Xu Lizhi, however, grabbed Qian Mo's hand and said in a low voice with a worried look: "Little Brother Qian Mo, the Inner Courtyard spot wasn't easy to get. You can't just give up all the effort you've put in!"
Qian Mo, however, shoved Xu Lizhi, making him stumble, and said, suppressing his anger: "Then consider it feeding the dogs, get out of the way!"
Cai Yue'er pointed at Qian Mo's back, burning with rage, and roared: "Get lost! Coming from such a small place, how much have you seen to be this arrogant! Do you really think my Shrek Academy wants to recruit you? Let me tell you, my Shrek Academy has plenty of geniuses, many much stronger than you."
Qian Mo's steps paused. Ya Li thought to herself, "This is bad!"
"Alright, alright, alright!" Qian Mo slowly turned around, his face expressionless, but the extremely low pressure around him indicated the calm before a storm.
"She's already in the wrong, yet she's still spouting off like this against the wind. I've truly lived long enough to see anything."
Qian Mo's aura began to climb steadily, his tone becoming increasingly deep. The signs of a fierce storm were already appearing!
"Since you said Shrek Academy has many people stronger than me. Fine! Then let's draw a line and spar. Let me witness the geniuses of Shrek Academy."
Ya Li's right eyelid began to twitch wildly. An alarm bell rang loudly in her heart. The situation seemed about to completely explode, the kind that eight bulls couldn't pull back.
Lan Muzi quickly closed the door, ensuring no sound would escape later.
Qian Mo provocatively beckoned towards Cai Yue'er with his finger and said coldly: "Bring out your Shrek Academy's nine-year-olds, no, twelve-year-olds! I've always been magnanimous and repaid grievances with virtue, so I'll give you three years."
"Let the students within your academy who are twelve years old or younger come and compete with me. Combat or secondary professions, anything goes. I won't refuse anyone."
"Win or lose, life or death, it's all fine!"
The storm descended from the Sky. Qian Mo pointed at Cai Yue'er and said word by word: "As long as one person can beat me, I will kneel and walk out of Shrek City, and you can slander me however you want. If no one can beat me, then take down your sign as the number one academy on the continent!"
"This bet, do you dare to accept it!"
As soon as Qian Mo finished speaking, a sound like startling thunder came from the horizon, inexplicably frightening everyone.
Gu Yuena pursed her lips tightly and stood beside Qian Mo with firm eyes, supporting him.
Cai Yue'er's fists clenched, making a cracking sound, and her eyes stared fixedly at Qian Mo. If looks could kill, then Qian Mo would at least be torn into a thousand pieces at this moment.
But even though her eyes were so red they could almost spit fire, Cai Yue'er still didn't respond to the bet.
At this moment, under Ya Li's soothing, most of her anger had subsided, and rationality took over, so she understood that she had fallen into a dilemma.
Based on Cai Yue'er's understanding of her own students, given that Qian Mo could even defeat the level thirty-five Huo Yuhao, there was no student within the academy who was twelve years old or younger who could possibly defeat Qian Mo.
Competing in combat was a dead end, but when it came to secondary professions, Qian Mo was a disciple of a Divine Craftsman, and his talent in forging was absolutely second to none. Don't look at him being only nine years old; it's hard to say what level of forging he has reached, and Shrek Academy didn't have a guaranteed win there either.
The bet couldn't be accepted, but if Cai Yue'er didn't dare to accept Qian Mo's bet, and it got out that the dignified Shrek Academy didn't even dare to accept a challenge from a nine-year-old child, how could they still claim that their academy was filled with geniuses? Shrek Academy's reputation would be ruined!
The situation temporarily fell into a stalemate. To put it simply, it was a stalemate unique to Cai Yue'er alone.
"What's wrong, old hag? Does Shrek Academy, claiming to be the number one academy on the continent, not even dare to respond to a face-off from me, a nine-year-old child?" Qian Mo stared fixedly at Cai Yue'er, his tone aggressive, continuing to pressure Cai Yue'er.
Just then, Ya Li spoke up to break the deadlock, saying in a serious tone: "Yue'er, you go down first, return to Sea God Pavilion!"
Cai Yue'er immediately became anxious, "Sister Ya Li, I..."
Before she finished speaking, she was sternly interrupted by Ya Li, "Return to Sea God Pavilion! Without my permission, you are not allowed to leave Sea God Island! Don't make me say it a second time!"
At this moment, Ya Li had completely changed from her usual gentle and dignified self. Her tone was unquestionable and contained hidden anger.
Cai Yue'er was scared by this side of Ya Li and could only rise listlessly. After glaring at Qian Mo, she left the room.
Ya Li took a deep breath and said slowly and calmly: "Qian Mo, let's both calm down first. Anger doesn't solve any problems."
"In this matter, Yue'er was in the wrong first. I apologize to you on her behalf. Yue'er was unfair in this assessment. I have ordered her to return to Sea God Pavilion to reflect and will cancel her qualification to preside over assessments. The academy will also give you and Gu Yuena sufficient compensation for this and waive the subsequent assessments, allowing you to directly enter the Inner Courtyard with the highest treatment. How about that?"
Ya Li spoke, directly deciding the nature of the matter, placing the blame entirely on Cai Yue'er's head to extinguish Qian Mo's anger.
At the same time, she pulled the dispute, which was gradually escalating to the academy level, back to its initial starting point, controlling the conflict caused by Cai Yue'er's unfair judgment within a range she could handle.
Finally, she offered compensation. This was not an issue for Shrek Academy. As for entering the Inner Courtyard without assessment, given Qian Mo and Gu Yuena's talent and abilities, they could have entered the Inner Courtyard directly anyway. Waiving the assessment was merely going with the flow.
Lan Muzi also quickly introduced: "This is the Vice Pavilion Master of Sea God Pavilion, Spirit Douluo Teacher Ya Li. She can represent the academy in making the above decisions."
The anger on Qian Mo's face gradually subsided. He also realized at this moment that his actions just now were indeed inappropriate. Escalating the conflict to Shrek Academy, offending and enraging Shrek Academy, was detrimental to both him and the forces behind him.
After all, Shrek Academy not only had the continent's strongest expert presiding over it, but its graduates were also spread throughout the continent and held high positions. Many senior officers in the Southern Legion came from Shrek Academy.
If they really clashed with Shrek Academy, even if Le Zheng'en was a quasi-god, the Southern Legion and the Sacred Angel Family would suffer significant losses.
Thus, Qian Mo waved his hand, following Ya Li's lead and naturally let the bet pass.
"Alright, I accept your apology, but forget about the compensation. I don't want to enter the Inner Courtyard anymore either. It's impossible for me and that old hag to stay in the same place."
Zhuo Shi, who had been silent for a long time, said leisurely at this moment: "Child, don't be like that old thing Cai Yue'er, dragging your grievances with Cai Yue'er onto the Inner Courtyard, okay?"
"You came to the Inner Courtyard for better learning, to enjoy better resources. Are you going to give all that up because of one Cai Yue'er? Isn't that a bit unworthy? In everything, 'benefit' comes first!"
Qian Mo fell into thought upon hearing this. What Zhuo Shi said did make sense. Was he going to give up readily available resources because of an old hag? His Divinity Mask was waiting to be fed!
Seeing Qian Mo hesitate, Ya Li quickly struck while the iron was hot and added: "Child, I can guarantee you that your grievances with Yue'er will absolutely not affect your studies at Shrek Academy. Our academy will also not interfere in your grievances with Yue'er. You two can resolve it yourselves, how does that sound?"