Chapter 80: Carrying a Thorned Rod to Apologize? Elder Mu Wants Elder Xuan to Kneel Before Liu Yuan?
The golden whip of soul power tore through the air, descending with a deafening crack.
Dozens of strikes rained down in a merciless, blinding blur. Each brutal impact drew a violent, agonizing convulsion from Elder Xuan, sending erratic shockwaves of soul power rippling across the courtyard.
Not a single patch of intact flesh remained on Elder Xuan's back. Blood soaked his robes, pooling darkly on the pristine ground. Only when the brilliant golden soul power forming the whip began to dim from sheer exhaustion did Elder Mu finally lower his trembling arm. The terrifying pressure that had suffocated the area dissipated into fading specks of golden light.
Elder Mu's chest heaved. He exhaled a long, ragged breath of murky air, desperately trying to purge the stifling frustration and bitter regret gnawing at the depths of his heart.
By now, the highest echelons of the Sea God Pavilion had gathered.
Yan Shaozhe, Xian Lin'er, Elder Song, Cai Mei'er, and the other senior elders stood in a wide circle. The expressions painted across their faces were a complicated mess of shock and dread. They stared at the dying Elder Xuan, slumped in a spreading pool of his own blood, and then shifted their eyes to Elder Mu, whose face was as dark and turbulent as a storm-tossed sea. No one dared to breathe too loudly.
Elder Mu straightened his hunched back. His sharp gaze swept over the gathered elders, lingering heavily on each face.
"You must be very curious," his voice rasped, hoarse but dripping with unquestionable majesty. "Curious as to why this old man would exact such a brutal, private punishment upon a Level 98 Super Douluo right outside the sacred doors of our Sea God Pavilion."
He didn't wait for an answer. With a voice that trembled with suppressed fury, Elder Mu laid bare the entire truth. He recounted everything Elder Xuan had uncovered in the Heavenly Soul Imperial City. He detailed exactly how Elder Xuan had forcibly expelled Liu Yuan from the academy, callously stripping a thirteen-year-old boy of his martyr's orphan status simply because of a 'shattered Martial Soul and crippled body'. He did not spare a single damning detail.
"Listen to this!" Elder Mu pointed a trembling finger at the bloody heap that was Elder Xuan. He let out a harsh, furious laugh. "Which of these actions does not warrant severe punishment? Which of these decisions is not actively digging at the very foundation of my Shrek?"
He glared down at the broken man. "I have told you countless times, Elder Xuan. A man must possess the vision to see the wider world! Especially you, holding such a lofty position within the Sea God Pavilion. Every word that leaves your mouth, every action you take, represents this academy. You should have acted with absolute prudence. You should have focused on the grander picture."
Elder Mu took a heavy step forward. "But what did you do? You were careless. You were slack. You let your arrogant, conceited nature dictate your judgment! Your actions are not merely a blasphemy against the martyrs who bled for this academy, but a vicious trampling of Shrek's ten-thousand-year reputation. It breaks my heart!"
A suffocating, dead silence fell over the senior elders. After a long moment, a collective, helpless sigh rippled through the group.
Most of these elders spent their days in deep seclusion or buried in specialized teaching and research. They had paid zero attention to an expelled freshman named Liu Yuan. In their minds, if Elder Xuan had handled the matter, the child simply hadn't been worth keeping.
Only now did the horrifying reality crash down upon them. They finally understood exactly what kind of monster Elder Xuan had thrown away.
A Level 44 Soul Ancestor who had slaughtered an Evil Soul Master at the Soul Sage realm. A boy who had skyrocketed in power in just a few short months. This level of terrifying aptitude completely shattered their conventional definition of a 'genius'.
Among the crowd, Yan Shaozhe looked utterly sickly. Fine beads of cold sweat dotted his forehead. His eyes darted nervously, entirely avoiding Elder Mu's piercing line of sight. As the Dean of the Martial Soul Department, he hadn't personally handled Liu Yuan's expulsion, but he had known about it. When Elder Xuan had casually mentioned that the child was ruined and keeping him was a waste of resources, Yan Shaozhe had actually nodded in agreement.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Yan Shaozhe forced himself to take a half-step forward. "Teacher..." he began, his voice lacking its usual confidence. "Things have already reached this point, and Elder Xuan has endured a severe punishment. Since the deed is done, no amount of anger can turn back the clock. The key now is that the punishment has been dealt. Shouldn't we focus on how to resolve this deadlock first?"
Elder Mu released a cold, heavy snort. His icy gaze locked onto Yan Shaozhe, lingering just long enough to make the Dean's heart hammer violently against his ribs.
"It indeed must be resolved properly."
Elder Mu lowered his head, his eyes falling back upon the kneeling, blood-soaked figure. Elder Xuan's body still twitched sporadically, but the wailing had stopped. He merely stared blankly at the blood-stained grass beneath his knees.
"Elder Xuan," Elder Mu asked, his voice dropping to a dangerous, deep register. "This old man asks you now. Do you know you were wrong?"
