Tang Ya trembled at his words. She looked eagerly at Mu Yueye and asked him in disbelief,
"You're going to give the Tang Sect's foundation back to me?"
Mu Yueye's expression froze. At a loss for words, he took another sip of coffee and said,
"...It's still broad daylight. Let's talk about things people should be saying in broad daylight."
A trace of impatience appeared on Tang Ya's face. She slammed the table and said,
"If you're not going to give it back, why bring up the foundation? Isn't the Tang Sect's foundation all in your hands now?"
Mu Yueye laughed, then suddenly splashed the coffee in his hand into Tang Ya's face. As she stared at him in shock, he followed it up with a solid slap across her face.
The gap in strength between Tang Ya and Mu Yueye was like a chasm that could never be crossed. His slap sent her crashing to the floor.
"You think you're a Soul King too? Who do you think you're yelling at?"
Mu Yueye flexed his wrist, then wiped the coffee stains from his hand with a tissue and said,
"I brought up the foundation to tell you that even the Tang Sect's foundation before the Iron Blood Sect took it away wasn't enough to make you worthy of Bei Bei."
Tang Ya gasped and coughed twice before raising her eyes to Mu Yueye. He said calmly,
"You know perfectly well what happens when the Iron Blood Sect offends Shrek Academy. After all, Tie Li himself was dealt with by you..."
Mu Yueye paused there, and Tang Ya's face turned a few shades paler.
"But you can sleep easy. An Evil Soul Master will naturally take the blame for Tie Li's death. You're still a pure and innocent young lady who's never killed anyone."
"I brought up Tie Li so you'd understand that I can make him die at an Evil Soul Master's hands. Making you die at an Evil Soul Master's hands would be even easier."
Tang Ya struggled to her feet and curtsied to Mu Yueye.
"I understand. I'll remember my place and won't ask anything of Bei Bei."
Mu Yueye smiled and said to Tang Ya,
"Behave yourself, and naturally you can pay your respects to your parents and visit their spirit tablets every year without trouble. When you and Bei Bei together can defeat me, I'll naturally return the Tang Sect's foundation to you."
Tang Ya's expression grew more complicated, and she bowed to Mu Yueye. He couldn't be bothered to spare her another glance. He simply stood up, wiped his hands, and said,
"Remember, don't let anyone know about what happened today, including Bei Bei. Make sure you clean your face up before you go out."
Mu Yueye was naturally referring to the bright red handprint he had just slapped onto Tang Ya's face, and Tang Ya knew what he meant.
After she nodded to Mu Yueye, he turned and walked out of the café's private room.
"Brother, where's Xiao Ya?"
Mu Yueye smiled, then patted Bei Bei on the shoulder and said,
"She accidentally spilled a cup of coffee just now. She'll need a while to clean it up."
After that, Shrek Academy returned to peace once more. Because Mu Yueye had previously had contact with an inner-court disciple,
Mu En gradually began assigning Mu Yueye tasks far below his level of strength. How well he completed them wasn't important; what mattered was broadening Mu Yueye's horizons while ensuring his safety.
And Mu Yueye had a regular partner on almost every mission: Zhang Lexuan.
Ever since Zhang Lexuan learned that Mu Yueye had begun taking Shrek Inspection Corps missions, she adjusted her own mission schedule every time. Under the guise of taking a break with no missions, she followed Mu Yueye from "a distance."
As for just how far away that supposed distance was, Mu Yueye could make out Zhang Lexuan's eyelashes and the texture of her skin without using the Purple Demon Eye.
In plain words, she was right in his face.
After more than a year passed like this, Mu Yueye reached the bottleneck at level fifty. He only needed to absorb one more Soul Ring to enter the Soul King realm.
Coincidentally, Zhang Lexuan also reached the bottleneck at level seventy at around the same time.
Besides the two of them, another dozen or so inner-court disciples also reached their respective bottlenecks around the same time.
Under Yan Shaozhe's planning, it was ultimately decided to organize a Soul Hunting party so everyone could enter the Star Dou Great Forest together and obtain Soul Rings.
His reasoning was sound: there was strength in numbers, and a party like this needed only one high-ranking elder to protect it adequately, greatly reducing the strain on Shrek Academy's teaching staff.
These factors naturally set off the alarm bells in Mu Yueye's mind.
Zhang Lexuan's breakthrough, more than a dozen people forming a party to hunt souls in the Star Dou Great Forest, the hunting location being set deep in the forest because of the Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, and Xuan Zi being chosen to lead the party...
With so many factors coming together, if Mu Yueye still couldn't figure out which Soul Hunting Operation this was, he might as well find a block of tofu and bash his head against it until he died.
"I have to ask, junior brother, are you ever going to stop...? Elder Xuan leading the party was decided at the Sea God Pavilion Meeting. I know you've always had a problem with Elder Xuan's gluttony, but you can't oppose him on everything."
Yan Shaozhe poured tea for himself and Mu Yueye with a helpless look, then took a sip and continued,
"I'm a Level 97 Super Douluo, while Elder Xuan is Level 98. Don't be fooled by the fact that it's only one level. If we really fought, Elder Xuan would trounce me like a novice. At the Super Douluo level, the gap between each level is as vast as the gulf between heaven and earth."
Mu Yueye said helplessly to Yan Shaozhe,
"Come on, senior brother, you're breaking my heart. Doesn't my standing with you even warrant one more high-level fighter...? Last time Xiaotao's Evil Fire flared up and she accidentally sneaked a drink of the liquor my great-great-grandfather had treasured, I was the one who covered for her... You're the grand dean of the Martial Soul Department. How can you only acknowledge a friend when you need one?"
Yan Shaozhe rubbed his head, then said to Mu Yueye,
"You have to understand my position too. Why did I propose everyone go to the Star Dou Great Forest as a group? Isn't it because Shrek is too short-handed right now...? If the academy had enough people, I could assign you one bodyguard for every person, but we're stretched too thin as it is. We still have to recruit students!"
"Then how about this? I won't ask you to go. Can you give me Xian Lin'er or Dean Qian instead? Please get one of those two... If you won't agree, I'll go talk to my great-great-grandfather."
Seeing that the cheapskate Yan Shaozhe was still hesitating, Mu Yueye immediately turned and walked out, saying as he went,
"There's enough dirt on Sister Xiaotao to make a whole set of mahjong tiles. Tell me, which incident should I report to my great-great-grandfather first?"
Yan Shaozhe watched Mu Yueye's retreating figure, then beckoned him back helplessly and said,
"Come back, come back. We can talk..."