Hating the House and Its Crows

"Quick, quick! There's someone else here!"

"Earth-attribute Soul Masters, come help!"

"My students were caught in the battle! They're dying! Healing System Soul Masters, get over here and treat them!"

"Hang on! The Healing System Soul Masters will be here any moment!"

"..."

With the battle between the Body Sect and Shrek Academy over, Shrek Academy began its rescue and reconstruction efforts.

As the battlefield for dozens of Titled Douluos, most of Shrek Academy's buildings had been reduced to rubble.

Buried beneath those ruins were shelters and basements where many Outer Court teachers and students had hidden.

Those with suitable Martial Souls or sufficient strength could break through the earth themselves. The weaker ones could only rely on Shrek Academy's experts to rescue them.

After a round of emergency rescue work, all the Shrek Outer Court teachers and students buried beneath the rubble were pulled out.

Apart from a few unlucky souls who had taken a direct hit from the shock waves of the Titled Douluos' battle, most had escaped unharmed.

Inside Shrek Academy's medical pavilion.

Elder Zhuang and Qian Duoduo stood one behind the other before the beds of the gravely injured teachers and students.

Elder Zhuang was an old man with snowy white hair, a Healing System Soul Master whose cultivation had reached level 94.

Cultivation in the Support System and Healing System progressed far more slowly than in combat-oriented paths such as the Power Attack System, and breaking through to Titled Douluo was even more difficult.

As a level 94 Healing System Titled Douluo, Elder Zhuang's healing abilities ranked among the top three on the entire Douluo Continent.

In the art of healing the sick and injured, only Wang Xian'er, the Medicine Immortal Douluo—a Healing System grandmaster with Super Douluo cultivation and deputy head of the Star Luo Empire's Offering Hall—could decisively surpass him.

Thus, Elder Zhuang took charge of the postbattle rescue efforts, while Qian Duoduo was responsible for installing various Soul Tools after the buildings were rebuilt to reinforce them.

Looking at the teachers and students clinging to life in their beds, Elder Zhuang immediately began treating them.

Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet: two yellow, two purple, and five black, nine rings rising to circle him.

Lush green vines spread from Elder Zhuang's body and settled over the injured teachers and students.

The next instant, a rich aura of life blossomed. As his Soul Rings lit up one after another, the vines continually shifted between different colors of light.

As a Healing System Titled Douluo, Elder Zhuang used a fairly simple method of treatment: channeling vitality into the injured.

The infusion of vitality greatly accelerated the healing of their injuries and the regeneration of flesh, achieving the desired treatment.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Elder Zhuang's Soul Rings vanished, and the vines withdrew with them.

The teachers and students who had been at death's door now breathed steadily, their injuries fully healed.

Several teachers with Soul Emperor cultivation had even opened their eyes. Seeing the two Sea God Pavilion Elders, Elder Zhuang and Qian Duoduo, they immediately tried to get up and salute them.

"Your injuries have healed, but your bodies are still very weak," Elder Zhuang said. "You need to recuperate quietly for a while. Get back into bed and rest."

"Yes, Elder Zhuang."

Stroking his beard, Elder Zhuang instructed them, "Although my treatment has healed your injuries, your vital energy has been depleted. Once you return, remember to eat more foods or medicinal pills that replenish your blood and energy."

After finishing his instructions, Elder Zhuang left the ward with Qian Duoduo.

"Thank you for your hard work, Elder Zhuang," Qian Duoduo said.

Elder Zhuang waved a hand. "What hard work? You people who fought the Body Sect's experts head-on were the ones who truly had it hard."

The mention of the Body Sect's experts sent a lingering shudder through Qian Duoduo. He said heavily, "The Body Sect's experts really are terrifying in battle. Once the Body Sect Titled Douluo fighting me unleashed his Body Martial Soul's second awakening, he had me pinned down.

"If my Martial Soul, the Black Dragon Shield, hadn't excelled at defense, I'd probably have been injured too."

Elder Zhuang sighed. "Many students were injured in the academy's battle with the Body Sect, and some unfortunately lost their lives. Their parents must be utterly heartbroken.

"Although this happened because the Body Sect invaded, those parents entrusted their children to Shrek Academy to study. They trusted us. Our academy failed to protect its students, and that is our failure, our responsibility."

"Don't worry, Elder Zhuang," Qian Duoduo said. "Yan Shaozhe is handling this. We'll all urge him to compensate the students' parents as much as possible and ease their grief."

