A heavy silence descended onto the coliseum. No one dared to believe their ears, but seeing Sheng Feilong still stare at the emperor made it clear that they truly didn't hear wrong. Slowly, all eyes started to focus on the emperor, many of the people swallowing dry, waiting for what was to come.
The matter about the Douluo Continent's politic delegation being attacked by the rebel and terrorist organisation Green Skeleton was widely know. Not only were they attacked, but the Douluo Continent's Soul Master also helped rescuing civilians after the train was destroyed.
Not everyone knew about the second matter Sheng Feilong spoke of, though. Those that attended the national ceremony back then knew that Princess Dai Yun'er had her mental attack destroyed by Sheng Feilong and that she sustained a backlash. Thinking about it, it was obvious that with all the powerful people, including the emperor and En Ci, present, it was impossible for the princess' doing to go unnoticed. However, just as Sheng Feilong said, no one stopped her from doing it.
Even less people knew about the third matter. While many saw what happened, they failed to understand the underlying currents. Long Yue did indeed lose control and attacked Tang Wulin with the clear intention to kill, but that wasn't what Sheng Feilong was referring to.
Back then, he himself had already noticed that things were going awry and shouted out loud for someone to stop the match, but no one moved until it was to late. If even he could see what was happening, how could the emperor, En Ci, or any other Soul Douluo or Titled Douluo present not notice? Still, again, no one stopped him from doing it.
Those present that understood all of this couldn't help but show ugly expressions. What Sheng Feilong said was perfectly true. Although he couldn't be fully blamed for a terrorist attack like Sheng Feilong said, in the end it really amounted to those rebels being discontented with the emperor's reign. However, who would ever dare say something like this to the emperor's face and in front of the whole nation at that?
However, Sheng Feilong had already spoken of all of these things. There was no denying it and no way to turn this situation around. She Meixiao's expression was probably the most ugly of all of them. Her face was pale and her eyes were violently shaking.
She stared at Sheng Feilong and the emperor, rooted in place and not moving. 'H-How can he say something like that?! What do I do now? If I don't do anything, he'll be killed! I-I can't lose him! What can I do now?!'
She Meixiao's thoughts were a complete mess. She couldn't think of anything she could do to defuse this situation, while the atmosphere between Sheng Feilong and the emperor grew more and more tense. After the long silence, Sheng Feilong's voice rang through She Meixiao's head again, pulling her out of her thoughts. "Well? What is it?"
The emperor's expression darkened to a terrifying degree, but before he said anything, a loud smacking sound echoed through the coliseum. Sheng Feilong's eyes shook as he didn't understand what just happened. He slowly turned back forward while holding his aching cheek. "... Mas-?"
"Shut up!" She Meixiao suddenly snarked back at him, not letting him speak. Her expression was incredibly conflicted, switching between a ghastly pale dread and a beet red anger continuously. She hastily turned to face the emperor and grabbed Sheng Feilong by the neck, pushing him down and forcing him to kneel with his head lowered.
With Sheng Feilong kneeling like that, She Meixiao bowed at a 90 degree angle with her head lowered as well, speaking in a hasty and slightly shaky voice. "Your Majesty, She Meixiao has failed to teach her disciple properly. Anger had gotten the better of him and he didn't know what he was talking about. I beg Your Majesty to find it in your heart to show mercy to an unruly child."
By now, She Meixiao was visibly shaking with her head lowered in front of the emperor. Sheng Feilong didn't understand what was happening and kept kneeling, rooted in place by She Meixiao, who was still pushing him down by the neck.
The emperor's expression was still dark, not having changed in the slightest by She Meixiao's begging. He stared at the both of them and slowly opened his mouth. "Remove the corrosive energy."
"Yes!" She Meixiao replied immediately, staring at Sheng Feilong with the same ever changing expression. "Feilong, remove it immediately." She pulled Sheng Feilong up a bit, enough for him to see Long Yue on the ground with En Ci standing next to him. "Master, I-"
"Remove it!" She Meixiao was still shaking, enough for Sheng Feilong to notice it now as well. His eyes shook slightly before he lifted his hand. Long Yue's body shook slightly as a large amount of the grey energy rose from his body before dissipating in the air.
