At this point, Tie Li was not even the Soul Emperor he would be when Tang Ya came knocking. He was only a Soul King approaching the cultivation of a Soul Emperor.
The three Soul Kings made up the entirety of the Iron Blood Sect's high-end fighting strength. Mu Yueye had already looked into that when Bei Bei first came knocking.
To put it bluntly, if Shrek really threw away all shame and stepped in to crush a sect this weak, it wouldn't even need to send anyone important.
Mu Yueye could wipe it out himself, unless those two hundred disciples scattered like birds and beasts. Rounding them up would take some effort.
Seeing the four Soul Rings beneath Mu Yueye's feet, a configuration surpassing the optimal one, Tie Li knew he was no one to trifle with.
He was one of the brightest of Shrek's younger generation. If they actually touched him, who knew what kind of fearsome figure would come after them?
But Mu Yueye had kicked the door open and barged in, making quite a commotion. Tie Li couldn't very well drop to his knees and surrender outright, so he could only brace himself and say to him,
"Now, young man, it's a hot day. Don't let your temper get the better of you. Let's talk this over calmly."
Mu Yueye couldn't be bothered wasting words with Tie Li. He pointed at the Shrek Academy emblem on Bei Bei's clothes and said,
"You recognize this emblem, right?"
Seeing that he had indeed come looking for trouble, Tie Li could only give an awkward smile and say,
"I do, I do. But this isn't Shrek Academy's territory, after all, so perhaps..."
Mu Yueye kicked him in the abdomen. He had channeled Soul Power into the kick, so its force was naturally extraordinary, sending Tie Li flying backward.
Only then did Tie Li grasp the gulf between a Shrek prodigy and ordinary people like himself.
His Soul Power was greater than Mu Yueye's, and he had certainly fought far more real battles than this greenhorn.
Yet he hadn't even managed to react before he was sent flying.
All sorts of thoughts flashed rapidly through Tie Li's mind, as though that kick had made his life flash before his eyes.
Meanwhile, when the Iron Blood Sect's two elders saw Mu Yueye make his move, they both closed in.
Mu Yueye's status had kept them from acting at once, but they couldn't just stand there while their sect master was beaten.
Mu Yueye showed no fear as he looked down on the three Soul Kings at the head of the Iron Blood Sect. Meanwhile, Tie Tang watched his father and the elders contend with Mu Yueye, then said to the attendant beside him,
"What are you standing around for? Hurry to the legion's garrison in Heaven Dou City and tell them an Evil Soul Master is causing trouble."
The attendant had a clear head, however, and said to Tie Tang,
"Young master, is that really wise? He's wearing Shrek Academy's clothes, and you're saying he's an Evil Soul Master. That..."
Tie Tang impatiently slapped the attendant across the face and cursed at him in a low voice.
"Do you want me dead? If you don't tell them that, those bastards in the city defense force, whose cards slap louder than gongs and drums, won't even leave their doors by tomorrow morning. We'll explain when they get here."
The attendant took the slap, blood pouring freely from the corners of his mouth and his nose. He hurriedly nodded, then climbed over the rear wall and left.
Meanwhile, by a restaurant window across the street from the Iron Blood Sect, a brawny figure watched the sect.
"Interesting. This boy really was carved from the same mold as Brother Mu back then. I just don't know whether he deliberately handled the matter of the defense force this way, or whether he overlooked it."
The old man watched everything unfolding at the Iron Blood Sect, but he was in no hurry to act. Instead, he quietly observed how Mu Yueye handled things.
Inside the Iron Blood Sect, Tie Li had not noticed his son's antics at all. He struggled to steady his roiling blood and Qi, then said to Mu Yueye,
"Young man, you've already hit me. Let's talk this over and settle things. The matter of the memorial tablets is simple. We only took them down and put them in the storeroom. I'll carry them in my own hands and deliver them to Shrek City for you right now. Surely that will do?"
Mu Yueye folded his arms and looked down at the Iron Blood Sect master, whose cultivation was higher than his on paper. Then he said,
"Originally, if you'd done that when I sent my younger brother here the first time, there'd have been nothing more to say. I'd even have held a banquet in Shrek City to reward you, as a gesture. But now..."
Mu Yueye pulled Bei Bei in front of him and pointed to the bruises on his face.
"You think we can just leave it at that? A student of Shrek Academy came here asking to take back his own family's memorial tablets, and you beat him like this. If we just let it go, where would Shrek Academy put its face?"
Tie Li's head began to ache. He rubbed his palms together, the smile fading from his face, and exchanged glances with the two elders. The three closed in on Mu Yueye in a triangular formation.
Mu Yueye smiled, spread his hands toward the three of them, and said,
"So you've flown into a rage and are ready to fight?"
Mu Yueye watched the three of them, and one of the Iron Blood Sect elders said,
"Brat, we've shown you restraint because you're a disciple of Shrek Academy. Don't push your luck!"
Mu Yueye smiled and reached up to undo the buttons of his inner court uniform.
He handed the uniform to Bei Bei, who stood beside him, and said,
"Hold this."
He turned his gaze back to the three men and said,
"Wouldn't it have been better if you three had said that from the start? Things would have been much simpler. Today, I'm neither the great-great-grandson of Mu En, the inner court's Radiant Sacred Dragon, nor an inner court disciple. I'm just an ordinary Soul Master whose younger brother was beaten."
With that, the three men, who had been putting on a brave front while inwardly timid, lost some of the vigor they had been struggling to maintain.
The Black and White Twin Holy Dragons were no longer active, but their era had not completely passed. Any sect with even a modest number of members had heard their legends.
Someone like Tie Li could even be said to have grown up hearing tales of their legendary exploits.
The most hot-tempered elder simply swung his fist at Mu Yueye. After shouting the name of his Soul Skill with fervor, he said,
"You've gone too far! Die!"
Mu Yueye raised one hand and blocked the elder's Soul Skill-enhanced hook with it, then said to him,
"What are you mumbling about? Here's a punch back at you."
He threw a punch, and a surging dragon's might immediately forced the elder's Beast Martial Soul to shrink back into his body, refusing to possess him and continue fighting.
Without Martial Soul Possession, the elder was nothing more than flesh and blood. He was sent flying backward.
Mu Yueye flexed his wrist and was preparing to attack again when a chaotic clatter of hooves reached him.
The sound approached from afar at an exceptionally slow pace. Clearly, they were leaving the people there plenty of time to withdraw.
Mu Yueye's mouth twitched. Though surprised by how blatant they were, he couldn't say he didn't understand.
Why risk your life for a few hundred a month?
Anyone who could fight a sect with three Soul Kings and make such a commotion was certainly stronger than three Soul Kings. Though in theory, even a Titled Douluo or a Limit Douluo could be overwhelmed by sheer numbers,
no one wanted to become a stepping stone that let someone else live...