Chapter 74: Plan
The stone steps leading down the mountain are very long, and it seems like there's no end in sight.
The atmosphere in the group was tense, with only Yu Xiaogang's indignant voice echoing:
"That Prince Xue Xing is utterly unreasonable! And those three education committee members are cowardly and incompetent!"
"The Heaven Dou Royal Academy is blind to talent! They have no idea what they've just refused!"
"That's a future champion team! A group of geniuses who could shock the entire continent! And they're just turning us away because of some so-called royal face? It's utterly foolish!"
As Yu Xiaogang walked, he waved his arms as if to vent all the frustration in his heart.
His heartbreak wasn't that the children had been wronged, but that his perfect "borrowing a chicken to lay an egg" plan had fallen through, and his chance to make a name for himself had slipped away.
Flander, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped.
He turned around and looked at the group of children behind him, who were hanging their heads and looked like wilted eggplants, his eyes slightly red.
"Children..."
Flander's slightly hoarse voice interrupted Yu Xiaogang's complaints. He took off his glasses, rubbed his sore eyes, and bowed deeply to everyone.
"Sorry."
Everyone was shocked and rushed forward to help the dean up.
Flander waved his hand, maintaining his bowed posture, his tone heavy with sorrow:
"It's my fault as the dean that's useless."
"It is my incompetence that I failed to protect Shrek Academy and find you a good home."
"I'm sorry to have caused you so much injustice, and even made you lose your chance to participate in the All-Continent Elite Tournament of Advanced Soul Master Academies. It's my fault, Flander. I'm so sorry to everyone."
At this moment, this shrewd and unscrupulous dean shed all pretense, revealing only a remorseful elder.
"Dean! Please don't say that!"
Dai Mubai took a step forward, supporting Flander's shoulder, his eyes also reddening:
"How can you blame yourself? It's that damned prince who's bullying us!"
"That's right!" Ma Hongjun exclaimed. "Dean, as long as we're together, isn't every place Shrek Academy? At worst, we can go back to Soto City. I don't mind that run-down village!"
"That's right, we don't care about that Royal Academy!" Oscar and Ning Rongrong chimed in.
Looking at these sensible children, Flander felt a surge of warmth in his heart, but even more so, he felt resentment.
Go back to Soto? That would ruin these children's future.
"Well..."
Yu Xiaogang, standing nearby, also sighed and shook his head with his hands behind his back.
"Returning to Soto City is easy, but what about the competition? It's the highest stage of glory for young Soul Masters across the entire Douluo Continent. If you miss it, you'll regret it for the rest of your lives."
These words were like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the enthusiasm that had just been ignited in everyone.
Just as the atmosphere reached another deadlock.
Flander wiped his glasses and put them back on, a flicker of hesitation crossing his eyes, but it quickly turned into determination:
"Actually... there's always a way out."
"I have a backup plan."
Upon hearing this, everyone looked up sharply, their eyes rekindling with hope.
"What preparations? Dean, please tell me!"
Flander took a deep breath and said:
"If we can't go to the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, there is actually another high-level soul master academy in Heaven Dou City."
"The dean of that academy is an old friend of mine."
"Although it can't compare to the Royal Academy in scale, it's still one of the top academies in Heaven Dou City. As long as I ask, I can bring you in and use their spots to participate in the competition, absolutely no problem!"
After the darkest hour comes the dawn!
The crowd, who had initially thought it was all hopeless, suddenly became excited.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go, Dean!" Ma Hongjun was so anxious he jumped up and down.
"Yes, Flander, since you have this kind of relationship, why didn't you say so sooner?"
Yu Xiaogang also grew anxious and urged him on.
"Lead the way! As long as we can participate, it doesn't matter if the conditions are a little worse!"
However, faced with everyone's urging, Flander seemed somewhat reluctant to speak.
He glanced at Yu Xiaogang, whose face was full of anxiety, and his expression became extremely interesting—it was a mixture of embarrassment, nostalgia, and a hint of anticipation for a good show.
"That..."
Flander stammered:
"You can go."
"But Xiaogang... are you sure you want to go?"
"Nonsense!"
Yu Xiaogang frowned deeply.
"Why can't we go? Do you have a grudge against that dean?"
"I don't have any grudges..."
Flander gave a wry smile and finally stopped hiding it:
"That academy is called Blue Tyrant Academy."
"The dean is... Liu Erlong."
Boom!
The moment those three words were uttered, it was like a spell that immobilized the person.
Yu Xiaogang, who had been impatient, froze on the spot.
His pupils contracted sharply, his expression changed from anxiety to terror, and he even subconsciously took two steps back.
Liu Erlong.
That name that haunted his dreams, yet also that he had feared and avoided for twenty years.
The final corner of that golden triangle—the killing corner.
She was also the woman he once deeply loved, but discovered on their wedding day to be his cousin.
"Two... two dragons?"
Yu Xiaogang's voice trembled, and his face was full of resistance:
"She's in Heaven Dou City? No... I can't go... How can I go see her..."
That ingrained instinct to escape made him want to turn around and run away immediately.
"Oh dear, Master! What time is it?!"
Unaware of this long-ago incident, Dai Mubai and the others panicked; they only knew this was their last chance.
"Is that Dean Liu Erlong that scary? For the championship, to prove your theory, he'd go through fire and water!"
"Yes, teacher," Tang San also advised, "this is the only chance."
Hearing the words "champion," "theory," and "only chance"...
Yu Xiaogang's foot, which was about to take a step to escape, stopped abruptly in mid-air.
He was struggling.
On one side is his ex-lover who makes him feel ashamed, and on the other is his tangled mess of emotional debts.
On one hand, there was the stage he had always dreamed of to prove himself, the title of champion godfather of the All-Continent Elite Tournament of Advanced Soul Master Academies.
If he runs away now, he'll really have no choice but to return to that dilapidated village with regret, continuing to be a useless master that nobody knows.
If I go... although it will be awkward and painful, as long as I can win the championship...
A few seconds later.
Yu Xiaogang took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and put on a "tragic" expression as if he was about to die a heroic death.
"Never mind... Never mind."
He slowly opened his eyes, his voice low and deep:
"If I don't go to hell, who will?"
"For the children's future, for Shrek's glory..."
"Flander, lead the way."
"I'll go."
Seeing this, Flander shook his head, a bitter smile appearing on his lips.
He knew his old friend too well; faced with fame, fortune, and dreams, the so-called "inability to face" ultimately led to compromise.
"Okay, since it's decided, let's change the route."
"Target: Blue Tyrant Academy!"
With Flander's command, the group regained its energy and marched in a grand procession towards another direction within the city.
At the back of the line.
Ye Liuyun watched all of this quietly.
He glanced again at the figure on the distant cliff.
Everything is proceeding according to his plan from many years ago.
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[end of the chapter]