Not to criticize, but your ideological awareness could use some improvement!

Heavy breathing brewed in the air.

Only Su Xian sat on the bed, rocking back and forth with laughter, as though he really had told the funniest joke in the world.

Outside the door, just a wall away, "ugly" no longer began to describe Yan Shaozhe's expression.

The muscles of his refined, easygoing face twitched wildly. The soul power of his Bright Light and Bright Fire Phoenix, originally restrained around him, surged violently as though he could no longer suppress it. The terrifying heat roasted the surrounding air until it warped slightly.

Yan Shaozhe clenched both fists, veins bulging, his mouth slightly open. He stepped forward, ready to push through the door, drag the little bastard out, and beat him senseless.

Smack!

An aged hand pressed down on Yan Shaozhe's shoulder.

Xuan Zi frantically signaled him with his eyes from beside him, while Mu En's voice transmission echoed in Yan Shaozhe's mind. "Shaozhe! Rein in your aura! Have you forgotten what I told you last night? Do you want to ruin Shrek's ten-thousand-year legacy?!"

Yan Shaozhe forcibly halted and swallowed back the Super Douluo soul power that could have leveled the entire Back Mountain.

But with no outlet for his anger, he nearly suffered internal injuries from holding it in. His face went from blue to red, then from red to the color of pig liver. It was quite a spectacle.

Mu En took a deep breath, steadied his slightly trembling hand beneath the tray, and adopted that aged, gentle voice again. "Hehe... that joke of yours certainly was... certainly was rather unusual, Teacher Su! Here, drink your porridge while it's hot."

"Thank you, village chief."

Su Xian felt around for the porridge bowl, took it, and gulped down a large mouthful.

Immediately, his brows knotted together, and he nearly spat it out. "Ptoo, ptoo, ptoo... village chief, did you put some folk-remedy herbs in this porridge? Why does the bitterness shoot straight into my skull? This steamed bun is hard on the teeth, too. Have you run out of white sugar?"

Too bitter? Too hard on the teeth?

Hearing that outside the door, Yan Shaozhe rolled his eyes and nearly died of anger.

I specifically ordered the inner court kitchen to make that with an entire ten-thousand-year Earth Dragon Tendon Grass and a Mystic Water Pill for Strengthen the Foundation and Cultivate the Origin!

Those wealthy nobles outside couldn't buy a single mouthful even with a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins!

We deliberately left the dregs in so you'd think it was wild greens, and you actually dare complain that there's no sugar?!

The corner of Mu En's mouth twitched. He said casually, "Sugar is rather precious, and with the torrential rain outside, the roads have been cut off. Supplies can't get through."

The unfailingly effective excuse of "rain cutting off the roads" perfectly stopped Su Xian's complaints once again.

"True. Supplies are scarce deep in the mountains. Having something hot to eat is good enough." Su Xian sighed, pinched his nose, and poured the priceless bowl of "wild greens porridge" down his throat.

Seeing that Su Xian's mood was stable, Mu En brought the conversation back around with feigned nonchalance. "By the way, Teacher Su, yesterday you called Shrek Academy a ringleader of thugs, and just now you mocked that Grandmaster... in your eyes, is the education offered by the world's finest academy really utterly worthless?"

Outside the door, Yan Shaozhe pricked up his ears.

As dean of the Martial Soul Department and the highest authority at the helm of Shrek's education system, he had absolute confidence in his academy's teaching quality.

He wanted to hear what outrageous nonsense this brat could spout next!

"I wouldn't say it's utterly worthless. Shrek has deep foundations, after all, and it really did teach a few gods ten thousand years ago."

Su Xian smacked his lips, set the empty bowl beside the bed, and spoke with easy assurance. "But by the time of Peerless Tang Sect, Shrek's educational philosophy was rotten to the roots!"

"Oh? How so?" Mu En raised his eyebrows.

"One word-arrogance! Three words-stuck in place!"

Su Xian held out a finger. "First, they go around boasting every day that they 'only accept monsters, not ordinary people.' Judge for yourself, village chief. It's like one of our modern elite high schools gathering every genius in the province who gets full marks on every exam, then announcing to the world, 'Look, our school has a hundred-percent advancement rate!' Is that education? That's monopolizing resources!"

"Those students already have innate full soul power and top-grade martial souls. With seedlings that good, never mind having a Super Douluo teach them-you could lead a pig onto the lectern, and the ones destined to become Titled Douluos would still become Titled Douluos! Shrek forcibly claims its students' innate advantages as credit for its own teaching. Absolutely shameless!"

Outside the door, Yan Shaozhe's breath caught. The words grated on his ears, but... he actually couldn't refute the logic!

"And that's not even the deadliest problem." Su Xian sneered.

"The deadliest problem is their extreme imbalance between disciplines! Times have changed! The Sun Moon Empire is vigorously developing soul tools and advancing its technology tree, while Shrek is still clinging to cold weapons and pure martial soul cultivation from ten thousand years ago!"

