Douluo Dalu 3 | Divine Destruction

The Spirit Pagoda was as impressive as expected though none of class 0 could say they were particularly enthused with the idea of visiting such a place. None had particularly good thoughts for the organization as a whole though their expectations were quite optimistic. After all, they knew the next Pagoda Master well enough to know she'd lead the group justly.

"Wanna bet who makes it the highest?" Grinning playfully, Wulin nudged his partner in the shoulder. Rolling her eyes Yuena ignored him and wore a picture perfect smile as she waved to a worker or two. Snickering at the sight, Wulin decided to stay silent to save himself from bearing the brunt of her frustration.

"Lady Jewel, thank you for your help the other day!" A researcher thanked Yuena, a more common sight than Wulin would have expected. He knew that she helped the Spirit Pagoda employees with a variety of things whenever she had the time but there was a large difference between seeing and hearing when it came to these things. 

Nearly everyone they passed spoke to her and their expressions were full of respect. What caught Wulin's attention though, was the fact that Yuena was respected as an individual rather than as a pillar.

In FUG, Wulin was seen as some kind of untouchable entity that personified power itself. To his subordinates, he was anything but approachable. But for Yuena, they almost seemed like friends in a way. There was a line in the sand that couldn't be crossed but there was still a sense of closeness that most superiors and subordinates didn't have.

It was hard to put into words but while Wulin was more of a shield to hide behind when things went too far, Yuena was somebody they would ask for as soon as they reached a roadblock. It was an odd thing, one that made Wulin a tad… jealous. Luckily, the fact that she was his and he was hers gave him an unrivaled sense of superiority that more than made up for it.

 "Wipe that smirk off your face." Clicking her tongue under her breath, Yuena was annoyed like always. Playing the part of a perfect girl was incredibly annoying but, unfortunately, it was necessary if she wanted to stop a war before it happened. 

She had already solidified herself as the next Pagoda Master to a large extent but the Qiangu clan was adamantly opposed to the idea. They wanted the current Pagoda Master, Qangu Dongfeng, to proclaim his grandson the next Pagoda Master. However, Qiangu Dongfeng had not yet made his stance clear.

'He's a very pragmatic man so he should start making his decision soon enough.' Smiling outwardly, Yuena was nowhere near as sunny and joyful as her expression. Qiangu Dongfeng was a pragmatic man so it would be easy for her to become the next Pagoda Master. That is, if it weren't for the interests of his clan.

Whether it be his clan or the Spirit Pagoda, he held both in very high regard. After all, they both belonged to him so their best interest was his best interest. Yuena was a talent that could raise the Spirit Pagoda to new heights yet that would discard his clan. If he chose his grandson, his clan would thrive yet the Spirit Pagoda would be relegated to a fate of normalcy.

"Oh, our little Jewel has finally decided to visit us. How I've missed you." A sensual voice pulled the group's attention, the beautiful figure of the Heavenly Phoenix Douluo Leng Yaozhu nearly stealing Xie Xie's breath away.

"It's nice to see you again, teacher." Smiling softly, Yuena already wanted to get out of this damn place. Leng Yaozhu was, for better or worse, her teacher. The status of being the student of one of the two Vice Pagida Masters of the Spirit Pagoda was helpful but the woman herself never failed to get on Yuena's nerves.

"And who are these lovely friends of yours?" Disregarding Yuena entirely, Leng Yaozhu rested her gaze upon the golden haired boy before her. The rest were talented but this one… he was the problem.

The student of the Atlas Douluo, the one who forcefully stole the title of the second coming of the Yun Ming. The Atlas Douluo may not be the strongest anymore but he was still far from third place. A boy that would reach that level was to be bought or killed.

"My friends. They want to use the Spirit Ascension Platform so I thought I should take the opportunity to introduce them to you." Truthfully, Yuena had been receiving a lot of problems because of her friends so bringing them here was only asking for trouble. Luckily, she had a friend that was good at exterminating pests so the trouble was quite simple.

"A friend of our Jewel is a friend of the Spirit Pagoda. But, unfortunately, I can't allow you entrance to the Ascension Platform. There have been all sorts of issues recently so we decided to… upgrade a bit." Smiling apologetically, an eerie mischief danced in the Heavenly Phoenix Douluo's eyes.

