Such Talent Should Serve Spirit Hall!

He looked at the Sky Screen hanging in midair. On the surface, he put on a heartbroken expression, but deep down, his heart was like an ancient well—utterly undisturbed.

"Dai Laoda's actions were indeed dishonorable, but if we set aside those hypocritical moral boundaries and look at it from the perspective of maximizing benefits, his choice actually wasn't wrong."

Tang San calculated coldly in his heart.

If Dai Mubai remained at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, he might obtain some resources, but he would ultimately be dependent on others. Those resources would never be enough for Dai Mubai, and Cuihua, with her talent as a Spirit Master, was destined to leave him farther and farther behind.

But by choosing to cooperate with the Thunderbolt Martial Arts Hall and selling out Cuihua in return, he could directly obtain several times the resources he currently received.

Anyone struggling on the brink of life and death and thirsting for strength would be tempted by such stakes.

Dai Laoda had merely been unlucky enough to run into that War General Class instructor who had been fishing in the shadows all along, causing him to capsize in a gutter.

Failure was failure. Losers needed no sympathy.

Tang San reached his final judgment in his heart.

At the same time, he secretly resolved that if Dai Mubai was fortunate enough to survive this time and return alive to the Douluo Continent, he would definitely be more wary of him in the future, lest Dai Mubai stab him in the back one day as well.

Though that was what he thought, in order to fit in and maintain the superficial brotherhood of the Shrek Seven Devils, Tang San still sighed along with the others.

"Dai Laoda really went too far this time. Sigh."

Tang San casually echoed the sentiment, with a trace of regret in his voice.

Flender and Zhao Wuji, standing at the front of the group, exchanged a glance.

They both saw the gravity and helplessness in each other's eyes.

Dai Mubai had been Shrek Academy's star student, yet now, before the eyes of the entire continent, he had put on such a show of ingratitude and despicable treachery.

This did not merely disgrace the Star Luo Imperial Family—it ruthlessly ground the reputation Shrek Academy had painstakingly built into the mud!

"Mubai... in the end, he still couldn't let go of his aristocratic pride."

Flender pushed up the crystal glasses on his nose, his voice filled with disappointment.

"I don't think he chose to betray Cuihua entirely for the benefits offered by the Thunderbolt Martial Arts Hall."

"More than that, he wanted revenge on Cuihua."

"What he truly could not accept was that the country girl he had once regarded as trash was now standing above him, someone he had to look up to."

"That psychological gap was the true reason that drove him down this dead-end road."

As for Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong, who stood nearby, the only thing left in their eyes as they watched the Sky Screen was undisguised contempt.

Could someone who secretly betrayed his benefactor even be called a man?

Star Luo Empire.

At this moment, Star Luo City had already erupted from top to bottom.

News that Dai Mubai was the third prince of the Star Luo Imperial Family had spread to every corner of the streets and alleys.

In teahouses, taverns, and even roadside markets, discussions among commoners and low-level Soul Masters could be heard everywhere.

"Have you heard? That ungrateful wretch on the Sky Screen is actually a prince of our Star Luo Empire!"

"How could the royal family produce someone so rotten to the core? He wanted to kill a girl from his own hometown over a few bottles of potions. It's disgusting."

"Exactly. If the Emperor we serve could father a son with no bottom line at all, then what kind of person is he himself..."

"Shh! Are you trying to get yourself killed? How dare you say such things? Watch your words!"

Such remarks emerged one after another, spreading out of Star Luo City like a plague and rapidly sweeping through the empire's provinces.

Inside the royal palace hall, Dai Tianfeng sat upon his throne, listening to the report from the intelligence officials below. His face had turned livid with fury.

This time, Dai Mubai had utterly disgraced the Star Luo Imperial Family.

More troublesome still, Dai Mubai had offended the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, which possessed a War General Class expert. In that higher-dimensional world, his chance of surviving a full year and returning to the Douluo Continent had become negligible.

To preserve the royal family's last shred of dignity and stabilize the foundation of the empire's rule,

Dai Tianfeng had no choice but to grit his teeth and make a ruthless sacrifice, directly abandoning this son of his!

That very afternoon, the Star Luo Empire's royal family issued an official proclamation to the entire continent.

The proclamation earnestly refuted the rumors: Explorer Dai Mubai on the Sky Screen was not a legitimate prince of the Star Luo Imperial Family, but merely the illegitimate son left outside by a distant collateral branch of the royal family. His character was vile, and he had long since been expelled from the family.

The royal family's good name could not be sullied. Rumors stopped with the wise.

However, Dai Tianfeng never expected that this official proclamation, issued to refute the rumors, would not silence the public at all. Instead, it had the opposite effect.

What commoners loved most was watching the upper nobility make fools of themselves. Did the authorities rushing out to explain things not indirectly prove one fact?

Dai Mubai truly had royal blood!

Even if he was an illegitimate child from a collateral branch, the blood flowing through his veins was still royal blood!

Thus, the rumors in Star Luo City not only failed to subside, but grew even more rampant. People even concocted all kinds of absurd stories about internal struggles for power within the royal family.

The old rumors of Dai Weisi forcing Dai Mubai to flee far from home were also dug up and began spreading once more.

Spirit City, Pope Palace.

Within the dim hall, Bibi Dong stood alone atop the raised platform.

From the moment Dai Mubai entered the café, she had been carefully watching this entire spectacle.

Compared with Dai Mubai's clumsy schemes, Cuihua's reaction at the final moment—when she pleaded on Dai Mubai's behalf—was what truly caught Bibi Dong's attention.

Recalling Cuihua's helpless yet earnest gaze, a meaningful sneer curled across Bibi Dong's lips.

As the master of Spirit Hall, her years in power had honed her ability to see through people's hearts.

Cuihua's little thoughts could not escape her eyes at all.

"She clearly wanted nothing more than to cut him into a thousand pieces, yet she still had to suppress her disgust and plead for him."

"That girl is clever. She knows everything she does is being broadcast live on the Sky Screen."

"She fears that if she kills a prince of the Star Luo Empire over there, then once the one-year period ends and she returns to the Douluo Continent, she will suffer the Star Luo Imperial Family's frenzied retaliation, perhaps even implicating her family and friends."

"That is why she had no choice but to swallow this grievance."

Bibi Dong understood all too well the feeling of being swept along by worldly power and forced to compromise.

She herself had once been deeply trapped in it, driven to the brink of desperation by Qian Xunji.

So while others might not understand Cuihua's state of mind at the time and merely think she was soft-hearted, Bibi Dong saw that fear and helplessness with absolute clarity.

She understood it all too well.

"She is like another me—greatly talented, capable of enduring hardship, and intelligent. She is a seedling well worth nurturing."

Bibi Dong had already developed an appreciation for Cuihua's talent.

Such talent should serve Spirit Hall!