Zhu Ziyang stepped out of the door. Tang Ya, Xue Weiwei, and Jing Ziyan were angrily saying something to Jiang Nannan, while Beibei, Xu Sanshi, He Caitou, and Ji Juechen squatted in a row with worried faces. Only Wang Dong'er stood alone, leaning against a tree trunk, silently grieving, lost in her thoughts.
When everyone saw Zhu Ziyang come out, they immediately gathered around, all showing concerned expressions. Among them, Wang Dong'er was the most anxious. She asked, "Senior Brother, how is Xiao Xiao? Is there really no hope?"
"It's hard to say!" Zhu Ziyang gave Wang Dong'er a deep look. He wasn't sure what role Wang Dong'er played in this matter, so he didn't speak directly and instead gave an ambiguous answer.
Hearing Zhu Ziyang's response, Wang Dong'er immediately became distraught, while the others' expressions were a mix of sadness and slight strangeness. Tang Ya looked at Wang Dong'er, her expression shifting slightly, and said, "Everyone, let's leave here for now. We've all been tense for a day or two and need rest. As for Xiao Xiao, Yuhao is here!"
"That's right!" Beibei immediately agreed. "Everyone, go back and get some sleep. Maybe when we wake up, we'll hear good news."
The Tang Sect members didn't understand what Tang Ya and Beibei were planning, but they were indeed exhausted. The events of the past two days were more than they had experienced in over a decade, and they needed time to process them. Thus, Xu Sanshi and Xue Weiwei, Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan, and He Caitou left one after another. Only Wang Dong'er stood there in a daze, staring blankly at the wooden house.
Seeing this, Tang Ya walked over to Wang Dong'er, took her hand, and said, "Dong'er, go rest."
"Sister Xiao Ya, I really didn't mean it! Waa…" Wang Dong'er suddenly covered her face and burst into tears, sobbing as she spoke.
"I know, we all know!" Tang Ya immediately pulled Wang Dong'er into her arms and comforted her. "It's not your fault… not your fault!"
"Ziyang, let's go over there." The situation here made it impossible to talk, so Beibei led Zhu Ziyang to the other side of the wooden house.
"Tell me, what exactly happened to you all?" Zhu Ziyang asked.
Beibei looked pensive and slowly began, "It went like this…"
It turned out that under Xuan Zi's escort, the Tang Sect group had easily left Mingdu. They intended to return to Shrek City along the same route they came, but an accident occurred while passing through the Mingdou Mountain Range.
They encountered a roadblock—a mysterious figure cloaked entirely in black robes. This mysterious person was extremely powerful, severely injuring Xuan Zi with just two punches. Xuan Zi had no choice but to retreat with them, while the black-robed figure pursued closely behind, always maintaining a certain distance, deliberately herding them toward the Sun Moon Mountain Range.
In the end, they fled into the Sun Moon Mountain Range and entered a mysterious secret realm called Qiankun Love Valley.
The tragedy unfolded in Qiankun Love Valley. It was said to be the place where the God of Love fell, a treasure land formed by the power of the God of Love, a trial ground to judge those with true love and those without.
The Tang Sect members who entered inevitably triggered the God of Love's trial, which consisted of three stages. The first was called True Heart, the second was Adventure, and they didn't know the third because they only experienced the first two.
The accident happened in the second stage. At that time, Huo Yuhao, Xiao Xiao, and Wang Dong'er were undergoing the trial together when the God of Love threatened Huo Yuhao's life, forcing Xiao Xiao and Wang Dong'er to enter a deep adventure.
No one knew what happened in their deep adventure. They only knew that after it ended, Wang Dong'er appeared before everyone, holding Xiao Xiao's corpse, her face filled with despair.
Seeing Xiao Xiao's condition, Huo Yuhao went mad, snatched Xiao Xiao's body from Wang Dong'er, and began trying to save her, but to no avail.
At that moment, Qiankun Love Valley changed. A pink glow accompanied by violent tremors made the entire valley extremely unstable. In their panic, the group heard a faint, unclear voice: "…Third, you are not worthy to judge love!"
Then, they were teleported back to the Sun Moon Mountain Range and reunited with Xuan Zi, who had not been sucked into Qiankun Love Valley. After that, they tried to leave the Sun Moon Mountain Range, encountered no black-robed figure, and, after Xuan Zi judged that the person had left, they hurried back to Shrek Academy.
