Have you no shame!

"Send orders to the Inner Court Law Enforcement Corps immediately! Assemble at Shrek Square within the time it takes an incense stick to burn! Destination: the Ming Dou Mountain Range on the Star Luo Empire's border!"

Inside the soundproof barrier outside the corridor, Yan Shaozhe held a specially made voice-transmission Soul Tool and issued the order.

"What are you lot doing running off to the back mountain this early in the morning instead of attending a perfectly good pavilion elders' meeting? And why is the Inner Court Law Enforcement Corps suddenly being mobilized?"

A woman's voice, carrying a trace of fiery temper, came from nearby.

The newcomer was none other than Xian Lin'er, the Soul Tool Department's dean, who had flown into a rage at the meeting earlier.

Unable to stomach Yan Shaozhe playing dead at the meeting, she had secretly followed them all the way here, wanting to see just what these supreme authorities of the Martial Soul Department were up to. She had never expected to hear such an astonishing deployment order the moment she drew near.

"Shh! Lin'er, rein in your aura. Not a word!"

Mu En waved his cane, expanding the soundproof barrier and pulling the suspicious-looking Xian Lin'er inside.

"Pavilion Master, what exactly is..." Xian Lin'er was about to question him further when she saw Xuan Zi, usually so lofty and untouchable, leaning against the foot of the wall, his face ashen and his whole body drenched in cold sweat.

Yan Shaozhe, meanwhile, stared at the shabby wooden door before him as though facing a formidable enemy, as wary as if he were treading on thin ice.

"Whatever you heard, swallow it and keep it in your belly," Mu En warned in a low voice. Then he dismissed the barrier, drew a deep breath, and pushed the door open to return inside.

Brimming with questions, Xian Lin'er could only hold her breath and quietly edge up to the door.

Inside, Su Xian had already finished that bitter breakfast and was picking at his fingers in boredom.

"Teacher Su."

Mu En sat on the little wooden stool beside the bed and resumed fishing for information along the topic they had interrupted earlier. "You just said that the Death Messenger blew up the team, causing Shrek devastating losses. What happened afterward? After something so serious, did no one at Shrek deal with that old man called Xuan Zi?"

Outside the door, Xuan Zi's eyelids twitched wildly at those words, and he shrank his neck.

Xian Lin'er's eyes widened.

Elder Xuan? Was the person inside badmouthing Elder Xuan?!

And the Pavilion Master was actually encouraging him with questions?!

Su Xian sneered and shifted into a comfortable sitting position. "Deal with him? Old village chief, you think far too highly of Shrek's higher-ups! Every last one of them is an indecisive idiot!"

Idiots?!

Outside the door, Xian Lin'er nearly lost control and looked at Yan Shaozhe and Xuan Zi in horror.

Just who was inside that room?

He was pointing right at the Sea God Pavilion's leadership and calling them idiots, yet the Pavilion Master hadn't slapped him dead?

"After a tragedy that terrible, what did Xuan Zi do? He ran back to the Sea God Pavilion, weeping to heaven and beating the ground, saying he was a sinner for the ages and wanted to resign to take responsibility."

The more Su Xian spoke, the more worked up he became, his tone brimming with exasperation at iron that refused to become steel. "And then? Sea God Pavilion Master Mu En went soft. Not only did he fail to punish him severely, he even let him atone through meritorious service! What do you call that? Papering over the cracks!"

Slapping his thigh, Su Xian directly borrowed the classic lines of the famous football veteran General Fan from his previous life and launched into a storm of criticism. "You be the judge, old village chief. What kind of management system does Shrek call this? How many Sea God Pavilion Masters have they gone through? Has anything changed? A different broth, the same old medicine!"

"What kind of force does the Sun Moon Empire lead? A fully organized, systematically structured corps of Level 9 Soul Engineers! What kind of force do you at Shrek lead? A handful of little brats relying entirely on their talent!"

"With a system this rigid, you, Xuan Zi, are second-in-command of everything. Can he handle it? He can't! He doesn't have the ability, understand? Keep being this arrogant, and forget fighting the Sun Moon Empire-you'll even lose to the Star Luo Empire. After losing to the Star Luo Empire, you'll lose to the Heaven Dou Empire, then the Dou Ling Empire, and then there'll be no one left to lose to! Have you no shame!"

Spittle flew as Su Xian cursed to his heart's content.

Outside, separated from him by a single door, an entirely different scene had unfolded.

Xuan Zi's aged face had turned the color of pig liver, and his hands were clenched into tight fists.

Had a shred of reason not remained, he truly would have wanted to dash his head against the Golden Tree and die.

Yan Shaozhe kept his head lowered, his face and ears burning red, feeling as though his dignity had been pinned to the ground and ground mercilessly into the dirt.

Only Xian Lin'er's eyes shone brightly.

Inside the room, Mu En was equally shaken.

Although he knew the Sun Moon Empire was developing Soul Tools, his understanding had been nowhere near as suffocating as the picture Su Xian painted.

"Teacher Su, is this Sun Moon Empire... truly so terrifying?" Mu En asked tentatively. "Would Shrek's Martial Soul orthodoxy really suffer such a crushing defeat?"

