As for helping Ma Xiaotao suppress her Evil Fire, that was the second part of their cooperation.
Xu Tianyao was responsible for resolving the Evil Fire issue within Ma Xiaotao's martial soul, while Mu En was responsible for personally instructing him over the coming year.
Of course, neither side had truly gone all out.
Xu Tianyao held back when treating Ma Xiaotao, and Mu En likewise concealed some things when imparting his experience.
Both of them understood this perfectly well.
After all, although they were partners, they still maintained the necessary guard against one another.
The third point was the most secretive, and also the most important.
It concerned Shrek Academy's stance once the future war broke out.
This was also one of the core reasons Mu En was willing to cooperate with Xu Tianyao.
Mu En knew very well that if the Sun Moon Empire and the Three Great Empires went to war in full, Shrek Academy could never remain uninvolved.
Its tens of thousands of years of legacy, along with its countless ties to the imperial families and noble factions of the Three Great Empires, had not only established Shrek's position above all else, but also doomed it to stand on the side of the Three Great Empires.
There was no possibility of changing that.
But... Mu En had also seen the coming crisis.
He had secretly visited the Sun Moon Empire many times, and each time, he had investigated its military strength. Thus, he knew very well that with the current strength of the Three Great Empires, resisting the Sun Moon Empire was already extremely difficult.
After all, aside from the Xingluo Empire, which had mobilized its army and showed signs of resurgence, the nobles of the Dou Ling Empire were lost in debauchery and luxury, while