Douluo Continent: Peerless Angel Qian Renxue.

Chapter 14: Internal Strife Begins, Students in Dilemma

"Captain, save me!" Zhao Bing cried out in despair as he stared at the enormous tiger face, its fangs closing in on him, and foul-smelling saliva dripping from its mouth onto the corners of his mouth.

"Li Huimin!" the control-type Soul Master shouted, "Give me an amplification!"

"Yes!" The support-type Soul Master with the Qin (a type of zither) Martial Soul immediately began to play, and sound waves appeared.

Want to save people? Qian Renxue sneered inwardly, then shouted again, "Over there, they're coming again!"

"Ah—!" Another teammate was tightly wrapped around the neck by a snake-shaped soul beast.

"Shut the hell up! If you've got the guts, come at me!" The control-type Soul Master was on the verge of collapse. He had never encountered such a situation before. His proud control ability had become incredibly fragile at this moment, and he was completely unable to control the entire situation.

He had a habit when commanding battles: only his voice could be heard on the battlefield, otherwise he would become distracted. The already difficult situation was completely thrown into chaos by Qian Renxue's two shouts.

Qian Renxue leaned against the rock wall and pouted, thinking to herself, "Is it my fault? If I hadn't warned you at the beginning, your classmate would have been bitten to death by this ghost tiger."

She didn't want these people to die so easily; that would be too easy on them. That's why she deliberately shouted a couple of times, partly to get their attention and partly to disrupt their formation.

"What are you yelling about!" Zhou Yi's voice came from outside. "Wang Jun, have you forgotten what we taught you in class?"

Wang Jun was so angry he wanted to jump up and down. The situation was already getting out of control, and this old woman suddenly put pressure on him, making his face turn bright red instantly.

"What's the use of what you taught in class here?!" He couldn't hold back any longer. "Did you teach us how to deal with dozens of soul beasts in class?"

Zhou Yi was furious upon hearing this. She casually swatted away a spirit beast, then looked at him coldly: "You dare talk back to me, huh? Very well, you can pack your bags and leave next semester!"

Qian Renxue was stunned. What was going on? Why were they fighting amongst themselves? They were even arguing and ignoring their own teammates?

"Captain, save me..." Zhao Bing was pulled back by Wang Jun, but another teammate who was entangled by a snake was not so lucky. His neck was tightly strangled by the snake, his eyes rolled back, and then the snake bit his face.

"Ah...ah—!" A heart-wrenching scream came from his direction, clearly indicating that he wouldn't live much longer.

"No...no..." Most of the students were fifteen or sixteen years old. They had only fought in the Soul Arena and had only seen one or two Soul Beasts under ten thousand years old during the promotion exam. They would probably feel uncomfortable if they saw blood, let alone someone dying here.

"Damn it." Zhou Yi also panicked. This was not the first time she had led a team out to hunt souls, but this time someone in the team had died.

Moreover, if things go wrong, they could very well be wiped out here!

Fear and panic began to spread, and Qian Renxue's gaze hardened as she silently absorbed the emotional fluctuations into her body. This stuff was useless to her, but it was a great tonic for that little devil. That guy could use these negative things to increase his strength.

She herself did not expect things to turn out this way. Originally, she only planned to lure the soul beasts over and let them fight alongside these people. Even if there was a Soul Emperor, they would definitely be severely injured, and she would find an opportunity to finish them off.

But ever since one of them died, the teammates have clearly begun to distrust their captain, and Zhou Yi's outrageous remarks just now only made matters worse. What kind of time is this to be thinking about expelling students? Do they think they can't teach without expelling students?

When the will to fight is broken, the team is not far from its demise.

"No, I don't want to die! Ah—!" A certain Jia, who was guarding the cave entrance, was pounced on by a powerful gorilla, its giant paw slamming onto his shoulder. Qian Renxue recognized him; he was a defensive-type Soul Master, his Martial Soul prototype likely resembling a rhinoceros or some other soul beast, hence his name, Niu Jia (Ox Armor). Logically, he should have been able to withstand this savage pounce, but his eyes were dull and lifeless. Overwhelmed by the imminent fear, he even forgot to unleash his third Soul Skill.

The bull armor, pulled up, was lifted above the powerful gorilla's head and then slammed to the ground. The defensive-type Soul Master's physique prevented him from dying immediately, but if he could, he would have preferred to be killed instantly. The powerful gorilla, as if possessed, frantically slammed his body against the ground until almost all his bones were shattered, then swallowed his flesh and blood.

