"...We hope Old Mu will prioritize the hearts of the students and execute Xuan Zi to appease the souls of those who died in vain!"
Setting down the joint letter from the Inner Court disciples left by Zhang Lexuan, Mu En let his shoulders slump powerlessly, his dim eyes fluctuating violently.
A joint student proposal to execute an elder of the Sea God Pavilion—in the ten-thousand-year history of Shrek Academy, this was likely the first of its kind.
He truly felt so very, very conflicted…
After so many years together, even a dog would have deep feelings attached to it, let alone a human.
From the bottom of his heart, he was unwilling to let Xuan Zi die just like that.
He only had a few years left to live. After his death, Xuan Zi would be the number one person in Shrek in terms of cultivation; the academy would need his martial force to deter those with ill intentions.
At least until Zhang Lexuan truly grew up, Xuan Zi was needed to guard the peace of this corner of the academy.
But Xuan Zi… had truly disappointed him too much… Could such a fool really protect the academy until that moment? Shrek might be completely ruined by him halfway through.
Perhaps, when he made his first mistake, he should have used thunderous methods to force him to reform, rather than letting him act willfully.
But he no longer had the chance to let Xuan Zi correct himself.
If he killed Xuan Zi, he feared there would be no experts to deter petty criminals and protect Shrek after his death.
If he didn't kill Xuan Zi, he feared Zhang Lexuan would lead the students away from Shrek.
He was truly caught in a dilemma.
Glancing at his great-grandson lying beside him, Mu En sighed and said to Yan Shaozhe, "Prepare for the meeting."
...
Shrek Academy, beneath the Golden Tree, outside the Sea God Pavilion.
"Xuan Zi, get your damn self in here!"
Xuan Zi, who was sitting on the steps pouring wine into his mouth, hurriedly tucked away his wine gourd. He wiped his hands on his grease-stained clothes and stepped into the Sea God Pavilion.
At that moment, a figure wearing a purple and white dress rushed out from the Golden Tree. Seeing Xuan Zi, she froze for a moment, then immediately released her martial soul. Her soul power condensed in her hand as she stepped forward in a rage and slapped him across the face.
Slap!
Xuan Zi didn't dare dodge and could only take the slap head-on.
"I'm telling you, old man! If Yuhao is missing even half a hair, I'll kill you!!!"
Fortunately, Zhang Lexuan had protected her palm with soul power beforehand; otherwise, she would have been stained by the grease on Xuan Zi's face.
Zhang Lexuan didn't dare delay for a second, soaring into the air toward Star Net City and disappearing into the horizon in the blink of an eye.
Xuan Zi sighed inwardly. This major blunder by the Monitoring Group had far too great an impact on his career.
Zhang Lexuan had directly torn off all pretenses of civility. It seemed even Mu En was unwilling to protect him now. This resignation was likely…
Just as he entered the council chamber, Xuan Zi heard two words with extreme clarity.
"Kneel."
Xuan Zi's expression flickered with embarrassment, and he instinctively looked at the other elders of the Sea God Pavilion.
Seriously, no respect at all?
Mu En's voice was like a dragon's roar, full of deterrent power. "I told you… to kneel! Do you not understand!?"
Thud.
Xuan Zi's knees buckled, and he knelt heavily on the ground. He knew that this time, Mu En was moved by true rage.
Leaning on his dragon-headed cane, Mu En walked tremulously to the front of Xuan Zi.
Yan Shaozhe hurriedly stood up. "…Teacher, you."
"Shut up!" Mu En interrupted Yan Shaozhe brusquely. He then raised the dragon-headed cane in his hand and slammed it hard against Xuan Zi's head.
How powerful was the strength of a Level 99 Limit Douluo? Today, Xuan Zi experienced it firsthand.
With just that one strike, his head spun, and he nearly lost control of his body and fainted.
Blood slowly flowed from his head. He didn't even dare to use soul power to stop the bleeding; he could only kneel there and take the beating.
