Chapter 84: Returning in Defeat! The Miserable Elder Mu and Elder Xuan!
The moment Liu Yuan's resonant, unequivocal refusal echoed through the valley, the sprawling plaza before the Body Sect's majestic main gate plunged into an absolute, suffocating stillness.
The previously rowdy crowd of onlookers and Body Sect disciples subconsciously held their breath. Jaws remained clenched; eyes were wide. It was as if exhaling too loudly might shatter the fragile, frozen air hanging between the two factions.
A biting mountain wind howled through the jagged valley, sweeping up a cluster of withered, yellowed leaves from the stone-paved ground. The dry scratching of the leaves scraping against the rock sounded exceptionally jarring in the deep silence.
It was not merely Elder Xuan and Elder Mu who stood frozen. Even the hardened upper echelons of the Body Sect found themselves momentarily stunned by the sheer calmness and absolute decisiveness Liu Yuan displayed. Faced with an extreme temptation that could buy empires, the young man had not even blinked.
Elder Mu's gaze, which had previously harbored a desperate, flickering flame of expectation and longing, dimmed bit by agonizing bit. The light in his ancient eyes extinguished, leaving behind only the hollow ash of Liu Yuan's rejection.
The Dragon God Douluo leaned heavily on his wooden cane. His knuckles turned white from the strain. A trace of undisguised sorrow and deep loneliness seeped into his deep, wrinkled features.
"Child... will you truly not reconsider?" Elder Mu's voice had grown terribly hoarse, sounding like dry bark grinding together. As if entirely unwilling to accept this reality, he forced himself to ask one final time, attempting to play the last, most desperate card in his hand.
"After all, letting you remain at Shrek Academy to cultivate, to become a heroic figure standing tall above the continent... that is not merely the Academy's expectation. It is also the dying wish your parents held all those years ago."
Elder Mu took a trembling half-step forward, his voice cracking. "Do you truly not want to inherit their will in the very place where they shed their blood for glory?"
Liu Yuan met Elder Mu's pleading gaze. His handsome face remained entirely devoid of any ripples. No anger, no sorrow, no hesitation. Only an icy, impenetrable calm.
He slowly shook his head. When he spoke, his tone was as cold as the deepest glacial abyss.
"Elder Mu, my parents' greatest wish was for me to grow up safely. It was never for me to blindly guard an empty, hypocritical shell that would eventually cast me aside like worn-out shoes."
The words struck like physical blows. Elder Mu flinched.
Liu Yuan continued, his voice carrying clearly across the silent plaza. "If they knew in the afterlife that their only child was kicked to the curb by the very Academy they gave their lives to protect, abandoned at the exact moment he was most helpless, I believe they would fully support my current decision."
He paused, letting the absolute truth of his words sink into the bones of every Shrek member present.
"The Liu Yuan of Shrek Academy died the very moment that expulsion notice was issued. The person standing before you now belongs only to the Body Sect."
Those final, merciless words completely sealed off every possible path of retreat for Elder Mu. The heavy iron gates of reconciliation slammed shut forever.
Elder Mu slowly closed his eyes. A long, shuddering sigh escaped his withered lips, carrying with it the weight of a century of regret.
He knew it was over. No matter what astronomical conditions he offered, no matter how desperately he tried to appeal to past emotions or familial legacy, he could no longer win back this young man's heart.
The peerless Qilin who had originally belonged to Shrek, the genius who should have rightfully received the highest honors within the inner sanctum of the Sea God Pavilion, had been violently pushed to the opposing side. And it was all due to Shrek's own blind arrogance.
"Very well..." Elder Mu's voice sounded utterly exhausted, stripped of all its former majesty. "This old man understands."
He turned his frail body around, the movement slow and labored. He lowered his gaze to Elder Xuan, who was still kneeling on the hard stone ground, his entire body trembling violently from an overdose of humiliation.
"Elder Xuan, get up. Let us go."