En Ci didn't miss a beat to immediately crouch down next to him and examine his condition for a moment before nodding at the emperor and then focusing on Long Yue completely, helping him recover with his own Soul Power again.
Seeing this, She Meixiao instantly pushed Sheng Feilong down again, forcing him to kneel with his head down and waiting for the emperor to speak again. Again, she didn't dare to say anything and only silently waited.
A few more moments of heavy silence passed before the emperor finally spoke again. "Leave now. Do not enter my sight again." With this, he slowly turned around, his body flashing for a moment as he appeared on the pedestal again and sat down. "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your mercy."
She Meixiao grabbed Sheng Feilong by the arm, dragging him off the stage without delay. The latter still didn't fully understand why She Meixiao was acting like this, but he didn't have the strength to free himself form her grip and was thus pulled along with her.
He ended the Netherworld Putrefying Demon's transformation, revealing his human form again. Neither he nor She Meixiao spoke a word and only hastily walked down from the stage. Sheng Feilong looked around for help, but his expression froze when he saw the faces of Gu Yue and the others.
All of them had pale faces with complicated expressions, displaying a slight fear. They had been exposed to the Netherworld Putrefying Demon's power this whole time and couldn't help but feel apprehensive towards it. Gu Yue and Yuanen Yehui had been affected even worse; They were still shaking with their faces displaying obvious dread and Gu Yue's even more confusion.
'W-What's with them? Why are they looking at me like that? … Did I do something wrong?' Sheng Feilong shook lightly. He wanted to ask them what was wrong, wanted to explain the situation to them, but She Meixiao dragged him off without stopping.
A few moments later, they were already out of the coliseum's arena area and inside a hallway. Still, She Meixiao didn't stop; She dragged Sheng Feilong away from the arena and they returned to the hotel. On the way, She Meixiao didn't say a word and Sheng Feilong didn't dare to ask about it.
Arriving at the hotel, both of them entered She Meixiao's room and the latter finally spoke, her anger apparent in her voice. "What's with you?! How could you say something like this to the emperor's face? Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
Sheng Feilong flinched; He had never seen She Meixiao like this. He wanted to say something, but before he could even start, She Meixiao interrupted him. "Do you even understand what you were doing in the arena? Do you understand how close you were to being publicly executed?! How can you do something like this in another empire?"
"Master, I-I didn't-" Sheng Feilong fidgeted around, not knowing what to say, but She Meixiao interrupted him again, waving her hand at him while she sat down on a chair with a frustrated expression. "Get out. Return to your room and remain there."
Sheng Feilong froze, but did as he was told without saying anything else. He sat on his bed with a blank expression for a long time, not saying anything; Only quietly sitting on his bed, lost in thought. She Meixiao wasn't off much better; She sat on her chair for a long time, slowly trying to calm down again.
Like this, the rest of the day passed. Sheng Feilong didn't leave his room the next morning, but coincidentally found out that Shrek Academy won the final group match against Monster Academy. They had given up on the two-versus-two match in order to be able to fight the last match.
Even more surprising was the news that Tang Wulin had returned. Just after Xu Xiaoyan and Xu Lizhi came down from the arena after giving up on the two-versus-two, he appeared from the waiting area, slowly walking over to them with a bright smile.
With Long Yue out of the match, Shrek Academy steam rolled Monster Academy's team with a perfect seven to zero win in less than 15 minutes. Tang Wulin had become even stronger than before the incident and people thought that he might even be strong enough to defeat Long Yue on his own now.
Naturally, Tang Wulin also heard about the fight between Sheng Feilong and Long Yue, but none of the Shrek students came to search for Sheng Feilong.
Time passed quietly until it was already close to noon of the next day when Sheng Feilong received a message on his Soul Communicator. It was a number he remembered; The number of the Daedalus branch master, whom he visited with She Meixiao a few weeks ago.
[Hello. Little friend Feilong, would you happen to have a bit of time to meet me at a café? I would like to talk to you about your Master.]
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