Zhu Zhuqing: Dai Mubai, you're far worse than Tang Yu!

Zhu Zhuqing sneered, her gaze fixed on Dai Mubai as if she were looking at a pile of non-recyclable trash.

"Delusion?"

"Dai Mubai, you are still the same as before; aside from deceiving yourself and others, you are utterly useless."

"Staying by the Prince's side is my honor, and even more so, my choice."

As she spoke, she took a step forward.

Suddenly.

A tyrannical wave of soul power erupted from within Zhu Zhuqing's body.

A massive black cat silhouette flashed behind her, and her Hell Spirit Cat martial soul instantly possessed her.

Immediately following, five dazzling soul rings rose slowly from beneath her feet, pulsing up and down around her body.

Yellow! Yellow! Purple! Purple! Black!

That final, ink-black ten-thousand-year soul ring emitted a heart-stopping energy fluctuation under the sunlight.

"This is impossible!"

Tang San, sitting to the side, stood up abruptly and exclaimed in shock.

As a control-type soul master, his perception of soul power was the most sensitive.

Not long ago, Zhu Zhuqing was clearly only at level forty-one, not even having touched the shadow of a fifth soul ring.

How could she have broken through to level fifty in such a short time, and possessed such a perfect ten-thousand-year soul ring?

This simply defied common sense!

"Five soul rings... she really is a level fifty Soul King!"

Ma Hongjun rubbed his eyes, his face full of dull shock.

Oscar also gasped, muttering to himself in a daze:

"This cultivation speed... how on earth did she achieve it?"

Dai Mubai stared fixedly at those five soul rings, especially the black ten-thousand-year one, which felt blindingly painful to his eyes.

His strength had always been among the best in Shrek Academy, yet even now, he hadn't touched the threshold of level fifty.

But Zhu Zhuqing, whom he considered his fiancée and whose talent should have been inferior to his, had now left him far behind.

Zhu Zhuqing swept a cold glance over the Shrek group, a mocking sneer hanging on her lips.

"Surprised?"

"Dai Mubai, you keep going on about how great Shrek Academy is."

"The ridiculous thing is that the so-called 'Grandmaster' Yu Xiaogang, and Flender, only taught us some garbage theories."

"Following them, aside from doing meaningless physical training all day, we were just like monkeys in the Soul Fighting Arena, performing for others to watch."

"If I had stayed at Shrek, I probably wouldn't have dreamed of breaking through level fifty in this lifetime, let alone seeking revenge for my family."

Zhu Zhuqing retracted her soul rings, turned slightly, and leaned naturally and gently against Tang Yu's shoulder.

The ice on her face melted, replaced by a sincere smile.

"Only by following the Prince did I achieve true growth and understand what true strength is."

"Your self-righteous pride isn't even worth a speck of dust in front of the Prince."

Seeing the cold goddess who wouldn't even let him touch her on ordinary days now leaning softly in the arms of his enemy, with the expression of a happy little woman on her face, the last string of reason in Dai Mubai's mind snapped.

"Zhu Zhuqing! You bitch!"

Dai Mubai roared in a frenzy.

His pupils turned blood-red from extreme rage, and tiny blood vessels even burst at the corners of his eyes.

His hands were clenched into tight fists, his nails digging deep into his flesh, drawing blood.

"I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you all!"

He charged madly toward the high platform, but was grabbed by Tang San from behind halfway there.

"Mubai, don't be impulsive! Going up there now is just throwing your life away!"

Tang San growled in a low voice, forcibly pressing Dai Mubai back into his seat.

Although he was also furious, his reason told him that if they fought Tang Yu now, the few of them from Shrek wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between his teeth.

Before the emotions of the Shrek group could settle, another beautiful figure walked out from the inner hall.

Ning Rongrong was dressed in a luxurious pink-blue long dress, stepping in exquisite leather shoes, walking onto the plaza with a graceful sway.

Her complexion was rosy, her skin delicate enough to be broken by a blow, and her large eyes were full of spirit and pride.

Seeing his daughter walk out, Ning Fengzhi's breathing stalled.

He could clearly feel that the soul power fluctuation on his daughter was several times more solid than before, with faint signs of an impending breakthrough.

Most importantly, the somewhat willful young lady's temper that Ning Rongrong once possessed seemed to have settled, replaced by the moving charm of a mature woman.

Ning Rongrong first offered a sweet smile toward Ning Fengzhi, then turned her head, her gaze sharpening instantly as she looked at the members of Shrek Academy.

