Returning to the Main Sect, did you kill all the evil soul masters?

At this moment...

Nanmen Yun'er slumped onto the ground, her ragged breathing finally beginning to steady.

Seeing her in this state, Vina walked over, crouched down, and released a faint, soft glow from her Snow Lotus martial soul, covering Nanmen Yun'er's injured arm.

The green light slowly seeped into her skin, the stinging pain of the wound gradually fading as the bleeding stopped.

Vina retracted her martial soul and looked at her, asking, "How do you feel? Can you still move?"

Nanmen Yun'er tried to move her injured arm; the heavy, numbing sensation had already subsided. She looked up at Vina, her eyes filled with gratitude. "Thank you, I've recovered quite a bit. Moving won't be a problem."

Vina stood up, brushed off her sleeves, and spoke without unnecessary pleasantries: "It's good that you've recovered. The forest isn't safe, so you should leave soon."

With that, Vina signaled for Ning Feng and Mu Xue to prepare for departure.

Watching the three of them turn to leave, a strong urge to get to know them welled up in Nanmen Yun'er's heart.

She pushed herself up from the ground, took a few quick steps, and called out to their retreating backs: "My name is Nanmen Yun'er, a freshman at Shrek Academy. Thank you all for saving my life! May I ask which academy you are students of? Could you give me a chance to properly thank you?"

Ning Feng, walking at the front, stopped in his tracks. He turned his head and looked at Nanmen Yun'er's eyes, which were filled with curiosity and gratitude.

Vina spoke first, offering a slight smile that maintained a polite sense of distance: "Sorry, we have other matters to attend to and cannot stay. As for our academy, it is not convenient to disclose that at this time."

Having said that, Vina didn't give the other party a chance to press further and disappeared into the shadows of the woods alongside Ning Feng.

Nanmen Yun'er stood where she was, watching their backs as they quickly moved away, her eyes still filled with lingering shock.

That terrifying combat ability, combined with the seamless coordination they had displayed just a moment ago—in her experience, even the senior students of the Shrek Academy inner court would rarely be able to handle things so cleanly and efficiently.

"Which academy could they possibly be from..." she murmured to herself, lowering her head with a complex expression.

Meanwhile, in the departing group, Ning Feng wore a strange expression.

When Nanmen Yun'er had stated her name earlier, a ripple had stirred in his heart.

In the memories of the original work, this Nanmen Yun'er seemed to have a close personal friendship with Ning Tian; they were considered good friends.

However, under the current circumstances, Ning Feng had no intention of striking up a relationship with her.

His current identity was that of a Body Sect disciple, and he had no significant shared interests with Shrek Academy. It was better to avoid unnecessary complications.

Therefore, after the three of them left that battlefield, they did not linger in the Great Rock Forest.

Since the target had been cleared, they began to head back along the same path toward the Body Sect.

Their return journey was much faster than anticipated.

After traveling for about a day, the terrain of the forest began to level out, and a long dirt road appeared ahead.

Just as they had stepped onto this dirt road, a chaotic sound of footsteps came from the woods ahead.

Ning Feng immediately raised his hand, signaling Vina and Mu Xue to stop. The three of them quickly dispersed, hiding in the bushes on both sides of the road in a combat formation.

Before long, six disciples wearing the inner sect uniforms of the Body Sect appeared in their line of sight.

They looked hurried, their eyes scanning every movement in the surroundings with vigilance.

Ning Feng recognized their attire and confirmed they were from his own sect, so he stepped out from the bushes and called out to the front: "Are those brothers from the sect ahead?"

The six disciples stopped abruptly. Upon seeing Ning Feng and his companions, the tension on their faces eased slightly, but then immediately turned serious again.

The lead disciple stepped forward quickly, sizing up the three of them. Once he confirmed it was indeed Ning Feng, Vina, and Mu Xue, he spoke immediately: "Ning Feng? Vina? Mu Xue? Thank goodness, we finally found you!"

"Looking for us?" Ning Feng frowned slightly. "What happened?"

The lead disciple caught his breath and spoke rapidly: "The Sect Master received intelligence from the imperial family stating that there was another group of even stronger Evil Soul Masters in the Great Rock Forest, all with soul power above level 35. He specifically sent us to provide backup and ensure your safety if you encountered them."

After hearing this, Ning Feng understood.

It seemed the sect had received the latest intel and, fearing they couldn't handle the new enemies, had rushed to send reinforcements.

He pointed toward the direction they had come from and said calmly: "You don't need to look anymore. We already dealt with that group of Evil Soul Masters in the forest."

The six disciples, who had prepared a whole set of support plans, were stunned into silence on the spot.

"Dealt... dealt with them?" The lead disciple stared at Ning Feng, his eyes full of doubt. "That was a large group of Evil Soul Masters above level 35, and you three..."

Ning Feng didn't waste words. He reached into his robes, pulled out some identity tokens he had scavenged from the Evil Soul Masters, and handed them directly to the other party.

"Brother, we really did take them down."

"Although there were some unexpected turns, in the end, we succeeded."

The disciples looked at each other, quickly took the tokens Ning Feng provided, and after confirming they were genuine, the way they looked at the three of them changed completely.

The gaze that had originally been one of looking at junior disciples now shifted into the look one might give to monsters.

"You..." The lead disciple swallowed hard, ultimately swallowing the rest of his words.

"Alright, since you've already handled it, we don't need to go any deeper. We will report the mission status truthfully to the Sect Master when we return."

Body Sect, side hall.

Elder Li was still pacing back and forth in the room.

At this point, about a day had passed since the disciple had delivered the report.

A fine layer of sweat beaded on Elder Li's forehead.

He had tried to set out himself several times to rescue them, only to be held back by Du Busi.

"Trust them," Du Busi said to Elder Li, appearing far less anxious. "Although that group of Evil Soul Masters is not weak, given the strength of Ning Feng and the others, they should at least be capable of protecting themselves. If it really comes down to it, they can just run if they can't win."

Elder Li flicked his sleeve and said indignantly, "Sigh, Sect Master, your arrangements are truly too reckless. If something actually happens, what are we supposed to do?"

Du Busi smiled faintly. "Back in our day, didn't we all come up the same way? My view has always been this: while the sect must provide protection for its disciples, it cannot overprotect them."

"Otherwise, they will remain flowers in a greenhouse their entire lives and will never be able to grow."

"If we don't let them experience a few life-or-death crises, how will they ever shed their immaturity?"

Just then, the door to the side hall was pushed open.