A Frightened Xiao Wu and a Kick

This was not a rational judgment. It was the survival instinct of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast frantically sounding the alarm.

Xiao Wu's hand trembled.

Instinctively, she reached out and grabbed Tang San's hand beside her.

Tang San paused slightly and turned to look at Xiao Wu.

Xiao Wu's face had gone several shades paler. Her gaze was fixed on Yang Xing, and her grip on Tang San's hand was tight.

Her steps slowed. Her body stiffened as she retreated half a step, using Tang San's body to shield half of herself.

Tang San frowned.

As for Dai Mubai—

Supported by Tang San, Dai Mubai watched this unfold, and his heart sank.

It's over.

His White Tiger martial soul granted him an exceptional sense for danger. From the moment Yang Xing had appeared, every hair on his body had stood on end. The pressure from the depths of his soul was countless times stronger than what he felt when facing Li Yusong, a teacher.

This man was Ning Rongrong's master.

And just now—

He had unleashed the White Tiger's full power on Ning Rongrong. He had threatened her. Chased her down.

Now, Ning Rongrong's master had appeared.

He had caught Li Yusong's full-force staff strike with one hand.

Li Yusong. A level sixty-three Soul Emperor.

Dai Mubai's expression darkened.

Headmaster Flender was not at the academy. Teacher Zhao Wuji had somehow injured himself last night and suffered a major loss in strength; he was currently recuperating.

Not a single person who could protect him was here.

Yang Xing naturally noticed their stares and the subtle shifts in their expressions.

But he did not care in the slightest.

He merely tilted his head slightly, swept his gaze over the crowd, and met the eyes of the rabbit-braided girl hiding behind Tang San.

The corner of Yang Xing's lips lifted.

He revealed an unreadable smile.

Xiao Wu's pupils constricted sharply. Her grip on Tang San's hand tightened further.

Yang Xing withdrew his gaze.

He looked at Li Yusong. His listless eyes narrowed slightly, and his hoarse voice carried a hint of fatigue.

"Sir."

He spoke very slowly.

"That strike just now was no light one."

He cocked his head. The collar of his robe slipped down a little further, revealing more of the messy lipstick marks.

"I don't think my good disciple did anything outrageous enough to warrant such a heavy hand from you."

His tone sounded like casual conversation. Like an older neighbor coming downstairs in slippers to ask why you were setting off firecrackers in the middle of the night.

An utterly ordinary question.

"Would you care to explain it to me?"

But when those words reached Li Yusong's ears, they felt like an embroidery needle piercing the back of his head.

From Yang Xing's listless, half-lidded eyes, he sensed something.

Not killing intent.

Indifference.

The kind of indifference that said, "Explain or don't explain—it makes no difference either way."

Li Yusong's Adam's apple bobbed twice.

Cold sweat ran down from his temples.

But he did not open his mouth to beg for mercy.

He could feel the students' eyes behind him. Tang San's, Dai Mubai's, Xiao Wu's, and Zhu Zhuqing's. All of them were watching him.

He was a teacher of Shrek Academy. Bowing his head and admitting defeat before his students would feel worse than death.

Besides—

Li Yusong gritted his teeth.

This man did look young. Far too young. Even if he possessed some method to preserve his appearance, the odds of him being a Soul Douluo were not high, were they? A Soul Sage was more likely. If he was merely a Soul Sage, then perhaps Zhao Wuji and he together still had a chance to fight.

Wishful thinking surged through his mind for two seconds.

Li Yusong straightened his back.

"This student!" His voice rose as he tried to maintain the dignity of an academy teacher. "She skipped training during the day and refused to obey the academy's arrangements. In the evening, she contradicted the headmaster with an atrocious attitude. Just now, she also got into a private fight with fellow students!"

He listed each offense one by one, the Dragon-Patterned Staff glinting darkly beneath the moonlight.

"I even heard that she attempted to pay someone to beat up a fellow student!"

Behind Yang Xing, Ning Rongrong was so angry she nearly jumped up. "He wanted to hit me! Was I not supposed to fight back? I'm an auxiliary-system soul master. If I didn't find help, was I supposed to charge in myself?"

Li Yusong ignored her. He faced Yang Xing. Though he did not dare meet those eyes, his voice stubbornly refused to weaken.

"As an academy teacher, I have a duty to discipline students. I struck Dai Mubai as well. When it came to her, she should have been struck too."

He paused, and his tone suddenly sharpened.

"But this student is obstinate beyond redemption! She clearly knew she had made a mistake, yet refused to accept punishment honestly. Instead, she relied on those unorthodox tricks of hers to dodge and evade!"

His gaze passed Yang Xing and landed on Ning Rongrong behind him.

"As her master, having taught such a disrespectful and unruly student, should you not feel ashamed?"

The more Li Yusong spoke, the firmer his voice became, and the more confidence he gained. It was as if righteousness had filled his body and placed him atop the moral high ground.

