Douluo: Dragon King's Divine Elegy

Chapter 73 Public Opinion Erupts, Shrek Academy in Turmoil!

Seated in the main seat, Yun Ming's gaze swept over the group of elders, taking in the expressions on each of their faces.

Everyone already knows what happened at the Tianhai Alliance Grand Tournament.

The news that Ya Li publicly admitted that her student had colluded with an evil spirit master and then apologized to a teenager caused quite a stir in the elders' group.

From the ancient times when Shrek Academy was founded until today, only other forces or individuals have ever apologized to Shrek Academy.

This is the first time ever that Shrek Academy has apologized to someone else in the opposite direction.

Even when Long Yeyue went to the Spirit Pagoda and slapped the previous tower master, Qian Gu Dieting, she only apologized in her personal capacity at Elder Bei's instruction.

"Say whatever you want to say." Yun Ming tapped the table lightly with his fingertips.

The elders immediately split into three factions.

Leaning towards Long Yeyue, neutral, and following Yun Ming.

Among them, the elders who favored Long Yeyue accounted for half of the group. As the widow of Elder Bei, and with her own strength ranking second in the academy, she had too much seniority.

Long Yeyue said coldly, "The Federation's higher-ups won't let this opportunity pass by to slander us. So Yali must bring back that little bastard who dared to force the academy to apologize to him. I will personally take charge of his Glory Education and Reform. When the time is right, we will have him represent the academy in the Soul Master competitions in other parts of the continent to shatter the false public opinion!"

Poseidon Pavilion remains silent.

Long Yeyue frowned slightly. In the past, she rarely made any comments and even rarely attended the Sea God Pavilion meetings. If she needed to speak, Cai Yue'er would usually chime in. But now that Cai Yue'er had gone into seclusion, she had no one to talk to.

"Elder Long, this child is the personal disciple of the master craftsman Zhenhua. You've gone too far," Yun Ming reminded him.

Long Yeyue said nonchalantly, "So what if he's a master craftsman? Can he compare to Qian Gu Die Ting's smug old face?"

Sitting to one side, the Fiery Dragon Douluo Feng Wuyu was truly speechless.

He is an eight-star master craftsman. No one in the entire Sea God Pavilion understands forging better than him, and no one understands the value of a master craftsman better than him!
However, after hearing Yun Ming's words, he suddenly became interested in the boy who had forced the academy to apologize. Of course, he wouldn't claim to be more skilled than Zhen Hua, but he was simply happy to meet a genius in the field of forging. Even if nothing else, it would be good to establish a good relationship. Who knows, maybe this boy would become a master craftsman in the future, and this good relationship would evolve into a set of four-word battle armor?

Yun Ming frowned.

Long Yeyue realized that she had crossed Yun Ming's limit of patience, so she didn't say anything more.

Yun Ming then looked at everyone and said, "Apologizing to that child was a decision made jointly by Li'er and me. Zhenhua didn't fly into a rage and question us when our disciple was assassinated, which is already more than enough. Do you expect us to act like it's none of our business?"

He softened his tone and continued:

"Moreover, Zhenhua not only has orders for Sky Forging Metal from Shrek Academy, but also from the Tang Sect. If Zhenhua breaks the agreement in a fit of anger, what will happen to the Tang Sect and us? Who will fill the gap?"

The elders exchanged glances, then all looked at Feng Wuyu.

Feng Wuyu was taken aback: "Why are you looking at me? Even if you locked me in a secret room and forced me to make Heavenly Forging Metal, I still couldn't make it. I'll just say one thing: it's better to offend a quasi-god than a divine craftsman."

The fact that the person in the room who knew the most about forging could say such a thing clearly surprised the elders.

The true pinnacle of existence on the continent is the quasi-god, and Shrek Academy only has Yun Ming among them.

"In short, I will have Lily bring that child to the academy at a suitable time," Yun Ming said definitively. "As for the negative public opinion that may follow, do you think it can uproot the academy's foundation?"

"A turbid world".

"Yes," replied Crimson Dragon Douluo Zhuoshi.

Yun Ming said, "You are responsible for collecting the specific negative opinions and summarizing them. There's no smoke without fire. If we are truly upright and honest in our actions, we will naturally not be afraid of negative opinions. But if some of the things mentioned in the opinions are true, it's not too late to correct them."

"Yes." Zhuoshi accepted the order.

"Meeting adjourned!" Yun Ming said solemnly.

Long Yeyue was the first to leave, her old face gloomy. Fine, she would just have to bear it for now and wait until the others arrived at Shrek Academy before making a decision.

……

Several days have passed. The Tianhai Alliance Tournament is still in full swing.

However, the incident that occurred at Tianhai Stadium a few days ago has not subsided over time; on the contrary, the situation has escalated.

The day after the news broke that Shrek Academy students were colluding with evil spirit masters, a torrent of negative public opinion indeed emerged.

First: Soul Master academies, ordinary Soul Masters, and city officials from all walks of life across the mainland collectively filed a lawsuit against Shrek Academy.

The reason is that Shrek Academy has a tradition of holding a final exam for first-year students.

