I Refuse

[Douluo II Period]

Meanwhile, at Shrek Academy, inside the Sea God Pavilion.

An inner court teacher hurried over to report to Elder Xuan.

"Elder Xuan, it's bad! We just finished the headcount and discovered... discovered that Ling Luochen is missing!"

The teacher said anxiously:

"Her dormitory is completely empty, and we've searched the entire inner court but couldn't find her anywhere!"

"What?!"

Elder Xuan slammed his hand onto the table, standing up in a mix of shock and anger.

He furrowed his brows, pacing back and forth in the room with a look of deep concern.

"Absurd! This is absolutely absurd!"

"At a critical time like this, how could she leave the academy without permission!"

"Elder Xuan, what should we do now? Should we immediately send people to pursue her?"

"Pursue? How are you going to pursue her?"

Elder Xuan glared at the teacher.

"The academy has just been placed under lockdown; any slight disturbance will be infinitely magnified by the outside world! If news gets out that one of the Shrek Seven Devils has fled to avoid punishment, the consequences would be unimaginable!"

He took a deep breath, putting on a pained expression as if he were prioritizing the bigger picture.

"This matter must absolutely not be spread!"

"Go down immediately and seal the lips of everyone who knows about this!"

"Tell the outside world that Ling Luochen is in secluded cultivation!"

"Once things stabilize here at the academy, I will personally go and bring her back!"

"Yes... yes! Elder Xuan is truly wise and righteous!"

The teacher let out a sigh of relief and hurriedly bowed to take his leave.

The door was gently closed.

Once the teacher's footsteps had completely vanished at the end of the corridor.

Every expression on Elder Xuan's face vanished without a trace in an instant.

The face that had appeared so worried a moment ago was now left with only cold indifference.

He slowly turned around, facing a dim shadow in the room, and spoke in a chillingly different voice:

"I have already released her for you."

"Go and take her to the cult."

"Remember, once you have succeeded, do not make any contact for the time being."

As soon as he finished speaking, the shadow twisted, and a figure shrouded in black robes emerged like Gui Mei.

"Hehehe..."

The black shadow let out a teeth-gritting, strange laugh.

"We naturally trust Elder Xuan to get things done."

"An ice-attribute Spirit King, and one of the Shrek Seven Devils at that; the Sect Master will surely be very satisfied."

As the black shadow spoke, he flicked his finger.

A bead the size of a pigeon egg, emitting an eerie blood-red light, flew silently toward Elder Xuan.

"This is your offering for this time, Elder. Please, accept it."

After saying this, the black shadow turned into a wisp of black smoke and vanished without a trace, as if he had never appeared at all.

Inside the room, only Elder Xuan remained.

He stared fixedly at the floating blood bead, his eyes instantly erupting with a hunger that bordered on madness!

He could no longer maintain his usual sanctimonious appearance; his facial muscles twisted, and a wheezing sound escaped his throat.

He waved his hand violently, and a thick wave of spirit power instantly enveloped the entire study, isolating it from all outside detection.

After doing this, he grabbed the blood bead.

Unable to wait, he opened his mouth and, like a beast that had been starving for a thousand years, swallowed the blood bead in one gulp!

"Gulp!"

As the blood bead entered his stomach, a massive surge of life energy and evil power exploded within him.

Elder Xuan let out a groan of satisfaction and pain; his gaunt body became plump at a speed visible to the naked eye, and a sickly flush appeared on his face.

His entire person seemed to have instantly grown ten years younger, radiating with vigor!

"No matter how many times I taste it, the flavor of this Blood Pill is still so wonderful!"

Xuanzi licked his lips, still craving more, his eyes flickering with a greedy and hideous light.

It looked extremely eerie.

"Ling Luochen... sacrificing you alone can fill this old man's stomach and buy Shrek a moment of peace; you can consider your death well-deserved..."

Inside the jolting carriage.

Ling Luochen had fallen completely into a state of immense fear and confusion.

She looked at the young man before her who had awakened her, as if she had grabbed onto the last straw of hope.

"I... I want to go home."

Ling Luochen's voice was choked with sobs; for the first time, she revealed such a fragile side in front of someone.

"My family is the Tianshui Clan from the northern border of the former Heaven Dou Empire. The elders in the clan might have a way to suppress the thing inside me."

