Chapter 281 The Entire Continent is Shocked! Is Xuanzi Such a Sore Loser?
"This is absolutely a frame-up! It's a deliberate frame-up by the Body Sect and the Heavenly Soul Royal Academy!"
After a brief moment of shock, Xu Sanshi's eyes instantly turned bloodshot. Veins bulged on his forehead as he pointed at the city guard general and loudly retorted:
"The Heavenly Soul Royal Academy and Shrek Academy have always been mortal enemies! They must have deliberately destroyed the hotel to try and smear Elder Xuan because they won the match during the day and wanted to completely crush Shrek Academy! What kind of status does Elder Xuan have? How could he do such a thing?!"
Faced with Xu Sanshi's almost hysterical questioning, the leading city guard general's expression remained unchanged. His cold eyes swept across the faces of all the Shrek Academy members in the hall, and the heavy aura of a Title Douluo subtly circulated around him, making the already noisy living room air even more somber.
"Shrek students, watch your words."
The general spoke coldly, his voice devoid of any warmth: "As I just said, our imperial authorities and the organizing committee handle cases based on evidence, not who shouts the loudest. The Heavenly Soul Royal Academy filed a formal complaint on the spot, and the remaining Taotie Origin Soul Power at the scene is undeniable. Whether it's true or false is not up to you or the Body Sect. Don't worry, we officials will investigate thoroughly."
Having said this, the general turned around, waved to the two squads of soldiers behind him, and sternly uttered his final warning:
"Until the truth comes out completely, this inn will be your temporary residence. No one is allowed to leave this building without permission. Otherwise, you will be handed over to the city defense army for direct detention as troublemakers during the competition. Let's go!"
Step, step, step.
The dense, heavy scraping of armor echoed once more as a large contingent of fully armed city guards swiftly retreated from the second floor of the inn via the stairs. Then, accompanied by the sound of the wooden doors being slammed shut from the outside, a whole column of city cavalry had already stretched out a long red line along the outer street, keeping a close watch on the entire inn.
After the city guards left completely, the previously tense Shrek living room fell into a suffocating silence in an instant.
Snap.
Beibei stumbled back a step, somewhat dazed, and finally slumped back onto the wooden chair behind him, utterly exhausted. His once bright eyes were now dull, and he was breathing heavily, the veins on his temples throbbing violently from the excessive mental pressure.
Beside him, Xu Sanshi gritted his teeth and slammed his fist against the earthen wall, making a dull thud. Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao leaned against the corner of the wall, looking utterly exhausted, their faces deathly pale.
At this moment, all of Shrek Academy's core disciples broke through their defenses.
"How could this happen... how could it turn out like this?" Xiao Xiao's voice was so low it was almost inaudible, and tears were glistening in her large eyes. She looked at Xuanzi's empty bedroom door with the windows wide open, and the faith she held in the eternally number one academy was almost shaken to the point of collapse in just one night.
"Senior Brother, Yuhao." Wang Dong also looked up in a panic, staring at the two people in the center of the living room. His voice trembled with obvious helplessness. "Do you think this is really true? Elder Xuan... in the middle of the night, would he really do something like sneaking into a guest room to assassinate Liu Yuan for us?"
Upon hearing Wang Dong's question, Bei Bei did not answer immediately. He dug his hands tightly into his hair, letting the tangled strands obscure his trembling face.
As the nominal captain of the team, he was all too aware of the weight behind this matter.
If the city guards' investigation proves that everything was a frame-up by the Body Sect, then Shrek Academy will at most have suffered a false alarm. But the most fatal problem now is that Xuanzi is missing. He personally told everyone not to disturb him and to go back to their rooms to rest at dusk, but now not only is his room empty, but the window also shows the residual soul power fluctuations that only a person would have when using their full movement technique to march at full speed.
This evidence was practically indisputable to the city guards and the Ming Dynasty officials.
"If it's really true..."
He Caitou, who had been sitting detachedly observing, suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence in the living room. Looking at Bei Bei slumped in her chair, he said in a heavy, suppressed voice, "If the official investigation proves that Elder Xuan was indeed behind it, then the innocence that Shrek Academy has built up over ten thousand years with the blood and honor of countless predecessors will be completely destroyed after this night. We will forever bear the stigma of assassinating a genius from another country in public. What difference is there between this despicable act and those unscrupulous evil spirit masters?"