Exams are nothing special; every academy has them. But Shrek Academy's exam is unique in that it requires students to travel light and defeat a Soul Master whose cultivation level is five levels higher than theirs in each of the ten cities they visit within fifteen days.

It doesn't seem like a big deal. The problem is, most of these Shrek Academy students are lawless!

Because they have no money to travel, they will rob, steal, and resort to crooked means to get money.

Even if they eventually reimburse you, what about the consequences? It's as if the law doesn't exist. These students get their money back and nothing happens to them. If that's the case, what's the point of federal law? It's better to use the paper with federal law printed on it to wipe your butt.

Then, once they arrive at their destination, these students immediately seek out targets to attack. Some Soul Masters are simply walking along the road when they are inexplicably struck on the head by Shrek Academy students. If you see that they are just children, you might let it go out of pity. But what about these students? Not only do they not stop, but they also take advantage of your kindness and insist on fighting back.

At this point, any normal person would be angered and would retaliate in self-defense.

After you fought back, the student was no match and was about to be suppressed. Suddenly, the Shrek Academy teacher, who seemed to have disappeared a second ago, would jump out and subdue you, forcing you to give up your rights while simultaneously acting superior and saying, "This is an exam at Shrek Academy, we hope you can understand."

That's still considered a win. If you're not strong enough, these students won't stop there. To ensure the challenge is successful, they'll injure you before they're satisfied.

Yes, you get inexplicably provoked and injured, and you still have to understand that these students are challenging you.

Even if they manage to get medical expenses, it will only be enough to cover their basic medical needs.

What kind of world is this?
The major Soul Master academies are also facing similar lawsuits.

If you say you're from Shrek Academy and want a challenge, people usually agree, since opportunities to spar with Shrek students are rare and can be used to hone their own students. But the key point is, as I said before, to ensure the challenge succeeds, Shrek students are always aiming to kill.

It was supposed to be a friendly spar, but they acted as if the two sides had a blood feud, with every move being incredibly ruthless.

However, the students from these academies dared not retaliate too fiercely, fearing retaliation if they injured Shrek students.

Therefore, many students in the academy were considered lucky to be beaten until they vomited blood. Some students were even hospitalized because their teachers did not provide timely assistance, which wasted a lot of their cultivation time.

Finally, there are the city officials.

This is mainly concentrated in city patrol teams.

A typical patrol team consists of one purple-level mech and eight yellow-level mechs. There are also mech bases in different areas of the city, mainly composed of yellow-level mechs, which function similarly as guard posts. They can rush to provide support immediately if the patrol team encounters any problems.

During your work, Shrek Academy students will come to challenge you. If you explain your identity and refuse the challenge, these students will dare to attack you directly.

Yes, if the first two can be tolerated, then this is absolutely unacceptable. The mech pilots at the mech station are law-abiding guards. If you recklessly assault the police just to save time, and something happens somewhere during that time, and the mech pilots at the mech station are unable to provide timely support, whose fault is that?

As soon as this incident was exposed, it immediately caused an uproar in public opinion. Its scale was unprecedented and firmly occupied the top spot on the official hot list in mainland China!

The number of online comments has already exceeded one hundred million, forcing the authorities to quickly strengthen backend stability to prevent a crash. This is outrageous!

Some federal citizens are not afraid of making a big fuss and have expressed online that they want to do the same things as Shrek Academy. Since the law does not punish them, doesn't that mean that such things are feasible?
This statement, like a newly formed powder keg, has stirred up a huge wave of controversy, completely igniting public skepticism towards Shrek Academy.

If all of this is true, then the fact that Shrek Academy students collude with evil spirit masters is probably not an isolated case!

Look at Xu Cang, whose head was chopped off. He almost made his teammates scapegoats. His actions were utterly heinous.

This is absolutely not something someone from the most righteous background should do.

Because of Ning Yun's replacement, some extremists even claimed that the reason why evil spirit masters could not be eliminated was because Shrek Academy was protecting them. In short, the direction of public opinion has become somewhat uncontrollable.

Shrek Academy stands too high and receives the most praise, but the backlash will also be the most severe!
Given this public opinion, the high-ranking officials of the Sun Moon Federation, who despise Shrek Academy, were overjoyed. While it seemed like the government was stepping in to dissuade the public from taking a rational view, in reality, their instigation led to a constant stream of new and exciting developments.

The second wave of the offensive arrived quickly!
Countless citizens of the Sun and Moon Federation saw several interview clips while scrolling through short videos.

The title is: [Shrek Soul Master Academy ×, Shrek Financial Academy √]

This interview clip firmly holds the second spot on the trending list, with countless people affectionately calling the interviewee "Brother Diu Lei".

The interview took place within the inner city of Shrek Academy.

Reporter: Is it true that some criminal gangs in Shrek Inner City are demanding protection money from you?
Shop owner: Should I blur your face?

Reporter: Hit!
Shop Owner: Go ahead and hit me. I'm planning to sell the shop and quit anyway. Let me tell you, most of these thugs are expelled students from Shrek Academy. They don't dare vent their anger on Shrek Academy, so they target innocent civilians like us. And Shrek Academy doesn't even care. If you look down this street, you'll see everyone being extorted for protection money by those thugs.