Elder Zhuang nodded. "Good. We absolutely must not leave those parents bitterly disappointed."

As Qian Duoduo and Elder Zhuang talked, a thunderous boom rang in their ears.

In the sky above Shrek Academy, Xuan Zi had transformed into the Godly Taotie Bull. Dense earth-element radiance gathered over his immense, towering body, which loomed like a mountain.

A roar that sounded neither quite like a dragon nor quite like a bull shook the heavens.

Shrek Academy, which had been reduced to ruins, began undergoing earth-shaking changes.

The buildings shattered in the battle between Titled Douluos crumbled into dust.

Under Xuan Zi's control, the earth began shifting continuously like modeling clay.

As an earth-attribute Super Douluo at the peak of level 98, Xuan Zi's command of the earth element had reached a wondrous level.

With him exerting his full power, tall buildings sprang up from the ground one after another.

Classroom buildings, dormitories, the Soul Fighting Arena... all rose into view.

With some basic finishing work and a few necessary furnishings, Shrek Academy's reconstruction would be complete, and the students could resume classes immediately.

Clearly, to get the academy back on track as soon as possible and erase the impact of the battle, Xuan Zi had abandoned any concern for an expert's dignity and become a construction foreman himself.

Xuan Zi released his Martial Soul Avatar. Looking at the Shrek Academy he had raised from the earth with his own hands, he thought to himself.

"Shrek Academy must be restored as soon as possible, and the students must return to class.

"Otherwise, if outsiders see that the Body Sect beat Shrek Academy into suspending classes, what dignity will Shrek Academy have left?"

Xuan Zi spread his spiritual power outward and soon located Qian Duoduo. In a flash, he appeared before him and ordered, "Duoduo, you're responsible for installing the various Soul Tools after reconstruction. I'm giving you one day, until dawn tomorrow.

"You must finish installing the Soul Tools in every building! Tomorrow, I want to see students attending class in their classrooms!"

Qian Duoduo jumped at Xuan Zi's sudden appearance. After hearing his instructions, he said with a troubled expression, "Xuan Zi, one day is far too little time. Installing and testing all the soul circuits takes time..."

Xuan Zi knew nothing about the technical jargon related to Soul Tools. He immediately ordered Qian Duoduo, "I don't want to hear your excuses. I don't care about the details. Just get it done by tomorrow. If you don't, see how I deal with you, brat."

With that, Xuan Zi pulled a chicken drumstick from his Storage Soul Tool and began eating. When he finished, he tapped Qian Duoduo's forehead with the bone, raising a large lump on his head.

Qian Duoduo: (▼皿▼#) The thing I hate most in this life is amateurs ordering experts around... With Mu En absent, Xuan Zi thinks he can soar right into the heavens!

Seeing Xuan Zi's uncompromising expression, Qian Duoduo knew there was no room for negotiation. He thought, "Normally, this would take at least three days.

"But with only one day, I'll have to make everything look finished first so the students can make do with their classes. I'll finish the work underneath after school lets out."

As the saying went, those above made policies, while those below devised countermeasures.

Under Xuan Zi's heavy-handed pressure and Qian Duoduo's efficient execution, Shrek Academy, once reduced to ruins, was rebuilt in just one day.

That evening, the moon shone bright amid sparse stars. Chilly moonlight blanketed the land, and the usually bustling Shrek City was unusually silent.

Inside a room in the Shrek Outer Court's teachers' dormitory.

Two teachers with Soul Emperor cultivation, one fat and one thin, sat at a dining table, drinking to steady their nerves.

The fat male teacher raised his cup and drained it. His voice trembled slightly as he said, "Today scared me half to death. I was hiding in a shelter with my class when a white pillar of light suddenly punched straight through it.

"That white pillar of light passed just twenty centimeters away from me. If it had veered even a little, I wouldn't be here to see you today, brother."

The other male teacher's face was pale, his eyes red and his expression grief-stricken. "Survive a great calamity, and blessings are sure to follow. Your luck was much better than mine. The shock waves of the battle happened to strike the shelter I was in.

"I was severely injured, and two students beside me died on the spot. If they hadn't rescued me in time, and if Elder Zhuang, a Healing System Soul Master with Titled Douluo cultivation, hadn't treated me, I'd be dead by now."

The two exchanged drinks, venting the fear in their hearts. After several rounds of wine and plenty of food, both were somewhat drunk.

