Killing with a Borrowed Knife

The next morning.

The Shrek Inner Court was still shrouded in Yan Shaozhe's oppressive gloom.

Every passing teacher and disciple wished they could lower their heads into the dust, terrified that one careless move would get them dragged off as a punching bag by the dean of the Martial Soul Department.

Outside the barrier in the back hills, however, an entirely different scene was unfolding.

"Wh-what kind of rare mass illusion have we fallen under? Or has everyone in the Sea God Pavilion been possessed by Evil Soul Masters?!"

Dressed in a coarse floral-print dress, Cai Mei'er began to wonder whether she was dreaming.

Her husband, Yan Shaozhe, stood beneath a large tree with his hands pressed against his trouser seams, looking aggrieved, like an elementary school student being made to stand as punishment for misbehaving.

But what made her feel even closer to falling apart was the sight at the entrance to the shabby wooden cabin not far ahead.

The Sea God Pavilion Master, Mu En, was actually wearing an old farmer's outfit covered in mud spots, holding a bowl of steaming chicken soup and waiting at the door with a face full of smiles!

"Dean Cai, what are you spacing out for? Hurry up and rein in that imposing Super Douluo aura of yours."

Beside her, Zhang Lexuan, also dressed in coarse cloth, reminded her in a low voice, "From now on, you're a widow visiting from the next village... ahem, no, Auntie Cai."

The corners of Cai Mei'er's mouth twitched furiously. Before she could protest, the cabin door creaked open.

"Teacher Su, you're awake, right? This old man just killed a chicken and made some soup to build your strength back up." Switching to that aged, simple southwestern Mandarin accent, Mu En carried the chicken soup inside.

Su Xian, who had been lying in bed bored out of his mind, immediately perked up and felt his way into a sitting position. "Chicken soup? Wonderful! Thank you, Uncle Mu En! How much did the old hen cost? I'll pay you back out of my stipend later."

"No need to pay. We've got the national poverty-relief subsidy, haven't we?" Mu En answered smoothly, using modern terminology with practiced ease.

Su Xian nodded repeatedly and sighed. "The country really does look after us. However poor we are, we must never shortchange education."

At that moment, Mu En glanced at the stiff-faced Cai Mei'er behind him and took the opportunity to introduce her. "Oh, Teacher Su, this is Auntie Mozhi from the next village. Her full name is A Bi Mozhi. She heard a university student had come to volunteer as a teacher in our village and insisted on coming over to see this rarity for herself."

Auntie Mozhi?!

Cai Mei'er, the dignified deputy dean of the Martial Soul Department, a peerless beauty so well maintained that she looked like a young married woman of thirty, had now been forcibly saddled with the title of auntie.

She took a deep breath and forced out a smile uglier than a crying face. "H-hello, Teacher Su."

"Hello, Auntie Mozhi. You're too kind." Su Xian smiled in response.

Everyone found a small folding stool and sat down.

Zhang Lexuan took a deep breath, preparing to carry out the grand plan to kill with a borrowed knife that had been settled on the top floor of the Sea God Pavilion last night.

She asked with feigned nonchalance, "Teacher Su, you talked so much yesterday about reforming the Spirit Pagoda, and it all sounded pretty sensible to me. Since institutional reform is so important, wouldn't you say there are serious problems with the way the Shrek Inner Court passes on its legacy, too?"

Zhang Lexuan had intended to get Su Xian to continue attacking the Martial Soul Department's monopoly on resources and its rigid system of succession, paving the way for the topic that would follow.

But she had grossly underestimated the gossip radar of a spectator and fun-seeker like Su Xian.

"Sister A-Xuan, speaking of how the Shrek Inner Court passes on its legacy..."

Su Xian had just taken a sip of the delicious chicken soup when he seemed to suddenly remember something explosive. He slapped his thigh. "Then we have to talk about Shrek's most disgusting piece of feudal dregs!"

Feudal dregs?

Inside the cabin, Mu En, Zhang Lexuan, Cai Mei'er, and Bei Bei, who had been forced to keep playing the left-behind child, all froze.

"You have no idea how disgusting the things Shrek's Sea God Pavilion does behind the scenes are, despite that sanctimonious facade."

With bitter indignation, Su Xian launched into a frenzied tirade. "Take Zhang Lexuan, the Inner Court's eldest senior sister! What an extraordinary genius-beautiful, immensely talented, a sure prospect for a future Limit Douluo. And what happened? That rotten old man Mu En actually turned her into a child bride!"

Pfft-!

Mu En had just raised his tea mug and taken a sip of water. At the words "child bride," he sprayed the entire mouthful onto the floor, his aged face instantly flushing scarlet.

Only a few days ago, he had been laughing at Yan Shaozhe's misfortune. He had never expected this blind man to turn his guns directly on him, the Sea God Pavilion Master, today!

"A ch-child bride?" Cai Mei'er's eyes widened. This was a closely guarded piece of gossip even within the Sea God Pavilion. How did this blind man know everything?!

"Exactly!"

The more Su Xian spoke, the angrier he became, and he began passing judgment directly through modern laws and values. "To repay the Zhang family's kindness, Mu En actually used gratitude as moral blackmail and made Zhang Lexuan swear a terrible oath to become a child bride for his own great-great-grandson, Bei Bei!"

