Douluo Dalu 2: Reincarnated as the Auspicious Beast

Aside from the internal power struggles within the two great empires, Star Luo and Heaven Dou worked in remarkable unison on one particular task—completely eradicating the remnants of the Spirit Hall.

The Douluo novels depict Tang San and the royal families of both empires as poor victims oppressed and infiltrated by the Spirit Hall, their war of resistance naturally framed as a righteous struggle. But in reality, it's difficult to say where the hearts of the people truly lay.

Perhaps the nobility and sects were loyal to the imperial family and their respective nations, but what about the commoners whose Spirit Awakenings had been conducted by the Spirit Hall? What about the low-level spirit masters who had benefited from its existence? Who among them truly cared about which family name sat upon the imperial throne?

If it were a contest of corruption, then yes, the Spirit Hall was riddled with issues, but compared to the nobles of the empire, they were clearly the lesser evil.

However, with the Spirit Hall's defeat, the corruption and crimes of the imperial elite suddenly had a scapegoat. It was as if the fall of the Spirit Hall would somehow eradicate all darkness in the world and miraculously improve the lives of the commoners.

For a thousand years, the Spirit Hall had ruled the continent, deeply rooted like a massive tree in the land. Though its trunk had been severed after the battle of Jialing Pass, its roots still spread throughout every inch of the continent's soil.

Even a six-year-old child understands that weeds must be uprooted completely. How could the rulers of the two great empires allow the Spirit Hall's lingering influence to remain and threaten their rule?

And so, the purge of Spirit Hall remnants swept through the continent again and again, driven by the principle: better to kill by mistake than to let one slip away.

Tang San had indeed stated that those who surrendered should be spared. But at the time, who couldn't see that those words were mere formalities? His previous stance of killing Spirit Hall members without mercy, his reluctance when Bibi Dong asked him to spare Qian Renxue—whose godhood had already shattered—or Hu Liena, who posed no real threat... Who couldn't tell what he was truly thinking?

Even if he had been sincere, it was clear that even in the years when the Sea God still walked the earth, he had no intention of ensuring the two empires followed his so-called divine will.

To turn a blind eye was to condone.

And so, at first, the high-ranking members of Spirit Hall who hadn't participated in the war were publicly executed outside the capitals of both nations. Then, their families, along with the branch hall leaders, were captured and executed. After that, the lower-ranking personnel of the Spirit Hall were hunted down. Eventually, even those merely associated with the Spirit Hall were targeted...

By the end, it had spiraled into such madness that unaffiliated spirit masters had to swear in public that they had never received stipends from the Spirit Hall and that they did not, in any way, long for its rule.

False accusations and betrayals ran rampant. Some reveled in the power of judging others, some used the chaos to eliminate rivals, and many were swept up by the tides, unknowingly becoming perpetrators themselves. The entire situation had spiraled completely out of control.

Humans may have persecuted soul beasts, but when they turned their blades against their own kind, they were just as merciless.

Even the most savage soul beasts of the Star Dou Forest, upon witnessing these events, couldn't help but lament how cheap human lives were.

It all seemed absurd, but when it came to humanity, such behavior was entirely ordinary. Replace "Spirit Hall remnants" with "witches" or any other persecuted group, and this social phenomenon would be instantly recognizable.

With the collapse of Spirit City, the solemn-faced statue of the Holy Angel toppled to the ground, its stone-carved head rolling far away. The once-revered golden-roofed Douluo Palace burned in a raging inferno.

Like a band of looters, the imperial armies ransacked what was once the most prosperous city on the continent. The vast majority of its precious knowledge was seized by the greatest victors—Shrek Academy—while some invaluable research mysteriously vanished, lost forever.

The missing records were mostly related to soul beasts, something that the Three-Eyed Golden Lion found very satisfying. However, with so few operatives available at the time, the small soul beasts that infiltrated during the chaos only managed to recover a limited portion of the information.

The most crucial records regarding the Three-Eyed Golden Lion were too secret, too well-guarded. They had failed to retrieve them.

But that hardly mattered—because the Spirit Hall never truly understood much to begin with.

This turmoil dragged on for over a thousand years, and in the end, it degenerated into little more than a frenzied spectacle.

The Star Dou Forest silently took in some of the persecuted survivors, offering them refuge. The descendants of these individuals would later become the first human disciples of the Beast Sect.

