Chapter 161

When Xuan Zi landed, the sky was still dark.

He had flown all night from the Mingdou Mountain Range back to Shrek Academy alone, carrying four severely injured students.

When the folded wings of the Flight Soul Tool retracted, the joints in his shoulders creaked.

As the white light behind him faded, Gongyang Mo, Chen Zifeng, Xixi, and Yao Haoxuan were wrapped in dense white Soul Power, floating in midair like four insects cocooned in silk.

Xuan Zi did not set them down. He carried them straight into the academy's Treatment Room.

The lights in the Treatment Room stayed on all night.

By the time he handed the four of them over to the Healing System Soul Masters and confirmed that their lives were not in immediate danger, dawn was already breaking.

When he left the Treatment Room, he did not return to his quarters. Instead, he went alone to the entrance of Sea God Pavilion and sat down on the steps.

He still had not taken off the Flight Soul Tool on his back. His clothes were covered in blood and scraps of flesh, some of which had already dried hard, making a faint rasping sound against the stone steps.

His messy hair was tossed into an utter mess by the night wind.

When Mu En came out of Sea God Pavilion, Xuan Zi was sitting with his head lowered, both hands resting on his knees. His entire body was curled into a ball, like a stone weathered by wind and sun for far too long.

Mu En stopped beside him without looking at him. His clouded old eyes gazed at the gray horizon in the distance. The sun had yet to rise, and only a pale strip of dawn light could be seen.

"You're back?" Mu En's voice