Jixia Academy

Lu Ming halted.

Shrek Academy?

He folded his fan, pushed through the crowd, and walked inside.

In the center of the square, several youths in shit-green uniforms surrounded a stall selling tofu pudding.

At their head stood a fat man.

He was round and bloated, his face covered in flesh, his tiny bean-like eyes leering at the young tofu pudding vendor cowering in the corner.

Ma Hongjun.

Though he had only suffered severe injuries yesterday—supposedly to his manhood—the dead fatso looked full of vigor at the moment.

"Little sister, don't be scared."

Ma Hongjun rubbed his greasy hands together, a sleazy grin on his face.

"Your brother here is a top student of Shrek Academy and the owner of a Phoenix Martial Soul! I can tell you've got extraordinary bones. I want to take you back to the academy for a physical examination. This is your good fortune!"

The girl trembled in terror, tears welling in her eyes, yet she did not dare resist.

After all, Soul Power glimmered around every one of these people.

To ordinary civilians, Soul Masters were the heavens.

Dai Mubai, standing behind Ma Hongjun, frowned. He seemed to find it somewhat embarrassing, but he did not speak up to stop him.

Oscar, meanwhile, turned his head away awkwardly.

As for Tang San, he stood at the entrance of a nearby blacksmith shop, seemingly studying some metal and turning a deaf ear to what was happening here.

"Fatty, let's go."

Dai Mubai urged him impatiently.

"What's the rush, Boss Dai?!"

Ma Hongjun turned back and glared at him, muttering curses under his breath.

"Even if it's... inconvenient for me right now, can't I at least get some hands-on fun? This pent-up wicked fire is making me miserable. I've got to find somewhere to vent it!"

As he spoke, his fat hand reached toward the girl's face.

"A dog can't stop eating shit."

A calm voice suddenly rang out from within the crowd.

It was not loud, yet it clearly reached every person's ears.

Ma Hongjun's hand froze in midair.

He abruptly turned his head, vicious light bursting from his bean-like eyes.

"Which bastard dares meddle in my business? Tired of living?!"

The crowd automatically parted to make way.

Lu Ming emerged slowly, waving his folding fan.

Gongsun Li followed behind him, still holding an unfinished osmanthus cake. She looked at Ma Hongjun as though she were looking at a pile of garbage.

"You?!"

Ma Hongjun's pupils contracted.

Yesterday beneath the arena, he had personally seen how this man had chatted and laughed with Xue Qinghe.

And that terrifying rabbit girl from Jixia Academy had been right beside him.

"Lu Ming of Jixia Academy."

Tang San also noticed the situation. He set down the metal in his hands and hurried over, stepping in front of Ma Hongjun. He cupped his hands toward Lu Ming.

"Dean Lu, my junior brother is unruly, and his words were somewhat offensive. I hope you can forgive him."

It sounded like an apology, but he was actually protecting his own.

Lu Ming did not even spare Tang San a glance.

His gaze fell on Ma Hongjun's hand, still suspended in midair.

"Unruly?"

Lu Ming gave a derisive laugh.

"In broad daylight, forcibly taking a civilian girl—this is what you call unruly?"

"Looks like Shrek Academy's teaching principle needs another line besides 'those who dare not cause trouble are mediocre'—'those who dare not bully men and women are useless'?"

The moment those words came out, the surrounding civilians immediately stirred.

Tang San's expression darkened.

"Dean Lu, your words are too harsh. Fatty was only joking. He has not caused any actual harm."

"Has not caused any?"

Lu Ming closed his folding fan and lightly tapped it against his palm.

"If I'd arrived one step later, would that filthy hand have touched her?"

"Since you can't control your claws, there's no point in keeping them."

Ma Hongjun was enraged by the contempt in Lu Ming's eyes, and his unruly temper flared up.

"Lu! Don't get too cocky! This is Heaven Dou City, not your Jixia Academy!"

"So what if I touched her? She's just a lowborn—being favored by a Soul Master is a blessing she cultivated over several lifetimes! I think you're deliberately picking a fight!"

The fat on his body trembled wildly as three Spirit Rings—two yellow and one purple—suddenly lit up. A fiery-red phoenix phantom emerged behind him.

Though it was a eunuch phoenix, the scorching aura of its flames was genuine enough.

"Picking a fight?"

A mocking smile curved across Lu Ming's lips.

"You think you're worthy?"

He did not make a move.

He merely tilted his head slightly and softly called a name into the empty air.

"Sikong Zhen."

Rumble!

The previously clear sky suddenly darkened without warning.

It was not because clouds had gathered, but as though an invisible hand had instantly blotted out the sun.

A suffocatingly terrifying pressure descended from the heavens.

Tang San's expression changed drastically.

This presence...

Even from Zhao Wuji and Flender, he had never felt such pure, overbearing pressure!

"That is..."

Everyone looked up in terror.

At some point, a burly figure had appeared in midair.

The man wore purple Lightning Battle Armor. His silver hair whipped wildly in the gale, while countless blinding arcs of electricity coiled around him.

Like a thunder god who commanded punishment, he looked down indifferently upon the ants below.

Jixia Academy's Dean of Discipline, the Thunder King, Sikong Zhen.

"The Dean has given an order."

Sikong Zhen's voice was like rolling thunder, making the entire street tremble.

"Those who commit violence shall be executed."

There was no unnecessary talk.

He slowly raised his right hand and spread his fingers.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—

Countless bolts of lightning gathered in his palm, condensing into a dazzling sphere of thunder.

"With thunder, shatter the darkness!"

Boom!

A massive pillar of purple lightning descended straight toward Ma Hongjun with world-destroying force.

Fast.

Too fast.

So fast that Tang San did not even have time to use Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to pull Ma Hongjun away.

So fast that Dai Mubai's White Tiger Vajra Transformation had only been activated halfway.

"No—!!"

Ma Hongjun let out a shrill scream.

That laughable Evil Fire Phoenix phantom was as fragile as a newly hatched chick before the violent lightning, shattering in an instant.

The lightning swallowed everything.

The entire street was illuminated in a ghastly white.

When the lightning faded.

A charred black crater several meters wide had appeared in the ground.

Ma Hongjun lay at the bottom of the crater, his entire body charred black and smoking. His shit-green school uniform had long since turned to ash, exposing his greasy, flabby flesh.

He was still twitching, foam spilling from his mouth. His once lecherous eyes had rolled back, and he had clearly lost consciousness.

If not for his faint breathing, he might have been mistaken for a charred corpse.

Dead silence.

The entire venue was deathly quiet.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at the thunderous overlord hovering in midair, not daring to so much as breathe.

One strike.

Just one strike.

A Soul Elder in his thirties had been beaten like a dead dog.

And anyone with eyes could tell that Sikong Zhen had held back.

Otherwise, that bolt of lightning would have reduced Ma Hongjun to ashes long ago.