"Interrogation"

That final verdict, filled with Endless majesty and Sky-High fury, pressed down like the heaviest mountain on every heart present.

Their qualifications were revoked! And they still had to face punishment!

The result made every student from First Year Class One below the stage explode in an instant! Regret, resentment, fury... all kinds of emotions spread wildly through the crowd.

"How could this happen!"

"This is too much! They were obviously the ones who..."

"Exactly! Boss Long Yao and Wang Dong are our heroes! How can they revoke their qualifications!"

And Wang Dong on the stage felt as if she had been struck by lightning! A humiliated flush born of injustice instantly surged over her Pretty Face, which had gone deathly pale from shock! She instinctively wanted to argue! The other side had revealed power beyond all reason first; they had only been forced to fight back! Why?!

Yet before those words full of resentment could leave her mouth, a warm large hand, filled with a reassuring sense of strength, unhurriedly and gently took hold of her cold Small Hand, which was trembling slightly from anger.

Wang Dong's entire body suddenly shuddered.

She instinctively turned her head and looked at him beside her.

The warm, steady touch from his palm was like a Warm Current with wondrous Magic Power. In an instant, it doused the flames named "anger" and "resentment" that had been about to erupt in her heart.

She saw his handsome profile, calm as still water.

He had heard the Chief Judge's furious roar and the indignant discussions of the students below, and he had felt the Sky-High grievance in her heart even more clearly, yet there was not the slightest anger on his face, not the slightest resentment, not even... the slightest surprise.

All he had was a faint helplessness that made him impossible to read, as if he had long since expected everything.

Then she saw him turn toward the high judges' seating, which radiated Endless pressure, and give a polite, even respectful salute. Immediately afterward, his clear, understated words, as if the result of the match meant nothing to him at all, rang out from his mouth.

"I understand."

After he said that, he did not look at the Old Man on the High Platform again. He merely sighed softly, and that sigh was filled with a faint weariness toward this farce.

"Let's go, let's go. The match is over."

He pulled her along, his movements so natural it was as if they had rehearsed them a thousand times.

At that moment, Wang Dong's mind completely stopped thinking. She only stared blankly, letting him hold her hand and lead her out from the center of that vortex filled with chaos and storm. Her Footsteps were a little unsteady, and her heart was still a tangled mess, but that Small Hand held tightly by him was like the only solid anchor she could grasp in this confused sea.

As long as he was pulling her along like this, it was as if even the sky collapsing was nothing to fear.

On the High Platform, the Chief Judge who had just announced the result watched Long Yao's posture, so calm it was nearly "obedient," and for the first time, a trace of almost imperceptible surprise and... suspicion flashed through those Turbid Eyes that were always icy and filled with majesty.

He was not afraid?

He was not angry?

Faced with such an unjust verdict, one enough to affect his entire life, this Youth who had just revealed power like a Demon God's, a world-destroying force, actually... had not the slightest intent to resist?

This composure, so terrifyingly calm and completely at odds with his age and strength, made this Old Man, who had lived for centuries, feel... alarmed far more than the violent power he had displayed just now.

His brows unconsciously furrowed deeply, and those sharp Eyes, as if they could pierce through human hearts, remained fixed on that tall Back Figure slowly walking down from the Soul Fighting Platform while pulling his Comrade along. For a long time, he did not look away.

At the other end of the Soul Fighting Platform, Tie Shi had struggled to sit up with one hand braced against the ground. As he looked at Long Yao's carefree departing Back Figure, his crimson Eyes filled with an indescribably complicated mix of hatred, resentment, humiliation, and... a shred of admiration from his Soul Depth that even he himself was unwilling to admit.

"Wan'er... you..." He ignored the Burning Hot Severe Pain on his Back, where the wound was deep enough to see bone, and turned his head, looking worriedly toward his Teammate with a voice made somewhat hoarse from excessive blood loss.

Tang Wan'er was kneeling quietly on the ground, gently wiping the vivid, glaring bloodstain at the corner of her mouth with a Pure White handkerchief.

She did not look at that departing Back Figure.

She merely lowered her head and looked at her spread, fair palm. There, that adorable "Bun Spirit" was trembling faintly with dim light, as if it had been heavily injured.

