Shocking: Shrek Academy's Xuan Zi Was the Evil Soul Masters' Supreme Elder

Shocking! Xuan Zi of Shrek Academy was the Evil Soul Masters' supreme elder!

Explosive exclusive! The secrets Shrek's Xuan Zi and the Evil Soul Masters couldn't keep hidden.

A bombshell! The massacre at the Zhang Mansion in Heaven Dou City years ago was somehow connected to Xuan Zi!

Beside Lin Huiqun, Cai Mei'er read one startling headline after another.

Mu En sat above them, while Yan Shaozhe buried his face in his hands below, at a loss for how to face the situation.

Lin Huiqun said, "Listen, everyone. I collected these from Shrek City. Rumors like these are only the tip of the iceberg. I even heard that Shrek suppresses the younger generation of the Three Original Continents under the pretext of finding and training outstanding disciples, all so the Sun Moon Empire's future invasion can proceed without a hitch."

"What are those newsmongers trying to do? Throw the world into chaos?"

Elder Zhuang's face stiffened. Though he was a support-type Soul Master who had long cultivated in seclusion at Shrek Academy, he was not deaf to voices from outside. But this was the first time he had heard claims so outrageous they made his hair stand on end.

"Not even the greatest fool under heaven would believe that! They say Shrek Academy recruits geniuses and monsters to make it easier for the Sun Moon Empire to attack someday? Whoever says such things should be dragged into the square and have his tongue pulled out!"

Healing-type Soul Masters were the kindest people. For Elder Zhuang to say that showed how furious he had become.

"But what that fine elder of Shrek Academy did makes it hard for people not to believe."

"Mei'er, stop!" Yan Shaozhe hurried to cut off Cai Mei'er.

"Why shouldn't I say it? Xuan Zi led that purge of Evil Soul Masters, and of all the team members' families, the only survivor was a child with arms no thicker than sticks. Wasn't it because he was arrogant and let the Evil Soul Masters escape, then insisted on pursuing them himself without dealing a killing blow? He held a strong hand and played it slowly, putting on airs! That's why nearly twenty members of the Shrek Inspection Corps died outside of combat. And when they brought the child to him, he declared without a shred of doubt that the child was an Evil Soul Master plot, a pawn planted in Shrek, and should be killed to make an example of him. After words like that, how could the ignorant masses outside not grow suspicious? And this time was worse! He was only supposed to hunt Soul Beasts for the students, yet he battered Shrek's future pillars until only Zhang Lexuan was left. She survived a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast by her own desperate efforts. If you ask me, unless we settle this properly, who knows what fresh absurdity he'll cause next? The academies of the Three Original Continents have begun researching Soul Tools, and our recruitment has already been suffering. This year, we even lowered the requirements to let talented commoner Soul Masters enroll without letters of recommendation. How are we supposed to recruit anyone now?"

Cai Mei'er poured it all out at once and immediately felt lighter. Sure enough, keeping filth bottled up inside only dirtied her heart. Better to spit it out.

Even Mu En, seated on the high platform, could not help coughing at her words.

"Go! Send people to the Star Dou Great Forest and bring Xuan Zi back to me. No! Yan Shaozhe, Xian Ling'er, you two deans go yourselves!"

With that, Mu En vanished from the spot.

"Mei'er! You've really made my life miserable!"

Yan Shaozhe said no more. Elder Shi, the lord of Shrek City, had reported the situation to him today. They had found neither the person spreading the rumors nor where the troublemakers from the central square had been taken; not even bodies remained. But that willingness to harm their own people for revenge marked them unmistakably as Evil Soul Masters. This was plainly retaliation against Shrek Academy. And Xuan Zi, at precisely this moment, had handed them the perfect chance to smear Shrek. Yan Shaozhe had already carried out his teacher's instructions perfectly. The students' families had been pacified, and he had even withstood the pressure from the Duke's Mansion without letting a whisper escape. Yet now the whole city knew. With current Soul Tool communications, word had probably reached cities across half the continent.

"Come on, Dean Yan. Mu En personally ordered us both to go. Let's bring Xuan Zi back first."

Xian Ling'er was in no better mood. Cai Mei'er's words had struck deep. Her dear friend had died inexplicably at home years ago, and even the child had nearly been lost. If she and Qian Duoduo had not happened to visit, that good family's line might have ended there. Since then, what little goodwill she had held toward Xuan Zi had turned to outright disgust. The Martial Soul faction's suppression of the Soul Tool Department only worsened her opinion of him. After all, what could a Soul Engineer think of a man who could grab a Soul Tool, crush it in his hand, and say, "I wouldn't take this piece of junk even if you gave it to me"?

Jiang Hao was in high spirits today. He had finally vented years of pent-up resentment. Hearing students whisper about Xuan Zi all along the way filled him with a strange excitement. Everything was moving in a better direction.

He followed a path through the Bamboo Grove to the little courtyard where Qian Duoduo had put him up. Almost every Elder of Shrek had quietly built a private residence within Shrek Academy. Some had even reached into Sea God Island.

He pushed open the door. It had been a long time since he had returned.

"Looks like my adoptive father hasn't come back, and Auntie isn't here either. No one's even cleaned the place."

Jiang Hao ran a finger across the solid redwood table and scraped up a thin layer of dust. He clapped his hands. "All right, up and to work. Clean the house from top to bottom."

Voice command, Soul Power injection—a practiced sequence activated a row of Soul Tools. Some mopped the floors, others wiped the walls, and two sweeping robots cleaned every corner. Jiang Hao settled onto the sofa and casually picked up a book about Soul Tools from the table.

"How's the gift I asked you to prepare last time?" he asked the Clone he had assigned to study Soul Tools.

"Almost done, boss! We combined what we remember about modern technology with what we know of Soul Tools at this stage and put together a research paper. It should be right up Xuan Ziwen's alley. Once our plan to build up our forces succeeds, recruiting him shouldn't be hard," one Clone concluded after some thought.

"Good. Very good. I don't want to cram all that wretched Soul Tool knowledge into my head, but if I have to handle it myself someday, I'll step up. Being the boss means taking responsibility."

Each Soul Fragment within Jiang Hao's Clones stored its own memories, while all of them could share Jiang Hao's. Perhaps as a form of self-protection, however, what the Clones learned was not automatically passed back to the Main Body. They had once been able to share knowledge both ways, but as the number of Clones inside Jiang Hao grew, each memory sync and retrieval meant loading the same file into more than two thousand separate archives. The strain was easy to imagine. Jiang Hao knew he could not manage that. His own memories were shared unconditionally with every Clone, so they all knew what he knew. Long ago, he had decided there was no need for the reverse. He could call up knowledge when he needed it; it was safer stored separately in the Clones' minds.

Just as he was about to keep chatting with the Clone, a knock sounded at the door. This little house rarely had visitors, and those who came were always looking for Vice Dean Qian. With Qian Duoduo known to be away from the academy, almost no one would come looking for him. They were probably here for Jiang Hao!

Jiang Hao opened the door and, sure enough, saw a familiar figure.

"Senior Sister, how did you find this place?"