To make Yan Shaozhe bow his head, he naturally had to first find out exactly what the man needed.
At present, Yan Shaozhe's most urgent desire was nothing other than curing his disciple, Ma Xiaotao.
The Evil Fire within Ma Xiaotao was extremely overbearing. Only Ultimate Ice could suppress it.
And he had happened to reveal precisely that ability at this very moment.
For that very reason, Yan Shaozhe taking the bait was practically a nail hammered into a board.
At this point, putting on airs to raise his price would only risk outsmarting himself.
He might as well be straightforward and lay the transaction out on the table with Yan Shaozhe.
The corners of Li Mu's mouth curved up slightly.
He knew perfectly well that Zhou Yi would never accept being kicked out of the academy just like that.
She had taught at Shrek for years and had long since established her own foundations and connections.
Besides, her husband, Fan Yu, held the position of deputy director of the Soul Tool Department and carried considerable weight.
There was simply no way this matter would come to such an easy end.
Even though Yan Shaozhe had already nailed the coffin shut with his verdict, further complications were bound to arise.
Sure enough, just as Li Mu had expected, the morning classes had barely ended.
He was about to leave the classroom when Du Weilun strode over.
There was a trace of apology in the teacher's eyes before he addressed Li Mu. "Li Mu, I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to come along again and explain everything properly to the academy's leaders."
"There's something else I need to tell you. Dai Huabin applied to change rooms, and another student submitted the same request."
"So he'll be your new roommate. He's already gone over, so remember to say hello when you get back."
Du Weilun even smiled at him after speaking, but Li Mu was not remotely surprised that Dai Huabin was changing rooms.
This was almost inevitable. As long as Dai Huabin still had his wits about him, he had no choice but to move.
Having just been ruthlessly extorted by Li Mu, he surely hated him to the core and had revenge on his mind.
But in his present circumstances, Dai Huabin had no opportunity whatsoever to strike.
If he did not move out as soon as possible, Li Mu would most likely keep fleecing him for all he was worth.
Dai Huabin leaving was therefore only a matter of time. As for who his new roommate would be, Li Mu had no expectations at all.
Whoever came, it made no difference to him.
Still, thinking of Shrek's housing arrangements, Li Mu could not help sighing inwardly.
He intended to find an opportunity to bring it up with Yan Shaozhe. The academy's facilities really were something of a scam.
Every dorm room did indeed have a bathroom, but what the hell was the point of having a bathroom without a toilet?
There was only one toilet on each floor of the entire building, with hundreds of people scrambling to squeeze into that one place every day.
Honestly, if his room had not been near the stairs and relatively close to the toilet...
He probably would not even have had time to wash up in the morning and would have had to come to class looking a mess.
Li Mu felt he absolutely had to raise this issue, but there was little he could say right now.
He nodded to Du Weilun, and the two headed toward the dean's office once again.
But as soon as they reached the door, furious shouting came pouring out at them. "Yan Shaozhe, I don't care what you're scheming. I absolutely will not allow you to expel Zhou Yi!"
"Zhou Yi has made major contributions to your Martial Soul Department. She's taught so many disciples and qualifies as a dedicated teacher."
"What gives you the right to dismiss her on a whim, and even forbid her from transferring to another department to keep teaching?"
Blazing anger burned in the woman's voice, and she refused to yield an inch to Yan Shaozhe.
Faced with these accusations, Yan Shaozhe clearly looked terribly wronged-or rather, stifled to the extreme.
"Lin'er, there really is nothing I can do about this. The things she did are simply beyond what ordinary people can accept."
"Do you realize that every student here has outstanding talent? Yet she actually tried to kill a student and nearly beat him to death."
"No matter how you look at it, she has absolutely no defense for what happened." Yan Shaozhe sighed as he spoke, his face filled with difficulty.
The woman standing opposite him merely snorted, her uncompromising attitude not softening in the slightest.
"I don't care about any of that. What does it have to do with me? You have to resolve this problem for me right now."
"Even if Zhou Yi can no longer stay in your Martial Soul Department, you absolutely cannot expel her from Shrek Academy."
"She can simply transfer to our Soul Tool Department. No one says Zhou Yi has to cling to your Martial Soul Department until her dying breath."
