"Oh, I was wondering who it was. Turns out it's Skywater Academy."
Ning Rongrong casually glanced over and was about to call her group to leave. But just as she turned around, she quickly looked back again.
She couldn't be seeing things, right? That was Zhuqing, wasn't it? But hadn't her father said she was already dead?
She had been heartbroken for a long time over that. After all, Zhuqing was the first friend she had made through her efforts—someone she didn't have to pretend in front of.
When the incident happened, she rushed back to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan for help. But her father, who had always doted on her, not only refused to help but also restricted her freedom.
The next day, when she received further news, she learned that Zhu Zhuqing had gone missing, and her father regretfully told her she was most likely dead.
Afraid she might be mistaken, Ning Rongrong rubbed her eyes hard and looked again at the familiar figure in the Skywater Academy.
There was no mistake—it was Zhuqing, and she was still alive. This was wonderful.
Without thinking, she raised both arms, waving excitedly and shouting, "Zhuqing! Zhuqing!"
Flender opened his eyes, his face already twisted in pain.
His last prayer hadn't worked—Ning Rongrong had found Zhu Zhuqing.
Worse, she completely ignored everyone else's presence and called out like that, disregarding their feelings.
Couldn't she read the room?
Oh wait, she didn't need to.
Flender felt bitter inside. Someone, save him! Please, help!
On the other side, the group from the Skywater Academy, who had been laughing and chatting as they walked, naturally heard her shout.
"Hey, Zhuqing, isn't that Ning Rongrong? Hmm, and the second team of Heaven Dou Imperial Academy? Let's go over."
Upon seeing Ning Rongrong, Dugu Yan and the others also noticed the group beside her, dressed in the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy uniforms, glaring darkly in their direction.
Dugu Yan's eyes sparkled as she pulled Zhu Zhuqing along toward them, with the rest of the Skywater Academy following behind.
After all, she had once been a tyrant in Heaven Dou, and with Han Li's permission to act freely, what did she have to worry about? With a Super Douluo as her grandpa, how could she possibly be afraid? From Qian Renxue to Han Li, from the Heaven Dou Empire to the Spirit Hall, both the players and the referees were on her side—what could anyone do against her?
Besides, she had long wanted to meet this group and see what made them think they were so special. Of course, she didn't mind helping Zhu Zhuqing stand up for herself.
The Skywater Academy instructor, following behind them, understood the situation and stayed in the background. The academy dean had instructed her when they left: she was just there as a chaperone, to keep an eye on the girls. As for anything else, she didn't need to intervene, and she wouldn't interfere with Dugu Yan's actions either. After all, Shui Bing'er agreed.
And so, under the watchful eyes of everyone, the two academy groups met.
Ning Rongrong had already rushed forward and hugged Zhu Zhuqing tightly. The sight of two beautiful girls embracing was certainly a lovely scene.
"Hey, gloomy guy, what are you glaring at with those red eyes for? What, do you want to fight? I'll knock your head sideways."
Ignoring whatever Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong were whispering to each other, Dugu Yan directly taunted Dai Mubai.
The three of them also had the Deathgod Domain, making them far more sensitive to murderous intent than the average person. Moreover, Dai Mubai was making it far too obvious—there was no need for any special ability to sense it.
As Dugu Yan spoke, Shui Bing'er and Xiu'er had already locked eyes on Tang San. He was the real hidden serpent here. His killing intent toward Zhu Zhuqing was no less intense than Dai Mubai's.
"Don't push us too far!"
Dai Mubai's teeth were nearly grinding to dust. Even though he had already decided to endure, he couldn't bear being directly insulted like this.
"Hah, now we're pushing you too far? What about when you all were forcing Zhuqing? Back then, wasn't she still your fiancée?"
After spending so much time with Han Li, Dugu Yan had learned a thing or two about twisting the narrative. She didn't bring up anything too specific; instead, she slapped a label on him right away.
Whatever had happened in between didn't matter—just answer whether or not what she said was true.
As soon as she spoke, the crowd watching began to buzz.
This was the resting area for contestants from various academies, and most of the people here were young. At their age, they worshipped love, so upon hearing this, they all began to look at Dai Mubai with suspicion.
"Don't slander me! Why don't you mention that she refused to cooperate with me in the first place..."
Dai Mubai retorted without thinking.
"Then why don't you explain why she wouldn't cooperate with you?"
Dugu Yan sneered and continued, "It was you who abandoned your fiancée and ran off on your own to live it up, wasn't it? And it was you who, along with your teammates, forced her, wasn't it?"
"So what's wrong with her choosing to fight back and dump you?"
She raised her voice slightly on the last sentence.
She was here to air out the dirty laundry.