"There is nothing wrong with my discipline. If you are a reasonable man, you should not interfere. Let me finish teaching her a lesson, and only then will she become useful in the future. Blind indulgence will only lead to greater trouble."

When he finished speaking—

The training ground fell silent for two seconds.

After hearing him out, Yang Xing did not refute him immediately.

He nodded thoughtfully.

"Mm."

His voice was soft.

"If my good disciple truly is as you say."

Yang Xing tilted his head, his tone casual.

"Then she does seem a little naughty..."

Li Yusong's heart loosened, but then he frowned.

Naughty?

What did he mean, naughty?

He was just about to continue his rebuke and press the advantage when his lips had barely moved—

Yang Xing spoke again.

"But I have one more question."

Li Yusong closed his mouth.

Yang Xing raised the hand that had caught the Dragon-Patterned Staff earlier and flexed his fingers twice.

"When you disciplined the student who fought with my good disciple," he tilted his head, speaking as if chatting with a friend. "Was the strike you gave him as heavy as the one you gave my good disciple?"

Li Yusong's expression changed slightly.

Yang Xing's voice remained unhurried.

"Judging from how that strike felt when I caught it." He looked at his palm. "If it had landed on my good disciple, it would not have been light, would it?"

As he spoke, Yang Xing's listless eyes shifted.

His gaze swept over Dai Mubai, who was being supported by Tang San.

Dai Mubai's entire body stiffened. Instinctively, he avoided Yang Xing's gaze and turned his head aside.

Yang Xing withdrew his eyes.

"That student does not seem to be injured that badly, though."

He looked back at Li Yusong, his tone carrying a trace more confusion.

Li Yusong clenched his jaw.

He could not admit that he had struck Ning Rongrong more heavily.

But that was the truth.

"I am an academy teacher!" His voice rose half a note. "Determining the severity of a student's mistake and deciding the extent of their punishment is a teacher's duty! Her mistakes were far more serious than Dai Mubai's, so it is only natural that her punishment should be harsher!"

He took a deep breath, and his voice hardened further.

"Besides, though my strike may have looked heavy, I would naturally have held back when it landed. I have been a teacher for decades. I know how to exercise such restraint!"

He slammed the Dragon-Patterned Staff against the ground.

"Since you are her master, and since you allowed her to enroll at Shrek, you should not interfere with our academy's teaching!"

He spoke faster, his voice filled with the resolve of one who had burned his bridges.

"You are not a member of this academy. I hereby formally notify you: leave the grounds of Shrek Academy. Otherwise, do not blame me for gathering the other teachers and driving you out by force!"

By the time he finished, Li Yusong's back was soaked in cold sweat.

But his spine did not bend.

Yang Xing looked at him.

He was silent for two seconds.

Then he smiled.

It was not the lazy, listless smile from before. It was a gentle smile that sent a chill through Li Yusong's heart.

"I see."

Yang Xing's voice was soft.

The instant those three words left his mouth, his figure vanished from where he stood.

Without any warning.

Without a ripple of soul power.

Without the sound of wind.

He simply vanished.

The next instant—

Yang Xing appeared before Li Yusong.

Ten centimeters away.

Face to face.

Close enough for Li Yusong to see the curve of his eyelashes and smell the lingering scent of cosmetics on him.

Li Yusong's pupils suddenly widened.

Yang Xing was nearly half a head taller than him. The young man, standing one meter eighty-five tall, lowered his head slightly and looked down at the white-haired old man before him.

Those eyes, always languid and half-open, had not changed much even now.

They still looked as though he had not woken up.

Yet Li Yusong saw indifference in those eyes.

As if he were looking at an ant.

"Teacher Li, right?" Yang Xing spoke in a low, flat voice, without the slightest emotion. "Everything you said sounds quite reasonable."

Li Yusong's mind raced wildly. His body screamed its strongest warning, and the Dragon-Patterned Staff in his hand began to rise.

"But that doesn't stop me from..."

Before he could finish—

Every hair on Li Yusong's body stood on end.

The next instant, he roared. Six soul rings flared beneath his feet at once: one white, one yellow, three purple, and one black. Every ounce of power possessed by a level sixty-three Soul Emperor erupted at that moment, forming a soul power barrier around his body.

Then—

A leg shot up from Yang Xing's side and swept violently toward Li Yusong's waist.

At the same time, the unfinished sentence fell.

"...hitting you."

Pfft—

The soul power barrier formed by Li Yusong's six soul rings shattered the instant it touched Yang Xing's leg.

It was not pierced through.

It shattered.

Like molten iron poured over a thin sheet of ice, it crumbled apart before cracks could even form. The six soul rings flashed brightly once, then went dark.

The entire process took less than the blink of an eye.

Bang!!

Li Yusong was struck by that kick and sent flying sideways like a straw man hit by a carriage.