"Compromise"

That remark, carrying a touch of self-mockery and a touch of carefree ease, yet terrifyingly precise, was like a stone tossed into a calm lake, once again stirring a faint but distinct ripple in Mu En's Heart Lake, which had long been as still as an Old Well.

"So I really have been tied onto a 'pirate ship,' huh."

Hearing that, the faint smile that had only just appeared on Mu En's habitually tense, aged face deepened a little despite himself. He looked at the Youth before him, and deep within those cloudy eyes, pure, From the Heart appreciation and fondness almost overflowed.

After experiencing that confrontation just now, one filled with death and pressure enough to shake even a Super Douluo's mind, an ordinary youth would either have been filled with the relief and lingering fear of surviving the Aftermath of Disaster, or else would have endured humiliation and unwillingness with resentment and venom.

But him?

He acted as if nothing had happened, and even had the leisure to use this half-joking, slang-filled little quip to tease himself and all of Shrek.

That composure of remaining unchanged even with Mount Tai Collapsing before him, that powerful mind that could still maintain clarity and humor under absolute pressure...

This was already not something the two words "genius" could sum up.

This was the bearing of a true Hero!

Mu En did not speak. He only gazed at him quietly with those Profound Eyes, that look seeming to say: not just anyone was qualified to board this "pirate ship" of mine.

Immediately afterward, the Youth's words, in which he completely set aside all posturing and expressed full cooperation, made the last trace of concern in Mu En's heart vanish like smoke.

"This junior has no objections. Everything will be as Mu En arranges."

The instant his words fell, that tense, confrontational atmosphere, full of drawn swords and bent bows, melted away completely like ice and snow scattered by Spring Breeze.

The Youth unhurriedly took out a brand-new hardbound notebook made of fine Soul Beast Hide and a Soul Tool Pen whose shaft shimmered with faint Metallic Luster from the Storage Ring on his hand, which looked utterly ordinary at first glance but was clearly worth a great deal.

Then, under Wang Dong's focused, worshipful gaze, beneath Mu En's hot stare filled with appreciation and inquiry, and amid the strange scrutiny from Tang Wan'er in the corner of the room, whose eyes were filled with sickly excitement and greed, he pulled over a chair and Sat Down calmly.

He placed the worn ancient book, which carried a hundred years of the Breaking Clan's glory and regret, side by side with the brand-new notebook on the broad Obsidian desk. Then he began that seemingly dull yet extraordinarily meaningful... transcription work.

The entire room sank into a strange silence full of tension.

Only the fine yet clear "rustling" sound of the Soul Tool Pen's tip moving across the tough beast-hide paper could be heard. Every character was written with meticulous care, the force seeming to penetrate the paper, and it was almost identical to the Original Work's powerful, iron-stroke-and-silver-hook handwriting.

The Youth copied with extreme focus.

There was no unnecessary expression on his handsome profile. His gaze was calm and clear, as if what he was doing right now was not an Earth-Shattering great matter tied to the future fate of the entire continent, but merely an ordinary piece of homework assigned by a Teacher.

Wang Dong stood quietly at his side just like that.

She did not sit down, nor did she disturb him. She only guarded everything that was hers in silence, like a beautiful guardian statue. Her gaze fell on his handsome profile, on his Well-defined Joints as he wrote seriously, on his dark, soft hair... as if she wanted to etch every detail of him deep into her mind.

Mu En also Sat Down again in his broad chair. He did not look at the ancient book placed on the desk, because he had already used Spiritual Power to scan and imprint every word on it carefully no fewer than a hundred times just now.

He only watched the Youth writing swiftly in silence.

His gaze was very complicated.

He was like the most experienced old farmer examining an unparalleled immortal seedling he had never seen before, yet which was growing delightfully well. He wanted to know what kind of shocking fruit it would eventually bear, but he was also afraid that the slightest carelessness on his part would ruin this heaven-sent opportunity by pulling at the shoots to make them grow.

