Tang San: Su Zui, I Want to Fight You in Earnest!

Although the string of questions Su Zui had just thrown at him was profound, Flender was no pushover.

He had spent decades scrambling through the world of Soul Masters. What storms had he not weathered?

Flender had lived more than half his life and reckoned he had eaten more salt than Su Zui had eaten rice. He could still answer these questions.

Flender pushed up his glasses and answered confidently as he walked ahead, without looking back. "In a battle between Soul Masters, the most important thing is naturally their Soul Power Level. Of course, apart from a Soul Master's level, the other factors are basic attributes like speed, strength, defense, and endurance."

Then Flender paused in his steps and pondered briefly before continuing, "As for what you said about a Soul Master running out of Soul Power, they can only rely on their physical abilities and instinctive combat reactions to keep fighting."

Su Zui gave Flender a somewhat strange look.

"My dear dean, I thought you didn't know anything. So you do know."

Flender still hadn't picked up on the sarcasm in Su Zui's voice and took it as praise.

Flender pushed up his glasses again. His narrow triangular eyes curved, and a trace of a smug smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

"Haha, Xiao Zui, however inadequate I may be, I'm still a genuine Soul Saint. How could I not know these things? You underestimate me far too much."

"Since you know all about it, why haven't you put this training into your daily regimen? You might as well not know."

Only after Flender had finished laughing did Su Zui unhurriedly deliver the rest of his words.

Hearing them, Flender's gaze froze once again.

He turned around, glared fiercely at Su Zui with his triangular eyes, and snapped, "If you have something to say, say it all at once! Is it fun making an old man like me angry over and over?"

"I'm old enough as it is, and my heart isn't good. Are you trying to send me to an early grave?"

"Ahem..."

Hearing Flender's complaint, Su Zui felt a tiny bit embarrassed, his heart full of guilt.

Su Zui quickly composed himself, his expression turning solemn.

"Dean Flender, since you understand all of this, why not add strength training, speed training, reaction training, and even instinct training to the Soul Master training system?"

"You know perfectly well how important these things are, yet you only have the students run day after day and train nothing else. Isn't that leading your students astray?"

Hearing Su Zui's rather harsh words, Flender's expression darkened.

"Leading your students astray"—those words carried far too much weight. He really couldn't bear such a heavy accusation.

If word got out that Flender was leading his students astray, Shrek Academy's reputation would be smashed to pieces.

Flender couldn't help raising his voice. "Xiao Zui, how can you slander me out of thin air? How am I leading my students astray? Isn't that what I train those abilities for when I take them to the Great Soul Arena in Suotuo City at night?"

Only then did Su Zui understand Flender's teaching logic.

Su Zui raised an eyebrow and asked, "Dean, you mean you only have them run during the day, then let them grasp these things through actual combat at night?"

Flender nodded firmly, a gratified smile on his face, as though the boy had finally proven teachable.

"Xiao Zui, you've finally grasped it! Well? My method isn't bad, is it?"

Su Zui couldn't help rolling his eyes.

He grumbled inwardly, unsure whether the standard of teaching in this world was simply like this, or whether Flender alone taught this way.

"Not only is it wrong, it's completely wrong! It's downright ridiculous!"

The smile on Flender's face froze.

He turned around once again and stared at Su Zui, dumbfounded.

At that moment, Flender even began to doubt Su Zui's motive for coming to Shrek Academy.

How was this guy here to study? He was clearly here to pick a fight.

"Hold on, how is my training method completely wrong again? Go on, then. What good method do you have?"

Flender kicked the ball straight back to Su Zui. After being contradicted so many times, no matter how good his temper was, a ball of anger had built up inside him.

If Su Zui couldn't answer either, then he would, he would...

All right, he really didn't dare do anything to Su Zui...

Not a ripple crossed Su Zui's face as he said evenly, "Why don't you try giving each of these skills specialized training?"

"Specialized training?"

Flender was slightly taken aback, and his brows knitted tightly.

