Hand in Hand, No Fear of Slipping While Walking [Please collect]

Zhang Yang's opponent in this soul battle had a pair of scissors as his Martial Soul, along with three Hundred-Year Soul Rings.

Being able to cultivate a scissors-type Martial Soul to level 39 made his opponent something of a genius. Though he was already getting on in years, breaking through level 50 and reaching the Soul King Level within his lifetime should not have been much of a problem.

Facing such a rare Weapon Martial Soul opponent, Zhang Yang naturally did not end the battle too quickly. Instead, he tangled with his opponent for quite a while using the Navy Six Styles, facing danger several times before finally ending the fight with a Finger Gun from a blind spot.

Losing was impossible. After all, he had bet his entire fortune on his own victory. Wouldn't he be taking a massive loss if he lost?

After the match, his points were registered: four wins, zero losses, four points. He also collected a reward of ten Gold Soul Coins.

But Zhang Yang's attention was not on that at all. He was more anxious to find Ning Rongrong and use the betting slip to claim the winnings.

Ning Rongrong had left the Spectator Stand after Zhang Yang's battle ended, planning to meet him at the Betting Counter. However, the distance between the stands and the counter was rather long, and Ning Rongrong was unfamiliar with the Great Soul Arena. By the time she arrived, Zhang Yang had already been waiting for quite a while.

Taking the betting slip Ning Rongrong handed him, Zhang Yang ignored her sly, chicken-stealing grin and eagerly went to collect his prize from the staff.

The slip was valid, and the staff member swiftly paid out his winnings. "Here are your principal and winnings. Please check them carefully."

"Huh? That's all?" Zhang Yang took the 550 Gold Soul Coins. After subtracting the principal he had given Ning Rongrong, he had only earned fifty Gold Soul Coins.

"Huh? Was my odds that low?"

As Zhang Yang pondered this, he saw Ning Rongrong receive a Gold Card from the Operation Counter.

"You bet on me winning too?" Seeing Ning Rongrong's radiant smile, Zhang Yang seemed to understand something.

"You bet your entire fortune on yourself. Of course I wasn't foolish enough to miss such a good opportunity." Ning Rongrong smiled like a little fox.

"You made quite a bit, didn't you? Shouldn't you treat me to something?" Zhang Yang rolled his eyes.

"Not much, not much. I only made thirty-two thousand. That's barely anything." Ning Rongrong deliberately sighed helplessly. "Sigh, it's all because I bet too much and made the Great Soul Arena lower your odds. I'm so sorry."

Zhang Yang sighed. He had found the culprit. And Ning Rongrong truly deserved to be called the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. She had brought tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins with her just to attend school. She really was rich.

After leaving the Great Soul Arena, Ning Rongrong saw that Zhang Yang still seemed somewhat downcast and could not help feeling nervous. She was afraid that he truly loved money as much as his life and that her prank had gone too far.

Ning Rongrong cautiously tested Zhang Yang's mood. "Zhang Yang, are you okay?"

It was certainly regrettable to have missed out on so much money, but Zhang Yang quickly recovered. After all, Ning Rongrong had earned the larger share. It was still money staying within the group.

"I'm fine. Let's head back." Zhang Yang shook his head and reached out to take Ning Rongrong's hand.

Ning Rongrong's pretty face flushed. She lowered her head to look at Zhang Yang's hand but did not stop him.

The two of them walked back to Shrek Academy hand in hand.

Not far behind them, two men were bent over notebooks, recording something. Several bandits who had been tempted by money were tied up at their feet.

The next day, Master began his First Lesson with a training program he had prepared for a long time.

First came combat training. Every day, Master would set aside one or two hours to arrange randomly grouped combat tests for Shrek's eight students.

One versus one, two versus two, one versus two, three versus three, three versus four, four versus four—restrictions on Soul Skills, restrictions on tactics. The variations were endless.

As the most bug-like powerhouse on the team, Zhang Yang received Master's strictest arrangements. Zhang Yang was forbidden from using Soul Ring skills and could only rely on the Physical Fitness he gained after Martial Soul Possession and the Navy Six Styles to handle battle.

Without Soul Ring skills, Zhang Yang was merely a fairly strong Assault Type Battle Soul Master among those at the same Soul Power level. Thus, he handled one-on-one battles with ease, though he lost more often than he won when facing Tang San, a Control System Soul Master.

But when it came to one versus two or one versus three, his record became rather miserable. Not to mention that Tang San appeared among his opponents far too frequently.

Zhang Yang knew that Master was training him in how to deal with Control System Soul Masters, so he humbly learned, actively corrected his mistakes, and worked hard to improve his real combat ability.

Of course, even with Tang San as an opponent, Zhang Yang still had chances to hold his head high.

It was a one-versus-seven battle: Zhang Yang against the original Shrek Seven Devils.

Facing the Shrek Seven Devils, who had Ning Rongrong's boosts and Oscar's Mushroom Sausage support, Zhang Yang seemed to be under some pressure. In a moment of carelessness, he lit up all three Soul Rings on his body.

According to Master, an exhilarating battle could help improve the students' confidence and prevent conflicts from arising between them.

The Shrek Seven Devils grumbled inwardly, Master, to improve Zhang Yang's confidence, you've really sacrificed us.

Next came Physical Fitness training: long-distance running with weights, ten round trips from the academy to Suotuo City.

Master truly deserved to be known as Theoretically invincible in the Soul Master world. His grasp of everyone's physical limits alone had already reached perfection.

