Douluo Dalu 3: Legend of the White Fox

After Xia Yi's reminder, it wasn't just Ya Li—every powerful member of the Sea God's Pavilion secretly listening to their conversation felt like slapping themselves.

Leng Yaozhu had been in seclusion for so many days, yet not a single one of them had realized that she might be trying to escape the marriage.

Throughout the entire Shrek Academy, if even one person had noticed the problem, the academy wouldn't be in such an embarrassing situation right now.

"Haha!" Xia Yi sneered coldly.

"What are you laughing at? Am I wrong? If it weren't for Qian Gu Dong Feng deceiving us all this time, we definitely would have noticed something was off!" Ya Li protested, unconvinced.

"They say, 'A fall into the pit, a gain in your wit.' But do you guys only know how to shift blame? Can't you reflect on your own mistakes?" Xia Yi said indifferently.

"We trusted your teacher and the Spirit Pagoda, which is why we failed to see the problem. Who would have thought your teacher would go back on her word?" Ya Li snorted coldly. "If we made a mistake, it was trusting your teacher too much."

"Going back on her word? Heh, if you use deception to gain a promise, does the other person really need to keep it?" Xia Yi shook his head. "Let me curse you all again—the Sea God's Pavilion is just a bunch of self-righteous fools."

Xia Yi sneered, "You talk about trusting my teacher, but stop making excuses for yourselves. Did you really trust my teacher? No, you only trusted yourselves! From start to finish, you all arrogantly believed that as long as Skyshroud Douluo was willing to marry her, my teacher would have no choice but to agree. You arrogantly assumed this wedding was doing her a favor or even an act of charity. You never once considered putting her on equal footing, never once thought about how she actually felt. Even when you were almost fighting at the gates of the Spirit Pagoda, you still blindly believed she wouldn't refuse the marriage."

"You only ever think about yourselves, never from the perspective of others. If you had considered my teacher's point of view, you would have realized she never wanted to get married in the first place. If you had considered Qian Gu Dong Feng's position, you would have understood that no matter how bold he was, he would never have dared to detain my teacher under those circumstances."

"So…" Xia Yi lifted his gaze to meet Ya Li's eyes. "So, the situation today was entirely caused by your arrogance, your self-centered thinking."

Ya Li fell silent.

If this had been before, she would have immediately argued back.

But this time, what happened… seemed to align exactly with what Xia Yi was saying.

Seeing Ya Li's silence, Xia Yi paused for a moment before continuing, "Actually, my teacher chose to enter seclusion early because she didn't want this matter to escalate. If she really wanted to trick you, she could have played along with you until the very last moment before vanishing. Or she could have waited until you brought her back to Shrek Academy before rejecting the marriage. If she had done that, you wouldn't have had a single chance to notice anything was wrong."

"Secluding herself early was her way of giving you a chance to realize something was off. But you wasted that chance because of your arrogance. And now, you still have the nerve to blame others? If I were you, I'd give myself two slaps to wake up and reflect."

Ya Li remained silent.

She had no words to refute Xia Yi.

After a long pause, Ya Li finally asked in a deep voice, "Did your teacher tell you to say all of this?"

"Does that even matter?" Xia Yi shook his head.

"It really doesn't." Ya Li nodded. "I need to think through what you've said. I'll come back to you later."

With that, she lifted the cup on the table, downed its contents in one go, then turned and left.

Once Ya Li's figure had completely disappeared, Gu Yue's beautiful eyes glowed as she looked at Xia Yi and asked, "Did your teacher really tell you to say all that to the Holy Spirit Douluo?"

"If you give me a kiss, I'll tell you." Xia Yi smirked mischievously, completely changing from his previous serious demeanor.

"In your dreams. Say it or don't." Gu Yue scoffed and turned her head away proudly.

"Alright, how about this—I lower my request. Just give me a shoulder massage. That's not too much to ask, right?" Xia Yi chuckled.

"Go to hell!" Bang! Gu Yue punched Xia Yi's shoulder hard.

"Ah! That hurts!" Xia Yi yelped in pain, looking at Gu Yue with a pitiful expression. "Are you massaging me or trying to kill me?"

"Serves you right." Gu Yue grinned smugly, but she secretly rubbed her own hand behind her back.

Her fist actually hurt more than Xia Yi's shoulder.

Of course, she wouldn't tell Xia Yi that.

Xia Yi saw through it but chose not to say anything.

"Can't you be a little gentler?" Xia Yi asked pitifully.

"Nope. This is just how I am. Take it or leave it." Gu Yue huffed. "I already hit your shoulder—now tell me what I want to know."

Xia Yi chuckled. "Actually, I made all that up. It's just enough to fool those idiots in the Sea God's Pavilion."

"Made it up? But everything you said made perfect sense." Gu Yue raised an eyebrow. She stood up, moved behind Xia Yi, and gently massaged his shoulders, even rubbing his temples.

