"National Essence" from Another World

"I knew I heard crows cawing like crazy when I got up this morning. So it was you." (Dai Huabin really is just as disgusting as in the Original Work, Long Yao screamed inwardly.) He walked straight up to stand less than a meter in front of him, hands in his pockets, and looked at him as he spoke.

"You look like some Spiritual Youth with that big yellow dye job. Do you have a ghost-fire scooter too?" Long Yao asked with a sneer.

Those few lines, like casual chatter dipped in poison, drifted out lightly yet landed with perfect accuracy in Dai Huabin's ears, instantly twisting that handsome, arrogant Face of his into blue, red, black, and white, like an overturned palette.

"What did you say?!"

The contemptuous smile on Dai Huabin's face froze instantly. In its place came an incredulous shock, as if he had been offended by some inferior creature. He was the legitimate son of the mighty Duke White Tiger, a Favored Child who drew every eye wherever he went. When had anyone ever dared to provoke him to his face in such a street-thug tone, full of mockery and ridicule?!

Especially when the words "Spiritual Youth," which he could not understand at all yet instinctively sensed carried enormous derogatory meaning, came out of Long Yao's mouth, Dai Huabin felt that both his intelligence and his dignity had suffered an unprecedented insult.

But before he could blow up, Long Yao's cannon-fire barrage of words, each line more vicious than the last, came one after another.

"Brain-dead."

"The academy doesn't allow private fights, young master. Do you want to get expelled?"

"You've basically got your head strapped to your waist and think with your ass."

BOOM—!!!

If Dai Huabin's fury had only been a wisp of flame before, then at this moment, Long Yao had mercilessly poured an entire barrel of incendiary oil over it, instantly turning it into Sky-High, raging flames capable of burning everything to ash!

"You... are... dead!!!"

The three words were practically Squeezed Out from between Dai Huabin's teeth, one by one. His handsome Face was completely contorted by extreme rage, swelling into a horrifying Pig Liver Color. Blue veins bulged one after another at his temples and neck like hideous earthworms!

An incomparably ferocious, domineering white Soul Power, filled with the aura of a king, erupted from within him like a volcanic explosion! The terrifying pressure of the White Tiger Martial Soul swept through the entire scene in an instant! In the air, the vague image of a massive white tiger even appeared, opening its bloody maw and roaring soundlessly at Long Yao!

Behind him, the Iron Tower-like burly Youth Cui Shi let out a low growl as two yellow Spirit Rings suddenly lit up beneath his feet. A thick layer of stone armor tinged with Earth Yellow rapidly covered his entire body. Clearly, he was ready to move at any moment.

However, Dai Huabin's already-raised hand, condensed with terrifying Soul Power, forcibly stopped in midair.

"The academy doesn't allow private fights... Do you want to get expelled..."

Those words were like an invisible yet indestructible set of Shackles, binding his fury that was on the verge of eruption. He could disregard anyone, but he could not disregard Shrek's School Rules! He had entered Shrek to become stronger, to fully inherit the duke's position in the future, and to forever trample that bastard he hated to the bone underfoot! If he were expelled on the second day of school because of a moment's impulse, he would become the laughingstock of the entire Star Luo Empire!

He wanted to strike, but he could not.

That immense rage and frustration were like the most vicious venomous snakes, tearing and writhing wildly in his chest, making him feel as if he were about to explode! He glared fixedly at Long Yao's faintly mocking face, his teeth grinding with a "clack, clack," his entire body trembling slightly from excessive anger. He looked exactly like an enraged rooster whose neck had been seized, unable to crow.

This sudden, dramatic turn made the previously explosive atmosphere turn strange in an instant.

The first to react was Tang Ya.

She looked at Dai Huabin's stifled expression, wanting to make a move but not daring to, so angry he looked like he was about to ascend on the spot. Her Small Face, originally filled with anger, could no longer hold back. With a "pfft," she burst out laughing. Once she laughed, it was as if some switch had been flipped. She simply stopped hiding it, laughing so hard she bent back and forth, her body shaking like flowers in the wind. The way she looked at Long Yao was filled with undisguised worship and delight.

Bei Bei also loosened his tightly clenched fist. He glanced helplessly at Tang Ya, who was laughing without a care in the world, then at Dai Huabin opposite them, who was so furious he looked like he was about to have a stroke. Finally, his gaze landed on Long Yao, who stood with both hands in his pockets and a Cloud Light Wind Light expression. In his eyes surfaced a complicated emotion mixed with appreciation and helpless amusement.

