Shen Shuan, I accept everything you've said, but if you were me, what would you do?

Unexpectedly, just as the barrier shattered, the moonlight blazed, and golden flames surged into the sky, 04's lips curled into a subtle smile.

"Tier 5 • Foul Sludge Technique!"

"Walking Under the Moon, Questioning My Heart!"

Two shouts rang out again at the same time. Shen Shuan stood on the moon, the bright moonlight shining brightly beneath his feet.

04 Raising his scepter high, facing the oncoming giant moon, earth-yellow magic surged forth, and foul-smelling sludge instantly took shape, rising high like waves, attacking the bright moon head-on, rushing towards Shen Shu'an.

Shen Shu'an: "!"

Yuanyuan: "!"

Both the man and the bird leaned back simultaneously. What was that? It stinks!

Shen Shu'an: "!!!"

Shen Shu'an stared in shock at the sludge rushing towards him below. Was this excrement?

No, what is this?

She hesitated for a moment. Had the competition really come to this point? But it had only just begun.

But just as Shen Shu'an hesitated between sacrificing herself and ruining her reputation, the muddy wave had already overwhelmed the bright moon and rushed towards the girl in the air!

Yuanyuan: "!!!"

"Hey!"

No, my Xiangxiang!

Round and bean-like eyes widened in horror, let out a mournful cry, and spat out a golden fire three times larger than before.

Then, its wings swept across rapidly, shielding Shen Shu'an from the oncoming mountain of excrement.

Shen Shu'an: "!!!"

Two lines of tears uncontrollably streamed down Shen Shu'an's face. They weren't from being moved, but from the large amount of toxic gas produced by the garbage incineration!

She held her breath rapidly, shut off her sense of smell, and stared down at 04 with a ferocious expression.

"04!"

The girl gritted her teeth, making a grinding sound between them.

It stinks, it stinks so bad! Even though she had shut down her sense of smell, the stench that had hit her soul just now still seemed to linger around her nose.

And her eyes hurt so much!

Shen Shu'an blinked her piercing eyes, which were red and swollen, and two more tears fell.

"Ask your heart!!!!"

Shen Shu'an roared angrily, staring intently at the number 04 below.

"04. You enter the wizarding world, a world that wages war on all sides, slaughtering countless innocent lives. What will you fight for?"

"Is it for the power gained at the expense of others, for the numbers that rank you wizards, or..."

Shen Shuan stepped forward again, and the bright moon beneath his feet, which had been teetering on the brink of collapse, shone brightly once more. The enormous moon wheel spun, and its afterimages coalesced into a full moon, which flew above number 04 and was enveloped in moonlight.

Upon seeing this, 04 felt a sense of unease, but under the moonlight, for some reason, memories of the past surfaced in his mind.

His expression, visible beneath his hood, shifted rapidly, gradually turning to pain.

At that moment, he felt as if he had transformed into a bewildered child, nestled in his mother's arms.

Under the moonlight, a gentle lullaby murmured softly, and the person he never dared to hope to remember gave him a tender kiss—a mother's most sincere love for the child in her arms.

In this extremely gentle and irresistible illusion, 04's expression gradually became dazed. This was the person he had been searching for all along, the one he had never met but who had given him life.

As my heart swelled with emotion, the experiences of the past twenty years slowly surfaced before my eyes. I slowly opened my mouth, as if about to utter the truth.

But just as he was about to speak, he suddenly bit his tongue, snapping back to his senses. He raised his scepter and declared, "Fifth Rank: Teleportation!"

"Dragon Imprisonment Technique!"

Seeing that 04 was indeed trying to escape, Shen Shu'an's magic power surged, and he raised his hand to form a hand seal. A beam of azure magic light appeared, which for some reason transformed into a dragon-shaped phantom and roared towards 04 below.

Shen Shu'an frowned slightly. Why did her Dragon Imprisonment Technique have a dragon-shaped special effect? ​​This wasn't the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms, was it?

But now was not the time to think about that. Seeing 04 freeze in place, Shen Shu'an quickly uttered what he hadn't finished saying earlier—

"Or, it's for cheating!!!!"

"You slaughter the innocent, your hands stained with countless dropes of blood, yet you always feel resentful whenever you see me, always feeling that fate is unfair, simply because you can't accept defeat!!!!"

Amidst the foul-smelling smoke, tears streaming down her face, Shen Shu'an posed a soul-searching question to the person below, number 04.

At that moment, the sludge was finally burned away by the golden flames, and Yuan Yuan, with its eyes red, spread its wings with all its might. A small hurricane suddenly rose from below, sweeping away the stench in the field.

04 was held in place by Shen Shu's aura. The magic stone at the top of his staff was still buzzing, trying to make a last struggle, but it was ultimately locked firmly by the phantom of the Azure Dragon.

In the invisible void, the laws of the wizarding world and the laws of the Yuanhe world were vying for supremacy, but in the end, the "Dragon Imprisonment Technique" prevailed.

"Ugh... Ah!!!"

04. Tormented by inner turmoil, he let out a long howl and finally revealed his true form.

Shen Shu'an stared at that youthful face, her expression unchanged, but instead growing even more ruthless. She continued to press, "In your wizarding world, everyone hides their faces. Is it to conceal their past, their race, or to share the same identity, or is it because they dare not face those innocent lives?!"

In the gentle breeze, the bloodshot veins in the girl's eyes gradually faded, turning into a crystal blue that shone brightly under the sunlight.

She raised her hand towards the crimson phoenix beside her, and instantly, the crimson phoenix opened its mouth and spat out a pure white magic sword.

Shen Shu'an gripped the truly fine sword and swung it downwards with a fierce strike—"Moon Step!!"

"If it weren't for the valiant struggle of our ancestors, we would have been slaughtered by your world long ago! Even in death, the beings of our realm will never forget your faces!"

If that day ever comes, all of them in the Yuanhe Realm will become soul cultivators. Even if their bodies die, their souls can still fight, and they will not let them go even as ghosts!

The hatred for the destruction of this world can be avenged in countless lifetimes!

As the girl finished her final question, the illusory image of the Azure Dragon below suddenly vanished. 04 looked up, his pupils contracted sharply, and stared straight at the sharp sword slashing towards him.

but--

"Fifth Ring Super-Tier • 100% Bare-Handed Blade Catching Technique!"

04 He knelt on one knee, his staff floating beside him, and the mark of the Eye of Judgment on his forehead suddenly opened, shooting out a beam of red light.

"Divine Art: Judgment Descends!"

04, with eyes wide open, roared, and a huge, illusory eye appeared above his head, coldly staring at the girl above.

"Shen Shu'an, I accept everything you've said, but if you were me, what would you do?"

"Fight or die, be abandoned, I want to live!!!"

"I come from a place where people with disabilities have been reborn. I was raised by my teachers, and I should repay their kindness."

"The reason I survived is because my mother risked her life to save me. My mother wanted me to live, and I wanted to live!!!!"

04 He knelt down and caught the terrifying sword light with both hands. His figure kept dissipating within the sword light, but it kept healing and repairing itself.

Two streams of bloody tears flowed from his eyes: "We can't reason with you people of the Yuanhe Realm. You don't know our suffering; you're too high and mighty!"

Shen Shu'an looked at the red light heading towards her, and laughed angrily: "You want to live, your wizarding world wants to live, so beings from other worlds deserve to die?!"

"I ask you, have you ever struggled? Now that you're in this position, have you tried to change your policies? Have you ever tried to persuade your teachers?"

"Have you ever tried to save a single life on the battlefield?!"