"But why haven't I heard you mention it before? I remember that position has been vacant for years, hasn't it?" Xuan Zi could not help asking again.
Elder Lin merely answered with a faint smile. It was not because Gu Qingnian was young, accomplished, and inexperienced; she herself had only just made the decision. When Gu Qingnian had previously been granted that privilege, the Sea God Pavilion Meeting had also raised the question of whether to give him a senior position. Her answer then had been to observe him a while longer.
Clearly, she had finished observing him, and he was perfectly acceptable! Even if he was not mature enough yet, there was no problem with giving him the title first, was there? None whatsoever!
Once Elder Lin's departing figure had vanished from sight, the three continued toward Shrek Academy with the eight captives in tow, each harboring their own thoughts...
Meanwhile, Gu Qingnian had not even had time to soothe the other two before Zhou Yi and the others took them away to recount what had happened, check their physical condition, and attend to various other matters. It dragged on until dawn the following day.
Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao naturally began to suspect Dai Huabin, and he was indeed the prime suspect. With his background, gathering people like those would have been somewhat difficult, but certainly not impossible.
On the academy's side, Xuan Zi and the others brought the eight captives back, but no amount of interrogation yielded anything. Every object that might have exposed their identities had been destroyed. Clearly, everything had been prepared in advance. Their only miscalculations might have been failing to anticipate that Gu Qingnian could hold out so long, and their failed suicide attempt.
However, just as the academy was preparing to send