Dai Tianfeng set down the briefing, leaned back against the hard chair, and closed his eyes.
Once, he had harbored a faint shred of hope for his third son, who shared his blood yet had chosen to flee the Star Luo Empire's brutal rules—a hope so feeble that even he had been unwilling to examine it closely.
Perhaps, after escaping that meat grinder of an environment, Dai Mubai could forge another path in the vast world outside?
Could he truly awaken the wildness and pride befitting the Evil-Eyed White Tiger, rather than become warped and sink beneath Weisi's brilliance and pressure?
But now... I was wrong after all.
Dai Tianfeng opened his eyes again, his gaze settling on the cold facts in the briefing.
Shrek Academy had both wins and losses in the preliminaries and was currently struggling in the middle of the standings. Its team composition...
An academy that could not even guarantee every member of its competing team was a Soul Ancestor was simply too... ordinary in the eyes of an emperor like Dai Tianfeng, who ruled an empire and had seen countless elite forces. Shabby, even.
Then there was the Star Luo Empire's representative team for this tournament: the Star Luo Royal Academy's first team, led by Dai Weisi.
Every member was a Soul Ancestor, their average level exceeded forty-five, their coordination was seamless, and their tactics were polished. They also possessed Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun's immensely powerful Hell White Tiger, honed through years of working together.
That was the keen edge the empire's future ought to possess, the true elite sifted out by the Star Luo Empire's iron-and-blood rules.
As for Dai Mubai...
Dai Tianfeng shook his head, erasing the last faint ripple of fatherly feeling from his heart.
*He chose his path. He would