Completely Falling Out

"Get lost!"

A furious roar exploded like thunder, carrying Soul Power straight at Ye Zhiqiu.

Ye Zhiqiu's legs went weak, and he dropped to his knees.

"A... a Spirit Saint!"

"We'll leave right away."

Without any hesitation, Ye Zhiqiu immediately fled in a panic with his students.

A Spirit Saint could kill them as easily as crushing an ant.

Ma Hongjun smugly recalled his Martial Spirit and spat at the fleeing backs of Canghui Academy.

"Pah! What trash academy thinks it can fight Shrek? A bunch of mediocrities!"

Everyone returned to their seats, the atmosphere lively, as if they had just won a glorious battle defending their homeland.

Dai Mubai threw an arm around Tang San's shoulders and laughed heartily.

"Little San, that control was beautiful! This is the spirit Shrek should have!"

However, when their gazes swept over the figure in the corner who had not moved from start to finish, the smiles on their faces faded, replaced by coldness and rejection.

"Some people..."

Dai Mubai began in a mocking tone, his voice deliberately loud.

"They usually act all high and mighty, but when it's actually time to pitch in, they turn into turtles hiding in their shells."

"Does someone like that deserve to be called a Shrek monster?"

Ma Hongjun also wore a contemptuous look as he chimed in.

"Exactly! Everyone else was fighting their hardest while he just sat there watching. He has no sense of collective honor at all! I think he was just scared!"

Oscar and Ning Rongrong murmured smugly.

"Tsk, tsk. I thought he had guts. What a coward."

"He's timid. Don't force him."

"Ye Liuyun."

Zhao Wuji came down from upstairs as well, his brows tightly furrowed and his tone stern.

"Why didn't you make a move just now?"

"Although Fatty started it, you should have stood united against the enemy."

Faced with everyone's accusations and exclusion,

Ye Liuyun set down his teacup.

He raised his head, his deep eyes sweeping across everyone present.

"Xiao Wu, let me ask you something."

Ye Liuyun pointed at Ma Hongjun, his voice calm enough to be frightening.

"If one day you were eating, and suddenly a fat man with a filthy mouth came over, pointed at your chest, and demanded that you help him vent his Evil Fire—"

"What would you do?"

Xiao Wu froze for a moment, then her delicate brows shot up as she fiercely waved her fist.

"Is that even a question? I'd use Explosive Kill Eight-Stage Throw and beat the crap out of him!"

Ye Liuyun spread his hands and turned his gaze toward Ma Hongjun, whose face had gone ugly.

"She was eating peacefully. She hadn't provoked or offended anyone."

"This fat pig publicly acted like a hooligan and used vulgar words to harass a girl."

"What do you call that kind of behavior?"

"You call it scum."

Ye Liuyun rose to his feet, his gaze like blades as it pierced Zhao Wuji and Dai Mubai.

"Taking your own side over what's right is human nature. You can stab yourself for your brothers, even if he's a bastard."

"But you can't expect me to become a bastard along with you."

"You want me to fight for scum like that? I'd dirty my hands."

"And don't use your absurd values to corrupt Xiao Wu."

Ye Liuyun had his own beliefs and pride.

Even though he knew that bullying others through power and going with the tide could bring visible benefits,

he still disdained becoming that kind of person.

The entire room fell deathly silent.

Ma Hongjun was so furious that his face turned red, the fat on his body trembling wildly.

"Y-you called who scum? I can't control my Evil Fire."

"If you can't control it, go castrate yourself."

Ye Liuyun coldly cut him off.

"So don't use your Martial Spirit as an excuse. Since you did it, own it."

"And another thing."

Ye Liuyun looked at Dai Mubai, a supremely mocking curve lifting at the corner of his mouth.

"Don't keep saying, 'Those who dare not cause trouble are mediocre.' It just makes you look especially ridiculous."

"What ability is there in bullying a few ordinary academies weaker than you?"

"If the other side were clearly stronger than you, would you have dared provoke them just now?"

"Spirit Hall stands right in Spirit City, and the royal families of the two great empires are sitting there."

"If you really have guts, if you really think you aren't mediocre, why not go harass Spirit Hall's Holy Maiden?"