Looking at her teacher for a moment, Yuena could barely stop herself from rolling her eyes. As they had expected, she had something in store for them. By the looks of things, it wasn't directed at her for whatever that was worth.

"I saw others enter the Ascension Platform so it can't be that bad. I'll accept the consequences so let us enter." Willingly walking into the trap, Yuena smiled amicably even as the dark intent in her teacher's eye only grew.

A thread of spiritual power touched by divinity gently prodded the former class 0, a look of muted surprise crossing their features for a moment before fading away. Allowing the thread to enter the outskirts of her spiritual sea, Yuena felt the thoughts of her peers enter her mind.

𝕀𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕒𝕝𝕣𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥? 𝕀𝕥'𝕤 𝕥𝕠𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕒 𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕡.

The strangely distorted voice of Xie Xie was the first to reverberate through her spiritual sea, a hint of amusement growing in her features. His tone was a reflection of his mind, his time within the reverse world giving him this odd 'voice' he currently possessed.

𝙍𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩? 𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙪𝙢𝙗 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙬𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚?

The frustrated voice of Mu Xi came next, her tone tinged with an odd heat that was more felt than heard. It was strange hearing others within her spiritual sea but it was oddly pleasant to hear how they perceive themselves become realized.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯, 𝘣𝘰𝘴𝘴?

A hint of eagerness filled Xu Xiaoyan's voice as she spoke, her bubbly personality present even in her spiritual sea. Truthfully, Yuena expected something far darker so that was an extremely welcome surprise.

𝐗𝐢𝐞 𝐗𝐢𝐞, 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫.

Wulin spoke softly, his tone full of nostalgia. Normally, such a thing would make her heart flutter and yet at the moment, nothing of the sort was possible. Wulin's voice was soft, warm, and even a bit playful yet something sinister dwelled beneath the surface. Wulin was like the sea, tranquil on the surface yet containing a raging abyss beneath the waves.

…𝕀 𝕤𝕒𝕚𝕕 𝕒 𝕝𝕠𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕪𝕖𝕒𝕣.

After a brief moment, Xie Xie spoke. There was a twinge of tension in his tone as his guard raised itself without his consent. The Jade Shadow was the closest to Wulin among them bar herself, he certainly knew that Wulin wasn't not as cheery as he carried himself and yet, as always, seeing and hearing were vastly different. 

ℋ𝑒 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃𝓈 𝒽𝑒'𝓁𝓁 𝒶𝓃𝓈𝓌𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓆𝓊𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝒹𝒶𝓎.

Rolling her eyes as they followed the Heavenly Phoenix Douluo toward the 'upgraded' entrance to the Ascension Platform. Yuena had never understood Wulin's attachment to theatrics after he had gotten out of his robot phase.

𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡.

Subtly punching her partner in the shoulder hard enough to break a normal man's bones ten times over, Yuena's anger grew at Wulin's teasing expression. How could somebody so cute do something so detestable? He was lucky she loved him or she wouldn't even look his way.

𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺?

Excitedly looking at Wulin, Xu Xiaoyan wasn't the only one excited to hear the truth. Everyone and their dog knew that Wulin was special but Class 0 knew there was more to it than that. Not just for him either, for her as well. Unfortunately for them, she wouldn't be the one revealing their secrets today.

𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟.

Wearing a smirk full of vanity, Wulin was making immense light of the situation. Despite that, they all knew that Wulin was far from joking. He wasn't the type to walk into hell unprepared for no reason and a trap from the Spirit Pagoda's main branch was no different than hell.

"We're here. Please enjoy your trip." Leng Yaozhu gestures toward the gates of that bell with a smile so warm they were almost fooled for a moment. But the malicious glint in her eyes made sure that moment never came.

Stepping forward, Wulin was the first to approach the hell created for him.

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Hey there, hope you liked the chapter.

What do you think Wulin's plan is? What does the God of Devils have in mind for the Spirit Pagoda this time? Last time he destroyed the branch entirely, but it was only possible because it was a branch, now he's at the headquarters of this world power.

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.