"You don't need to answer that nonsense."
Impatience gleamed in Bibi Dong's violet eyes. "Just tell me where Doudou is!"
"He... Doudou and Xiaotao went that way."
Zhang Lexuan pointed in a direction.
Bibi Dong nodded. With a few swift steps, she vanished from sight, moving so fast that only a fading afterimage remained.
After Bibi Dong left.
Everyone was still reeling from what had just happened, unable to come back to their senses for a long while.
Just then, an elite disciple looked at the Silver Moon Wolf King lying on the ground, barely alive despite being a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. A feverish glint entered his eyes, and he gritted his teeth as he urged her:
"Senior sister, the Wolf King isn't dead yet, and you still need an Eighth Soul Ring. Why not... choose this Silver Moon Wolf King?"
Zhang Lexuan looked at the once-mighty Wolf King, now lying there like a dead dog, and felt a jumble of emotions.
In ordinary times, this would have been a tremendous opportunity.
But now, all she felt was a chill that seeped into her bones.
That woman was terrifying.
Doudou's background was far more unfathomable than she had imagined.
"No."
Zhang Lexuan shook her head, her expression complicated. "We can't take this Soul Ring."
"Why?" the disciple asked, bewildered.
"Because some things are beyond our reach."
Zhang Lexuan sighed and looked in the direction Chen Doudou had gone. "If we dare take it without their permission, we might not even know how we died."
"Enough. Everyone, rest where you are and stop the bleeding for the wounded first."
"Yes!"
A quarter of an hour later.
Bibi Dong slowly walked over, carrying a sleeping figure in her arms. Ma Xiaotao and Pegasus Zeus followed behind her.
Seeing this, Zhang Lexuan immediately got to her feet and went over to meet them, worry filling her eyes. "Senior, what's wrong with Doudou?"
Bibi Dong looked down at the sleeping Chen Doudou. A rare hint of tenderness softened her icy features. "Nothing. He's just tired. This little one overtaxed his Soul Power. Let him sleep for a while and he'll be fine."
"That's good..."
Zhang Lexuan breathed a sigh of relief, and the taut nerves finally loosened a little. "Senior, Doudou overexerted himself because of us. If you need any nourishing medicinal herbs, Shrek will take care of everything. We won't refuse."
Bibi Dong waved her off like she was shooing away a fly. "All right, go take care of your own business. Don't stand here getting in the way, and don't wake Doudou."
If Zhang Lexuan hadn't looked after Doudou so well these past two days, given her temperament in the past, she wouldn't have bothered saying another word to these people from Shrek.
"Yes, Senior."
Zhang Lexuan gestured to Ma Xiaotao to follow her back over to the others.
At that moment, the entire camp seemed to be divided in two by an invisible boundary.
One side was warm and peaceful; the other, tense and oppressive.
A few more minutes passed.
"BOOM!"
With a thunderous crash, Xuan Zi dropped from the sky, a few plump pheasants in hand and a hearty smile on his face. "Hahahaha! Looks like everyone's doing fine! Come take a look! I just went and caught a few pheasants. They're nice and plump. Everyone can have a taste later!"
When they realized that Xuan Zi had neglected his night-watch duty just to go catch a few pheasants, the anger of the Shrek students burst into flames.
But out of respect for Xuan Zi's authority, no one dared to lash out at him to his face.
Straightforward as ever, Ma Xiaotao didn't care about that. She sneered, "Oh, Elder Xuan, you remembered to come back, did you? Why didn't you stay out there longer and come back even later?"
Xuan Zi was completely baffled by the jibe and looked at everyone. "Xiaotao, what's going on? What did I do to upset you? I just went out to catch a few pheasants. Is that really such a big deal?"
Seeing that Xuan Zi still had no idea he was in the wrong, Ma Xiaotao flew into a rage. She didn't care what his status was anymore. "Elder Xuan! How can you even say that? Do you know we almost got wiped out just now?"
"We ran into a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. If Doudou's elder hadn't helped us, we'd have been left without a place to bury our bodies!"
Xuan Zi was berated until he was thoroughly stunned. Still unconvinced, he said, "Th-this can't be possible, can it? How could we run into a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast here? Are you sure you didn't see wrong?"
Seeing this, all the Shrek students watched with cold expressions. Not one of them stepped forward to defend Xuan Zi.
After all, they'd nearly lost their lives. Who wouldn't be furious?
