Zhu Zhuqing gave a cold laugh. She looked at Dai Mubai as if he were a pile of unrecyclable garbage.
"Misled?"
"Dai Mubai, you're still the same as ever. Besides deceiving yourself, you're good for nothing."
"Staying by the prince's side is my honor—and my choice."
As she spoke, she stepped forward.
Suddenly.
A powerful surge of Soul Power burst from Zhu Zhuqing's body.
A gigantic black cat's shadow flashed behind her, and the Nether Civet Martial Soul instantly possessed her.
Then, five dazzling Soul Rings slowly rose from beneath her feet, pulsing up and down around her.
Yellow! Yellow! Purple! Purple! Black!
That final Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, as black as ink, radiated a heart-stirring surge of energy beneath the sun.
"That's impossible!"
Tang San, who was sitting off to one side, shot to his feet and cried out.
As a control-type Soul Master, he was especially sensitive to changes in Soul Power.
Not long ago, Zhu Zhuqing had clearly been only at level forty-one, nowhere near acquiring her fifth Soul Ring.
How could she possibly have broken through to level fifty in such a short time—and even obtained such a perfect Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring?
It simply defied all reason!
"Five Soul Rings... She really is a level-fifty Soul King!"
Ma Hongjun rubbed his eyes, his face blank with shock.
Oscar also drew in a sharp breath, murmuring in a daze:
"This rate of cultivation... How did she manage it?"
Dai Mubai stared at those five Soul Rings, especially the black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring. It was painfully dazzling to him.
His strength had always ranked near the top of Shrek, yet even now, he hadn't reached the threshold of level fifty.
But Zhu Zhuqing, whom he had regarded as his fiancée and whose talent should have been inferior to his, had now left him far behind.
Zhu Zhuqing swept her cold gaze across the people from Shrek, a mocking smile on her lips.
"Surprised?"
"Dai Mubai, you keep going on about how wonderful Shrek Academy is."
"The laughable truth is, that so-called 'Grandmaster,' Yu Xiaogang, and Flender taught us nothing but garbage theories."
"Following them meant doing pointless physical training all day, then putting on a show for others in the Soul Fighting Arena like monkeys."
"If I'd stayed at Shrek, I probably wouldn't have broken through level fifty in my entire life, let alone avenged my family."
Zhu Zhuqing withdrew her Soul Rings, turned slightly, and leaned naturally and tenderly against Tang Yu's shoulder.
The ice melted from her face, replaced by a genuine smile.
"Only by following the prince have I truly grown and understood what real strength is."
"Your self-important pride doesn't even amount to dust before the prince."
Seeing the aloof goddess who usually wouldn't even let him touch her now nestled softly in his enemy's arms—with the blissful expression of a happy young woman on her face—the last thread of reason in Dai Mubai's mind snapped.
"Zhu Zhuqing! You shameless bitch!"
Dai Mubai roared in a frenzy.
His pupils turned bloodshot with rage, and tiny red veins split at the corners of his eyes.
He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug deep into his flesh, drawing blood.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you!"
He charged madly toward the raised platform, but halfway there, Tang San grabbed him from behind.
"Mubai, don't be rash! Going up there now is suicide!"
Tang San growled, forcibly dragging Dai Mubai back to his seat.
He was furious too, but reason told him that if they fought Tang Yu now, the few of them from Shrek wouldn't even be enough to fill a tooth.
Before Shrek's people could recover, another graceful figure emerged from the inner hall.
Ning Rongrong wore a luxurious pink-and-blue dress and delicate leather shoes as she swayed her way onto the square.
Her complexion was rosy, her skin smooth and delicate, and her large eyes brimmed with liveliness and pride.
When he saw his daughter walk out, Ning Fengzhi's breathing nearly stopped.
He could clearly sense that the Soul Power in his daughter's body was several times denser than before, and seemed on the verge of breaking through.
More importantly, the slightly willful temperament she'd once had seemed to have settled, replaced by the captivating grace of a mature woman.
Ning Rongrong first gave Ning Fengzhi a sweet smile, then turned toward the people from Shrek, her gaze instantly sharpening.
Clicking along in her high heels, she strode to where Yu Xiaogang lay sprawled on the ground, panting like a dead dog.