In truth, the justification of "hunting Spirit Hall remnants" was never enough to sustain a thousand years of madness. That was merely the official reason, the story presented to the public. The true driving force behind the prolonged manhunt was something far more secretive and enormous—an immense web of interests and power.

The two women whom the Sea God had supposedly spared—who were meant to live out their days under the watchful eyes of the empires—had vanished.

Qian Renxue and Hu Liena had disappeared from their prison cells without a trace.

The increasingly harsh investigations into Spirit Hall survivors were likely more about tracking them down than anything else.

In reality, Hu Liena was just an insignificant addition to the list. The real target was Qian Renxue—the former Angel God.

Even after falling from godhood, Qian Renxue had once touched that realm. To the world, she was a living key to divinity itself. Her experiences, her insights, her blood, her flesh, her inherited spirit bones that had once become the Angelic God Equipment—even her womb—were all objects of intense greed.

When a whale dies and sinks into the deep sea, how many creatures feed on its remains?

Shrek Academy had monopolized the first fallen whale—Tang San. But Qian Renxue was still alive, yet to be carved apart. And already, the world had begun fighting over how to divide her up.

Some optimists believed that even in her fallen state, Qian Renxue was still a god-level martial soul wielder with dual ultimate attributes. She had a full set of spirit bones and the insights from her time as a god. Even titled Douluo would struggle to lay a hand on her.

But realistically, just how severe must the injuries be for a god to fall? And as a defeated enemy, how could she possibly be given the stability and resources to recover? Let alone the fact that even her martial soul had degraded.

Qian Renxue was nothing more than a golden, plump duck, ready to be served.

Yet no one had expected that this golden duck would suddenly fly off the plate and disappear.

This great purge continued for nearly a thousand years before it finally fizzled out. Even now, there are still those who firmly believe that the former Angel God is secretly hiding somewhere, waiting to be rediscovered like some buried treasure.

After all, how could a former god die so easily?

Wang Rui thought those people were complete idiots.

Nonetheless, it was during this chaotic era that the Bone Condensation Secret Art began to spread.

With even humans struggling to survive in such an environment, the plight of soul beasts was even more desperate. And because so many lived in fear, many clues about the art's origins were lost.

Wang Rui had interrogated those who ventured into the Star Dou Forest to obtain soul bones through the technique, but their stories were wildly inconsistent. Some had been commissioned by masked figures, some had discovered the art in pawnshops, some had learned it from ex-Spirit Hall members, some had stolen it from rival poachers, and some had even claimed they'd simply found a copy lying on the ground.

Suspicious, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion sniffed out the unmistakable scent of conspiracy.

Too many people and events were tangled up in this matter. Even after activating the Eye of Destiny, Wang Rui couldn't unravel the mess.

If this technique was spread by a local native, why wouldn't they keep it to themselves for profit? If a transmigrator was behind this, did they know the original story? What was their goal? Theoretically, the arrival of a transmigrator should have caused a huge disturbance in fate—something that absolutely wouldn't escape Wang Rui's sight. But then again, nothing was absolute…

Or was this soul technique something deliberately released by some old schemer from the Divine Realm, specifically to weaken soul beasts? After all, suppressing the remnants of political opponents was hardly an uncommon tactic for a God-King.

Wang Rui briefly reflected on whether he was being too much of a conspiracy theorist. After all, in the original novel, the Divine Realm was portrayed as a peaceful, harmonious retirement home.

But the original story was just that—a story. If the Divine Realm were truly a peaceful and tranquil place, Wang Rui would eat that Soul Bone right then and there. Not every god ascended through backdoor deals; those who managed to reach godhood as mere mortals were undoubtedly prodigies of their own worlds.

The feeling of someone scheming against him in the shadows was unsettling.

…Then again, it wasn't anything new.

Huo Yuqing dragged Wang Rui, who was clearly lost in thought, toward Class One. She glanced at the red-haired boy worriedly—ever since he had obtained that Soul Bone, he had seemed off, as if he were recalling something unpleasant.

Concerned, she poked at the white light clusters in her spiritual sea that represented Tianmeng Ice Silkworm. "Brother Tianmeng, is it really okay for Wang Rui to keep that Soul Bone?"

"Hmm?" Tianmeng Ice Silkworm hummed lazily. "Relax, it'll be fine."