This kind of method... using the most arrogant tone to say the most cutting words, yet using the calmest rules to pin the other person down completely, was truly... too unique.

And Wang Dong, the other person Dai Huabin had verbally insulted, had completely forgotten her anger at this moment too.

She stood dazedly beside Long Yao, her Beautiful Pink Blue Eyes staring unblinkingly at his confident side profile that carried a trace of roguishness.

Her Little Heart felt as if a depth charge had been dropped into it, setting off unprecedented wild Huge Waves.

So... so he could be like this too?!

Not that blushing, clumsy Youth, nor that steady, gentle elder brother. Instead, he was someone... sharp-tongued, blazing with edge, able to make a rank thirty-seven Soul Elder so angry that smoke practically poured from his Seven Orifices with just a few words... a "Scoundrel"?

This intense contrast, so full of impact, not only failed to make her dislike him, but instead made her feel a kind of... inexplicable attraction that left her blushing and her heart pounding!

She looked at Dai Huabin's face, twisted by rage, then compared it to Long Yao's Cloud Light Wind Light mocking smile. In her heart, an incomparably strong and wonderfully strange Sense of Pride welled up, as if she Shared Honor in it!

He was... standing up for her!

That thought was like the sweetest honey, instantly melting deep within her heart, making her already pretty Small Face unconsciously bloom with a moving, Stunningly Beautiful smile that even she herself did not notice.

And in a corner everyone had ignored, Huo Yuhao, the Youth who should have been at the center of this conflict, merely stood there quietly at this moment.

That vicious word, "bastard," was like the Sharpest ice spike, stabbing into his heart and making all the blood in his body turn cold in an instant. But when Long Yao stepped forward and drew all the fire onto himself in that bold, domineering way Huo Yuhao had never seen before, Huo Yuhao felt as if the ice spike piercing his heart had been forcefully blocked by a warm yet Powerful Force.

He raised his head and looked at Long Yao's Back Figure, which was not especially tall, yet at this moment seemed incomparably reliable. The edge now displayed on that face, which always carried a hint of playful amusement, was so dazzling that even Huo Yuhao's eyes, filled with grief and hatred, lost focus for an instant.

This person... was completely different from the Nobles his mother had described, the kind who bullied the weak and feared the strong.

He... was truly protecting them.

The watching crowd had long since burst into an uproar. They looked at the dramatic scene in the middle and their discussions rose and fell like a tide.

"Oh My God! That Long Yao is way too bold! He actually dared to call Dai Huabin brain-dead to his face!"

"More than that! Didn't you hear that last line? He was practically pointing at his nose and calling him stupid!"

"The best part is, Dai Huabin really doesn't dare make a move! Hahahaha! He's that angry, but he's forcing himself to hold it in. It's hilarious!"

"Now there's going to be a good show. The grudge between Class One and Class Two is completely set!"

Dai Huabin listened to the unconcealed discussions around him and the faint snickers drifting over, feeling his reason snap inch by inch. He stared fixedly at Long Yao, his eyes filled with resentment and Killing Intent, as if he wanted to swallow him alive.

He Took a Deep Breath and Squeezed Out a few words from between his teeth. "Very good... You... very good! I'll remember you! For today's humiliation, I'll make you... repay it a hundredfold! We're leaving!"

After speaking, he could no longer endure those humiliating gazes. With a fierce flick of his hand, he led his two Comrades, whose expressions were equally ugly, and pushed through the crowd in a miserable state amid a wave of laughter, leaving quickly.

A violent conflict that had been about to erupt was dissolved into nothing just like that by a few light words from Long Yao.

"Hey, you forgot to take something." He pointed at something on the ground that did not exist. "It's the intelligence and dignity you dropped. Hahahahaha." He sneered again. "You've basically got a giant tumor sitting on top of your neck." After Long Yao finished speaking, he ignored them and turned toward the Class One classroom.

That final, sure-kill taunt was like an invisible sharp blade tempered in shit and barbs. Along with that undisguised, contemptuous laughter, it stabbed hard and mercilessly into Dai Huabin's pride, which had already been burned to the brink by rage, giving him a feeling that was both utterly disgusting and painfully piercing.

"...was the intelligence and dignity you dropped, hahahahahaha."

"...like he's got a giant tumor sitting on his neck."

The entire scene fell into an absolute, deathly silence that lasted a full three seconds.

