At that moment,
the wooden door to the side hall creaked softly and swung open.
When he saw the figure entering, Elder Li, who had been pacing back and forth, suddenly stopped in his tracks and froze.
Du Busi, standing beside him, immediately raised his head and looked toward the doorway.
The six disciples they had sent out to meet the others filed in, followed by Ning Feng, Vina, and Mu Xue.
Seeing Ning Feng and the others return safe and sound, Elder Li's tense shoulders finally slumped. The heart he'd had in his throat all day at last settled back into his chest.
"Just as I thought, you made it back safely." Du Busi looked at them with a faint, relieved smile.
He walked over and gestured for them to relax, then turned to the six disciples and asked, "All right, you lot, tell us how the mission went. Elder Li has been worried sick about you."
Ning Feng and the others stepped forward and bowed to Du Busi and Elder Li.
Elder Li had already hurried over to Ning Feng. He looked him up and down, and only relaxed a little when he saw that, apart from some dirt on his clothes, he had no bloodstains.
He turned to the six disciples and asked impatiently, "What about that group of Evil Soul Masters over level thirty-five? Where are they now? Did you run into them?"
The six disciples stood where they were, their expressions somewhat strange.
Their leader looked at Elder Li and hesitated for a moment before answering honestly, "Elder, that group of Evil Soul Masters over level thirty-five... has been eliminated."
Elder Li froze, his relaxed brows furrowing again. "Eliminated? Did you do it?"
The leading disciple shook his head and looked at Ning Feng and the others behind him. "No. Junior Brother Ning Feng and the others did."
"What?"
Elder Li's expression froze, his mouth hanging open for a long moment.
Even Du Busi, who had been sitting calmly in his chair, straightened up. His eyes narrowed slightly as he watched Ning Feng and the others.
"You eliminated them too?" Du Busi's voice grew more serious. "Is that true? There were ten Soul Masters over level thirty-five."
Vina stepped forward and gave a brief account of the battle.
She didn't embellish her story, simply describing how Ning Feng had discovered the group's tracks, made use of the terrain, and fought with near-overwhelming force even when surrounded.
When she described how Ning Feng had smashed the leader's skull with a single punch, the side hall fell silent.
After hearing the whole story, a strange glint entered Du Busi's previously calm eyes.
He turned to Ning Feng, an unmistakably satisfied look in his eyes.
"Looks like your strength is indeed far greater than we anticipated," Du Busi said, nodding in approval, his voice filled with unmistakable pride.
"Facing enemies like that and still performing so well is no small feat. Well done, well done!"
He paused, then continued, "Still, don't get complacent. Keep working hard."
"In any case, you performed exceptionally well on this mission."
"Go and get some rest. I'll have someone deliver your mission rewards to your quarters later."
Ning Feng and the others bowed in acknowledgment, then left the side hall.
Meanwhile, at Shrek Academy,
the setting sun cast its glow over the academy's massive walls.
Nanmen Yun'er had finally made it back to Shrek. She had just reached the dormitory building and hadn't yet had a chance to clean the dirt and blood from her clothes when she ran into Wu Feng and Ning Tian, who were about to head out.
Wu Feng and Ning Tian immediately noticed how bedraggled she looked.
"Yun'er? What happened to you?" Ning Tian hurried over and caught Nanmen Yun'er by the arm, her voice full of concern.
"Your family said you were just taking care of an elder's funeral. How did you end up like this?"
Wu Feng stopped too, frowning as her sharp gaze swept over the torn sleeve of Nanmen Yun'er's clothes. "Were you hurt by a Soul Beast? Or..."
Looking at her two closest friends, Nanmen Yun'er finally felt the tension that had been coiled inside her all the way back begin to ease.
She gave a bitter smile and shook her head. "My family's funeral arrangements are taken care of, but I didn't expect to run into a group of Evil Soul Masters on the way back."
"Evil Soul Masters?" Ning Tian and Wu Feng exchanged a glance, their expressions instantly turning grave. "Tell us exactly what happened."
Nanmen Yun'er recounted everything she had experienced in the Great Rock Forest.
She told them how she had been pursued and how she had run out of Soul Power, leaving her on the brink of death. Then she described how, at the critical moment, a "savior" had suddenly appeared and rescued her.
"I really thought I was going to die."
Nanmen Yun'er lowered her head, a lingering fear showing in her eyes.
"But just as the leading Evil Soul Master was about to kill me, someone dropped out of the sky. With Three Heads and Six Arms, he beat that level-thirty-five Evil Soul Master to a pulp."
"Three Heads and Six Arms?" Wu Feng paused, her expression turning strange. "Was he a man?"
Nanmen Yun'er nodded.
At this point, Ning Tian's expression turned strange too.
She continued looking at Nanmen Yun'er and asked, "How old was he? How much older than you did he seem?"
Nanmen Yun'er was lost in her memories and didn't notice the strange tone in Ning Tian and Wu Feng's voices, so she answered without thinking:
"He should be about our age. But his strength was just absurd."
"You have no idea. Those ten Evil Soul Masters were like paper dolls in front of him."
"He took down the level-thirty-five Evil Soul Masters with one punch each. If I hadn't seen that he only had three Soul Rings, I really would've questioned his level..."
Nanmen Yun'er continued speaking, but the expressions on Wu Feng and Ning Tian's faces grew stranger and stranger.
Three Heads and Six Arms, around their age, male...
Those keywords brought the image of one person to Ning Tian and Wu Feng's minds.
Wasn't that her brother—their young master?
Who else could possibly fit all those details?
Only...
Ning Tian and Wu Feng still felt a little puzzled.
They knew Ning Feng was strong, but surely he wasn't that powerful?
One punch to take out each level-thirty-five Evil Soul Master?
Could it really be that exaggerated?
Unable to resist, Ning Tian turned to Nanmen Yun'er and asked, "Yun'er, did you ask his name?"
Nanmen Yun'er shook her head. "I asked what academy he was from, but he wouldn't say. Don't even mention his name. I wanted to get to know them and thank them properly, but... what a shame."
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