Douluo Dalu 3: Legend of the White Fox

As they looked at the unconscious Lin Pingzhi, the high-ranking members of Shrek Academy were all seething with anger.

They understood Yali's explanation, but outside of Shrek Academy, who would listen to their side of the story?

Once Lin Pingzhi's cultivation skyrocketed, people would only believe that eunuchs truly could gain strength rapidly at Shrek Academy.

With Lin Pingzhi as a "successful" example, it was likely that more and more cultivation fanatics would show up at Shrek Academy's gates, willing to castrate themselves in pursuit of power.

Just imagining that scene made the academy's leaders shudder.

"You idiot! If you had spent more time interacting with your junior sister and venting some of your excessive yang energy, you wouldn't still be just a Soul Ancestor." Yali gritted her teeth in frustration. She truly could not understand what Lin Pingzhi was thinking.

His body was overflowing with yang energy, and he had a junior sister who loved him dearly, yet at twenty-four years old, he was still a virgin.

This wasn't a cultivation fanatic—this was someone with a mental problem!

"How should we handle this?" Long Yeyue looked to the other members of the Sea God's Pavilion. Every single powerhouse in the Pavilion was overwhelmed. Lately, trouble had been piling up, and none of it was easy to resolve.

And now, another mess.

Long Yeyue felt the urge to slap Lin Pingzhi to death.

But too many people had witnessed Lin Pingzhi being carried into Shrek Academy. If anything happened to him, it would be even harder to explain.

Expelling him wasn't an option. Keeping him wasn't an option either.

Long Yeyue turned her head toward Yun Ming, who sat slumped with his head down.

Ever since he had been rejected in marriage yesterday, Yun Ming's mental state had been in disarray.

Being bombarded by online harassment was truly unbearable.

The public didn't know who in Shrek Academy had orchestrated the attack on Xia Yi, so they could only blame Yun Ming—after all, he was the one sheltering the culprit.

"Something's wrong!"

Just as the members of the Sea God's Pavilion were feeling helpless, an urgent voice rang out.

Shrek Academy's Inner Court senior disciple, Lan Muzi, rushed in anxiously.

"Muzi, what's with this panicked behavior?" Long Yeyue raised an eyebrow. She was already agitated, and Lan Muzi's frantic manner only made her more annoyed.

"Teacher, the leader of the Spirit Pagoda has just made a statement. He posted a video on the Spirit Pagoda's official website about the events of the past two days." Lan Muzi said in a deep voice.

"A video?" Long Yeyue's expression darkened immediately. She pulled out her Soul Communicator to check the video.

She didn't even need to watch it to know that it would definitely be detrimental to Shrek Academy.

The other members of the Pavilion also hastily opened their Soul Communicators and found the video posted by Qiangu Dongfeng.

In the video, Qiangu Dongfeng wore the uniform symbolizing his position as the Spirit Pagoda's leader, standing solemnly in the grand hall of the Pagoda, where murals of Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong were carved.

He first bowed deeply to the mural of the God of Emotions, Huo Yuhao, before turning toward the camera and speaking in a calm, deliberate tone:

"I have four matters to address in today's video. The first concerns our Deputy Pagoda Master Leng's incident yesterday. While the responsibility lies with Shrek Academy, we acknowledge that this matter has taken up everyone's time. As such, I, on behalf of the Spirit Pagoda, sincerely apologize."

After saying this, Qiangu Dongfeng bowed deeply to the camera. When he straightened up, his gaze became sharp as he continued:

"The second matter is about the attack on my disciple, Xia Yi, during the Soul Dueling Tournament by high-ranking members of Shrek Academy. On behalf of the Spirit Pagoda, I demand that Shrek Academy severely punish the perpetrator. Shrek Academy, as the world's number-one academy with a twenty-thousand-year legacy, is supposed to be the holy land of all soul masters—not a shelter for corruption. The Spirit Pagoda hopes that Shrek Academy will not tarnish the names of the Sea God and the God of Emotions, nor disappoint the people."

The more Qiangu Dongfeng spoke, the more powerful his voice became. His speech was well-crafted, quickly drawing the audience into his narrative.

He took a deep breath and continued in a loud voice:

"The third matter is to clarify something for Skycover Douluo. I don't believe, as some rumors claim, that he is a eunuch. Nor do I believe that all past leaders of the Sea God's Pavilion were eunuchs. But even if they were, I do not think they castrated themselves for the sake of power. I have a theory—just a theory, mind you, so please take it with a grain of salt."

Qiangu Dongfeng gestured toward the mural of Huo Yuhao behind him.

"As everyone knows, the founder of our Spirit Pagoda came from Shrek Academy and was once a disciple of Dragon God Douluo Mu En, who was the leader of the Sea God's Pavilion a thousand years ago. According to records left behind by the God of Emotions, Mu En had a complex relationship with Ye Xishui, the Holy Lord of the Holy Spirit Cult, even going so far as to have a romantic relationship with her.

"Thus, I speculate that if past leaders of the Sea God's Pavilion truly were eunuchs, it might have started with Mu En. Perhaps he feared that future Pavilion Masters might be swayed by lust and collude with the Holy Spirit Cult, so he decreed that all future leaders must be eunuchs."

Qiangu Dongfeng's expression turned solemn.

"If this is true, then the past leaders of the Sea God's Pavilion were truly great men. To prevent themselves from falling into temptation, they were willing to make such a sacrifice. Skycover Douluo, on behalf of the Spirit Pagoda, I thank you and your predecessors for your noble dedication to justice."

