"Start a fight?"
Gu An tilted his head, the corner of his mouth lifting in an unmistakably mocking smile.
"You Shrek people think you're worthy?"
"Don't try to scare me with some half-crippled old geezer."
Yan Shaozhe's pupils contracted sharply.
Gu An raised a hand and pointed at Zhou Yi, his gaze icy.
"Your Shrek Academy made the first move against my younger sister, trying to destroy her future."
"As her older brother, how could I just stand by and do nothing?"
He spread his hands, his face brimming with outrage at the thought of "my sister being bullied."
His anger was perfectly timed.
And when Leng Yaozhu released her aura, Xiao Xiao, who looked so adorable and harmless, had already scampered over on her little legs to stand beside Gu An and Leng Yaozhu.
At the words "younger sister," she lowered her head at just the right moment.
Gu An lifted a hand and gently ruffled her hair.
She kept her head bowed slightly, blinking her big eyes. Tear tracks from her earlier crying still glistened in their corners under the sunlight.
Her lashes were long and curled, fluttering over her round little face.
She couldn't have looked more obedient.
Sure enough, though Xiao Xiao usually seemed innocent and harmless, she could act with the best of them.
Gu An's mouth twitched slightly.
But he quickly returned to his fiercely protective expression.
And truth be told, though Xiao Xiao was actually older than Gu An, she was petite, with a slender frame.
She was even smaller than Gu An overall.
Standing together like this, with Gu An's hand resting on her head and her head slightly bowed,
they really did look like an older brother protecting his younger sister.
Watching Gu An's arrogant display, the muscles in Yan Shaozhe's face twitched uncontrollably.
Just a brat.
A brat who looked eight or nine years old.
And yet he dared to stand on Shrek Academy's grounds, point at one of its teachers and insult her to the dean's face, then mock the entire academy.
He clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking.
If not for the Limit Douluo standing behind that boy, he would have taught the brat some manners.
A powerful instinct stirred in Yan Shaozhe's heart.
That brat was definitely lying.
What kind of nonsense was this about being siblings? One had black hair and black eyes, the other green hair and green eyes. Their features weren't alike in the slightest.
They had probably only claimed to be siblings on the spot to stir up trouble.
But it was true that Shrek Academy had never gone out of its way to investigate Xiao Xiao's family background.
They had a genius with Twin Martial Souls, yet they hadn't even checked her background.
If they had known all along that Xiao Xiao had Twin Martial Souls, if they had known a Limit Douluo like this stood behind her,
how could they have let Zhou Yi mistreat her like this?
In the original story, Shrek Academy's higher-ups only gradually learned about Xiao Xiao's Second Martial Soul after Zhou Yi forced her to attach a Hundred-Year Soul Ring to it.
But by then, the damage was done. Her Twin Martial Souls had already been ruined.
They wouldn't go out of their way to punish Zhou Yi over a pair of ruined Twin Martial Souls, either.
After all, Zhou Yi's teaching record spoke for itself, and firing her would cost them more.
Yan Shaozhe drew a deep breath, suppressing his anger as he opened his mouth, ready to say more.
He couldn't let things keep getting worse.
Shrek Academy couldn't afford to lose face.
Just as his lips parted and he was about to speak,
an old man's chuckle drifted in from the entrance.
"Heh heh."
Mu En appeared at the entrance to the Soul Fighting Zone.
He sat in a wheelchair, a gray blanket over his knees, his hands folded on top of it.
The wheelchair's two wheels turned slowly.
He lifted his head. A faint smile rested on his aged face, and his cloudy eyes held the air of someone who had everything under control.
Mu En's gaze fell on Leng Yaozhu. He looked her over, then turned to Gu An.
"Though this old man is half-crippled,"
"I can still make sure this little brat doesn't leave."
A faint smile stayed on his face, and his tone was mild.
Gu An's expression didn't change at all.
Leng Yaozhu's phoenix eyes sharpened.
The faint chill in her beautiful eyes turned into bone-deep killing intent the instant Mu En finished speaking.
An aura even stronger and more oppressive than before exploded from her.
Her fiery red hair whipped wildly, and her robes snapped in the wind!
The ground cracked outward in every direction from where she stood!
She took a step forward.
Just one step.
Her aura surged like a tangible force, crushing toward Mu En in his wheelchair.