The agonizing burn radiating from Elder Xuan's back was excruciating. These were not normal wounds; they were inflicted by a whip infused with the deep laws of soul power, making them incredibly difficult to heal. He slowly closed his eyes. A ragged, broken sound scraped its way out of his throat.
"Elder Xuan... knows his mistake. I was old and muddled. I am the one who harmed the academy."
Elder Mu took a deep breath. The raw fury in his eyes receded slightly, replaced by a terrifying, absolute determination. "Since you recognize your fault, this old man will give you one chance to make amends."
"Liu Yuan has already become the successor of the Body Sect and is betrothed into the Heavenly Soul Imperial family. However, as long as a single glimmer of hope remains, we cannot give up."
Elder Mu paused, his tone hardening into steel. "You caused this disaster. Therefore, you will be the one to bleed your pride. I demand that you bear a thorned rod upon your bare back and travel to the Body Sect in person. You will kneel. You will kowtow before Liu Yuan. And you will beg for his forgiveness in front of the entire world!"
"When that time comes, I will force myself to drag this dying body of mine along with you. You are responsible for offering a proper, groveling apology. I am responsible for seeing if we can persuade him to return, using whatever lingering affection he might hold for his parents' memory. Even if we fail to bring him back, we must completely erase this grudge."
The courtyard erupted into stunned silence.
Elder Xuan's blank stare shattered. His head snapped up, his eyes wide with absolute shock and raw disbelief.
Bear a thorned rod? Kneel and apologize?
Who was he? He was Elder Xuan! The absolute number two figure of Shrek Academy! A Level 98 Super Douluo wielding the mighty Taotie Divine Bull Martial Soul! Wherever he walked in the Soul Master world, he was the living embodiment of Shrek's supreme majesty.
If he actually marched to the gates of the Body Sect and fell to his knees before a thirteen-year-old boy in full view of the public, his dignity would be annihilated forever. It would be a fate infinitely worse than death.
The surrounding senior elders finally snapped out of their daze, exploding into a chaotic uproar.
"Elder Mu, you absolutely cannot do this!" an ancient, highly qualified elder cried out, stepping forward in a panic. "Elder Xuan is a senior elder of our Sea God Pavilion! Think of his noble status! He is the very face of this academy. If you force him to kneel to a junior, how will the outside world view Shrek? How will we ever stand tall on this continent again?"
Xian Lin'er furrowed her brows deeply. "He is right, Elder Mu. There are countless ways to offer an apology. We can empty our vaults and provide massive resource compensation. We can even guarantee the boy a future seat right here in the Sea God Pavilion. But kneeling... that crosses the line."
Listening to their frantic dissuasion, the temperature in Elder Mu's eyes plummeted to absolute zero. He suddenly whipped his sleeve through the air, summoning a violent gust of wind that forced the elders to stagger back.
"Face?" Elder Mu spat the word like poison. "For the sake of this so-called 'face', we have already thrown away a genius the likes of which this world hasn't seen in ten thousand years! Is this still not enough of a warning for you fools?"
"Can your precious 'face'bring back a future Limit Douluo? Can your'face' guarantee Shrek's ten-thousand-year foundation will survive the coming eras?"
His voice boomed like thunder, the sheer weight of his presence pressing down on the elders until they could barely draw breath. "In this matter, Elder Xuan was dead wrong! And not only was he wrong, but he viciously tore out the heart of a martyr's orphaned son! If we at Shrek lack even the basic courage to admit our catastrophic failures and bow our heads in apology, then what right do we have to call ourselves the Holy Land of the Soul Master world?"
"Elder Xuan must represent Shrek. He must display the absolute most sincere attitude to make our stance clear."
Elder Mu ignored the pale, trembling elders and locked his terrifying gaze solely onto Elder Xuan.
"Elder Xuan, this old man will only ask you one last thing. What is your choice? Do you want to keep that worthless old face of yours, or do you want Shrek to have a future?"
Elder Xuan opened his mouth, his chest heaving as a frantic war raged within his heart.
He desperately wanted to refuse. He wanted to scream that a warrior could be killed, but never humiliated. But he knew Elder Mu's temperament far too well.
The younger generation only saw the amiable, gentle old man whose state of mind had mellowed with age and injury. But Elder Xuan remembered. He remembered the young Elder Mu. The undisputed 'Dragon God' whose personality was as fierce and unforgiving as a raging inferno.
Elder Xuan knew, with absolute certainty, that Elder Mu was truly, murderously furious right now. If he dared to utter the word 'no', Elder Mu would beat him within an inch of his life all over again—and when it was over, he would still be dragged to the Body Sect to kneel.
Under Elder Mu's suffocating gaze—a gaze that felt as though it were piercing straight through his very soul—the final, stubborn shred of Elder Xuan's pride crumbled into dust.
He squeezed his eyes shut. Hot tears spilled over his lashes, mixing with the blood smeared across his battered face as they dripped onto the grass. He ground his teeth together so hard his jaw ached, and with every ounce of strength left in his broken body, he forced out the words.
"Elder Xuan... is willing."
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