Xia Yi truly couldn't understand what Long Yeyue from Shrek Academy was thinking.
Yes, Shrek Academy had indeed suffered an unprecedented blow from the attack of the Class 12 God-Slaying Fixed Soul Ammunition.
Its reputation was in shambles, and rebuilding it would undoubtedly be extremely difficult.
But regardless, Shrek Academy still had a loyal group of alumni.
Under normal circumstances, once the academy was rebuilt, those graduates would still be willing to send their children to Shrek Academy.
At that point, maybe the rebuilt Shrek Academy wouldn't reach the heights of its former glory.
But at the very least, it would ensure the continuation of Shrek's legacy.
And as long as that legacy endured, with gradual development and without stirring up unnecessary trouble, there would always be a chance to regain its former glory.
The Sun Moon Federation wouldn't have any excuse to target Shrek Academy either.
But now?
Long Yeyue pulled a stunt like this.
She completely tore off the mask and went to war with the Sun Moon Federation.
Wasn't this essentially forcing the Sun Moon Federation to destroy Shrek Academy completely?
Now Long Yeyue had fully revealed to the Sun Moon Federation just how terrifying Shrek's power of influence was.
In Mingdu, during her wedding with Tang Wulin, with just a single phrase—"the Shrek spirit"—she managed to rally countless Shrek graduates to rise up and resist the Federation.
She made people in the War God Hall who were affiliated with Shrek put down their weapons and give safe passage to Shrek Academy and the rebellious organization, Tang Sect.
Then, she even triggered a mass defection from one of the largest organizations in the Federation—the War God Hall.
After pulling something like this...
Fine, even if she managed to obtain the Eternal Heaven and used its deterrent power to rebuild Shrek Academy...
Had she ever thought that, after doing all this, would the Sun Moon Federation ever dare to use Shrek graduates again?
If all graduates were blacklisted and had no future prospects within the Federation, who would still be willing to send their children to study at Shrek Academy?
Without new students, no matter how prestigious a school is, it would eventually collapse.
More importantly, Long Yeyue had handed the Sun Moon Federation a legitimate reason to act against Shrek Academy.
And that was exactly what the Sun Moon Federation needed right now.
What surprised Xia Yi was that, based on the tone of the Speaker of the Sun Moon Federation Parliament, they only wanted Xia Hong's help to retrieve the Eternal Heaven. They hadn't even considered taking this opportunity to eliminate Shrek Academy's influence within the Federation.
But after listening to Xia Yi, the Speaker's eyes suddenly lit up.
That's right—the Federation could totally take this opportunity to uproot Shrek Academy's forces.
Compared to the Tang Sect, Shrek's forces would be much easier to deal with.
Shrek alumni were all proud of being graduates of the academy. Even those who didn't officially graduate still talked about Shrek all the time.
Rooting them out would be much easier than hunting down Tang Sect spies.
"This matter must be handled immediately. The military is to target the families of War God Hall powerhouses, starting with the Seagod Legion's top brass. The police will handle those with sympathies for Shrek. The crime is colluding with Shrek to steal the Eternal Heaven. Anyone who resists—kill them on sight," the Speaker suddenly stood up and said firmly. "Once we've arrested these people, I refuse to believe Shrek Academy won't obediently hand over the Eternal Heaven in exchange."
"You're planning to use these people as leverage to negotiate with Shrek Academy?" Xia Yi asked curiously.
"What, isn't that a perfectly valid approach?" The Speaker smirked proudly. "As long as we capture them, we don't need to worry about the Light and Dark Douluo resisting. Even if the Light and Dark Douluo don't care about these graduates, do you think the War Gods won't care about their families? When the time comes, even if Long Yeyue refuses to cooperate, they'll secretly bring the Eternal Heaven back themselves."
The Speaker looked proudly at Xia Yi. "Maximizing benefits—this is better than your suggestion to execute them all, isn't it?"
"I know what you're thinking." Xia Yi shook his head. "You think because Juer and I are from the Spirit Pagoda, we want to use your hands to wipe out this group of Shrek graduates? That I'm using you as a weapon?"
"What, are you saying you or the Spirit Pagoda don't have that intention?" The Speaker replied with a grin.
Sigh... Xia Yi let out a soft sigh. "I really don't know how someone like you ended up as Speaker."
Shaking his head, he continued, "Let's not talk about whether I'm using you. Even if I say I'm not, you wouldn't believe me. Let's just talk about the situation itself: the Eternal Heaven being stolen, the War God Hall defecting—these are blatant acts of treason. Yet you're actually considering negotiating with traitors? If word of this got out, every person in the Federation with a shred of integrity would spit on you."
Xia Hong glanced at the Speaker and nodded in agreement. "If it were just the Eternal Heaven going missing, the Federation could still cover it up and keep the public in the dark. In that case, I wouldn't care what you did. But a mass defection from the War God Hall? That's not something the Federation can hide. These traitors must be dealt with according to the law. If even this kind of treason can be avoided through negotiation, who's going to take the law seriously in the future? You're trading the Federation's dignity for a bargaining chip—I'm a Federal officer, it's my duty to uphold the law. I can't go along with this."
After speaking, Xia Hong turned to Xia Yi with a mischievous grin. "You suggesting executing the families and relatives of the War Gods and Seagod Legion commanders—was that to force Chen Xinjie and the others who defected to Shrek to return to Mingdu and save their people? Leaving Shrek Academy defenseless, so you can safely retrieve the Eternal Heaven?"
Right now, Shrek Academy only had one powerhouse left—Long Yeyue.
Besides her, the only combat force consisted of Chen Xinjie and the War Gods who defected with him.
If Leng Yaozhu from the Spirit Pagoda went to help the Federation retrieve the Eternal Heaven, these people obviously wouldn't be her match.
But what Xia Yi was worried about was: what if the Eternal Heaven exploded in the chaos?
That would be a consequence he couldn't afford.
The Eternal Heaven was the most powerful of the three Class 12 God-Slaying Fixed Soul Ammunition devices.
If it exploded in Shrek Academy, it wouldn't just be the academy that was destroyed.
The entire Shrek City would be wiped out.
Forget the civilians—even the Spirit Pagoda headquarters in Shrek City would be annihilated.
The whole city would face total devastation.
Xia Yi and Leng Yaozhu were willing to assist the Federation precisely because they feared the Federation and Shrek might both go down in flames, resulting in the detonation of the Eternal Heaven.
Whether the Eternal Heaven was detonated in Shrek City by the Federation, or launched at another city by Shrek Academy, the result would be catastrophic.
Xia Yi had to do everything in his power to prevent that outcome.
As a precaution, before going to retrieve the Eternal Heaven from Shrek Academy, they had to find a way to lure away the War Gods led by Chen Xinjie.
With only Long Yeyue left, and with Leng Yaozhu and her sisters present, even if she wanted to detonate the Eternal Heaven, she wouldn't have the chance.
That was Xia Yi's true plan.
He didn't tell the Federation his detailed strategy, and instead proposed executing all the relatives of the War God Hall, Seagod Legion high command, and Shrek Academy graduates.
He was worried that if word got out, Chen Xinjie wouldn't fall for the trap and wouldn't come to Mingdu.
What Xia Yi needed was for the Federation to really act. Only then would Chen Xinjie really believe it and have no choice but to come save them.
The Federation's top brass didn't catch on to Xia Yi's intentions—they thought he was just trying to eliminate Shrek's strength through their hands.
Only Xia Hong, upon hearing Xia Yi's suggestion of executing the traitors' families, immediately saw what Xia Yi was truly aiming for.