All the spectating students looked as if someone had cast a petrifying Spirit Skill on them all at once. Each of them stood there dumbstruck, expressions stiff, their brains almost unable to process just how vicious, how arrogant, how... creative the insults they had just heard were.

Then, that deathly stillness was completely shattered by an irrepressible "pfft."

It was Tang Ya.

She could not hold it in anymore. She laughed so hard she crouched on the ground, pounding the floor while shouting breathlessly, "No... I can't... my stomach... hahahaha... intelligence and dignity... tumor... Xiao Long Yao... are... are you a devil?! Hahahaha!"

Her laughter was like a detonated bomb, instantly setting off the entire crowd!

"Hahahahahahahaha!"

"My god! That was way too savage!"

"He didn't just kill him, he crushed his heart too! Dai Huabin's face has gone green!"

"That felt amazing! I've been sick of that show-off from Class Two for ages!"

Waves of undisguised, schadenfreude-filled laughter rose and fell, surging from every direction like the fiercest tide toward the blond figure in the middle of the field! Every laugh was like a loud slap, striking Dai Huabin's face again and again, that face now mottled blue and purple from extreme rage!

"Hah... hah..."

From Dai Huabin's throat came a hoarse sound like an old, broken bellows, filled with pain and repression. His eyes were now completely covered in blood vessels, turning scarlet, his eyeballs bulging outward under immense pressure, making him look terrifying. His handsome face was twisted beyond recognition, sweat mixing with tears of either humiliation or rage as they slid constantly down his twitching cheeks.

He wanted to retort. He wanted to tear the other party into pieces. But before the phrase "the intelligence and dignity you dropped," he discovered that all his words seemed so pale and powerless.

He wanted to attack. He wanted to use his powerful White Tiger Power to completely rip this hateful bastard before him to shreds. But the words "School Rules" pressed down on him like an immovable mountain, pinning him in place and leaving him unable to move.

Extreme rage, boundless humiliation, and bone-deep helplessness crashed, intertwined, and fermented wildly inside him! In the end, that immense Negative Emotion, so vast it nearly burst him apart, could no longer be suppressed. From his chest, it transformed into an inhuman roar filled with wildness and despair—

"ROAR----------!!!"

It was a pure beastly roar, containing no Soul Power technique whatsoever, born from the depths of his soul!

The sound waves exploded outward like a ring of tangible air, shocking the eardrums of several nearby students until they ached and forcing them to retreat again and again!

After the roar, Dai Huabin panted violently like a dead fish drained of all strength. His scarlet eyes stared fixedly, filled with endless resentment, at the youth who had already turned and left, too lazy to even leave him a back view, as if he wanted to burn straight through that figure with his gaze!

Zhu Lu and Cui Shi beside him had long since turned deathly pale from this sudden change. They looked at Dai Huabin's nearly insane appearance, then at the mocking, gloating gazes around them, and felt their faces burn with pain. They wished they could immediately find a crack in the ground and drill into it.

"Hua... Brother Huabin... we... we should go first..." Zhu Lu said in a trembling voice, carefully tugging at the hem of Dai Huabin's clothes.

Dai Huabin ignored her.

He merely used every last bit of strength in his body to engrave that gradually receding, relaxed and carefree back figure deep into his soul.

Then he suddenly turned around. Like a wounded lone wolf desperate to flee the hunter's line of sight, he roughly shoved aside the crowd blocking his way with an almost panicked posture, and without looking back, fled wretchedly in the direction opposite the plaza.

A farce initiated by the genius of Class Two in an attempt to humiliate Class One thus came to an end in the most ridiculous, most thorough way that no one had expected.

Watching Dai Huabin's wretchedly departing back, Bei Bei let out a long breath, and a complicated smile filled with helplessness and admiration appeared on his face. He walked over to Tang Ya, who was still rolling on the ground laughing, pulled her up, and patted the dust off her body. "All right, stop laughing. We're going to be late."

After Bei Bei and Tang Ya greeted Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, they walked toward their classroom.

Before leaving, however, Bei Bei's gaze drifted involuntarily toward Long Yao, who had already walked ahead. In his heart, his impression of this "schoolmate" he had only known for a little over a day had already risen from simple "appreciation" to a level close to "admiration."

To subdue an enemy without fighting—no, this was not even subduing an enemy. This was practically... drowning the other guy alive with spit!

