As Lan Muzi swung his Yang Wood Blade, terrifying blade souls appeared on the deck one after another.
The sharp and oppressive aura made even Flame Blade Douluo Yuan Xi don his battle armor immediately to defend himself.
With a muffled sound, one of the Soul Emperors at the front failed to dodge in time and was directly sliced in half vertically by one of Lan Muzi's blade souls.
A spray of blood drenched a large group of people nearby, leaving them looking like drenched chickens.
For a moment, everyone was stunned.
Although they had just witnessed many people falling at the hands of the sea soul beasts, they never expected that Lan Muzi would actually dare to kill them.
Lan Muzi himself was also dumbfounded.
He swore that he had only intended to scare these people.
His blade souls, though sharp, had only been revolving around him, meant solely to protect himself and Tang Wulin.
He had never actively attacked.
Even if he were given ten times the courage, he wouldn't dare to kill anyone in such a situation.
But what he never expected was that, faced with his terrifying blade souls, a Soul Emperor actually forced himself forward—only to charge straight into his blade soul.
Lan Muzi swore that the Soul Emperor had run into it on his own.
But… would anyone believe him?
Tang Wulin was also stunned. He never thought that Lan Muzi would be so decisive in killing to protect him.
"Cousin!" A heart-wrenching cry rang out as a blonde-haired girl rushed to the corpse that had been split in two, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Shrek Academy's Ye Xinglan!" Someone recognized the blonde girl.
"I remember now! The dead man is Ye Wuqian from the Ye family! One of the Ye family's famous young geniuses," a middle-aged man said in a deep voice.
"The Star Holy Sword Ye family—now that's a powerful clan, and they have always had close ties with Shrek Academy." Someone let out a sneering laugh, clearly enjoying the scene.
"I…" Watching the grief-stricken Ye Xinglan, Lan Muzi opened his mouth but found himself at a loss for words.
"Senior Brother, hand me over to the Demon Soul Great White Shark King. I'm willing to take responsibility for what I've done." Tang Wulin finally spoke. Seeing so many people dead, looking at the gravely injured Cai Yue'er, the heartbroken Ye Xinglan, and the fallen students of Shrek Academy, he felt both guilt and anger.
He knew that everything had started because of him—there was no escaping it.
If Lan Muzi continued to protect him, it would only drag Shrek Academy into an abyss from which it might never recover.
Hearing Tang Wulin's words, Lan Muzi lifted his head abruptly, glaring coldly at the people around him. He spoke with an icy tone, "You people, forcing Shrek Academy like this today… Shrek Academy will remember this."
With that, he grabbed Tang Wulin and flew off the deck, leaving the protective shield of the Star Luo ship and heading toward the Demon Soul Great White Shark King, Xiaobai.
"Have you come to your senses?" Xiaobai looked at Lan Muzi and Tang Wulin coldly, her expression filled with smug satisfaction.
She was certain that other sea soul beast clans had been secretly watching today's battle.
With this victory, she believed that the Demon Soul Great White Shark clan's status in the ocean would rise to a whole new level.
"Demon Soul Great White Shark King, listen well. Shrek Academy will remember today's events. You have killed our students, and once our Academy's powerful figures arrive, the entire ocean will no longer have a place for you to hide," Lan Muzi said icily.
"Wait, you're saying you're from Shrek Academy?" Xiaobai's face suddenly darkened.
"What? Afraid now?" Lan Muzi continued coldly, "You've killed so many from Shrek Academy. It's too late to be afraid now."
"Why… why didn't you say so earlier?" Xiaobai clenched her teeth and repeated her question.
Long Yeyue had been right—if she had known from the start that Tang Wulin was from Shrek Academy, she would never have made things difficult for them.
But what was done was done. Shrek Academy had suffered heavy casualties.
Xiaobai racked her brain, trying to think of a way to remedy the situation.
Lan Muzi opened his mouth again but couldn't say a word.
