The True Mastermind Behind It All

Bi Qing's pupils suddenly contracted, and his body instinctively began to struggle.

But Du Busi's palm strike had already crippled his cultivation. He was now little different from an ordinary person, and his struggling was completely negligible.

Zhang Lexuan took a deep breath and, imitating Du Busi, stomped directly on Bi Qing's hand.

Zhang Lexuan held nothing back with this stomp. After body refinement and tempering in Hurricane Cave, her physical constitution had improved immensely. As she suddenly exerted force, she actually crushed Bi Qing's hand bones until they visibly warped.

"Three years ago, when the Wangyue Viscount Family was exterminated... who was the true mastermind behind it all?! Answer me!"

The agonizing pain made Bi Qing let out another pig-slaughtering scream. The pain nearly made him faint, yet Wei Tiance stood nearby, continuously healing him with his Snow Lotus Martial Soul.

His injuries could be eased and healed through treatment, but the pain itself could not be relieved in the slightest. To Bi Qing, it was nothing short of torture.

Still, compared to what Zhang Lexuan had endured three years ago, Bi Qing's suffering was insignificant.

"Looks like you don't want to answer. Heh..."

Du Busi sneered and strode toward Earl Xuanye's Estate. Clearly, he intended to make good on his earlier words and kill one of Bi Qing's sons first for a bit of amusement.

"I'll talk! I'll talk!"

Bi Qing panted heavily. He no longer intended to stubbornly hold out. He seemed to have aged twenty years in an instant, and his voice had become far hoarser.

"Three years ago, Shrek Academy's Inspection Corps came to me and asked me to help them wipe out the Wangyue Viscount Family. In return, they would allow my youngest son to enroll without examination, and they gave me a pill that could help me break through to sixty soul power. On top of that, all of the Moonwatch Viscount's property could be taken away by Earl Xuanye's Estate."

"I thought the Moonwatch Viscount had colluded with Evil Soul Masters and had thus drawn the Shrek Inspection Corps' attention. After all, the Shrek Inspection Corps had always been responsible for cracking down on Evil Soul Masters across the continent. So I didn't think much of it and agreed directly to their demands."

"With the Shrek Inspection Corps' assistance, the Wangyue Viscount Family was silently wiped out. To make sure no one had survived, I specifically asked one of the big shots in the Shrek Inspection Corps and received his confirmation. He told me personally that no one in the Wangyue Viscount Family had been spared."

"Looking at it now... I was deceived, and badly so! You must be the Wangyue Viscount Family's only surviving orphan, right?"

Shrek... Inspection Corps?!

Zhang Lexuan stood frozen, her body trembling slightly as she instinctively staggered back two steps.

Ye An promptly supported Zhang Lexuan from behind, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and gently patting her twice.

Of everyone present, Ye An was probably the only one who wasn't particularly shocked by Earl Xuanye's words.

After all, the original account of Zhang Lexuan's past truly didn't hold up under scrutiny.

After Zhang Lexuan's family was exterminated, Mu En brought her back to Shrek Academy under the pretext of avenging her, then made Zhang Lexuan Bei Bei's child bride. But the key issue was that Mu En had already been crippled into a near-invalid years earlier after his battle with Du Bisou.

A man who could only lie in a rattan chair all day, whose lower body was paralyzed, and who had barely stepped outside Shrek Academy for the rest of his life had somehow appeared in the Heavenly Soul Empire and brought Zhang Lexuan back to Shrek Academy. That alone was unreasonable.

Furthermore, in a massacre that wiped out an entire family, the sole survivor just happened to be the most talented genius in that family. No matter how one looked at it, it reeked of conspiracy.

"Shrek Academy?! The Shrek Inspection Corps? Bi Qing, do you know what you're saying?!"

Wei Tiance was both shocked and enraged, but Du Busi remained silent beside him. A flicker of astonishment passed through his eyes, yet a cold smile soon appeared at the corners of his mouth.

"Cough, cough..."

Bi Qing coughed forcefully twice, a self-mocking smile appearing on his face. "Your Majesty, at this point, I have no reason to lie. Three years ago happened to be when my youngest son enrolled at Shrek Academy. A simple investigation will verify it. I am not lying."

Zhang Lexuan took a deep breath.

She had never dreamed that Shrek was the true culprit behind the destruction of the Wangyue Viscount Family.

Shrek Academy—the academy she had once viewed favorably, even deeply yearned for!

As for the Wangyue Viscount Family colluding with Evil Soul Masters... that was complete nonsense, nothing more than a charge fabricated by the Shrek Inspection Corps!

Zhang Lexuan bit down on her pearly teeth, but what she felt more than anything was helplessness.

Ever since Tang San, the Sea God, had attained godhood ten thousand years ago, Shrek Academy, which had nurtured several gods, had gained immense prestige. It had become the continent's foremost academy in people's hearts, flourishing without decline for ten thousand years.

Even in the Soul Master Tournament, no academy or team had ever been able to defeat Shrek Academy.

If Shrek Academy was the true culprit behind the extermination of the Wangyue Viscount Family... would she ever have the chance to avenge them in this lifetime?

"Who is this important figure from Shrek you mentioned? Why did they want to wipe out the Wangyue Viscount Family?"

Perhaps noticing that Zhang Lexuan was losing control of her emotions, Ye An stepped forward. He looked down at Bi Qing from above, his voice icy.

"How could I possibly know something like that? My only impression of that important figure was that he seemed to have difficulty moving and couldn't even stand upright. As for why they wanted to destroy the Wangyue Viscount Family... that wasn't something a minor figure like me could know, and I didn't dare ask."

Difficulty moving, unable to stand upright...

In all of Shrek Academy, the only person who matched that description was Mu En.

Du Busi seemed to have thought of something as well. His eyes flickered slightly, but he said nothing in front of Wei Tiance, merely suppressing his suspicions in his heart.

Ever since Bi Qing revealed the truth of what had happened back then, Wei Tiance's expression had been especially grim.

Four thousand years ago, when Shrek Academy's dean raised his arm in a call, the upper echelons of the three great empires responded. Dozens of Titled Douluo were gathered. That level of prestige was enough to make the imperial families of the three great empires wary.

And now... Shrek Academy actually dared to interfere in the empire's internal affairs and wipe out an entire viscount's family in the Heavenly Soul Empire! Even more frighteningly, another earl of the empire had been persuaded so easily and turned into a blade at their disposal!

No emperor could easily tolerate such a thing, much less when Shrek Academy itself was located within the Heavenly Soul Empire.

Wei Tiance now felt as though a bone were stuck in his throat.