Shrek Academy's Response

"Teacher Leng actually won?!"

Xie Xie, watching the livestream, sprang up from the sofa in excitement after seeing Yun Ming voluntarily concede.

He fiercely swung his arm through the air.

Teacher Leng had defeated Yun Ming, defeated the Sky-Propping Douluo, the universally acknowledged strongest person on the continent!

What did that mean?

It meant that Teacher Leng was now the strongest person on the continent!

The strongest person on the continent was actually his teacher?

Although Leng Hanyuan and they merely had the most ordinary teacher-student relationship.

It was not like Gu Yue's master-disciple relationship, but that was already enough to make Xie Xie quite excited.

After all, having the strongest person on the continent as his teacher was such a prestigious thing to brag about!

Xie Xie was still young at this point, with a child's temperament.

In comparison, although Tang Wulin also looked rather excited, he was nowhere near as worked up as Xie Xie.

Because from beginning to end, he had believed that Teacher Leng would not lose.

Was that Teacher Leng's true strength...

Tang Wulin recalled the scenes from the livestream.

That golden stream of light, seemingly capable of destroying heaven and earth, had still been neutralized when Teacher Leng raised his hand and condensed an ice mirror.

Such a scene.

It brought an immense shock to Tang Wulin's mind, even though he was currently only a tiny one-ring Soul Master.

A trace of yearning involuntarily rose within him, a yearning for strength.

Unlike the reactions of Tang Wulin and Xie Xie, those two little fellows.

Wu Zhangkong's feelings were extremely complicated.

Tang Wulin and Xie Xie had no connection whatsoever with Shrek Academy.

To them, the Sky-Propping Douluo, Yun Ming, was merely an important figure they had heard of in legends.

Thus, his defeat naturally stirred no other feelings in them.

But Wu Zhangkong was different.

He came from Shrek Academy.

Although he had already left Shrek Academy, he had truly never let go of it in his heart.

Wu Zhangkong understood what the Sky-Propping Douluo's defeat meant.

It was a tremendous blow to the reputation of Shrek Academy as a whole.

As someone who still cared deeply about Shrek Academy, Wu Zhangkong naturally could not be as excited as Tang Wulin and Xie Xie.

But it was impossible for him to bear any resentment toward Leng Hanyuan because of it.

Because Wu Zhangkong knew that this sparring match had originally been initiated by Shrek Academy in order to test Leng Hanyuan.

Naturally, they had to bear the consequences of their crushing defeat.

Leng Hanyuan had done nothing wrong from beginning to end.

His strength had merely far exceeded everyone's expectations at Shrek Academy.

"Sigh."

Wu Zhangkong sighed inwardly and suppressed those complicated thoughts.

He was no longer part of the academy. Why was he thinking about all that?

Shrek Academy, Sea God Pavilion.

At the heart of Shrek Academy's power, the atmosphere was now oppressive and terrifyingly solemn.

"Recent public opinion has become increasingly unfavorable toward the academy."

An elder spoke in a low voice. His aged face, wrinkled like tree bark, was filled with gravity, his expression so gloomy it seemed as though water could drip from it.

"Some small factions that originally leaned toward us are now showing signs of turning toward the Spirit Pagoda—or, more precisely, toward the Phoenix Family."

"If this continues, it may affect the quality of students recruited by the academy in the coming enrollment period."

Those words struck at the point the many elders present cared about most.

As the continent's number one Soul Master Academy, what was most important to Shrek Academy?

Without a doubt, it was its student body.

Only a strong pool of students could cultivate more outstanding graduates.

Once there was a problem with recruitment, the quality of students Shrek Academy cultivated in the future would certainly be affected.

And once the quality of those trained students fell below previous standards, Shrek Academy's reputation would undoubtedly suffer another blow.

That would lead to an even further deterioration in recruitment.

And thus create a vicious cycle.

They had no choice but to take it seriously.

"..."

Silence.

Everyone knew they needed to take it seriously.

But for the moment, there was nothing they could do.

After all, that battle had been livestreamed throughout the entire Federation and fought in full public view.

There was very little room for them to make excuses.

After all, most people only believed the facts placed before their eyes.

"It's all that damned Spirit Pagoda's fault!"

Zhuo Shi slammed his fist onto the table, sending out a dull boom.

He gritted his teeth, his words filled with rage toward the Spirit Pagoda.

After Yun Ming conceded defeat, they had already anticipated this situation.

Thus, they had deliberately mobilized all of Shrek Academy's media resources, intending to contain the public reaction as quickly as possible.

Logically, with such measures in place, the public impact caused by that victory and defeat should not have become as severe as it now was.

But an even more powerful force of public opinion had forcibly magnified its impact.

As for where that force had come from, the major factions all knew perfectly well.

Who else could it have been but the Spirit Pagoda?

They were the ones most eager to see this matter grow in influence, and only the Spirit Pagoda possessed such power over public opinion.

As the wealthiest faction on the entire continent.

The Spirit Pagoda controlled numerous media outlets.

The public opinion power it wielded was even stronger than Shrek Academy's.

That was why public sentiment was increasingly developing in a direction unfavorable to Shrek Academy.

"It was most likely that old bastard Qiangu Dongfeng again!"

Zhuo Shi gritted his teeth.

"Enough."

Yun Ming waved his hand.

"This matter is my responsibility."

"My lack of strength is what brought the academy into its current predicament."

"Boss, how is this your fault?" Zhuo Shi grew anxious.

Especially when he saw that some of the Sea God Pavilion elders seemed to agree wholeheartedly.

Back then, agreeing to the Phoenix Family's request for a continent-wide livestream had been a decision passed by the entire Sea God Pavilion.

Yun Ming had never claimed that he was completely confident.

He had only said that he would do his best.

Yet now, Yun Ming was taking the responsibility upon himself, which was one thing, but these old fellows actually had the nerve to think it was all Yun Ming's fault.

With Zhuo Shi's fiery temper, he could not stand to watch it.

"It's fine."

Yun Ming waved his hand, cutting off Zhuo Shi as he tried to speak on his behalf.

"Now that things have come to this, what we can do is remedy the failure that has already occurred as much as possible."

"Therefore, in my capacity as the master of the Sea God Pavilion, I issue the following orders."

"Continue using the academy's media resources to control the spread of public opinion."

"The academy should also keep a lower profile for a while. Do not draw any major attention, and let this matter gradually fade from memory."

"Secondly, in all academy-related competitions in the near future, inform the students that they must display their very best strength."

"Use facts to tell everyone on the continent that although I, Yun Ming, lost to the Mystic Phoenix Douluo, that does not mean there is a problem with Shrek Academy's educational standards."