He even stood up personally and used the Zisha Tea Set he had treasured for many years, one steeped in the spring water of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eyes, to brew a pot of fragrant "Azure Sea Tide" tea produced by the shores of the Lake of Life. One cup was placed before Long Yao, and one cup before himself. Then he sipped the Fragrant Tea and waited quietly.

And in the corner of the room.

After completing his work, the Healing System Teacher responsible for treating Tie Shi's injuries had long since bowed respectfully to Mu En, then silently withdrawn with Tie Shi, whose injuries had already stabilized yet who remained unconscious.

Only Tang Wan'er was left in the room as an "outsider."

She remained kneeling in that cold corner, like a forgotten black rose stained with dust. At this moment, there was no expression at all on that delicate Small Face that always wore a sweet smile. Those large, round eyes of hers, like black grapes, merely watched the incomparably harmonious yet incomparably strange scene in the center of the room calmly.

She did not understand.

Nor could she figure it out.

Why?

Why had things developed into this?

Why could that Youth, who had just displayed a terrifying power filled with destruction and the aura of Causality, enough to make gods and Demon alike tremble, now sit there so calmly, copying homework stroke by stroke like the most obedient good student?

Why could that Old Man, who had just released the Terrifying Pressure of a Limit Douluo, enough to completely freeze and shatter space itself, now act like the kindest Grandfather next door, even personally pouring a cup of hot tea for the "enemy" he had nearly killed?

Was this... humanity?

Was this the complicated, utterly unfamiliar way of getting along that was full of hypocrisy, compromise, probing, and calculation?

Her Heart, which did not belong to humanity and was filled with evil and the desire to devour, produced for the first time an imperceptible trace of... confusion that even she herself had not realized.

Time passed second by second amid this strange silence full of tension.

A full two hours.

When Long Yao wrote the final word and placed the final punctuation mark, the sun outside the window had already risen to its highest point. Warm noon sunlight slanted in through the enormous Floor-to-Ceiling Window, casting mottled Light and Shadow filled with warmth across the room.

"Whew..."

He let out a long breath and put down the Soul Tool Pen in his hand.

Without even looking at the two books on the desk, he casually reached out and gently pushed the original worn ancient book, which carried a hundred years of the Breaking Clan's glory and regret, to the exact center of the desk.

That motion was crisp, clean, and filled with the carefree meaning of a man who kept his word.

It was as if what he had pushed out was not a priceless treasure capable of stirring up an Earth-Shattering revolutionary storm across the entire continent, but merely the most ordinary object, one that had completed its historical mission.

Mu En looked at him, and in those cloudy eyes, the satisfied, appreciative light grew even richer.

He slowly reached out and solemnly took the ancient book before him. Then he picked up the Hand-copied Manuscript that had only just been completed, its ink not yet dry, and carefully compared it at speed against the contents imprinted in his mind.

Not a single character was off.

Even the few places where the owner's surging emotions had made the strokes sloppy and full of force had been imitated to perfection.

"Very good."

Moon nodded in satisfaction. He gently pushed the Hand-copied Manuscript back in front of Long Yao.

"Then, as agreed, this book is yours now."

"And the original of this book will, from this moment on, become Sea God Pavilion's highest secret. Without the joint permission of me and the other two elders of Sea God Pavilion, no one may read it again."

He looked at Long Yao, and those Profound Eyes turned sharp once more.

"Everything that happened here today—including the Old Man's identity, the existence of this book, and... any information regarding that Evil Soul Master—must rot in your stomachs!"

"Other than the two of you, I do not want a third person knowing about this. Understood?"

That voice, filled with unquestionable authority, slowly echoed through the room.

Wang Dong instinctively straightened her back and nodded hard.

And Tang Wan'er, in the corner, was extremely cooperative as well, burying her head even lower. Her docile, obedient appearance made it seem as though she truly regarded Every Word Moon said as sacred law.