On the other side, Wang Dong finally came back to herself from that huge shock and inexplicable excitement. She quickened her steps, caught up to Long Yao, and walked side by side with him.

She did not speak. She merely stole glances at his side profile, which wore a faint smile, with a completely new gaze filled with curiosity, admiration, and a trace of watery gentleness even she herself had not noticed.

She discovered that, as it turned out, when a boy used the most vicious words to protect his comrade, he could actually be... this good-looking.

In her heart, the image of the youth named Long Yao was completely overturned at this moment, then reshaped anew. He was no longer merely someone who made her heart feel chaotic, but had become an existence that was... more three-dimensional, more vivid, and also even more... impossible for her to pull away from, filled with fatal attraction.

"Um..." She finally could not help asking in a tiny voice even softer than a mosquito's hum, "'Spiritual Youth'... what... does it mean?"

In her clear Pink Blue Eyes, a bright, star-like light of thirst for knowledge shimmered.

At the very back of the group, Huo Yuhao, the youth who had not said a single word from beginning to end, merely walked in silence.

In his lowered eyes, that icy coldness and hatred gathered because of the words "bastard child," cold enough to freeze all things, had unknowingly melted at some point. In its place was an incomparably complicated and profound stirring.

He raised his head and looked at the two figures walking side by side ahead. One had his hands in his pockets, his steps relaxed and carefree, the corner of his mouth still carrying a faint, almost imperceptible wicked smile; the other had her head slightly lowered, her face turned sideways, seeming to say something softly, while a cute pink flush tinged the roots of her ears.

Sunlight passed through the ancient tree crowns of Shrek Academy, turning into mottled spots of light that scattered over them, fixing this scene into a vivid picture filled with youth and warmth.

The corner of Huo Yuhao's mouth, without even him noticing, rose very slightly and gently into the tiniest arc.

That heavy burden called "hatred," which had weighed on him for a full eleven years, seemed, at this moment, to have been quietly shared by the appearance of someone else.

So this is... what having comrades feels like?

It seems... not bad, either.

Time: Douluo Calendar Year 2030 Season: Autumn Second Day of Enrollment Morning 8:40

Location: Shrek Academy, Central Plaza

Audience: 492,812

Equipment: Shrek Academy Uniform x1, True Vast Sea Ring (Divine Artifact), Student Emblem x1

Items: Shrek Academy Uniform x1, Student Emblem x1, Dormitory Key x1

First Martial Soul: Soul Breaking Spear [Traits: Armor Breaking, Soul Devouring, Penetration]

Second Martial Soul: Chaos Holy Dragon (Hidden) [Traits: Strength, Time, Space]

Soul Power: Level 45 (Soul Ancestor) [Status: True Vast Sea Ring Shielding, External Perception is Level 24]

Soul Rings: [Soul Breaking Spear] First Soul Ring (Yellow Hundred-Year), Second Soul Ring (Purple Thousand-Year), Third Soul Ring (Black Ten-Thousand-Year), Fourth Soul Ring (Black Ten-Thousand-Year)

[Chaos Holy Dragon] First Soul Ring (Black Thirteen-Thousand-Year), Second Soul Ring (Black Twenty-Eight-Thousand-Year), Third Soul Ring (Black Forty-Six-Thousand-Year), Fourth Soul Ring (Rose Gold Hundred-Thousand-Year)

Soul Skills: [Soul Breaking Spear] First Spirit Skill: Swift Shadow Stab, Second Spirit Skill: Whirlwind Spear, Third Spirit Skill: Armor Breaking Spiral, Fourth Spirit Skill: Thousand Spirit Spear Rain

[Chaos Holy Dragon] First Spirit Skill: Star Ring, Second Spirit Skill: Holy Dragon Claw, Third Spirit Skill: Void Claw, Fourth Spirit Skill: Time and Space Roar

Soul Bones: None

Soul Spirits: None

Reward Stash: [Million-Year Spirit Beast Inverse Scale] x1, [Starlight Sapphire Brooch] x1, [Tsundere Princess Strategy Manual Platinum Edition] x1, [God-Bestowed Soul Ring (Hundred-Thousand-Year)] x1, [Spring of Life] x1, [Calming Incense] x1, [Dragon Blood Body Tempering Pill] x10, [Space Storage Bracelet (Couple's Set)] x1, [God King Level Space Law Comprehension Crystal] x1, [Super Divine Artifact: Time and Space Wheel Fragment] x1, [God King Godhead] x1