Douluo Dalu 3 | Divine Destruction

"Xu Xiayan, explain yourself." Returning his battle armor to its rightful place, Wu Zhangkong pushed the Glacial Knight off him effortlessly. Though he may have been unharmed in the end, the fact they pushed him to use his battle armor in the first place was a victory in his books.

Truthfully, it was hard for class 0 to find a reason to use teamwork. Wulin's fists were unstoppable, Yuena's elemental control divine, Xie Xie's blade faster than the wind, and Mu Xi's hammer capable of crushing anything. What reason would they have to truly work together?

Wu Zhangkong knew they could do it but after so long of standing at the top, he worried they had gotten rusty or forgotten entirely. Luckily, he had been wrong. They masterfully made him dance to their tune without them being aware of it. And Xu Xiaoyan was the key to it all.

"Well, it's nothing too grand." Waving her hand dismissively with a giddy smile, Xu Xiaoyan did a poor job of making her words believable. Honestly though, Wu Zhangkong felt like she deserved it for doing something he couldn't understand even after so much thought.

Glancing at his eldest daughter, Wu Zhangkong's confusion only grew at her shrug. If Yuena, somebody capable of creating spirit souls, wasn't the answer he was truly out of ideas. What Xu Xiaoyan had done made no sense no matter how Wu Zhangkong thought about it.

She hadn't advanced her cultivation any meaningful amount since their last meeting nor had she gained a second martial soul through some miracle and yet she possessed another spirit soul, and by extension another ring. How could a four ring soul master possess five rings without twin martial souls? That was his current question.

"Are we doing this again? Didn't the boss praise you enough?" Rolling his eyes tiredly, Xie Xie wore a subtle grin on his face. It was small but Wu Zhangkong felt like it contained just as much pride as Xu Xiaoyan's own expression.

"Ahem!" Jabbing the Jade Shadow in the side, Xu Xiaoyan's smile only faltered for a moment before she spoke once more. "In the Extreme North, I reached enlightenment." Smilingly shyly yet full of pride, Xu Xiaoyan's words were shockingly predictable.

Enlightenment. A once in a life time chance that would dictate the fate of a person and separate the great from the legendary. It was something few in Wu Zhangkong's generation had experienced and yet so many people around him had experienced it as of late.

Xie Xie, Wulin, and now Xu Xiaoyan. Though they never said it, Yuena and Mu Xi probably experienced similar fates as well. It was the only way to explain their explosive growth that went past the level of mere talent. 

Wu Zhangkong had experienced it once as well and it happened within the last three years. It was odd, incredibly so. Enlightenment naturally followed those who dictated the flow of fate but this was absurd.

'It's almost as though anyone who follows those two becomes blessed.' Musing the thought in his head, the absurd joke became more believable the more he mulled it over. It certainly was an answer to these children's absurd growth.

"During my enlightenment, I realized something. Just like how this idiot had been doing it, I was using my martial soul wrong!" Excitedly pushing Xie Xie away from her, Xu Xiaoyan's hands were suddenly filled with the large staff made of pure ice that was her martial soul.

As always, it was a beautiful martial soul but that was all. If there was any change, it was the fact that the star made of ice adorning the staff like a crown seemed to glow slightly but even that was easily ignored. All in all the staff was the same as he remembered.

But then her soul rings changed, the staff remaining firm in her hands. Its aura changed slightly, the bone piercing chill it radiated replaced by a whimsical flow of something. It was subtle, so subtle that even he who had spent years teaching Xu Xiaoyan could only notice it after such close inspection.

"...You split your martial soul into two halves?" Words that Wu Zhangkong didn't even believe himself spilled from his lips as he looked at the differing soul rings that surrounded her martial soul protectively. Their age was significantly less than her first set so he could see the difference but when that changed he doubted even he could sense the change.

"Yup! The two elemental focuses were fighting against each other and if I kept them together it would never have reached its potential. So I separated them into two different martial souls using the same staff as a base!" Happily explaining while bouncing on the balls of her feet, Xu Xiaoyan was the pinnacle of joy at her teacher's gobsmacked reaction.

"You…" Wu Zhangkong's gaze flicked between her and her martial soul rapidly as even the Cold God struggled to comprehend what he was seeing. Giggling gleefully, Xu Xiaoyan happily switched between her two martial souls.

In another life, maybe she would have focused on just the ice element or just the star attribute and used that to reach the pinnacle of control. But that wasn't enough, the pinnacle wasn't high enough.

Her peers chased something higher, something she couldn't even see let alone comprehend. It was a neverending marathon and she was falling behind. If she wanted to keep up with them, she couldn't be satisfied with just the pinnacle. She needed more than that. Xu Xiaoyan was often seen as cute and innocent, but she was every bit as greedy as her peers.

Scrunching his brow, Wu Zhangkong wore the familiar look of incredible worry Xu Xiaoyan had seen once or twice. In each of those times, he had been forced to take drastic action to protect them from the attention of undesirable groups. That should fill her with fear but she trusted him and she trusted her classmates so instead of fear, she felt glad. Glad that her growth had warranted such a reaction from their stoic teacher. 

"...Let's go the Spirit Pagoda." Sighing defeatedly, Wu Zhangkong felt the same feeling of helplessness as three years ago washed over him. Once again his students had gone above and beyond, leaving him with the cleanup.

And as much as he hated it, this time he had to rely on the Spirit Pagoda.

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Hey there, hope you liked the chapter.

What do you think about Xu Xiaoyan's path? I think it's probably my favorite among the bunch but I do feel like it's inching closer to a line I don't want crossed. This entire time, I've tried to keep things within the realm of possibility of DD3 lore and while I think this path of hers is possible with the Dragon God having done just that, I feel like it might be overstepping a bit. What do you think?

If you want more chapters, head to patre*on.com/TrapOverlord for up to 25 extra chapters. It isn't required but it'd be much appreciated.