Mu En naturally had no intention of stopping. Putting his full strength into it, he struck Xuan Zi's head one blow after another with the dragon-headed cane.
Thump, thump, thump…
None of the elders present dared to breathe a word.
Mu En had not hesitated to expend his origin to finally stabilize the injuries of the three people Xuan Zi had brought back using the Radiant Holy Dragon soul power. Under Elder Zhuang's treatment, the three had finally regained consciousness.
Yan Shaozhe, watching from the side, saw it most clearly. When Mu En saw Bei Bei's half-dead state, he had almost crushed the cane in his hand.
Crack!
Finally, the cane in Mu En's hand was snapped by his sheer force. Xuan Zi's body slumped as he fell to the floor of the meeting room.
It wasn't that he had fainted, but that it was simply too painful. However, Mu En immediately stepped forward and kicked him up.
"Did I tell you to sleep here? Get up!"
By the time Xuan Zi scrambled up from the floor, Mu En had returned to his reclining chair.
"Speak. Tell us everything that happened, from beginning to end, without missing a single detail."
A flash of grief crossed Elder Xuan's dim eyes. He did not get up from the ground, and his voice was hoarse as he spoke.
"Yesterday, while the Monitoring Group was carrying out the mission to exterminate the Hand of Death bandit group, an unexpected situation occurred. The evil soul master who, according to the data, only had a Soul King cultivation, suddenly launched a corpse explosion skill with power comparable to a Soul Saint during the battle…"
"…In the end, Chen Zifeng, Yao Haoxuan, and Xi Xi were killed in action. Everyone else was injured."
Mu En spoke, "And the Soul King?"
Xuan Zi hesitated. "…He, he should be dead."
"…Should?! You're really something!" Mu En's voice was filled with suppressed fury. All the elders present felt a chill, and Yan Shaozhe even felt that in the next second, Mu En would strike with a Monarch Descending Upon the World palm.
"A Super Douluo can't catch a Soul King? Has all your cultivation gone into eating chicken legs?!"
"…I didn't want to make those mistakes! I didn't want to kill them either!" Elder Xuan trembled, letting out a grievance-filled cry. "My martial soul is flawed, I have no choice! I didn't want to see this happen either!"
Mu En stared at Xuan Zi. "Fine… Fine! Since you say the corpse explosion was so powerful, then tell me: as fellow official team members, why were Ma Xiaotao and the others not heavily injured? And why were the preparatory team members only injured and not killed?"
Elder Xuan's voice was full of regret. "…Huo Yuhao did not participate in the monitoring activity, but he gave Ma Xiaotao and the other two soul tool shields in advance, which is why they survived the corpse explosion."
Upon hearing the name Huo Yuhao, Mu En's eyes narrowed slightly, his mind calculating something unknown.
"The preparatory team… the preparatory team members were further away, and most of them were wearing soul tool shields. It's just that Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi were too far forward, so…"
"Wrong!" Mu En's eyes narrowed. "Didn't you say you rushed in the instant the corpse explosion happened? At that time, most of the preparatory team should have been fine. So why were they all injured later? According to your story, that evil soul master had already grabbed Lan Xuanyu and fled. Did he launch a second round of corpse explosions?"
"I… this…"
Xuan Zi was speechless. He had intended to gloss over the details, so he had exaggerated the power of the corpse explosion.
But the old fox was wiser than the young; Mu En had found the flaw.
What could he say? That he had used his martial soul true body to let out a cow-like roar at the cave entrance, blowing away everyone who was originally fine? That he had shaken the cave into a collapse, resulting in Xi Xi being buried alive?
Wouldn't Old Mu beat him to death then?
Xuan Zi sputtered for a long time without being able to speak, and Mu En had no patience to wait any longer.
"Since you won't say it, I will."
"From today onward, all of Xuan Zi's positions in Shrek are revoked, his salary is canceled, and he will no longer participate in any of Shrek's affairs."