"Your Highness, this old man suddenly remembered that I still have urgent business to attend to."
Dugu Bo pulled Dugu Yan along and headed out without looking back.
"We'll take our leave for now. We'll talk again another day!"
He couldn't stay in this hall another second. Right now, all he wanted was to catch up with those Shrek people and vent his pent-up fury on them.
On a desolate forest path outside Heaven Dou City, dead leaves whipped wildly in the wind.
The Shrek group fled in a wretched heap, like dogs that had lost their homes, propping one another up as they ran.
Yu Xiaogang led the group, his face ashen, his legs still trembling uncontrollably.
A gust of foul wind suddenly roared past.
A thick green poisonous fog instantly sealed off the road ahead.
Dugu Bo hovered in midair with his hands behind his back, looking down at the group of ants.
"Running?"
"Where do you think you're going, you bunch of useless students from some backwater academy?"
Without another word, Dugu Bo raised a hand and slapped down through the air.
A deafening boom rang out.
The earth shuddered violently.
Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun didn't even have time to scream before the terrifying force of Soul Power wind slammed them into the mud.
The crisp crack of breaking bones rang out one after another.
The two of them had already been beaten by Qin Feng back at the academy, and now their injuries were even worse.
Their faces were ruined, swollen like risen dough, covered in bruises and blood. They looked utterly wretched.
"Senior, spare us!"
"We know we were wrong!"
Oscar dropped to his knees with a thud. Snot and tears streamed down his face as he banged his head against the stone slabs.
If he hadn't knelt quickly enough and begged for mercy fast enough, the shockwave from that palm strike alone would have shattered his internal organs.
Yu Xiaogang slumped beside a tree root, his mouth hanging wide open. He couldn't force out a single word.
Tang San endured the agony coursing through every limb and struggled to prop up his upper body.
Seeing his companions lying around him like dead dogs, fury surged wildly in his heart.
"Old Poison!"
"You're a dignified Titled Douluo, yet you bully the weak. What kind of hero does that make you?"
Frightening red veins spread across Tang San's eyes. Several Hidden Weapons had already slipped silently into his palm.
At that form of address, Dugu Bo's eyebrows shot up.
"You've got some nerve, boy. You're on death's doorstep, and you still dare to shout at me."
The green poisonous fog instantly transformed into an invisible giant hand. It clamped around Tang San's neck and hoisted him into the air.
A suffocating sensation surged over him.
At the same time, the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison entering his body brought a stabbing pain that pierced to the bone.
Tang San's treasured Mysterious Heaven Skill couldn't even manage its most basic circulation under the absolute crushing gap in their levels.
He clawed at the poisonous fog with both hands, his legs kicking wildly in the air.
"Your brow is dark, and the poison has reached your marrow..."
"I can cure your poison!"
Tang San summoned every ounce of strength he had and forced those words from his throat.
He'd thought that revealing this trump card would make his opponent hesitate and give him a chance to survive.
But Dugu Bo didn't hesitate for even a moment. His eyes were full of ridicule.
"You little brat, you think you can fool me with some nonsense about curing poison?"
"Do you think I've got rocks in my head?"
Dugu Bo raised his right leg and kicked Tang San hard in the abdomen.
A dull thud rang out.
Tang San flew away like a rag doll, crashing through two trees before slamming into a boulder.
Blood mixed with bits of his internal organs sprayed from his mouth.
Under the poison's assault, his face quickly turned blue and purple. It swelled until his eyes were reduced to little more than slits, leaving him with the miserable appearance of a pig's head.
He couldn't even cry out in pain and fell into a semi-conscious state.
Dugu Bo snorted and disdainfully brushed the dust from his hands.
After beating up those ignorant brats, most of the pent-up frustration in his heart had finally dissipated.
He left a few traces of poison inside them to torment them slowly, then turned and strode away.
Only after that green robe had disappeared at the end of the road did Xiao Wu hurry over from behind. Seeing the people groaning across the ground, she knit her delicate brows into a deep frown.
She didn't even glance at Dai Mubai or Ma Hongjun. Her gaze fell straight on Tang San, who looked utterly wretched.
Tang San was barely breathing. The poison had caused bizarre, dark green blotches to spread across his skin.
Although he knew the Tang Sect's methods for curing poison, the lingering poison Dugu Bo had left behind was simply too overbearing. He had no way to dispel it on his own in such a short time.
Xiao Wu crouched down and carefully gave him a sip of water from her canteen.
Yet a tangle of confusion and uncertainty rose involuntarily in her heart.
Third Brother had always treated her with the utmost care.
But those disgusting things Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun had gotten up to, chasing women in Suotuo City—could Third Brother really have known nothing about them?
Was he truly a good man who remained unstained by the mud, or did he harbor the same thoughts as those other guys?
"..."
Xiao Wu bit her lower lip hard, her thoughts in disarray.
Suddenly, the Chat Group interface flashed through her mind.
The group owner knew even the secrets of the past and future. He must know Third Brother's true nature, too.
Should she wait until they found somewhere safe to settle down, then try asking the group owner about him in the Chat Group?
Elsewhere.
Ning Rongrong stood a few paces away with her arms crossed, not the least bit interested in stepping forward to help.
Looking at these companions rolling around in the mud, she felt only a bone-deep sorrow.
How had the dignified young miss of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect ever been so blinded that she'd run away from home and joined Shrek?
What kind of Monster Academy was this? It was nothing but a leaky ship packed with villains.
Dai Mubai was a cowardly prince who'd abandoned his fiancée and only cared about saving himself. Ma Hongjun was a pervert whose head was full of filthy Evil Fire.
What kind of bright future could Shrek possibly have, with her mixed up among these little monsters?
Their future had already turned pitch-black.
Zhu Zhuqing stood beneath the shade of a tree, far away at the edge of the group.
Her cool gaze swept over the wreckage on the ground, then lingered for two seconds on Dai Mubai's face, swollen into a pig's head.
The disgust and contempt in her eyes were impossible to hide.
He was weak, rotten to the core, and only knew how to cause trouble with the little strength he had.
A man like that had no place in her life.
Her gaze slowly shifted away, but a scene from the Star Dou Great Forest rose uncontrollably in her mind.
That peerless figure in white, who had killed a sixty-thousand-year-old Soul Beast with a single Thousand-Jin Dragon Fist.
Qin Feng.
Unfortunately, she still had no chance to leave the group. She could only keep that hope buried in her heart and wait for an opportunity to see him again.
Elsewhere, in the East Palace of the Heaven Dou Crown Prince.
The spacious, luxurious hall was filled with a peculiar atmosphere.
All the irrelevant people had been cleared out. Even the guards had withdrawn outside, leaving only Qin Feng and Qian Renxue.
Qian Renxue had shed her disguise as the prince Xue Qinghe and returned to her true appearance.
Her golden hair cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall. In the lamplight, her breathtakingly beautiful face radiated a captivating allure.
She sat in the seat of honor, staring intently at Qin Feng below.