"Old village chief, Auntie Mozhi, tell me if that's reasonable! What age are we living in? And he's still arranging marriages! Zhang Lexuan is several years older than Bei Bei. Bei Bei was still a little brat in split-crotch pants back then! What do you call that? It's a goddamn variation on an old cow eating tender grass!"

"In our modern society governed by law, arranged marriages that violate women's wishes are illegal! That old man Mu En looks so kindly and has worked his heart out for peace on the continent, but in his bones, he's an utterly selfish, overbearing, autocratic feudal patriarch! If I were Zhang Lexuan, I'd have flipped the damn table and defected from Shrek long ago. Whoever wants to wait on them can do it!"

Holding an empty bowl, Mu En's hands were trembling.

A feudal patriarch? Selfish and overbearing?!

When he had made that decision back then, he had indeed harbored selfish intentions, wanting to find Bei Bei an exceptional protector.

But he genuinely loved Zhang Lexuan, too!

How had this brat's account turned him into a vile feudal ringleader who violated modern law and coerced women?!

Beside him, Bei Bei's face was as red as a monkey's backside. He wished he could use a Soul Skill to split a crack in the ground and crawl into it on the spot.

What he usually feared most was having this matter discussed openly.

As the person directly involved, Zhang Lexuan had always harbored reservations about it, but having Su Xian expose it publicly in such crude, blunt terms still left her so embarrassed that her toes were frantically digging a three-bedroom apartment into the soles of her shoes.

At last, realization dawned on Cai Mei'er.

She finally understood why her husband had wanted to die every day lately, and had even once begun to suspect he was a puddle of worthless mud.

This blind man's tongue was even more poisonous than Ultimate Poison!

He even dared to point at the Pavilion Master's nose and call him an old feudal relic. Calling Yan Shaozhe a scumbag a few times was practically going easy on him!

"Ahem... well..."

Fighting back the mortification of public humiliation, Zhang Lexuan, whose ears had turned red all the way to their roots, hurriedly forced the conversation back on track. "T-Teacher Su, let's talk about reform instead! Since you say introducing new systems and developing Soul Tools can save the continent, why are Shrek's higher-ups so unwilling to change?"

Su Xian took a bite of chicken and said as though it were obvious, "Why else? Because reform cuts into the vested interests' cake! If Soul Tools are promoted, the Martial Soul Department's exalted position will decline. Would those old diehards ever agree to that?"

At those words, a sharp, cold gleam suddenly flashed deep in Zhang Lexuan's eyes.

She knew the crucial moment had arrived.

"Teacher Su."

Zhang Lexuan raised her head. Her voice still carried a rustic accent, but her tone turned lethal. "Then which specific people in the Sea God Pavilion make up these vested interests obstructing reform?"

Buzz-!

The instant Zhang Lexuan asked that question.

At the edge of the barrier, three hundred meters outside the cabin.

Elder Song, who had secretly followed merely to check on things out of concern that Zhang Lexuan might act recklessly, and Yan Shaozhe, who was miserably standing nearby as punishment, suddenly frowned at the same time.

Something was wrong!

Very wrong!

An old fox like Yan Shaozhe had an extraordinarily keen political nose.

He sensed the terrifying murderous intent hidden behind that seemingly humble request for guidance!

Why was Zhang Lexuan asking for a specific list of names?!

Inside the cabin, Su Xian knew nothing of the surging undercurrents outside. He shrugged and began a roll call of death:

"Good question! I remember those old fossils with vested interests all too clearly!"

"First and foremost is the head of the Martial Soul Department, that damn scumbag who draws a salary while doing nothing, Yan Shaozhe!"

Outside, Yan Shaozhe's vision went black, and he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Although he had prepared himself mentally, being dragged out for another precision bombardment still left his heart aching so badly he could not breathe.

"Besides him, there are those elders in the Sea God Pavilion who throw their age around."

Su Xian smacked his lips and continued rattling names off like dishes on a menu. "Take Elder Song! Foul-tempered and stubborn, vehemently opposed to Soul Tools, always going on about Martial Soul orthodoxy, when really she's just afraid her power will be weakened! And Elder Zhuang, who does nothing but paper over disagreements whenever something happens..."

With every name Su Xian exposed, Mu En's eyes narrowed slightly.

Outside, Elder Song and Yan Shaozhe felt cold all over.

A chill made even these Super Douluos shudder involuntarily.

They finally understood!

Zhang Lexuan, the designated successor who normally seemed so gentle and obedient, so respectful toward the elders, was not asking for advice at all!

She was killing with a borrowed knife!

Through the mouth of this "expert from another world," who could foresee the future and whom the Pavilion Master revered as a god, she was relentlessly poisoning Mu En's opinion of their entire conservative Martial Soul Department faction!

This was directly equivalent to pronouncing their political death sentence in advance on the course of future developments and reform!

Beneath the shade of the tree.

Yan Shaozhe and Elder Song exchanged a glance, each seeing profound horror in the other's eyes.

Only at this moment did they truly recognize how frightening this eldest senior sister was.

"That girl Lexuan... what deep-laid schemes!"