Xuan Zi, I've Finally Caught You!

Zhang Lexuan's eyes reddened as she explained gratefully, "To be honest, Senior, the Marquis Victorna Family that the Body Sect punished in the Heaven Dou Empire two years ago was the very culprit behind the massacre of my Zhang family. I was the only child to survive back then. Your Sect's past act of punishing evil avenged my blood feud. Now, you have saved my life as well. I will forever remember this kindness."

"Please accept my thanks for today!" With that, she lowered her head without hesitation and performed a deep kowtow.

After all, Shrek was an academy, making it inconvenient for it to interfere in another nation's affairs or take lethal action against a hereditary marquis. That was why Mu En had not directly helped her take revenge back then. He had merely brought her to Shrek Academy, allowing her to make her own choice once she grew strong enough.

"I never expected you to have such a past. Sigh, the past is gone. Child, there is no need to be overly saddened. The most important thing now is to live well for yourself. I believe that is what your parents and relatives would have wanted to see as well." Du Busi sighed.

"Child, get up," he added.

"The Body Sect was willing to punish that marquis's family because they had committed countless evils and harmed the people for many years. They truly deserved death."

"It was not solely for your sake. You need not perform such a grand gesture."

The Victorner Family was an old noble power in the Heaven Dou Empire, and it had been on the list the emperor had provided. The crimes recorded there were too numerous to recount. Arson, murder, rape, plunder, even exterminating entire families—it made his blood boil just reading it. That was why he had agreed to help the emperor clean them up.

How many children with backgrounds like Zhang Lexuan's are there on the continent today? he sighed inwardly.

Take the nearby Tang Sect, for example. When the Iron Blood Sect exterminated it, only a little girl named Tang Ya had survived. At the time, one of the Body Sect's training teams had happened to pass through. In the face of such behavior, they naturally killed those who deserved killing, captured those who deserved capturing, and handed them over to the empire for judgment.

But the tragedy had already happened. The once-glorious number one Sect in the world had ultimately fallen to such a state, and it truly made him sigh.

The path our Sect walks is long and arduous, he thought, his mood growing heavy.

"Even so, you did avenge this junior. How could I simply turn a blind eye to it?" Zhang Lexuan raised her head and spoke firmly.

Du Busi was never one to dither. Seeing Zhang Lexuan like this, he could only accept it calmly. "Fine, then. I will accept this bow of yours. As for repaying me, Old Man still says the same thing: do more for the people of the continent in the future. That way, your talent will not be wasted."

"Lexuan will remember it well!" Zhang Lexuan said solemnly.

Du Busi nodded. He had developed quite a favorable impression of Zhang Lexuan's gratitude and sincerity, and could not help saying, "You are a good child. It was not in vain that I helped you obtain this Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring. All right, hurry up and absorb it."

"Yes, Senior." Zhang Lexuan respectfully acknowledged him. Only then did she rise, walk back to the corpse, sit down, close her eyes, and begin absorbing the Soul Ring.

Du Busi swept his gaze over the remaining Shrek students, then glanced at Zhang Lexuan, who had left him with a good impression. He sighed. "So be it. I might as well see this good deed through. Today, Old Man will protect you for a while. I hope you can truly uphold what you just said in the future."

From what he could see, Zhang Lexuan was at most twenty-four or twenty-five years old. Reaching Rank 80 at such an age was proof enough of her talent. In the future, she would certainly become one of the top experts in the Soul Master World. And such experts could do many things for the people of the continent.

Although the Body Sect was powerful, it could not look after the entire continent.

To better protect the people of the continent, they truly needed a group of like-minded individuals working together toward that goal.

With that thought, he flashed to an open area nearby, took out a signal flare from his Soul Tool, and fired it into the sky.

"Thank you, Senior!" The approaching Shrek Academy students all bowed in unison.

"No need for such formality." Du Busi nodded slightly. "With Old Man here, you can treat your injuries without worry."

Elsewhere, the two elders caught sight of the signal flare, exchanged a glance, then turned to Minghui and the other two. "Let's go. The Sect Leader is calling us over."

The three little ones nodded and followed the two elders toward where the signal had risen.

Some time later, they arrived safely.

After surveying the scene, all five pairs of eyes immediately fixed on Zhang Lexuan, who was absorbing the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring.

A student of Shrek's Inner Court, Princess Vina murmured inwardly.

Minghui glanced at the shit-green badge hanging on Zhang Lexuan's chest, then swept his eyes over the identical badges on the others nearby. Could it really be this much of a coincidence?

There were exactly twelve of them, including a girl whose Soul Power had just reached Rank 80.

It matched the original description almost perfectly.

So this woman is Zhang Lexuan? His gaze returned to Zhang Lexuan. Hmm, big and beautiful—now that suited his adult tastes.

But that was all. They were not familiar with each other at all right now!

"Come over, all of you. We'll rest here tonight," Du Busi's voice called out.

Minghui immediately snapped back to his senses and walked toward his teacher.

Once he sat down, his teacher, Du Busi, promptly explained the situation and used it as an example to instill the proper outlook on life and values in him.

"Your disciple will remember Teacher's painstaking efforts," Minghui said in a proper, earnest tone after hearing him out.

So this child is Senior Du Busi's disciple? Senior was willing to save us this time not only because we had done good deeds, but also to lead by example for his disciple? The Shrek students sitting nearby turned their gazes toward Minghui, their feelings inexplicably complicated.

Who would have thought that one day, we would become teaching material?

Then they saw the cute-looking Minghui turn toward them with a puzzled expression. "Big brothers and big sisters, did you come here specifically to hunt a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast? You didn't even have a Titled Douluo leading you. Isn't that far too dangerous?"

The Shrek Academy students immediately looked awkward. One male student said helplessly, "No, we never intended to hunt a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. It came looking for us."

"Eclipse Demon Wolves lose control and go Berserk on nights of the full moon, and their sense of smell greatly sharpens. This one must have caught our scent and chased after us."

"As for our leading teacher..."

At this point, a trace of resentment involuntarily rose in the male student's heart, and his voice lowered several notches.

"We accidentally got separated."

What separation? He had clearly delayed them by drinking and failed to catch up in time!

"You had so many people, and you still managed to lose track of each other?" Du Busi was startled.

"Who is your leading teacher?" the Sixth Elder, seated nearby, could not help asking.

"Elder Xuan, Teacher Xuan Zi," a female student replied quietly.

Du Busi immediately perked up. He snorted subconsciously before blurting out—

"So it's that glutton!"

"What separation? He was probably too busy eating and drinking along the way to keep up with the group, wasn't he?"

As far as he knew, Shrek Academy's Inner Court students had graduation mission quotas. Clearly, helping Zhang Lexuan hunt her eighth Soul Ring was the mission for this trip.

And missions that required combat were meant to serve as training. That was why a strong expert needed to accompany them—to protect the students while also giving them real-time guidance in actual combat and helping them make up for their shortcomings.

So it was reasonable not to interfere in battle.

But not following them the entire way? That was highly unreasonable!

And based on what he knew of Xuan Zi, along with the peculiar nature of his martial soul, that fellow must have been eating and drinking nonstop along the way. He might even have gotten drunk.

Xuan Zi, you bastard. Drinking caused trouble this time, and I've finally caught you!

PS: This new book is still a tiny seedling. Please feed it recommendation votes, mwah.