Shrek Academy, Sea God Pavilion.
Xuan Zi rushed back at the fastest speed of his life.
He burst headfirst into the study, red-faced and panting like an ox, then laid out everything that had happened in the Star Dou Great Forest.
From Mu Tianyi successfully absorbing his soul ring, to Xuan Zi leaving to forage for food, to the Soul Tool shattering, Mu Tianyi vanishing, and the footprints leading toward the Great Fierce Land...
He left out no detail, not a single word.
Mu En sat in his grand chair, his expression shifting from delight to darkness, growing increasingly grim.
After Xuan Zi finished speaking, the study remained silent for a long time.
Mu En rose to his feet.
He did not fly into a rage, smash anything, or even raise his voice. He simply looked at Xuan Zi, and the heavy disappointment in his eyes was more suffocating than any scolding.
"Xuan Zi." Mu En spoke, his calm voice somewhat chilling. "You have disappointed me greatly."
Xuan Zi lowered his head, fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palms, and said nothing.
He knew that any explanation at this moment would be feeble.
Mu En had entrusted his most precious descendant to him, yet he had lost him in the Core Zone of the Star Dou Great Forest.
This was not negligence. This was an unforgivable mistake.
"I'll accept every punishment afterward," Xuan Zi said hoarsely. "But, Uncle Master, the urgent matter is saving Tianyi first."
Mu En closed his eyes and drew a deep breath.
Of course he knew.
Although Shrek and the Star Dou Great Forest had an agreement that human Titled Douluo were forbidden from entering the Core Zone without permission, he could no longer care about that.
Even if Di Tian was still there, even if he was no longer Di Tian's match.
Leaning on his cane, Mu En walked toward the door, his steps as steady as a mountain.
"Let's go." The old man's voice was quiet, yet carried an unyielding resolve.
"Given Di Tian's temperament, if Tianyi was merely taken into the Great Fierce Land, he should still be safe."
Mu En paused without looking back.
"This time, I fear things will become serious. I only hope Di Tian won't hold it against this old man."
"If it truly comes to a point beyond reconciliation, I'll leave this old life of mine there as an apology."
Mu Tianyi rubbed his aching lower back where he had landed.
He sat up from the grass and looked at the golden big cat before him, who was taking this far too seriously.
"But I refuse."
The vertical eye of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion suddenly widened.
"Why?"
Her voice shot up at once, carrying the disbelief of someone who had been offended.
As the Emperor Auspicious Beast, she had never known anyone who dared refuse her.
"I refuse to be someone's cook." Mu Tianyi brushed the grass clippings from his clothes. "I have dreams, things of my own to do, and a path of my own to walk. I can't stay here and roast meat for you every day."
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion's tail snapped through the air, the tuft of golden flame at its tip tracing a bright arc as the surrounding air abruptly grew several degrees hotter.
"Old Bear said that in the Star Dou Great Forest, the biggest fist makes the rules. If you want to speak, your fist has to be bigger than everyone else's."
"Your fist isn't bigger than mine, so you can't refuse me." The Three-Eyed Golden Lion raised her head, fighting spirit blazing in her vertical eye. "I want to duel you."
Mu Tianyi: "...Huh? What the hell?"
"Arm-wrestling." The Three-Eyed Golden Lion raised one front paw and showed him her paw pad. "If you win, I'll let you go. If I win, you'll make delicious food for me and roast that tasty meat every day."
Mu Tianyi looked at the golden paw larger than his head, then at his own thin arms, thin legs, and small frame.
He fell silent.
Then he fell silent again.
"You call that a duel?"
He did not even dare imagine what kind of nonsense the fierce beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest had been teaching the Emperor Auspicious Beast.
"Enough, little one. Take a break."
Di Tian suddenly appeared.
"Di Tian, what are you doing?"
"Although... anyway, you two need to say goodbye."
Di Tian's expression was calm, but his gaze rested on Mu Tianyi, as though sensing something.
He had originally been resting with nothing to do when a message suddenly came from Ten Thousand Demon King: Shrek's Bright Sacred Dragon and Taotie were rushing toward the Great Fierce Land.
Hearing that Shrek's people actually dared violate the agreement, Di Tian's short temper immediately flared, and he had intended to teach the two a lesson.
Then his peripheral vision swept over the Three-Eyed Golden Lion... and Mu Tianyi beside her.
Di Tian: "..."
He roughly understood why those two were heading toward the Great Fierce Land.
He stepped forward for a closer look.
Well, well. It really was the bloodline of the Bright Sacred Dragon.
Then there was no problem.
Di Tian withdrew his gaze, lowered his head to look at the Three-Eyed Golden Lion beside him, and his tone became uncharacteristically gentler.
"Little one, let him go."
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion abruptly raised her head, her tone puzzled.
"Why?!"
"His family has come for him." Di Tian raised his chin toward the outskirts of the Great Fierce Land.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion's ears twitched, and her vertical eye blinked twice as if she were processing the information.
"Family..."
She murmured the word again, and her gaze suddenly changed.
She understood family.
Di Tian was her family.
Old Bear, Old Demon, Sister Bi Ji...
Though they always nagged her, though the things they taught were strange and bizarre, they were still her family.
If something happened to her one day, Di Tian would be worried too.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion lowered her head, her golden tail swishing once in reluctant displeasure.
"Fine." Her voice was muffled. "Go."
Mu Tianyi had not expected things to change so quickly.
Just moments ago, he had been trying to figure out how to escape the claws of a ten-thousand-year Auspicious Beast, and now he was being told that he could leave.
He instinctively stood and looked at the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.
The proud golden big cat was now sitting beside the lake, her vertical eye half-closed.
Her gaze rested on the ground, her tail idly sweeping the grass, and her expression carried the awkwardness of I don't want to talk to you, but hurry up and leave.
"Hey, human." The Three-Eyed Golden Lion suddenly spoke, her voice soft. "What's your name?"
Mu Tianyi paused, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously lifted.
"My name is Mu Tianyi."
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion's ears twitched as though committing the name to memory.
She said nothing more. She only turned her face away and pointed the vertical eye on her forehead toward him, as though using her third eye to look at him one last time.
At the same time.
At the border between the Great Fierce Land and the Mixed Zone.
Two figures were racing toward the Core Zone at astonishing speed.
The two released their auras without restraint, and the soul beasts along their path began fleeing madly from hundreds of meters away.
Xuan Zi trailed Mu En by half a step, following close behind.
Both men had their eyes fixed on the depths of the dark forest ahead. They exchanged no words, but their speed continued to rise.
Suddenly...
Mu En's figure came to an abrupt halt, and Xuan Zi stopped almost at the same instant.
A vast, abyss-like aura suddenly surged into the air ahead.
Mu En's gaze narrowed slightly, a flash of golden light passing through the depths of his pupils.
Three steps in front of him.
Space seemed to be torn apart by an invisible giant hand. A pitch-black fissure ripped open in the void, dark spatial power churning along its edges.
A figure stepped out from within the fissure.
Dressed in black with black hair, his face was so handsome it was nearly bewitching, while his eyes were a deep gold, like two burning suns.
There was no soul-ring light around him, yet the oppressive aura emanating from his very bones made the air within a kilometer grow thick and viscous.
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