The fat teacher let out a drunken belch. "Brother, if you ask me, Shrek Academy should just hand that brat Chen An over to the Body Sect."

The thin teacher slammed the table, his face full of agreement. "Exactly! If it weren't for Chen An, my students wouldn't have died!"

The fat teacher sighed. "Who knows what the academy's higher-ups are thinking? The way I see it, Chen An has a Body Martial Soul, so he's naturally close to those monsters in the Body Sect.

"Besides, Shrek Academy hasn't done much research on Body Martial Souls. Aren't we just holding him back by keeping him here?"

"The academy's higher-ups just don't want to hand a Body Martial Soul genius like Chen An over to the Body Sect and help strengthen it," the thin teacher said.

"I say we might as well kill Chen An in secret. Keeping him at Shrek Academy is asking for disaster. Who knows when the Body Sect might come attacking again?"

By the end, the thin teacher couldn't help shivering. Clearly, the day's battle had frightened him to the core.

The two teachers kept drinking and discussing the academy's affairs, spittle flying. When they really got worked up, they even declared outright that the academy's higher-ups were complete fucking idiots...

Tonight was a sleepless night for Shrek Academy. From the Sea God Pavilion Elders down to ordinary Outer Court students, no one was in the mood to sleep.

Meanwhile, the spies planted in Shrek City and Shrek Academy by the various major powers were so busy that sparks practically flew.

They did everything they could to investigate what had happened that day, then sent the intelligence back to the powers behind them.

Before long, this battle between the Body Sect and Shrek Academy, which had shaken heaven and earth and made ghosts and gods weep, would likely spread across the entire Douluo Continent.

While the people of Shrek Academy were grieving, frightened, or excited.

In the guest bedroom at Teacher Mu Jin's home.

Having heard a great deal of discussion about Chen An, Qian Renxue sat cross-legged, her lovely brows tightly furrowed and her golden eyes filled with worry.

Qian Renxue thought, "Shrek Academy suffered terrible losses in this battle with the Body Sect. Two experts with Titled Douluo cultivation died, and there were even more casualties among the teachers and students.

"Their classmates, friends, and relatives don't dare resent the academy's higher-ups or the Body Sect, but they dare dump all their negative emotions on Chen An.

"These people are ridiculous. Those people clearly died because they were caught in the fighting between Shrek Academy's and the Body Sect's experts. What does that have to do with Chen An? He had no say in any of this!

"If Shrek Academy's higher-ups had simply handed Chen An over to the Body Sect, the battle would never have happened!

"Yet Chen An has become the one responsible for its consequences.

"I still don't know how Chen An is doing, or whether he's hurt."

Qian Renxue immediately sank her consciousness into her Sea of Consciousness and asked Electrolux, "Elder Yi, what do you think?"

"Chen An is the central figure in this matter, and the core of the entire incident," Electrolux said. "Right now, he stands at the crest of the storm.

"As for what happens to him afterward, that will depend on Shrek Academy's higher-ups.

"If Shrek Academy's higher-ups can manage public opinion properly and nurture Chen An with care, then naturally he'll be fine in the future.

"But if the academy's higher-ups harbor resentment toward Chen An, or even believe they shouldn't have fought the Body Sect over him, his position will become very awkward."

Qian Renxue thought, "If only Chen An had joined the Body Sect. With his Martial Soul, he shouldn't be staying at Shrek Academy at all.

"The custom on the Douluo Continent has always been that people with the same Martial Soul are one family. Chen An has a Body Martial Soul, so in everyone else's eyes, he's naturally one of the Body Sect's people.

"Especially the friends and relatives of the academy's experts, teachers, and students who died at the hands of the Body Sect's experts. When they see Chen An, even if they know he isn't a member of the Body Sect, they'll still hate the house and every crow perched upon it."

Time passed swiftly as Qian Renxue worried over Chen An.

In the blink of an eye, the next day arrived.

It was a bright, sunny morning at Chen An's home in the Inner Court on Sea God Island, within Shrek Academy.

Chen An slowly opened his eyes, then felt how hungry he was. He immediately left home and headed toward the Inner Court's dining hall.

Walking along Sea God Island's bluestone path, Chen An soon saw a boy two or three years older than him approaching, staring at him with bloodshot eyes.

"Chen An, it's all because of you! If it weren't for you, you walking disaster, my grandfather wouldn't have died!"

With that, the boy activated Martial Soul Possession. Two yellow Soul Rings rose and flashed around him, and a red pillar of light shot toward Chen An's face...