Return to Shrek! Mu En's Choice!

"Have they returned?"

Shrek Academy, Sea God Pavilion.

The moment Huo Yuhao arrived at Shrek Academy's gates with Bei Bei, Mu En sensed their presence.

Mu En had difficulty moving in his daily life, so he usually relied on his spiritual power to silently observe the outside world.

Today, he happened to notice Bei Bei and Huo Yuhao returning.

Mu En's spiritual power swept over the two of them, and delight appeared on his face. "Huo Yuhao's appearance has changed. If his aura hadn't remained the same, this old man nearly wouldn't have recognized him."

"The Soul Power within him is active, and it has already risen to Rank 20. It seems his Ultimate Ice martial soul has successfully awakened."

"Good, good, good. Xuan Zi did well this time."

Clearly, Mu En believed Huo Yuhao had successfully awakened his martial soul thanks to Xuan Zi.

Otherwise, how could a mere Soul Grandmaster and Soul Elder so easily obtain such an opportunity in the Far North Land?

Yet amid his joy, Mu En also noticed Bei Bei's poor condition.

How should he put it? Bei Bei seemed even weaker than before he had left.

If Bei Bei had merely been drained dry before, then now he had begun to overdraw himself.

Mu En was somewhat surprised, yet he also found it understandable.

With Xuan Zi leading the team, it seemed perfectly normal for something to go wrong.

Fortunately, both Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei had returned safely. There was nothing more to say; it was still within an acceptable range.

Naturally, Mu En cared when something had happened to Bei Bei, but he was not overly worried.

Mu En could tell that Bei Bei had not damaged his foundation. He only needed a period of rest and recuperation to recover.

It might delay his cultivation for some time, but given Bei Bei's talent, the impact would not be significant.

He could treat it as a trial for Bei Bei.

"But... where is Xuan Zi? Where did he run off to fool around this time? He's becoming more and more unruly. He returned and didn't even know to report the situation to me first." Mu En voiced a few reproaches.

But Mu En did not think too much about it. He merely assumed Xuan Zi had gone off to indulge himself.

After all, they had made a trip to the Far North Land, where there was nothing but ice and snow and nothing good to eat. Xuan Zi had probably been holding himself back for far too long.

After returning, it was perfectly normal for him to skip reporting in and immediately go feast to satisfy his appetite.

Considering that Xuan Zi had been fairly diligent in handling matters this time, Mu En let him be.

Xuan Zi had not come to report, but Mu En needed to begin making arrangements.

During this period, Mu En had also sent people to investigate Huo Yuhao's identity.

Following the clues of Ice Attribute, orphan, and Star Luo Empire origins, they had yet to gather any useful information.

They had found several children with the same name, but none matched Huo Yuhao's circumstances.

Mu En had already begun to suspect that there was a problem with Huo Yuhao's background. He suspected that either Huo Yuhao's name was fake, or his experience as an orphan was fake.

Fortunately, Mu En had not gone so far as to imagine that Huo Yuhao had changed martial souls.

However, from Huo Yuhao's condition when he had first appeared, Mu En could judge that his life before then had indeed likely been difficult.

Small and thin, with blocked meridians and a low rank—he did not seem to come from a major power, nor did he appear to have any formidable background.

That made things easy.

Whether it smelled good or bad, once it was in his mouth, it was meat!

Now that the meat had reached his mouth, there was no reason to spit it out again.

Huo Yuhao, an Ultimate Ice Attribute soul master, had to remain at Shrek Academy!

Could the glory and spirit of ten thousand years of Shrek not win over a child barely in his teens?

As Mu En considered how to arrange Huo Yuhao's future, an elderly man in white robes hurried over. The moment he saw Mu En, he did not even have time to offer his respects before anxiously asking, "Teacher, you said you found a soul master with the Ultimate Ice Attribute? Where is he?"

The old man was none other than the dean of Shrek Academy's Martial Soul Department, a Rank 95 Power Attack System Titled Douluo—the Bright Phoenix Douluo, Yan Shaozhe!

He was also Mu En's disciple.

Yan Shaozhe had been working in his office when he suddenly received Mu En's voice transmission, saying that he had found a soul master with the Ultimate Ice Attribute. Yan Shaozhe immediately put aside all his work and rushed over.

Seeing Yan Shaozhe in such a frantic state, Mu En could not help but mildly reprimand him. "You're nearly ninety years old, yet you still lack composure."

No matter how much Yan Shaozhe respected Mu En, he could not spare the thought for that now, nor could he remain calm. "Ah, Teacher, stop keeping me in suspense. Quickly tell me where that soul master is. This disciple must invite him here! You can scold this disciple afterward!"

