Those words made it sound as though Shrek was ruining its students. An uncle might tolerate that, but this old spinster could not.
Zhou Yi's diehard Shrek soul awakened, and she immediately retorted, "Student Dai, the academy's senior leadership has its reasons for its decisions. Please don't speak based on assumptions!"
Although Dai Hao knew nothing of the fire raging in his own backyard, he cared deeply about the two sons the Duchess had borne him. Seeing Dai Huabin speak up for Li Lezi filled him with relief. "Huabin, you've become much more mature. You know how to consider others now. Choosing this study companion for you really was the right decision!"
Father and son exchanged pleasantries for a while before Dai Hao turned to Zhou Yi for the customary inquiries.
Under the White Tiger Duke's strange gaze, the old spinster's scalp prickled. Only when she saw the Inspection Corps badge on her own clothes did she feel a little better.
For the sake of Shrek's ten-thousand-year glory, she cleared her throat and explained that her group had come to eliminate Evil Soul Masters and needed the military's assistance with the investigation and intelligence.
This was a serious matter. If Shrek could resolve this major problem, it would spare the military a headache. Thus, Dai Hao personally explained the situation, revealing the Evil Soul Masters' location and their precise strength.
"Yueheng, Huabin, you've both performed very well at Shrek Academy. You haven't disgraced my name as the White Tiger Duke!"
To Dai Hao, only his legitimate sons were truly his sons. His other son, Dai Luoli, born of a concubine, did not matter. As for Huo Yuhao, the illegitimate son who had run away from home, he had never even met him and knew nothing of his existence.
Both sons were thrilled to receive their father's praise in public and saluted him in acknowledgment. Dai Huabin looked smugly toward the Shrek group, making no attempt to hide the boastfulness in his gaze.
This was Huo Yuhao's first meeting with his biological father. Not only did the man fail to recognize him, but he also showered praise on his mother's killer. How was this any different from being cuckolded right to his face?
Sensing his gaze, Dai Hao looked over and saw that this boy was staring fixedly at him. Unlike the respect and fear Zhou Yi and the others displayed, his eyes instead held resentment and a trace of hatred?
Dai Hao searched his memory but found no hint of familiarity. Puzzled, he asked, "Young friend, do we know each other?"
All the hot blood in Huo Yuhao's body surged to his head. His eyes turned blood-red, and he became so agitated that he nearly lost control.
Realizing that a military camp was no place for this conversation, Huo Yuhao stubbornly turned his head away. "No!"
Although puzzled, Dai Hao did not take it to heart. He was about to turn to other matters when Huo Yuhao looked back and demanded loudly, "Your Grace, allow me to ask something... what do you think of Li Lezi?"
Dai Huabin had just reported Zhou Yi's dismissal of Li Lezi. To seek justice for his homeroom teacher and vent his own anger along the way, Huo Yuhao chose to retaliate.
Without waiting for Dai Hao to speak, he continued on his own. "Although Li Lezi's soul power is inferior to Dai Huabin's, his combat skills and temperament are far superior. Your son won the Grand Melee by exploiting loopholes and taking shortcuts. Shouldn't he feel ashamed?"
"What nonsense are you spouting!" Dai Huabin had been fretting over his lack of an excuse to stir up trouble, and now someone had delivered himself right to his doorstep. He seized the opening like a snake climbing a proffered pole and berated him fiercely.
Ultimately, Li Lezi was only a study companion, and his actual standing was far below that of a biological son. Dai Hao raised a hand to stop the two from arguing. "Rankings reflect overall strength. If Huabin had truly acted improperly, would Shrek have stood by and done nothing? His selection for the Shrek Seven Devils proves that everything was fair and reasonable."
Huo Yuhao refused to accept it. "But Li Lezi has done so much for the Duke's Mansion. As the White Tiger Duke, whose justice is without equal, are you going to bend the law for personal interests and turn a blind eye?"
Dai Hao appeared amiable, but at this point, the ruthless decisiveness of a nation's marshal revealed itself. "I am the grand marshal of the Western Legion. I have no time for such trivial matters. As Huabin's study companion and a member of the Duke's Mansion, Li Lezi ought to understand his place. Even if he loses, he must accept it willingly!"
Whether in Douluo I or Douluo II, the nobles of the Douluo World looked down on all commoners equally. These words treated Li Lezi as a household servant of the Duke's Mansion, as though serving his master loyally were his honor, laying that innate arrogance bare.
Dai Huabin had wanted to say a few words, but remembering his master's task, he simply agreed with his biological father. "Father is right. Li Lezi is a servant of the Duke's Mansion. I can do whatever I want, and he should be overflowing with gratitude!"
Caught between father and son's successive attacks, Huo Yuhao trembled with rage. On the surface, they were talking about Li Lezi, but wasn't this a portrait of his own situation too?
His mother, Huo Yun'er, had endured endless bullying. The Duchess and her sons had taken turns oppressing her, leading to her early death. With Dai Hao's attitude so cold and heartless, could he really be expected to discover his conscience?
From that moment on, Huo Yuhao finally saw his biological father's true face and no longer placed any hope in him.
Not long before, he had decided not to take Dai Huabin's life. Instead, he would make everyone in the Duke's Mansion see him in a new light and force Dai Hao to repent before his mother's grave, confessing how blind he had been back then!
Unlike the fantasies of the original story, the current Huo Yuhao had completely stripped away his illusions about his biological father and offered no further rebuttal. Instead, he forcefully lowered his head, seemingly defeated, but in truth hiding the flames in his eyes until the day they became a prairie fire and burned this unjust world to ashes!
The Far North.
Xiao Zi sat cross-legged in meditation, unaware of what had happened thousands of miles away.
He had complete confidence in Dai Huabin's ability to stir up trouble. Coupled with the influence of the Enslavement Soul Seal, he did not worry at all about him betraying him.
At that moment, he adjusted his breathing and maintained the Five Hearts Facing the Sky posture, letting his mind settle into the stillness of a smooth lake as he sensed the gathering vital energy of heaven and earth, continuously breathing it in and absorbing it.
The Golden Horned Beast automatically possessed him. Under its master's control, it roared soundlessly, the sharp horn on its forehead standing proudly upright as the ice and snow refracted a clear, cold arc of light across it.
In a certain sense, the Golden Horned Beast's quality far surpassed that of the Destruction Scepter. The two were not even on the same level.
According to the rules of the Douluo Continent, entities of different grades could not coexist. Only Luo Feng's brute-force construction, backed by his strength as a Void True God, allowed the two to coexist peacefully and prevented the Golden Horned Beast from devouring the Destruction Scepter.
In Swallowed Star, the Golden Horned Beast existed in five forms, namely-
Juvenile stage (Planetary Level), adult stage (Star Level), youth stage (Universe Level), prime stage (domain lord), and peak stage (World Lord).
At each stage, it grew another sharp horn, and its strength leaped into a new major realm, undergoing explosive growth.
His own Golden Horned Beast was supposedly in its juvenile stage, but that label did not match reality. It had not displayed anything close to the power it should possess. Perhaps this was why Luo Feng had linked the two worlds and arranged for him to undergo a trial in Swallowed Star.
If he stayed on the Douluo Continent, the Golden Horned Beast probably would not reach adulthood even by the grand finale. It would remain a cub throughout.
"If the Golden Horned Beast evolves, I'll have taken another huge step toward revenge. Maybe I can end this war ahead of time and spare more living beings from being plunged into misery..."
Gazing toward the Divine Realm beyond the ninth heaven, Xiao Zi let out a sinister cackle, his eyes chilling and piercing.