Some Things Shrek Cannot Give

Some things Shrek Academy cannot provide.

At this moment, helping Xiao Hongchen finish showing off was the better choice.

Huo Yuhao held up a finger: "Senior Sister Meng, I used my first soul skill to assist Brother Xiao. I didn't expect Brother Xiao to be so strong; it ended just like that."

Meng Hongchen's face was still filled with defiance: "Don't give me that. Do you think I don't know how much effort my brother puts into a fight? I even know how many times he fell out of a tree when he was a kid."

Xiao Hongchen immediately gave Meng Hongchen a deep look: "That's enough!"

"Fine, fine, fine." Seeing that she had successfully deflated her brother's ego, Meng Hongchen chuckled and stopped dwelling on the topic. "Junior Brother Yuhao, I want to see that soul skill of yours."

"Alright." Huo Yuhao nodded and shared the Spiritual Detection Sharing link with everyone else present.

Meng Hongchen fell silent in shock for two seconds before suddenly turning to look at Chi Qiu and Wang Dong, who were quietly looking away: "You two! You didn't tell me about this intel, did you!"

The two of them played dumb.

"Despicable. Even though we're on the same team, you two still favor Yuhao." Meng Hongchen joked. "No wonder you two made a beeline for Huo Yuhao the moment the match started!"

She then looked at Xiao Hongchen and Huo Yuhao: "I acknowledge Yuhao's ability. As for you, brother... I just didn't use poison on you two. Otherwise, the outcome would have been hard to say."

Xiao Hongchen brushed his silver bangs aside without a care: "I know you have poison, of course. I even know the subtle changes you make when you're about to unleash it. If you really used poison, I would have cleared you from the field before you could launch a group attack."

"Poison?" Huo Yuhao blinked. "Senior Sister Meng uses poison?"

"My martial soul is the Zhuqing Ice Toad. Its attributes are ice, fire, and poison. My brother has the Three-Legged Golden Toad, which controls metal."

"Ice!" Huo Yuhao thought for a moment and said, "It seems that if I were to assist Senior Sister Meng, you could win just by using ice, without even needing the poison."

"Not bad, you have a good eye. With our two ice martial souls, we would definitely freeze them all solid." Meng Hongchen praised.

"Now you know how strong Brother Huo is." Wang Dong looked at Chi Qiu. "To be honest, I think if he assisted you, Miss Qiu, it's not certain that you wouldn't be able to beat the rest of us."

"I have confidence." Chi Qiu nodded. "If Yuhao isn't an opponent, I can also let loose and fight."

Wang Dong clutched her chest dramatically: "That sounds a bit terrifying!"

While laughter and lighthearted sparring continued on this side, Jing Hongchen stood at the entrance of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy's infirmary, watching the doctors inside perform surgery with tense expressions.

Lying on the operating table was a woman no older than twenty. Her face was barely recognizable, and her entire body was covered in dense, jagged lacerations. There was a shocking claw wound on her chest, and the flesh on her entire right arm had almost completely rotted away, with even the bone beneath emitting an eerie black glow.

"Is she the member of the Shrek Inspection Team sent by the Eastern Army?" he asked Lin Jiayi, who stood beside him, in a low voice.

"Yes." Lin Jiayi also whispered, "According to our intelligence officers, it seems the Shrek Inspection Team encountered some accident while on a mission, resulting in casualties. The Evil Soul Master they were hunting was killed near the border of the Sun Moon Empire."

"Did that Evil Soul Master have any connection to those people?" Jing Hongchen felt a headache coming on and couldn't help but rub his temples.

"No. Although those people are active in the three Douluo nations, they wouldn't act like this. It was likely just a lone force that had established itself."

"That's a relief." Jing Hongchen nodded, his expression softening slightly. "Coordinate with the Eastern Army. If any remnants of this person are captured, don't bother asking for our opinion; just hand them over to the Shrek side so they can vent their anger. We must show our sincerity."

"Understood." Lin Jiayi nodded, then hesitated before he couldn't help but speak up: "Hall Master."

"What is it?" Jing Hongchen asked.

Lin Jiayi was Jing Hongchen's true confidant in Mingde Hall and the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy. Although Mingde Hall was an independent organization mandated by the imperial family—which no royal faction was allowed to contact without authorization—there were always ways around it. The contenders for the throne used endless methods to try and get close to Mingde Hall.

Because of this, Jing Hongchen didn't dare to trust just anyone in key positions, so he still had to rely on Lin Jiayi to handle critical matters.

"Should we really be getting involved in this?" Lin Jiayi suggested cautiously.

Jing Hongchen understood what he meant. "But this student is one of their main team members for this tournament," he sighed. "If we just hand her back, the trouble it will bring us will be significant. I ordered them to treat her because I intend to keep her here first."

"Then how will we explain it to Shrek?"

"Just say we are still searching, and drag it out." Jing Hongchen waved his sleeve. "Even though they are Shrek, they wouldn't dare enter the Sun Moon Empire's territory to conduct a forced search unless they intend to start a war right now. Those in the Sea God Pavilion can't all be fools; they must realize that now is not a good time to ignite the fuse. The current Sun Moon Empire and the three Douluo nations are not what they were four thousand years ago, especially since the ones holding the real power are the warmongers."

"But this girl is, after all, a student of the Shrek Inner Court. Is it really that easy to convince her to stay on our side?" Lin Jiayi still seemed uneasy.

Jing Hongchen smiled: "Jiayi, look at her arm."

Lin Jiayi looked as instructed and immediately gasped. The doctor had cut away the black flesh that had been completely rotted by corpse poison and was extracting a maggot-like parasitic worm from within.

"With injuries like this, even a Title Douluo of the healing type at Shrek would be helpless. Do you think, with Shrek's medical standards, they could restore her arm to be whole again?"

"It's impossible." Lin Jiayi said decisively. "The corpse poison has already seeped into the marrow, severing the connection between this arm and the body; it is effectively already dead. Healing arts can cure, but they cannot resurrect what is already dead. If it isn't amputated in time, once her internal soul power is exhausted and can no longer protect her, the long-dormant corpse poison will surely strike back and instantly devour her life."

"But we can give it to her." Jing Hongchen's eyes narrowed slightly.

"You mean..."

"It just so happens to be a byproduct of that number one experimental subject."

"Hall Master, the production cost of that thing is still extremely high." Lin Jiayi exclaimed. "To use it up just for a Shrek student, isn't that a bit too much?"

"No, not at all." Jing Hongchen patted Lin Jiayi on the shoulder. "Jiayi, we are severely lacking in good soul masters! Recruiting an excellent soul master is of immeasurable value to the development of our domestic soul master system. Just imagine, if someone were to take our soul tool blueprints to Shrek Academy, what would happen to the development speed of their Soul Tool Department?"

After pondering for a moment, Lin Jiayi bowed: "I understand, Hall Master. I will go make the arrangements."