The two elders' faces darkened at once, and anger flashed in their eyes.
More than a dozen Soul Ancestors and four Soul Kings from their sect had all perished here.
But more importantly-
Elder Big Head swept a cold glance over the Soul King, a trace of anger in his voice:
"Why did this happen? Did you get into a conflict with him?"
The Soul King stammered:
"We were just questioning people properly at the city gate when we found him. There were some doubts about his identity, so we wanted him to cooperate with an investigation and see if he was Toji. He refused, so we used force. Then, during the fight, we found that he really was a powerful fighter, just as the elders described, so we kept chasing him..."
The elder with the thick right arm couldn't listen any longer. He slapped him so hard that his entire head snapped to one side, and he fell to the ground.
"Bastard! We were looking for Toji to bring him back to the sect. Who told you to use force on him and get into a fight with him?!"
The Soul King's face turned deathly pale, and his whole body trembled.
"After what you've done, how are we supposed to bring him back to the sect without trouble?" Elder Big Head raged. "This was an order from the sect master himself, and this is how you carried it out? If the sect master finds out, he'll probably skin you alive!"
"Elders, you never said we were supposed to bring him back to the sect." The Soul King was so aggrieved he was nearly in tears. "You just told us to find him..."
Both elders froze:
"Didn't we say so?"
"Nope, you didn't."
The two looked at each other, their heads pointed.
"It seems we really didn't."
Elder Big Head looked at the corpses scattered across the ground, his head aching:
"Now people are dead. What do we do?"
"We'd better report it to the sect master. If we explain the situation to him beforehand, we might be able to calm his anger..." The elder with the thick right arm was starting to sweat buckets. "If we choose to hide it, he might even skin us alive."
"True."
When Du Busi, the current sect master of the Body Sect, arrived at the scene, he looked at the corpses covering the ground, his expression turning inscrutable.
The elders and disciples who had made the mistake stood trembling beside him, unable to make out their sect master's mood at all.
What they didn't know was that Du Busi was actually somewhat gratified at that moment.
He's only around fourteen, yet he has such terrifying combat ability. He's even stronger than I was at fourteen.
Judging by the traces at the scene, even though he was alone, he still completely crushed them and slaughtered the entire team...
Du Busi raised a hand to his chin, lost in thought.
An ordinary Soul King couldn't accomplish what he did.
Soul Masters with Body Martial Souls were considerably stronger than ordinary Soul Masters, yet Toji had slaughtered so many of them by himself...
It seems he really does have the potential for a Gold Grade Second Awakening. I must find him and train him well to become the next sect master of the Body Sect.
At the thought, Du Busi's gaze grew somewhat sorrowful. He was only Level 98, and his older brother Du Bisou had died at the hands of the Sea God Pavilion Master, a loss that had dealt the Body Sect a tremendous blow.
Without a Limit Douluo holding down the fort in the sect, he couldn't rest easy, even if he personally possessed a Limit Douluo's combat strength.
He knew of the Sun Moon Empire's ambitions. Sooner or later, it would wage war on the Douluo Continent.
For the Body Sect to stand against the Sun Moon Empire alone was sheer wishful thinking. He had to find a successor.
Moreover, neither Du Busi nor Du Bisou had left any descendants, making the search for a successor even more urgent.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have repeatedly tried to poach Huo Yuhao from Shrek in the original story.
"Sect master..."
Elder Big Head had barely spoken when Du Busi cut him off with a wave of his sleeve:
"If you make another stupid mistake like this and fail to find him, you'll end up just like them."
"Remember this: the Body Sect is home to all Soul Masters with Body Martial Souls. Toji is a Soul Master with a Body Martial Soul, and our task is to bring him home, not to make an enemy of him."
The elders and disciples all shuddered:
"Yes!"
After killing that group of Body Sect disciples, Toji ran off at top speed.
His heart was pounding rapidly. Thump, thump, thump.
