Ning Rongrong's "Princess Syndrome"?

In the early morning outskirts of Suotuo City, the fog was damp and cold, mixed with the earthy stench of soil.

On Shrek Academy's sports field, the atmosphere was even graver than this damned weather.

"I'm not running anymore!"

Ning Rongrong viciously slammed the Weighted Stone Blocks in her hands onto the ground, splashing up muddy water. Her expensive white short dress was covered in stains, and her once-delicate face had turned bright red as her chest heaved violently.

"Flender, this is abuse!" Ning Rongrong pointed at the gloomy Cat Owl Soul Saint before her, her Young Lady temper completely erupting. "The food is like pig food, the accommodations are like pigsties, and now you want us to run twenty laps carrying stones? I'm a Support Soul Master, not a laborer!"

Flender adjusted the crystal glasses on the bridge of his nose, a cold gleam flashing behind the lenses. He had been worrying over how to establish his authority. Yesterday, Qian Mo and Zhu Zhuqing had taken turns humiliating him, and today Oscar had run off. He had been holding in that Evil Fire all night.

"Can't take it?" Flender sneered, his tone harsh. "Then get lost. Shrek only accepts monsters, not spoiled Young Ladies. Do you think that just because you're the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the whole world has to revolve around you?"

"You!" Ning Rongrong choked with anger, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Tell me, what right do you have to throw a tantrum here?" Flender pressed forward step by step, raising his voice sharply. "In strength, you're inferior to Dai Mubai and Tang San. In willpower, you're not even as good as that fat Ma Hongjun! Here, you're the worst one! You're just trash who's worthless the moment you leave your sect!"

Those words stabbed into Ning Rongrong's heart like knives. This was Flender's teaching philosophy—first shatter their self-respect, then reshape their character.

Tang San, standing nearby, watched silently and nodded inwardly.

"The Dean is right." Tang San stepped forward, putting on a lecturing posture. "Ning Rongrong, Support Soul Masters are the enemy's primary targets on the battlefield. Without a strong body, you won't even have a chance to run away. You're too willful."

Dai Mubai also snorted coldly. Because of Zhu Zhuqing, he now bore an inexplicable hostility toward all beautiful women. "Since you came here, you have to follow the rules. If you don't want to run, leave. No one's stopping you."

Abandoned by everyone.

Ning Rongrong stood alone in the middle of the sports field, looking at the cold, mocking faces around her. Grievance, fury, and shame intertwined, nearly driving her to collapse.

Just as she was about to turn around and flee this damned place—

Clap, clap, clap.

A lazy yet rhythmic round of applause abruptly shattered the murderous silence of the sports field.

The white jade gates of the Cloud Top Heavenly Palace slowly opened. Qian Mo emerged in an immaculate Platinum Robe, holding a steaming cup of Top-grade Snow Top Coffee. At his side were the radiant Zhu Zhuqing and... an Oscar who had become so handsome that no one dared recognize him.

"Wonderful. Truly wonderful."

Qian Mo took a sip of coffee, a teasing smile at the corner of his mouth as he slowly walked down the steps.

"Dean Flender, you're pretty good at this PUA business." Qian Mo walked to Ning Rongrong's side without looking at her, staring straight at Flender instead. "Belittling a top-tier support genius until she's worthless, all to establish your pathetic authority? Is this Shrek's level of teaching?"

"Qian Mo! This is my teaching method!" Flender's face darkened. "Without weathering storms, how can she see a rainbow? If she can't endure even this much hardship, how will she inherit the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect in the future?"

"Hardship?" Qian Mo scoffed, as though he had heard the greatest joke in the world.

He turned around and looked down at Ning Rongrong, whose eyes were rimmed red.

"You feel wronged?" Qian Mo's voice was light, yet it carried a piercing force.

Ning Rongrong bit her lip, stubbornly refusing to let her tears fall, and nodded.

"Of course you should feel wronged." Qian Mo extended a finger and gently lifted Ning Rongrong's chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Because the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda you're so proud of is, in my eyes... indeed a defective product."

