Ning Rongrong Rakes in a Million Gold Soul Coins!

"We lost. We lost."

"Xiaogang! Didn't you say we had at least a seventy-to-eighty percent chance of winning?"

"This was a one-sided massacre!"

"It's over, everything's over! My academy! Who can save my academy now?!"

"Are we really going to hand over the academy?!"

While Su Ran collected the victory rewards from the Disciple-Acceptance System, Flender of Shrek complained bitterly beside him. He practically shouted while gripping Yu Xiaogang by the shoulder. Afterward, he deflated like a punctured ball, his face falling as he looked utterly dejected.

Yu Xiaogang gripped the railing tightly with both hands, gnashing his teeth. His expression was even worse than if his own mother had died.

In truth, the moment Dai Mubai was instantly defeated by Zhu Zhuqing during the match, the Grandmaster's expression had already changed.

When Shrek was thoroughly forced into a disadvantageous position, Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang was so furious that he wanted to smash the railing in front of him.

In fact, he hadn't merely wanted to—he had already done it. Unfortunately, his strength was too weak. The railing remained intact, while he ended up clutching his hand in pain.

"Grandmaster, it seems my teaching skills are still a little better. But you don't need to get so angry. Your spirit power is low to begin with, and you'll live at most seventy or eighty years. It wouldn't be good to hurt your health and shorten your lifespan."

Su Ran walked over at that moment and spoke blandly.

"Su Ran! Don't get smug. I admit you have some ability, but that doesn't necessarily mean my teaching is worse than yours. If Dai Mubai hadn't exposed an opening at the start, Zhu Zhuqing wouldn't have defeated him so easily. If Little San hadn't given your student time to react when using his hidden weapons, things wouldn't have turned out this way."

Yu Xiaogang had been calmer when Su Ran remained silent. But the moment Su Ran spoke, he trembled with rage and snorted in rebuttal.

"Is that so? Perhaps you're right. We only won by a narrow margin."

Su Ran smiled faintly. He had no intention of arguing with Yu Xiaogang.

If you were a university professor, would you argue academic matters with an elementary school teacher?

If you were the top student in an honors class, would you discuss the correctness of an answer with a failing student?

Obviously not.

But you'll look good later.

"May I ask whether you're the teachers of the Shrek Team and the Taoyuan Team?"

"The match has ended. The Taoyuan Team has won the Spirit Arena match. The teachers of both sides are requested to proceed to the award stage and complete the previously agreed-upon reward and penalty handover ceremony."

At that moment, after the host announced the outcome, a staff member walked over and invited Su Ran, Flender, Yu Xiaogang, and the other Shrek teachers to the award stage.

"We won't be going," Yu Xiaogang said.

"That won't do. As I recall, it was your Shrek Team that requested this reward and penalty ceremony after the match—to award the winning team, supervise the losing side's payment of ten thousand gold spirit coins, and have them hand over the academy's deed and transfer the students."

"Oh, right. I remember now. You personally made that request to Manager Ao. Since you were the one who proposed it, Shrek must abide by it."

The staff member spoke.

Having the matter brought up, Yu Xiaogang's face became even more unpleasant. He had already been furious over losing the match.

"Fine, fine, I understand. How rigid and incapable of adapting. This is why you can never become the manager of this Spirit Arena."

Yu Xiaogang angrily flicked his sleeve. Under the staff member's supervision, he could only follow Su Ran toward the Spirit Arena's award stage with Flender, Zhao Wuji, and the others.

Su Ran shook his head lightly. Yu Xiaogang really was a man with little ability but an oversized appetite for trouble. He had used that brain of his entirely for scheming.

Hadn't he simply assumed that Shrek had the better odds and that Tang San and Yu Tianheng working together were practically unbeatable? He had wanted to prevent Su Ran from reneging, make Su Ran embarrass himself before everyone, and prove that he was the best teacher.

He hadn't expected to end up shooting himself in the foot.

All the ceremony prepared for Shrek's victory had merely paved the way for Taoyuan Academy.

Your scheme failed, and you're furious—but don't take it out on the staff.

They were only doing their jobs.

On the Spirit Arena stage, the organizers quickly cleaned up the traces of battle, but the air still carried the bloody stench left behind by the fight.

Sexy women with their midriffs exposed and wearing nothing but underwear danced nearby in a victory celebration, their snow-white skin and revealing outfits stirring the imagination.

Dai Mubai, seriously wounded and almost entirely wrapped in healing bandages, and Ma Hongjun were carried back on stretchers. Yu Tianheng, Dugu Yan, and Ye Lingling, who had temporarily regained their mobility after receiving treatment, also reunited with Qin Ming and gathered there.