There was none of the camaraderie between the old gorilla and the old rhinoceros from ten thousand years ago. "Boom—" Zhou Yi, possessing the Fire Dragon Martial Soul, finally broke free of the encirclement. She didn't understand why these soul beasts were so determined to tear at her arm. In countless clashes, her right arm was on the verge of being broken by these soul beasts. If it weren't for the defensive soul tool given to her by Fan Yu, her arm would have already been ripped off.

After breaking through the encirclement, she quickly reached the students. Two students were already dead. If she dragged it out any longer, all the students would die here. At that point, it wouldn't be as simple as being reported and expelled. If word got out, the students' families would probably try to assassinate her.

Qian Renxue narrowed her eyes. This woman, who appeared to be an old woman, seemed to have truly lost her mind. Her approaching the students at this moment was tantamount to leading all the soul beasts to the cave entrance. If she had any courage, she could have lured away most of the soul beasts before uttering those words, thus relieving the pressure here.

Zhou Yi's wrinkled skin and white hair were now soaked in blood. Although the blood that Qian Renxue had originally spilled on them had little flavor left, the appearance of new blood still ignited the group of soul beasts' desire for blood food. The delicacies were gone, but the after-dinner snacks were just as tempting.

"It's all your fault!" Zhou Yi glared fiercely at Qian Renxue, wishing she could skin her alive. "You're the one who brought these soul beasts here!"

Qian Renxue shrank back in fright: "No...aren't you from Shrek Academy...you want to kill me..."

Before Qian Renxue could finish speaking, Zhou Yi grabbed her and threw her away.

The students, who were already terrified, felt a chill run down their spines and were filled with mixed emotions. Teacher Zhou had just casually thrown out a poor person. Would he throw them out next?

However, they have always been instilled with the idea that Shrek Academy is the defender of the continent's order, and we must protect the academy's honor. If that's truly the case, then this little girl absolutely cannot be let go. Otherwise, if word gets out, wouldn't that be tarnishing Shrek Academy's reputation?!

What's the saying that's been passed down in the academy for thousands of years about this behavior? Oh right, you've got a way to die!

But how can we both defend the order of the mainland and protect the honor of the academy?

Clearly, the spirit beasts wouldn't give them much time to think. When faced with the temptation of blood food, they didn't care about justice or injustice. What use was justice if it couldn't fill their stomachs?

Qian Renxue, thrown out, landed in the spirit beast circle. Her eyes widened as she aimed at the grass where Zhou Yi's red dragon spirit had previously set ablaze. Silently, she activated her second spirit skill, deliberately slowing down to create the illusion that she had stumbled away.

The thousand-year-old soul beasts were clearly not very smart. They didn't pay any attention to the girl who had temporarily escaped because they found that she didn't have that familiar blood on her. On the contrary, she had a chilling aura and pressure that kept strangers away, and her aura was completely different from before, like a stone.

They didn't recognize that this was the prey they had been chasing. If it were a spirit beast that had been around for over ten thousand years and had developed intelligence, it might have wondered why this guy had no scent at all, but a thousand-year-old spirit beast could only identify its prey by its aura.

Qian Renxue escaped the clutches of the spirit beasts, but Zhou Yi and the other students weren't so lucky. Zhou Yi immediately felt like a fool, because her actions had further distanced her from the students. How could she teach at Shrek Academy now? She had to do something to change the students' perception of her and stop them from gossiping and blaming the runaway little girl.

As for what the little girl might say outside, she hadn't even considered that possibility; her brain was completely overwhelmed. At worst, she'd catch her and bring her back.

Looking at the students around her, she wanted to slap herself. She had really been blinded by anger and had thrown away the most important hostage.

As for Zhou Yi's character and personality, the author is reluctant to comment, since she is not a particularly important character. However, it can be seen from the original work that she is a very selfish and foolish person.

I cannot agree with her teaching methods. Everyone has been young once and knows what her unreasonable teaching behavior means. From the system of collective punishment to expelling Dai Huabin simply because he questioned her, or rather, because she was protecting him, thus negating his efforts in the freshman assessment, what kind of behavior is this? To put it nicely, it's protecting someone else's fault; to put it bluntly, it's irresponsible and brainless. She is simply not fit to be a teacher.

Furthermore, her relationship with Fanyu, to put it nicely, is about working hard for the students' development; to put it bluntly, it's about being love-struck and taking her husband as her guiding principle. She herself has said, "If you marry a chicken, follow the chicken; if you marry a dog, follow the dog." You're such a grown person, don't you have any of your own opinions?

Originally, I planned to give her an even more tragic ending in this chapter, but after thinking about it, I decided against it. Someone like her doesn't deserve Yukiko's help. However, she will still have a terrible fate because… her martial spirit makes Yukiko very uncomfortable.

(End of this chapter)