After the cave collapsed, the mountain it had been carved into also split apart amid earth-shaking tremors. Landslides turned into torrents of mud and rock that poured into the collapsed cave.
At that moment, Xuan Zi, who was watching from the neighboring peak, suddenly went pale.
"Thish ish bad! My kidsh!"
Xuan Zi was aghast. He immediately flew over the collapsed cave, and nine Soul Rings appeared around him in an instant. An earthy yellow light spread downward from his body as he tried to stabilize the collapsing mountain.
At that moment, he unleashed the full power of his cultivation as a Level 98 Super Douluo. He hadn't even exerted himself this much when he fought Du Busi.
His efforts weren't in vain. He managed to stabilize the collapsing mountain and, guided by his senses, brought some rubble out of the cave.
Among the rubble were skeletons. Some had been reduced to broken fragments of bone, without even an intact corpse left behind.
Xuan Zi's lips trembled. After bringing the remains out, he gave up on holding the mountain together and withdrew his Soul Power, letting it collapse. A terrifying landslide and torrent of mud and rock came roaring down toward the distance.
"Dead. They're all dead..."
Something had gone wrong again. Once again, while he was leading a team, a tremendous and irreparable loss had occurred.
The last time, when Zhang Lexuan and the others had been wiped out at Ming Zhao's hands, Xuan Zi had returned to Shrek and taken all the blame upon himself, feeling pain and remorse over their deaths.
After that, Xuan Zi had indeed shown signs of mending his ways. He had even stopped drinking and eating chicken legs.
Originally, Xuan Zi hadn't been assigned to lead the team this time. Yan Shaozhe had been responsible, but a few days before their departure, Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire erupted without warning. Not only did it kill two unlucky outer-court students, but she also fell unconscious.
To take care of Ma Xiaotao, Yan Shaozhe had no choice but to hand the task over.
Everyone else at Shrek had responsibilities of their own, so in the end, the task of leading the team fell to Xuan Zi again.
Since he had indeed mended his ways during this time, no longer indulging in food and drink and behaving much more steadily, even Mu En had lifted his confinement and hoped he would regain his confidence by leading the team this time.
And the result...
He had indeed regained his confidence, but only in getting Shrek's disciples killed. Rumors were spreading that Xuan Zi was Shrek's killing machine, specializing in getting its elite disciples killed.
But if one really examined it, the responsibility for this time truly didn't lie with Xuan Zi.
Even in the original story, Xuan Zi could be said to bear the main responsibility, but he shouldn't have borne all the blame.
The Death Messenger was only a Soul King. There was nothing unreasonable about a Level 98 powerhouse like Xuan Zi not intervening directly. If he had to follow them every moment, what value would the experience have? They might as well have him deal with every small fry himself.
Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng's recklessness was the biggest reason the team had charged into the trap.
If they had been a little more careful and hadn't underestimated the Death Messenger just because he was a Soul King, causing them to overlook their surroundings, then even with the Corpse Explosion Technique's tremendous power, it shouldn't have inflicted such severe injuries on them.
Just like this time: Xuan Zi hadn't been eating or drinking and had been watching from outside, but Dai Yueheng and the others had still charged straight in, running directly into the minefield the Death Messenger had laid.
No matter how fast Xuan Zi was, could he be faster than an explosion?
As long as your pig teammates fed the enemy faster than you could kill them, there was no saving the situation.
Let alone that sneaky bastard Ming Zhao, who had arranged for a Soul Saint ghost to join in the self-destruction.
Of course, no one would care whether Xuan Zi had actually done anything wrong. As long as he led the team and something went wrong while he was in charge, the blame was bound to fall on him.
That was exactly what happened this time. He had done nothing wrong, had kept watch the whole time, and had been ready to intervene at any moment. But the Corpse Explosion Technique and the ghost's self-destruction had come too quickly; he hadn't had time to act at all, leaving everything in shambles.
This time, the devastated Xuan Zi had truly been hurt. The air of decline about him instantly grew countless times heavier, and his already aged appearance became even more deathly. His Soul Power Level even fell by one.
But he paid it no mind. He merely gathered everyone's remains numbly, then put them away in boxes one by one and placed them in his Soul Tool. Numbly, he turned, rose stiffly into the air, and flew toward Shrek Academy.
"Oh? You're back?"
Ming Zhao, who was playing a game, sensed something and looked in a certain direction.
Of the two ghosts he had left there, one had already lost contact with him, while the other was rapidly making its way back.
"Let's take a peek at what happened~"
Since one ghost was missing, that proved the plan had succeeded. Ming Zhao was also curious what big news the Death Messenger had caused this time, so he closed his eyes and used the King of Ten Thousand Ghosts' authority to connect to the ghost and review its earlier records.
Ming Zhao genuinely liked this ability of the King of Ten Thousand Ghosts. He couldn't control those ghosts at all times, and after assigning them a task, he couldn't see what was happening on their end once they were out of contact.
But the King of Ten Thousand Ghosts Soul Skill let Ming Zhao review everything the ghosts had seen, as though watching surveillance footage.
But the moment he looked, Ming Zhao couldn't keep his composure.
They'd actually been wiped out just like that?
So Shrek really didn't care about its disciples one bit. Other people learned from a setback; Shrek suffered one setback after another. He had thought they would be on guard after Zhang Lexuan and the others were wiped out.
Yet they had been wiped out again. By the time the explosion occurred and the ghosts swiftly departed with the souls of those from Shrek, he still hadn't seen who the supervising teacher was.
So... whose subordinate had led the team this time?
Honestly, Ming Zhao was quite curious.
After waiting another half day, Ming Zhao finally received the Soul Saint ghost hurrying back. He took it back into his Martial Soul and began examining what it had gained.
Apart from the Soul Engineer on the main team, the other thirteen members were all qualified to join the hundred ghosts.
Anyone who could become one of the Shrek Seven Devils had to have a decent Martial Soul. They could be called outstanding among their peers, considerably stronger than the ghosts Ming Zhao had on hand, and could replace them outright.
"But why isn't Huo Yuhao here? Never mind Ma Xiaotao being absent, but not a single second-year?" After replacing all the ghosts, Ming Zhao rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
That seemed right.
The reserve team selection had only been opened to second-years because of Prisoner Huo's Ice Empress Martial Soul; Mu En had made a special exception for him. Now that he no longer had his cheat, it was only natural he couldn't get in through the back door.
"What a pity. Otherwise, I really wanted to see whether I could blow up both the child of destiny and the God King's daughter's hero fragment!"