She raised her head, looking at Ji Xuan with a gaze that was almost pleading.

"I beg you, escort me home!"

"On this journey, I don't know when I will lose control again. Only you... only that Soul Skill of yours can help me regain my senses when I lose control!"

"As long as you can escort me home, whatever you want—money, soul bones, Soul Tools..."

"As long as our clan can provide it, I can give it to you!"

Looking at the "Ice Princess" before him, who had shed all her arrogance and was left with nothing but helplessness and pleading.

Ji Xuan fell silent.

Escort her?

That was easier said than done.

The last time was purely a stroke of luck.

It was only because Ling Luochen's own mind had collapsed that he was able to take advantage of the opening.

Even so, he had nearly exhausted all his mental energy and had almost been backlashed.

If it happened again, he had no confidence at all that he could succeed.

Ji Xuan's gaze fell upon Ling Luochen's body, which was trembling slightly from fear.

His fingers tapped lightly against the wooden board beside him.

By now, Ji Xuan was already regretting his meddling.

He had helped at first because Ling Luochen was, after all, one of the Inner Court Seven Devils, and there must have been something suspicious about her fleeing the academy alone.

He had hoped to profit from her, thinking he might be able to get some leverage.

But now he knew that Ling Luochen had a hidden trap left by Qiangu Wangyan inside her, making her a "bomb" that could explode at any moment.

Furthermore, now that he deduced her escape had been orchestrated by someone in the shadows, the road ahead was surely filled with murderous intent.

He might encounter extremely dangerous situations.

Only someone with a broken brain would agree to this deal.

Ji Xuan looked at those eyes filled with hope and shook his head gently.

"Sorry, I refuse."

His voice was very soft, yet incredibly clear.

"I am only a level twenty soul master; just now was my limit. If it happens again, both of us will die."

"I cannot help you, and I don't want to throw my own life away."

He had already made up his mind to get off the carriage at the next post station.

Even if it meant spending more money and wasting more time finding another convoy, it was safer than staying with this troublesome woman.

Hearing Ji Xuan's words, the last glimmer of light in Ling Luochen's eyes faded away completely.

She had not expected that after laying down all her dignity and pride, she would receive such a blunt and clean refusal.

Yes, why should he help her?

They were mere strangers who had met by chance; he had already helped her once and saved her once—he had done more than enough.

To him, she was nothing but a massive burden.

Inside the carriage, a suffocating silence fell once more.

Ling Luochen hugged her knees, burying her head deep into them, her shoulders trembling slightly as the sound of suppressed sobbing drifted faintly through the cramped space.

However, this silence did not even last for ten minutes.

"Hehehehe..."

A burst of extremely sinister laughter came from directly above the carriage without any warning!

The laughter was filled with mockery and cruelty, as if a cat were toying with a mouse beneath its claws.

The color drained from Ji Xuan's face the instant that laughter rang out.

Every hair on his body stood on end, and a sense of lethal crisis instantly gripped his heart!

"Jump!"

Without a second thought, he let out a thunderous roar at the dazed Ling Luochen beside him.

He himself did not hesitate for a moment, smashing through the fragile side wall of the carriage and rolling directly out!

Although Ling Luochen was in a trance, her combat instincts as a Spirit King remained.

Hearing Ji Xuan's roar, she subconsciously channeled her spirit power, wrapping herself in a layer of solid ice, and likewise smashed through the opposite carriage wall!

The very next second after the two of them leaped from the carriage!

A mass of dark purple energy, so vast it was beyond description, slammed down!

BOOM!!!

A deafening, earth-shattering roar!

A mass of dark purple energy, so vast it was beyond description, slammed down!

The carriage they had just been riding in, along with all the cargo inside, was instantly reduced to powder filling the sky!

A violent shockwave swept outward, sending the entire convoy into chaos as people and horses were overturned, followed by a chorus of screams and wails.

Ji Xuan rolled across the ground in a sorry state to dissipate the impact force, then immediately looked up.

High in the air, a figure hung silently, like a ghost.

It was a person shrouded from head to toe in a wide black robe; their face was obscured, and one could only sense an aura of nauseating evil and deathly stillness.

Beneath their feet, two yellow, two purple, and three black—a full seven spirit rings—pulsed slowly!

A Spirit Saint!

It was actually a seven-ring Spirit Saint!