Reporter: Did you not seek help from Shrek Academy?

Boss: I've asked for help, but what good is it? Let me tell you, the closer the neighborhood is to the academy, the less likely there are criminal gangs to collect protection money. But for shops like ours on the outskirts of the inner city, we get extorted almost every two weeks.

The reporter's eyes lit up, and then he continued to dig deeper.

The scene continued, and watching the boss's animated narration, countless people were amazed. They all became amusement, praising Shrek Academy as a business genius.

It wasn't that no Shrek City residents objected, but they were quickly silenced by the verbal attacks of the Mingdu residents.

If you criticize Shrek Academy, I'll give you a thumbs up!
If you insult Shrek, we're practically brothers!

Suppressing Shrek's glory is the duty of all the residents of Mingdu!
The internet was bustling like it was Chinese New Year, with people eager to see the once-lofty deities fall to earth.

However, among the dozens of trending topics, there was one that received relatively little support.

That is, a royal soul master academy that did not want to mention the name of the academy revealed that Shrek Academy used to rely on cheating to gain glory, but since there was no actual evidence, people did not pursue this matter.

However, Shrek Academy's reputation has indeed plummeted, most notably in the dramatic drop in sales of products from companies under Shrek Academy's umbrella.

After several days, the entire Shrek Academy leadership was in a state of frantic anxiety.

Yun Ming presided over the Sea God Pavilion meeting with a stern face throughout.

Even Long Yeyue didn't dare to say anything at this moment, but looking at the glaring insults on the Internet, her resentment and anger towards Nan Liujing grew even stronger.

In his view, things wouldn't have turned out this way if Nan Liujing hadn't stepped in and asked Shrek Academy to intervene.

……

Tianhai Spirit Pagoda.

Yali said with a wry smile, "Even if the public opinion calms down this time, the academy will hardly be able to regain its former prestige."

The other people sitting in the living room were all big shots who had close ties with Nan Liujing.

Purgatory Douluo: Eternal Breeze; Cold Rhyme Douluo: Xia Zheng Leng; Heavenly Phoenix Douluo: Leng Yaozhu; Divine Craftsman: Zhen Hua.

Qian Gu Qingfeng said calmly, "Yun Ming made a promise that after this matter, he would invite Liu Jing to Shrek Academy for an exchange program. Now that this has happened, I'm afraid some people in your academy will be unable to hold back and make a move. I can't rest easy."

Ya Li pursed her red lips and remained silent for a moment. Under the gaze of several powerful figures, she asked in a cryptic tone, "Qian Gu Qing Feng, do you want the old tower master to take revenge?"

Both Qian Gu Qingfeng and Xia Zheng's cold expressions changed simultaneously.

Zhenhua was puzzled.

Leng Yaozhu's expression was particularly interesting.

……

Having become a world-class celebrity, Nam Ryu-kyung can no longer eat at restaurants outside. Whenever he goes, the place is immediately packed with people and firecrackers go off.

The last time he went out, the person interviewing him almost shoved their phone into his mouth.

Inside the hotel, after another day of competition, the members of Class Zero gathered together, eating takeout and happily discussing things on the internet.

This is also the most relaxing moment outside of the competition.

The world's entertainment industry has seen a collective resurgence, a veritable explosion of diverse voices.

Wu Changkong wasn't there. He didn't think it was Nan Liujing who made the academy the target of everyone's criticism. It was just that... the academy was being attacked by public opinion, and all sorts of scandals were being exposed. The faith that had been passed down for 20,000 years seemed to be on the verge of collapse at any moment. He also became depressed.

The same situation occurs among many people who graduated from Shrek Academy.

He was once praised by everyone for his identity as a student of Shrek Academy.

What now?
Everyone praised him, but the words used to praise him were somewhat intense!
In extreme cases, there are even some mothers who suffer losses.

“I will be going to Shrek City with Senior Holy Spirit tomorrow, so I won’t be able to accompany you during the rest of the competition,” Nan Liujing suddenly said.

Upon hearing this, Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and Xu Xiaoyan, who were eating rice, were all taken aback.

Gu Yue remained calm. She met Leng Yaozhu, who had come to Tianhai City, and received a new mission.

They won the individual championship in the Tianhai League Youth Group.

Tang Wulin asked cautiously, "Brother Nan, will you come back in the future?"

Everyone looked at him expectantly. They would never forget how good Nan Liujing had been to them in just one month.

Nan Liujing said, "I won't be returning to Donghai Academy. But you can come to Shrek Academy to find me in the future. I will stay at Shrek Academy as an exchange student."

Xie Xie scratched his head and asked, "Is it still possible to go to Shrek Academy in its current state?"

Nan Liujing chuckled and said, "By the time you arrived at Shrek Academy, the academy should have been cleaned up quite thoroughly, at least on the surface."

Tang Wulin and the others clearly didn't understand what he was saying.

But it doesn't matter anymore.

(End of this chapter)