He Caitou's words were like a cold, sharp knife, piercing the wound that all the Shrek team members present least wanted to face in their hearts with extreme bluntness and cruelty.
Xu Sanshi's body stiffened. The mouth that had been about to shout "framing" could no longer utter a sound. Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao lowered their heads in pain, tears streaming down their cheeks.
'Master Xuan... was it really you?! Why would you do this in the middle of the night?!'
Deep within everyone's hearts, a frantic and agonizing scream was taking place. They couldn't understand why the senior leader who had been so eloquent during the day, telling them to "stabilize morale and rebuild glory," would commit such a foolish and mad act in the middle of the night, plunging the entire academy into utter ruin.
Huo Yuhao sat quietly deep in his seat, his fists clenched tightly on his knees. Listening to his companions' worried and helpless discussions, the bitterness in his heart had become tangible.
With his spiritual attribute martial soul, he could guess the truth better than anyone else. Xuanzi's arrogance was completely shattered by Liu Yuan's instant death during the day. In his rage and despair, he took this risky step, which was almost inevitable.
But now, with this utterly failed infiltration, the entire Shrek Academy will face an unprecedented and devastating media storm.
Along with this earth-shattering news, it didn't even wait until dawn before it spread wildly and widely throughout every corner of the entire Douluo Continent at an unimaginable speed.
As the organizer, the Sun and Moon Empire made the first top-level decision.
In the dead of night, the Grand Council Hall in the core area of the Mingdu Imperial City was brightly lit. Two rows of royal retainers at the level of ninth-grade Soul Masters and generals from the city defense command stood solemnly on either side, creating an extremely oppressive atmosphere throughout the hall.
On the golden dragon throne at the very front, His Majesty the Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire was slightly bowed, his arms resting on the cold white jade dragon table. Upon learning that the high-class hotel had been reduced to ruins by two level 99 Limit Douluos, and that it involved the Shrek Academy elder Xuanzi personally assassinating a genius from the Heavenly Soul Royal Family, the old emperor's face instantly turned extremely gloomy.
"Investigate! Utilize all of the Empire's soul-guided detection capabilities to conduct a thorough investigation overnight!"
The Emperor slammed his hand on the dragon throne, producing a dull thud. His somewhat hoarse yet undeniably authoritative voice echoed throughout the empty hall:
"Within the city of Mingdu, during the competition, they openly infiltrated the base of another country's team to carry out a life-or-death ambush, even destroying their own hotel. This is not only a blatant provocation against the security and order of my Sun Moon Empire, but also puts the image of me and the empire as the host of the competition on the spot! If this matter is not thoroughly investigated, how can my Sun Moon Empire continue to rule the Soul Master world of this continent in the future?!"
After issuing the ironclad order for a thorough investigation, the Sun and Moon Emperor slowly sat back in his chair. His old eyes, hidden in the shadows, narrowed slightly, and a secretive and extremely cold smile flashed across their depths in a very short time.
For him, on the one hand, in order to maintain the Sun Moon Empire's international image and the status of the organizer in front of all Soul Masters on the continent, he had to publicly adopt the most severe and rigorous attitude of thorough investigation.
However, from the perspective of private national interests, if the final investigation of this storm can truly confirm that Xuan Zigan of Shrek Academy was behind it all... then this situation is exactly what the Sun Moon Empire's royal family would like to see.
Shrek Academy, as the highest spiritual pillar and core teaching sanctuary of the original three kingdoms of Douluo Continent, has been the biggest stumbling block for the Sun Moon Empire's expansion and unification of the entire continent for ten thousand years. If they can take advantage of the assassination of Liu Yuan with double pupils to completely remove the moral fig leaf that Shrek has accumulated over ten thousand years in front of the entire continent, and smash their reputation as the number one academy into the quagmire, then when the two armies clash in the future, the morale and cohesion of the original three-kingdoms allied forces will collapse without a fight.
Thinking of this, the old emperor's hands, hidden in his long sleeves, clenched slightly as he quietly awaited the final report on the search for soul power fragments at the front lines.
Meanwhile, a thousand meters away from Mingdu, in the palace of the Xingluo Empire, one of the original three kingdoms.
