Ning Rongrong's "Princess Syndrome"?

Outside Suotuo City in the early morning, the mist was damp and cold, carrying the earthy, fishy smell of the soil.

On the Shrek Academy sports field, the atmosphere was even more somber than the damned weather.

"I'm not running anymore!"

Ning Rongrong threw the weighted stone blocks in her hand heavily onto the ground, splashing a puddle of muddy water. Her expensive white one-piece short skirt was stained with dirt. Her originally delicate little face was flushed red, her chest heaving violently.

"Flender, you're abusing us!" Ning Rongrong pointed at the gloomy-faced Cat Owl Soul Saint in front of her, her spoiled temper completely erupting. "We eat like pig food, live like we're in a pigsty, and now you want us to run twenty laps carrying stones? I'm a Support Soul Master, not a coolie!"

Flender pushed up the crystal glasses on his nose, a cold glint flashing behind the lenses. He was already looking for a place to establish his authority. He had been slapped in the face by Qian Mo and Zhu Zhuqing alternately yesterday, and Oscar ran away again today. This pent-up evil fire had been brewing all night.

"Can't take it?" Flender sneered, his tone harsh. "If you can't take it, then get lost. Shrek only accepts monsters, not spoiled young ladies. Do you think you're the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the whole world has to revolve around you?"

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

"Tell me, what right do you have to throw a tantrum here?" Flender pressed on, raising his voice by eight octaves. "In terms of strength, you're inferior to Dai Mubai and Tang San; in terms of willpower, you're not even as good as that fatty Ma Hongjun! Here, you are the worst! You're just trash who is useless once you leave your sect!"

These words pierced Ning Rongrong's heart like knives. This was Flender's teaching philosophy—break down self-esteem first, then rebuild personality.

Tang San, standing by, watched silently, nodding inwardly.

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

Dai Mubai also snorted coldly. Because of Zhu Zhuqing, he now harbored a strange hostility towards all beautiful women. "Since you're here, you have to follow the rules. If you don't want to run, leave. No one is stopping you."

Betrayed by everyone.

Ning Rongrong stood alone in the center of the sports field, looking at the indifferent, mocking faces around her. Wronged, angry, and ashamed intertwined, almost driving her to collapse.

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

"Clap, clap, clap."

A lazy, rhythmic round of applause abruptly broke the solemn atmosphere of the sports field.

The white jade gate of Cloud Top Heavenly Palace slowly opened. Qian Mo, dressed in an immaculate Platinum Robe, held a cup of steaming Top-grade Snow Top Coffee. Beside him were a radiant Zhu Zhuqing and... Oscar, who had become so handsome he was unrecognizable.

"Wonderful, truly wonderful."

Qian Mo took a sip of coffee, a playful smile on the corner of his mouth, and slowly walked down the steps.

"Dean Flender, this PUA trick of yours is quite slick." Qian Mo walked to Ning Rongrong's side, not looking at her, but directly at Flender. "You belittle a top-tier support genius to worthlessness to establish your pathetic authority? Is this the teaching level of Shrek?"

"Qian Mo! This is my teaching method!" Flender's face turned ashen. "How can you see a rainbow without going through wind and rain? If she can't even endure this hardship, how can she inherit the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect in the future?"

"Endure hardship?" Qian Mo scoffed, as if hearing the biggest joke in the world.

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

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

Ning Rongrong bit her lip, stubbornly refusing to let 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 your Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, which you are so proud of, is, in my eyes... indeed a defective product."

This sentence was a hundred times more vicious than Flender's earlier humiliation.

Ning Rongrong's pupils contracted sharply. She slapped Qian Mo's hand away, like a startled cat. "You're talking nonsense! The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda is the number one support martial soul in the world! How can you call it defective?!"

"Number one in the world?" Qian Mo shook his head, his eyes filled with pity. "It can only cultivate to level seventy, and you can never break through to Soul Douluo in your lifetime. This is what you call number one in the world? Ning Rongrong, you can fool others, but don't fool yourself."

Ning Rongrong froze.

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

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

Ning Rongrong trembled all over and suddenly looked up, staring intently at Qian Mo. "What... did you say?"

"Nine Treasure Glazed Tile."

The four words, spoken lightly, landed like a ton of bricks.

The entire place fell silent.

"Impossible!" Tang San suddenly shouted, breaking the strange atmosphere. His brows were tightly furrowed, and he brought up Master's theory. "Martial soul mutation is extremely difficult! The flaw of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda is determined by the essence of the martial soul. Unless a very low probability benign mutation occurs, it's impossible for it to evolve artificially! Qian Mo, you're blowing smoke, trying to trick her with such lies!"

Tang San felt he had seen through Qian Mo's trick. Who couldn't make such empty promises?

Qian Mo turned his head and looked at Tang San, who had a look of certainty on his face. A hint of mockery flashed in his eyes.

"Tang San, your vision is only as big as that well."

Qian Mo stopped wasting words. The Auspicious Beast Skull on his brow suddenly lit up, and a pure, ultimate purple-gold Auspicious Qi, like a rainbow piercing the sun, instantly injected into Ning Rongrong's body.

"Auspicious Qi Guidance, activate."

Weng--!

