The Pain of Losing a Hundred Million

The three of them escorted the girl home. Leaving aside the endless gratitude of the two elderly people, the despair and grief they encountered in the village from parents who had lost their daughter left deep marks on their young hearts...

Walking back beneath the setting sun, the three remained silent. Shen Ranxi truly did not have much strength left. They had earned more than a hundred Gold Coins today, and even split three ways, it was still quite a lot.

The fatty and Oscar, meanwhile, had their minds filled with what had happened today: those seemingly "willing" women, the men whose Martial Souls had been shattered...

By the time they returned to the Academy, it was completely dark. Moonlight spilled across the earth in vast sheets, and there was no need for lamps at all.

"Huh? Who's at the entrance?" Oscar was the first to notice the figure at the Academy gates.

The other two looked over curiously: ???

"Little Brats, why are you coming back so late?!" a worried voice called out.

Isn't that Teacher Zhao Wuji's voice?! The three exchanged glances and quickly picked up their pace.

Only when they reached the entrance did they realize that all the teachers were waiting for them. Every teacher wore a dark expression, and they looked to be in terrible moods.

We're doomed!!! The three little ones' hearts skipped a beat.

It was already dark, and they still had not returned. Flender had even activated his Martial Soul and flown out to search for them. Only after finding them on the road had he returned and acted as though nothing had happened, waiting by the gate.

Zhao Wuji was the first to lose his temper. Oscar and Little Xi had never returned this late when they went into the city before. His sharp gaze stabbed straight at Flender: It had to be that unreliable disciple of yours!

And you too, Shao Xin! Those two foolish boys had led well-behaved Little Xi astray!

Flender: ...

Shao Xin: ...Was it really Little Ao? Then I'll give him a proper scolding when we get back.

Li Yusong nodded in agreement as well.

Lu Qinbin stroked his beard and smiled quietly. From what he had observed, this Young Girl attacked fiercely whenever she played chess, with hidden barbs beneath her persistence. She did not seem like someone without a Mind's Eye at all...

If she had not been so determined to become an Assault System Soul Master, he would have done anything to recruit her into the Control System. Ah, what a pity...

Still, it was good for a Young Girl to learn more. Only with a clever mind could she travel the world without being easily bullied.

"Teachers, we were wrong. It was because..." The three little ones obediently explained everything that had happened during the day.

They only said they had encountered Bad Guys, that the three of them had stepped in to help when they saw injustice, and that they had received a small reward afterward.

Other than Shen Ranxi not mentioning her line about taking on a side business, they told them everything else.

Being a little childish in front of her companions was one thing, but what would happen to her well-behaved image if she said that in front of the teachers?

Better not...

After hearing what they had done, the teachers showed no reaction. Shen Ranxi quietly glanced up at them. They couldn't have been angered senseless, could they?

To her surprise, Dean Flender burst into laughter. "Well done! You really are born to be Shrek students. Our Academy's motto is that a Soul Master who does not dare to cause trouble is not a good Soul Master. As long as you can afford the consequences of causing trouble, can you still call yourself a Soul Master if you lack hot blood?!"

A shrewd gleam flashed through his eyes as he rubbed his chin. "But this way of making money really is brilliant. You can strike at Bad Guys and earn money at the same time. How did I not think of it? Ah!" His tone was filled with such grief that it was as if he had missed out on several hundred million.

Everyone: ...As expected of Flender. Not surprising at all.

The Dean was still the same Dean, treating wealth as his life.

"But when doing this sort of thing, you must assess the Combat Power involved. If you cannot win, do not act rashly. Don't throw away your lives for nothing," Shao Xin earnestly warned them.

The three little ones obediently nodded.

Shen Ranxi said, "Teacher, I asked around about their strength beforehand."

Lu Qinbin: See? Didn't I say this child was suited for the Control System?

Flender said, "But you still made the teachers worry by failing to return on time, so you must be punished! Go help the Villagers harvest their grain next."

****

The three wiped the sweat from their faces and lowered their heads to cut the crops in the fields.

The sun shone down directly, as though it wanted to melt them completely.

The three little ones, who had never done Farm Work before, needed some time to adjust.

The fatty, who had just boasted, "This isn't that hard," now lay on the ground like a Dead Pig, unwilling to move at all.

"Fatty, you're no good!" Oscar lay beside him and mercilessly mocked him. "And you call yourself a Battle Soul Master."

"I-I've never done this before. I was just taking a brief rest, resting!" Ma Hongjun immediately jumped up.

People on Douluo Continent generally matured early, and men especially could not stand hearing the words "not good enough."

Shen Ranxi had no desire to join this pointless conversation and merely glanced at the two of them.

That one glance was enough for her to notice something was wrong. Ma Hongjun had started breathing fire.

"Ma Hongjun!!!" She summoned the Golden Cudgel. "Grow longer! Grow longer!"

"Grab the staff!!" Fortunately, Ma Hongjun was still conscious when his flames first emerged.

With a hard pull, she sent Ma Hongjun flying into the Lake.

"Oscar, go call the Dean and the teachers!"

Luckily, the field where they were working was close to the riverbank. Otherwise, they would have caused a disaster of catastrophic proportions...

Not only was the land before them filled with crops the Villagers had worked hard on for an entire year, there were also many Villagers nearby.

His flames were extremely adhesive. Even Soul Masters would find them difficult to deal with once touched by them, much less Ordinary People.

"Little Xi, how is Ma Hongjun?" Dean Flender was the first to arrive.

"The moment it acted up, I threw him into the river."

Flender and the teachers who arrived afterward looked solemnly at Ma Hongjun in the river.

Having regained consciousness, Ma Hongjun grinned carelessly. "Teacher, hehehe."

Shen Ranxi frowned and asked, "Dean, can these fire outbreaks be resolved? Do they occur on a schedule?"

This was basically a ticking time bomb!

Flender sighed. "I have no good solution for his fire either. It can only be vented through certain means. He cannot suppress it, and it has to erupt every so often, or else he will only die from his body exploding..."

"Then why didn't his Evil Fire erupt during the past while?" Oscar asked.

"When he first arrived, he trained with you all until he was like a Dead Dog. The Evil Fire accumulated less, so it took this long to erupt."

"Then just increase his training intensity." Ma Hongjun was still breathing fire in the water. Gurgle gurgle.

Lu Qinbin had clearly grasped the key issue. "That works for now, though his cultivation will slow somewhat. But it will not work once his periods of secluded cultivation grow longer in the future. As his Soul Power Level rises, the intervals between his fire outbreaks will also shorten."

Flender said, "So, Hong Jun, we discussed two options. One is to endure the hardship of cultivation. You can train desperately, but your cultivation speed will still be slowed. The other is to vent it through intercourse. That would improve the speed that had been slowed. But that means that in the future, you will have to keep finding Girlfriends or go to That Place."

Everyone present knew what That Place was.

The three little ones said nothing. They had just rescued a Girl who was about to be sent there.

Shen Ranxi could not say anything either. This concerned his cultivation. It was too ironic—the rescuer becoming a Perpetrator...

Ma Hongjun thought of the terror, fear, and relief after surviving that Girl had shown that day... Looking at Little Xi standing on the bank with her eyes lowered, he made up his mind.