Xuanzi's Fury

Star Luo Empire, a small border town tavern.

After parting ways with Zhang Lexuan and the others that afternoon, Xuanzi arrived here and, without a care in the world, ordered an entire table of signature dishes.

After confirming that the tavern's chef was indeed highly skilled, Xuanzi, in high spirits, ordered several jars of strong liquor as well.

And so, Xuanzi spent the entire afternoon sitting alone in a private room at the tavern, leisurely taking a sip of wine and a bite of meat, enjoying himself immensely.

After getting drunk and seeing that Zhang Lexuan and the others had yet to return, he did not think much of it. After all, he had personally witnessed Zhang Lexuan's strength over the years. They were merely a few defeated evil soul masters—there was no need for him to worry excessively!

With that thought in mind, Xuanzi rented a room in the tavern and collapsed onto the bed without even taking off his clothes.

It was not until the middle of the night, while half-asleep and half-awake, that Xuanzi, feeling unwell from his hangover, called out:

"Lexuan girl! Get this old man a cup of water! Damn it, the liquor here is good, but I can't drink this much again next time..."

The words left his mouth, yet after quite some time, there was no response. This immediately made the drunken Xuanzi somewhat displeased:

"What is it, Lexuan girl? I asked you to pour a cup of water, and you're taking this long? Do you think this old man is too old for his words to carry any weight?"

After another long while, there was still no response as expected.

The unusual development immediately made Xuanzi realize something was wrong, and his muddled mind cleared somewhat.

After forcing the alcohol fumes out of his body with soul power, Xuanzi's consciousness completely cleared, and he recalled everything that had happened before he went to sleep.

"With Lexuan girl's personality, if she'd already returned, she would definitely obediently do as I said after hearing me..."

"Oh no! Don't tell me they haven't returned yet!"

At that thought, Xuanzi's heart immediately sank. He hurriedly left his room and directly pushed open the doors to several rooms opposite his own.

These were the rooms Zhang Lexuan and the others had booked before carrying out their mission. The plan had been to return here after eliminating the evil soul masters, rest for the night, and then head back to Shrek Academy together the next morning.

Seeing that all the rooms were empty, the ominous feeling in Xuanzi's heart surged to its peak, and his heartbeat quickened:

"This is bad! Could something have happened to those youngsters?!"

With that thought, Xuanzi immediately left the tavern and used his powerful spiritual power to cover the entire town. After confirming that there was no trace of Zhang Lexuan and the others within his spiritual perception, he recalled the direction in which they had pursued the evil soul masters and sped off at full speed, his spiritual senses fully unleashed as he overlooked no clue.

Every student who passed the Outer Courtyard assessment and advanced into the Inner Courtyard was an exceptionally rare genius of Shrek Academy, a core force capable of ensuring Shrek's continued prosperity in the future. If even one of them was lost due to an outside mission, the teacher leading the team could not escape blame.

Not to mention that among the members of this mission was Zhang Lexuan, the strongest of this generation of the Inner Courtyard. If even something had happened to her...

Xuanzi did not even dare to think about how terrifying the consequences would be.

With that in mind, Xuanzi accelerated again, releasing his Rank 98 soul power without reservation and leaving wave after wave of sonic booms in midair.

Very soon, he reached the outer region of the Evil Demon Forest. There, he sensed several familiar auras, though they had become extremely faint.

An extremely ominous feeling instantly welled up in his heart.

Locking onto that familiar trace of aura, Xuanzi arrived at its location in an instant. Several wolf-type soul beasts with hundred-year cultivation were gnawing on corpses whose faces could no longer be recognized.

But Xuanzi would never mistake the clothing on those corpses.

These were combat uniforms exclusive to Shrek Academy's Inner Courtyard Inspection Corps!

"Beasts! Die!"

This sight instantly sent Xuanzi into a furious rage. The moment his violent soul power fluctuations erupted, those wolf-type soul beasts were shaken to death on the spot.

"Who?! Who was it?! Who dared to harm members of Shrek Academy?! This old man will fight you to the death!"

In his fury, Xuanzi temporarily lost his reason. His roar spread through more than half the outer region, and in an instant, every soul beast that heard it trembled in terror, prostrating themselves where they stood and not daring to move.

After venting his emotions for a while, Xuanzi let out a dejected sigh. He then conjured a ball of fire with his soul power, burned the two mangled corpses into ashes, and placed them separately into two specially made wooden boxes.

"Children, this old man is taking you home..."

After collecting the bodies, Xuanzi fully unleashed his spiritual power and searched for every trace at the scene. Before long, he found clues unique to evil soul masters.

"Damn evil soul masters! In this life, this old man will surely wipe every last one of you out!"

As he spoke, Xuanzi clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. If an ill-timed evil soul master had appeared before him at that moment, there was no doubt that the enraged Xuanzi would have smashed them into pulp with one punch.

After raging helplessly for a while, Xuanzi calmed down again.

Because he had not sensed Zhang Lexuan's aura anywhere nearby.

To Xuanzi at that moment, this could already be considered good news.

If he could not sense her aura, it meant Zhang Lexuan was most likely still alive. Even if she had been captured by evil soul masters, as long as she was alive, there was still hope!

With that thought, Xuanzi carefully sensed the surroundings again. A moment later, he detected a large number of auras belonging to evil soul masters not far away.

"Why... are there so many evil soul master corpses here? Damn it! Didn't the intelligence say that there were fewer than ten targets to eliminate in this mission?"

Xuanzi wanted nothing more than to immediately return to Shrek Academy and slap the person responsible for providing the intelligence twice across the face!

Inaccurate intelligence killed people!

But now was not the time to think about such things.

Here, Xuanzi detected fluctuations of soul power belonging to Zhang Lexuan. Though those fluctuations had become extremely faint over time, they were crystal clear to Xuanzi's senses.

"Lexuan girl fought these evil soul masters. There is also a powerful fire-attributed soul power nearby... It seems an unfamiliar expert joined forces with Lexuan girl and killed these evil soul masters together..."

After judging the situation at the scene, Xuanzi relaxed slightly.

Good news!

This was absolutely good news!

Not only was Lexuan girl not dead, she had not fallen into the hands of the evil soul masters either!

The reason her whereabouts were unknown was most likely because Lexuan girl had exhausted too much soul power and fallen unconscious.

Based on that, the mysterious expert could only have taken Lexuan girl home to look after her temporarily and prevent any mishap.

But there was one problem now.

In the middle of the night, where was he supposed to look for Lexuan girl?

After thinking it over, Xuanzi decided to let it go for the time being.

After all, if things were truly as he had imagined, then once Zhang Lexuan woke from her unconsciousness, she would definitely return to the tavern in the border town to find him at once.

Therefore, what he needed to do now was return the way he had come.