That sentence was a hundred times crueler than Flender's earlier humiliation.

Ning Rongrong's pupils shrank sharply. She slapped Qian Mo's hand away and bristled like an angry cat. "Nonsense! The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda is the number one support Martial Soul in the world! What right do you have to call it defective?!"

"Number one in the world?" Qian Mo shook his head, pity in his eyes. "It can only cultivate to Rank Seventy and can never break through to Soul Douluo for the rest of its life. And that's what you call number one in the world? Ning Rongrong, it's fine if you fool others, but don't fool yourself too."

Ning Rongrong froze.

This was the thousand-year pain of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the nightmare of every direct descendant.

"Do you want to... break it?" Qian Mo suddenly leaned close to her ear, his voice low as a demon's whisper. "Do you want that seven-tiered pagoda to grow two more levels?"

Ning Rongrong trembled all over. She abruptly looked up and stared fixedly at Qian Mo. "What... did you say?"

"Nine Treasure Glazed Tile."

The four words were spoken lightly, yet they weighed as heavily as mountains.

The entire field fell silent.

"Impossible!" Tang San suddenly shouted, breaking the strange atmosphere. His brows furrowed as he brought up Master's theory. "Martial Soul Mutation is incredibly difficult! The flaw in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda is determined by the essence of the Martial Soul itself. Unless an extremely low-probability Benign Mutation occurs, it is absolutely impossible for it to evolve artificially! Qian Mo, you're making empty promises and trying to deceive her with this lie!"

Tang San believed he had seen through Qian Mo's trick. Who couldn't make such an empty promise?

Qian Mo turned to look at Tang San's certain expression, a trace of mockery flashing through his eyes.

"Tang San, your horizons are only as broad as a well."

Qian Mo stopped wasting words. The Auspicious Beast Skull between his brows suddenly lit up, and an incomparably pure stream of Purple Gold Auspiciousness, like a rainbow piercing the sun, instantly poured into Ning Rongrong's body.

"Auspicious Qi Guidance, activate."

Buzz—!

Ning Rongrong only felt a warm current instantly spread through her entire body. The Martial Soul bottleneck that had lain dormant within her for so long actually let out a crisp cracking sound beneath the cleansing force of that power.

She instinctively summoned her Martial Soul.

"Seven Treasures Transform into Glazed Tile!"

A magnificent pagoda appeared in her palm. But this time, it was different.

Above the original seven-tiered spire, two phantom layers were slowly condensing under the nourishment of the Auspicious Qi. Although they had not yet fully materialized, the sacred aura that stood above all support Martial Souls had already caused every Martial Soul present to feel suppressed.

The eighth level! The ninth level!

"This... this is..." Flender's glasses shattered all over the ground. His mouth hung wide enough to fit a fist inside.

Ning Rongrong stared blankly at the pagoda in her hand, feeling that tremor deep within her soul. It was the realm her father, her grandfather, and even the entire sect had dreamed of for thousands of years!

"Become my follower." Qian Mo withdrew his hand, his expression indifferent. "I don't need you to run laps carrying stones like an idiot. I have more than enough resources to let you become a god while lying down."

"This is merely the deposit."

Qian Mo flicked his wrist.

A strange Immortal Herb appeared in his hand.

It was a tulip, golden all over, with faintly purple stamens that gave off a rich fragrance. With its appearance, the surrounding air seemed to become extravagantly luxurious.

Aromatic Silk Beauty.

"Take it. With my Auspicious Qi, Nine Treasure Glazed Tile will be within reach." Qian Mo casually tossed the priceless Immortal Herb toward Ning Rongrong, as casually as though he were tossing away a weed.

"No—!!!"

A heart-rending scream suddenly rang out.

Everyone jumped and turned around.

Tang San was staring fixedly at the tulip in Ning Rongrong's arms, his eyes bloodshot. His Purple Demon Eye had been pushed to its limit, and even blood threads had burst from the corners of his eyes.