I'm done for. I've made an enemy of the Body Sect.
Is there any reason to stay in the Heaven Dou Empire?
Why not just run straight to the Star Luo Empire and see if I can snatch one of Huo Yuhao's opportunities while I'm at it?
Toji's face was full of worry.
He was simply too weak right now. If he had the strength to be invincible under heaven, he would have been saying "I don't eat beef" long ago.
He had interrogated that group of Body Sect disciples and only then learned that the Body Sect had recently been searching for him like mad.
The exact reason was unknown. Those small fry weren't qualified to know the sect's secrets.
"I didn't even know my identity was so valuable," Toji said, sweating with embarrassment. He didn't dare return to the Soul Fighting Arena, for fear that the Body Sect would track him down there.
He instinctively touched the ten-thousand-year Soul Bone in his Storage Soul Tool and took a deep breath.
Should I try to absorb it now?
He glanced at his surroundings, then shook his head and dismissed the thought.
"It's not very safe. I'll find a chance to try it another day."
Toji sighed and took several wide detours, wandering east and west and leaving behind all sorts of false trails before finally erasing the traces that led to the Soul Fighting Arena.
Shrek Academy.
Zhang Lexuan followed the middle-aged teacher, both nervous and excited.
On the way to Shrek, the teacher had also helped her obtain a Second Soul Ring of the optimal age, officially making her a Soul Grandmaster.
Moreover, she had made rapid progress along the way, reaching Level 23, with a good chance of reaching the level of a Three-Ring Soul Elder before she turned twelve.
This had greatly gratified the teacher, who had written her a recommendation letter, allowing her to pass Shrek Academy's entrance examination and officially become a member of this top academy on the continent.
Because the fate of Zhang Lexuan's family had changed, she had not met Mu En, the Sea God Pavilion Master, this time, which meant there was no longer any chance of her becoming someone's child bride.
Zhang Lexuan's fate had changed without anyone knowing.
After the middle-aged teacher had settled everything for her, the teacher set off for Sea God Island.
On Sea God Island, a disheveled old man sat by the lakeshore.
His hair was a tangled mess, as though it hadn't been combed in a long time. His clothes were ragged, with several patches on them.
He was barefoot, his feet resting casually on the ground.
A sheet of oil paper lay beside him, holding several roasted chicken legs that glistened with grease and smelled delicious.
With a chicken leg in one hand and a wine gourd in the other, he alternated bites of meat with swigs of wine, eating with grease all over his mouth and thoroughly enjoying himself.
The middle-aged teacher was extremely respectful toward him, approaching his side and greeting him in a low voice:
"Xuan Zi, you're here."
The old man merely grunted without looking up and continued concentrating on the chicken leg in his hand.
The middle-aged teacher seemed to be accustomed to the old man's manner:
"Xuan Zi, on my way back, I met a young man with an extremely unusual constitution. Given my knowledge and experience, I don't know whether we should make an exception and admit him to Shrek as a student..."
"Go on," Xuan Zi said.
"He's only around fourteen, and his Martial Soul is probably a Body Martial Soul. But he doesn't have any Soul Power at all. His physical body, however, is exceptionally strong, comparable to that of some physically weaker Soul Emperors. His combat ability is also formidable. At just fourteen, he's already a match for some of our inner court disciples."
The middle-aged teacher said with some hesitation:
"Xuan Zi, do you think... we should admit someone this unusual and study him?"
This caught Xuan Zi's attention:
"No Soul Power, yet his combat ability is close to a Soul Emperor's? That's rare. The world is vast, and all kinds of birds can be found in it."
"But forget it. He isn't worth much. The most important thing about a Body Martial Soul is its potential. He had innate Level 0 Soul Power, so it's clear at a glance he doesn't have much potential."
Xuan Zi tossed away the chicken bone in his hand and gave his assessment:
"Admitting someone like that would be a waste of the academy's air."