Isn't That Taking Advantage of an Honest Man?!

The sight of countless fellow disciples lying in a sea of blood, of her parents dying horribly half a year ago, surfaced in her mind once more.

"Hah... hah..."

The girl suddenly doubled over, clutching her head in both hands.

The thirst for blood and slaughter surged up again.

A voice seemed to whisper hoarsely deep inside her, "Kill them! Slaughter your way out of this city! They stood by and did nothing. They're the ones who killed your parents!"

Thick vines began to emerge beneath the girl's feet. She teetered on the brink of losing control!

But after a long while...

Tang Ya's face went pale, and she regained her senses.

She staggered two steps before finally forcing down the murderous urge within her.

After letting out two breaths, she glanced around. Seeing no one nearby, she hurried away.

Meanwhile...

Inside a two-story teahouse directly opposite the Tang Sect's signboard...

Wu Yun sat leisurely on a wooden stool, taking a gentle sip of tea.

The view slowly pulled back.

Behind him, corpses littered the entire second floor. Dozens of men in iron armor, apparently soldiers of the City Defense Army, lay sprawled across the floor. Blood ran along the floorboards and trickled down to the level below.

The teahouse owner, meanwhile, huddled in a corner, trembling.

"Still have to take care of loose ends. This girl really doesn't give me a moment's peace."

Wu Yun shook his head, sounding rather helpless.

After muttering a few words, he glanced at the owner cowering in the corner.

The man's terror deepened, and his body shook violently.

Those overbearing, powerful lords of the City Defense Army hadn't even lasted a single exchange against this man. He had watched with his own eyes as the man merely snapped his fingers, unleashing countless crows that gnawed through the soldiers' necks, leaving them to struggle until their lives slipped away.

So it's my turn now...

The owner gritted his teeth, widened his eyes, and began feeling around like a blind man, making his gaze look vacant.

This was his final act of defiance before death.

Wu Yun let out a snort, nearly losing his composure.

He recalled Xu Cheng's instructions.

He waved a hand.

"Owner, the bill!"

The teahouse owner: "..."

Trembling, he felt his way to his feet, then stumbled toward Wu Yun as though he were blind. "My lord Soul Master, it's only plain tea. It's on me. You don't need to..."

"What's all this nonsense?!" Wu Yun frowned. "We of the Holy Spirit Cult-cough, cough-don't... hmm, what was the next line again... anyway, I'm damn well not eating or drinking for free!"

"The bill!"

"Y-yes, of course!"

The teahouse owner hurriedly scurried to comply.

"Just one Silver Soul Coin..."

Bang!

Wu Yun slammed the table and shot to his feet.

He glared at the teahouse owner. "There are clearly two bowls of tea, yet you're only charging for one? Isn't that taking advantage of an honest man?!"

The owner's flab quivered with fright.

"Yes, yes, two bowls of tea..."

"Hmph! Don't let it happen again." Only then did Wu Yun's anger subside.

But after searching his storage Soul Tool for quite a while, he suddenly realized that his smallest denomination was a Gold Soul Coin. He didn't have a single Silver Soul Coin...

"Here's one Gold Soul Coin. Keep the rest as a tip."

Wu Yun waved his hand.

Black mist enveloped him, and he transformed into countless crows that flew off in every direction.

"The Holy Spirit Cult..."

The teahouse owner timidly poked his head out, gazing at the clear blue sky.

"This sect's actually pretty nice..."

But another glance at the City Defense Army corpses strewn around him gave him a splitting headache.

As a nobody, he knew better than anyone that his troubles had only just begun.

Those noble lords were the ones who truly devoured people without even spitting out the bones...

Shrek Academy stood at the border between the Heaven Soul and Dou Ling Empires, close to the Star Dou Great Forest. That meant Tang Ya had to pass through the forest's outskirts once again.

Another two days of travel passed.

A towering city came into the girl's view.

It might have been slightly smaller than Mingdu, but compared with Heaven Dou City, it was still quite magnificent.

Countless merchant caravans streamed in and out.

This was also a hub connecting three nations, one of the largest cities on the continent: Shrek City, with thousands of years of history.

Tang Ya gazed at it from afar, her heart filled with conflicting emotions.

She had never visited Shrek City as a child. Everything she knew came from her father, who had told her that Shrek Academy was the sacred ground all Soul Masters on the continent yearned for. Her father himself had graduated from it.

And so, in young Tang Ya's heart, it had been sacred and solemn.

Yet after the Tang Sect was destroyed, Shrek Academy had never offered the slightest support. Though she had spent the past six months in Mingdu, she had kept watching for Shrek Academy's response to the Tang Sect's destruction.

There had been nothing whatsoever, as though it stood high above them and considered the matter none of its concern.

That left a chill in the girl's heart.

But to honor her father's final wishes, she had come anyway...

She entered Shrek City.

After making a few brief inquiries, the girl headed straight for Shrek Academy.

Several upper-year students wearing armbands stood at the entrance, chatting.

They saw Tang Ya approach.

One of them, a tall, handsome boy with blue hair, brightened and promptly rose to greet her.

"Hello, this is Shrek Academy. I'm Bei Bei, a second-year student. Is there anything I can help you with?"

The others also looked at Tang Ya with considerable curiosity.

After all, a girl this pretty would rank among the campus beauties even at Shrek Academy.

"Thank you... my name is Tang Ya. I've come... come to enroll," Tang Ya said with a nod.

"Enroll at this time? Uh, sorry, but this isn't enrollment season. If you want to enroll, you'll have to wait another six months..." Bei Bei said tactfully.

He felt disappointed himself.

She was his type at first sight, but the academy's rules weren't something he alone could change.

"I'm from the Tang Sect. Something happened earlier, which delayed my arrival. Could you make an exception?" Tang Ya bit her lip lightly and pleaded.

At the sight, Bei Bei's heart all but melted.

It pounded wildly.

He wished he could change the academy's rules and go straight to his Great-Grandfather to pull some strings.

But the next instant, a hostile voice interrupted him.

"The Tang Sect? If I remember correctly, wasn't it wiped out by Evil Soul Masters? As a surviving orphan, how did you escape them alive? Don't tell me you slaughtered your own sect, joined the Evil Soul Masters, and then came to Shrek Academy as a spy!"

A tall boy beside him narrowed his eyes warily.

"I didn't!" Tang Ya's beautiful eyes nearly spat fire.

Watching her loved ones die while powerless to help had already been painful enough. Now, another blade had been driven viciously into her heart.

She nearly lost control!

Clenching her fists, she glared at the tall boy opposite her.

"Hmph. Whether you did or not isn't for you to decide." Seeing her reaction, the tall boy showed no remorse and merely snorted.

Ultimately, the Tang Sect was simply too weak. It had declined to the point that its sect master was only a Soul Ancestor, a level that even a fourth- or fifth-year student at Shrek Academy could likely reach.

Had someone from the Clear Sky Sect come instead, these students would probably have worn entirely different faces.

Of course, most importantly, Shrek Academy had never taken the Tang Sect seriously, from beginning to end.

Otherwise, Tang Ya wouldn't have ended up like that in the original story...

"You!!!"

Tang Ya could barely suppress the violence in her heart.

She had already fallen onto an evil path. Just as Jing Hongchen had suspected, her inner brutality would have erupted long ago if Xu Cheng hadn't kept it in check. That was also why Xu Cheng had always kept her with him.

And today...