Chapter 186: The Humiliated Yan Shaozhe, Du Busi Extorts the Trio
The choking dust kicked up along the tree-lined path had finally begun to settle, yet the heavy, metallic stench of high-tier blood only thickened in the night air.
Yan Shaozhe, Elder Song, and Xian Lin'er stood huddled in a desperate triangular formation. They leaned heavily against one another, their breathing ragged, barely managing to stay on their feet. The lofty, condescending aura they had carried upon entering the Heavenly Soul Imperial City was completely shattered. Shocking crimson stains ruined their pristine robes. The violent backlash of having their martial souls forcibly crushed back into their bodies ravaged their meridians, making the simple act of standing an agonizing ordeal.
"Du Busi..."
Shaozhe forced his head up, dragging a trembling sleeve across his chin to smear away the blood continuously welling from his lips. His traditionally gentle, scholarly eyes were now bloodshot, swimming with deep-seated wariness and venomous resentment. He locked his gaze onto the green-haired old man standing before them like an unyielding demon god, his hands casually clasped behind his back. When Shaozhe spoke, his voice grated like crushed glass, ruined by the severe trauma to his chest.
"Today... you have had your battle. Even with the three of us joining forces, we were no match for you. You should be satisfied by now, shouldn't you? What exactly is it that you want?"
"What do I want?" Du Busi scoffed. A chilling, predatory glint flashed through his emerald-green double pupils. He lazily rolled his shoulders and flexed his thick wrists, the joints cracking with sharp, explosive pops that echoed like firecrackers in the dead silence. "Shaozhe, that is a rather amusing question."
He took a slow, deliberate step forward. "The three of you rats slink into the Heavenly Soul Imperial City in the dead of night, intending to forcibly abduct a high-ranking official of my Empire. And now that you lie beaten like stray dogs, you wish to brush it all away with a casual 'you've had your battle'?" Du Busi's voice dropped to a dangerous, gravelly timber. "What do you take the dignity of the Heavenly Soul Empire for? A mere tavern you can stroll in and out of? And what, pray tell, do you take me for?"
He paused, letting the crushing weight of his aura press down on their fractured ribs. "Let me make this perfectly clear. This is nowhere near finished."
Lin'er's face was drained of all color, resembling a sheet of white paper. Her jaw locked so tightly her teeth threatened to crack. She wrapped an arm around the waist of the critically injured Elder Song, bearing the older woman's weight while glaring daggers at the green-haired monster before them. "Du Busi! Do not push us to the brink! Do you truly have the nerve to slaughter the three of us right here, tonight?"
Hearing Lin'er's outburst, Shaozhe felt a sudden, desperate anchor of certainty steady his racing heart. He dragged in a sharp breath, forcefully suppressing the chaotic soul power rampaging through his torn meridians. When he spoke, he layered his tone with the icy authority of Shrek Academy.
"Du Busi, I am well aware of your extreme temperament. But you are not a fool. Although our arrival in the Heavenly Soul Empire was abrupt, the eyes of every major faction on this continent are watching." He straightened his spine, clinging to his institutional arrogance. "If the three of us perish within the Imperial City tonight, it would be an absolute declaration of war. The Heavenly Soul Empire against Shrek Academy."
"When that day comes, even if Elder Mu is no longer walking among us, Shrek's ten thousand years of supreme heritage is not something a mere sect or empire can withstand., publicly executing the Dean and a core Elder of Shrek Academy would instantly turn your Empire into the public enemy of all humanity. The court of public opinion would tear you apart. That is a price you cannot afford to pay, and it is certainly a price your Emperor cannot stomach."
When Shaozhe finished, a grim confidence settled over his battered features. In his mind, this was the ultimate trump card—the untouchable, overarching prestige that had shielded Shrek from all consequences for ten millennia.
Yet, as the threat hung in the air, Du Busi did not display a single ounce of the hesitation Shaozhe had anticipated. Instead, the mocking curve of his lips widened into a full, wicked grin.
"Kill you?" Du Busi slowly shook his head, chuckling darkly. "Shaozhe, you are absolutely correct. For the sake of the grander political landscape, I truly cannot sever your heads from your necks tonight. A dead Shrek Dean is, admittedly, a massive headache."
He took another heavy step forward. A suffocating, blood-soaked killing intent erupted from his form, crashing into the trio like a tidal wave. "But have you completely misunderstood your position? I cannot kill you... but that does not mean I cannot thoroughly, mercilessly humiliate you."