Having spoken those final words, Elder Mu did not look back at the towering mountain gate again. Leaning heavily on his cane, he walked away. Each step faltered, his back hunched as if carrying the crushed weight of Shrek's future.
Elder Xuan gritted his teeth so hard that the sound of grinding enamel echoed faintly. He pushed himself off the ground, his knees stiff and aching. He did not even dare to raise his head. He could feel the hundreds of mocking, disdainful gazes from the Body Sect disciples piercing into his skin like burning needles.
Following closely behind Elder Mu without uttering a single word, their retreating figures appeared exceptionally disheveled and desolate. The bleeding orange light of the setting sun stretched their shadows out across the dirt, making them look like two defeated, stray dogs.
Elder Mu's chest tightened painfully. Before coming to the Body Sect, he had already sensed that their chances were astronomically slim. Yet, as the supreme leader of Shrek, he had clung to a foolish sliver of hope.
Now, with that hope thoroughly extinguished, he felt as if a physical blade was twisting in his heart. He could already see the bleak future of Shrek Academy. Having lost this supreme leader capable of suppressing an entire era, Shrek's ten-thousand-year glory might truly begin its irreversible decline with this generation.
Watching an unmatched treasure slip through his fingers while being entirely powerless to stop it made the Limit Douluo taste an unmatched, suffocating frustration.
As for Elder Xuan walking silently behind him, the level of distress boiling in his chest was no less than Elder Mu's. However, his agony stemmed from a vastly different source: an extreme, burning sense of imbalance.
If his massive humiliation today, from carrying thorny vines on his back to beg for forgiveness, to physically kneeling in the dirt at a rival sect's mountain gate, could have successfully won back Liu Yuan's heart, then history might have been kind to him. He could have left behind a tragic, noble reputation of a senior who willingly sacrificed his personal dignity for the future of the Academy.
But the brutal reality was entirely different. He had knelt. He had begged like a dog. And in the end, he had received nothing but an extremely cold, public rejection.
This meant that he, a mighty Level 98 Super Douluo, had not only completely lost all his face, but had also served as a cheap laughingstock before the entire continent for absolutely nothing.
Elder Xuan felt he had lost more than anyone could possibly imagine. At this moment, because his chest full of suffocating shame received zero compensation, it rapidly fermented, transforming into an extremely distorted, venomous resentment.
He stared at the empty air ahead of him, his bloodshot eyes twitching. His hatred for Liu Yuan had accumulated to the absolute extreme.
In his twisted view, Liu Yuan was simply being cruel and unforgiving, intentionally dragging out the spectacle just to see him, Elder Xuan, make a complete fool of himself in public.
Meanwhile, back at the mountain gate, the heavy silence shattered the moment the Shrek group's shadows disappeared down the mountain path.
Thunderous, deafening applause erupted in front of the Body Sect. Cheers and whistles echoed through the valley, shaking the very clouds above.
Accompanied by the elegant Vina, Liu Yuan turned around and walked back toward the Sect's main hall without any haste. His posture was relaxed, his steps steady.
Whether it was Du Busi, Long Aotian, Chen Lu, or the surrounding elders, the gazes they directed at Liu Yuan at this moment were blazing with extremely strong approval and immense satisfaction.
Du Busi stepped forward, his massive frame towering over the crowd. He raised a heavy hand and slapped Liu Yuan's shoulder with enough force to crack stone, laughing uproariously.
"Good lad! You certainly didn't disappoint this old man!" The Body Sect Master's booming voice carried immense pride. "The conditions that old ghost Elder Mu offered just now made even my heart ache just hearing them! Yet I didn't expect you wouldn't even blink an eye. You truly are this old man's direct disciple! Hahaha!"
Long Aotian stepped up beside them, nodding in deep praise. "Junior Brother, well said! Those hypocritical resources of Shrek, how could they ever compare to the genuine bonds of our Sect? As long as you remain in the Body Sect, we will definitely do our utmost to gather the absolute best resources for you. We will absolutely not be inferior to them in any way!"
