Wu Ling silently looked at the three people before him.
One of them was still awake.
That person was none other than Ethan Drake.
As for why Scarlet and Flender, two Spirit Kings, were unconscious and severely injured while Ethan, a mere Spirit Apprentice, remained awake, the answer lay in Scarlet blocking in front of Ethan at the final moment, and Flender blocking in front of Scarlet.
At the end just now, Wu Ling had held back slightly. Because of that, the Noble Phantasm strike had only reached about the level of a level-95 Titled Sage's ninth Spirit Skill. It was not even his full power. The Golden Sacred Dragon's attack had been roughly at the level of a full-force strike from a level-91 Titled Sage.
So after the Golden Sacred Dragon was broken, the remaining force was still enough to severely injure a Spirit Emperor. Ethan, standing in front, should have been the first to take it. With his strength, that strike should have nearly killed him.
But when Ethan's life was on the line, Scarlet suddenly erupted from behind him. Her Spirit Power had already been exhausted, yet her body somehow used Martial Soul True Form again by a miracle and blocked in front of Ethan.
Then, when Flender saw Ethan and Scarlet's situation, the same thing happened to him. He moved in front of both of them and took the damage.
The final result was Ethan awake with burns, Scarlet unconscious with burns, and Flender severely injured, unconscious, and badly burned. Judging by his condition, if he was not treated quickly, he really might never wake up again.
Wu Ling felt no pity at all.
The fact that he did not finish them off was already out of respect for Flender's status as a bootlicker... no, as a real man.
"Flender!"
In the distance, Barrett Knox saw Flender's miserable state and hurried over. Even at the risk of angering Wu Ling, he poured a bottle of medicine down Flender's throat. The other Shrek teachers also arrived one after another and shielded Flender behind them.
As for Ethan and Scarlet in Ethan's arms, they did not care about them at all.
"Oh. Good friendship."
Wu Ling snapped his fingers.
Immediately, a Magecraft array appeared beneath Ethan, Scarlet, and Flender. Barrett was about to carry Flender away, but pressure surged up and pressed the Shrek teachers flat against the ground.
"His Highness did not say you could move."
A bewitching voice rang out. Yue Guan's figure appeared behind Wu Ling. As for Ghost, he remained hidden in the shadows.
In the distance, the three board members also arrived before Wu Ling under Erasmus Graves's lead.
"Your Highness," Erasmus said, giving Wu Ling a look. In truth, he had arrived long ago. He simply had not appeared because Ghost and Yue Guan had signaled him not to.
He had also seen the battle just now. To be honest, Wu Ling's strength had even frightened him. Even as a level-93 Titled Sage, Erasmus had no confidence he could take that strike head-on while going all out. Most of his Spirit Skills were poison, and under that kind of high temperature, no matter what poison he used, it would be burned away at once.
Most importantly, judging from how relaxed Wu Ling looked, that had probably not been his full strength.
Wu Ling nodded with a smile. After beating Ethan, his mood was quite good.
After nodding, his gaze returned to the Magecraft array. Countless tiny blood-colored points scattered from the three people's bodies and finally condensed above them into three small blood-red spheres.
The three spheres came before Wu Ling. With a light wave of his hand, the Magecraft array covered the surfaces of the spheres, preserving them.
Originally, Wu Ling had planned to kill Ethan and then forcibly recondense and seal his Martial Soul before it dispersed. As for Scarlet and Flender, he could directly strip their Martial Souls while they were unconscious.
That method was direct. But without prior experience, experimenting with it carried the risk that the Martial Soul might take too much damage and scatter before the experiment was complete. Since all three were still alive now, he could first take a little of their essence blood for experiments. After the research was complete, stripping the Martial Souls later would not be too late.
Behind Erasmus, Hugo Shade went through a long internal struggle. After seeing Wu Ling put away the blood spheres, he carried Elio Quinn forward and arrived before Wu Ling.
"Your Highness, there was some offense earlier. After careful consideration, I also feel that Elio Quinn never truly treated our academy as his home. His loyalty still leans toward Shrek. Therefore, I now hand him over to you for disposal."
After saying that, he dropped Elio in front of Wu Ling and stepped back.
His move was truly worthy of the phrase: a wise man submits to circumstance. He did represent the academy's face. But if there was no academy left, face would no longer matter.
Although he was only a Spirit Emperor, decades of experience had let him see that Wu Ling had held back just now. But even while holding back, this forest, which occupied a third of the entire academy, had nearly had half of it destroyed. If Wu Ling had gone all out, the power would likely have been even greater.
And this was Wu Ling's strength as a Spirit King. What about when he became a Spirit Emperor, or even a Titled Sage? At that time, even without his eighth or ninth Spirit Skills, this attack alone might be enough to destroy half the academy.
The other two board members turned a blind eye to Hugo's action, because they also understood. The sky over this continent was about to change. With a monster like Wu Ling existing, Spirit Hall's future would be unstoppable. And based on the Saint's personality, if they did not soften their stance now, they might not have the chance to do so later.
"Hahaha. It is best that Board Member Hugo understands. After all, I do not want someone like him becoming a bloodsucking parasite in your academy, eating his fill before continuously sending fresh blood to Shrek."
At that point, Wu Ling's tone suddenly shifted. He pointed at Ethan and said, "But there is one more thing. I hope the three board members and Poison Sage can confirm something for me. Just now, was it this person here who attacked me without a word?"
Ethan looked at Wu Ling pointing at him, rage nearly spilling out of his eyes. But under the pressure released by Yue Guan, he could not even speak. He could only curse silently to vent.
The three board members looked at one another, not understanding what Wu Ling meant. But Erasmus reacted first.
"Of course, Your Highness. I saw it with my own eyes. You clearly did nothing, and this man joined forces with his accomplices to attack you."
"Exactly, exactly. If our Saint had not possessed some strength, he might have been injured. It scared me so much," Yue Guan said from behind Wu Ling, playing along in an affected tone.
In the end, under the gaze of two Titled Sages and Wu Ling, the three board members gritted their teeth and echoed the story.