Ning Rongrong felt a warm current instantly flow through her entire body. The martial soul bottleneck that had been dormant within her actually let out a crisp cracking sound under the surge of this power.

She subconsciously summoned her martial soul.

"Seven Treasures Transform into Glazed Tile!"

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

Above the original seven layers of the pagoda's spire, two illusory light figures were slowly taking shape under the nourishment of the Auspicious Qi. Although they had not yet fully materialized, the sacred aura that surpassed all support martial souls had already made the martial souls of everyone present feel suppressed.

Eighth Level! Ninth Level!

"This... this is..." Flender's glasses shattered on the floor, his mouth agape, wide enough to fit a fist.

Ning Rongrong stared blankly at the pagoda in her hands, feeling a tremor deep within her soul. This was the realm her father, her grandfather, and even her entire Sect had dreamed of for thousands of years!

"Become my Follower," Qian Mo retracted his hand, his expression calm. "I don't need you to run laps carrying stones like an idiot. I have plenty of resources to let you become a God while lying down."

"This is just a deposit."

Qian Mo flipped his wrist.

A peculiar Immortal Herb appeared in his hand.

It was a tulip, golden all over, with a faint purple pistil, emitting a rich Fragrance. As it appeared, the surrounding Air seemed to become overwhelmingly opulent.

Aromatic Silk Beauty.

"Consume it, and with my Auspicious Qi, your Nine Treasure Glazed Tile will be within reach." Qian Mo casually tossed the priceless Immortal Herb towards Ning Rongrong, as if he were throwing a Weed.

"No--!!!"

A heart-wrenching Scream suddenly rang out.

Everyone was startled and looked back.

They saw Tang San staring intently at the tulip in Ning Rongrong's arms, his eyes bloodshot, his Purple Demon Eye activated to its limit, blood threads even appearing at 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! It was a peerless Immortal Grade that could seize the fortune of heaven and earth and rewrite the quality of a Martial Soul!

If this Immortal Herb had been given to him, even if not to Ning Rongrong, his Blue Silver Grass might have evolved, and his Mysterious Heaven Skill could have broken through its Bottleneck!

But now, this opportunity that should have belonged to the Child of Destiny was being casually thrown by Qian Mo, like feeding a pig, to a Girl he had only known for less than half a day?!

Heartache.

A suffocating Heartache.

Tang San clutched his chest, feeling as if his heart had been brutally gouged out.

"That... that's the Aromatic Silk Beauty..." Tang San trembled, reaching out a hand, his voice hoarse. "Qian Mo! You're a Waste of Resources! How could you... how could you be so casual?!"

Qian Mo glanced at him and smiled.

"Oh? It seems you recognize it." Qian Mo shrugged. "Since you recognize it, then watch closely. See how I give what you've dreamed of to someone else."

Ning Rongrong didn't recognize the flower, but she wasn't stupid. Seeing Tang San's expression as if his parents had died, and feeling the terrifying energy contained within the flower, how could she not know it was a peerless treasure?

"Brother! My dear brother!"

Ning Rongrong lost all her young lady's reserve. She pushed Tang San aside, who was blocking her path, and like a koala, pounced directly to hug Qian Mo's thigh.

"I'll follow you! I'm not running this stupid circle anymore! Whoever wants to run can run!"

Ning Rongrong clung tightly to Qian Mo's thigh, tilting her head up, her big eyes sparkling with a light called "loyalty" (actually, it was true satisfaction). "From today on, you are my dear big brother! Anyone who dares to say a bad word about you, I'll smash them with my pagoda!"

Flender's body flickered, and he almost fell to the ground.

It's over.

It's all over.

Zhu Zhuqing ran away, Oscar ran away, and now even Ning Rongrong, the biggest sponsor, ran away.

Shrek Seven Devils?

Only three were left now.

And they were three "ugly melons and cracked jujubes" who had been beaten to a pulp.

Qian Mo disdainfully pulled his leg out of Ning Rongrong's embrace and pointed at Oscar behind him: "Go, get a new set of clothes from him. Stay away from Tang San in the future, poverty sickness is contagious."

"Got it!" Ning Rongrong, holding the immortal herb, trotted happily behind Oscar, not even glancing at the three petrified figures on the sports field.

"Damn... damn..."

Dai Mubai punched a nearby tree trunk, bark splintering, bleeding profusely. He looked at Qian Mo's back, surrounded by admiration, and was consumed by jealousy.

That was his fiancée! That was the woman he fancied! Now they were all revolving around that pretty boy!

"Don't rush."

Zhao Wuji, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke. He walked behind Tang San and Dai Mubai, a sinister smile appearing on his still swollen face.

"Youngsters, don't be defeated by this setback."

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

"Some things cannot be built with resources. That is combat cooperation."

"This afternoon is Combat Practice Class," Zhao Wuji clenched his fist, his knuckles cracking. "I will arrange for the three of you to fight against those four."

"Remember, this is a 'spar.' Since it's a spar, 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 in front of real killing techniques!"

Tang San suddenly raised his head, the decadence in his eyes swept away, replaced by a viper-like coldness.

"Understood, Teacher Zhao."

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

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

"This afternoon's class... I will 'teach' them well."