Just as they reached the academy gates, a figure hurried out from the shadows—it was Headmaster Flender.
Flender's sharp gaze immediately caught sight of the supported Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun. Both were covered in blood, their breaths weak.
His eyes searched through the crowd, yet he never saw his old companion Zhao Wuji. A sense of dread immediately rose in his heart.
"What happened?! Where's Zhao Wuji?"
Flender's voice trembled as he rushed toward them in a few strides, his face filled with anxiety and shock.
Tang San opened his mouth, but it felt as if something had lodged in his throat. He could not say a single word.
Oscar choked back sobs and was about to explain when a violent coughing fit interrupted him.
Ning Rongrong could no longer hold back. Tears spilled from her eyes.
"Teacher Zhao... Teacher Zhao, he..."
Her broken words made Flender's heart sink sharply.
The gates of Shrek Academy creaked in the night wind as Flender's pupils contracted violently at Tang San and the others' halting account.
Under the moonlight, Flender clenched the hem of his headmaster's robe so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
The moment he heard that Zhao Wuji had turned to ash, the headmaster who treasured money as dearly as his life staggered half a step back. His back slammed heavily against the mottled academy wall with a dull thud.
"How could this happen? How could it be like this..."
Flender's voice sounded as though it had been scraped by sandpaper, broken and hoarse.
Looking at Dai Mubai's bloodstained clothes and the strange purple blotches seeping from Ma Hongjun's charred skin, he suddenly realized that Shrek Academy had encountered its most terrifying enemy since its founding. That youth named Shen Lian not only possessed a Spirit Ring configuration beyond