Chapter 131: Handle According to Pavilion Rules
Inside the Sea God Pavilion, the air felt as if it had been siphoned away by an invisible vacuum.
Elder Mu sat in the main seat. His eyes remained shut, but his aura—as abyssal and vast as the ocean itself—pulsed in slow, suffocating waves throughout the grand meeting hall.
His expression was cast in deep, gloomy shadows. Hidden within the dim light, his withered fingers curled slightly inward, leaving faint, splintering indentations on the solid mahogany armrests.
At this moment, Elder Mu was trapped in a maelstrom of contradiction and sheer disgust.
Looking down at Elder Xuan, who was currently groveling on the floor, weeping loudly and begging to cripple his own cultivation, Elder Mu's immediate instinct was to strip the man of every single privilege he held.
As the true helmsman of Shrek Academy, Elder Mu understood the catastrophic scale of the disaster Elder Xuan had wrought. Losing the championship. Driving away an unmatched genius. Kneeling in public like a dog. Any single one of these offenses was enough to have an Elder permanently erased from Shrek's inner circle.
He truly loathed the idea of letting this repeat offender off the hook so easily.
Yet, a bloody, pragmatic reality stayed his hand: Shrek's current generation was suffering a severe drought of true successors.
This mirrored the original timeline's crisis with the Death Messenger, where Elder Xuan's catastrophic negligence had led to heavy losses. He had committed unforgivable sins back then as well, but with no other viable options, the academy had been forced to rely on him to weather the storm.
Elder Mu recognized the vicious cycle he was trapped in.
If he actually accepted Elder Xuan's resignation, he could scan the entirety of the Sea God Pavilion and fail to find a second Level 98 Super Douluo capable of walking the continent as the academy's ultimate enforcer at a moment's notice.
Yan Shaozhe was still too young to shoulder that absolute authority. Elder Song possessed the strength but was hindered by age and rarely intervened in worldly affairs. Xian Lin'er and the others were tied down by their respective departmental duties.
Ultimately, if Shrek did not grit its teeth and continue using the Taotie Douluo, they would face a terrifying vacuum in top-tier combat power.
But to continue using him...
Elder Mu slowly opened his eyes. His gaze held a deep weariness and a piercing disgust that stripped away all illusions.
He stared at Elder Xuan's trembling back—a posture that feigned humility but reeked of calculation—and finally shattered the dead silence with a voice as cold as ice.
"Who approved your resignation? Elder Xuan, do you mistake Shrek for a tavern where you can come and go as you please? After committing such a monumental blunder, your first instinct isn't to figure out how to make amends, but to run away?"
Elder Mu's voice echoed through the hall, carrying the crushing weight of a collapsing mountain.
Hearing this, Elder Xuan maintained his mask of heart-wrenching sorrow, even managing to squeeze out two pathetic tears. Deep down, however, a massive weight lifted from his chest.
'It worked!' Elder Xuan was ecstatic.
He knew the moment Elder Mu spoke those words, it meant his life and his exalted status as an Elder were temporarily secured.
Suppressing his inner joy, he forced his head up. His voice cracked, choked with fabricated emotion as he continued his theatrical performance.
"Elder Mu! Just let me go! I, Elder Xuan, have never suffered such humiliation in my life, nor have I brought such grievances upon the academy. I... I truly have no face left to stay! I beg you, grant my wish! Let me sweep the courtyards as a mere janitor!"
"Enough!"
Elder Mu slammed his hand against the armrest. The wood cracked sharply. Genuine, unadulterated fury laced his tone. Watching Elder Xuan's pathetic pretense pushed his annoyance past its absolute limit.
"Drop the act. Elder Xuan, let me make this perfectly clear: I am keeping you, but not so you can occupy a seat in this Pavilion for nothing."
Elder Mu stood up. Due to his crippled physique, his movements were agonizingly slow, yet the sheer, mountain-crushing pressure radiating from his hunched frame forced every single Elder in the room to bow their heads in submission.
"Shrek lost its glory; therefore, Shrek's people must reclaim it with their own hands. I will give you a few more years. From this day forward, your sole purpose is to pour every ounce of your energy into cultivating the new generation of disciples."
Elder Mu descended the steps slowly, stopping right in front of the kneeling man. He stared down from above, his eyes entirely devoid of warmth.
"At the next All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, you will once again serve as the team leader. You will take Shrek's new generation, and you will claw back the championship trophy you threw away. Every single piece of it."
At this point, Elder Mu's tone sharpened into a lethal blade.
"If you lose next time, or if you cause another humiliating spectacle like kneeling in the dirt, I will personally shatter your cultivation and banish you from Shrek City forever. Do you hear me?"
Elder Xuan froze on the spot. The blood drained from his face.
He had assumed he would suffer a severe physical beating or a few years of solitary confinement. He never anticipated Elder Mu would issue such a draconian military order.
'Are you insane, Elder Mu?!'he roared internally.'Win it back next time?! That is practically impossible!'
With the monstrous anomalies currently roaming the continent, reclaiming the championship would require a miracle. This meant the executioner's blade dangling over his neck hadn't been removed at all; it had merely been delayed.
Elder Xuan's facial muscles twitched violently. The shock of transitioning from surviving a disaster to facing an impossible wall of pressure nearly shattered his pitiful facade.
But he had no avenue for retreat. No room to bargain.
He knew very well that this was the final thread of survival Elder Mu was offering, and the absolute last pardon Shrek would ever grant him.
Taking a ragged breath, Elder Xuan slammed his forehead back against the floorboards. His hands trembled as they gripped the wood. He raised his voice, projecting absolute conviction.
"Rest assured, Elder Mu! I will reform! I will dedicate my life's learning to training the juniors. If I fail to bring back the championship in the next tournament, you will not even need to act. I will end my own life beneath the Golden Tree! I swear it... there will absolutely never be a next time!"
Having delivered his grand vow, Elder Xuan assumed the trial had reached its conclusion. He subtly shifted his weight, preparing to stand and quietly slip away.
However, Elder Mu's next words crashed down like a glacier, freezing the last embers of relief in his chest.
"Since you have made your stance clear, the academy's business is settled. Now, let us address the punishment."
Elder Mu slowly lowered himself back into the main seat. His tone was flat, yet it carried a bone-chilling edge.
"The death penalty is waived, but the living punishment is inescapable. You knelt at Star Luo Plaza representing Shrek. While that was your personal choice, the stain you left on this academy's honor must be washed. If I let this slide, I cannot face the ancestors of the Sea God Pavilion, nor the teachers and students who look to us."
Elder Mu turned his head slightly, gesturing toward the silent Enforcement Elder standing in the shadows.
"Handle him according to Pavilion rules. Elder Xuan, you have no objections, I presume?"
Elder Xuan's complexion turned a sickly, ash-gray.
The Pavilion rules of Shrek's Sea God Pavilion regarding the discipline of Elders were rarely invoked, but every single one of them was notoriously brutal.
He looked up at Elder Mu. The old man's eyes were closed once more, yet they seemed to pierce straight through his skull, reading the cowardice in his heart. He knew there was no escaping this.
Gritting his teeth until his gums bled, Elder Xuan forced out a hoarse, trembling whisper.
"I... accept the punishment."
As those words fell from his lips, the ambient light inside the Sea God Pavilion abruptly dimmed. From the depths of the void, the slow, metallic grinding of heavy iron chains began to echo.
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