He bowed deeply once more.

When he lifted his head, his tone became gentler.

"The fourth matter concerns Lin Pingzhi. That young man seems to be quite sincere. To go to such lengths just to become Skycover Douluo's disciple—what devotion! Skycover Douluo, you must not let down his determination and sacrifice."

After watching the video, the powerhouses of the Sea God's Pavilion were furious.

Crash! Crack!

One by one, their Soul Communicators shattered in their hands.

"Shameless! How could the leader of the Spirit Pagoda be so despicable, kicking us while we're down?!"

They didn't even need to listen to the public discourse to know how the internet was reacting now.

These powerhouses felt utterly powerless.

They possessed incredible strength, yet they had no idea how to use it against this situation.

Qiangu Dongfeng's video had completely blocked off all of their escape routes.

Yun Ming, however, felt a strange sense of relief—at least all of this had happened after student admissions were completed.

Had these scandals erupted just a few days earlier, at least 80% of their top talents might have chosen to leave.

Yun Ming lowered his head, his entire being consumed by dejection. He punched himself

As he thought about how Shrek Academy had ended up in such a state under his leadership, Yun Ming was overwhelmed with guilt.

A series of helpless situations had left him utterly dejected, his eyes vacant and lifeless.

"Brother Ming!" Yali called out softly. Seeing Yun Ming like this, her heart ached deeply.

She had a premonition that she might never see that unparalleled, ever-confident, and composed Skycover Douluo again.

The events of the past two days had not only ruined Yun Ming's reputation but had also caused Shrek Academy's old honor to plummet.

She understood Yun Ming better than anyone and knew the pride in his heart.

Yun Ming had not reached this point because he couldn't accept failure or setbacks, but because he couldn't accept a failure so complete that he had no way to make amends.

Even after thinking all night and into the day, Yun Ming still couldn't fathom how things had escalated to this extent.

Aside from the previous high-ranking members of Shrek Academy scheming against Xia Yi, he didn't believe he had done anything wrong.But even regarding the scheme against Xia Yi, he had already taken full responsibility, and Yali had personally gone to apologize!

So why had it come to this?

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Yun Ming shook his head at Yali before getting up and leaving.

Watching Yun Ming's departing figure, Yali wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt as if his silhouette was no longer as towering as before.

"I must get to the bottom of this." Yali bit her lip. In the next moment, she appeared directly in the working students' dormitory.

As soon as Yali arrived, she saw Gu Yue tidying up Xia Yi's bed.

Xia Yi, on the other hand, was sitting beside her, eating leftover pastries from the day before.

For Xia Yi, a bed was something that would get messy again at night even if he made it in the morning.

As long as it was clean and comfortable, that was all that mattered.

Whether it was messy or not didn't concern him at all.

But Gu Yue couldn't stand it, so she insisted on tidying it up for him.

Seeing a figure suddenly appear, both Xia Yi and Gu Yue were startled, but upon realizing it was Yali, Xia Yi quickly relaxed.

Gu Yue, noticing that Xia Yi remained still, didn't bother reacting either and continued tidying up his bed.

"Would you like some?" Xia Yi casually waved his hand.

Then, he turned to Gu Yue and said, "Yue'er, come sit for a bit. I'll take care of it later."

If it were just him and Gu Yue, they could do whatever they wanted.

But if there were outsiders present, Xia Yi preferred to treat Gu Yue as the sovereign of soul beasts—To maintain her dignity.

"Alright." Gu Yue nodded, but instead of sitting down right away, she first poured a cup of water for both Xia Yi and Yali before finally sitting down beside Xia Yi.

"You're certainly living the good life, aren't you?" Yali gritted her teeth.

Right now, the entire Shrek Academy was in chaos. The Sea God's Pavilion was at a loss, and she was on the verge of growing white hair from the stress.

Yet, the so-called "culprit" of it all, Xia Yi, was living so comfortably.

"How is this the good life?" Xia Yi chuckled, then said seriously, "It's just making a bed. We're fellow disciples—helping each other out is nothing out of the ordinary."

Yali glanced around the room, then at the two separate beds on either side, and asked, "Why are you two living together?"

"You've hit a sore spot with that question." Xia Yi gritted his teeth, putting on an angry expression as he said, "Yesterday, when we returned from Spirit Pagoda, that lion next door had already thrown my bed over here."

Yesterday, when Xia Yi, Gu Yue, and Wu Jin returned to Shrek Academy together, Wu Jin went straight back to his dormitory.

Xia Yi and Gu Yue, being nominally Leng Yaozhu's students, were obligated to attend the wedding.

Regardless of whether the wedding took place as planned, they had to go through the proper motions.

However, Xia Yi hadn't expected that after watching such a dramatic spectacle, he and Gu Yue would return only to find that Wu Jin had directly moved his bed and bedding to the entrance of Gu Yue's dormitory.

And he had even changed the door lock.

Yet, Xia Yi was the one who had paid for the entire dormitory!

Wu Jin had practically taken over his room like a bandit.

This was intolerable.

But Xia Yi endured it, shamelessly moving his bed into Gu Yue's dormitory instead.

"It's a good thing I have a good temper, or else I'd have definitely settled the score with him," Xia Yi said 'angrily.'

But all Yali saw was the grin that was practically splitting his face in two.