Suppressing his surprise, Yun Ming's eyes swept the battlefield, searching for something. Before long, he spotted Tang Wulin lying in the distance, and his expression darkened.
"You'd better give me an explanation," Yun Ming said coldly, his gaze fixed on Di Tian and the golden figure. As he spoke, soul power around him began to stir, and a terrifying pressure swept outward.
He didn't yet know who had taken Tang Wulin, so he said "you" in the plural, not accusing a single person outright.
Elder Song and Elder Li immediately released their martial souls — one manifested a silver longsword, the other a mighty flood dragon. Both bore the same soul ring configuration: eight black and one red. The power of cultivators beyond rank 95 rolled off them in waves.
Di Tian and Bear Lord both felt the weight of that aura. The red soul rings on their own bodies drew wary glances, and they steeled themselves, ready for a fight.
The golden figure, sensing from Yun Ming's tone that he had come to rescue Tang Wulin, finally felt relief. His strength already almost gone, he dissolved into a beam of golden light that shot toward Tang Wulin.
There was no soul fluctuation left in that light — only pure spiritual energy, carrying fragments of memory.
Before the golden figure completely dispersed, it gave Tang Wulin one final push.
Yun Ming saw all this — and in that moment, he no longer had any doubt who had abducted Tang Wulin. His gaze toward Di Tian grew sharper, colder.
By then, Di Tian had already moved to stand before Yun Ze and Gu Yue Na, shoulder to shoulder with Bear Lord. Their red soul rings gleamed, impossible to ignore.
Di Tian and Bear Lord both found the situation troublesome. Their opponent was strong, and they still had to protect Yun Ze and Gu Yue Na. If a fight broke out, their odds of winning weren't great.
"Do you think their arrival has something to do with the Plane Lord?" Gu Yue Na asked Yun Ze uncertainly.
Yun Ze nodded. "Without the Plane Lord interfering, Shrek Academy wouldn't have known we took Tang Wulin — and they certainly wouldn't have made it here."
"The Plane Lord shouldn't have meddled in this world's affairs at all, and yet he broke the rules to interfere. Outrageous!" Gu Yue Na said, her voice thick with fury.
"When my strength is restored, I will make him pay for this."
Yun Ze gave a faint smile. "What's done is done. Complaining won't change anything. For now, we should withdraw."
From start to finish, his expression hadn't shifted even slightly — calm, almost detached, as if everything had unfolded exactly as he'd expected.
In truth, he had guessed soul masters might come, though he hadn't known exactly how many or how strong they would be.
The Plane Lord's indirect intervention could only come through three kinds of calamities: natural disasters, terrestrial upheavals, or human conflict.
If you think each through carefully, the third — human intervention — could only mean sending someone to rescue Tang Wulin.
And when it came to rescuing Tang Wulin, the most obvious candidates were Shrek Academy's soul masters. So Yun Ze wasn't surprised at all.
"Withdraw?" Yun Ming's voice cut in. With his power, overhearing Yun Ze's quiet words was easy.
He looked at Yun Ze with a cold, hard stare. "None of you are leaving today. You abducted a Shrek student, drained the dragon bloodline from his body — and you think I'll just let you walk away? What would that make Shrek Academy, if not a place anyone can trample at will?"
The detail about the blood extraction had come from the Golden Tree's report.
"And what exactly do you plan to do?" Yun Ze asked calmly, ignoring the killing intent flashing in Yun Ming's eyes.
The fact that Yun Ze could meet his gaze without flinching surprised Yun Ming. This child really was a monster. A pity, Yun Ming thought, that he wasn't a Shrek student.
"You'll pay the price," Yun Ming said coldly. "Anyone who harms Shrek's students faces only one fate — death."
That was just one reason. The decision to fight a quasi-god and a half-god wasn't so simple.
But above all, Yun Ming wanted Yun Ze dead. The Dragon-Phoenix Hall had abducted Tang Wulin — enmity between the two sides was now unavoidable.
To show the Academy's commitment to its students, to protect Shrek's reputation, and to maintain the image of an unassailable institution, blood had to be spilled.
Once that happened, the Dragon-Phoenix Hall would be a permanent enemy. If they responded with strength, there'd be no turning back — a fight to the bitter end.
And having seen Yun Ze's terrifying talent firsthand, Yun Ming felt a seed of fear. If Yun Ze reached the level of an Extreme Douluo, even he might not be a match.
If Yun Ze ever returned with powerful allies to take revenge on Shrek, it would be a disaster.
They couldn't just swallow this humiliation. But going after the Dragon-Phoenix Hall might provoke retaliation down the line.
There was only one solution: remove Yun Ze now — while he was still vulnerable.
Perhaps outright killing him wasn't even necessary. Capturing him might be even better. Yun Ming was very interested in that hundred-year longevity pill formula, after all.
If Di Tian hadn't been drained from the earlier fight, Yun Ming might still have hesitated. But now, after Di Tian's heavy expenditure of strength, he definitely wasn't Yun Ming's match. What was there left to fear?
"What a big mouth you have," Di Tian sneered, releasing a surge of his own power. "Let's see how you plan to kill us."
Yun Ming chuckled disdainfully. Of course he knew Di Tian was putting on an act. "Don't pretend. Before, I might have worried about you. Now? Hmph."
"And don't say I bullied you — the two of you can attack together. Maybe then you'll have a sliver of hope."
He pointed at Bear Lord, inviting him to join Di Tian. He was utterly confident, sure he could handle both alone.
Both Di Tian and Bear Lord's faces darkened. Bear Lord, hot-tempered as always, felt his blood boil — insulted to his core.
The way this man looked at them, as if they were nothing… It was too much. Never in his life had Bear Lord been so belittled.
"I'll tear you to pieces!" Bear Lord roared. "Let's see how you dare look down on your Grandpa Bear!"
He was just about to charge when a calm voice cut through his fury.
"Stay where you are," Yun Ze said lightly.
Bear Lord genuinely respected Yun Ze — admired him even — so at those words, he stopped, turning back urgently.
"Young Master, that bastard's insulting me! Let me rip him apart!"
Yun Ze ignored Bear Lord's anger, repeating quietly: "I told you not to move."
"But—" Bear Lord's frustration boiled over, words on the tip of his tongue — yet when he met Yun Ze's tranquil eyes, the protest died unspoken. He swallowed his rage and nodded, remaining still.
That one "bastard" from Bear Lord had turned Yun Ming's face icy cold — it was the first time anyone had dared to insult him like that.
"Yun Tian, you stay put as well," Yun Ze said.
Di Tian didn't know what Yun Ze was planning, but he obeyed. If Yun Ze said it, he had his reasons.