In Douluo Continent, I am the mastermind behind the scenes.

Chapter 45. Rumors Spread

"I can tell you clearly that as long as everything you do is reasonable, whether it's Shrek Academy or Poseidon Pavilion, which old man with the dark side dares to bully you and make things difficult for you, I'll cut their heads off and let you kick them around like footballs."

After saying that, Qin Yi chased the three women out. He believed that he, Ye Xishui, and Xue Di's daughter were definitely not the kind of people who were old-fashioned and conservative. They would eventually be able to take this step.

"That's quite a surprise."

Qin Yi returned to the recliner, inwardly criticizing Cai Meier. "She's in her fifties, yet her methods are like a child's."

She shouldn't have avoided Qin Xue and her group. She should have just openly and transparently caught the Tang Clan team, given them a scolding, and considered that it was their first offense, so that the matter could be minimized and resolved peacefully.

Afterwards, even if Cai Meier gave the Tang Clan special treatment and arranged three strong substitutes for them, no one could say anything about it.

But she wouldn't have it; she practically had the words "biased" written all over her face. Even eight-year-old Qin Xue and Qin Mengmeng could see it. It was truly...

However, this is understandable. There are no special requirements to becoming the dean of Shrek Academy. With the backing of the Sea God Pavilion, having a certain status, and reaching the level of a Title Douluo is enough.

Qin Yi walked to the window, looked up at the sky, and said meaningfully, "Two Spirit Halls, the Rakshasa Goddess Spirit, the Moon Blade, the Flame Lord, the Golden Crocodile King, the Coiling Dragon Staff, an ancient family... Heh, the good show of this chaotic world has only just begun!"

……

The scene shifts, and just as Qin Mengmeng expected, Cai Meier waited in the disciplinary office all afternoon. Finally, in the evening, she personally caught the Tang Clan's seven-person group trying to sneak through with three mercenaries. She gave the seven a severe scolding and ordered them to send the three mercenaries back and not to do such rule-breaking behavior.

Before leaving, Cai Meier privately approached Bei Bei and told him not to do such disgraceful things anymore, to focus on training and prepare for the upcoming selection competition, and that she would find a way to get a substitute for Tang Clan.

Qin Yi ultimately overestimated Cai Meier. She was truly taking things one step at a time, lacking any vision, and even had to find a substitute on the spot.

……

The next day, the seven members of the Tang Clan gathered in the cafeteria as usual. After lunch, they went to the Soul Fighting Zone for practical combat training.

As they passed the intelligence station, the Tang Clan's seven members were surprised to find that, instead of shouting to form teams as they had the day before, the more than two hundred students were gathered in small groups, seemingly talking about something.

"Have you heard?"

"Huh? What?"

"Tang Clan, it's Tang Clan! I heard... the Tang Clan team is planning to hire three mercenaries from the Soul Hunter Guild to participate in the selection competition."

"Huh? This kind of thing shouldn't be allowed, right? Shrek Academy has a clear rule that only students can participate in the selection competition."

"So what? For some people, getting those mercenaries to become Shrek Academy students is just a matter of a word. My roommate saw with his own eyes yesterday evening that the Tang Clan's seven-member group came out of the Soul Hunter Guild in Shrek City, leading two young men and one young woman dressed as mercenaries to the outer courtyard's office building."

"Huh? Really?"

"Of course it's true, would I lie to you? Because of this, my roommate told me this morning that he doesn't want to participate in the selection trials for this Soul Master Competition."

"Why? Could it be... that he feels this competition is unfair, which is why he refused to participate?"

"On the contrary, he simply doesn't have the ability to win the championship; he's just afraid of facing those mercenaries."

"This... doesn't make sense, does it? Those mercenaries from the Soul Hunter Guild are all living on the edge. If they had even a slightly better background, they wouldn't be doing this. Their martial soul quality probably isn't very high; at most, it's a high-level martial soul. What are we afraid of them for?"

"You said it yourself, they live on the edge, they've learned killing techniques, are you willing to run into this group of lunatics?"

"Hmm? You've said so much, but isn't it all just speculation, without any concrete evidence?"

"What more evidence do we need? So many people saw the Tang Clan's seven-member group heading to the office building with three mercenaries. Today... we haven't received any notification from the academy. Doesn't that prove anything?"

"It's not surprising that no official notice was issued. Maybe they'll just give a verbal reprimand because it's their first offense."

"This makes no sense at all. Even if there is no official announcement, a written regulation should be issued to prohibit all teams from using such improper methods to find foreign players to participate in the qualifiers."

"That's right. The fact that the explicit regulations haven't been issued yet shows that the higher-ups are tacitly approving of the Tang Sect's... Ouch, why are you pinching me?"

"Shh! Shh! You dare speak ill of those Your Majesties? Are you out of your mind?"

"So what if they said something? Isn't Shrek Academy supposed to be the number one academy on the continent? It's not that it's wrong to pre-select a spot in the Soul Master Competition, but what's disgusting is that they're doing it on the spot while still putting on a show of holding a selection competition. What, now that they've done it, they want to shut the students up and stop them from talking?"

In an instant, the entire intelligence room area was bustling with noise. The students were extremely dissatisfied with the bias of a certain high-ranking member of Shrek Academy towards the Tang Sect, and they all planned to protest by withdrawing from the competition.

According to them, is it really for their safety to let Soul Masters who are not Shrek Academy students participate in the competition?

Hearing these words, the seven members of the Tang Clan were stunned. They really didn't understand how such a trivial matter had escalated to the point of being known by everyone.

Seeing that everyone was standing still, Huo Yuhao said irritably, "Everyone doesn't need to pay attention to these people. Rumors stop with the wise. We didn't plan to let the mercenaries participate. It's their business if they don't want to participate in the qualifiers. It just so happens that the number of teams participating in the qualifiers has decreased, so we can avoid playing a few more rounds of meaningless matches."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Sanshi looked at Huo Yuhao with an extremely strange expression. Was Huo Yuhao really that silly... no, that naive?

Even without Shrek Academy, the three great empires will still be the three great empires. But if the three great empires are no longer willing to respect the Sea God Pavilion and Shrek Academy, can Shrek Academy continue to exist?

Is this something that can be ignored just like that?

Xu Sanshi also understood that it was highly likely that their competitors had accidentally seen them come out of the Soul Hunter Guild, combined their behavior with a series of analyses, and then transformed the analyzed information into several versions, spreading them throughout the outer academy, causing their Tang Sect to be deeply embroiled in a vortex of public opinion.

hiss……

Xu Sanshi took a deep breath, scratching his head repeatedly as he pondered a way to break the deadlock. If this matter wasn't handled properly, the Tang Clan's reputation would be ruined.

Who on earth spread this rumor? You'd be happy if the Tang Clan fell, wouldn't you?

(The fourth update is here. Please add to your favorites, recommend, and continue reading.)

(End of this chapter)