Clicking her heels, she strode over to Yu Xiaogang, who lay on the ground gasping like a dying dog.

"Pah!"

Ning Rongrong spat at him without a shred of hesitation.

"Yu Xiaogang, you shameless fraud, deceiving the world and stealing reputations!"

Ning Rongrong's voice was crisp, yet it stirred an echo across the grand hall.

"I must have been blind back then to ever believe your so-called bullshit theories!"

"What was it? 'There are no useless martial souls, only useless Soul Grand Masters'?"

"That was nothing but a shameless lie you concocted to cover up the fact that you were nothing more than a twenty-ninth-level Soul Grand Master!"

"You used the resources of our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and rode the reputation of the Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus Rex Family to swindle people for twenty years. And what was the result?"

Ning Rongrong pointed at Yu Xiaogang's nose, berating him fiercely:

"The result is that the disciples you taught couldn't even take a single strike from the Prince!"

"You made us run with weights, you forbade us from using soul power, sending us to our deaths—is that what you called special training?"

"You aren't fit to be called a Master; you're just a charlatan who ruins the lives of his students!"

Yu Xiaogang lay sprawled on the floor, the agony from his severed arm and the public humiliation inflicted by Ning Rongrong making him feel as though his very soul were being torn apart.

He opened his mouth, wanting to retort, but could only emit a hoarse, rattling wheeze.

Ning Rongrong turned around and announced loudly to the representatives of the various sects gathered below the stage:

"Today, in the presence of all the powerhouses under the heavens, I, on behalf of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, formally declare!"

"From this moment on, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect will cut off all financial and resource support to Shrek Academy!"

"Furthermore, I will have my father use every ounce of the sect's influence within the Heaven Dou Empire to shut Shrek Academy down for good!"

"The Heaven Dou Empire has no room for a back-alley academy that survives on swindling and deception!"

As these words fell, the entire hall was stunned.

Flender, who had been hiding behind the crowd, felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar upon hearing this, his face turning deathly pale.

Shrek Academy was his life's work.

If the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect truly intended to drive them to ruin, then Shrek was finished.

Dai Mubai was so furious his entire body trembled; he pointed at Ning Rongrong, unable to speak for a long time.

"Rongrong... you, you would actually destroy the life's work of us all just for him?"

Ning Rongrong let out a cold snort, not even sparing him a glance as she walked straight back to the other side of Tang Yu.

She took his other arm with practiced ease, her expression delicate and charming.

"Life's work? A fraud academy like yours deserves to be called a life's work?"

"I suggest you crawl back to your pathetic village as soon as possible, lest you continue to make a spectacle of yourselves in Heaven Dou City."

Tang Yu stood between two stunning beauties.

One was cold and alluring, the other delicate and noble.

Yet these two goddesses, whom countless men dreamed of, were currently leaning against him like gentle birds.

He looked down at the beauty in his arms with a gentle smile, then raised his head, his gaze falling upon the trembling dignitaries below the stage.

"I have said it before."

Tang Yu's voice was calm, yet carried an irresistible, overbearing pressure.

"These Northwest Three Provinces are under my command now."

"Those who submit to me shall naturally receive supreme glory and power."

He paused, his gaze shifting to the broken Yu Yuanzhen lying on the ground.

"As for those who defy me, the fate of this old dragon shall be your warning."

Every person below the stage lowered their head at that moment.

Even the envoy sent by Great Emperor Xue Ye was too terrified to make a sound.

They knew.

From this day on, the landscape of the Heaven Dou Empire would change.

And this black-clad youth, barely in his teens, would become the uncrowned king—the one person in this empire, and indeed the entire continent, who must never be provoked.

Ning Fengzhi watched Tang Yu on the stage and sighed silently, yet felt a sense of relief in his heart.

At the very least.

Their Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had chosen the right path.

As for Shrek, and the gasping, dying Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus Rex Family, they were destined to be reduced to the dust of history after today.

The howling wind gradually died down across the entire plaza of the Blue Silver King Mansion.

Only the sound of tens of thousands of iron cavalrymen's cold armor rubbing against each other echoed in the air for a long time.

The autumn breeze swept across the bluestone plaza of the Blue Silver King Mansion, slowly dispersing the bloody scent that permeated the air.

Within that stench of blood, there was the lingering aura of Yu Yuanzhen, whose life force had just been stripped away, leaving him like withered wood, as well as the pungent smell flowing from the stump of Yu Xiaogang's severed arm.

