"You... what are you doing here?!"
Seeing Yao Xuan standing in the very center of Shrek Academy, Dai Mubai froze.
Yesterday at the Rose Hotel, Xiao Wu, who was beside Yao Xuan, had flung him out the door in a single move.
Everyone along the entire street had seen it.
In all his life, he had never suffered such humiliation.
But the scene before him left him even more bewildered.
Why were these people standing in the very center of the academy?
"Who are you?"
His face dark, Dai Mubai walked through the academy gates step by step, his eyes full of astonishment.
"Me? I'm Shrek Academy's new dean-Yao Xuan!"
"Dai Mubai, the good days for you degenerates are about to end for good!"
At Dai Mubai's words, Yao Xuan raised his eyes, glanced at him, and spoke coldly.
"Dean?"
"Isn't Flender the dean of Shrek Academy?"
Those words left Dai Mubai stunned.
Flender was a figure of some standing around Suotuo City.
How could the position of dean possibly change hands just like that?
"Flender?"
Yao Xuan smiled faintly and called toward the depths of the academy, "Come out."
Before his voice had faded, Flender had already come scrambling out.
He stopped before Yao Xuan, his back bent almost at a right angle.
"Dean Flender?"
At the sight, Dai Mubai's eyes went wide.
As far as he knew, Flender might have been stingy, but he was stubborn.
Never mind bowing to someone-he had never lowered his head even when relatives of the Heaven Dou Empire's imperial family came.
"Dai Mubai, do not be disrespectful to the dean!"
"From today onward, Dean Yao is Shrek Academy's new dean."
"I, Flender, have already handed the position over to him."
Flender kept a stern face and forced himself to speak.
Hearing Flender's words, Dai Mubai felt his head buzz.
A Seven-Ring Soul Sage had handed the position of dean to such a young boy?
How was that possible?
Yet Flender's respectful manner truly did not look feigned.
Only then did Yao Xuan turn his gaze back to Dai Mubai.
"Dai Mubai, yesterday at the Rose Hotel, you offended me, your dean."
"Today, you returned to the academy and spoke insolently to me again."
"According to Shrek Academy's rules, you deserve punishment-I have decided to give you a hundred lashes."
Looking at Dai Mubai, Yao Xuan spoke mildly.
"What did you say? Whip me?"
"I'm a prince of the Star Luo Empire!"
"If you dare lay a finger on me today, the Star Luo Empire will never let you off!"
Dai Mubai thought he must have misheard. He thrust out his chest, his double-pupiled eyes filled with menace.
"A prince?"
Hearing Dai Mubai's words, Yao Xuan smiled. "Pampered wastrels like you are precisely the ones I beat."
As his words fell, he raised his hand and grasped.
A pitch-black whip appeared out of thin air in his hand.
"Flender, what do you think of this new academy rule of mine?"
He turned his head and asked Flender.
"D-Dean, I... I fully endorse your decision and will resolutely carry out your directives."
Flender kept his head lowered, his voice trembling.
"Mm, good, good. The boy can still be taught."
Yao Xuan nodded.
As his words fell, he flicked his wrist.
Crack!
A sharp snap rang out.
The first lash landed squarely on Dai Mubai's shoulder.
His brocade robe split open on the spot.
Flesh curled back, and a bloody welt stretched from his shoulder all the way down his back.
"Ah!"
Dai Mubai gave a muffled cry and staggered back a step. "You... you actually dare-"
Crack!
The second lash cut him off.
"Two."
Yao Xuan spoke mildly.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The whip's shadow danced, one lash following another.
For the first few lashes, Dai Mubai still gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand straight.
He summoned his Martial Soul and covered his body with Soul Power.
But when that meager Soul Power met the whip, it was as though it had met a red-hot branding iron.
It scattered on contact without so much as a sound.
"It's useless. I'd advise you to save your strength."
Yao Xuan folded his arms and spoke unhurriedly.
By the tenth lash, Dai Mubai was already on his knees.
His brocade robe had long since been whipped into strips that hung from his body.
Across his exposed back, bloody wounds deep enough to reveal bone crisscrossed in every direction.
Blood ran down his back and soon spread into a small pool on the ground.
"Th... that's twenty..."
His voice had already changed pitch.
"Stop! I told you to stop!"
Crack!
"Why should I listen to you?"
Yao Xuan's voice remained as calm as ever.
By the thirtieth lash, Dai Mubai could no longer maintain even that little bit of princely airs.
"I was wrong!"
"I shouldn't have tried to take your room! Please, stop hitting me!"
He lay sprawled on the ground, begging for mercy as he crawled forward.
But the whip seemed to have eyes.
No matter where he crawled, it landed squarely on his back.
Soon, Dai Mubai's screams had grown hoarse, until he could not even make a sound as he howled.
He lay sprawled on the ground like a fish tossed onto the shore, doing nothing but twitching.
Utterly miserable.
As the final lash fell, Yao Xuan put away the whip in his hand.
At that moment, the square was deathly silent.
Dai Mubai lay motionless in a pool of blood.
Only after a long while did he lift his head with difficulty.
His double-pupiled eyes were bloodshot.
He stared at Yao Xuan, his eyes brimming with venomous resentment.
But when he met Yao Xuan's calm eyes, he could not help shuddering again.
"What, not satisfied?"
"If you're not satisfied, I don't mind giving you another hundred lashes."
Yao Xuan looked at him indifferently.
"No, I wouldn't dare..."
At those words, Dai Mubai trembled all over and immediately lowered his head.
Just then.
Another figure approached the academy gates.
Dressed in gray robes, his hair graying, the man was none other than Yu Xiaogang.
When he clearly saw the figure in the center of the square, he stopped abruptly in his tracks.
"It's... it's him!"
Yu Xiaogang's face instantly went white.
Even now, he could not forget that nightmare from five years ago.
At that moment, he shuddered all over, and even his calves began to tremble.
That slap across his face in front of everyone.
That face trampled into the mud.
And that declaration, amplified for the entire academy to hear: "I'm a fraud, a Fake Grandmaster."
For five years, those scenes had returned almost every night.
Yu Xiaogang opened his mouth, but could not utter a single word.
His face was filled with terror.
He almost wanted to turn tail and run.
Yet at that moment, he did not even have the strength or courage to lift his legs.
"Well, well, well, isn't this the 'Big Wet One'-Yu Xiaogang? It's been a few years. How did you become such a wreck?"
Looking at Yu Xiaogang in the distance, Yao Xuan gave a mocking smile.
The next instant, Yu Xiaogang rose straight into the air and landed heavily inside Shrek Academy, beside Dai Mubai.
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