After Long Yeyue left, the vast Sea God Pavilion finally fell quiet.
Yun Ming leaned back in the chair at the head of the hall and slowly exhaled.
He raised a hand to rub his aching brow, gathered his tangled thoughts, and looked at the elders seated below. His voice low, he brought the discussion back on track.
"All right, leave Elder Long aside for now. We'll shelve Wu Changkong's matter for the time being."
"The uproar over our crushing defeat in Mingdu is growing worse, and the entire continent is laughing at us here at Shrek. You're all pillars of the academy. Think carefully about how we should bring this to a close and restore the academy's reputation."
As his words fell, the hall sank into another brief silence.
Everyone knew perfectly well that this mess was far harder to handle than their crushing defeat at the Tianhai Grand Competition three years ago.
They had picked a fight only to be utterly crushed, losing from beginning to end, without the slightest room for excuses.
After a long while, one elder hesitated repeatedly before cautiously offering a suggestion:
"Pavilion Master, everyone... in this old man's opinion, perhaps we could handle this quietly."
"We could privately send someone to Mingdu to speak with the leadership of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy."
"Offer them some resources and benefits, ease relations between our sides, and try to suppress this uproar."
"Once public opinion settles, people across the continent will naturally forget about it over time."
This could be considered the safest proposal: wrap things up quietly, prevent the situation from worsening, and preserve at least a shred of dignity.
But the moment he finished, a cold, sharp voice rang out, rejecting his proposal outright.
"What, you want us at Shrek to