Shrek Bows Its Head, Discussing the Sword with Ji Juechen

Meanwhile, Shrek City, Sea God Pavilion.

After that period of seclusion, Mu En's hair had become even more gray and white.

But there was also good news: Song Lao had finally touched upon the threshold of Rank 98.

All she needed now was another period of seclusion, and perhaps she would break through to Rank 98.

This allowed Mu En to breathe a sigh of relief, after which he began to seriously address Shrek's problems.

That was right. Although Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy had seemingly crushed them with a single game of chess, with Lin Yuan overwhelmingly winning the match,

Mu En had not overlooked Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's performance during the All-Continent Elite Soul Master Tournament.

Soul Guidance Devices had already become an irreversible trend of the era.

Although the Soul Guidance Department had been established long ago, it had continued to suffer suppression over the years, receiving not even half the resources allocated to the Martial Soul Department.

One could well imagine that if they continued to underestimate it, Shrek Academy would absolutely suffer in the future.

Thus, Mu En convened a Sea God Pavilion meeting.

His objective was nothing else but to try proposing an exchange student program with Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.

The moment this idea was raised, all the elders nearly thought Mu En had gone mad.

Xuanzi had already fought with them to that extent and torn all ties with Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.

He had committed murder in a brutal robbery, yet they still wanted to send Shrek people to Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. Was that not simply sending them to their deaths?

Yet when Mu En heard these objections, he merely looked over them in silence before saying,

"This time, we were indeed directly defeated in martial souls, but are we going to ignore everything that came before? Soul Guidance Devices have already become an irreversible trend of this era."

"Must we wait until the Sun Moon Empire develops Soul Guidance Devices capable of threatening Super Douluo, or even Limit Douluo, before we wake up?"

After those words, everyone fell silent. They were not fools; they had simply still subconsciously clung to that lofty, superior attitude.

Even a Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Guidance Cannon, with an attack comparable to that of a Super Douluo, only posed a fatal threat to Titled Douluo.

A Super Douluo could still evade it if they wished.

But the Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Guidance Cannon had appeared who knew how many years ago.

If they truly continued to blindly reject and exclude them,

the outcome was easy to imagine...

As everyone silently and instinctively lowered their heads, the compensation would naturally have to come partly from Xuanzi and partly from Sea God Pavilion.

This infuriated Xuanzi, but under Mu En's orders, he could only obediently nod.

The gloom and resentment hidden in his eyes were nearly visible to the naked eye, yet he could only forcibly suppress them.

It was not until Sea God Pavilion received Jing Hongchen's reply that things progressed further.

The contents of the letter were very simple.

The exchange student program could be considered, but under what conditions?

Very simple: the number of Soul Bones had to be doubled, and more importantly, Xuanzi had to publicly apologize.

This nearly made the entire Sea God Pavilion explode with rage.

One had to know the value of a 50,000-Year Soul Bone.

Even without entering an auction house, it would still be worth nearly twenty million.

Four whole pieces would cost nearly a hundred million.

Even for Shrek, such top-tier Soul Bones over 50,000 years old were rare.

Not to mention Xuanzi, who immediately flew into a rage upon seeing that he had to apologize. Red-faced and gritting his teeth, he declared,

"I'll never apologize, even if I die! Not even if you kill me!"

Hearing this, Mu En silently nodded and said softly,

"Fine. Since that is the case... then go die."

As those words fell, Xuanzi stared at Mu En with an incredulous expression, feeling as though his ears were ringing.

Mu En actually wanted him to die!?

This had to be fake, right? It had to be!

Although the Sea God Pavilion elders were somewhat surprised, most of their expressions lasted only a moment.

The only reason they had previously tolerated Xuanzi was because of the value he possessed.

Now, Xuanzi no longer had any value, and Soul Guidance Devices were an irreversible trend. The Sun Moon Empire was the superior side.

From a long-term strategic perspective, Xuanzi, a pseudo-Titled Douluo who could only contend with Titled Douluo for a short time,

really did not seem as valuable as this matter.

Having realized this, Xuanzi's voice nearly trembled as he looked at Mu En and murmured in utter disbelief,

"Elder Mu, you... are joking, right?"

At this point, Mu En could not even be bothered to spare Xuanzi another glance.

Everything had become so deadlocked entirely because of Xuanzi's momentary so-called hot-bloodedness,

as well as his self-righteous certainty that he knew best.

He had dragged Shrek Academy into an extremely passive situation.

Seeing that Mu En was unwilling to even look at him, Xuanzi finally realized that Mu En truly intended to abandon him.

At that moment, his heart was utterly dead. Thinking of all the grievances and treatment he had suffered, Xuanzi could only lower his head and squeeze out several words through clenched teeth.

"Fine... I agree..."

What truly left Xuanzi somewhat dazed was that even after he said those words, Su Lao did not step forward to sympathize with him.

Just like that, the once lofty Shrek was forced to lower its head this time.

On the other side, after Lin Yuan realized this issue, he acted swiftly as well.

After requesting leave from Jing Hongchen and saying that he would be away for some time,

before he had even stepped out of Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's gates,

Ji Juechen was already blocking his path, speaking each word distinctly.

"Brother Lin Yuan, I have waited for you for a long time. I heard them say that you have finished crafting the Soul Guidance Device you most wanted to create. It is time for us to have a match."

Seeing Ji Juechen's continued persistence, Lin Yuan felt somewhat helpless. Although he greatly admired the other man's perseverance,

he realized that he probably could not keep delaying any longer. Thus, this time, Lin Yuan did not choose to avoid him.

After giving a slight nod, the two quickly arrived atop the arena.

At that moment, countless eyes were densely fixed upon this battle.

Ji Juechen, previously the Sun Moon Empire's foremost young swordsman aside from Lin Yuan, was facing a man whose sword seemed to be merely his secondary martial soul.

Who would be stronger?

After all, Lin Yuan's previous outburst had relied on the seemingly mysterious Heavenly Stem Qilin.

Ji Juechen did not hesitate. The moment he stepped onto the God of War Platform, the six soul rings around the sword in his hand flashed in succession. His aura instantly rose to its peak. Before his sword even moved, it faintly seemed capable of changing the color of heaven and earth.

This was Ji Juechen with sword intent in hand.

Even before the sword left its sheath, it already possessed might approaching that of a Soul Sage.

As for Lin Yuan, he did not mock him in the slightest. Only after seeing that Ji Juechen had gathered enough momentum did he directly summon his martial soul.

The instant the Hades Sword appeared, it was as though the god of death had descended.

Like a demon king returned from hell.

"Sword, come!"

"Hades Slash!"

The azure and gray swords collided briefly in that instant.

"Boom!"

Amid that terrifying explosion, Ji Juechen propped himself up with his sword and looked at Lin Yuan, his eyes filled with nothing but fervor.

"I lost, but next time, I look forward to our next exchange."