Ice Empress's Vigilance

Wang Dong's abduction had already dealt a heavy blow to Shrek's ten-thousand-year reputation.

And now, even Ma Xiaotao, the foremost student of the inner court and hailed as the next-generation Flame Phoenix Douluo, had also...

This was no longer merely a slap in the face.

Someone was holding a knife to Shrek's heart, carving away its flesh!

"What exactly... happened?"

An aged, frail voice carrying unquestionable authority came from the head of the long table.

It was Mu En.

This master of Sea God's Pavilion, Shrek Academy's stabilizing pillar, had kept his eyes closed as though asleep.

Now, he slowly opened those clouded eyes that seemed capable of seeing straight into people's hearts.

Before that voice, even Yan Shaozhe could only forcibly suppress his rage. He took half a step back and lowered his head.

Under Mu En's gaze, Yan Feng did not dare conceal anything. He recounted every detail of what had happened in Ice Valley.

From Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire rampage to the appearance of the white-clad man, "Thunder Dragon."

When he described how that man had merely extended one hand and forcibly extracted the rampaging Ultimate Fire from Ma Xiaotao's body as though unraveling silk from a cocoon, then... then swallowed it in a single gulp—

"Hiss..."

Several sharp intakes of breath sounded throughout the pavilion.

One elder tore several hairs from his own beard without even noticing.

He swallowed the Evil Fire Phoenix's Ultimate Fire whole?!

What kind of monster was that?!

"He... he did not even summon his martial soul..." Yan Feng's voice shook more violently. "Afterward, that Ice Jade Scorpion soul beast with at least ten thousand years of cultivation was as docile as a dog before him..."

"After Senior Sister Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire was completely eradicated, she... she knelt before that man and swore loyalty to him..."

"I wanted to stop her, but that man only gave me one look..."

Yan Feng could not continue. Recalling those indifferent eyes, his body began trembling uncontrollably once more.

They were eyes that regarded all living things as mere beasts.

In his eyes, Shrek Academy's elders might have been no different from that soul beast lying on the ground, too afraid to move.

Sea God's Pavilion fell into another terrifying silence.

One could hear a needle drop.

Every elder wore a grave expression.

This had already surpassed the limits of their understanding.

Without using a martial soul, he extracted and devoured Ultimate Fire with his bare hands?

With a single glance, he made a ten-thousand-year soul beast that even Limit Douluo found troublesome submit?

Was that something a human could do?

"Heavenly Dragon Gate..." Yan Shaozhe ground out the three words through clenched teeth. "It's Heavenly Dragon Gate again!"

Previously, at the Great Soul Arena, that young man called "Thunder Dragon" had likewise crushed the team Shrek sent out with overwhelming force and publicly humiliated the academy's teaching philosophy.

At the time, they had only taken him for an arrogant fool who did not know his own limits.

But now...

"Hehe..."

Mu En, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly let out two unreadable chuckles, followed by a violent fit of coughing.

"Cough, cough... cough..."

"Elder Mu!" Yan Shaozhe and the others cried out in alarm, hurrying forward.

Mu En waved his hand and stopped coughing. No joy or anger could be seen on his wrinkled face, only an unprecedented solemnity.

"Ten thousand years..."

He spoke softly, his voice quiet yet heavier than a thousand jun.

"Since Shrek Academy was founded, we have never faced such a formidable enemy."

A formidable enemy!

Those two words from Mu En's mouth made everyone present sink inwardly.

"This person is no ordinary figure." Mu En's gaze swept across everyone present. "His system of power appears to... stand above the soul master system we know."

"Devouring Evil Fire... commanding soul beasts... these are methods nearly belonging to a 'god.'"

"A god?"

Yan Shaozhe and the others looked at one another.

The conjecture was too bold, too terrifying.

"Investigate!"

Mu En's aged voice suddenly became razor-sharp!

"Mobilize every resource the academy can use! Dark Hall, Worship Hall, the connections of every graduate... at any cost!"

"Find out everything about this 'Thunder Dragon'! His origins, his background, and what exactly this 'Heavenly Dragon Gate' behind him is!"

"Yes!"

Yan Shaozhe and the others answered in unison, their expressions grim and murderous.

They understood that Elder Mu was truly serious this time.

The last time Shrek Academy had mobilized on such a scale was when it fought that evil soul master organization a thousand years ago.

"One Wang Dong, one Ma Xiaotao..." Mu En leaned back in his chair, fatigue flashing through his eyes. "What he took away was not merely two geniuses, but Shrek's future fortune."

"If this person cannot be used by us, then he can only..."

He did not finish the sentence.

But everyone present understood.

The air in the pavilion was cold enough to freeze.

A vast war machine capable of shaking the entire continent began to slowly turn at this moment because of one person's name.

Mu En waved his hand, signaling Yan Feng and the others to withdraw.

Only he and Yan Shaozhe remained in the enormous Sea God's Pavilion.

"Shaozhe."

"Your disciple is here."

"Do you... feel angry? Humiliated?" Mu En looked at him.

Yan Shaozhe lowered his head and clenched his fists. "Yes. This disciple is incompetent. I failed to protect the students and brought shame upon the academy."

"No, this is not your fault." Mu En shook his head. He slowly rose and walked to the window, looking at the statue of the first generation of the Shrek Seven Monsters outside.

"It is the era that has changed."

"We... we have been comfortable for too long. We always believed that Shrek was the rule of the continent, that every genius ought to bow in worship before us."

"But now, someone has appeared who refuses to follow the rules."

Mu En's gaze deepened.

"Someone... who wants to overturn our table."

Yan Shaozhe raised his head, his eyes brimming with killing intent. "He cannot overturn it! So long as Elder Mu is here, so long as Shrek remains, he will never succeed!"

Mu En did not turn around. He merely looked out the window and let out a quiet sigh.

"I hope... it is not too late."

He paused, as though making some decision.

"Pass down the order."

"At the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament, we have only one objective—"

His voice echoed through the empty Sea God's Pavilion, carrying cold resolve.

"Defeat Heavenly Dragon Gate at any cost!"

Far North, core region.

Beneath the ten-thousand-year Mystic Ice layer lay an incomparably vast ice-domed cavern.

Ice Empress was a little irritated today.

Very irritated.

Her jade-green eyes held a restlessness she could not suppress. As one of the absolute rulers of this frozen world, nothing had stirred such emotions in her for tens of thousands of years.

Yet this irritation was like cold seeping into the cracks of her bones, impossible to dispel.

"Crack..."

Her slender scorpion tail, as though carved from green jade, lightly tapped the mirror-smooth ice unconsciously, producing crisp sounds.

With each careless tap, fine spiderweb-like cracks spread through the surrounding ice.

Something was wrong.

What exactly was wrong?

The ice elements in the air were as pure and dense as ever. The ice scorpion clans under her command remained obediently within their respective territories, without sending any signal of unrest.