After who knew how long, she slowly Raised Her Head.

The cold expression full of Killing Intent on her face had long since vanished. In its place was that familiar, sweet, harmless, adorable smile, as if nothing had ever happened.

She looked at Tie Shi's face, which was filled with concern, and those big, round Eyes, like black grapes, once again curved into a pair of beautiful, adorable crescent moons.

"I'm okay, Brother Tie Shi~" she said lightly in that cloyingly sweet, coquettish voice. "It's just... I think I found a new toy that's even more fun, even more interesting... than you~"

As she spoke, she extended the tender, tiny tip of her tongue and gently licked the trace of blood on her Lips that had not yet been wiped clean, carrying a faint Rust Smell...

That movement was filled with endless, sickly, chilling... allure.

Under the complicated and awed gazes of several thousand spectators, gazes that parted like Moses dividing the sea, Long Yao and Wang Dong walked down step by step from that Soul Fighting Platform, which was already riddled with devastation, and slowly headed toward their own viewing area.

"Long Yao! Wang Dong!"

Before they had even approached, Bei Bei and Tang Ya could no longer hold back and hurried down from the stands to meet them.

"What on earth is going on?! What right does Mu En have to revoke your qualifications! This is too unfair!" Tang Ya had the fieriest temper. Her face was full of Righteous Indignation, and her Small Face had flushed red.

Bei Bei did not speak, but his tightly furrowed brows and those Eyes filled with worry and gravity had already explained everything. Only Huo Yuhao silently followed behind them, wordlessly sizing up Long Yao with his Spirit Eyes, which flickered with strange light.

Those calm, even slightly understated words were like a basin of cold water that instantly doused Tang Ya's anger, which had been about to spread like wildfire.

"Let's not talk about this first. We should go to that Chief Judge and see what's going on."

Tang Ya's expression of Righteous Indignation suddenly stiffened. She opened her mouth, still wanting to say something, but when she looked at Long Yao's overly calm profile, as still as an Old Well, all the resentment and questions that had reached her lips were strangely blocked back.

Beside her, Bei Bei's tightly furrowed brows also relaxed slightly at that moment. He nodded heavily in agreement, raised a hand, and gently patted Tang Ya on the shoulder, soothing her in a warm and steady voice. "Long Yao is right. Now isn't the time to get worked up. Since Mu En has acted, we have to face it. No matter what the result is, we'll bear it together."

His Words were like a gentle breeze, finally blowing away the last trace of unwillingness in Tang Ya's heart. Though she still pouted, her Small Face filled with grievance and resentment, in the end she did not say anything more. She only stomped hard, her pretty Big Eyes filled with worry for Long Yao and Wang Dong.

As for Wang Dong, whose hand Long Yao was holding firmly, she did not say a single word from beginning to end.

The moment his hand closed around hers, all the anger, all the grievance, and all the resentment in her heart miraculously vanished like smoke, replaced by an even stronger, deeper emotion—worry.

She did not care about any crown, much less any ranking.

All she cared about was him.

She could clearly feel his broad, warm palm tightly enclosing her icy small hand. That steady, powerful pulse passed through their closely pressed palms, beat by beat, extremely clear as it traveled into the depths of her heart, miraculously calming her heart, which had been pounding wildly from that earth-shattering battle just now.

Instinctively, she tightened her fingers and gripped his hand back with a force so faint it was almost imperceptible. She lifted those pink-blue eyes that were still slightly red and swollen, yet astonishingly bright, and stared without blinking at his calm, handsome profile, her gaze filled with unconditional trust and devotion.

As long as he held her hand like this, even if it were a sea of swords and flames, she would dare to charge into it.

Huo Yuhao, who had remained silent all this time, quietly watched the scene before him. Deep within his Spirit Eyes, which flickered with a strange radiance, a trace of barely perceptible shock and... admiration flashed past.

He had seen how that casual sentence from Long Yao had quelled Senior Sister Tang Ya's fury in an instant. He had also seen Senior Brother Bei Bei's approval and trust from the heart. More than that, he had seen Wang Dong, who was always as proud as a little peacock, reveal a tenderness and dependence enough to melt everything after he took her hand.

