Chapter 82: Du Busi Angrily Scolds Elder Mu! You Shrek Hypocrites!
Elder Xuan dropped heavily onto the bluestone slab. The dull, heavy thud of his kneecaps striking the cold stone echoed through the otherwise silent valley, a sound that carried the weight of a shattered ego.
Yet, this humiliating impact was merely the beginning.
Standing just a few paces away, Elder Mu kept his gaze locked onto the kneeling man. Those ancient eyes felt like physical thorns pressing into Elder Xuan's spine, cold, unyielding, and entirely devoid of forgiveness.
Suffocating under that icy stare, Elder Xuan drew a ragged breath. He forced himself to ignore the phantom pain digging into his back. Circulating his dense soul power, he projected his voice, amplifying it until it rolled like thunder across the massive gates of the Body Sect.
"Sinner Elder Xuan is here today to offer a humble apology!"
His voice cracked slightly, hoarse from the sheer, suffocating shame clawing at his throat. But driven by the vast reserves of a Level 98 Super Douluo, the declaration washed over every corner of the Body Sect's territory.
"Liu Yuan! Back then, this old man was blind and foolish!"
"I should never have disregarded the blood and meritorious service your parents sacrificed for the academy! I was wrong to forcibly expel you just because your martial soul mutated and your future appeared ruined!"
"I have failed the orphan of our martyrs! I have failed the very honor of Shrek Academy! Today, I kowtow before these gates to confess my absolute guilt, begging you to forgive my foolish actions from all those years ago!"
The moment his final word faded into the mountain breeze, the Body Sect erupted into absolute chaos.
Disciples who had been quietly cultivating in secluded caves, training grounds, and meditation halls snapped their eyes open. Startled by the devastating apology echoing through their bones, they abandoned their tasks. A sea of green-clad figures surged toward the main sect gates like a rising tide.
"Who is that? Making such a racket right in front of our gates?" A young disciple rubbed his ringing ears, his face contorted in pure astonishment.
"Are you deaf? Didn't you hear him clearly?" an older disciple snapped, his eyes wide. "He said his name is Elder Xuan! Isn't that Shrek Academy's Taotie Douluo? A Level 98 Super Douluo!"
"What?" The younger boy gasped, nearly tripping over his own feet. "A Level 98 Super Douluo is actually kneeling at our front door to apologize to Senior Brother Liu Yuan? What on earth is going on?"
As the crowd swelled around the entrance, a few well-informed core disciples began to whisper the dark history between the two factions.
"You really don't know?" one of them muttered, keeping his voice low. "Senior Brother Liu Yuan was originally expelled from Shrek Academy by this exact same Elder Xuan!"
"I heard the rumors from the elders," another chimed in, his expression darkening. "Senior Brother Liu Yuan's parents were elite disciples of Shrek's inner court. They both died in the line of duty, bleeding out to protect their companions during an extremely dangerous mission."
"Shrek Academy swore an oath to raise Senior Brother Liu Yuan. But they only kept him around for six miserable years."
"Later, when they discovered Senior Brother's martial soul had mutated and he looked like useless trash, this Elder Xuan personally issued the expulsion order. He drove a child away! And don't forget the worst part. Senior Brother was completely blind at the time due to the martial soul mutation. They kicked a blind orphan out into the streets!"
The surrounding disciples inhaled sharply, the collective sound like a cold wind sweeping through the crowd.
"Isn't Shrek Academy supposed to be righteous? How could they be so cold-blooded to the orphan of their own martyrs?"
"Cold-blooded? This is completely heartless!" A burly Body Sect disciple waved his fist, his knuckles cracking with indignant rage.
"And look at them now! They see that Senior Brother Liu Yuan has awakened a supreme talent in our sect. They see he has become the absolute strongest genius of this generation, so they shamelessly run over here to grovel. Isn't it obvious? They want to drag him back to their rotten academy!"
"We absolutely cannot let Senior Brother Liu Yuan go back to those snakes!" another disciple shouted, his face flushed with anger. "These Shrek hypocrites are disgusting. When Senior Brother was down on his luck, they treated him like trampled grass. Now that he stands at the peak, they want to treat him like a treasure. How can a place like that ever compare to our Body Sect?"
"Exactly! We need to hurry and warn Senior Brother. He cannot be fooled by this pathetic sob story!"
Driven by fierce loyalty, a large group of disciples broke away from the crowd, sprinting toward Liu Yuan's private residence. They were terrified that their senior brother might actually soften his heart and agree to return with the enemy.
The remaining disciples crowded around the massive stone gates, pointing fingers at the kneeling Elder Xuan. The harsh whispers and mocking laughter filled the air, forming a suffocating net of humiliation.
Elder Xuan kept his head bowed. The countless gazes of ridicule, disdain, and pure contempt felt like physical arrows, raining down upon him and shredding his final remaining shreds of dignity as a Super Douluo into absolute tatters.
He had lived for hundreds of years. He was a revered elder of the Sea God Pavilion. When had he ever been subjected to such degrading treatment?
Surrounded by the endless mockery of juniors who were barely old enough to be his great-grandchildren, his weathered face burned with a feverish heat. The extreme, suffocating shame clawing at his chest made him wish he could just detonate his soul core right then and there, ending this unbearable nightmare.