An eighty-kilometer weighted run without being allowed to use Soul Power—even people as strong as Zhang Yang, Tang San, and Dai Mubai ended up passing out from exhaustion after helping Ning Rongrong and Oscar carry part of their loads.

Of course, if they were passing out, they would all pass out together. Ning Rongrong had fainted just after starting the tenth lap. Zhang Yang carried her on his back, with both their loads hanging from his chest.

By then, Zhang Yang's vision had already blurred, and he could barely see the road beneath his feet.

Tang San carried Oscar, Dai Mubai carried Zhu Zhuqing, and Xiao Wu took on part of their loads. Oscar and Zhu Zhuqing's remaining loads were all carried by Ma Hongjun.

Like this, the eight of them looked as if they were over ninety years old. Supporting one another, they completed the final round trip. Then, with the obsession in their hearts finally dissipating, they all collapsed unconscious at the finish line.

Then, the Teachers who had been waiting for a long time stripped them down and tossed them into Bath Barrels for Medicinal Baths.

They went through this kind of training every day. Every day, they exhausted themselves into unconsciousness, then woke up in the Bath Barrels.

However, what shocked everyone was the astonishing rate at which Zhang Yang's Physical Fitness improved. Starting from the second month, in order to force out Zhang Yang's physical limits, Master had him wear a three-hundred-jin Cast Iron Vest in addition to carrying a bamboo basket.

In only three months, Zhang Yang's height shot up from over 1.7 meters to 1.95 meters. He had grown twenty-five centimeters in three months, and after Martial Soul Possession, his height directly soared to 2.5 meters. It made Zhang Yang think he had entered puberty early.

Now, even Dai Mubai, the tallest among them, had to tilt his head up slightly when standing before Zhang Yang. It felt incredibly awkward.

Everyone guessed that Zhang Yang's rapid physical changes might have been influenced by his Martial Soul. After all, Zhang Yang's Martial Soul Borsalino stood three meters tall, so growing to 1.95 meters was understandable.

On Douluo Continent, the influence Beast Martial Souls had on Soul Masters Truly Existed. Take Bone Douluo Gu Rong, for example. His Martial Soul was a Bone Dragon, and his appearance was all skin and bones, like a Skeleton.

If it were not for the influence of his Martial Soul, a Titled Douluo should not have looked like that.

Zhang Yang felt that explanation made perfect sense. His Physical Fitness should have been influenced by Borsalino.

Thinking back to the training intensity and Physical Fitness of the powerhouses in the One Piece world, Zhang Yang's current Physical Fitness became easier to explain.

The first phase of training lasted a full three months. When they heard Master announce the end of training, everyone felt as though they had escaped hell and returned to the human world.

After the training ended, Master gave everyone a week off to relax their minds and adjust their condition.

On the night training ended, Ma Hongjun slipped off to Suotuo City to solve his problem.

Since Zhang Yang needed to go to Suotuo City to buy some clothes that fit him, he had originally planned to go with Ma Hongjun. However, the moment Ning Rongrong heard this, she immediately volunteered to go along, saying she could help Zhang Yang match his clothes.

Zhang Yang thought it would be nice to have a woman along when buying clothes, so he nodded in agreement.

Ning Rongrong needed to return to the Dormitory to change, but everyone knew how long girls took to change clothes. By the time Ning Rongrong emerged beautifully dressed from the Dormitory an hour had passed, and the fatty had long since left.

Zhang Yang was now 1.95 meters tall, while Ning Rongrong was a little over 1.6 meters. There was a full thirty-centimeter difference between them. If Zhang Yang raised an arm, Ning Rongrong could practically fit beneath his armpit.

As they set off along the road to Suotuo City, Zhang Yang and Ning Rongrong tacitly clasped hands.

Zhang Yang and Ning Rongrong had not taken a walk like this together for three months. Neither wanted to say anything. Just having his large hand wrapped around her small one was already enough.

But men were creatures who never knew satisfaction. Soon, the large hand released the small one and instead wrapped around Ning Rongrong's waist.

The distance between them grew a little smaller.

This road, which they had run back and forth along countless times and soaked with so much of their sweat, became interesting beneath their leisurely steps.

When they arrived at a men's Clothing Store, Ning Rongrong quickly picked out many outfits for Zhang Yang according to her own preferences.

The clothes Ning Rongrong selected differed slightly from Zhang Yang's preferred style, but the fabric really was comfortable to wear, so Zhang Yang paid for them.

After accompanying Zhang Yang through the Clothing Store, Ning Rongrong nodded in satisfaction, as though she had completed a great project. To reward herself, Ning Rongrong spent another afternoon shopping and bought herself clothes worth over a hundred Gold Soul Coins.

One Gold Soul Coin was already enough to cover several months of normal expenses for an ordinary family of three. Over a hundred Gold Soul Coins was no small sum.

Zhang Yang sighed. She truly was the little princess of one of the Top Three Sects. She really was rich.

After finding a place to eat dinner, Zhang Yang and Ning Rongrong were preparing to visit the Great Soul Arena when they suddenly noticed a familiar-looking fat man staggering along the roadside.

Although this fat man's face was swollen like a pig's head, blood hung from the corner of his mouth, and his clothes were filthy beyond recognition, Zhang Yang still recognized him. After all, they had endured three months of devilish training together.

Zhang Yang stopped him, frowned, and said with faint anger, "Fatty, who beat you into this state?"

This person was Ma Hongjun.