"Damn sly fox, daring to say I'm not gentle? If it weren't for the fact that you worked so hard these past few days forging battle armor for Zi Ji, I wouldn't be doing this for you." Gu Yue thought to herself.

She could be gentle. She could massage Xia Yi's shoulders, even wash clothes and fold blankets for him.

But only if it was her idea—not something Xia Yi demanded.

Of course, she found a reasonable excuse for herself—Xia Yi had worked tirelessly for five days to forge Zi Ji's full set of two-word battle armor, including the wings.

A complete set of two-word battle armor!

Other Rank Five blacksmiths would need at least three months, maybe even half a year.

But Xia Yi finished it in five days.

And all of it was divine metal.

Even Feng Wuyu, with a mere 50% success rate in forging divine metal, paled in comparison to Xia Yi's astonishing 100% success rate.

Despite his Creation Hammer constantly replenishing his energy and his formidable mental strength exceeding 2,000, Xia Yi had been utterly drained multiple times over the past few days.

Even now, he still hadn't fully recovered and felt lightheaded.

"Are you really not afraid that the Holy Spirit Douluo will hold you accountable?" Gu Yue asked while continuing the massage.

"Even though I made it up, it was based on facts. Otherwise, how could anyone believe it?" Xia Yi shook his head. "Besides, even if I hadn't said it, my teacher would have told them the same thing once she left seclusion."

"You're so sure that what you said is exactly what your teacher wants to say?" Gu Yue giggled.

"Of course." Xia Yi looked completely confident. "Not only can I guess what my teacher would say, but I can also predict her true intentions."

"Her true intentions?" Gu Yue frowned. "What are they?"

"If I told you my teacher did this for Shrek Academy's own good, would you believe me?" Xia Yi asked.

"For Shrek's good?" Gu Yue rolled her eyes and gave Xia Yi another light punch on the shoulder.

"You actually dare say that? Look at the mess Shrek Academy is in right now!" Gu Yue scoffed.

Xia Yi chuckled. "My teacher saw how sick Shrek Academy has become. She wanted to force the academy into self-reflection. She chose to go into seclusion early to see just how deep the rot goes. If the sickness wasn't severe, a simple treatment would do. But if it was terminal, drastic measures would be needed. That's what her actions were—a radical cure. Of course, she also wanted to vent her frustration."

Gu Yue nodded slightly. "That… kind of makes sense. But do you think Shrek Academy can actually recover?"

"That depends on whether its leaders have the courage to cut away the rot," Xia Yi said. "If the disease is too advanced, medicine alone won't work. It needs surgery. The question is, will Shrek Academy dare to cut out its tumors?"

The Holy Spirit Douluo is too kind and would never be the one to wield the scalpel. As for the Skycover Douluo and the Light-Dark Douluo, I don't really know them," Gu Yue shook her head.

"Kindness, heh." Xia Yi smirked.

"If you have something to say, just say it! Don't play riddles with me!" Gu Yue, dissatisfied, punched Xia Yi once again.

"It's just a self-righteous kind of kindness, just like Shrek Academy's self-righteous sense of justice." Xia Yi shook his head. "Sometimes, this kind of self-righteous kindness and justice can be even more terrifying than incurable evil."

Gu Yue nodded in agreement.

Yali's kindness was somewhat like Bi Ji's.

Oftentimes, it actually had the opposite effect.

Just like what happened with Na'er.

Xia Yi chuckled. Leng Yaozhu had good intentions, but she was doomed to fail.

She could never save Shrek.

She wasn't at Shrek Academy, so she had no idea how deeply rooted its illness had become.

Shrek's problems didn't develop overnight. With so many years of history, surely some of the Seagod's Pavilion elders had realized the academy's disease.

But why hadn't they done anything about it?

Because they understood that Shrek Academy had long since become symbiotic with these so-called tumors.

Recklessly prescribing medicine wouldn't save Shrek Academy—it would only bring its downfall alongside those very tumors.

Just like what was happening to the Seagod's Pavilion now.

Although Yali took Xia Yi's words to heart, most of the Seagod's Pavilion elders did not.

"To ruin Shrek Academy like this and still claim it was for its own good—could he be any more shameless?" Long Yeyue gritted her teeth and said coldly, "A mere Soul Elder with just three rings dares to say that the Seagod's Pavilion and Shrek Academy are diseased? Hmph."

Though Xia Yi hadn't explicitly named names, based on his logic, she was one of the 'tumors.'

For this mere Xia Yi to suggest that she was a tumor? Unforgivable.

Everything she did was for the sake of Shrek Academy—at least, she had a clear conscience.

"Brother Ming." Yali looked at Yun Ming helplessly.

"He says we are self-righteous, but isn't he the same?" Yun Ming kept his head down, his voice low. Xia Yi's words had lifted his spirits a little, but only just.

(End of Chapter)