Dai Mubai Runs Away (Part 3)

Although Dai Mubai became the "Boss" according to Le Bai's request, he knew clearly in his heart that he hadn't truly become the boss.

There were two main reasons why Dai Mubai agreed:

First, among the four students currently at Shrek Academy, he was the oldest and had the highest Soul Power Level;

Second, he had lost the fight against Le Bai.

Admittedly, they hadn't agreed on anything before the spar, nor were there any stakes, but the loser should follow the reasonable requests of the winner. This was both a sign of respect for the victor and a way to maintain the last shred of dignity for the loser.

As for what Le Bai's true purpose was, Dai Mubai didn't know, so he temporarily buried his doubts deep in his heart.

Through the battle with Dai Mubai, Le Bai had gained a rough understanding of his current strength—his goal achieved, he was very satisfied. He took the initiative to take on the task of showing Dai Mubai around the academy, letting Oscar and Ma Hongjun go off to their daily training.

Oscar and Ma Hongjun didn't have as good a reason as Le Bai, so they had to accept the reality that they couldn't slack off for the day, grumbling as they walked toward their usual Cultivation Ground.

Le Bai led Dai Mubai around the academy:

"This is the Cafeteria. Meal times are relatively fixed, so it's best to be on time, otherwise, we can't guarantee there will be any food left for you."

"This is the Dormitory. Your room with Ma Hongjun is the one on the left ahead, and the one on the right is Oscar's. The conditions aren't great, but they aren't bad either; you'd better not think about comparing them to your own home."

"This is the Playground. Every morning, unless the teachers have specifically said otherwise the day before, you are expected to arrive early by default. If you're late, you're likely to be punished by the teachers, so watch yourself."

"This room is the Office for the Dean and the teachers. The teachers aren't always here, but the Dean is usually around unless he's gone out."

"This whole area is the teachers' dormitory. Further out are the villagers who live near the academy, and the place where I live is also nearby. They generally don't interact with us, and the academy has rules that we aren't allowed to bully these villagers, otherwise, the Dean is very likely to clean house himself."

"And here..."

Shrek Academy wasn't big at all; in fact, one could say it was quite small, but Le Bai introduced it in such detail that the tour took over an hour.

"That concludes every area of our Shrek Academy. Did you get all that, Boss Dai? Do you need me to take you through it again?"

Le Bai turned to face Dai Mubai, only to realize that Dai Mubai's attention wasn't on him. He stepped forward, pressed down on Dai Mubai's shoulder, and shook him: "Hey, Boss Dai, what are you thinking about?"

"!?"

Dai Mubai was startled and snapped back to reality: "Ah, sorry, I was thinking about something! Where were you up to?"

"Just when did you start spacing out..."

Le Bai's expression grew increasingly disdainful: "Boss Dai, I know you're in a bad mood because you lost to me, but this way of getting back at me is a bit petty."

"I am not being petty!"

Dai Mubai tried his best to deny it, his face almost touching Le Bai's: "I was re-al-ly thinking about something!"

"Ah, I know, I know!"

Le Bai leaned back forcefully to avoid facial contact with Dai Mubai: "Too close, Boss Dai, too close, we're going to bump into each other!"

The two found a place to sit and rest, and Dai Mubai calmed down a little after sitting.

"Anyway, Boss Dai, tell me what you can. What were you just thinking about?"

Le Bai reached out and rested his hand on Dai Mubai's shoulder: "The person involved always has a relatively one-sided perspective on things. As an outsider, perhaps I can provide you with a different point of view."

Dai Mubai crossed his hands to support his chin and thought for a moment: "What you say makes sense, and what I was thinking about isn't entirely unrelated to you."

"Oh? It's actually something that has to do with me?"

If he had just been offering casual comfort before, Le Bai was now genuinely interested in what Dai Mubai was thinking: "Then I definitely have to hear this!"

"Actually, I was just thinking that you and Oscar are the same age and both have Food System Martial Souls. But your Soul Power is so far behind Oscar's, and I was wondering what the reason is."

Dai Mubai looked at Le Bai very seriously: "I've thought about it, and the most likely possibility is that your Innate Soul Power level is very low."

"That's it?"

