Entrance Conflict, Old Scores Come Calling

As time went by, the huge competition venue was completely packed with people.

Han Li, Xue Ye, and other heavyweight guests did not enter through the main entrance, but instead went through a specially reserved passage to the backstage area to rest, although they had not yet appeared on the stands.

The participating college team members, of course, did not receive such treatment.

Although they entered through a separate passage from the audience, they were still positioned in the same direction, subject to the scrutiny of the public, which could be considered a form of indirect exposure.

"There are so many people."

Even though they had already been trained at the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, apart from Ning Rongrong and Dai Mubai, the others in Tang San's group were still somewhat unaccustomed to this scene.

Ma Hongjun and Oscar instinctively tried to dodge.

"Stand properly, all of you. You are now representing the Heaven Dou Royal Academy. With Team One absent, you are the face of the academy. Be alert!"

At the front of the group, Flender was dressed quite smartly today, in a magnificent teacher's uniform, which made him look rather dignified, if you ignored his eyes.

Upon hearing his words, the group instinctively straightened their posture.

Ning Rongrong remained completely unconcerned, still looking around at the crowd with great interest, while Dai Mubai kept his head down, appearing quite gloomy.

Seeing this, Flender didn't say anything more, shook his head, quickly submitted the application, and led the group into the arena.

There are designated areas for participants within the venue, so once inside, they won't be stared at and judged like monkeys.

In just a short while, he had already heard several unfriendly voices, most of which were directed at him and Ma Hongjun, and he had no way to retaliate.

He had to participate in the opening match soon, and he couldn't let his team's mentality be affected, so he quickened his movements a little.

Only after entering the competition venue did the group finally breathe a sigh of relief and return to their usual selves, heading towards the rest area prepared for the Heaven Dou Second Team.

"This is completely different from the usual Soul Fighting. Just thinking about being watched by so many people makes me feel a little uncomfortable."

Ma Hongjun muttered something under his breath, and Oscar, who was standing next to him, nodded in agreement. He had a similar feeling, especially since he himself did not yet have any combat ability.

"It's fine to have these thoughts now, just remember to go all out when you go on stage."

Flender glanced at his apprentice and thought he was a bit of a loser.

"Teacher, I was just saying. Don't worry, once we get on stage, I'll show them what a phoenix is all about."

Ma Hongjun patted his round belly and said confidently.

"You'd better be..."

Flender stopped in his tracks halfway through his sentence.

The reason was that a group of people blocked their way.

Both were participating colleges, with teachers in front and students behind. Behind the teacher leading the team, the students were all staring at them with hostile eyes.

"Teacher Shi, it was them. They were the ones who started the trouble and even injured Teacher Ye Zhiqiu. However, they..."

As they spoke, the student's voice gradually lowered, as if he had discovered something.

"Go on, but what?"

The teacher in charge didn't change his expression; instead, he grabbed the student who had spoken earlier.

The student hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "However, they said they were members of the Shrek Academy, not the Heaven Dou Royal Academy Second Team."

"This is?"

Flender was still a little confused; if he remembered correctly, he had never seen these students before.

Before the person on the other end could answer, Ma Hongjun's voice rang out from behind Flender:

"Oh, who do we have here? Isn't this the good-for-nothing from the Canghui Academy? Where's your old turtle teacher? What happened to him?"

"Thinking you're all that again? Looking for others to take revenge? Didn't expect me to suddenly become a member of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, huh? What's wrong? Not backing down again today, are you? Hahaha."

As Ma Hongjun's voice faded, smiles appeared on Tang San and the others' faces. This reminded them of what had happened before, and their previously tense mood relaxed considerably.

However, they didn't notice that Ning Rongrong's little face showed a displeased expression.

For the others, this was a memorable experience, but for her, it was a period when she was ostracized by them.

At the time, she didn't think much of it, but now, looking back, she just feels stupid.

"Very well, Flender, is this your attitude?"

The Canghui Academy teacher opposite him, whose face was gloomy, revealed a somewhat dry and terrifying expression.

"Shi Nian, don't just accuse me all the time. You should be able to see that I was unaware of this."

Flender frowned. He seemed to remember that Zhao Wuji had told him about this, but he hadn't taken it to heart.

However, it's a bit of a problem that Shi Nian became a teacher at the Canghui Academy. Fortunately, they now have the backing of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, so even if Shi Nian is vengeful, he won't dare to make a move.

"Teacher, why waste your breath on him? What could he possibly do? With those useless students of his, if they went up on the stage, they would just get crushed by us."

Ma Hongjun, however, said with confidence, "Judging from the teacher's appearance, he should know the teacher on the other side, but so what? They have connections now, are they afraid of others causing trouble?"