"Now," Moon solemnly placed the original ancient book into his Storage Soul Tool, then slowly rose from his chair, "this matter can be considered temporarily concluded."

His sharp eyes, as if they could pierce through everything, moved away from Long Yao and Wang Dong before finally landing on the petite figure that had been kneeling in the corner from beginning to end, silent the whole time.

"As for you..."

Moon's voice turned cold again in an instant, indifferent and utterly devoid of emotion.

"Young Girl, shouldn't you have a proper little talk with the Old Man now?"

After the Youth put away that profoundly significant Hand-copied Manuscript, the invisible contest woven from wisdom, courage, and schemes quietly came to an end within the room.

What remained was no longer negotiation.

It was judgment.

Long Yao did not move.

He merely pulled Wang Dong back to one side. In those eyes that were always calm and untroubled, a trace of pure, almost appreciative interest surfaced for the first time, like he was watching a wonderful play.

It was as if everything that was about to happen next was nothing more than an interesting aftershow that had nothing to do with him.

The atmosphere in the room turned cold and stagnant again in an instant.

The Terrifying Pressure that belonged to a Limit Douluo, which had only just dispersed, did not sweep out overwhelmingly as it had before. It merely transformed into an invisible, condensed-to-the-limit, ice-cold Line of Sight filled with the meaning of death and finality. Like a Sharp Blade suspended above the neck, it silently hovered over that petite figure who had been kneeling in the corner all along, seeming harmless to both humans and beasts.

Moon's gaze fell on Tang Wan'er.

That look was cold, indifferent, without the slightest trace of emotion, as though he were looking at a filthy... contaminant that had long since been sentenced to death and needed to be thoroughly purified.

"Now." His aged, hoarse voice slowly rang out, Every Word like an icy tombstone smashing heavily onto the ground. "Young Girl, it is your turn."

Tang Wan'er, who had kept her head lowered and whose body was still trembling slightly as though she had been terrified out of her wits, suddenly stiffened when she heard this.

Under everyone's complicated gazes, she slowly stopped trembling.

She unhurriedly stretched out those Fair Small Hands and lightly patted at the dust on the hem of her skirt—dust that did not exist at all. Immediately afterward, with an elegant and composed bearing completely at odds with her pitiful appearance, she slowly stood up from the cold floor.

On that delicate Small Face of hers, which always wore a sweet smile but now looked somewhat pale from fear, every expression receded cleanly away like the tide in this moment.

There was none of the grievance and panic from before.

None of the later venom and Killing Intent.

There was not even the slightest unnecessary emotion to be seen.

In their place was a pure, bone-chilling, absolute and ice-cold indifference, as though she had lost all interest in everything in the world.

She slowly Raised Her Head.

Those eyes, always large and round like black grapes, so lovable they drew pity, had now become like two bottomless, deep Old Wells—calm, Deathly Stillness, without the slightest Ripple.

Those Lips, always cloyingly sweet as though coated in honey, lifted slightly, outlining a shallow but incomparably Dazzling curve full of ridicule and mockery.

"Talk?"

Her voice rang out. It was no longer that sweet, Acting Cute, even slightly trembling, adorable tone from before. Instead, it was a flat, crisp, emotionless, icy timbre, like two pieces of the purest crystal striking against each other.

"Mr. Moon, do you think there is anything between us now still worth 'talking' about?"

Moon's cloudy eyes narrowed slightly. He did not become angry because of her almost provocative attitude, merely saying slowly in a tone so calm it held not a single Ripple, "It seems you do not intend to keep acting."

"Acting?" Tang Wan'er seemed to have heard some enormous joke. For the first time, a vivid Ripple full of ridicule rose in those Deathly Stillness eyes of hers. "Mr. Moon, have you misunderstood something? From beginning to end, I have only been a poor, innocent Victim who was nearly killed in the arena by a Student of your Shrek Academy."

She paused, and those ice-cold, emotionless eyes slowly shifted to the handsome Youth standing off to the side and watching the show.

