Inside the main hall of the Axis Cult headquarters, the four great protectors, led by Lei Bao, along with Ye Guyi, had already been waiting there.
As for the department heads, due to their respective missions, they were mostly absent. They were well aware that Furina never cared for such empty formalities; when she was around, she rarely held any ceremonies, finding them troublesome.
It was only Water God Special Envoy Lord Neuvillette who would occasionally request a simple ceremony on specific occasions to add some atmosphere and promotional effect to the Axis Cult.
Seeing Furina and her group enter the hall, Lei Bao and the others bowed in unison: "Welcome back, Pope! And welcome to young friend Huo Yuhao and the Pope's friends!"
Ye Guyi also stepped forward, a smile on her face: "Welcome back, Furina, Huo Yuhao. Thank you for your help, Furina. Let's talk about the details later."
Furina nodded slightly, already having a good idea of what happened. Looking at Ye Guyi's appearance, she must have gained a great deal after killing that Titled Douluo-level Evil Soul Master; her Soul Power had broken through, and her Martial Soul had evolved—nothing was missing.
Given her original cultivation level of around rank 40 or 50, personally finishing off a dying Titled Douluo-level Evil Soul Master would bring immeasurable benefits. Moreover, the God Position of the Angel had long been burned away by Qian Renxue, and the current inheritance of the Angel Martial Soul relied entirely on the fixed mechanisms left behind by the deity, equivalent to a "mindless AI" without self-awareness, so the review process naturally wouldn't be too strict.
Her gaze swept over the four great protectors. The four of them, including Lei Bao, were still at the Soul Sage level, but their Soul Power auras had begun to show distinct changes due to the different Cultivation Techniques they practiced. Although Yan Luo, City Lord of Savage City's figure hadn't become more hulking, he looked increasingly solid, clearly a benefit of Body Refining.
Furina withdrew her gaze and smiled at everyone: "Thank you all for the welcome."
She turned to the side and introduced to Huo Yuhao and the others: "Let me introduce you. These four are the four great protectors of my Axis Cult. You have already met Guardian Long Ziyun, City Lord of Ice Wolf City, and the remaining three are Guardian Lei Bao, Guardian Yan Luo, City Lord of Savage City, and Guardian Feng Chuixue. That blonde young lady over there is Ye Guyi."
Ye Guyi waved at everyone, her smile bright: "Hello everyone! I am Ye Guyi!"
Lei Bao stepped forward, his demeanor steady and polite: "Hello, I am Lei Bao. I was once the City Lord of this Fontaine—or rather, Thunder City. However, nowadays, the true City Lord should be considered Lord Furina."
Furina laughed and waved her hand: "Haha, I still can't be this City Lord. You should continue to hold the position of City Lord; I am quite happy being a nominal City Lord."
"The Pope is joking," Lei Bao also laughed.
Yan Luo, City Lord of Savage City, the most hulking and sturdy of them, stepped forward, his voice loud: "I am the City Lord of Savage City, and also one of the four great protectors, Yan Luo, City Lord of Savage City!"
Holding a folding fan and looking dashing, Feng Chuixue bowed elegantly: "Feng Chuixue, City Lord of Beiming City, also one of the four great protectors of the Axis Cult. Greetings to you all."
Wang Dong and the others responded politely one after another: "Hello! My name is Wang Dong!" "I am Xiao Xiao!" "My name is Tang Ya, and this is my boyfriend, Bei Bei!" "Hello! Hello!"
After some simple pleasantries, Furina said to Guardian Lei Bao and the others: "Guardian Lei Bao, you may go about your business first. I will ask about the development of the Axis Cult and other matters later."
The four of them replied in unison: "As you command, Pope!"
After speaking, they dispersed, leaving only Ye Guyi standing in place.
Furina walked a few steps closer and asked straightforwardly: "How was it? After killing that Evil Soul Master, did you have a Breakthrough?"
Ye Guyi nodded, a trace of excitement still lingering in her eyes: "Yes. After killing him, I broke through directly from rank 48 to rank 50. After absorbing the spirit ring, I reached rank 55 directly!"
She paused, unable to suppress the excitement in her tone: "But that's not the most important thing—my Martial Soul has evolved! My cultivation speed has also greatly increased because of it!"
Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao and the others all showed curiosity. Although Huo Yuhao knew that Ye Guyi could increase her cultivation by killing Evil Soul Masters, he had no way of knowing what would happen when killing a Titled Douluo-level Evil Soul Master above her level, or how her Martial Soul would evolve.
Bei Bei and Tang Ya's eyes lit up even more. The two of them—one longing for his Martial Soul to evolve into a Bright Sacred Dragon, the other dreaming of her Blue Silver Grass evolving into a Blue Silver King or even a Blue Silver Emperor—if they could succeed, Tang Ya's talent would be completely transformed, and rebuilding the Tang Sect's glory would no longer be just empty talk; she could even completely abandon that devouring-attribute cultivation method.
Furina raised her eyebrows and asked with great interest: "Oh? Just as I expected. What has it evolved into?"
According to her conjecture, if nothing went wrong, it should have evolved into a Holy Four-Winged Angel or a Six-Winged Angel.
Ye Guyi didn't say much and released her Martial Soul directly.
As the light bloomed, everyone clearly saw the change behind her. Originally, there was only one pair of wings, but now they had turned into three pairs! Six wings unfurled, their edges flowing with golden afterglow like the scorching sun, magnificent and majestic.
