Martial Soul Fusion, Entangled Interests

Mu En's luck was still good.

He had encountered Huo Yuhao returning at just the right time. Otherwise, that last faint trace of life in him truly would have faded away.

Huo Yuhao drew closer. Only when he heard Mu En's faint breathing did he feel somewhat relieved.

So he was asleep.

As long as it was not what Huo Yuhao had feared.

After some hesitation, Huo Yuhao took out the blanket his teacher had prepared for him from his Storage Soul Tool and gently draped it over Mu En. Only then did he return to the dormitory.

Meanwhile, in Dormitory 203, Wang Dong tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

For her, that was exceedingly rare.

She did not know why she had suddenly become unable to sleep.

It seemed to have started when Huo Yuhao left the dormitory.

It was already so late, yet Huo Yuhao still had not returned. She had not even told him the rules she planned to lay down.

Whenever Wang Dong thought of Huo Yuhao leaving the dormitory with that girl named Nan Qiuqiu, an uncomfortable feeling welled up inside her despite herself.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

Just then, someone knocked on the dormitory door.

Huo Yuhao's back!

At the thought, an inexplicable joy rose in Wang Dong's heart. She sprang out of bed and hurried to open the door.

As for her earlier resentment and all those rules she had planned, she had long since thrown them to the back of her mind.

"Um... Sorry. I'd planned to cultivate outside, but I ran into some trouble, so I came back."

Huo Yuhao looked apologetically at the roommate who had opened the door for him.

"Did you go fishing in the water?"

Seeing Huo Yuhao soaked from head to toe, Wang Dong stared at him in astonishment.

"No, I just ran into a crazy woman..."

Huo Yuhao did not hide anything. He briefly explained what had happened earlier.

"That's going too far! That upperclasswoman hurt you like that and didn't offer any compensation?"

Huo Yuhao himself was not particularly angry, but Wang Dong slammed a hand on the table and sprang to her feet, her face full of fury.

She looked ready to demand an explanation no matter what.

It took all of Huo Yuhao's persuasion to stop her from acting rashly.

In the process, they inevitably tugged at each other. With that contact, both felt something inexplicable stir between them.

Huo Yuhao did not quite understand what it was, but Wang Dong knew very well.

It meant they might be able to form a Martial Soul Fusion Skill.

The commotion in Dormitory 203 came to an abrupt end when Huo Yuhao began changing clothes.

Elsewhere, the Sea God Pavilion Meeting was cut short halfway through its deliberations.

Yan Shaozhe had proposed this meeting, and he had only one point to make: they should invite Huang Jinxu to become a Sea God Pavilion Elder again. If Huang refused, there was surely something fishy going on; if he could not give a convincing explanation, it would prove his loyalties lay elsewhere.

The other Sea God Pavilion Elders had not agreed at first. But after Yan Shaozhe's repeated arguments and examples, he finally brought up the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone Huang Jinxu had taken from the Treasure Pavilion, as well as the fact that Huang had gravely injured him. Only then did some of them come around.

The most important factor was that Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.

Given Shrek Academy's reserves and the number of Soul Bones in this era, there were more than three Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones.

It was just that these three Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones were collective property of the academy, not anyone's personal possessions.

It would have been impossible for the other Elders to have no designs on those three Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones.

They simply had never had a suitable reason or opportunity.

Now one had fallen into Huang Jinxu's hands, and it was the most valuable of the three. Naturally, they objected.

With Yan Shaozhe charging ahead, they were only too happy to test the waters.

If anything went wrong, they could pin it all on Yan Shaozhe.

When all was said and done, it came down to competing interests.

Just as the Sea God Pavilion Elders were about to vote, the activation of the Sea God's Light jolted them all to attention.

"Is that the Sea God's Light?"

"Mu En activated the Sea God's Light? In his current condition, how could he do that?"

"Has an enemy invaded the academy, or is it something else?"

"..."

For a moment, Shrek Academy's leadership grew tense.

Huang Jinxu and everything concerning him ceased to matter.

They rushed out of the Sea God Pavilion to see what had happened.

Watching the Sea God Pavilion empty until he alone remained, Yan Shaozhe's face twisted with anger.

How could this happen?

If he had been given just a little more time, those people would have agreed to his plan. Yet this had happened at the crucial moment.

As unwilling as Yan Shaozhe felt, he knew Mu En's situation came first. Dragging his still-unhealed body along, he hurried to investigate.

When the Sea God Pavilion Elders found Mu En and saw him on the brink of death, panic seized them.

Mu En had always been their pillar, their greatest guarantee of safety.

Now that Mu En was near death, and Elder Zhuang had confirmed that even he was powerless to help, how could they not panic?

"What do we do?"

Divine Eagle Douluo spoke first, then looked around at the others.

Clearly, she wanted someone to come up with a plan.

Divine Eagle Douluo Song Yunzhi was from Mu En's generation. She had once competed with him for the position of Sea God Pavilion Master.

Had this happened several decades earlier, she would only have been delighted.

But now, she no longer felt that way. She had to admit that Shrek Academy needed Mu En, and only Mu En could hold things together.

Everyone looked from one person to another, at a loss.

"Convene a Sea God Pavilion Meeting. All senior academy officials must attend. At the same time, find out exactly what happened and why."

When no one spoke, Divine Eagle Douluo offered her own solution.

"Should we invite Heavenly Fiend Douluo?"

This time, the speaker was Life Douluo Zhuang Yusen, who stood on Huang Jinxu's side.

If anything truly happened to Mu En, Shrek Academy would fall into turmoil, perhaps even a struggle for power.

If someone ultimately succeeded Mu En, Zhuang Yusen hoped it would be Huang Jinxu. Naturally, he wanted Huang informed as soon as possible.

"No. We still haven't established Huang Jinxu's true position. I don't agree with letting him attend the next Sea God Pavilion Meeting."

"After all, he isn't a Sea God Pavilion Elder."

The moment Zhuang Yusen brought it up, Yan Shaozhe was the first to object.

Seeing this, Divine Eagle Douluo Song Yunzhi knew the infighting had begun.

Among those who could succeed Mu En, only two people in Shrek Academy were suited to the role.

One was Xuan Zi. The other was Huang Jinxu.

Both had been raised by Shrek Academy and were its own people. Of the two, she leaned toward Huang Jinxu.

Xuan Zi was simply too unreliable.

But as Yan Shaozhe had said, Huang Jinxu's history was too complicated. He had spent a long time away from Shrek Academy. Who could guarantee nothing else had happened during that time?

If they chose wrong, it would leave an indelible stain on Shrek Academy's ten thousand years of glory.