Regarding the details of Xiao Xiao and Wang Dong'er's deep adventure, according to Wang Dong'er herself, they were teleported to a mountaintop where the God of Love demanded they sacrifice their lives to save Huo Yuhao's and bless the other to be with him for a hundred years.
Faced with this trial, neither hesitated and both chose suicide. For some reason, Xiao Xiao died, but Wang Dong'er survived. Perhaps the God of Love did not acknowledge her feelings for Huo Yuhao.
Regardless of whether what Wang Dong'er said was true, it was certain that Xiao Xiao's death was closely tied to Wang Dong'er. This was the consensus among the Tang Sect members. Though they were willing to believe Wang Dong'er, it was impossible to say they had no doubts at all.
"So that's how it is!" After hearing Beibei's explanation, Zhu Ziyang's face showed realization, but his eyes revealed a strange look. He was ninety percent certain that the so-called Qiankun Love Valley was definitely the work of Poseidon. But why would he choose such a flawed method to scheme against Huo Yuhao?
It was clear he wanted to pair Wang Dong'er with Huo Yuhao, but why let Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao be alone together and then detain Xiao Xiao's soul? Wasn't this deliberately creating difficulties for Wang Dong'er? Or did he have another move he hadn't played?
Hmm, it wasn't impossible. Since Beibei and the others were forcibly expelled after only completing the second stage, Zhu Ziyang had reason to believe that Poseidon's scheme was not fully executed; otherwise, it wouldn't have ended midway.
So, Qiankun Love Valley was indeed the place where the God of Love fell, and Poseidon was merely an usurper. His meddling with love successfully provoked the backlash of the God of Love's residual divine power, preventing him from completing his scheme. That must be it!
Zhu Ziyang quickly pieced together the cause and effect and was confident his guess was ninety percent accurate. Why not one hundred percent? Because Zhu Ziyang still had one final piece of evidence to verify—the identity of the black-robed mysterious person. He needed to ask Xuan Zi for more details to confirm it.
It was said that Poseidon's wife had two younger brothers. The Sky Azure Bull Python had already become his soul ring for trying to kill him, so the Titan Giant Ape surely wouldn't be idle.
"Ziyang, tell me the truth. Is Xiao Xiao really beyond saving?" Beibei asked gravely.
"Well," Zhu Ziyang's eyes flickered as he said, "it depends on whether Yuhao is lucky enough."
"What do you mean?" Beibei was stunned and pressed further.
Zhu Ziyang smiled without answering. Reviving Xiao Xiao was actually simple: as long as Huo Yuhao could become a god, whether Xiao Xiao's soul was shattered or detained by Poseidon, it wouldn't be difficult for a god-level Huo Yuhao.
If Xiao Xiao's soul was detained by Poseidon, it was even simpler. As long as Huo Yuhao ascended to the God Realm and exposed this matter to the God Realm Committee, all the gods in the God Realm would know that Poseidon, as a divine being, interfered in mortal affairs and even detained a mortal's soul. This would be a sensational scandal in the God Realm. To save face, the God Realm Committee would surely force Poseidon to release Xiao Xiao.
What? Poseidon himself was a member of the God Realm Committee? That's exactly why the other four members would intervene even more! Some things could be done privately, and they could turn a blind eye to avoid tearing faces over a mortal—it would at most be a matter of Poseidon's personal character. But once the matter blew up and the entire God Realm knew, it would be different. It would concern the faces of the other committee members. If Poseidon didn't care about his reputation, the other gods did. Thus, under pressure to save face, the other members of the God Realm Committee would definitely side with Huo Yuhao and demand Poseidon release Xiao Xiao.
If Xiao Xiao's soul were directly shattered, it would be more troublesome. Huo Yuhao would need to collect her soul fragments scattered across the mortal world one by one, reassemble a complete soul, and then revive her.
Compared to the two, the former was undoubtedly much simpler.
Zhu Ziyang patted Beibei's shoulder, then pulled Tang Ya away. Though Xiao Xiao's situation was heartbreaking, for Zhu Ziyang, it was at most a pity. His time and energy were precious, and he couldn't spend too much on it.
The most important matter now was naturally to convene a Tianyuan Pavilion meeting to discuss the major events likely to occur on the continent and what Shrek Academy needed to prepare for next.
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Here are the chapters for today (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
"The novel is already finished on Patreon."
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