This was a true leader.

Not someone who relied on strength to force others into submission, but someone who used that absolute composure and confidence born from his very bones to influence and guide everyone around him.

And so, under countless complicated gazes filled with awe, jealousy, doubt, and schadenfreude, this team that should have been the most dazzling new star of the entire competition calmly passed through the bustling crowd. Under Zhou Yi's complicated gaze, filled with worry and gravity, they walked step by step toward the high judges' stand that represented Shrek's absolute authority.

The passage leading to the judges' stand was deep and quiet, as if it were an entirely different world from the clamorous Battle Zone outside.

Every ten steps stood a student in the uniform of the Shrek Academy Inner Court, solemn-faced and straight as a spear on both sides of the passage. The condensed, powerful soul power fluctuations emanating from them, far surpassing those of Outer Court students, silently declared the majesty and inviolability of this place.

When Long Yao and the others reached the end of the passage, two heavy double doors, five meters tall and made from some unknown dense wood, stood silently before them. Carved upon the doors was Shrek Academy's iconic emblem, composed of green little monsters, sinister yet filled with a mysterious beauty.

No announcement was needed. The two heavy doors silently and slowly opened inward, as though pushed by an invisible big hand, revealing the space behind them, filled with a solemn, oppressive atmosphere.

The furnishings inside the room were simple and solemn. The dark redwood floor was polished enough to reflect a person's image, and from the high dome hung an ancient crystal chandelier that gave off a soft, bright glow. At the deepest part of the room stood an enormous desk made from a whole piece of obsidian. Behind the desk, the white-haired and bearded chief judge who had intervened in the match sat upright and still. His thin figure looked as though it might topple with a gust of wind, yet his cloudy eyes, sharp as an eagle's, were staring unblinkingly at the doorway.

Behind him stood several teachers likewise dressed in the elder uniforms of Shrek Academy. Every one of their faces was filled with gravity and lingering fear.

And at one side of the room, two people were already standing there.

They were Tie Shi and Tang Wan'er of Class Seven.

Tie Shi was sitting on a chair while a healing-system teacher pressed both hands, glowing with soft white light, against the deep, bone-exposing, horrifying wound on his back to treat his injuries. His honest face was now pale and weak, and the look he gave Long Yao was filled with complexity and unwillingness.

Tang Wan'er, meanwhile, stood obediently to the side with her head lowered like a child who had done something wrong. Her small face, which always carried a sweet smile, looked somewhat pale now as well. In those big, round eyes, there seemed to be a glimmer of crystal-clear, wronged tears, making her look delicate and pitiful, utterly different from the young girl on the Soul Fighting Platform who had been filled with icy killing intent moments ago.

Holding Wang Dong's hand, Long Yao was the first to step inside. His calm gaze merely swept casually across every face in the room without pausing in the slightest, as if none of this had anything to do with him.

Wang Dong followed closely at his side, the small hand he held tightening a little more by instinct. She could clearly feel the heavy, oppressive pressure in the room that was almost tangible and left one unable to breathe. Most of that pressure came from the white-haired Mu En sitting upright before them.

Bei Bei, Tang Ya, and Huo Yuhao also followed them inside. Without exception, all their faces carried a trace of tension and gravity.

As they entered, the two heavy wooden doors silently closed once more.

The entire room sank into a deathly silence so complete that even a falling needle could be heard.

The white-haired Mu En slowly shifted his blade-sharp gaze away from Tang Wan'er and Tie Shi and onto Long Yao's group, who had just entered.

He did not speak. He merely gave a slight nod of his chin toward the empty space in the center of the room.

It was a silent command that allowed no objection.

As Long Yao calmly pulled Wang Dong toward the center of the room, which represented judgment and authority, it was as though the last trace of air had been drawn out of the entire space.

It was a suffocating, unbearably heavy deathly stillness.

Wang Dong could clearly hear her disappointing heart thumping violently in her chest cavity, "thump, thump," like a lamb about to be sacrificed. A layer of icy, fine cold sweat had already seeped out in her palm, yet the large hand enclosing hers remained warm, like an eternal heat source continuously pouring into her an unbelievable courage and peace strong enough to stand against the whole world.