"Look!" Ye Guyi's voice was filled with pride, "I call my current Martial Soul—Six-Winged Seraphim! It has evolved from the Holy Angel into six wings, and it has additionally gained a fire attribute, and the light attribute is also transforming toward the Ultimate Light!"
Furina couldn't help but exclaim: "Good heavens! Did it evolve to be this strong?"
She had originally thought it would at most evolve into a Six-Winged Angel; she didn't expect it to also come with a fire attribute, directly becoming a Six-Winged Seraphim. Although a Seraphim should naturally be six-winged, the intensity of this evolution still exceeded her expectations.
Wang Dong widened his eyes and blurted out: "Angel Martial Soul?!"
Bei Bei and Tang Ya also couldn't hide their surprise: "It's actually an Angel Martial Soul?!"
The three's reactions were normal in Furina's view. Wang Dong was Tang San's daughter and the Young Sect Master of the Clear Sky Sect, Bei Bei was a direct disciple of Shrek, and Tang Ya was a descendant of the Tang Sect. The three of them were all too familiar with that history from ten thousand years ago, so they were naturally particularly sensitive to the four words "Angel Martial Soul".
After all, that was the iconic Martial Soul of the Spirit Hall, which was regarded by the entire continent as a villain ten thousand years ago; it was an existence that stood as an enemy to the two great Empires, Heaven Dou and Star Luo, and was also one of the strongest opponents of the Original Shrek Seven Devils.
However, times had changed. Ten thousand years had passed, and the grievances of that year had long since dissipated with the wind. As a descendant, Ye Guyi had no grudges with Bei Bei and the others.
Furina took over the conversation: "Of course it's an Angel Martial Soul. Otherwise, why would I ask her to deal with that Evil Soul Master? Why would her Martial Soul be able to evolve after dealing with an Evil Soul Master? Nowadays, only the Angel Martial Soul can achieve this."
She paused, her tone becoming serious: "I now hope to vigorously discover more Angel Martial Souls, or similar Martial Souls. In this way, Evil Soul Masters will be much easier to deal with; the Angel Martial Soul is a natural nemesis to them, and every time one kills an Evil Soul Master, one's own strength can also be improved."
She looked around at everyone and said word by word: "One of the goals of my Axis Cult is to completely eradicate all Evil Soul Masters on the entire continent. Therefore, finding this type of Martial Soul is crucial to me."
Except for Huo Yuhao and Ye Guyi, the others all gasped.
They didn't expect that Furina's goal was not just to become a god, be admired by thousands, and develop influence; she also wanted to completely eradicate the Evil Soul Masters.
Bei Bei was shaken in his heart. He knew deeply how great and arduous this mission was. Shrek Academy had also always taken the eradication of Evil Soul Masters as its own responsibility, paying countless painful prices for it, yet it still had not been able to completely annihilate the Evil Soul Masters.
If the Angel Martial Soul was truly the nemesis of Evil Soul Masters, then this was indeed a rare and valuable force.
Xiao Xiao: "What a truly great goal!"
Wang Dong couldn't help but ask: "Excuse me, Miss Ye Guyi, is this Martial Soul of yours... inherited from the descendants of the Angel God Qian Renxue from ten thousand years ago?"
Ye Guyi shook her head, her calm tone carrying a hint of confusion: "As for that... to be honest, I don't know either. By my generation, I am the only one left with the Holy Angel Martial Soul. I have always made my home wherever I go, taking the eradication of Evil Soul Masters as my duty."
Upon hearing this, Bei Bei didn't find it strange. After that great war ten thousand years ago, the descendants of the Spirit Hall and all Sects associated with the Spirit Hall were suppressed by various forces. Living incognito and isolated from the world was the norm; some even abandoned their original names and identities, just to exchange for a sliver of peace.
Ye Guyi's situation was perfectly normal. Moreover, one couldn't be certain that she was a descendant of Qian Renxue; the Spirit Hall also had the Angel Legion, so perhaps she was a descendant of other Angel Martial Souls, having mutated through generations of inheritance.
After listening, Wang Dong's expression returned to calm, but he secretly muttered in his heart: Why was I so excited? It's just an Angel Martial Soul...
Furina patted Ye Guyi on the shoulder and smiled: "It seems it hasn't fully evolved successfully yet. If it were completely evolved, it should be the Ultimate Light, right? Don't worry, I'll find you another Titled Douluo-level Evil Soul Master in the future."
Ye Guyi was between laughter and tears: "Furina, Titled Douluo-level Evil Soul Masters aren't a dime a dozen..."
Furina blinked and smiled meaningfully: "Don't worry, I'll take you to the Sun Moon Empire. There are plenty of cabbages there, and a bunch of small cabbages too. Train hard."
She changed the subject: "Right, make two copies of your Cultivation Technique for Bei Bei and Wang Dong to practice. They both have light-attribute Martial Souls too."
Ye Guyi nodded readily: "Okay, no problem! Actually, I had already prepared copies. There are quite a few children with light-attribute Martial Souls at Jianan Academy, and since I'm their big sister now, I naturally have to take care of my little brothers."
Furina said casually: "As long as they are good children you can trust, that's fine."
Bei Bei, however, caught another keyword and asked suspiciously: "Wait... you also founded an academy?"
Furina smiled slightly, her tone revealing a hint of determination: "That's only natural. I'll take you to see it in a while; I do intend to found an academy that can defeat the number one academy."
Bei Bei: "..."
He suddenly had a not-so-good premonition. Shrek Academy, it seems... is in danger.
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