Clearly, this was Flender's first time hearing the term.

"That's right, specialized training."

Su Zui repeated the words, then continued.

"Specialized training isn't hard to understand. You break down every part of a Soul Master's battle and hone each skill individually."

"Strength can be trained separately, and so can reaction speed. Even the angle and speed of a punch can be taken out and polished over and over."

At this point, Su Zui paused and gave a straightforward example.

"For example, first draw a diagram of the human body's vital points, then buy a humanoid sandbag."

"Have the students learn every fatal vital point on the human body, and understand what kind of damage attacking each one would do to an enemy."

"After that, have all their training revolve around attacking vital points. Whether in close combat or with Soul Skills, they deliberately practice again and again, aiming for those points."

"Keep training like that for long enough, and the ultimate result will be this."

Su Zui paused, then spilled out the rest in one breath.

"No matter the environment, no matter whether a student has exhausted their Soul Power, even if they're blind, deaf, and have only one hand left, they can still rely on instincts forged through countless trials to kill an enemy in a single strike."

"That is specialized training."

Hearing Su Zui's explanation, Flender's pupils abruptly widened, and a faint chill rose in his heart.

He sucked in a cold breath and blurted out, "You... your training method is clearly meant to raise killing machines! If you train students like that, they'll lose their reverence for life..."

Flender was no fool. He instantly saw through the mechanism hidden behind this training method.

"Dean Flender, I was only giving an example. I'm not actually trying to raise killing machines. Surely you understand using an example to make a point?"

Su Zui rubbed his temples and explained in simpler terms.

"My intention isn't to raise heartless killing machines. It's to hone the students' combat abilities bit by bit through repeated training, day after day, so they can engrave things like combat awareness and battlefield instincts into their bones during everyday training."

"Once they're actually on the battlefield, the situation can change in an instant. Under those circumstances, what they need to do is kill the enemy in a single strike."

"After all, how could an enemy stand still and serve as an experience pack?"

"Besides that, you can also arrange combat matches by random draw, training the students to face all kinds of enemies under any circumstances."

These ideas of Su Zui's came from the special forces training he had read about online in his previous life.

Although special forces also went on endurance marches, those were only one part of their training.

Naturally, though, Su Zui couldn't simply bring a real special forces training program to Shrek Academy.

So he had merely suggested a plan for specialized training to Flender.

Su Zui believed Flender was a smart man. He only needed to give him a few pointers, and Flender would be able to draw up a detailed training schedule.

Flender, meanwhile, immediately began working through the feasibility of these plans in his mind.

For a time, an eerie silence settled between them.

Flender pondered as he walked, and before they knew it, the two had arrived at the place where they had fought earlier.

By now, Tang San and Dai Mubai had regained consciousness.

But as soon as Su Zui approached, he keenly noticed that something was off about the way Tang San was looking at him.

Tang San's gaze as he looked at him was full of hostility.

Just now, as soon as Tang San had awakened, he had heard Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing discussing what had happened earlier.

He had vaguely heard Xiao Wu say something like, "That sword strike of Su Zui's was incredible. I really thought I was going to die..."

Upon hearing that Xiao Wu had nearly been hurt, Tang San's reason was almost swept away, and endless guilt completely engulfed him.

He blamed himself over and over in his heart.

It's all my fault, all because I messed up. If I hadn't listened to Flender's nonsense and held back the Hidden Weapons in Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges, how could I have lost the match so quickly?

If that hadn't been a match but a real fight to the death, Xiao Wu would probably have been killed.

And I didn't even use my real trump card!

Seeing Flender approach with Su Zui, Tang San immediately planted both hands on the ground and sprang to his feet.

Tang San stood ramrod straight, both fists clenched tightly. He was squeezing so hard that his sharp nails pierced his palms.

But Tang San paid no attention to the pain. His gaze remained fixed firmly on Su Zui.

"Su Zui, I hope I can fight you seriously one more time. This time, Dean, please allow me to use my full strength."