Her gaze never moved even an inch from his handsome profile. As she looked at him, it was as if she were looking at her entire world.

But Bei Bei, Tang Ya, and Huo Yuhao, standing behind them, felt something entirely different at this moment.

The pretty face that was always full of energy had already drained completely of color, turning deathly pale. In Tang Ya's beautiful big eyes, pure fear surfaced for the first time, fear that came from the depths of her soul. The terrifying pressure spreading from the deepest part of the room, vast as the sea, was like an invisible, icy mountain pressing firmly down on her heart, making even breathing incredibly difficult. Instinctively, she leaned a little closer to Bei Bei beside her, as if only by doing so could she find the slightest sense of security.

Bei Bei was in slightly better condition. After all, he was a direct disciple of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and his mental fortitude was far stronger than that of his peers. Even so, that handsome face that always wore a gentle smile had now become as solemn as ten-thousand-year-old unmelted black ice. Without a word, he shielded Tang Ya behind him and straightened his back, exhausting all his soul power before barely resisting that all-pervasive terrifying pressure that nearly crushed him. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans had already begun sliding slowly down his temples.

Huo Yuhao appeared to be the calmest of the three on the surface, but inside him, towering waves had already surged up!

That pressure was not merely pure soul power oppression. What was even more terrifying was the vast, boundless spiritual pressure contained within it, so fearsome it nearly tore his soul apart completely!

[Kid! Be careful! This old fellow... this old fellow is not right! His spiritual power... is so strong! So overbearing! It's the strongest this old man has ever seen!]

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice, which always carried a trace of laziness and boastfulness, actually rang out sharply, urgently, and loudly in his mind at this moment! That voice was filled with unconcealable, extreme shock and... fear!

[Brother's spiritual power is already at the peak of this continent! But this old fellow... though his spiritual power may still be inferior to Brother's in total quantity, in terms of refinement and that tyrannical, unmatched will... he actually... he actually vaguely has signs of surpassing Brother! This... how is this possible?! How can such a monster still exist on this continent?! He... he's at least a Level 98 peak Douluo! He might even... might even be the legendary... Limit Douluo!!!]

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice became somewhat incoherent from extreme shock.

But Huo Yuhao no longer needed Tian Meng's reminder. The instant he stepped into this room, his Spirit Eyes, flickering with strange light, had already focused all his attention on the white-haired old man seated behind the obsidian desk.

Under the gaze of his Spirit Eyes, that old man was no longer a concrete human form. He seemed to have transformed into a deep, boundless emerald-green ocean filled with life aura! And the few of them were like several small boats in a raging storm, liable at any moment to be swallowed and overturned completely by that green ocean, which appeared calm on the surface but was in truth surging with hidden currents!

Too terrifying!

Was this the true foundation of Shrek Academy?

At the other end of the room, Tang Wan'er, who had kept her head lowered while playing the role of a "frightened little rabbit," had already clenched the skirt at her side so tightly that her knuckles had gone white from excessive force. Deep in her lowered eyes, hidden beneath her long bangs, the icy killing intent that had only just faded had already been completely replaced by an even deeper, stronger complex emotion called "wariness" and "greed."

She could clearly feel that emerald-green terrifying pressure, filled with life aura, pressing down on the Taotie demonic energy inside her, which had only just awakened and was filled with evil and devouring aura, like an invisible great net, restraining her so thoroughly she could not move at all.

She knew even more clearly that as long as that old man wished it, he could at any time crush her as easily as an ant, erasing both her and her already mutated martial soul completely from this world.

But...

The more it did, the faster that heart of hers, which did not belong to a human, beat—excited!

She secretly flicked a quick glance from the corner of her eye at the Tall Figure standing calmly in the center of the room.

One was the Guardian Deity of Shrek Academy, possessing unfathomable power as vast as a sea of life.

The other was a mysterious "new toy" that even made her feel a palpitation of fear, filled with the aura of destruction and Causality.

Hee hee...