"On the contrary, this so-called 'descendant of a Hero' beside you—he is the truly brilliant, top-tier 'actor,' isn't he?"

"Young Girl," Moon's voice grew even colder, "playing this clumsy word game in front of the Old Man, trying to sow discord, has no meaning whatsoever."

"The Old Man will ask you one last time. About that Evil Soul Master's experimental base that used over a thousand children as 'sacrifices'—what do you know?"

When she heard the word "sacrifices," the smile on Tang Wan'er's face, which had always carried a trace of ridicule, disappeared for the first time.

Those ice-cold, Deathly Stillness eyes of hers slowly lowered, as if she were recalling something.

No one knew how much time had passed before she raised her head again. On that delicate Small Face, a sweet smile filled with innocence and curiosity had actually surfaced once more. But in Wang Dong's eyes, that smile was even more chilling than the most vicious curse.

"Oh, you mean the 'Raw Material,'" Tang Wan'er tilted her head and said lightly in that crisp voice, even carrying a trace of delight. "'Sacrifices' sounds far too unpleasant. We prefer to call them 'the indispensable base materials that compose great art.'"

"As for those three old gentlemen you mentioned..." She lifted a slender, fair finger, like a green onion stalk, and placed it against her full Lips, making an adorable gesture full of distress.

"Mm... let me think..."

"They... really were far too fragile."

"I only touched them lightly, and their souls went 'pop,' shattering like overripe watermelons."

"Honestly... not fun at all."

She spoke those words so casually, so innocently, as if she were a child complaining that her beloved toy was not sturdy enough.

But the coldness contained within those words, that pure, extreme evil that treated life as worthless, was like an invisible ice spike quenched in deadly poison, stabbing viciously into Wang Dong's heart, draining the last trace of color from her already pale Pretty Face!

She subconsciously tightened her grip on Long Yao's arm. In those Pink Blue Eyes that were always filled with pride, for the first time, there appeared an indescribable surge of emotion, a mixture of nausea and fury!

This Girl...

She was an out-and-out, utterly and completely... Madman! Devil!

"Very well."

Mu En slowly spat out those two words.

Every expression on his aged face had vanished, once again returning to that lofty, Deity-like indifference and absolute majesty.

He looked at Tang Wan'er as though he were looking at a piece of trash that had already lost all value in existing and was about to be thoroughly cleaned away.

"Since you have already said everything that should be said..."

"Then you may disappear from this world."

The instant his words fell, that aged Right Hand of his, covered in wrinkles, slowly lifted.

There was no Earth-Shattering Soul Power Fluctuation, nor any world-destroying Terrifying Pressure.

There was only an absolute, pure will, Representing "termination" and "purification," filled with the aura of sanctity and light.

Yet in the face of this certain-kill strike, enough to make any Super Douluo's expression change, that sweet, sickly, bizarre smile still hung on Tang Wan'er's delicate Small Face.

She did not run, nor did she resist.

She simply watched Mu En quietly with those cold, emotionless eyes, and in a Sleep Talk-like voice filled with mockery and ridicule, as if only she herself could hear it, she said softly:

"Heehee... disappear?"

"Old Mr. Mu, have you ever heard the saying, 'Before beating a Dog, you should look at its owner'?"

"Killing me would be very simple for you."

"But... are you, and your Shrek, truly prepared to endure the wrath of that master behind me?"

That casual sentence was like a thunderclap that Cut Through the Deathly Stillness of the night sky, exploding beside the ears of everyone in the room.

Time: Douluo Calendar Year 2030 Season: Autumn Third Day of Enrollment 1:15 PM

Location: Shrek Academy, Central Plaza

Audience: 640,000

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 is 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)

Soul 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

Reward Stash: [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] x1, [Calming Incense] x1, [Dragon Blood Body Tempering Pill] ×10, [Space Storage Bracelet (Couple's Set)] ×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