Ma Hongjun and Dai Mubai's Death Countdown

"Yanzi, don't be reckless!" Yu Tianheng lowered his voice and whispered in her ear.

He understood the situation perfectly—although they had the moral high ground right now, if they angered the Soul King on the other side enough to make him attack on the spot, Dugu Bo would surely avenge his granddaughter, but when they had a reliable chance to survive, why take the risk?

With his good brother suffering such humiliation, Dai Mubai could no longer hold back. He charged forward, about to yank Ma Hongjun off the ground, while roaring furiously at Qian Ren Shuang, "Qian Ren Shuang! What kind of person are you? Pushing your own brother into the fire pit! You don't deserve to be our brother!"

The moment he finished speaking, Qian Ren Shuang hooked out a foot. Dai Mubai went down with a thud, face-first into the ground.

Qian Ren Shuang looked down at him from above, his tone indifferent. "I can't guarantee that I'll be by your side at every moment. So rather than let you use my influence to bully others, it's better for you to learn now that every action carries a price."

His words were quiet, but they landed heavily. The other six from Shrek fell silent. No one spoke again.

Dai Mubai lay sprawled on the ground, both hands braced against the floor. Veins bulged on his forehead, and his teeth ground together as he desperately suppressed the urge to rush at Qian Ren Shuang and fight him. He said resentfully, "Brother Shuang, I know you mean well—but can't you see the killing intent boiling through my entire body?"

At those words, the Heaven Dou Royal Second Team tensed all over. Even their soul rings glowed more brightly as they prepared to attack at the slightest disagreement.

"Hmph—hahaha..." Dai Mubai's words made Qian Ren Shuang laugh. It took him a while to recover before he mockingly replied, "Killing intent? I think you're just stupid beyond belief."

When Qian Ren Shuang and Qian Renxue were five, Qian Daoliu had already placed evil soul masters with all their ability to act sealed away before them and made the children personally deal with them.

This continued for half a year, only ending once neither child felt much resistance toward killing.

That was true childhood training, courage steeped in blood. It was not something a half-baked coward like Dai Mubai, who had fled the Star Luo Empire out of fear, could compare to.

"Brother Shuang..." Ma Hongjun raised his head and forced his tiny eyes as wide as they could go, trying to play the emotional card. His gaze was full of Aren't we brothers?

"Bow and apologize." Qian Ren Shuang looked down at him, his gaze utterly unmoved.

During their last spar, he had struck Zhu Zhuqing's nose bridge several times, and even Yu Xiaogang, his own mother's lover, had been left with a crooked neck. Ma Hongjun's little emotional ploy could not stir so much as a ripple in him.

Tears welled in Ma Hongjun's eyes, though it was impossible to tell whether he was truly aggrieved or simply acting well.

But beneath Qian Ren Shuang's unyielding gaze, he finally lowered his head.

Bang! "This lowly one failed to recognize a great person and offended Lady Dugu Yan!"

"One, two, three..." Dugu Yan stood with her hands on her hips, leisurely counting with a smug smile at the corner of her mouth. "...Nine, ten! That's enough, you dead fatty. Get lost!"

After kowtowing ten times, Ma Hongjun's forehead was bright red, and his knees ached terribly from kneeling. He climbed to his feet, dusted off his knees, and walked back to his seat with his head lowered.

Once I get stronger, he secretly swore, his molars aching from how tightly he clenched them. I'll definitely win back this humiliation. Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river—never mock a poor youth!

Ye Lingling stood behind the crowd without saying a single word from beginning to end.

But in that instant, a faint will suddenly flooded into her mind—cold, distant, and irresistible. It came from the soul bone she had just absorbed, from Poseidon.

The decree was brief: create a conflict with the team before her.

Ye Lingling's expression did not change in the slightest, but inwardly, she complained speechlessly, What... I'm not the type to pick fights. How am I supposed to create a conflict?

However, the ancestors of the Heaven Dou Empire had once been Poseidon's disciples, so the custom of worshipping Poseidon within the empire had a long history.

From the royal family's grand sacrificial ceremonies to the household shrines of commoners, Poseidon could be seen everywhere.

"You, the soul master with the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda, wait!" Complaining was one thing, but Ye Lingling still accepted this mission that was thoroughly destructive to her usual image.

After Ma Hongjun finished kowtowing and climbed up from the ground, she suddenly stepped forward, raised a hand to point at Ning Rongrong, and spoke with feigned arrogance. "Let's have a match and see whether the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul is stronger, or the Nine-Heart Begonia martial soul!"

What... Isn't Lingling usually the inconspicuous type? Which wire in her head got crossed today for her to suddenly come down with something? Yu Tianheng's gaze toward Ye Lingling was filled with confusion and bewilderment.

He frowned and pondered for a long time before finally finding a barely reasonable explanation for himself: she had just absorbed a thousand-year soul bone, and now this healer had developed the heart of an attacker.

Although Ning Fengzhi had once personally said, "If not for its limitation in numbers, the throne of the number one support martial soul in the world would surely belong to Nine-Heart Begonia," Ning Rongrong was known as the "Little Witch." Naturally, she was unconvinced.

She turned around, planted her hands on her hips, and lifted her chin. "Fine! How do you want to compete?"

"...The two of us duel?" Ye Lingling fell silent for a moment before asking somewhat uncertainly.

"Enough, enough. What's there to duel between a support and a healer?" Qian Ren Shuang saw that everyone had eaten about enough, rose to his feet, and patted nonexistent grease from his hands. "It's nothing more than seeing who can take more hits and whether you can hold out until Rongrong runs out of Soul Power. Let's go, back to the academy!"

He did not give Ye Lingling any chance to keep pestering them. With a wave of his hand, he led everyone toward the door.

Guilmon gave the empty plates on the table one last glance, licked his lips in satisfaction, and wagged his tail as he followed.

"Osler, Yu Feng." Watching Qian Ren Shuang's group disappear through the restaurant entrance, Dugu Yan quietly instructed the two agility-attack soul masters on her team, "The two of you, follow them discreetly and find out which academy they belong to. Then come back and tell me."

"Got it, Sister Yan!" Osler and Yu Feng exchanged a look, nodded, and flashed out after them without a sound.

While Qian Ren Shuang and the others were handling the conflict with the Heaven Dou Royal Second Team at the restaurant, Flender, Liu Erlong, and Yu Xiaogang had already efficiently completed all the employment and enrollment procedures for the teachers and students of Shrek Academy at Blue Tyrant Academy.

The files had been signed, positions assigned, and dormitories allocated. The efficiency was astonishingly high.

With the matter settled, Liu Erlong finally could not hold back the question in her heart. She asked in a resentful tone, "Xiaogang, can you tell me now why you insisted on keeping that Qian Ren Shuang and making him the homeroom teacher?"