Bonus Chapter. Enjoy!
============================
The current All-Continent High-Rank Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament was held in Star Luo City, and all participants were arranged to stay at the Star Emperor Hotel. It was one of the most luxurious hotels in Star Luo City, standing beside Star Luo Plaza, extraordinarily grand.
Because of this grand event, people from all over the continent gathered in Star Luo City. In just a few days, hundreds of thousands of people flooded into Star Luo City. All the hotels in the city had been fully booked days ago. Those who arrived late could only stay in simple inns on the outskirts of the city, or simply stay in private residences.
However, in this World where strength is respected, some people always have privileges. Long before the competition began, Yan Shaozhe had already arranged a place for Huo Yuhao to stay in Star Luo City.
The location was diagonally opposite the Star Emperor Hotel, a two-story independent building.
After Huo Yuhao arrived in Star Luo City, he first settled his mother and then went to the Star Emperor Hotel.
At this moment, he was sitting in the presidential suite on the top floor, eyes closed in Cultivation.
While it was called Cultivation, his mental force had actually surged out like a tide, enveloping the entire Star Emperor Hotel.
A moment later, Huo Yuhao opened his eyes and ended his Cultivation. He walked to the window, looking at the busy streets outside, his brow slightly furrowed.
According to his estimation, Elder Xuan and the others should have arrived by now. But why hadn't they arrived yet? Could some accident have occurred?
It wasn't until evening that Huo Yuhao finally sensed familiar auras.
The people from Shrek Academy had finally arrived.
But before he could go downstairs to greet them, his brow furrowed.
First, the number of people was wrong; there should have been over a dozen participating teachers and Students, but only a few auras appeared in his perception.
Secondly, their auras were also off. Several people were clearly injured, and the others exuded fatigue, weakness, and even a hint of suppressed sadness.
Huo Yuhao's heart sank.
Soon, led by the teacher Wang Yan, the Shrek group arrived at the top floor. The door was pushed open, and Huo Yuhao's gaze quickly swept over everyone. Those familiar faces now bore obvious dejection and an indescribable heaviness.
He frowned and asked, "What happened?"
Everyone's Spirits were clearly low, and no one spoke up to answer.
Wang Yan sighed, "It's not something that can be explained in a sentence or two."
He paused and looked at three people in the group.
"Ma Xiaotao, the three of you should go and heal your injuries as soon as possible."
Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, and Ling Luochen nodded with pale faces. Their auras were withered; they had clearly suffered significant injuries. They didn't say much at this moment, simply turning silently to leave the living room hall.
Huo Yuhao's gaze swept across the room again; besides him and Wang Yan, only four people remained.
Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, Wang Dong, and He Caitou.
Only then did Wang Yan look at Huo Yuhao and slowly explained, "Before the competition, we went to execute a monitoring mission."
"The target was a Spirit King level Evil Soul Master. We thought it would be an easy task, but..."
Wang Yan recounted the events in a heavy tone, and Huo Yuhao learned of the tragic turn of events. Because that Evil Soul Master possessed a rare but powerful Corpse Explosion Spirit Ability, they suffered heavy losses! Yao Haoxuan and Chen Zifeng died on the spot. Gongyang Mo, Xi Xi, Bei Bei, and Xiao Xiao were all seriously injured to varying degrees.
Now, to make it in time for the competition, those who could still move had arrived in Star Luo City first. Meanwhile, Xuan Zi had taken those with severe injuries and urgently returned to Shrek Academy.
Huo Yuhao listened quietly, his expression growing darker and darker. For such a thing to happen was truly beyond his expectations. Even for someone as steady as him, it was hard not to feel emotional at this moment. On that handsome face, his brows were tightly knit, and complex emotions swirled in his eyes.
He looked at Wang Yan, his voice carrying a hint of suppressed questioning: "Since we were coming to participate in the competition, why did we have to go on some monitoring mission beforehand?"
Wang Yan gave a bitter smile, a smile full of helplessness and bitterness. "No one expected that a Spirit King level Evil Soul Master could actually have a Spirit Ability like Corpse Explosion. Otherwise, this mission wouldn't have been dangerous at all."
Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao was still angry. He added, "Teacher Wang, it's not a matter of whether it was expected or not, but that this mission shouldn't have been undertaken in the first place."
At this point, he thought of the state of Shrek Academy Ten Thousand Years later and said, "In my view, the title of the continent's number one academy has made the teachers and Students of the academy far too arrogant!"
These words were spoken quite bluntly. But as Wang Yan listened, he couldn't find anything to argue against. Because the facts seemed to be exactly that. If they hadn't been so confident, if they hadn't underestimated that Spirit King level Evil Soul Master, if they hadn't executed this monitoring mission...
Then today's tragedy would not have happened!
Huo Yuhao then thought of something else and asked, "Wait, wasn't Elder Xuan with you?"
His gaze met Wang Yan's directly: "If others didn't react in time, did Elder Xuan also fail to react? He is a Rank 98 Super Douluo!"
At the mention of Xuan Zi, Wang Yan's eyes flickered. A trace of complexity flashed across his face.
His speech became somewhat stuttered: "Elder Xuan... Elder Xuan wasn't present at the time."
He paused, his voice dropping a bit lower. "So he didn't have time to intervene."
Huo Yuhao was stunned for a moment, not expecting such an answer.
His voice carried a hint of disbelief as he asked again, "Didn't Elder Xuan go along specifically to protect the Students' safety?"
"If he wasn't present, where did he go?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Wang Dong and the other three sitting nearby also looked up, their gazes simultaneously fixing on Wang Yan. Their eyes also flickered with doubt and confusion.
Yes, didn't Xuan Zi go along precisely to protect the Students' safety?
If he had been present, with his strength as a Rank 98 Super Douluo, how could a Spirit King level Corpse Explosion possibly have harmed them?
If Xuan Zi had been protecting them from the shadows all along, then none of this would have happened.
A trace of hard-to-mention embarrassment flashed across Wang Yan's face again. He was silent for a moment, and finally, he braced himself to explain, "Elder Xuan's Spirit has a flaw; he needs to eat constantly."
His voice grew lower and lower: "At that time, he might have been... looking for food."
As soon as these words came out, everyone was stunned. They truly hadn't expected such an answer.
Looking for food?
Because he was looking for food, he missed the rescue?
Because he was looking for food, it resulted in two Students dying on the spot and four Students being seriously injured?
Huo Yuhao opened his mouth, and for a moment, he didn't even know what to say. He only felt a sense of absurdity welling up in his heart, nearly laughing out of anger.
He then couldn't help but say, "If that's the case, then Elder Xuan should stay in the academy and stop taking Students out!"
His voice carried a hint of suppressed fury. "Isn't this just setting people up for disaster!"
Wang Yan was speechless. He opened his mouth to say something but ultimately closed it. Because he also felt that Huo Yuhao's words were justified.
This time, if another academy elder had led the team, even if their cultivation wasn't as high as Xuan Zi's, perhaps they could have avoided this crisis.
---------------------------------------------
A/N:
5 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter
2 Reviews = 1 Extra Chapter
I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. I would appreciate some Power Stones if you can spare any. Leave a review if you like the story. Thank you.