Xian Lin'er's voice was full of anger, but Zhou Yi was not actually the person she cared about.
After all, she had little personal connection with Zhou Yi. The one she truly valued was her junior, Fan Yu.
When it came to talent with Soul Tools, Fan Yu was unquestionably outstanding among his peers.
Moreover, the Soul Tool Department had always admitted relatively few students over the years, and its teaching staff had constantly been stretched thin.
If she could poach a teacher from the Martial Soul Department to fill the vacancy, Xian Lin'er naturally considered that a wonderful thing.
Of course she knew about Zhou Yi's faults, but in her eyes, they were hardly major problems beyond solving.
Thus, she naturally did not care all that much and spoke up to forcefully take Zhou Yi's side.
Faced with Xian Lin'er's aggressive pressure, Yan Shaozhe merely smiled and lightly passed the matter along.
"That isn't something I can decide. Ultimately, it still depends on what the child himself wants."
"If he's willing to agree to forgive her, then Zhou Yi can naturally stay and continue teaching."
Yan Shaozhe smiled as he spoke, and then someone abruptly pushed the door open.
Seeing the door suddenly thrown open, Xian Lin'er immediately swept her gaze over.
At a glance, she saw Li Mu and Du Weilun standing in the doorway.
Her gaze skimmed briefly over Du Weilun before fixing directly on Li Mu's face.
"So you're the one who wants Zhou Yi expelled. Do you know the consequences of laying hands on a teacher at Shrek?"
"Not only can you be expelled outright, but you can also be barred from ever being accepted by Shrek again!"
Xian Lin'er's voice was as cold as ice, and her entire manner was utterly unreasonable.
Li Mu saw this with perfect clarity and understood it very well.
Trying to reason with an unreasonable woman like this was completely useless.
Because she would not care what he said at all and would only persist in making an unreasonable scene.
In the world of his previous life, people like this would mostly cover their ears and shout, "I won't listen! I won't listen! I won't listen!"
Then they would throw themselves onto the ground and roll around in a tantrum, making as disgraceful a spectacle as possible.
But in this world, someone who was both unreasonable and immensely powerful would certainly resort to violence directly.
As the saying went, a wise man did not invite an immediate beating. Unless Li Mu had something wrong with his head, he naturally would not walk into that trouble.
But Shrek Academy's conduct truly did leave him somewhat chilled.
He had never thought particularly well of the academy to begin with, but what they had done was utterly disgusting.
After all that effort, they still could not dismiss a Zhou Yi who had committed so many wrongs.
First the matter had gone to Du Weilun, then circled around to Yan Shaozhe, and finally even reached the Soul Tool Department.
Trying to dismiss a teacher who had done wrong could actually be this unbelievably difficult.
This school had clearly already developed a complete system of protection through personal connections.
Ordinary teachers could be dismissed at a word, but touching a teacher with backing like this was harder upon harder.
If this continued, the management of the entire school would inevitably become seriously disjointed.
Only, at this very moment, no one cared about those long-term dangers at all.
Li Mu merely smiled at this and lowered his head, putting on an obedient appearance.
"I'll leave this matter entirely to Dean Yan. I'll listen to the dean. Whatever the dean says goes."
As Li Mu spoke, he deliberately let his voice tremble slightly and filled his eyes with humble submission.
He stood there obediently, looking just like an ordinary student frightened out of his wits.
Seeing the boy back down so easily, Xian Lin'er merely snorted and turned away.
She directed her icy gaze back at Yan Shaozhe, ready to continue their earlier argument.
As for Li Mu giving in so quickly, Yan Shaozhe was actually somewhat surprised.
He had indeed originally intended to divert some of Xian Lin'er's anger onto this student.
After all, this was only a boy in his early teens. Even if Xian Lin'er really could not restrain herself and beat him up...
At most, she would seriously injure him. She could never actually kill him, or the matter would become completely impossible to contain.
Xian Lin'er understood this as well and would naturally exercise restraint when she struck.
At worst, he would be seriously injured. With two or three months of proper recuperation, he would be as good as new. It would not amount to any great harm.
He could take that opportunity to bring the boy into the inner court and have him try to see whether he could save Ma Xiaotao.