Ning Rongrong frowned, silently walked to Xiao Wu's side, and took her slightly chilled hand.
Zhu Zhuqing's pretty face was frosty as she looked at Dai Mubai and Oscar with undisguised disgust.
Stupid?
Zhu Zhuqing sneered inwardly.
A daughter had been willing to give up the God Position that everyone in the world dreamed of in order to save her mother.
Yet in those men's eyes, that was stupidity?
She could not help thinking of Tang San.
The Sky Screen had revealed that, for a soul ring, he could sacrifice his own mother, Ah Yin, without hesitation.
In the future, for a soul ring, he would likewise sacrifice Xiao Wu, the woman he constantly claimed to love dearly, without hesitation.
One had ruined her own future to save her mother.
The other had killed his mother and wife for the sake of his future.
The difference between them was obvious.
Yet Dai Mubai and the others were ridiculously still singing the praises of the latter.
Those who walked different paths could not make plans together.
Zhu Zhuqing's gaze drifted unconsciously toward the distant Sunset Forest.
Perhaps...
That was where they belonged.
Elsewhere, Yu Xiaogang and Flender were also staring fixedly at the Sky Screen.
"A God Position... can actually be shattered by its owner..."
Yu Xiaogang's breathing grew heavy. His focus was clearly completely different from everyone else's.
He did not care about Qian Renxue's misery, nor did he care about Tang San's ruthlessness.
What he cared about was that supreme power!
"What immense power, what lofty status! How could she dare... how could she just give it up like that?!"
Yu Xiaogang's voice trembled, half lamenting the loss of that power and half crazed with jealousy.
What he had spent his entire life pursuing was something another person could discard so casually.
"However..."
His tone shifted, and a glimmer flashed through his clouded eyes.
"Tang San... truly is the most outstanding disciple I have ever taught. To defy a Deity with a mortal body—across the entire world, only he could accomplish such a thing."
That brilliance made him proud, but it also tore at his heart.
"What a pity. In the end, he is still an ungrateful wretch!"
He ultimately could not help muttering a curse.
Flender beside him, however, had entirely different thoughts.
Listening to Yu Xiaogang's lament and watching the high-spirited Tang San in the distance, his eyes gleamed sharply behind his lenses.
"Xiaogang, whether he is an ungrateful wretch or not."
Flender lowered his voice, but his tone was incomparably firm.
"He is now the only banner of our Shrek Academy, and our only hope of restoring its glory!"
"No matter what, we must keep him at the academy!"
As long as Tang San remained, Shrek could become the continent's number one academy, with wealth and fame pouring in!
As for his character?
That was unimportant.
Spirit City.
Before the Papal Palace.
Bibi Dong stood quietly, utterly motionless.
From beginning to end, she watched every scene involving Qian Renxue.
She saw the hardships Qian Renxue had endured while infiltrating Tiandou.
She saw the trials Qian Renxue endured during Angel's Nine Trials.
She saw her unwillingness after narrowly losing to Tang San.
And she saw even more clearly...
The moment Qian Renxue turned into a streak of light and charged without hesitation into the Asura Demon Sword to save her.
"Mother, if there is another life, I hope I can sooner... feel your love."
Those final words were like a red-hot branding iron, searing fiercely into her heart.
Bibi Dong's body began to tremble faintly beyond her control.
She slowly raised her hand and looked at her well-maintained, fair, slender palm.
These were the hands that had pushed Qian Renxue away when she was young.
These were the hands that had never offered her even a trace of warmth as she grew up.
Yet she...
Even in death, had still wanted to save me, her unworthy mother...
Tang San!
The moment those two words surfaced in her mind, an unprecedented, overwhelming Killing Intent erupted!
Crack.
Bibi Dong clenched her fist tightly, her sharp nails digging deep into her palm as crimson blood dripped through her fingers.
Yet she felt nothing.
In those regal phoenix eyes that had once captivated the entire continent, there remained only rage and murderous intent enough to burn the heavens.
She forcibly suppressed the emotions on the verge of bursting forth. Every word seemed squeezed through clenched teeth.
"Tang... San..."
One drop, then two...
Crimson beads of blood slid down Bibi Dong's pale fingers, striking the cold ground and blooming into tiny flowers of blood.
It was as though she could not feel any pain at all.
Those phoenix eyes that had once enthralled the entire continent stared fixedly at the vanished image on the Sky Screen. Deep within her pupils burned two clusters of violet flame.
Tang San...
That name was like a poisoned thorn, repeatedly twisting in her heart.
She remembered her life.
From the Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall, to the inheritor of the Rakshasa God, to the empress who unified the continent.
She had devoured Qian Xunji, destroyed the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and dealt the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect a devastating blow.
Her hands were drenched in blood, and beneath her feet lay mountains of corpse bone.
The world called her a demon and cursed her as a venomous woman.
She had never cared.
She had thought her heart had died alongside that man in that secret chamber long ago, becoming harder than black ice.
But when she saw on the Sky Screen that daughter she had never truly looked at turn into a streak of golden light and charge without hesitation into the Asura Demon Sword.
That long-dead heart was pierced through viciously.
So she could feel pain too.
So there truly was someone in this world who cared about her, a mother burdened with such grave sins.
"Mother, if there is another life, I hope I can sooner... feel your love."
Those final words echoed in her mind again and again.
That was right.
Love?
What had she ever given her?
Other than cold looks and harsh demands, nothing.
Bibi Dong slowly unclenched her fist, looked at the wound in her palm deep enough to expose bone, and pulled her lips into a self-mocking smile.
The invisible barrier between mother and daughter had completely vanished the moment that golden light shattered the God Position.
What was laughable was that Bibi Dong had dominated her entire life, only to be awakened in the end by her daughter's sacrifice.
To have her take the initiative to seek reconciliation with Qian Renxue?
She could not bring herself to do it.
But none of that mattered anymore.
What mattered was the source of this entire tragedy.
Tang San!
If not for him, Xue Er would not have failed her infiltration!
If not for him, Xue Er's God Position would not have shattered!
If not for him, she... would not have met such a miserable end!
Old and new hatred converged in that moment into a towering blaze of fury capable of burning down the entire continent!
Bibi Dong even felt the urge to charge into Shrek right now, without waiting for that damned Golden Ranking to announce the final two places, and tear that little beast into ten thousand pieces!
"Bibi Dong."
An aged yet calm voice came from behind her.
Bibi Dong did not turn around.
In all of Spirit City, only one person dared speak to her in that tone.
Qian Daoliu.
The Great Elder, dressed in a golden robe, slowly walked to her side and likewise raised his head toward the sky, which had already returned to calm.
"You saw it all."
Before you continue