Who is Flender's Beloved?

For a fleeting moment, Ning Fengzhi even wondered: if Qian Renxue had recruited the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect early on, and the Spirit Hall Empire had ultimately emerged victorious, what would the situation look like now?

It certainly couldn't be any worse than it is today!

Amidst his fluctuating thoughts, Ning Fengzhi made his decision.

He was determined to recruit these remnants of the Martial Soul Hall.

He had no doubt he would live for another hundred years, and in that time, he was confident he could win the hearts of these remaining Martial Soul Hall forces for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

If he could see a Title Douluo protecting the sect once more before he died, he would be able to face the ancestors of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect with a clear conscience.

He was truly too chilled by his daughter's estrangement.

Putting away the letter and the identity token, Ning Fengzhi began to calculate how to win over these remnants of the Worship Hall to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Beyond that, he also wanted to gather some descendants of the Angel Legion.

As for whether it would all fall apart, Ning Fengzhi was relatively confident in his ability to handle it.

This secret letter was not written by Qian Renxue; it was naturally the handiwork of Qian Yu.

After obtaining her third spirit ring, Qian Renxue had briefly awakened. It was unclear what madness had seized her, but she suddenly felt she had failed the grandfathers of the Worship Hall and asked Qian Yu to help her think of a way to look after the descendants of the many elders of the Worship Hall.

Thus, this letter came to be.

After reading the contents of the letter and confirming his thoughts, Ning Fengzhi looked back at the Shrek Academy recruitment ceremony taking place below, and suddenly found it dull and uninteresting.

But since he was already here, leaving early would ultimately be inappropriate.

Ning Fengzhi simply stayed to watch the spectacle.

And it must be said, he really did get to see a spectacle.

Before the opening ceremony of Shrek Academy, they had publicized that the God Teacher would grace the scene and would even remain at Shrek Academy to teach disciples.

Using the name and gimmick of the God Teacher, Shrek Academy had advertised extensively.

However, Ning Fengzhi noticed that there were no arrangements made to receive the God Teacher at all, as if Shrek Academy had forgotten about the matter entirely.

Was that really the case?

While the opening ceremony here was in full swing, in Heaven Dou City, the God Teacher Yu Xiaogang was holding an impromptu Spirit Theory Research Conference, inviting various factions to attend.

With the current prestige of the God Teacher, even without prior preparation or invitations, once the news spread, the various factions received the message in short order.

"Dean Flender, this is a gift my Duke asked me to prepare for you. The Duke has urgent business and truly cannot make it."

"Our Sect Master has sent the most talented disciple of the sect to your academy, which is enough to show his sincerity. If he didn't need to go into seclusion to break through, he would certainly have come to congratulate you in person."

"Greetings, Dean. A sudden incident occurred at my home, and I need to go handle it immediately..."

The opening ceremony of Shrek Academy was only halfway through, and people were constantly finding various excuses to leave.

Some had their subordinates stay behind while they hurried off with their own excuses.

The originally bustling ceremony became much more desolate in an instant.

Seeing this, Flender's expression turned incredibly ugly.

There were not many people on the Douluo Continent today who could command such influence, and he happened to know one of them.

His old friend from the past, Yu Xiaogang.

This was clearly meant to embarrass him and force him to bow his head.

Everything stemmed from the story that had been circulating back then.

It was originally a trivial matter; finding the source of the rumors and clarifying them would have sufficed.

If that failed, with Yu Xiaogang's current prestige, a few words would have resolved it.

Unexpectedly, the matter intensified, spreading at a terrifying speed that was impossible to control, and in the process of spreading, it was inevitably embellished.

Consequently, Yu Xiaogang became dissatisfied and demanded that Flender handle it.

Although Flender was a Spirit Douluo and had a Title Douluo as a disciple, he truly lacked the ability to handle such matters.

A rift formed between the two.

As luck would have it, just at that moment, another rumor began to spread in private.

The God Teacher Yu Xiaogang was infertile.

It sounded absurd, and no one dared to say it openly, but the matter still reached Yu Xiaogang's ears.

He blamed everything on Flender, believing it was a frame-up by him.

Of course, Yu Xiaogang was not stupid enough to believe Flender had actually done such a thing; his reason for doing so was to make Flender stay away from his wife, Liu Erlong.

As a man, having a brother constantly coveting your wife—a man who was also stronger than you—meant Yu Xiaogang never felt secure.

He then ordered Xue Beng to suppress the matter and stop the rumors from spreading.

It would have been better not to suppress them; the moment he did, the rumors spread even more widely.

If it had only been that, their many years of friendship might not have broken.

The most critical point was that Yu Xiaogang had seen Flender pestering Liu Erlong with his own eyes.

No matter how much Flender and Liu Erlong tried to explain, Yu Xiaogang simply refused to believe them.

And so, a rift formed between the brothers.

"Flender, there aren't that many misunderstandings. I think Yu Xiaogang has just gotten arrogant, feeling that his status is different from ours, and he wants to lord it over you."

Seeing the two of them at each other's throats over such matters, Zhao Wuji offered his own perspective from the sidelines.

"I, on the other hand, think that this move by Yu Xiaogang is about competition; he is competing for the weight of influence in mentoring a god."

"He wants to sever ties with our Shrek Academy and monopolize this honor and credit."

Li Yusong, another teacher at Shrek Academy, pondered for a moment before offering his conclusion.

"Let's just leave it at that for now. Once Oscar and Rongrong also become gods, my old friend won't be so worried anymore."

"By then, everything will be able to return to how it was."

Although Flender did not entirely agree with Li Yusong's words, it was very likely the truth.

He could understand.

Yu Xiaogang had suffered too many grievances in the first half of his life; at this current juncture, in order to prove himself, it was inevitable that he would feel a sense of urgency and insecurity.

Even after experiencing so much, Flender still did not feel that Yu Xiaogang was in the wrong.

Zhao Wuji looked at Flender, his expression quite peculiar.

He always felt that Flender was far too tolerant of Yu Xiaogang, with the same kind of indulgence one would show a beloved.

If not for the fact that Yu Xiaogang was a man, and that he knew Flender deeply loved Liu Erlong, he would have suspected that the object of Flender's affection was Yu Xiaogang himself.

Regardless, the opening ceremony for Shrek Academy had finally been held successfully.

On the other side, Qian Yu led Hu Liena and their group back to the secret base within the Star Dou Great Forest.

Having reaped a bountiful harvest, they began to divide the spoils.