This place seemed to be getting... more and more interesting~

The air in the entire room seemed to have solidified. The heavy, oppressive silence was like a massive millstone, slowly grinding down the nerves of everyone present.

No one knew how long had passed before the white-haired Chief Judge finally moved slowly.

His cloudy yet hawk-sharp eyes slowly shifted away from the two Youths and Maidens still standing there in silence, then landed on Bei Bei, Tang Ya, and Huo Yuhao behind them.

"You three may leave."

His Voice was aged and hoarse, without the slightest hint of emotion, yet it carried an absolute authority that brooked no objection.

Bei Bei was suddenly startled and instinctively wanted to say something, but when his gaze met the old man's Profound Eyes, which seemed capable of seeing through people's hearts, all the words that had reached his lips turned into an icy chill that poured back down his throat.

"Mu En..." he only managed to force those two words out With Difficulty through clenched teeth.

"Leave."

The old man merely repeated it indifferently.

But this time, His Voice already carried a barely perceptible trace of impatience, and the pressure filling the entire room abruptly grew several degrees heavier!

Bei Bei's face instantly turned deathly pale! He only felt as though he were prey being fixed in place by an Ancient Fierce Beast, even his soul trembling and groaning beneath that terrifying pressure!

"We're going!"

He made the decision on the spot, no longer daring to hesitate in the slightest! He pulled Tang Ya, who had long since been frightened out of her wits, and gave Huo Yuao, whose expression was equally grave, a look. Then he bowed deeply and respectfully to the old man before finally taking the two of them and almost "fleeing for their lives" as they hurried out of the suffocating room.

When the two heavy doors slowly closed behind them again, only Long Yao and Wang Dong remained in the room, along with... those two from Class Seven.

The room once again returned to that deathly, oppressive silence.

The old man was like a lifeless statue, merely watching them quietly. His gaze was like two Sharpest, invisible scalpels, carefully scraping over Long Yao and Tang Wan'er again and again, as though he meant to see them clearly and thoroughly from the inside out, from their souls to their Martial Souls.

"Young Girl,"

At last, he slowly spoke, and his first target was actually Tang Wan'er, who looked the weakest and most harmless.

"Your Martial Soul is a bun?"

Tang Wan'er's petite body trembled violently. She slowly lifted that pitiful Small Face, still tinged with a trace of pallor and grievance, while Crystal Clear Tears quickly welled up in those big, round Eyes.

"R-reporting to Mu En..." Her voice carried a perfectly measured tremor, born of fear and evoking pity. "M-my Martial Soul is... is 'Sweet Delicious Meat Bun'..."

"Sweet Delicious Meat Bun?" A faint, mocking smile finally appeared on the old man's impassive face. "What a fine 'Sweet Delicious.' Then what was that pitch-black Monster just now, filled with an aura of evil and devouring, with a mouth and one eye?"

Tang Wan'er's face went even paler with a whoosh! An unconcealable, extreme panic flashed through her tear-filled Eyes!

"I... I don't know..." She shook her head desperately, and those two streams of clear Tears finally rolled down her smooth cheeks. "I really don't know... Just now... just now, Brother Tie Shi was hurt so badly to protect me... I... I was so scared... so angry... then... then my Martial Soul... it... it changed into that on its own... I... I couldn't control it... Mu En, I really didn't mean to... boohoo..."

She wept like Pear Blossom with Rain, heartbroken, that weak and helpless appearance enough to stir pity in any man of wavering resolve, making him wish he could immediately pull her into his arms and comfort her properly.

Even the Healing System Teacher who was treating Tie Shi showed a trace of reluctance on his face.

Yet the old man merely looked at her quietly. His cloudy eyes were like two bottomless Old Wells, without the slightest Ripple caused by her tears.

"Is that so?" he merely asked back indifferently.

Immediately afterward, an Emerald Green spiritual pressure, more condensed, purer, and more tyrannical than at any previous moment, silently enveloped Tang Wan'er like an invisible tide!

"Ah—!"

Tang Wan'er's petite body was like it had been smashed by an invisible Great Hammer. She suddenly flew backward and slammed heavily into the wall behind her with a bang, a Muffled Sound!