Seeing his speechlessness, Xiaobai turned to look at the people on the Star Luo and Far Ocean ships—those who had died and those who were heavily wounded. At last, she sighed and said, "In at most an hour, human powerhouses will arrive here. If I stay, it will only lead them to make reckless decisions. I'm leaving. Take this—later, have your Shrek Academy higher-ups and Chen Xinjie come find me. I'll explain everything to them personally."
As she finished speaking, she opened her mouth and spat out a blue orb of light, which floated toward Lan Muzi.
"Give this to Chen Xinjie. He can use it to find me," Xiaobai instructed.
With that, she turned away and transformed back into her Demon Soul Great White Shark form.
"We're retreating!" Xiaobai ordered coldly, then dove into the ocean, vanishing in an instant.
"Magic Tentacle King, what is the meaning of this? We fought to avenge her people, lost so many of our own, and now she just lets the culprits go and leaves? Are our people supposed to have died for nothing?" A ten-thousand-year sea turtle growled, approaching the Beast King, the Magic Tentacle King.
"Let's retreat for now. If we stay until human powerhouses arrive, we might not get the chance to leave." The Magic Tentacle King took a deep breath.
He was now deeply worried.
He had been the main force leading this attack on the Star Luo and Far Ocean ships.
He was afraid Xiaobai would sell him out.
From what she said, she still intended to negotiate with the human powerhouses.
Many humans had died in this battle.
The Magic Tentacle King feared that Xiaobai might shift all the blame onto him.
If that happened, the humans might spare her but come after him instead.
Watching Xiaobai and the Magic Tentacle King retreat, the other sea soul beasts also submerged back into the ocean, vanishing from sight.
They, too, found it hard to accept that they were retreating.
So many sea soul beasts had died. Even though they had the advantage, they were now inexplicably withdrawing.
They couldn't understand it.
But with Xiaobai and the Magic Tentacle King gone, they had no choice but to follow.
As the sea soul beasts retreated, everyone let out a sigh of relief.
But soon, their hatred toward Shrek Academy grew even stronger.
"Teacher, you said that just by revealing Shrek Academy's name, the sea soul beasts would withdraw. So why did Elder Cai deliberately provoke them, leading to so many needless deaths?" Xu Xiaoyan asked while tending to Shen Yi's wounds.
Shen Yi had been seriously injured in the battle.
Though there were doctors aboard both ships, they outright refused to treat anyone from Shrek Academy.
So many of their classmates had died. Xu Xiaoyan was in deep pain.
Looking at Cai Yue'er, whose skin had been dissolved, her body covered in blood and unconscious, Xu Xiaoyan wanted to throw a bucket of cold water on her, wake her up, and demand an explanation.
She really didn't understand—why had Elder Cai provoked the sea soul beasts, resulting in so much death, when the battle could have been avoided?
"You'll understand once you enter the Inner Court," Shen Yi sighed softly.
"Xie Xie is gone, Xu Lizhi is gone, Yue Zhengyu is gone." Tears welled up in Xu Xiaoyan's eyes as she whispered, "And Sister Xinglan—her cousin was killed by a Shrek Academy Inner Court student. How will she face her family in the future? How will she face Shrek Academy? How will she face… the one responsible, Tang Wulin?"
"Captain, speaking of which, have you seen Wujin?" Shen Yi suddenly asked.
"No, ever since the sea soul beasts appeared, I haven't seen him," Xu Xiaoyan shook her head.
"Could something have happened to him?" Shen Yi frowned, unable to determine whether Wujin had been swallowed by the sea soul beasts in the chaos.
"I'll check his room!" Xu Xiaoyan said.
Soon, she arrived at Wujin's room.
Pushing the door open, she saw Wujin leaning against the windowsill, gazing blankly at the sea.
"You… you've been in your room this whole time?" Xu Xiaoyan asked in shock.
Wujin, knowing what she wanted to say, shook his head and replied, "It wasn't my fault. Why should I risk my life?"