"Ptooey!"
Ning Rongrong spat without the slightest restraint.
"Yu Xiaogang, you shameless fraud who's made a name for himself by deceiving the world!"
Ning Rongrong's voice rang clear, echoing before the great hall.
"I was truly blind to believe your so-called bullshit theories!"
"What was it you said? 'There are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters'?"
"That's nothing but a shameless lie you made up to cover up the fact that you're only a level-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster!"
"You used the resources of our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and traded on the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's name to swindle people for twenty years. And what did you accomplish?"
Ning Rongrong pointed at Yu Xiaogang's nose and cursed him out:
"You couldn't even teach your disciples to withstand a single move from the prince!"
"You made us run with weights, and forbade us from using Soul Power, sending us off to our deaths. Is that what you call special training?"
"You don't deserve to be called a Grandmaster. You're just a fraud who leads his students astray!"
Lying on the ground, Yu Xiaogang felt as if his very soul were being torn apart by the pain of his severed arm and Ning Rongrong's public humiliation.
He opened his mouth to refute her, but all that came out was a hoarse "Hah... hah..."
Ning Rongrong turned to the representatives of the great sects below and announced loudly:
"Today, before all the powerful people under heaven, I hereby officially announce on behalf of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect!"
"From this moment on, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect will cut off all funding and resource support to Shrek Academy!"
"Furthermore, I'll have my father use all the influence our sect wields in the Heaven Dou Empire to shut Shrek Academy down!"
"The Heaven Dou Empire has no place for a backwater academy that swindles people!"
Her words sent a shock through the crowd.
Flender had been hiding at the back of the crowd. Hearing this, he felt as if he'd fallen into an icy pit, his face deathly pale.
Shrek Academy was the work of his entire life.
If the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect really intended to destroy them completely, then Shrek would truly be finished.
Dai Mubai trembled with rage, pointing at Ning Rongrong, but for a long moment, he couldn't say a word.
"Rongrong... You—you're really going to destroy everything we worked for, all for him?"
Ning Rongrong gave a cold snort and didn't even look at him. She walked straight over to Tang Yu's other side.
She naturally took his other arm, her expression playful and charming.
"Everything you worked for? A fraudulent academy deserves to be called that?"
"I suggest you hurry back to that broken village of yours before you embarrass yourselves in Heaven Dou City."
Tang Yu stood between two peerless beauties.
One was cool and alluring, the other charming and noble.
And these two goddesses, whom countless people had dreamed of winning over, now leaned against him like little birds seeking shelter.
He lowered his eyes to the beauties in his arms, a gentle smile appearing on his face. Then he looked up at the trembling nobles below the platform.
"I told you."
Tang Yu's voice was calm, yet carried an authority that brooked no defiance.
"I'm the one who calls the shots in these Northwest Three Provinces now."
"Those who follow me will naturally receive supreme glory and power."
He paused and shifted his gaze to Yu Yuanzhen, who lay sprawled on the ground.
"As for those who defy me, the fate of this old dragon is the warning you should take to heart."
Everyone below lowered their heads.
Even the envoy sent by Emperor Xue Ye was too frightened to make a sound.
They knew.
From this day on, the Heaven Dou Empire's balance of power would change.
And this black-clad youth, barely in his teens, would become the uncrowned king no one dared provoke—not just in this empire, but across the entire continent.
Ning Fengzhi looked at Tang Yu on the platform and sighed silently, yet felt a sense of relief in his heart.
At least.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had chosen the right path.
As for Shrek and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, clinging to their last breath, after today they were destined to become dust in the pages of history.
The gale gradually died down across the square of the Blue Silver King Mansion.
Only the cold clatter of armor from tens of thousands of cavalrymen lingered in the air.
The autumn wind swept across the mansion's bluestone square, slowly dispersing the stench of blood.
It came both from Yu Yuanzhen, who had just been stripped of his life force and left as withered as a dead tree, and from the pungent smell of blood flowing from Yu Xiaogang's severed arm.
All around them, tens of thousands of elite soldiers from the Blue Silver Army and the Black Horse Iron Cavalry stood like statues, their hard armor reflecting a chilling gleam in the sunlight.