She didn't believe Dai Mubai would dare reveal that he had become a eunuch.
If there was any hope left for the Shrek team to make a comeback in the tournament, once that piece of information got out, Dai Mubai would be completely abandoned by the Star Luo Emperor. A prince who couldn't pass on his lineage—what a joke that would be for the other powers to witness.
At the moment, the funniest part was that, of the three major powers, only the Star Luo Empire remained in the dark about all of this.
"You... you..."
Dai Mubai's lips trembled in anger. Hearing the whispers of the surrounding crowd, he knew that during this year's Soul Master Tournament, he would become the subject of gossip. As time passed, even commoners would secretly mock him.
This situation would only worsen as his identity became public in the Soul Master Tournament, further destroying any hope he had of making a comeback.
Such negative news could never be associated with a future emperor. Even though the Star Luo Empire advocated ruthless elimination, if a candidate became a laughingstock across the continent, especially in rival nations, not even the Star Luo Emperor could ignore the problem.
In short, he was finished. His future was bleak—unless Dai Weisi died in this tournament.
Flender sighed and finally stepped forward. As a teacher, no matter how unwilling he was, he had to stand up for his students at this moment.
"Miss Dugu, please show some mercy. Many hidden aspects of this situation can't be made public, and I'm sure you understand that. Moreover, this is an internal matter for Heaven Dou Imperial Academy. With the tournament approaching, we should focus on the competition."
Flender felt a headache coming on. He couldn't afford to offend any of these people, so he tried to steer the conversation back to the tournament.
Expecting Ning Rongrong to help was out of the question, and Tang San was even less likely to intervene. If his identity were exposed, he might be the first to die. Just look at him—he hadn't said a word and was lowering his head faster than anyone else!
"You, as a teacher, are quite amusing. Don't think for a second that when I mentioned those involved earlier, I wasn't including you."
Dugu Yan cast Flender a playful glance. If she remembered correctly, this member of the Golden Iron Triangle had also been involved in forcing Zhuqing.
Flender felt a chill in his heart, a bad premonition rising within him.
"Flender, as a teacher, after this incident occurred, didn't you suggest that Zhuqing should submit to them? Is that how a teacher should act?"
Dugu Yan's words were sharp as she confronted Flender. Not waiting for him to respond, she continued on her own.
"But I suppose that's just your style after all."
"Flender, a level-70 Soul Sage, once collaborated with the Spirit Hall fugitive, the Immovable King Zhao Wuji, to open an unlicensed Soul Master Academy in Sotou City, calling it Shrek Academy. You even claimed that one of your graduates became the youngest elder in the Spirit Hall."
"So, would you care to tell me the name of that student, in front of everyone?"
Flender stood frozen in place, never expecting that a single sentence from him would lead to his past being dragged out and questioned in front of everyone.
But since she was from Spirit Hall, he didn't dare to speak recklessly. Forcing a smile, he replied, "That was just me boasting, of course. There's no such student."
"Alright, so in that case, you're admitting to using the name of Spirit Hall and harboring the fugitive Zhao Wuji, correct?"
Dugu Yan wasn't going to let him off the hook, and Flender was already sweating profusely.
"This... Miss Dugu, I..."
Flender tried to argue, but Dugu Yan interrupted him again.
"Let's put that aside for now. Flender, could you explain what happened to the 42 students—geniuses who had to reach level 21 by age 12—that your Shrek Academy recruited over the past 20 years? Out of those, only 14 successfully graduated. What happened to the remaining 28 students?"
"Could it be that they failed to reach the Soul Ancestor level by age 20? Or did something happen to them?"
As Dugu Yan finished speaking, the murmurs from the surrounding crowd grew louder.
Many realized that they had barely met the entrance requirements themselves, yet they had never heard of this academy. Something seemed off.
"Are you afraid to answer? Then I'll tell them. Some of those students died while acquiring soul rings, and others were ruined after they missed their prime training years."
Dugu Yan's words exploded in the ears of everyone around, leaving them in disbelief.
Could it be that people with talent equal to or greater than theirs ended up like this?
Everyone knew that it wasn't uncommon for advanced students to die while acquiring soul rings, but the proportion she mentioned was unbelievable.
Moreover, wasn't this dean a Soul Sage? How could so many students die while acquiring their first four soul rings?
The only reasonable explanation was that they either never helped their students acquire soul rings or simply didn't care.
Wasn't this negligence of human life? The onlookers were suddenly chilled, and their gazes toward Flender filled with fear.
PS: I'm also quite puzzled by the death toll among past Shrek students. I mean, the soul beasts they were hunting were only below 10,000, and they had a level 70 overseeing them.