Although it was late at night, Emperor Xu Jiawei of the Star Luo Empire was pacing anxiously back and forth in the Golden Palace, wearing a bright yellow nightgown, because he had received an urgent intelligence report sent back by Mingdu's undercover agents via a high-level spatial teleportation soul master artifact.
Looking at the note on the table filled with secrets such as "Xuanzi assassinated Tianhun Liu Yuan, was poisoned but survived, and then destroyed the hotel himself," Xu Jiawei's heart sank to its deepest point.
His breathing seemed a little rapid, his hands were behind his back, and his brows were tightly furrowed.
"How foolish... utterly foolish!"
Xu Jiawei couldn't help but grit his teeth and mutter a rebuke in a low voice, his heart filled with indescribable shock and helplessness regarding Shrek's future.
He understood all too well the catastrophic consequences if this were true. For ten thousand years, the Star Luo Empire had always followed Shrek Academy's lead, regarding them as the spiritual leader of the three former kingdoms. If the Sun Moon Empire obtained proof of Xuanzi's heinous assassination attempt and made it public, Shrek Academy would truly be utterly tarnished under the noses of the entire continent.
Without the support of morality and reputation, the First Academy's name would not only become a complete laughingstock, but the Star Luo Empire would also instantly fall into the most passive abyss when facing international public opinion from the Sun Moon Empire. Xu Jiawei painfully held his forehead and slumped weakly onto the dragon throne, silently praying that Jiu Jiu could protect himself and not be caught up in this storm.
Meanwhile, inside the imperial city of another behemoth, the Heavenly Soul Empire.
After receiving urgent intelligence from his own ancestral hall late at night, Emperor Tianhun was so enraged that he slammed his fist on the table and stood up on his dragon throne.
It's important to understand that the team representing the Heavenly Soul Royal Academy in Mingdu this time consists entirely of the absolute elites of the Body Sect within the Heavenly Soul Empire. Especially Liu Yuan, the double-pupiled genius who has completed his Golden Awakening, is considered by both the Heavenly Soul Royal Family and the Body Sect to be an absolute genius capable of suppressing the nation's destiny in the future. Now, the old man leading the Shrek Academy team has actually dared to openly sneak into their guest room in the middle of the night during the competition to assassinate their nation's greatest trump card—this is tantamount to declaring war on the Heavenly Soul Empire in the most direct way.
"Shrek, Xuanzi! Are you trying to bully my Heavenly Soul Empire?!"
The Heavenly Soul Emperor's face flushed red, his eyes filled with uncontrollable rage. Without the slightest hesitation, he forcibly summoned all the civil and military officials in the dead of night and wrote a state letter bearing the highest imperial seal of the Heavenly Soul Empire.
The moment the official letter was sent, the Heavenly Soul Emperor, through the empire's military intelligence network, began to exert maximum international political pressure on the Sun Moon Empire's competition organizing committee and the Mingdu City Defense Command. The Heavenly Soul Empire's official stance was extremely clear and firm—no matter the cost, the Sun Moon Empire must handle this matter seriously and provide the Heavenly Soul Royal Academy and the victim, Liu Yuan, with the most satisfactory explanation. Otherwise, the Heavenly Soul Empire would not rule out taking the most extreme and comprehensive military retaliatory action against Shrek Academy directly outside the border after the competition.
While the high-ranking officials of the various empires across the Douluo Continent were in complete shock and engaged in fierce competition because of this night's fierce battle.
Deep within the ancient sacred land that once stood at the border of three kingdoms, inside Shrek Academy.
Just after midnight, the Shrek Academy teachers who stayed in Mingdu to gather information, at the cost of burning out their soul communication cores, transmitted back to the Sea God Pavilion all the true information, word for word, about Xuanzi's failed assassination attempt on Liu Yuan and the fact that Shrek's base was sealed off and inspected by the entire city guard.
boom.
This intelligence was like a bombshell dropped from the sky, instantly shaking the ancient holy land that had maintained its tranquility for millennia.
In the dark and oppressive light of the Sea God Pavilion's council hall late at night.
Yan Shaozhe, Xian Lin'er, Qian Duoduo, Cai Mei'er, and the other core high-ranking members who held power in various departments of Shrek Academy all stood up abruptly from the stone chairs on either side of the long table. Their faces turned deathly pale and ashen in that instant, their eyes filled with indescribable shock, anger, and despair.
At this moment, all the high-ranking members of Shrek Academy completely broke down.
(End of chapter)