"Old village chief, times have changed!"

Su Xian sighed and began analyzing the situation from a university student's broad perspective.

"Shrek is rotten at the roots! For ten thousand years, they've upheld Martial Soul supremacy and rejected Soul Tools. It's exactly like those ancient feudal dynasties that favored civil officials over the military and sealed their borders against the world. It's nothing but self-castration!"

"The wheels of time roll ever forward. Technology is what will rule the future! Every day, Shrek clings to its sacred archway of 'the ancestors' laws must not be defied,' treating those truly farsighted Soul Tool Department researchers as outsiders."

"When the Sun Moon Empire's armies press against the border, no matter how well your handful of Titled Douluo can fight, can they withstand a simultaneous volley from thousands upon thousands of linked Soul Cannon arrays? Can they withstand Level 9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells scouring the ground? Dream on!"

Outside the door, Xian Lin'er trembled all over with excitement.

A kindred spirit!

A kindred spirit beyond compare!

She turned and shot Yan Shaozhe a scornful glare that said, "You idiot have held up my grand ten-thousand-year undertaking."

Yan Shaozhe could only turn his head away in shame, not daring to meet her eyes at all.

"Ah..."

Mu En remained silent for a long time, his voice hoarse and carrying a trace of sorrow.

"Then in your opinion, Teacher Su, in this story of 'Peerless Tang Sect,' was there no one who could salvage this mess and save Shrek?"

"There was, but you'd have to wait until the middle-to-late stages."

Su Xian rubbed his chin, ran through the plot in his mind, and said, "Take the protagonist, Huo Yuhao. He had a flexible mind and wasn't shackled by Shrek's antiquated thinking. Later on, he established an organization called the Spirit Pagoda, using artificial soul spirits to replace the traditional hunting of Soul Beasts. Only then did they barely manage to preserve the Douluo Continent's ecological balance."

"Artificial soul spirits? The Spirit Pagoda?" A flicker passed through Mu En's cloudy eyes.

Here was another staggering concept capable of overturning the entire Soul Master World's understanding!

"Besides the protagonist, there were a few clearheaded people within Shrek too," Su Xian continued.

"For instance, Qian Duoduo and Xian Lin'er from the Soul Tool Department. That couple were the ones doing solid, practical research. Unfortunately, at Shrek, where the Martial Soul Department held sole dominance, they barely had any say and were sidelined at every turn. If you ask me, those two should have been put in charge of the Sea God Pavilion so they could have brought about an industrial transition sooner!"

Outside the door, Xian Lin'er felt as though her blood were about to boil.

This senior not only understood Soul Tools, he even knew exactly how she and Qian Duoduo had been wronged!

He had even proposed putting them in charge!

Had Mu En's oppressive aura not still been present, Xian Lin'er would absolutely have rushed inside and kowtowed three times with resounding thuds to this prophetic "Teacher Su."

A short while later, Mu En pushed the door open and emerged.

The instant the door closed, Xian Lin'er pounced forward impatiently and lowered her voice. "Pavilion Master! Did you hear him? Every word from this senior is a pearl of wisdom! Soul Tools are the continent's future! For Shrek's sake, please give the order to redirect all the Martial Soul Department's resources toward our Soul Tool Department!"

Yan Shaozhe opened his mouth, wanting to offer a few words in defense of Martial Soul orthodoxy. But remembering Su Xian's line about "idiots who seal their borders against the world," he could only bitterly close his mouth in the end.

However, Mu En did not immediately launch sweeping reforms as Xian Lin'er had expected.

Mu En gazed at the distant curtain of rain, his eyes complicated.

As a Limit Douluo who had lived for over two hundred years, his faith in Martial Souls had long since taken deep root.

He could not possibly overturn the entire ten-thousand-year foundation left by their ancestor Tang San over a few prophecies.

That was his bottom line, and also his weakness.

"We must indeed vigorously develop Soul Tools! Starting today, the Soul Tool Department's resource allocation will be doubled!"

Mu En turned and fixed his gaze on Yan Shaozhe. "Shaozhe, you must no longer obstruct them in secret in any way! Inner Court disciples must also take compulsory basic Soul Tool courses."

Although Xian Lin'er felt that merely doubling it was not enough, this was already a victory, and she immediately exclaimed in delight, "Thank you, Pavilion Master!"

"But..." Mu En changed tack, his tone becoming utterly solemn. "Martial Soul orthodoxy remains the foundation upon which our Shrek Academy stands! The ancestors' laws must not be lightly discarded. Martial Soul cultivation must never be placed below external tools."

"I understand what that young man means. He has seen the future! But we must meet that future without throwing away our own foundations."

Leaning on his cane, Mu En swept his gaze over the three before him and finally issued three orders:

"First, Shaozhe, set out immediately and tear out that scourge in the Ming Dou Mountain Range by the roots."

"Second, Lin'er, go back and tell Qian Duoduo to pursue his research without restraint. The academy will support you with everything it has."

"Third..."

"Go to the Outer Court and investigate a new student named Huo Yuhao! If you find him, report to me immediately! Since he can create that Spirit Pagoda or whatever it is and salvage the situation, then we at Shrek will begin cultivating him ahead of time!"