In the capital of the Tianhun Empire, inside a luxurious top-tier suite at the Heaven Soul Royal Hotel, a gray spatial door opened without a sound. Kong Mingan and the Snow Empress stepped out of the portal. Ju Zi was already there waiting for them and immediately walked forward to greet them.
"Guild Leader, you have arrived," Ju Zi said in a gentle voice as she bowed respectfully.
Ju Zi served as the Vice Guild Leader in name, but in reality, she acted as Kong Mingan's personal secretary. She was always very hardworking and responsible. To make sure she could handle all her duties quickly, she had moved her office from Shrek City to Heaven Dou City.
Because she could use the demiplane to travel through space, moving back and forth was not hard for her at all. Ju Zi looked at the Snow Empress for just a moment before turning her attention back to Kong Mingan. She did not ask any questions and kept her posture respectful.
"How are things going here?" Kong Mingan asked as he walked toward the sofa in the living room. The Snow Empress followed him quietly, her eyes looking around the room. There were many good things about being Kong Mingan's bodyguard, such as being able to enter and leave the human world whenever she wanted. Over the last month, she had followed him to many places in the capital city and found everything very new and interesting.
"The schedule for the Spirit Master Grand Competition is ready, and the opening ceremony will be the day after tomorrow," Ju Zi reported. "Almost all the participating teams have already checked into the hotel. The Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy team is led by Elder Ma. They arrived three days ago and are training right now. Since you were not here yet, a student named Lin Yi is serving as the temporary captain."
Kong Mingan understood the situation. He was a few days late because he had been too focused on his research into Elementalization.
"What about the people from Shrek Academy?" he asked. They were one of his main reasons for coming on this trip.
Ju Zi was ready for the question and replied immediately. "According to our information, the Shrek team stopped to fight a group of evil Spirit Masters on their way here. They finished the mission three days ago and rested at a border camp. They should arrive at this hotel sometime this evening."
Kong Mingan nodded. He had enough time to make his plans. He stood up, deciding to go see his own teammates first. He wanted to make sure everyone on his team was following the same plan. However, since he was young, he thought it might be hard to just talk them into following him. He figured it would be much faster and easier to just beat them in a fight to show his strength.
As evening came, a group of more than ten students and teachers in Shrek Academy uniforms walked through the front door of the hotel. They looked very tired from their long journey. The leader of the group was a teacher who looked exhausted but still very sharp and alert.
"We are finally here! I am so tired!" Wu Ming said while stretching her shoulders. Her bright red hair looked a bit dull because of the long trip. "If those evil Spirit Masters hadn't kept running away, we would be in our beds resting by now!" She turned to the students next to her with a smile. "Xiao Tao, you all did a great job. If you hadn't stopped those evil Spirit Masters from escaping, they would have hurt many more people."
"This is just what we should do, Senior Sister Wu!" Ma Xiaotao replied seriously. She looked to be only thirteen or fourteen years old. Ling Luochen and the others nearby all nodded in agreement.
As the next generation of the Shrek Seven Devils, hunting evil Spirit Masters was part of their duty. Even though they had some injuries from the battle, they felt it was all worth it. Wu Ming smiled and kept chatting with the younger students, making the group feel more lively.
Nearby, Han Ruoruo was looking at Zhang Lexuan with a worried face. "Lexuan, are you still thinking about what happened at the Academy?"
Zhang Lexuan was silent for a moment before shaking her head. "I am fine, do not worry. We have a competition to win, and I will not let anything distract me." Han Ruoruo was still worried because her best friend had looked very tired lately, but she decided not to say anything else.
The group walked into the hotel lobby. Zhang Lexuan looked around the beautiful room with tired eyes. Suddenly, she stopped and looked at a lounge area nearby. There sat seven or eight young people wearing Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy uniforms. What was strange was that several of them had bruises on their faces, looking like they had just been in a rough fight.
However, that was not what caught her attention the most. She saw a very handsome young man sitting right in the center of the group. He looked quite young and was calmly reading a document.
"Is that him?" Zhang Lexuan thought. She recognized Kong Mingan because he was very good-looking. She remembered seeing him in Shrek City before. She wondered why he was here and why he seemed to be part of the Sun Moon Battle Team. It seemed very strange to her that someone from the Sun Moon Empire would have been in Shrek City.
Just then, the young man closed his document and stood up. As he moved, all the injured members of the Sun Moon Battle Team stood up at the exact same time. They moved with perfect discipline. Kong Mingan then led his team directly toward the people from Shrek.
The Shrek team stopped talking and became very alert. Their teacher stepped forward to protect the students and asked in a deep voice, "Sun Moon Battle Team? Do you need something?"
Kong Mingan stopped a few meters away. He had a polite and gentle smile on his face. Because he looked so calm and kind, it was hard for the Shrek people to be angry with him.
"I am sorry to disturb you all," Kong Mingan said in a clear, calm voice. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Kong Mingan, from the Kong Family of the Sun Moon Empire. Kong Deming is my grandfather."
The Shrek teacher's eyes widened when he heard that name. Everyone in the high ranks of the continent knew who Kong Deming was. There were even rumors that he had reached a new level of power recently, which made the other kingdoms very nervous.
"Why are you here?" the teacher asked.
"I do not want to cause any trouble," Kong Mingan replied. "I am only here for a private matter... or you could call it a family matter."
"A family matter?" the teacher asked, feeling confused. He watched as Kong Mingan looked past him and past the main members of the Shrek team. Finally, Kong Mingan's eyes landed directly on Zhang Lexuan, who was standing in the middle of the group.