"I want to apologize to you about my younger brother."
"Although this comes a little late, and my apology cannot change anything, I still feel that I owe you an explanation."
Dai Yueheng kept his gaze on Ning Que as he spoke.
Ever since Ye Guyi had brutally beaten him last time and nearly crippled him, Dai Yueheng no longer dared to sneak glances at her.
Even though he still admired her, he had recognized reality. At present, he was not worthy of Ye Guyi.
This time, Dai Huabin's mistake had caused the White Tiger Duke Mansion severe losses. Even the Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone originally prepared for him had been given away as compensation, yet Dai Yueheng remained very happy.
The position he had always wanted but had never been qualified to fight for had become his alone simply because his younger brother had caused trouble.
Even his younger brother's former fiancée had begun gravitating toward him under the prompting of both families' elders.
The White Tiger martial soul and the Hell Spirit Cat martial soul were naturally compatible. They already had the necessary foundation, and with some effort put into cultivating their feelings afterward, mastering a Martial Soul Fusion Skill was not impossible.
He had clearly done nothing, yet he had suddenly gained everything. This experience had taught Dai Yueheng a profound lesson: it was fine not to strive for progress, but one must never be foolish.
Wasn't that why he had come to apologize and resolve their conflict?
"You came to apologize empty-handed?"
Ning Que looked at the completely changed Dai Yueheng. It was obvious that he had emerged from the shadow of Guyi's sword, and Ning Que immediately understood what method he had used.
He had changed tracks and stopped obsessing over the same dead end. With a bright future ahead of him, and Guyi's sword never actually landing, he had been able to move on so easily.
Since the other party had already offered him a way out, Ning Que did not deliberately make things difficult for him.
After all, before long, the Holy Spirit Cult's Supreme Elder would act and wound him again.
"I was careless..."
Dai Yueheng instinctively began considering what valuable items in his storage Soul Tool could serve as a gift, but he quickly realized that Ning Que was joking with him.
His mood immediately improved greatly.
He had at least preliminarily completed the task his father had assigned him.
Dai Yueheng suddenly discovered that after letting go of his resentment and no longer targeting Ning Que, the other party was actually quite easy to deal with.
After chatting for a while, the two sides parted ways.
As soon as Ye Guyi returned to the academy, she entered the Golden Tree Cave to cultivate.
This time, she not only needed to break through to Rank 70, but also fill up all the energy required by the Heaven-Grasping Bottle. Most importantly, she needed to condense the prototype of her own Soul Core.
By her estimate, it would take at least half a year, which would let her perfectly miss the Soul Master Tournament.
Ning Que also entered the Golden Tree Cave to cultivate, eager to increase his strength as quickly as possible. Otherwise, Guyi truly would leave him behind.
The only difference was that he would emerge before the Soul Master Tournament.
While Ning Que and the others were in seclusion, Shrek Academy's advancement examinations began.
With their current strength and foundation, the group who had joined the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect passed the examinations with great ease.
During the break, Huo Yuhao successfully obtained his second martial soul, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion.
Because of the White Tiger Duke Mansion's compensation and the academy's compensation for their assassination attempt, the resources he received were far better than in the original story. As a result, his strength was slightly higher than it had been on the original plotline.
At this moment, Shrek Academy's two great minds had gathered together again.
Xuan Zi and Yan Shaozhe.
The new students' advancement examinations were about to begin. According to the original plan, they were supposed to select reserve members for the Shrek Seven Devils from among these people and the geniuses of the outer academy.
Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi from the outer academy had already undergone many evaluations, so they were naturally among the candidates.
Jiang Nannan barely counted as one as well.
Beyond that, they still needed to fill four more positions.
But the problem was that most of the outstanding disciples in this batch from the outer academy were connected to the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect.
How could they allow such a thing?
They would spend effort and resources training these students, who would carry the title of reserve members of the Shrek Seven Devils, only for them to return to the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect immediately after graduation.
What did they take Shrek Academy for?
Neither Yan Shaozhe nor Xuan Zi could accept such a thing.
If he had not been unable to defeat that Title Douluo from the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect, Xuan Zi would have already charged into the sect to teach them a lesson and make them understand their limits.
"Shaozhe, my suggestion is to directly revoke their qualifications."
After seriously considering it, Xuan Zi gave this answer.
"This... would not be very appropriate, would it?"
"Teacher has only just awakened and has already issued a mandatory order, requiring us to treat everyone equally and vigorously develop the Soul Guidance Department. If we go against Teacher's wishes at a time like this, I am afraid Teacher will become angry."
Yan Shaozhe wore a hesitant expression.
Naturally, that was not the reason he was so conflicted.
He had other thoughts.
This time, the academy had handed over so many resources to the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect as compensation for no reason at all. The losses were enormous.
There were also several students who were clearly quite ordinary, yet had unexpectedly received resources and treatment they did not deserve.
Yan Shaozhe thought that perhaps they could list those disciples from the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect as reserve members of the Shrek Battle Team.
They had already been compensated before. This way, there would be no need to prepare additional resources and treatment for reserve members of the Shrek Seven Devils, saving the academy a considerable sum.
But while doing so would save money, it left him feeling unhappy.
So he had brought in Elder Xuan to see whether he possessed any earth-shattering wisdom and could offer a solution.
Even if it ultimately failed, he had at least discussed it with Elder Xuan. If anything truly went wrong, Elder Xuan could take the blame.
"Shaozhe, if that will not work, then let us change our approach."
"One cannot be so rigid. Change the selection rules a little and let some accidents happen during the competition. When the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect's people fail to obtain the positions, they will have no grounds to blame us."
Xuan Zi thought for a moment and offered another solution.
However, he had no idea where Yan Shaozhe's true conflict lay.
"Elder Xuan, I will be frank with you. For some reason, the Dou Ling Empire sent word a while ago that it would reduce the resources traded to us, cutting them directly down to one-tenth of the original amount."
"Right now, the academy truly does not have many resources left."
"My idea is to prevent those few from the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect from obtaining positions as reserve candidates for the Shrek Seven Devils, while also making them hand over the resources they previously received so they can be used to train other students selected as reserve candidates for the Shrek Seven Devils."
"The question is, how can we make them agree willingly?"
After hesitating for a moment, Yan Shaozhe chose to reveal his true thoughts.
Even Xuan Zi was stunned upon hearing this.
That was far too outrageous!
Before you continue