He tilted his head, his double pupils gleaming with malice. "Murdering you sparks a diplomatic war. But if I merely discipline a few petty 'thieves' who crept into the capital under the cover of darkness to steal? Not a single soul on this continent could utter a word of complaint."
Frantic alarm bells shrieked within Shaozhe's mind. "What are you planning?"
Du Busi crossed his massive arms over his chest, his posture radiating absolute dominance. "If you wish to crawl back to your academy alive, you may. But each of you will leave behind one hundred-thousand-year soul bone. Consider it compensation for insulting the dignity of the Heavenly Soul Empire, and a meager fee for forcing these old bones of mine to exercise tonight."
"Impossible!" Shaozhe shrieked, his carefully maintained composure instantly disintegrating. Ignoring the agonizing tearing in his chest, he roared, "Three hundred-thousand-year soul bones?! Du Busi, you are demanding the moon! Do you have any idea how few hundred-thousand-year soul bones even exist in this world?!" He coughed violently, spraying a fine mist of blood. "A demand like that—even if we gutted Shrek's deepest vaults, we could never just hand them over to you!"
A single hundred-thousand-year soul bone was an absolute divine artifact, an item capable of serving as the ultimate foundational legacy for a top-tier sect. The mere rumor of one appearing in the wild was enough to trigger a continent-wide bloodbath. For Du Busi to casually demand three at once was, in Shaozhe's eyes, nothing more than an excuse to drag their faces through the mud.
Du Busi's expression darkened into a terrifying scowl. His emerald-green soul power flared upward, expanding into the night sky like an erupting volcano. He glared down at Shaozhe, his gaze turning exceptionally brutal. "Since you refuse, do not blame me for lacking mercy."
He raised a thick finger, pointing toward the towering stone gates of the Heavenly Soul Imperial City in the distance, where the torches of the night watchmen were already flickering. "You asked what I planned to do? Let me paint you a very clear picture. If you do not hand over the soul bones, I will shatter all three of your legs right here, right now. I will permanently seal every major meridian in your bodies."
A cruel, sadistic grin stretched across his face. "Then, I will strip you completely naked and string you up, one by one, above the main gates of the Imperial City. I will personally plaster notices on the walls for every merchant, mercenary, and traveler to read. I will let the entire continent know that the esteemed Dean and Elders of Shrek Academy were caught red-handed, sneaking into the capital like common vermin because they lusted after my Empire's Count."
"You wouldn't dare!" Shaozhe roared, his eyes practically spitting fire.
Just the mental image of such a grotesque, humiliating display flashing through his mind made his stomach heave. It was a fate ten thousand times worse than death. Shrek Academy valued its supreme, untouchable reputation far above the lives of its members. If such a spectacle were to actually occur, even if the three of them somehow survived and returned, Shrek's ten millennia of glorious prestige would be irreparably reduced to a laughingstock. They would be the ultimate sinners of the academy.
"Whether I dare or not, you are welcome to test me!" Du Busi barked.
He didn't waste another breath. His massive figure blurred, tearing through the air to instantly materialize directly in front of Elder Song.
"Du Busi! Stop!" Lin'er screamed, lunging forward to intervene. But with a mere, casual flick of his wrist, a shockwave of soul power slammed into her chest, sending her tumbling dozens of meters away into the dirt.
Elder Song, already hovering on the brink of unconsciousness from her severe wounds, was completely powerless to resist. Du Busi raised his massive boot, the sole coated in a thick, hardened layer of soul-power keratin, and stomped mercilessly down onto her calf.
Crack!
The sickening, wet snap of bone splintering echoed with piercing clarity down the deathly silent path.
"Ah—!" Elder Song let out a ragged, agonizing shriek, her frail body convulsing violently against the dirt as white-hot pain flooded her nervous system.
But Du Busi did not stop. He kept his heavy boot planted firmly on the shattered calf, grinding his heel into the ruined bone. He slowly lifted his gaze, locking his cold, reptilian eyes onto Shaozhe. Shifting his stance slightly, he aimed the toe of his other boot directly at Elder Song's fragile left wrist.
"That was only the first," Du Busi stated, his tone grim and absolute. "Shaozhe, you have exactly two breaths to make your decision. Let us see what holds more weight: your hypocritical Shrek pride, or this old woman's limbs!"
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