Yan Shaozhe could not help being anxious. His disciple, Ma Xiaotao, had yet to escape the danger of her Evil Fire erupting!

Ma Xiaotao was currently sealed in ice, and several Ice Attribute Soul Douluo had to maintain the seal on a daily basis.

Those Ice Attribute Soul Douluo had all been hired from outside at great expense by Yan Shaozhe.

During the time Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei had gone north, Yan Shaozhe had also been trying his best to treat Ma Xiaotao.

However, Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire eruption this time had been extraordinarily fierce, like a lit powder keg that was difficult to control.

Ordinary Ice Attribute and Light Attribute treasures were no longer of any use to Ma Xiaotao.

Unless Mu En personally intervened and continuously suppressed Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire, but that would only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. And due to his physical condition, Mu En did not have the energy to keep suppressing Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire indefinitely.

Hiring several Ice Attribute Soul Douluo to join forces and seal Ma Xiaotao in ice was also only a temporary measure.

Even if they managed to hire an Ice Attribute Titled Douluo in the future, there would still be no way to completely cure Ma Xiaotao.

Ma Xiaotao's condition continued to worsen.

If they could not find a way to completely cure the Evil Fire, then, to prevent it from threatening Ma Xiaotao's life or causing her to fall into becoming an Evil Soul Master, Yan Shaozhe would have no choice but to cripple Ma Xiaotao's Martial Soul.

But given Yan Shaozhe's understanding of his disciple, doing that would be no different from killing Ma Xiaotao.

Ma Xiaotao had been raised by Yan Shaozhe. To him, she was practically his daughter. How could he possibly watch helplessly as she reached that point?

Because of Ma Xiaotao's situation, Yan Shaozhe had become noticeably more haggard lately.

Seeing Yan Shaozhe so anxious, Mu En stopped keeping him in suspense and slowly spoke.

"Didn't Bei Bei go to the Far North Land before? He actually went to help a friend awaken her Martial Soul. And that friend's Martial Soul has now fully awakened—it is of the Ultimate Ice attribute!"

"They've already returned and are now at the gates of Shrek Academy..."

Before Mu En had even finished speaking, Yan Shaozhe vanished with a whoosh. In the blink of an eye, he had rushed out of the Sea God Pavilion and headed straight for Shrek Academy's gates.

Watching the direction in which Yan Shaozhe had left, Mu En hurriedly sent him a voice transmission. "Bring them both to me first. We'll discuss everything else afterward."

Once Yan Shaozhe had flown far away, Mu En slowly let out a sigh.

"Ah..."

Mu En had told Yan Shaozhe to bring them here because he was naturally worried that Yan Shaozhe and Bei Bei would come into conflict.

Bei Bei was sensible and would not openly fall out with Yan Shaozhe, but that did not mean he would not grow distant from him. That would be detrimental to Shrek's unity.

Mu En had not mentioned Tang Ya earlier because he was worried about adding fuel to the fire.

Although Ma Xiaotao had been the one to hurt Tang Ya, Yan Shaozhe's concern had clouded his judgment. Mu En had noticed that Yan Shaozhe seemed to have developed some resentment toward Tang Ya as well.

As for whether Huo Yuhao could treat Ma Xiaotao, Mu En was not optimistic.

The gap in their Soul Power was simply too great. Ma Xiaotao was already over level sixty, while Huo Yuhao was only level twenty.

At present, Huo Yuhao could at most help alleviate Ma Xiaotao's condition. If he wanted to help her any further, it would inevitably harm Huo Yuhao's cultivation.

But could an Ultimate Ice attribute Soul Master possibly be compared to a flawed Soul Master whose attribute rivaled Ultimate Fire?

Once Huo Yuhao matured in the future, perhaps he could join with Ma Xiaotao and completely resolve her Evil Fire problem.

It was just uncertain whether Ma Xiaotao could hold on until that day.

After all, the cultivation speed of an Ultimate Attribute Soul Master would plummet drastically after level thirty. Huo Yuhao would certainly need a long time to grow.

The scales in Mu En's heart had already begun to tip. He had made his choice.

"Huo Yuhao appeared too late. Xiaotao, this is fate..."

Even though Ma Xiaotao was Mu En's disciple's disciple, he could not indulge her in this matter.

From his position as an elder of the Sea God Pavilion, Mu En had to consider Shrek's future. Shrek was certainly flourishing now, but Mu En knew that it had already reached a turning point of the era.

The development of the Soul Engineer profession, led by the Sun Moon Empire, was challenging the traditional Soul Master profession led by Shrek.

If they wanted to ensure that the great ship of Shrek did not capsize easily, they had to find a stabilizing pillar for Shrek!

A hereditary Ultimate Martial Soul was the best choice!

"I only hope Shaozhe can understand."