The Treatment They Deserved, Shrek's Change of Face

"Go stabilize your injuries."

Mu En spoke to Xuanzi in an indifferent tone.

Xuanzi, meanwhile, thought Mu En was still angry. He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, nodded, and turned to leave the Sea God Pavilion meeting room.

Yan Shaozhe trembled as he approached Ma Xiaotao's corpse. A tear fell as he looked at Mu En and gritted his teeth.

"Teacher, we must avenge Xiaotao. We absolutely cannot just endure this!"

Hearing this, Mu En did not answer immediately. Instead, he looked at Song Lao and said softly, "From now on, we may have to rely entirely on you..."

Song Lao understood Mu En's meaning as soon as she heard this.

More precisely, Mu En had made two preparations. His original plan had been for Xuanzi to serve as the pillar of strength, while Song Lao handled Shrek's internal decisions and similar matters.

After all, compared to Xuanzi, who was always acting foolishly, Song Lao was far more trustworthy.

But now, Xuanzi could no longer even serve as the pillar of strength. This meant that in the future, at least after Mu En's death, Shrek Academy's strongest would only be the ninety-seventh-ranked Song Lao.

Yet hesitation flashed across Song Lao's face.

"Elder Mu, the key issue is Du Bushi..."

While a ninety-ninth-ranked Limit Douluo was not necessarily required, at least not openly, a ninety-eighth-ranked Douluo was the bare minimum.

After all, the grudge between Shrek and the Body Sect was right there.

"He..."

Given Mu En's understanding of Du Bushi, he had been about to say that Du Bushi would not vent all the resentment between himself and his elder brother upon Shrek Academy.

But then he recalled a crucial problem.

Huo Yuhao...

A person who also possessed a body martial soul.

While he was still alive, he could barely keep Du Bushi in check. But how many more years did he have left?

Two years...

Judging from the talent Huo Yuhao had displayed so far, the Body Sect would definitely come to steal him away. After Mu En died, would Shrek Academy still be able to protect, or even keep, Huo Yuhao?

After taking a deep breath, Mu En seemed to make up his mind. He looked at Song Lao and spoke gravely.

"Prepare yourself during this period. I will pass on some of my experience and see whether I can help you reach the ninety-eighth rank."

Song Lao could tell that Elder Mu intended to help her break through, but her feelings were complicated.

Good grief, Xuanzi being crippled had indirectly benefited her instead?

"But what should we do about that little bastard?"

Although Yan Shaozhe knew that he should not speak at this moment,

the death of Ma Xiaotao, his only beloved disciple, truly tore his heart apart.

Yet when his gaze met Xu Sanshi's, and he recalled Lin Yuan's terrifying ability to fight far above his rank,

Mu En fell silent this time. He did not directly avoid the question.

Lin Yuan's terrifying talent had nearly surpassed all comprehension. Even Tang San, the Sea God who had become a god ten thousand years ago, seemed like a little girl compared to Lin Yuan in terms of talent.

"We'll discuss it after this is over..."

By the end, a trace of resolve flashed through Mu En's eyes. Yan Shaozhe fell silent and stopped discussing the matter.

Clearly, the priority now was to help Song Lao reach the ninety-eighth rank as quickly as possible.

Afterward, would his teacher take the extreme path? Pah!

Would he directly do that sort of thing? Yan Shaozhe's feelings were actually very complicated.

To be fair, Yan Shaozhe wanted revenge.

But he knew that Shrek Academy, as it was now, could not afford the losses that would come from venturing deep into the Sun Moon Empire for revenge.

It was not merely that his disciple had died in a foreign land...

It was also possible that Mu En, his teacher, would die in that foreign land as well, utterly losing Shrek's last shred of dignity and pride.

Everyone fell into silence over this matter...

Later, when Xuanzi emerged from seclusion again, he found that everything had changed.

No one deliberately welcomed him or smiled at him anymore. They merely nodded blandly.

Xuanzi had already been crippled, and he had done far too many foolish things in the past.

They had endured it only because of his strength. Now, Xuanzi was merely a Pseudo-Titled Douluo.

And the circle Xuanzi moved in was where he encountered such things most often.

He had even recently heard some rumors. It seemed that all the foolish things he had done were being brought up again.

Xuanzi was furious, but there was nothing he could do. After all, he could no longer risk his life in battle. If he fought now, what then?

He would lose his life. What chilled his heart most was that the Sea God Pavilion no longer allowed Xuanzi to enter freely.

"Yan Shaozhe, what do you mean by this?!"

Xuanzi finally erupted after reaching the limit of his patience. Yan Shaozhe looked at him with an almost indifferent expression.

"Elder Xuan, Elder Mu wishes to help Song Lao attempt a breakthrough. Your temperament tends to create accidents, so for safety's sake, you will have to endure this inconvenience for the time being."

Those high-sounding words infuriated Xuanzi. But seeing the disgust in Yan Shaozhe's eyes, he seemed to suddenly understand.

Just how many foolish things had he done over the years? His crippled strength was merely the trigger.

But Xuanzi could not possibly admit it. He could only put the score down against Lin Yuan.

"Little bastard, I will definitely kill you!"

Thinking himself humiliated and wronged to the extreme, Xuanzi secretly made up his mind.

Those words also made Yan Shaozhe feel somewhat better. In the end, it was Xuanzi who had caused the deaths of both students.

Not handing him over was only for Shrek Academy's reputation.

Meanwhile, compared to Shrek Academy's dejected state, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy was somewhat excited.

This meant they had claimed their first championship and shattered Shrek Academy's monopoly.

They were all heroes of the empire.

But they also knew very well who had truly decided the battle and the victory.

Lin Yuan.

After that battle ended, Lin Yuan had Gu Yuena temporarily leave his side.

Bringing a ninety-eighth-ranked Super Douluo back with him

would inevitably draw everyone's attention to him.

That was not what he wanted.

Along the way, he had also given Jing Hongchen an explanation. Because of that divine miracle, this person could occasionally come to save his life, but there was also a limit to the number of times.

Such an explanation was fairly reasonable.

Jing Hongchen smiled faintly and agreed to help Lin Yuan keep the secret.

If it truly were the backing of a terrifying ninety-eighth-ranked Douluo, it would instead be somewhat troublesome.

But compared to that, what truly gave Jing Hongchen a headache

was not Gu Yuena's divine descent this time.

It was the broken appointment...

Looking at Radiant City so close ahead, Jing Hongchen stared at the message on his communication soul tool, his expression grave.

If he had not been forced to that point, he would not have wanted to cooperate with those people. But if he broke his appointment with them,

the promises he had made were still manageable.

After all, the person he had made those promises to was already dead.

But that was precisely where the problem lay...

One talented person who had caught the Holy Spirit Cult's interest had died, but another—Lin Yuan—was still alive...