Yu Xiaogang Arrives, Tang San's Change

At high noon two days later, the sunlight was somewhat blinding.

Zhao Wuji led the dispirited Dai Mubai and the other two back to Shrek Academy, their heads hanging low.

Flender had been waiting for a long time. Seeing the disheveled state of the four, especially the absence of Tang San, his heart sank.

He pushed up his glasses and signaled for Zhao Wuji to stay behind alone.

Zhao Wuji closed the door, his face full of lingering fear. He recounted everything that had happened in the Star Dou Great Forest, from encountering the Phoenix-Tail Cockscomb Serpent to the appearance of the Snake Matriarch, exactly as it had occurred.

Flender tapped his fingers on the desk, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.

When he heard that eight purple spider legs had sprouted from Tang San's back, his tapping fingers came to an abrupt halt. "What did you say? After absorbing the Human-Faced Demon Spider spirit ring, something like spider legs grew out of Xiao San's back?"

He felt a sense of doubt; as a Spirit Saint expert with no small amount of experience, he vaguely sensed that this was by no means an ordinary phenomenon.

"That should be an External Spirit Bone." A somewhat stiff voice came abruptly from outside the dean's office door.

Zhao Wuji was startled, but Flender's eyes lit up, and he laughed aloud:

"Haha, the real expert has arrived! Xiaogang, come in quickly; don't stand outside the door."

The door was pushed open, and a middle-aged man with simple attire and a stiff, rigid expression walked in.

Flender stood up and briefly introduced the two: "Xiaogang, this is our academy's vice dean, the Immovable Wisdom King, Zhao Wuji."

"Wuji, this is the Master I've often mentioned to you, the one invincible in theory, Yu Xiaogang."

Zhao Wuji quickly cupped his hands. "So you are the Master. It is a pleasure to meet you; I am Zhao Wuji."

"Immovable Wisdom King, no need for formalities." Yu Xiaogang returned the salute with a slight stiffness, but his mind was clearly not on these pleasantries.

"You've returned. Tang San should have returned with you as well, right? Is he safe?"

"This..." Zhao Wuji's face showed an awkward and troubled expression. He rubbed his large hands and looked at Flender, not knowing how to begin.

Flender also subconsciously avoided Yu Xiaogang's gaze, pushed up his glasses, and gave a dry cough, his eyes drifting.

Seeing the two of them hesitating and dodging his gaze, a sense of foreboding suddenly surged in Yu Xiaogang's heart.

"What exactly happened? What happened to Xiao San?! Don't keep things from me!"

Zhao Wuji opened his mouth but still couldn't get the words out.

Flender sighed, knowing he couldn't hide it. He signaled for Yu Xiaogang to sit down first, took a deep breath himself, and then, in as calm a tone as he could muster, retold the events Zhao Wuji had just described to Yu Xiaogang.

As Flender spoke, Yu Xiaogang's face grew increasingly ugly. Especially when he heard the name "Zhao Linchuan," his hands resting on his knees clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white.

When he heard that Zhao Linchuan had actually used the pretext of "treatment" to forcibly strip the strange bone—which was likely an External Spirit Bone—from Tang San's back, and had only "exchanged" it for a thousand-year torso bone, and that Tang San had actually agreed while in a weakened and tempted state, Yu Xiaogang stood up abruptly from his chair!

"Zhao Linchuan?! It's that Zhao Linchuan again!!!" Yu Xiaogang's voice turned shrill with rage. The veins on his forehead throbbed, and his rigid face twisted slightly, no longer able to maintain his usual stoic composure.

"He's like a ghost that won't go away! He's absolutely haunting us!"

"From Nuoding City to Soto City, from Notting Academy to the Star Dou Great Forest!"

"What exactly is he trying to do to Xiao San?!"

He looked at Flender, his eyes burning with anger and disappointment, and pointed a finger at him. "And you! Flender! Did you not receive the letter I sent you earlier?!"

"I emphasized repeatedly in that letter that Xiao San's identity is special—he is my disciple!"

"And you just let him go hunting for spirits with Zhao Wuji, and... and let him be coerced by the Dragon Duke and Snake Matriarch, only to have that bastard Zhao Linchuan take advantage of the situation?!"

"Xiaogang, calm down, listen to my explanation..." Flender attempted to soothe him.

"Calm down? How can you expect me to be calm!"

Yu Xiaogang interrupted him roughly, his chest heaving violently, his voice laced with fury. "Do you know who Xiao San's father is?! Huh?!"

"I'm telling you, if anything happens to him, let alone your tiny Shrek Academy, even all of us—every single one—will have to be buried with him!"

"Do you understand?!"

Inside the dean's office, the air seemed to freeze.

Flender was stunned by the rare and near-desperate ferocity in Yu Xiaogang's eyes, rendered speechless for a moment.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, in a secluded courtyard of the Dragon-Snake Family.

Tang San, who had just finished a cycle of spirit power circulation and was adjusting his breath, suddenly felt a wave of intense dizziness wash over him.

He let out a muffled groan and raised a hand to support his forehead. The world before his eyes seemed to sway, and countless fragmented, chaotic images rushed into his mind like a bursting dam—

A magnificent and towering divine temple, swirling clouds and mists, powerful divine energy, and the faces of gods both familiar and strange...

There was also a blurry figure holding the Seagod Trident with eight wings on his back; that figure was incomparably majestic, as if in control of all things...

"Did I not... just ascend to the God Realm? Where is this..." he murmured unconsciously, his eyes unfocused.

But the next second, more fragments surged in—a beautiful, soft pink figure drifting further and further away in his memory...

"Did I not commit suicide to reincarnate, to go find Xiao Wu?" Two vast, distinct yet seemingly connected streams of memory clashed, mixed, and tore at each other within his mind.

A sharp, stabbing pain like needles and axes pierced his temples, forcing a low growl from his throat as he clutched his head tightly with both hands.

"Argh—! My head! It hurts!"

He curled his body into a ball, cold sweat instantly soaking through his clothes.

Damn it... the memories... so many are missing... and so many more have been added... that Zhao Linchuan... he shouldn't have existed... he shouldn't have!

Just then, with a soft creak, the door was pushed open.

Chao Tianxiang walked in, wearing a seemingly kind smile and carrying a steaming bowl of nourishing medicinal soup.

She had come to visit this talented young man who had recently joined the family, hoping to deepen their "bond" and ensure he could be truly utilized by the clan.

However, upon entering, she saw Tang San curled up on the floor, clutching his head in agony, his eyes flickering between unfocused and blood-red.

Chao Tianxiang was startled, but she quickly replaced her expression with one of concern and hurried forward. "Young friend Tang San? What happened? Did something go wrong with your cultivation? Or has an old injury flared up?"

She set down the soup bowl and reached out to help him up...

Outside the door, at some unknown moment, a figure as sturdy and imposing as an iron tower stood in silence.

The man leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, his face hidden in the shadows, making his expression impossible to discern.

In his right hand, he gripped a small white porcelain bottle, upon which a few slightly scrawled characters were written in cinnabar—"PLEASE KEEP READING!!!!"