He recognized it!

He had seen it in the Poison Sutra Chapter of the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record!

It was an Immortal Grade! An unparalleled Immortal Grade capable of seizing the creation of heaven and earth and rewriting the quality of a Martial Soul!

If that Immortal Herb were given to him—even if it were not given to Ning Rongrong—his Blue Silver Grass might evolve, and his Mysterious Heaven Skill might break through its bottleneck!

Yet now, this opportunity that should have belonged to the Child of Destiny had been casually tossed to a girl he had known for less than half a day, as though Qian Mo were feeding a pig?!

Heartache.

A suffocating heartache.

Tang San clutched his chest, feeling as though someone had viciously carved out his heart with a knife.

"That is... that is Aromatic Silk Beauty..." Tang San stretched out a trembling hand, his voice hoarse. "Qian Mo! You're wasting a heavenly treasure! How could you... how could you be so casual about it?!"

Qian Mo glanced at him and smiled.

"Oh? So you recognize it." Qian Mo shrugged. "Since you do, then watch carefully. Watch how I give something you dreamed of to someone else."

Although Ning Rongrong did not recognize the flower, she was not stupid. Seeing Tang San's expression as though his parents had died, then sensing the terrifying energy contained within the flower, how could she not know it was an unparalleled treasure?

"Brother! My real Brother!"

Ning Rongrong no longer had even a shred of a Young Lady's reserve. She shoved Tang San, who was blocking her way, aside and pounced directly at Qian Mo's leg like a koala.

Ning Rongrong hugged Qian Mo's leg tightly and looked up. Her big eyes gleamed with something called "loyalty"—which was really just overwhelming delight. "From today on, you're my real Big Brother! Whoever dares say a single bad word about you, I'll smash them to death with my pagoda!"

Flender swayed, nearly falling to the ground.

It was over.

It was all over.

Zhu Zhuqing had left, Oscar had left, and now even Ning Rongrong, the biggest sponsor, had left.

The Shrek Seven Devils?

Now only three were left.

And they were three battered, utterly defeated rejects.

Qian Mo pulled his leg out of Ning Rongrong's embrace with disgust and pointed at Oscar behind him. "Go get a new set of clothes from him. From now on, stay away from Tang San. Poverty sickness is contagious."

"Got it!" Ning Rongrong hugged the Immortal Herb and eagerly followed behind Oscar, not even sparing a glance for the three petrified figures on the sports field.

"Damn it... damn it..."

Dai Mubai punched the nearby tree trunk. Bark exploded, and blood streamed down his hand. Watching Qian Mo's retreating back as everyone gathered around him, jealousy twisted Dai Mubai's face beyond recognition.

That was his fiancée! Those were the women he had set his sights on! Now they were all circling around that pretty boy!

"Don't be hasty."

Zhao Wuji, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke. He walked behind Tang San and Dai Mubai, an insidious smile appearing on his still-swollen face.

"Young men, don't let this little setback defeat you."

Zhao Wuji lowered his voice, his venomous gaze fixed in the direction of the Cloud Top Heavenly Palace.

"Some things cannot be built up with resources. That is Combat Cooperation."

"This afternoon is Combat Practice Class." Zhao Wuji clenched his fist, his joints cracking loudly. "I'll arrange for the three of you to fight the four of them."

"Remember, this is a 'spar.' Since it's a spar, some 'accidental injuries' are inevitable."

"Tang San, your hidden weapons. Mubai, your White Tiger Adamant Transformation. Hongjun, your Evil Fire."

"Let them know that greenhouse flowers are nothing but shit before real killing techniques!"

Tang San suddenly raised his head. The dejection in his eyes vanished, replaced by the coldness of a venomous snake.

"Understood, Teacher Zhao."

Tang San touched the Sleeve Arrow on his wrist, his gaze locked tightly onto the Immortal Herb in Ning Rongrong's hands.

"Since he is heartless, don't blame me for being ruthless."

"This afternoon's class... I'll make sure to 'teach' them well."