Ma Xiaotao trembled with anger and pointed at the Silver Moon Wolf King, still twitching nearby. "Elder Xuan! Open your damn eyes and look! What's that?!"
Xuan Zi followed her finger. When he saw the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the pheasants in his hands dropped to the ground with a thud.
He slapped himself hard across the face.
"What... what have I done?!"
"Ah! I've sinned!"
Xuan Zi let out a remorseful wail. His face flushed red, and he wished the ground would open up and swallow him.
Daring not to throw his weight around anymore, he called everyone together, hoping to apologize to them one by one and make amends.
No matter how angry everyone was, what could they do?
They could only swallow it.
After all, how could ordinary inner-court disciples like them challenge Xuan Zi's position in Shrek?
They could only silently remember the humiliation of that day and swear that if Xuan Zi ever led another mission, they would never take part.
A few more minutes passed.
Xuan Zi forced a smile onto his old face and went over to Bibi Dong. "You must be Doudou's elder. I wanted to ask, do you still want that Silver Moon Wolf King? If not, how about giving it to us?"
Bibi Dong was completely dumbfounded.
After ten thousand years, this was the first time she'd met someone as shameless as Yu Xiaogang.
She gave a derisive laugh. "Heh... Shrek really has no shame. You think you can take a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast from me just by asking?"
"I never said I wanted to take your Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast for free. We can discuss what resources to trade for it."
Xuan Zi's expression immediately darkened.
"You can insult me, but you absolutely cannot insult Shrek Academy!"
Bibi Dong's lips curled in scorn. "So what if I insult Shrek? Do you think I don't know what your Shrek is like?"
"You!"
Xuan Zi clenched his teeth and instinctively unleashed the terrifying pressure of a Level 98 Super Douluo, hoping to teach the person before him a lesson.
Bibi Dong's pretty face turned cold in an instant. "You dare attack me? I have to say, you've got some nerve!"
As she spoke, she set Doudou down.
She leaped into the air and kicked Xuan Zi.
"Ah!"
Xuan Zi cried out in pain, unable to react in time.
Bibi Dong's terrifying Level 99 power was more than he could withstand.
It was worth remembering that her body had been strengthened by eighteen Soul Rings, each more than eighty thousand years old.
Although one of her divine positions had been hastily taken back back then, the Rakshasa God hadn't left her with nothing in return.
For example, every Soul Ring she now had was over eighty thousand years old, and she even had a full eleven Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings.
With such physical strength and her precise control of Soul Power, how could Xuan Zi possibly resist?
In the space of a few breaths, Xuan Zi, a renowned figure across the continent, was pinned beneath Bibi Dong's foot, his face twisted with unwillingness.
In an instant, dust billowed everywhere.
The one-sided fight terrified the Shrek students so badly that they hardly dared to breathe. They stood frozen in place, trembling.
"Senior..."
Zhang Lexuan stepped forward, fighting her fear, hoping to intervene.
Bibi Dong ignored her and stared straight at Xuan Zi beneath her foot, pressing down slightly with her toe.
"Old man, you should be grateful you didn't do anything untoward to Doudou two days ago. Otherwise, today you'd be facing far worse than being pinned under my foot."
If Xuan Zi had so much as entertained the slightest improper thought about Chen Doudou two days ago, Bibi Dong wouldn't have let him off so easily today.
When she finished, Bibi Dong swept her gaze over everyone.
One by one, those she looked at lowered their heads, not daring to meet her eyes.
"And one more thing. Don't think Shrek is all that great!"
"Do you really think you earned the title of the number one academy in the world through sheer strength?"
"Don't make me laugh!"
Bibi Dong sneered. Seeing that none of them seemed to know the truth, she decided to tear away Shrek's true face right in front of everyone.
"Four thousand years ago, when the Sun Moon Continent invaded, it was the Spirit Hall that held the front line. It was the Spirit Hall that hung white mourning cloth from every home. To protect the common people of the world, the Spirit Hall stood alone against the pressure of the entire continent and drove back the Sun Moon Empire!"
"And what did your Shrek do? You were nothing but a pack of useless parasites who stumbled into the title of the number one academy in the world! And you really think you're so impressive?"
"Hei! Tui!"
Bibi Dong spat hard on the ground, and the spit seemed to land in the heart of every Shrek disciple.
"A bunch of good-for-nothings, and you think you can bargain with me?"
Before you continue