All the disguise on her pitiful Small Face was completely torn to shreds in that instant! She no longer cried, nor did she tremble! Her big, round, black-grape-like Eyes glared fixedly at the old man seated behind the desk, and there was no longer fear and panic in that gaze, but instead a deep-seated, undisguised venom and... Killing Intent!

"You old bastard! You..."

However, before she could finish those venom-filled words, she was cut off, forcibly and brutally, by the old man's voice, cold and utterly devoid of emotion.

"A Young Girl whose Martial Soul has only just awakened not long ago, with Soul Power of merely rank twenty-one, dares try such crude, mind-bewitching spiritual tricks in front of this Old Man?" The old man slowly shook his head, his gaze like he was looking at an ignorant, foolish Jumping Clown.

"That power of yours is filled with the purest ancient evil intent. It does not belong to this era, and it has even less right to appear in a Student of Shrek Academy."

"Young Girl, this Old Man will ask you one last time."

"Who exactly are you? And what exactly is your purpose in coming to my Shrek?"

His Voice was flat and indifferent, yet it was like one merciless, judgmental Heavy Hammer after another, striking hard into Tang Wan'er's Soul Depth, causing her Small Face, already turned ferocious, to go deathly pale once more.

Seeing that Tang Wan'er did not answer, Mu En simply stopped asking and instead turned his sharp gaze once more toward the youth who had stood in the center of the room from beginning to end, without even the slightest unnecessary expression.

"As for you..."

His Voice became graver than at any previous moment.

"That spear of yours just now contained the power of 'Causality.'"

"That was a realm only a Deity could set foot in."

"Talk, kid. Whose successor are you?"

Time: Douluo Calendar Year 2030 Season: Autumn Third Day of Enrollment 10:55 a.m.

Location: Shrek Academy, Central Plaza

Audience: 620,000

Equipment: Shrek Academy Uniform x1, True Vast Sea Ring (divine artifact), Student Emblem x1

Items: Shrek Academy Uniform x1, Dormitory Key x1

First Martial Soul: Soul Breaking Spear [Traits: Armor Breaking, Soul Devouring, Penetration]

Second Martial Soul: Chaos Holy Dragon (Hidden) [Traits: Strength, Time, Space]

Soul Power: Level 45 (Soul Ancestor) [Status: True Vast Sea Ring Shielding, External Perception at Level 24]

Soul Rings: [Soul Breaking Spear] First Soul Ring (Yellow Hundred-Year), Second Soul Ring (Purple Thousand-Year), Third Soul Ring (Black Ten-Thousand-Year), Fourth Soul Ring (Black Ten-Thousand-Year)

[Chaos Holy Dragon] First Soul Ring (Black Thirteen-Thousand-Year), Second Soul Ring (Black Twenty-Eight-Thousand-Year), Third Soul Ring (Black Forty-Six-Thousand-Year), Fourth Soul Ring (Rose Gold Hundred-Thousand-Year)

Spirit Skills: [Soul Breaking Spear] First Spirit Skill: Swift Shadow Stab, Second Spirit Skill: Whirlwind Spear, Third Spirit Skill: Armor Breaking Spiral, Fourth Spirit Skill: Thousand Spirit Spear Rain

[Chaos Holy Dragon] First Spirit Skill: Star Ring, Second Spirit Skill: Holy Dragon Claw, Third Spirit Skill: Void Claw, Fourth Spirit Skill: Time and Space Roar

Soul Bones: None

Soul Spirit: None

Temporary Tip Storage: [Million-Year Spirit Beast Inverse Scale] x1, [Starlight Sapphire Brooch] x1, [Tsundere Princess Strategy Manual Platinum Edition] x1, [God-Bestowed Soul Ring (Hundred-Thousand-Year)] x1, [Spring of Life (Concentrated)] x1, [Calming Incense (First Snowmelt on the Snowy Mountain)] x1, [Dragon Blood Body Tempering Pill] ×10, [Space Storage Bracelet] ×1, [God King Level Space Law Comprehension Crystal] ×1, [Super Divine Artifact: Time and Space Wheel Fragment] ×1, [God King Godhead (Incomplete)] ×1, [Playful Rabbit Ear Headband] ×2