"Really?" The girl still felt uneasy.

"What could possibly go wrong? Your teacher already explained that the so-called curse attached to these things was just because soul beasts had been deliberately hunting down the humans who created Secret Soul Bones… I was still in the Core Region back then, so I don't know the specifics, but tsk, that Rui Beast really did kill a lot of humans. Hah! Serves them right." Tianmeng Ice Silkworm huffed in anger.

After all, Tianmeng Iceworms were also a weak soul beast species that could be targeted for Secret Soul Bones. Even though Tianmeng had a cultivation of over a million years, he still despised such practices.

He wanted to say more but suddenly realized he had spoken too carelessly and stopped.

After all, Huo Yuqing was human… Recalling how Rui Beast had repeatedly warned him to be cautious with his words, Tianmeng felt a little guilty.

But before he could overthink it, Huo Yuqing's confused voice rang out. "Hmm?"

"Uh… I said Rui Beast killed a lot of humans. Do you have any thoughts on that?" Tianmeng Iceworm asked cautiously. What if Huo Yuqing sympathized with those humans? That would be bad! Rui Beast had killed a lot of humans—if she took issue with that, wouldn't Rui Beast lose his future wife? That would be an absolute disaster!

Tianmeng was already mentally preparing an ideological lesson for her, but what he heard next stunned him.

"Why would I have any thoughts? I don't even know them," Huo Yuqing said matter-of-factly.

Inside her spiritual sea, Tianmeng Ice Silkworm let out a long, weepy sigh and fell silent.

Huo Yuqing, still worried about Wang Rui, simply found him inexplicably weird.

"Reporting!" Huo Yuqing knocked on the classroom door, still pulling along Wang Rui.

"Enter," Wang Yan responded.

Huo Yuqing dragged Wang Rui into the class, and instantly, all eyes were on them. Some unfamiliar girls from other classes whispered excitedly among themselves, as if they had discovered a new continent. Before long, Xiao Xiao and two girls from Class Nine also joined in.

Wang Rui glanced at them. Though their voices were hushed, they were still within his hearing range. But from their conversation… It seemed like fujoshis in the Douluo world were no different from the ones back in his previous life. He just hoped they wouldn't start spreading rumors about some male-male imperial uncle nonsense between him and Huo Yuqing.

Amused by the thought, Wang Rui suddenly had an idea—when these girls found out that their ship was actually a heterosexual couple, would they feel betrayed, like their OTP had crashed?

Feeling mischievous, the big cat-like boy playfully winked at the gossiping girls.

Then, he immediately felt the grip on his wrist tighten ever so slightly.

Wang Rui swiftly turned away and made his way toward An Wen, who was waving at him.

As he passed Dai Huabin, he raised an eyebrow. Zhu Lu was sitting next to him—so Shrek's class assignment system was pretty flexible, huh? He wondered what a speed-based assault fighter like Zhu Lu could learn in Class One.

Huo Yuqing, on the other hand, rolled her eyes in mild annoyance. The way she did it looked almost like a provocation, but Dai Huabin didn't react at all. Even Zhu Lu, who seemed ready to lash out, cast him a confused glance.

Wang Yan didn't notice the subtle undercurrents between his students. He simply waved Wang Rui and Huo Yuqing toward their seats.

An Wen had saved them seats—the perfect back-row, window-side spots. Wang Dong sat beside her, seemingly lost in thought.

In the original story, wasn't it supposed to be the academic duo of Huo Hang and Wang Dong sitting up front? Well… What a shame.

As soon as they sat down, An Wen leaned over excitedly. "So? What awesome stuff did your homeroom teacher give you?"

Wang Dong looked like he wasn't paying attention, but he subtly perked up an ear.

"Eh, I'll tell you later," Wang Rui waved her off. After all, Wang Yan was watching them from the podium.

An Wen grumbled something indistinct before flopping onto her desk. Wang Rui did the same, sneakily scooting a little closer to Huo Yuqing.

The girl narrowed her eyes with a soft smile and casually smoothed out Wang Rui's slightly messy hair. Under the desk, she secretly hooked her pinky around his.

Wang Dong, witnessing everything: …I feel so full. Can I accidentally run into senior sister after school? I really need to take a walk to digest all this PDA. QAQ

(End of Chapter)