He couldn't let the teacher bring up the past. After all, the conflict with the Canghui Academy was caused by him. But now, under the guise of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, the teacher might choose to back down to avoid making a big fuss.

He didn't want to have to go on stage and play a game only to receive another lecture.

"Shut up."

Flender glared back at his apprentice, but abandoned any thought of backing down, turning to look at Shi Nian:

"I don't know what happened before, but you're the ones who blocked our way. If there's anything, let's settle it in the ring later. If we win, I'll apologize on behalf of my student; if we lose, let's pretend nothing happened, how about that?"

Seeing that their actions had drawn the attention of many people, Flender chose to act decisively.

This kind of thing can't be reported to the Education Commission, otherwise he'll definitely be punished, even if it happened before he entered the academy.

"Heh heh, Flender, you and your student are just as shameless."

The gloomy middle-aged man opposite them laughed in anger, and it turned out that they were the ones in the wrong. He had only said two sentences so far.

"Hey, you named Shi Nian, listen to me carefully. This matter has absolutely nothing to do with me. Do whatever you like afterward."

"Go ahead and cause them trouble, but if you dare to mess with me, I won't hesitate to make you disappear. I, Ning Rongrong, keep my word. Now, get out of my way."

Ning Rongrong couldn't hold back any longer. "You can scold them all you want, but why drag me into it? I didn't lift a finger."

Don't worry about the reason, anyway, she didn't get a single boost.

She pushed past the others to the front and pointed at Shi Nian, unleashing a torrent of abuse.

Her actions immediately silenced the scene.

Shi Nian's face twitched. How did he end up running into this old lady? In the Heaven Dou Empire, any Soul Master with a bit of knowledge knows that Ning Rongrong is someone you can't afford to offend.

The student beside him whispered, "Teacher Shi Nian, she really didn't make a move."

Shi Nian glanced at him and said, "Do you even need to tell me? Even if she did make a move, I would still pretend she didn't."

And damn it, wasn't it supposed to be a run-down academy? Now it's become the Heaven Dou Royal Academy. That's a huge leap in difficulty. Even for the notoriously useless second team, the difficulty of the operation has increased dramatically.

However, even if we lose, we shouldn't lose face. They're just a few kids, and they don't seem to have any background. As long as they don't go too far, we can still manage to control them.

Of course, the first thing to do is to solve this big problem. Fortunately, it seems that she doesn't get along well with the others either.

Thinking of this, Shi Nian forced a smile onto his stiff old face and looked at Ning Rongrong: "Of course, it has nothing to do with you, Miss Ning. I apologize for unintentionally affecting you with my words just now. Please give my regards to Sovereign Ning in the future."

"Forget it, this is pointless. Move aside, we're going through."

Ning Rongrong glanced back at her teammates, who were also somewhat dazed, and then led the way through the crowd that had already parted to head towards the rest area.

What's going on? I was so happy, saying today's opening match was practically a sure win, and I was going to ask my dad for a reward after we won. Now, I'm not in the mood anymore.

"For Miss Ning's sake, we'll let it go today. We'll see each other on the ring."

Seeing that Ning Rongrong had left, Shi Nian glanced at the others one by one, memorized their appearances, gave Flender a sinister smile, and then left with the people from the Canghui Academy.

"Teacher, he..."

Ma Hongjun moved closer to Flender, but Flender quickly covered his mouth.

"You, and all of you, don't let your words cause trouble. Shi Nian is also a Soul Saint, and I can tell you with certainty that I am no match for him."

Flender gave the group a warning look. "Remnant Dream Shi Nian is quite famous in the Soul Master World. His Martial Soul is Remnant Dream, Martial Soul is extremely insidious and difficult to deal with. Many people who offended him have disappeared without a trace. Don't go looking for trouble."

"You are now students of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, so he shouldn't dare to do anything underhanded. Just focus on your matches, and I'll go talk to him about what happened before and take care of it for you."

"Alright, let's go. If it weren't for Ning Rongrong, we would have been laughed at by everyone today."

Flender sighed and took the lead. Although Ning Rongrong had separated them in her words, this was the fastest and most effective solution at the moment.

And so, he has to go and thank them.

Following behind Flender, the group quieted down considerably and once again truly realized the difference in status between themselves and Ning Rongrong, which increased their awareness of the importance of this competition.

Although I was still a little dissatisfied with what Ning Rongrong had just said, who wouldn't want to be like her?

Just as they were about to reach the rest area, suddenly, a noisy crowd came from behind them, more than twice as loud as when they entered.

"Look, it's Skywater Academy."

The group subconsciously turned around to look, and when they noticed a familiar figure, their pupils contracted, and their eyes involuntarily glanced at Dai Mubai beside them.

Because Zhu Zhuqing was prominently featured in the Skywater Academy team.