In the center of the square, the powerful sect representatives and Heaven Dou nobles who had come to the banquet held their breath, not daring to make a sound.
On the raised platform, Tang Yu stood with his hands behind his back, his gleaming Mysterious Heaven Divine Armor shimmering with a dark golden light beneath the sun.
Zhu Zhuqing leaned against his left side. Her tight black outfit perfectly outlined her breathtaking figure, and the aloof look she usually wore had softened into the docility of a cat in a warm room.
Ning Rongrong stood at his right, holding his arm. Her large eyes brimmed with liveliness and pride, and her whole bearing exuded the nobility of someone in command of great power.
The sight was a forceful one, but to the people of Shrek, it was the most toxic arsenic in the world.
"Zhuqing..."
Dai Mubai slumped in his chair, bloodshot veins webbing across his tiger eyes as his whole body trembled uncontrollably.
His voice was terribly hoarse, like air rasping through a broken bellows.
"Tell me this isn't real. It isn't, right?"
"Do you have some kind of reason? Is this bastard threatening you with the Star Luo Empire, or with your family's lives?"
As he spoke, Dai Mubai struggled to his feet, but his Soul Power was so unsteady that he nearly fell.
His gaze locked on Zhu Zhuqing's face, searching her cool, beautiful features for any trace of coercion, pain, or struggle.
But.
There was nothing.
Not a thing.
Zhu Zhuqing didn't even look at him. She simply rubbed her cheek against Tang Yu's broad shoulder, her words as cold as ice chips on a winter day.
"Dai Mubai, drop that nauseating hypocrisy."
"When my sister's assassins hounded me, when I nearly died time and again, struggling to survive in mud and blood, where were you?"
"You were in the Rose Hotel in Suotuo City, carousing with those vulgar women and singing and drinking night after night."
"When I came to the Heaven Dou Empire with my last bit of hope and found you, what did I see?"
"A coward who did nothing but run from reality and numb himself with alcohol and women."
Zhu Zhuqing turned toward Dai Mubai, her eyes devoid of anger, their indifference enough to make anyone despair.
"What did you teach me at Shrek Academy? Those pointless weighted runs? Or being put on display like a monkey for people to watch in the Soul Fighting Arena?"
"If I kept following you and that Shrek Academy full of empty talk, I'd spend the rest of my life a weakling at the mercy of others."
"The prince gave me strength and enabled me to reach my current Soul King cultivation, above level fifty."
"My fate no longer belongs to the rotten Star Luo Imperial Family, much less to a useless coward like you, who fled in the face of danger."
Leaning against Tang Yu's shoulder, she smiled with contentment, showing a tenderness Dai Mubai had dreamed of but never once seen.
Dai Mubai felt as if he'd been struck by lightning. His face went from red to white, then turned ashen.
"No... That's not how it is..."
"We have the Hell White Tiger! We were made for each other!"
He shouted hysterically, digging his nails into his palms. Blood trickled between his fingers.
But Zhu Zhuqing couldn't be bothered to spare him another word. She turned away.
Oscar's face was also deathly pale. Tears welled in his peach-blossom eyes as he stared at Ning Rongrong in a daze.
"Rongrong... What about us?"
"Those days we shared, the days when you smiled so happily—were they all a lie?"
"I'm only a food-type Soul Master. Do you have any idea how hard I worked to become worthy of you?"
"Why would you say such cruel things about Shrek? Why would you destroy everything we worked for?"
Oscar's voice broke with tears, desperate with the collapse of his faith.
Ning Rongrong gave a cold snort and tightened her arms around Tang Yu's.
"Everything we worked for? A backwater academy that can't even afford to eat and barely survives in a broken village deserves to be called that?"
"Oscar, you're still too naïve."
"I only stayed at Shrek before because I was throwing a young lady's tantrum and wanted to try out that so-called 'commoner life.'"
"But now I've grown up. I know what the future of the sect is and what we can truly rely on."
She looked at Oscar with disdain.
"You really are a genius among food-type Soul Masters, but so what?"
"In a real war, in the face of the prince's Black Horse Iron Cavalry, what use would a few of your sausages be?"
"Could they protect the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect from attack? Could they give me the right to stand at the pinnacle of the continent?"
"You can't do that, but my master can."