"When all is said and done."

Ye Liuyun shook his head disdainfully, took the stunned Xiao Wu by the hand, and turned to leave.

"You're just a bunch of bullies who fear the strong and prey on the weak, looking for a sense of existence by trampling the weak."

"Dressing up hooligan behavior as hot-blooded youth..."

"What irony."

Ye Liuyun's gaze swept over everyone who had accused him, including Ning Rongrong, and he added one last sentence.

"Trash."

The restaurant fell silent as death.

Ye Liuyun's word, "trash," was like a boomerang, accurately stabbing into every person's heart.

Ning Rongrong stood where she was, trembling all over, her exquisite little face twisted by extreme humiliation and fury.

She bit her lip hard until she tasted blood.

Since childhood, she had been the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, a favored daughter of heaven.

But ever since she met Ye Liuyun, the status, beauty, and wealth she had always been proud of had all become worthless in his eyes.

Trash...

He actually called me trash in front of so many people?

Ye Liuyun, I'm not done with you!

Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun, meanwhile, had faces as dark as iron, the fury in their eyes nearly bursting forth.

If they had not feared Ye Liuyun's strange strength, they would have rushed forward and fought him to the death already.

"That was too much."

Oscar stood beside Ning Rongrong and muttered quietly, trying to share her outrage and win the goddess's favor.

"We're all classmates. How could he say something so unpleasant? He has no sense of the collective at all."

However, the one with the darkest expression was Tang San.

He watched Xiao Wu being led out by Ye Liuyun, and an almost imperceptible cold glint flashed deep within his eyes.

In his view, Ye Liuyun's words had not merely humiliated Ma Hongjun; they had also denied their entire group.

In the Tang Sect, no matter how wrong a disciple was, it was the elders who disciplined them.

If an outsider attacked a Tang Sect disciple, that outsider's entire family had to be exterminated.

The same applied now. Since they were brothers, they should stand together against outsiders.

Even if Fatty had done wrong, others had no right to resist.

And Ye Liuyun had actually instilled Xiao Wu with the idea of "betraying friends and family."

Tang San could no longer endure it. Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward and blocked the aisle.

"Wait."

Tang San's voice was very calm, so calm that it felt oppressive.

Ye Liuyun stopped and looked at him coldly.

Tang San's eyelid twitched. He forcibly suppressed the killing intent in his heart, looked past Ye Liuyun, and gazed gently at Xiao Wu.

"Xiao Wu, come here."

"Everyone is here. Don't run off with someone so unsociable. Teacher said that we need to be united."

His tone was perfectly natural, as if a tolerant elder brother were calling back a lost younger sister.

In his subconscious, Xiao Wu belonged to him, so she naturally should stand by his side.

However.

Xiao Wu did not move.

As a simple Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, her worldview was very simple.

Whoever treated her well was who she would follow.

Moreover, the familiar aura of her own kind around Ye Liuyun, that sense of closeness from the Star Dou Great Forest, was something Tang San could never compare to.

"I won't."

Xiao Wu shrank farther behind Ye Liuyun, tightly clutching his sleeve. Peeking out with her little head, she spoke in a crisp voice.

"Cousin is right. That fatty was acting like a hooligan. I don't want to stand with hooligans."

"Little San, stop trying to persuade me. If you think hooligans are right, then I must have misjudged you too."

Those words were like a knife driven straight into Tang San's heart.

Tang San's pupils constricted slightly. His hand clenched tightly within his sleeve, his nails digging deep into his palm.

Misjudged me?

Xiao Wu... you're too innocent. That guy must have bewitched you.

Tang San slowly raised his head, his gaze falling upon Ye Liuyun once more.

This time, the gentleness in his eyes vanished completely, replaced by the cold, sinister scrutiny of a venomous snake.

Ye Liuyun.

You stole my spotlight, humiliated my brother, and now you want to take Xiao Wu from me too?

You even intend to use that ridiculous morality to drive a wedge between Xiao Wu and me?

This man has earned himself a death sentence.

If I don't get rid of you, Xiao Wu will leave me sooner or later.

Tang San sentenced Ye Liuyun to death in his heart.