Zhou Yi's sentence

By the time Yan Shaozhe read this far, his voice had begun to tremble. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and rolled down his cheeks.

The meeting room was deathly silent.

Every elder present looked utterly grim.

They knew Zhou Yi was strict in her teaching, but they had never imagined she would take it this far.

Nor had they imagined that so many students expelled under her authority had met such tragic fates.

Two hundred and seventy-six people.

Eleven lives lost.

Thirty-five people who could never cultivate again.

Fifty-two left with lifelong ailments.

Nineteen permanently disabled.

Forty-two driven into prostitution.

Behind those numbers were individual lives, shattered families.

And all of it was because of one person.

Zhou Yi.

Mu En set down his teacup and looked at Yan Shaozhe. His gaze was as still as stagnant water, yet it sent a chill through Yan Shaozhe's entire body.

"Shaozhe, is this how you run the Martial Soul Department?"

Yan Shaozhe dropped to his knees with a thud, his kneecaps striking the floor with a dull sound.

"Teacher, I was wrong."

His voice trembled with fear and profound remorse.

The moment Xian Lin'er saw Yan Shaozhe kneel, her blind devotion to him kicked in. She sprang to her feet, wanting to speak on his behalf.

"Mu En—"

Before she could finish, a sharp rebuke cut her off.

"Lin'er, shut your mouth!"

The speaker was an old woman with graying hair: Xian Lin'er's mother, the Shrek elder and Level Ninety-Seven Super Douluo, Song Yunzhi.

At her mother's words, Xian Lin'er opened her mouth, but ultimately closed it obediently and sat back down.

Mu En did not look at Xian Lin'er. His gaze remained on Yan Shaozhe, and he stayed silent for a long time.

Then he spoke slowly, his voice tinged with weariness and disappointment.

"That young fellow Xuan Xiao was right. If the lower beam is already crooked, how could I, the upper beam, be straight?"

After Mu En said this, a prolonged silence settled over the meeting room.

His gaze fell to the tabletop, growing unfocused, as though he could see through it into the distant past.

He thought of Zhang Lexuan.

When the Zhang Clan had been slaughtered, he had received word and rushed over, only to arrive too late. Blood flowed through the entire compound, and bodies lay everywhere.

He had indeed killed those Evil Soul Masters and avenged her family, but he had also made her agree to become Beibei's child bride.

He did not know what had come over him then. Perhaps the deaths of Beibei's parents, leaving the boy all alone, had been the cause.

Looking at the little Beibei, he had felt an inexplicable fear well up inside him.

He feared that Beibei would grow up alone too, without family or anyone to rely on, left helpless in this world.

Perhaps he had lost his senses at the time, but whatever the reason, what he had done was wrong.

At first, he had thought it was a good arrangement. Zhang Lexuan was obedient, sensible, and talented, and she took good care of Beibei. Everything had seemed so perfect.

But as Beibei grew closer and closer to that girl named Tang Ya...

And as Mu En himself grew older, he began to regret it.

He regretted making that demand back then. No—he should never have made any demands at all.

An old man who had lived for over two hundred years had actually imposed conditions on a little girl who had just lost her entire family. How was that any different from exploiting someone else's tragedy?

The upper beam really was crooked, and the lower beam had followed suit!

Mu En laughed bitterly to himself, then took a deep breath to steady his emotions.

He raised his head, his gaze clear again, surveyed the elders present, and slowly spoke.

"Zhou Yi's case is a reflection of a larger problem. As long as it doesn't threaten the foundations of Shrek Academy's survival, I don't care how much you gain from it."

His voice was not loud, but every word carried weight.

"But this matter has crossed the line. Our very survival is at stake."

He turned toward Yan Shaozhe, who was still kneeling on the floor, and asked, "According to academy regulations, how should she be dealt with?"

Yan Shaozhe raised his head, his face as pale as paper. His lips quivered several times before he finally forced out an answer.

"There are two options. First, strip her of her cultivation and imprison her permanently in Shrek Academy's dungeon. Second, let her retain her cultivation and expel her from Shrek."

At those words, silence once again fell over the meeting room.

Everyone understood what those two options meant.

For a Soul Master, losing their cultivation was worse than death.

But at least she would keep her life, even if she had to spend the rest of it in a dungeon that never saw daylight.

Letting her retain her cultivation and expelling her from Shrek sounded more merciful, but in reality, it was an even crueler punishment.

Zhou Yi knew perfectly well how many people she had offended over the years.

The students she had expelled, the families she had destroyed, the people who longed to skin her alive—all of them were waiting for this opportunity.

With her Soul Emperor cultivation, attained only through drugs, she would be chopped into mincemeat the moment she dared step outside Shrek Academy.

No, perhaps even those pieces would be too large. She would be shredded instead.

Mu En remained silent for a moment, then made his decision.

"Then the first option. She doesn't get a choice. At least this way, she'll stay alive."

Of course, he was not being that kindhearted.

Keeping Zhou Yi alive was merely a way to give the Soul Guidance Department a much-needed boost.

Fan Yu was Zhou Yi's husband. What would he think if he learned that his wife had been stripped of her cultivation and locked in a dungeon?

Would he still be content to stay at Shrek?

But if they told him that Zhou Yi would be pardoned as soon as he became a Level Nine Soul Engineer, that would change everything.

It would become Fan Yu's motivation, driving him to research Soul Tools and raise his level with everything he had.

If Fan Yu truly became a Level Nine Soul Engineer, pardoning Zhou Yi would not be out of the question.

It would kill two birds with one stone.

They would reassure the Soul Guidance Department, give Fan Yu something to hope for, and make Zhou Yi pay for what she had done.

Mu En lifted his teacup and took a sip, then set it down and continued.

"No matter the cost, those people must receive every last bit of compensation they are owed."

His gaze swept over every elder present, his voice carrying firm resolve.

"I don't have many years left. But before I die, I still want to do something for Shrek."

Every elder present was moved by those words.

They knew the state of Mu En's health. The old man truly did not have much time left.

Yet he was still worrying about Shrek's future, still fighting for compensation for those who had been hurt.

Zhuang Yusen was the first to speak. "Rest assured, Mu En. I'll personally oversee this matter and make sure every bit of compensation reaches the right hands."

Lin Huiqun nodded as well. "The Treasure Pavilion will cooperate fully. Just tell us how many resources you need."

Gong Changlong was silent for a moment before saying, "The Beast Arena has some savings too. We can contribute a portion if necessary."

The other elders also voiced their support, promising to do everything they could.

Watching them, Mu En gave a faint smile of relief.

He waved a hand and said,

"That will be all for today. Thank you all for your efforts. Go back and get some rest."

The elders rose, paid their respects to Mu En, and left the meeting room one after another.

In the end, only Mu En remained seated there.

He gave a bitter laugh, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes.

Xuan Xiao's young face rose unbidden in his mind, those clear eyes holding an insight far beyond his years.

That boy was right. When the upper beam was crooked, the lower beam would follow.

But he still had a chance to straighten that beam before he died.