All around, tens of thousands of elite Blue Silver Army soldiers and Black Horse Iron Cavalry stood like statues, their cold, hard armor reflecting a grim light under the sun.

In the center of the plaza, all the sect experts and Heaven Dou Empire dignitaries who had come to the banquet held their breath, not daring to even let out a sigh.

High upon the platform, Tang Yu stood with his hands behind his back, his brilliant Mysterious Heaven Divine Armor shimmering with dark golden light in the sun.

Zhu Zhuqing snuggled against his left side, her black tight-fitting suit outlining her breathtaking figure to perfection; her originally cold and aloof face was now as docile as a kitten in a greenhouse.

Ning Rongrong held his arm on his right, her large eyes filled with spirit and pride, the entire person radiating a luxurious aura of someone who held great power.

This scene was incredibly impactful, but in the eyes of the Shrek Academy group, it was like the deadliest arsenic in the world.

"Zhuqing..."

Dai Mubai slumped in his chair, his tiger eyes bloodshot, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.

His voice was hoarse, sounding like a broken bellows being pulled.

"Tell me this isn't true, right?"

"Do you have some hidden hardship? Did this bastard threaten you using the Star Luo Empire or the lives of your family?"

As Dai Mubai spoke, he struggled to stand up, but nearly fell due to his unstable soul power.

His gaze locked onto Zhu Zhuqing's face, attempting to find a trace of coercion, pain, or struggle on those cold, beautiful features.

However.

Nothing.

There was absolutely nothing.

Zhu Zhuqing didn't even glance at him, simply rubbing her cheek against Tang Yu's broad shoulder, her words as sharp as shards of ice in winter.

"Dai Mubai, put away your nauseating hypocrisy."

"When I was being hunted and intercepted by my sister's assassins, nearly losing my life several times, struggling to survive in mud and blood, where were you?"

"You were in the Rose Hotel in Suotuo City, holding those vulgar women, indulging in debauchery and singing all night long."

"When I arrived at the Heaven Dou Empire with my last shred of hope to find you, what did I see?"

"A coward who only knew how to escape reality, numbing himself with alcohol and women."

Zhu Zhuqing turned her head, her gaze landing on Dai Mubai; there was no anger in her eyes, only a despair-inducing indifference.

"At Shrek Academy, what did you teach me? Those boring weighted runs? Or being put on display like a monkey in the Soul Fighting Arena?"

"If I had continued to follow you, to follow that Shrek that was full of empty talk, I would only ever be a weakling waiting to be slaughtered for the rest of my life."

"It was the Prince who gave me power, allowing me to possess my current cultivation as a Soul King above level fifty."

"My destiny no longer belongs to that decaying Star Luo royal family, and it certainly doesn't belong to a piece of trash like you who flees in the face of battle."

She leaned against Tang Yu's shoulder, a satisfied smile blooming at the corners of her mouth—a tenderness Dai Mubai had dreamed of but never seen.

Dai Mubai was struck as if by lightning, his complexion turning from red to white, and finally to a deathly gray.

"No... it's not like that..."

"We have the Hell White Tiger! We are a match made in heaven!"

He screamed hysterically, his nails digging deep into his palms, blood sliding through his fingers.

However, Zhu Zhuqing couldn't even be bothered to spare him half a word, shifting her gaze away.

Oscar, standing to the side, was also pale, his peach-blossom eyes filled with tears, looking at Ning Rongrong in a state of utter despair.

"Rongrong... then what about us?"

"Those days we spent together, those days when you laughed so happily, were they all fake?"

"I am just a food-system soul master; don't you know how much effort I put in just to be worthy of you?"

"Why would you say such cruel things to Shrek? Why would you destroy everyone's hard work?"

There was a sobbing tone in Oscar's voice, a despair born from the collapse of his faith.

Ning Rongrong snorted coldly, clutching Tang Yu's arm even tighter.

"Hard work? A wild chicken academy that couldn't even afford to eat and could only linger on in a broken village—is that worthy of being called hard work?"

"Oscar, you are still too naive."

"I stayed at Shrek before only because my young mistress's temper flared up and I wanted to taste so-called 'commoner life'."

"But now, I have grown up; I know what the future of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is, and what is truly something to rely on."

She looked at Oscar, her eyes filled with disdain.

"You are indeed a genius food-system soul master, but so what?"

"In the face of real war, in the face of the Prince's Black Horse Iron Cavalry, what use are those few sausages of yours?"

"Can they protect the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect from being violated? Can they give me the qualifications to stand at the pinnacle of the continent?"

"You cannot do it, but my master can."