for those at the fiftieth rank like him, it was better to avoid disclosing other assessments. Otherwise, someone could deliberately sabotage the trial, making it impossible to complete.

"Evil soul masters..."

After witnessing the events at the Soul Burial Valley, Huo Yuhao couldn't suppress a surge of anger upon hearing about them again.

While the Zhongli brothers had used the souls of soul beasts, which didn't resonate deeply with him, it had still left him profoundly shaken.

But when Su Yu explained that the evil soul masters he had killed in Tianjia City were collecting human souls, an uncontainable fury ignited within Huo Yuhao.

The cruelty and malevolence of the Holy Spirit Cult were enough to make anyone who heard about it wish they could annihilate every last evil soul master on the spot.

"Yuhao, this is the result of a breakdown in order."

Su Yu noticed Huo Yuhao's anger and seized the moment to drive his point home.

"Ten thousand years ago, the Spirit Hall had branches in every corner of the continent. They were responsible for awakening the martial spirits of all soul masters. Back then, evil soul masters were far less rampant than they are now. Most of them were driven into the Slaughter City. But after the Slaughter City was destroyed and the Spirit Hall was overthrown, evil soul masters gradually began to run rampant again."

"But, Brother Yu, isn't Shrek responsible for hunting down evil soul masters?"

"That's nothing more than individual heroism. The Shrek Academy inner court only has a handful of people. How could they possibly manage all the evil soul masters across the continent? Back in the day, even the smallest towns had a Spirit Hall branch. All the data on martial spirit awakenings was recorded and controlled by the Spirit Hall.

Even the acquisition of soul rings was registered. That's precisely why the Spirit Hall was so effective at purging evil soul masters."

For the first time, Huo Yuhao was receiving a lesson on governance from a continent-wide perspective.

"And Shrek? What can a few people hunting evil soul masters achieve, other than showing off their heroics?"

"But aren't the leaders of the major empires and cities also working to stop and hunt evil soul masters?" Huo Yuhao asked, still confused.

"Hmph, a disorganized mess. Without unified action and a system to support order, how could they possibly be thorough? And let's not forget the interests involved—it's not a small matter.

On top of that, martial spirit awakenings are now scattered and handled by idle soul masters, not centralized like before. Even when it comes to evil martial spirits, there's no way to detect them immediately."

Su Yu paused before continuing.

"There's another thing. Yuhao, you should know that a significant number of evil soul masters only awaken their martial spirits after the age of six."

"…"

Huo Yuhao fell silent.

By this logic, he was actually very fortunate. Born into the Duke's Mansion, he wasn't slaughtered by evil soul masters and had the privilege of awakening his martial spirit at six years old.

How laughable.

Was this truly the cost of a collapse in order?

"Why doesn't Shrek do something about it?"

Su Yu's words outlined the current state of the Douluo Three Nations, and Huo Yuhao couldn't help but think about Shrek, the so-called sacred land for soul masters.

"How could they? The survival of the academy itself is their top priority. In order to sustain their prestige and keep the institution running, they've had to compromise with the nobles. What else could they possibly manage?"

"Compromise?"

A recommendation letter from the city lord could even allow nobles to directly enter Shrek Academy for "gold plating."

This, without a doubt, was another form of compromise.

Some claimed that the true Shrek lay in the inner court, while the outer court was nothing more than a campus co-developed by the major noble families.

On the surface, it seemed like a mechanism to gather geniuses and then select the best among them.

But in practice, it was utterly ridiculous.

From the very beginning, the definition of a "genius" was limited to those who could obtain a recommendation letter from a city lord.

Even the rare cases who entered purely through talent and without a recommendation were often crushed by the schemes of the nobles.

Take Dai Huabin, for example—he dared to attack a core disciple.

That alone speaks volumes.

What's worse, this system was well understood by the academy's own teachers. As a result, how did those teachers view their responsibilities when educating outer court students?

Zhou Yi was a clear example.

For someone like her to survive as an outer court homeroom teacher, it wasn't just because of the strong backing she had in Fan Yu.

The students of the outer court? They were merely there to be toyed with.

Using their understanding of the outer court's compromised nature to justify their attitudes, the teachers treated the students with an air of perfunctory disdain.

And so, the system itself became corrupted.

Huo Yuhao was left reeling from Su Yu's ideological "enlightenment."

"So, Brother Yu, do you think that unified order is the key to eradicating sin?"

"No, sin can never be completely eradicated. That's just human nature. Order is merely the most effective tool for sweeping away as much evil as possible."

Perhaps such order would breed other parasites, but it was still the best method.

Huo Yuhao worked hard to absorb and understand Su Yu's perspective.

As they talked, the two arrived at a dilapidated courtyard.

The lingering stench of blood and faint traces of resentment in the air indicated that evil soul masters had recently been here.

(End of Chapter)