Love-Struck Fool

"Let's go."

With a grand wave of his hand, Flender pushed off the ground with his toes and darted out lightly, heading beyond the academy.

The others followed close behind.

At the Village Entrance, they ran into Ning Rongrong, with Oscar trailing behind her.

When Ning Rongrong saw them, she cast them a provocative glance before casually starting to run laps around the Village Entrance.

Oscar, meanwhile, gave them an apologetic look.

Flender had no idea that Ning Rongrong was honestly completing her training because of Ning Chuan. He simply thought he had tamed her, and a smug smile spread across his face. Looks like this girl has already been tamed by me. Then again, she's only a twelve- or thirteen-year-old brat. I've lived this long—can I really not handle her?

Their destination was Suotuo City.

Along the way, Flender did not say a word, and no one asked any questions.

Flender maintained a brisk pace throughout. Ning Chuan ran beside him, while Dai Mubai followed behind Flender. Taking advantage of the speed of an agility attack-system Soul Master, Zhu Zhuqing was not far behind Dai Mubai and followed behind Ning Chuan.

Then came Tang San and Xiao Wu, with Ma Hongjun bringing up the rear.

Half an hour later, the group arrived in Suotuo City.

Flender did not take them to the Soul Arena right away. Instead, he found a small teahouse nearby and ordered a pot of the cheapest jasmine tea.

From the outside, the Soul Arena stood nearly a hundred meters tall, immense beyond measure. Under the night sky, it looked especially solemn, and faint flashes of light could be seen within the massive structure.

Ning Chuan had no interest in listening to Flender ramble on, so he got straight to the point. "Dean, are you planning to take us into the Great Soul Arena for actual combat?"

"What... you've been there before?" Flender was somewhat surprised.

The others also looked at him in astonishment.

"Yes."

Of course he had been to a Great Soul Arena. There had been one in a city he passed through on his way to the Hidden Fragrance Sword Family.

As he spoke, Ning Chuan briefly explained the rules of the Great Soul Arena.

Simply put, the Great Soul Arena offered two types of matches: Life and Death Battles, and sparring matches.

Winning earned one point, while losing deducted one point. Reaching ten points earned a Bronze Soul Badge, one hundred points earned a Silver Soul Badge, and one thousand points earned a Gold Soul Badge, with the pattern continuing upward.

The matches themselves were divided into three categories: one-on-one, two-on-two, and seven-man team battles.

This left Flender, who had originally wanted to show off a little, rather embarrassed.

"Ahem. Since everyone already understands the rules, let's head out. My requirement for all of you is to obtain a Silver Soul Badge before graduation."

After paying for the tea, the group of seven left the teahouse and entered Suotuo City's Great Soul Arena. They had their Soul Power tested and completed registration.

Great Soul Arenas were more or less the same everywhere. Once they entered the spectator area, while the audience's attention was fixed on the Soul Battle Stage, Ning Chuan skillfully put on a black hooded robe and a Fire Fox Mask, concealing himself from head to toe.

Only then did he get up and head over to register for a match.

Xiao Wu followed beside Ning Chuan and asked softly, "Little Six, why are you dressed like that?"

Zhu Zhuqing also looked at him curiously.

Ning Chuan said, "The Great Soul Arena is a mixed bag. Being too conspicuous isn't a good thing."

At once, Xiao Wu became interested. It was not because she cared whether he was conspicuous or not; she simply thought it looked fun. She immediately asked Ning Chuan for a mask as well.

Ning Chuan did not mind. He had gone through quite a few masks over the years, and there were still some in his Storage Soul Tool belt. He promptly gave Xiao Wu a rabbit mask.

Xiao Wu instantly treated it like a priceless treasure, because it was the second gift Ning Chuan had given her.

But when she saw Ning Chuan give Zhu Zhuqing a Cat Face Mask as well, it was as though a jar of vinegar had been overturned inside her. Who knew who she had learned it from, but she actually tried playing hard to get with Ning Chuan. With a soft huff, she proposed teaming up with Tang San for two-on-two Soul Battles.

She wanted to make Ning Chuan jealous.

The naive Tang San thought Xiao Wu had been moved by his sincerity, so naturally, he eagerly agreed.

Yet Ning Chuan did not care in the slightest. Instead, he turned to Zhu Zhuqing. "Zhuqing, how about we team up for two-on-two Soul Battles?"

"Okay!" So far, Ning Chuan was the only boy at Shrek whom Zhu Zhuqing did not dislike. Without even thinking about it, she agreed.

Xiao Wu immediately exploded.

She was so angry that smoke nearly came out of her seven orifices. "Y-you two... Hmph..." As she spoke, she angrily stomped on Tang San's foot and stormed away.

Tang San grimaced in pain, but he was quite happy inside. The more Ning Chuan acted like this, the farther Xiao Wu would drift away from him.

Unfortunately, Tang San overlooked the fact that Xiao Wu was a simp—and a love-struck fool at that.

In Xiao Wu's heart, Ning Chuan was a man who looked cold but was warm inside, a blockhead who did not understand feelings.

So no matter how much Ning Chuan ignored her, she could forgive him. She believed that one day, she would move him.

Tang San, on the other hand, was Xiao Wu's simp.

In Xiao Wu's heart, no matter what Tang San did or how much he did for her, it could not compare to the quilt Ning Chuan had once given her, much less the mask he had just given her.

Tang San was her brother. Everything he did was only natural.

At most, his place in her heart was comparable to that of the Titan Giant Ape and the Sky Azure Bull Python—perhaps even lower than those two simping beasts.

That was the power of a love-struck fool.

When a love-struck fool liked you, she would be willing to do anything for you. But if she liked someone else, she would only blindly accept your kindness without giving anything in return.

Even the love-struck fool herself would not realize this.

When Ning Chuan and Zhu Zhuqing arrived at the two-on-two registration desk,

Xiao Wu and Tang San were already waiting in line.

Still sulking, Xiao Wu formed the Three-Five Combination with Tang San and then immediately left.

She did not even glance at Ning Chuan.

Soon, it was Ning Chuan and Zhu Zhuqing's turn. Seeing that one was a Soul Elder and the other a Soul Grandmaster, the staff member gave them a surprised look before dutifully reminding them, "For two-on-two Soul Battles, opponents are matched according to the highest rank. Are you sure you want to form a team?"

"It doesn't matter. Register us." Ning Chuan directly took out the ten Gold Soul Coins required for registration.

"Please give your team a name." The staff member accepted the Gold Soul Coins.

After thinking for a moment, Ning Chuan said, "Call us the Green Bamboo Combination. The green from clear—not the other one. Don't get it wrong." He reversed the characters in Zhu Zhuqing's name. In any case, his Martial Soul was the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Sword, so it included bamboo.

"All right. The Green Bamboo Combination has been registered."

Another line of four characters appeared on Ning Chuan and Zhu Zhuqing's Iron Soul Badges, engraved with the words Green Bamboo. Incidentally, Ning Chuan did not use his real name on his own Iron Soul Badge either, but Han Li. He had long used aliases such as Xiao Yan, Li Feiyu, Zuzong, Lan Si, and Qin Xuan at Great Soul Arenas elsewhere.