"Ninety percent of the entire academy's resources get poured into the Martial Soul Department, while they relentlessly suppress the Soul Tool Department. If that isn't stupidity, what is?"

Growing animated, Su Xian named names outright. "Especially that dean of the Martial Soul Department, Yan Shaozhe! Relying on his status as the Sea God Pavilion Master's direct disciple, he rejects soul tools outright. He's the very picture of a hidebound, arrogant, conceited old feudal fossil!"

Pfft-

Outside the door, Xuan Zi, who had been feeling gloomy just a moment earlier, covered his mouth at those words and gleefully jabbed Yan Shaozhe in the side with his elbow.

Well done, brat. You cursed me yesterday, and today it's your turn, Yan Shaozhe!

Yan Shaozhe's face had gone deathly pale.

Because Su Xian had hit the mark far too precisely!

He really did look down on the Soul Tool Department. Just a few days earlier, he had secretly withheld part of its rare-metal allotment.

This blind man, far away in who knew which world, even knew the prejudices in his bones and the calculations in his heart?!

"But this Yan Shaozhe isn't just an old fossil. He's also a shameless Hypocrite," Su Xian continued, twisting the knife.

"In the original story, after the protagonist, Huo Yuhao, displayed his top-grade talent for spiritual-type twin martial souls, that old bastard threw away even his dignity as dean of the Martial Soul Department to snatch him up. He went running to Qian Duoduo of the Soul Tool Department to throw a tantrum and roll around on the floor. A self-serving opportunist through and through!"

Pfft!

Yan Shaozhe nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

If he encountered a rare genius with twin martial souls, would he fight to recruit him?

Of course he damn well would!

For an ultimate martial soul, he, Yan Shaozhe, could swallow his pride!

But... but none of that had happened yet!

How had even his future shameless behavior been exposed in advance?!

Inside the room, Mu En was left speechless by what he heard.

This brat was naming Shrek's senior leaders and executing them one by one.

He glanced back at Yan Shaozhe outside, whose face was darker than charcoal. Afraid that Su Xian might drop another earth-shattering bombshell and anger his disciple to death, he hurriedly coughed twice, preparing to change the subject.

But before Mu En could speak, Su Xian suddenly flopped back onto the bed and crossed his legs like a salted fish.

Yet barely two seconds later, Su Xian sat upright again.

After turning it over in his mind, he felt that, as a teacher who had come to provide volunteer education, lying in bed every day gossiping about webnovels with the village chief was far too improper.

And so Su Xian turned guest into host and began earnestly admonishing Mu En:

"That said, village chief, not to criticize, but your ideological awareness could use some serious improvement!"

"Huh?" Mu En froze.

"In this new era, we need to look forward, believe in science, and pay attention to education in our village!"

Su Xian spoke with the exasperation of someone lamenting that iron would not become steel. "I came all this way to teach, and look at you! These past few days, you haven't asked when I can start classes or arranged for me to meet the students. Every day, you just bring a bowl of food over and ask me about nonsense from webnovels like Douluo Continent! Aren't you neglecting your actual duties a little too much as village chief?!"

Outside the door, Xuan Zi and Yan Shaozhe were dumbfounded.

The illustrious Sea God Pavilion Master of Shrek, a Level 99 Limit Douluo, one of the Black and White Twin Holy Dragons, the Dragon God Douluo Mu En...

Was now having a blind man without a shred of cultivation point at his nose and berate him for his "low awareness" and "neglecting his duties"?!

Even more absurdly, Mu En had been rendered speechless. His lips worked for ages, but he actually swallowed the insult.

"Then... then how do you think you can conduct lessons when you can't see, Teacher Su?" Mu En asked tentatively.

"Even if the village roads are cut off and children from other villages can't get here, surely our own village has a few left-behind children?" Su Xian said decisively.

"Bring two quick-witted children over this afternoon. I'll assess their level first and teach them some basic science. That's what we call keeping learning going even when classes are suspended!"

"Well..." The corner of Mu En's mouth twitched slightly.

"If it's too much trouble for you, forget it." Su Xian sighed, resorting to provocation.

"No trouble, no trouble." The corner of Mu En's eye twitched wildly as he braced himself and agreed. "I'll go into the village this afternoon and find you two left-behind children..."

Carrying the empty bowl out of the room, Mu En exhaled a stale breath.

Looking at Xuan Zi and Yan Shaozhe outside, who were exchanging glances with spectacular expressions, Mu En leaned on his cane and lowered his voice to issue new instructions:

"Shaozhe, go to the inner court."

"Find two core disciples who are the youngest, most talented, and quickest-witted."

"Bring them over this afternoon to be his students. Remember, make sure they pretend to be mountain children who have never seen the world. I intend to see just what sort of cultivation system this so-called science he speaks of really is!"