Moonlit night.
Several figures darted through the darkness.
Flying toward the brightly lit Earl's Manor.
"Senior Sister, why are we heading to someone else's manor in the middle of the night?"
A member of Shrek Academy's Monitoring Corps, who had been summoned for the mission before even learning the details, asked in confusion.
The woman at the front was strikingly beautiful, with an outstanding temperament that was poised and mature.
Her long dark hair was tied into a neat, efficient ponytail.
She was the leader of this operation to eradicate Evil Soul Masters.
She was also one of the rare people in Shrek Inner Academy who could earn the wholehearted respect of Ma Xiaotao, known as the Inner Academy's living volcano.
The Inner Academy's senior sister, Zhang Lexuan.
Zhang Lexuan gave a brief explanation:
"According to the information we have confirmed."
"Earl Wang collaborated with Evil Soul Masters from the Holy Spirit Cult and secretly rounded up children for the Holy Spirit Cult to use over a long period of time."
"In return, those Evil Soul Masters eliminated his political rivals."
"Our informant told us that the Evil Soul Master would meet Earl Wang tonight."
"This is the perfect time to catch them all in one sweep."
Zhang Lexuan spoke calmly.
She was not some inexperienced rookie. She had already taken part in many operations to eliminate Evil Soul Masters.
She was thoroughly familiar with such work.
"But..."
"Senior Sister, it looks like we won't need to do anything..."
One of the male members of Shrek Academy's Monitoring Corps raised a trembling finger.
"Hm?"
Zhang Lexuan's beautiful brows furrowed slightly.
She followed his gaze.
Her pupils suddenly contracted.
At the entrance to Earl's Manor, beneath the golden lights.
Two guards knelt on the ground.
Their mouths were stretched wide open.
Lush branches and leaves bloomed from within them.
They looked like two humanoid trees planted at the entrance of the manor.
Zhang Lexuan suddenly recalled the bizarre deaths of those Evil Soul Masters during one of her previous eradication missions.
They had looked exactly like these two guards!
Wait!
Zhang Lexuan noticed something unusual.
Silence.
It was far too quiet!
It was normal for a manor to be somewhat quiet at night.
But it was impossible for it to be completely soundless.
With Zhang Lexuan's spiritual power, she could not even hear the ordinary breathing of the people inside the manor.
Something was wrong!
There was movement!
Zhang Lexuan paused, her gaze settling on the room at the center of Earl's Manor.
"Go!"
She called softly.
Taking the lead, she hurried toward the central room.
Along the way.
They saw strange little trees everywhere, just like the two guards outside, sprouting branches from their mouths.
The entire Earl's Manor resembled a grotesque garden.
"This..."
The horrifying scene made the faces of the several Shrek Academy Monitoring Corps members, who had never encountered anything like this before, turn pale.
Fear rose in their hearts, and their bodies trembled faintly.
"What happened here?"
Zhang Lexuan did not answer.
She had already reached the door to the central room.
Her Soul Power was fully mobilized.
Then she pushed open the door before her.
With a creak.
The scene inside came into view.
A black-robed figure wearing an emerald-colored mask leisurely wiped his hands with a handkerchief.
Before him.
Two figures knelt on the ground.
Their eyes were wide open, still carrying the terror and despair they had felt before death.
From their gaping mouths grew the same bizarre branches as those outside.
"Oh?"
"People from Shrek?"
Bai Luo's gaze fell upon the insignia before Zhang Lexuan and the others, and he immediately understood their identities.
Behind Zhang Lexuan, the other members of the Shrek Inspection Corps instinctively retreated several steps when they saw him look over.
Clearly.
The grotesque scene within Earl's Manor had undoubtedly been caused by the black-robed man before them.
Zhang Lexuan did not retreat.
Her beautiful eyes stared at Bai Luo.
It was as though she wanted to see through the emerald mask and glimpse his true face beneath it.
"Calamity Ancestor?"
Though it was phrased as a question, there was little uncertainty in Zhang Lexuan's tone. It sounded more like confirmation.
After witnessing that bizarre scene during the earlier operation.
She had conducted considerable investigation.
And obtained some answers.
She knew that this strange method of killing came from the leader of the Life Association, Calamity Ancestor, a peculiar assassin organization that had suddenly emerged!
However, this was Zhang Lexuan's first time truly meeting the mysterious figure who had stirred up the underground world.
Though he was concealed beneath a wide hood and mask.
Zhang Lexuan's instincts told her that the person before her was definitely not very old!
"It seems you came to deal with this Evil Soul Master as well."
"You can leave now. I've taken care of it for you."
"No need to thank me."
Bai Luo grinned, revealing a row of white teeth beneath his mask.
"Why did you kill them?"
Zhang Lexuan did not understand.
According to the intelligence she had received, neither the Evil Soul Master nor Earl Wang seemed to have offended the Life Association.
Why had Calamity Ancestor personally taken action?
"Someone paid for a job, so we did it."
"The Life Association is an assassin organization. Surely this young lady understands that?"
Bai Luo spoke as though it were only natural.
"Besides, it isn't as if just one or two Evil Soul Masters have died by my hand over the years."
"Why make such a fuss?"
Hearing Bai Luo's words.
Zhang Lexuan fell silent for a moment.
She remembered some of the evaluations of the Life Association.
This special assassin organization, which had the best public reputation among ordinary people.
Seemed to have indeed done things similar to Shrek Inspection Corps.
It had killed many Evil Soul Masters who brought calamity upon others.
The difference was.
The Shrek Inspection Corps only targeted Evil Soul Masters.
The Life Association did not.
Its blade was aimed not only at Evil Soul Masters, but also at ordinary criminals and lofty nobles.
"Miss from the Shrek Inspection Corps, don't tell me you have some rule saying that only members of the Shrek Inspection Corps may kill Evil Soul Masters?"
Zhang Lexuan was just about to answer.
But a male member of the Shrek Inspection Corps behind her pointed at Bai Luo and rebuked him:
"Then why did you kill the other people in Earl's Manor?"
"Debts have their debtors."
"You are slaughtering innocents!"
"Slaughtering innocents?"
As if he had heard some ridiculous joke, Bai Luo let out a derisive laugh.
Those emerald-like eyes coldly glanced at the young man who had spoken.
The chill in his gaze made the young man shrink his neck, unease rising in his heart.
Bai Luo chuckled.
His laughter was filled with mockery and disdain.
"In this enormous Earl's Manor, where are the innocent?"
"How many people in this manor handled the operation of gathering children from all over and sending them to the Holy Spirit Cult as tributes?"
"Whether they were deceived, or willingly did so out of greed, I hardly need to explain, do I?"
The young man's face turned pale, then flushed.
Yet he still stubbornly argued:
"What about the children in Earl's Manor?"
"Children?"
"I had those children too young to remember anything brought back to the Life Association, where they would be properly raised and someday atone for their forebears."
"As for the older children who understood what was happening..."
"The premise of not implicating one's family is that one's family did not benefit."
"Since they enjoyed wealth and glory built upon the lives of other innocent children, there was karmic consequence."
"Taking their lives merely settled that karmic debt. This..."
"What is wrong with that?"
"That is sophistry! What you did was absolutely not an act of justice!"
"When did I ever call this an act of justice?"
"You!"
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