In the Bright Moon Hotel, Xu Jiujiu and Wei Na were pacing back and forth in the same room, anxiously observing the movements outside.
The sounds of fighting in the city had already died down for some time, but neither the Titled Douluo by their side nor those who had taken the opportunity to go out and cause other destruction had sent back any news until now.
Xu Jiujiu's expression was extremely unsightly. As someone who had participated in planning the entire operation from start to finish, she already had a very bad premonition in her heart.
"Ahem, Wei Na, come with me quickly."
Suddenly, a voice rang out in the room. Xu Jiujiu turned to look and saw that at some point, a figure had appeared beside Wei Na. Though not particularly tall, the aura emanating from him was extremely intimidating.
"Greetings, Senior Poison
"Enough, no need for so many formalities at a time like this."
"Grandpa Du, what exactly happened outside?"
Hearing Wei Na speak, Poison Undying's already gloomy face darkened even further. "Who could have expected that the one protecting Xu Tianran would be a rank 99 Limit Douluo."
"The Dragon Emperor Douluo disappeared from the continent long ago. Some speculated that he had already passed away from old age. Who would have thought that not only is he not dead, but he has actually sided with the Sun Moon Empire."
"This time, if he hadn't considered the face of the Dragon God Douluo and the Heavenly Soul Empire, I'm afraid both Xuan Zi and I would have perished there."
When Xu Jiujiu heard the words "Limit Douluo," her entire body froze in place. Though she had never seen one with her own eyes, she knew what kind of power a Limit Douluo possessed. As long as a Limit Douluo was present, assassinating Xu Tianran had become nothing more than a joke.
"What about the other places?" Xu Jiujiu asked unwillingly.
"I don't know the specifics. By the time I returned, everything had already gone quiet. I'm afraid the situation isn't much better elsewhere."
Du Busi shook his head. Looking at the two who remained silent for a moment, he reached out and grabbed Wei Na. "This operation will definitely provoke Xu Tianran's retaliation. I'll take you away first. Later, I'll see if there's any chance to rescue the others."
Then he turned to look at Xu Jiujiu beside him. "If you want to leave, this old man can take you along for a stretch."
Xu Jiujiu was stunned upon hearing this. After a moment of silence, she shook her head. "No matter the outcome, this matter started because of me. I cannot abandon them. I will stay here and wait for news of the others."
"Hmph." Du Busi let out a cold snort, said no more, and left first with Wei Na, leaving only Xu Jiujiu in the room waiting for news from the others.
Unfortunately, after waiting for quite some time, when the door was knocked on, what she received was not the people who had gone to participate in the operation, but instead teachers from Shrek Academy.
"Princess, the people from the Star Luo Empire..." Wang Yan spoke halfway, then saw Xu Jiujiu's somewhat haggard expression and suddenly stopped without continuing.
"Your people haven't returned either?"
Hearing Xu Jiujiu's words, Wang Yan became even more certain of his guess. "That's right, there has been no news until now."
"Then... have your academy's other teachers heard anything?"
Wang Yan paused for a moment, then turned his head to look to the side. Xu Jiujiu followed his gaze and saw an unkempt old man standing at the door, his face still carrying traces of anger. The pressure from a Super Douluo made it somewhat hard to breathe.
"Senior Taotie."
Xuan Zi forcefully suppressed the surging emotions in his heart. "Does Your Highness know exactly where our people went?"
Xu Jiujiu shook her head and glanced at Wang Yan. "When the plan was made, aside from Xu Tianran and the Mingde Hall, the other targets were decided by us ourselves. If even you don't know where they went and they didn't notify you, then we know even less."
Xuan Zi's expression instantly darkened upon hearing this. In truth, he also knew that Xu Jiujiu most likely did not know Huo Yuhao and the others' whereabouts. But after they left, until now, they had neither returned to the hotel nor released any signal, how could he not be anxious?
Moreover, with Bei Bei still unconscious, and now Huo Yuhao and the other three missing, even participating in the rest of the Elite Tournament had become impossible.
"Excuse the disturbance."
Xuan Zi left those words behind and led Wang Yan toward Shrek Academy's rooms. Along the way, aside from the sound of footsteps and rapid breathing, no other sound was made.
Xuan Zi's fists were clenched tightly. Last time during the Soul Master Tournament, it was due to his carelessness that several inner court disciples suffered heavy casualties, leaving only three main team members to take the stage and ultimately losing the championship.
This time in the Elite Tournament, aside from Bei Bei's injury, three disciples had completely vanished, and one of them was the most talented, the one the academy had poured all its effort into cultivating as the ultimate single-unit combatant: Huo Yuhao.
If something happened to Huo Yuhao, he feared he would no longer have the face to return to the academy.
"No, we're going back now." Xuan Zi suddenly stopped in his tracks. Wang Yan, following behind, abruptly halted and then looked up at Xuan Zi.
"This Elite Tournament is being held in Mingdu. For safety reasons, we didn't bring any reserve disciples. Now with Bei Bei injured and no news from Yuhao and the others, we can no longer participate in the remaining matches."
"Moreover, according to news from the Star Luo Empire and Heavenly Soul Empire, the Sun Moon Empire seems to intend to seal off Mingdu."
"No matter what the Sun Moon Empire is plotting, the most important thing now is to protect your safety first. I'll take you to break out now. As for Yuhao and the others, we can only think of a way after reporting back to the academy."
"But..." Wang Yan felt reluctant. To just abandon Huo Yuhao and the others like this—he truly couldn't harden his heart.
"Yuhao has always been clever; he will definitely protect himself. We cannot let the other students fall into danger as well." Xuan Zi made up his mind and no longer hesitated.
"Go notify the other students first. Have them take good care of Bei Bei on the way. Strive to leave Mingdu before dawn with my help."
"Alright." Though Wang Yan felt immense reluctance toward the Elite Tournament, he had no choice at this moment. He nodded heavily and then went to knock on the doors of the other students.
The residents of Mingdu no longer knew how many times such disturbances had occurred in the city. In the dead of night, thunder-like sounds awakened many from their sleep.
And it was only the next morning that they discovered there were even more things they had not known about.
Among the thirty-two teams that had entered the round-robin stage of the Elite Tournament, several teams had vanished from Mingdu overnight. This included the highly anticipated Shrek Academy.
And just as the citizens were waiting for the imperial family to explain, on the high platform where Xu Tianran used to watch the matches, Xu Tianran's figure was actually nowhere to be seen.
Even Regent Consort Ju Zi had disappeared along with him, leaving only a few ministers and a rather mysterious State Preceptor.
The imperial palace seemed to have been suddenly sealed off, with no news coming out from within.
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