Chapter 213: Angrily Rebuking Yan Shaozhe! Today, I Shall Act on Behalf of Heaven
The atmosphere in the Palace Square was heavy, thick with the murmurs of tens of thousands of spectators. Yan Shaozhe stood at the very edge of the Execution Platform. Beneath him, a sea of doubtful, scrutinizing eyes locked onto his figure. He took a slow, deep breath, forcing the tension from his shoulders. Smoothing out the creases in his pristine Shrek Academy robes, he deliberately ignored the predatory glares of the Body Sect experts flanking him. When he finally spoke, he projected his voice with a steady, practiced sincerity that echoed across the stone courtyard.
"Everyone! Please, hear me out!"
His voice carried the weight of a seasoned leader. "For ten thousand years, Shrek Academy has stood as the shield of the Douluo Continent. Our dedication to protecting this land is a truth you have all witnessed."
He paused, letting the gravity of his words settle before gesturing toward the bound, suppressed figure of Ma Xiaotao. A calculated hint of grief bled into his tone. "However, the reality of this world is rarely as simple as it appears. Xiaotao's situation is entirely different from the depraved Evil Soul Masters who willingly plunge into the demonic path to slaughter the innocent."
"She is the victim of a martial soul mutation," Shaozhe continued, his expression pained. "While executing a dangerous monitoring mission to protect civilians, she was invaded by an extreme, corrupting energy. This foreign power caused her soul power to violently spiral out of control. What happened to her was a tragic, catastrophic cultivation accident—not a malicious choice born of her own free will."
A heavy silence fell over the vast square. Shaozhe's posture—that of a heartbroken elder desperately trying to shield a misunderstood junior—was masterfully crafted to evoke empathy. Seeing the anger in the crowd begin to waver, he pressed his advantage.
", there is a truth that the public has never known," he declared, his voice rising with righteous conviction. "Within our walls exists a secret division: the Shrek Guardians. Though we have never boasted of their deeds to the outside world, these brave youths have silently and selflessly bled to guarantee the safety of the Douluo Continent!"
He looked out over the masses, his eyes shining with unshed emotion. "As a core member of the Guardians, Xiaotao has clashed with vicious Evil Soul Masters time and time again. She has dragged countless innocent souls back from the brink of death. Shrek Academy remembers her sacrifices. The civilians of this continent have lived in peace because of her blood. Should a lifetime of heroism be entirely erased simply because of one tragic, uncontrollable accident?"
He swept his arm toward the bound girl. "We have come today to bring her home. We intend to use Shrek's most deep, top-tier methods to purge this invasive evil energy from her meridians and guide her back to the righteous path!"
As his impassioned speech echoed into silence, ripples of whispering broke out across the square.
"When he puts it like that... it does make sense," a young soul master muttered to his companion. "I've actually heard rumors about the Guardians. They say Ma Xiaotao is a prodigy who has hunted down dozens of demonic cultivators."
"Yeah," another chimed in, nodding slowly. "If she was mutated by an accident while trying to save people, she really deserves treatment, not a beheading."
The collective hostility of the crowd visibly thawed. Many onlookers cast sympathetic glances at the chained, struggling figure on the Execution Platform, their previous outrage tempered by Shaozhe's silver tongue. His explanation had successfully dismantled the accusation that Shrek was intentionally harboring a monster.
Off to the side, Liu Yuan watched the entire performance without a shred of emotion, save for a faint, icy smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. He looked at the esteemed Dean of Shrek's Martial Soul Department as if observing a street clown fumbling through a cheap, poorly written play.
"Beautifully spoken, Dean Yan," Yuan said. His calm, unhurried voice cut through the murmurs, amplified by his soul power to reach every corner of the Palace Square. He took a slow step forward. "Since you are so eager to tally up contributions, let us settle the accounts properly. What about the innocent people who died screaming by her hand? How do we calculate their worth?"
The murmurs died instantly. A chilling quiet reclaimed the courtyard.
Yuan turned his gaze away from the Dean, sweeping his piercing Double Pupils over the sea of faces below. "She saved people in the past. I will not deny that merit," he stated, his tone sharp and pragmatic. "But after her 'tragic accident' turned her into an Evil Soul Master, how many innocent soul masters did she personally burn to ash? Can any of you give me an exact number?"
He let out a dry, mocking scoff. "Those slaughtered lives, the families left behind to mourn them—are they not also citizens of the Douluo Continent? Are their lives merely collateral damage? Just because she once held a badge of merit, she is granted a free pass to butcher the innocent without consequence?"
A cold laugh escaped Yuan's lips as he pivoted back, locking his gaze firmly onto Shaozhe. "Dean Yan, you have a remarkable talent for dodging the blood on the floor to preach about the dirt on the ceiling. Let me ask you this: according to Shrek Academy's sacred, unyielding rules, when your students encounter ordinary Evil Soul Masters in the wild, do they not execute them on the spot?"