However, he did not dare move a single muscle.
Elder Mu stood right beside him. The faint, pulsing golden light emitting from the old man's cane served as a constant, terrifying reminder. If Elder Xuan showed even a fraction of dissatisfaction, if he dared to retreat a single inch today, a fate far more miserable than this public execution of his pride would await him.
Left with no other choice, Elder Xuan squeezed his eyes shut. He knelt there like a crumbling stone statue, forcing himself to endure the harsh, biting words drilling into his ears.
Just then, the heavy atmosphere shifted. The high-level figures of the Body Sect finally made their appearance.
Du Busi took the lead, striding forward with heavy, earth-shaking steps. His face was so dark and gloomy it looked as though black water might drip from his chin.
Behind him followed several towering elders of the sect, their auras flaring with barely contained hostility.
Du Busi stepped heavily over the stone threshold. He stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at the kneeling Elder Xuan and the standing Elder Mu from a position of absolute superiority. His eyes held not a single drop of sympathy. There was only deep, visceral disgust.
"Elder Mu," Du Busi began, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. "You brought this trash to the gates of my Body Sect to act wild for no reason. Do you really think my Body Sect is so easy to bully?"
He did not bother with pleasantries, his tone as cold as glacial frost.
"This is my territory. Take your dog and get out!"
Du Busi was no fool. He knew exactly what these two old ghosts had come for.
From the very first pathetic sentence that spilled from Elder Xuan's mouth, he understood their game. Shrek Academy wanted to play the miserable sob story card to snatch his precious disciple away.
Facing Du Busi's towering fury, Elder Mu remained exceptionally calm.
The old man let out a long, heavy sigh, his tone carrying a desolate, weary sincerity. "Du Busi, I did not come here today to settle sect grudges."
"Elder Xuan did indeed commit an irreparable mistake all those years ago. And as the Master of the Sea God Pavilion, I failed to educate him properly. That failure is a great fault of mine."
"Today, I am personally supervising Elder Xuan as he offers his absolute apology to Liu Yuan. I ask for nothing else. I only wish to provide a proper explanation to the boy, and to his parents who are watching from the heavens."
"After all... regarding the tragedy of the past, Shrek Academy truly owes that child a massive debt."
Du Busi let out a harsh, barking sneer. "An explanation?" he mocked, his eyes flashing with dangerous light. "I have already heard the apology. I will accept it on behalf of Liu Yuan right here and now."
"As for your so-called explanation, your man has already knelt, and the pathetic words have been spoken. So, can you get lost now?"
Elder Mu slowly shook his head. He lifted his gaze, looking past Du Busi and toward the deep inner peaks of the Body Sect. His ancient eyes were filled with quiet determination. "That will not do. Some wounds cannot be smoothed over with just a passing sentence."
"In matters as severe as this, Elder Xuan must explain the grievances of the past clearly, face-to-face with Liu Yuan. He must personally ask for the boy's forgiveness."
"Otherwise, what is the point of this entire apology?"
Du Busi's gaze sharpened into twin blades. A dense, toxic emerald-green light began to flicker violently around his massive frame, the obvious sign that his tyrannical soul power was on the absolute verge of erupting.
"Elder Mu, I see you are hiding your true, filthy motives, aren't you?" Du Busi took a heavy step forward. The stone beneath his boot cracked as a terrifying wave of soul pressure crashed directly over Elder Mu.
"Using this dog's apology as a cheap gimmick, you are actually trying to scheme against Liu Yuan, aren't you?"
"What? Back when the boy was down and out, blinded by a defective martial soul, your precious Shrek Academy kicked him to the curb like useless trash."
"But now? Now that he has revealed an unmatched, heaven-defying talent within my Body Sect? Now that he has shown the absolute potential to become a Limit Douluo, you hypocrites come crying and shouting, begging him to go back?"
Du Busi jabbed a thick finger toward the kneeling Elder Xuan, throwing his head back and laughing in extreme, bitter anger. "Your Shrek Academy claims to be the sacred Holy Land of the soul master world! You have held yourselves on a golden pedestal for ten thousand years! So why are you now discarding every last shred of your face? This kind of fickle, profit-seeking, utterly shameless behavior—if you don't find it disgusting, then I feel ashamed for you!"
The air in front of the massive sect gates froze, becoming heavy enough to crush steel. Two supreme powerhouses, men who stood at the absolute pinnacle of the Douluo Continent, confronted each other across the tense divide.
Elder Mu remained silent. He did not bother to refute Du Busi's scathing words, because he knew deep in his bones that every single syllable was the ugly truth.
Shrek Academy's current actions, no matter how magnificent and righteous the cloak of their 'apology' appeared, were entirely driven by the desperate hope of winning Liu Yuan back.
"No matter what you say, I will not leave this place today if I do not see Liu Yuan." Elder Mu tapped his golden cane against the stone. His tone was quiet, yet it carried an immovable tenacity that would absolutely not break until his goal was reached.
"Then let's try it." Du Busi crossed his massive arms over his chest, his violent killing intent fully bleeding into the air. "If I do not nod today, let's see which one of you ghosts dares to take a single step through my gates!"
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