He dared to threaten Xiao An right in front of her?
"Looking for death!"
A cold glint flashed in Leng Yaozhu's eyes. She didn't hesitate or show the slightest mercy.
Mu En's expression shifted slightly.
He hadn't expected this woman to have such a fiery temper.
Nor had he expected the little boy to matter so much to her.
He had merely said something to test her, and she had immediately gone all out.
Mu En's expression turned stern as he forcefully roused his power. An equally vast aura surged from his aged body.
A deep, resonant dragon's roar came from him.
At the same time, a clear phoenix cry rang out from Leng Yaozhu.
Dragon's roar! Phoenix's cry!
They collided in midair, making the surrounding students clap their hands over their ears.
A shock wave burst from the two of them and swept in every direction.
The guardrails along the edge of the Soul Fighting Platform rattled under its force.
The students who hadn't had time to leave were shoved backward, and several of them landed hard on their bottoms.
In the midst of the chaos, one person was overlooked by everyone.
Huo Yuhao.
He had been lying unconscious on the ground, unnoticed by anyone.
When the shock wave swept over him, it sent him flying. He rolled across the ground several times with a dull thud.
The violent pain woke Huo Yuhao.
He struggled to open his eyes, but his vision was blurry.
He felt as if his body were about to fall apart.
Grimacing, he braced both hands against the ground and slowly pushed his upper body up.
His gaze swept over the surroundings, then landed on the two figures facing off.
His expression changed completely, his eyes filled with disbelief.
For a moment, his heart stopped beating.
It was those two from the Star Dou Great Forest.
Huo Yuhao would never forget those two faces for the rest of his life. His breathing grew ragged.
Oh no. He panicked.
"Why would they come to Shrek Academy? Are they here for me?"
The thought had barely surfaced before he dismissed it himself.
If they had come for him, they could easily have taken him while he was unconscious just now.
But he was still lying here, perfectly safe.
He didn't know that he'd guessed wrong.
Gu An and the others had come specifically for Huo Yuhao.
It was just that, because of Xiao Xiao's situation, they had set Huo Yuhao aside for the time being.
Huo Yuhao stared fixedly at the two people facing off.
The aura radiating from the woman was even stronger than what he had felt in the Star Dou Great Forest.
Then he saw that the old man in the wheelchair was giving off an aura no weaker than hers, and Huo Yuhao was dumbfounded.
"Wait, the old man is that strong?!"
And the elders hurrying over from all around him each had unfathomable Soul Power fluctuations.
"So strong," he murmured. "They're way too strong."
His fists clenched without him realizing it, his nails digging into his palms. The pain made him more alert.
A tiny flame kindled in some corner of his heart.
One day, he would become a powerhouse like them.
He had to become a powerhouse like them.
Then the corner of his mouth lifted slightly, and a glimmer of anticipation appeared on his pale face.
Those two who had been so arrogant in the Star Dou Great Forest had come to Shrek Academy to cause trouble. They were asking for death.
No matter how strong that woman was, Shrek Academy had even more powerhouses.
One against ten—there was no way she could win.
With Huo Yuhao's limited experience and understanding, all he could do was make this simple comparison of numbers.
The more people there were, the stronger they were.
So he watched the confrontation eagerly, waiting to see the two of them get humbled.
Just then,
apart from Mu En, who had arrived first, the other elders of the Sea God Pavilion hurried over as well.
Figures came flying in from different directions and landed behind Mu En.
Zhuang Yusen, Lin Huiqun, Xuanzi, and Song Yunzhi lined up behind Mu En.
They released their Martial Souls at the same time, and rings of Soul Rings rose from beneath their feet.
Yellow, purple, black, red—Soul Rings of every color glimmered in turn.
The auras of four Titled Douluo erupted at once, joining Mu En's aura as they pushed back against Leng Yaozhu's pressure.
"Elder Mu, we're here to help you,"
Xuanzi said coldly, his gaze sharp as lightning as he fixed it on Leng Yaozhu.
Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion had turned out in full force.
And that wasn't all. Several more Titled Douluo auras were approaching from within Shrek!
Standing in front of Gu An, Leng Yaozhu swept her gaze over Mu En, then over the Elders behind him.
The corner of her mouth twitched slightly.
There wasn't a trace of fear in her phoenix eyes.