Shaozhe's jaw tightened, but Yuan didn't give him a second to breathe.
"Did you ever once stop your blade to ask if those strangers mutated because of a 'mission'? Did you ever ask if they were victims of a cultivation accident?" Yuan's voice dropped, laced with absolute disdain. "Or does Shrek Academy's grand sense of justice only apply when the monster wears your uniform?"
"When you butcher outsiders, you proudly call it 'placing righteousness above all.'But the moment the murderer is one of your own, suddenly it becomes a matter of'merits offsetting faults.'Suddenly, the butcher is a'victim' who just needs a little treatment."
Yuan tilted his head, his eyes gleaming with dark amusement. "Dean Yan, don't you think Shrek's double standards are a bit too shameless?"
Yuan's relentless, surgical logic ripped away Shaozhe's carefully constructed illusion of tolerance, exposing the raw hypocrisy beneath. The crowd erupted into a chaotic frenzy.
"He's right! If an ordinary Evil Soul Master killed a single person, Shrek's enforcers would burn them to ash without a second thought!" a burly man shouted from the front row.
"Merit is merit, but murder is murder!" a woman agreed, her voice shrill with renewed anger. "Just because someone used to be a hero doesn't mean they get to slaughter our families and walk away!"
"A life for a life! That is the law of the continent!"
The pendulum of public opinion swung back with violent force. The deep-seated awe and reverence these people historically held for Shrek Academy rapidly curdled into disgust. They realized they were being manipulated by hypocritical rhetoric.
Shaozhe stood frozen on the platform, his handsome features twisting into an incredibly ugly grimace. He stared at the thousands of furious, scrutinizing eyes glaring daggers at him. He opened his mouth, desperate to spin another narrative, but the words died in his throat. He simply couldn't argue back.
No matter what flowery excuses he invented, he could never bypass the iron-clad, bloodstained fact: Ma Xiaotao had slaughtered innocent people. His usual erudition, his legendary eloquence—it all crumbled into pale, pathetic ash before Yuan's ruthless, core-piercing logic.
Shaozhe stood in absolute silence. His lips pressed into a thin, bloodless line. Fine beads of cold sweat broke out across his forehead, glistening under the midday sun.
Behind him, Xian Lin'er and Elder Song watched the Dean's humiliating defeat, their chests tightening with mounting panic.
"Shaozhe, you cannot let him control the narrative. If this continues, the Academy's ten-thousand-year reputation will be dragged through the mud!" Lin'er urged, her voice a harsh, frantic whisper meant only for his ears. "Find an angle! Fight back! Where is that silver tongue of yours?"
Shaozhe's throat bobbed as he swallowed hard, but he remained completely mute. He was trapped in a suffocating logical dead-end. If he tried to excuse Xiaotao's murders, he cemented Shrek's hypocrisy. If he agreed with the crowd, he would have to watch his prized disciple die.
Watching the mighty Dean of Shrek sweat and tremble, a flash of pure disdain flickered through Yuan's Double Pupils. He turned away, offering a slight, respectful nod to Du Busi, before projecting his voice over the roaring crowd once more.
"It appears Dean Yan has run out of excuses."
Yuan turned his back on the Shrek delegation and began a slow, deliberate walk toward the heavy iron control lever at the center of the Execution Platform—the mechanism designed to drop the guillotine blade.
"Since the esteemed Dean of Shrek Academy cannot bring himself to punish his own student's atrocities, and willingly spits on the graves of her victims just to preserve a sentimental 'teacher-student bond,' it seems Shrek's legendary justice is nothing but a fairy tale."
Yuan reached out, his fingers wrapping firmly around the freezing metal of the execution lever.
"Very well," Yuan declared, his voice ringing with absolute finality. "Since Dean Yan is blinded by personal attachment, and since Shrek Academy lacks the spine to clean up its own mess..."
He locked eyes with the trembling Dean. "Then I shall drop this blade for you."
Yuan swept his gaze across the tens of thousands of commoners and soul masters holding their breath in the square. Finally, his eyes settled back onto Shaozhe's paper-white face.
"The monsters Shrek dares not kill, my Body Sect will kill."
His grip on the lever tightened, the metal groaning under his strength.
"The laws Shrek refuses to enforce, my Heavenly Soul Empire will enforce."
Yuan took a slow, steadying breath. His eyes hardened into chips of obsidian. With a sudden, ruthless surge of kinetic force, he yanked the heavy iron lever downward.
"Today, on behalf of the hypocrites of Shrek Academy, and for every innocent soul torn apart by Evil Soul Masters across this world... I send her to hell."
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