Tang San alone, despite still bearing many savage wounds, had not had his legs severed. Yet he couldn't even stand steadily. Xiao Wu and Oscar had to support him, or he seemed liable to collapse at any moment, looking as if he had lost his soul.

Oscar's heart ached like a knife as he watched his former teammates reduced to such a miserable state. Though they had kicked him out of the team, and Little San had refused to teach him that so-called One Point Through the Surface trick and the art of manipulating fortune, they had still been teammates and classmates. No one could feel good seeing this.

Fortunately, I didn't participate. Otherwise, I'd definitely be lying here too, Oscar thought.

The few students from Taoyuan Academy were simply too ferocious. A team of Spirit Elders had no chance of resisting them. He really wondered how the teacher of Taoyuan Academy had trained them.

If I could join their academy and become his disciple... could I become as powerful as Ning Rongrong?

Oscar sank into thought.

"..."

"Congratulations, Taoyuan Team. You have created a piece of history in the Soto City Great Spirit Arena—a miracle achieved with lower spirit ranks while fighting outnumbered. You were the ones who created it."

"According to the agreement, twenty percent of the ticket revenue from this event will serve as your reward. Standing tickets for this Spirit Arena match cost one gold spirit coin, outer-ring seats cost three, and inner-ring seats cost five... The total ticket revenue exceeds thirty thousand gold spirit coins. Twenty percent of that comes to 6,350 gold spirit coins, which belong to the Taoyuan Team."

"In addition, here are the two thousand gold spirit coins you wagered in the betting pool. Your winnings amount to twenty thousand gold spirit coins."

"'Peach Blossom's Little Warm Disciple—Warm My Teacher for Ten Thousand Years'? This was your wager: one hundred thousand gold spirit coins... Your winnings are—one million gold spirit coins!"

Manager Ao distributed the rewards belonging to the Taoyuan Team. When he took out the gold card and announced the winnings, even he, the Spirit Arena's manager, was startled by the amount.

No wonder so many spectators had cursed and gone wild when Shrek lost. Most of the money they had lost had gone into the pocket of this girl from the Taoyuan Team whose name was exceptionally long.

Before the match, who would have dared to bet on the utterly unremarkable Taoyuan Team?

When Ning Rongrong threw down one hundred thousand gold spirit coins, she directly skewed the casino's odds. This prompted everyone to bet on Shrek so they could split her hundred thousand gold spirit coins. As a result, Ning Rongrong became the biggest bettor on Taoyuan Team's side.

After Taoyuan Team won, Ning Rongrong alone claimed more than ninety percent of the betting pool!

If Manager Ao hadn't just witnessed the terrifying strength of this Taoyuan Little Warm Disciple and her teammates, even he might have developed sinister thoughts.

That was one million gold spirit coins! No matter where it was placed, it was a colossal fortune. An ordinary person couldn't spend it all in a lifetime!

Hearing that Ning Rongrong had directly earned a million gold spirit coins, even Su Ran was a little surprised. This really proved the saying: the rich grew richer while the poor grew poorer.

He had predicted that the girl would make a huge profit, but he hadn't expected it to be this huge!

Was this girl here to compete, or to start a business?!

"Heehee, Teacher, hurry! Kiss me, kiss me! I'll donate this million gold spirit coins to the academy. Hurry~"

"Otherwise, I can kiss you, Teacher~"

Ning Rongrong didn't seem to care much. Instead, she waved the gold card before Su Ran's eyes, tapped it against her delicate little face, then leaned her head toward him and closed her eyes, waiting for Su Ran to kiss her.

As long as Teacher leans in, I'll turn my head away and turn a kiss on the cheek into a real kiss!

No, a French kiss!

I want to feel the warmth inside Teacher's body!

Heehee~

As Ning Rongrong imagined the scene, her face flushed. I really am a genius!

In her eyes, the chance to get intimate with her teacher was far more important than a mere million gold spirit coins.

"That's enough. Don't you know where we are? Stop fooling around."

Su Ran helplessly patted Ning Rongrong's head.

Ning Rongrong blinked. "So, Teacher, does that mean it's fine when there's no one around?!"

"You're challenging your teacher's limits!"

"Gasp..."

Manager Ao sucked in a breath. The teacher-student relationship in this Taoyuan Team... was truly enough to make one blush and set one's heart racing.

Still, this Taoyuan Little Warm Disciple really was generous. She was willing to exchange one million gold spirit coins for a single kiss from this masked teacher?

What kind of extravagance was that? Even the emperor wouldn't dare spend money like this. He really envied this teacher from Taoyuan...

"Next, Shrek must fulfill the agreement made beforehand. First, Shrek is to pay ten thousand gold spirit coins to the Taoyuan Team and hand over the academy's deed."

Manager Ao took a deep breath. It took him quite some time to recover from the million-gold-spirit-coin incident before looking toward the people from Shrek opposite him.