Le Bai lost interest instantly: "You could have just asked me that directly next time. My Innate Soul Power is level two, which is considered average. After all, my Martial Soul didn't mutate, and I don't come from a Soul Master family, so having level two is actually considered lucky."

"Level two..."

The answer was even lower than Dai Mubai had expected: "Then how on earth do you cultivate? Forget about level two Innate Soul Power, I've seen people with level three or four who couldn't even reach level ten Soul Power at your age!"

"How else would I cultivate?"

Le Bai leaned back and looked up at the sky: "Keep my Soul Power in a state of cultivation as much as possible, try to train my body, and just persist every day. That's it."

"Haven't you ever thought about giving up?"

Dai Mubai's voice trembled slightly: "With such low Innate Soul Power, the speed of your Soul Power growth must be very slow."

"Of course it's slow."

Le Bai said earnestly: "I spend more time cultivating and train with higher intensity, but my Soul Power growth speed is far behind Oscar and Ma Hongjun. Since I started cultivating, let alone closing the gap, the difference in our Soul Power has only grown larger over these two years. The teachers say that the higher the Soul Power level, the more difficult it is to improve, so the gap will likely be even larger then. Honestly, just thinking about it makes my liver ache!"

"If that's the case!"

Dai Mubai was a bit agitated: "Why haven't you given up? Why do you still work so desperately hard at your cultivation and training?"

"It's not a question of why I haven't given up, but why I should."

Le Bai looked straight into Dai Mubai's eyes: "A poor Martial Soul or insufficient Innate Soul Power—these aren't reasons for me to give up, are they? Of course, I know very well that there is a limit to hard work."

Dai Mubai looked at Le Bai with an expression of disbelief: "Then why do you still..."

"Why do you still persist?"

Le Bai finished the sentence Dai Mubai hadn't been able to complete: "A meaningless question. Regardless of what I think, reality will not change. What benefit would giving up everything bring me? None. It would even make me unable to do the small things I could have originally accomplished—that is a disadvantage. Whether it is to grasp the last bit of possibility or to avoid disadvantages as much as possible, I shouldn't give up, should I?"

"That really is..."

Dai Mubai didn't get the answer he wanted.

However, Le Bai's answer allowed him to see something different: "Can you listen to a story? A story about a certain coward who ran away."

Is the coward you're talking about actually yourself?

But Le Bai wouldn't be so tactless, so he nodded in silence.

"That coward was born into a great family and inherited an excellent Martial Soul from his forebears. Although his Innate Soul Power wasn't level ten, it was over level nine; his talent could be said to be very good."

Dai Mubai began to tell his own story: "The coward also had an older brother, six years his senior, whose talent was no worse than his, perhaps even better. The coward's family had a cruel rule: each generation's patriarch could only be inherited by the strongest one. Therefore, the coward's brother always targeted him, and even... many times, he wanted the coward to die."

"Although the coward was timid, he didn't want to die, so he cultivated and trained very hard."

"However, the age gap between the coward and his brother was too large; no matter what, he couldn't catch up. Although the coward had better talent, there wasn't enough time left for him to grow."

"In the end, the coward accepted his fate. He knew there was no possibility of defeating his brother. Thus, the coward chose to run away. He fled his family, fled his country, and escaped to a place where no one knew him, waiting for the day his brother would come to find him."

Having said this, Dai Mubai fell silent. Le Bai waited for a while, and seeing he had no intention of continuing, asked: "Finished?"

"Finished."

Dai Mubai nodded and asked Le Bai: "Do you think that coward did the right thing? Should he have been a bit braver, instead of giving up everything to run away, and tried harder to fight against his brother?"

"I don't even know where the end of the universe is, so how could I possibly know that?"

Le Bai casually tossed out a famous line, and under Dai Mubai's confused gaze, slowly said: "I am not that coward, nor do I know the situation in that coward's home, so it is hard for me to understand his thoughts. But just listening to what you said, Boss Dai, I think that coward's brother is a bit off."

Due to revisions in the previous chapter, the content of this chapter has also been slightly modified. I deeply apologize for the confusion in the chapter comments caused by this. (Bows)

Revision date: November 30, 2020