Facing the warm praise and genuine smiles of everyone around him, Liu Yuan simply smiled faintly. The coldness from moments ago melted away, replaced by a grounded calm.
"This was the only natural choice," Liu Yuan replied, his voice steady. "The Body Sect has helped me immensely when I needed it most. There are so many brothers and sisters here who treat me as close as family."
He looked around at the cheering disciples. "Those external things Shrek offered, while tempting on paper, ultimately cannot buy a sense of belonging. Since I have chosen this Sect, I will absolutely not waver."
With those words, the farce-like peace-seeking storm finally came to a complete end. Liu Yuan's life within the Body Sect returned to its usual, focused tranquility.
But by sharp contrast, thousands of miles away at Shrek Academy, the atmosphere was as heavy and gloomy as the suffocating pressure right before a massive rainstorm.
Within the sacred halls of the Sea God Pavilion.
Yan Shaozhe, Xian Lin'er, Elder Song, and the other resident elders were all gathered around the long wooden table. The golden light of the pavilion did nothing to warm the chill in the room.
Because Elder Mu and Elder Xuan had set off days ago, the gnawing anxiety in the hearts of these upper echelons grew more unbearable with each passing hour.
"Calculating the time, the teacher and the others should have arrived at the Body Sect by now, right?" Xian Lin'er frowned deeply, her fingers tapping restlessly against the armrest as she looked across at Yan Shaozhe. "I just do not know if they will succeed in the end. We have all heard about that child Liu Yuan's character before. I am afraid it will not be that easy for him to just turn back."
Yan Shaozhe pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped a layer of cold sweat from his forehead. He tried hard to suppress his own uneasy emotions, forcing a strained smile onto his face.
"There shouldn't be a big problem, right?" Yan Shaozhe forced himself to say, his voice lacking its usual confidence. "After all, the teacher is personally going out this time. And even Elder Xuan has gone to such extreme lengths to show his sincerity."
He looked around the table, trying to convince himself as much as the others. "This scale of apology and compensation is entirely unmatched in the history of the soul master world. Even if Liu Yuan harbors deep resentment, he should at least give the teacher some face. As long as he comes back to the Academy, everything else can be slowly discussed and mended."
Although everyone nodded and voiced their agreement, in the depths of their hearts, the drums of anxiety were beating wildly.
Just as the nervous murmurs inside the Sea God Pavilion were growing louder, a heavy creak echoed through the room. The grand hall doors were slowly pushed open.
Elder Mu walked in. His steps were agonizingly slow, leaning heavily on his cane. Right behind him followed Elder Xuan, whose face was so terrifyingly gloomy it looked as if dark water might drip from his chin.
Everyone at the table was stunned for a split second. Then, Yan Shaozhe immediately shot up from his chair and rushed forward to greet them, his tone carrying a desperate urgency and a fragile sliver of hope.
"Teacher! Elder Xuan! You have returned?" Yan Shaozhe asked, his eyes darting behind them toward the empty doorway. "How was it? That Liu Yuan... did you bring him back?"
Elder Mu did not speak a single word. He simply walked with heavy, dragging steps toward the main seat at the head of the table. He sat down slowly, his ancient bones creaking, and let out a deep, hollow sigh that seemed to drain the last bit of life from the room.
Standing to the side, Elder Xuan's face twisted into an even uglier expression upon hearing Yan Shaozhe's hopeful question.
He refused to look anyone in the eye. He just shook his head, his teeth gritting so hard his jaw muscles bulged. His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were stark white, and due to his violently fluctuating anger, the terrifying soul power of a Super Douluo leaked out from his body uncontrollably, distorting the air around him.
Seeing this silent, furious reaction from Elder Xuan, the resident elders who were originally still clinging to a shred of hope felt their stomachs drop. Their expressions instantly turned extremely ugly in absolute unison.
The entire Sea God Pavilion plunged into a suffocating, deathly silence.
[Akarin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/AkarinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/AkarinTL
🔗 All My Links: linktr[.]ee/AkarinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]