Back at the dormitory, they settled Dai Mubai onto his bed.
The pain in his waist was easing, but something inside him seemed to have shattered.
Oscar conjured a Recovery Big Sausage and held it out to him, his voice full of concern. "Mubai, eat a Recovery Big Sausage. You'll heal faster."
Dai Mubai didn't move or even look at the sausage. His hollow eyes stared at the ceiling as every moment of the fight replayed over and over in his mind.
Xiao Qing's crisp, decisive moves had pierced through all his former certainty and arrogance.
"Why?" His lips moved, and his voice came out dry and hoarse. "Oscar, Xiao Qing—he, he must've already reached Soul Elder, right? He's definitely a Soul Elder, isn't he? Otherwise, how could he..."
He couldn't accept that he had been defeated so easily by an opponent of the "same rank" or even a "lower rank." He could only conclude that his opponent had hidden his true level.
Seeing Dai Mubai so utterly lost, Oscar grew worried and hurried to say, "Mubai, don't overthink it. Eat the sausage and recover first..."
Oscar could tell something was wrong with Dai Mubai. He quickly set down the Recovery Big Sausage and ran out of the dormitory. "I'll go get the dean!"
Before long, Flender followed Oscar to the dormitory.
He pushed up his glasses and looked at Dai Mubai, whose gaze had gone unfocused. With his wealth of experience, Flender could tell at a glance what state Dai Mubai was in.
This wasn't merely the pain of defeat. It was a crack in a fragile worldview built over years on a sense of superiority and a habit of running away, struck cleanly by reality.
Considering Dai Mubai's usual behavior and the rumors about the Star Luo Empire, Flender could piece together most of what had happened. He sent Oscar out, pulled over a chair, and sat down beside Dai Mubai's bed. He didn't speak right away.
After a moment of silence, he finally spoke, his voice unusually calm, without its usual calculating edge.
"Do you feel humiliated? Can't believe it? Does it seem like something you've clung to all this time has suddenly lost its meaning?"
Flender's words were blunt. Dai Mubai's body trembled slightly, but he still said nothing.
Flender continued, "I can guess where you come from. The Dai Family of the Star Luo Empire. You lost the competition and fled here, convinced you had no future. So you gave up on yourself and used indulgence to numb your pain, telling yourself that was how a smart person lived. You looked down on the 'fools' still struggling. Am I right?"
Dai Mubai turned sharply to look at Flender. At last, emotion stirred in his eyes: shock, and the humiliation of having his thoughts laid bare.
"You think Xiao Qing is a fool? Ma Hongjun is a fool? Oscar, too?"
Flender smiled, though there was something complicated in his expression. "Dai Mubai, you were born into privilege and have seen the world. But maybe you've never seen someone claw their way up from the mud, step by step, or the fire that burns in their heart."
"That isn't foolishness. It's refusing to accept defeat. It's wanting to seize even the tiniest chance to change your fate."
"You think your big brother can't be beaten and the rules of Star Luo can't be changed. So you gave up before the fight even began and started enjoying what you call the 'rest of your life.'"
Flender's voice grew stern. "But have you ever wondered whether this is really what you want, or just a painkiller you grabbed at random to escape? If one day even that painkiller is gone—or you're no longer allowed to indulge yourself—what will you have left?"
Dai Mubai pressed his lips together, his expression shifting.
"Oscar's second Soul Skill, Clear Heart Sausage, calms the mind, aids meditation, and improves cultivation efficiency. You've known that for a long time."
Flender looked at him. "But you never thought to ask for one and try it, because you'd already given up on cultivation. You thought it was useless."
"But look at Ma Hongjun. That sausage helped him control his Evil Fire and gave him hope. Even the tiniest bit of hope can be enough to get someone back on their feet and moving forward instead of lying down to die."
"Your talent and starting point are better than those of most people here. You can keep lying there, drowning yourself in alcohol and women until you rot away completely—or until someone your big brother sends sweeps you aside like trash."
Flender rose to his feet, his voice heavy. "Or you can choose to get back up. Even if the road ahead looks hopeless, even if you still fail in the end, at least you'll die on your feet. You'll have fought for yourself."
"Shrek Academy took you in, not to give you a place to eat and wait for death. Whether you stay or leave, and how you go about it, is for you to decide."
With that, Flender said no more. He turned and left the dormitory, gently closing the door behind him.
Dai Mubai was left alone in the dormitory. He lay on his bed with his eyes open, sleepless through the night.
For the next few days, he was unusually quiet. He stopped talking about pleasure and did his best to avoid the others. He ate and attended class on schedule, then shut himself in the dormitory or sat alone, lost in thought, in some corner of the academy.
No one disturbed him. Xiao Qing continued cultivating at his own pace, Ma Hongjun worked hard to control his Evil Fire, and Oscar devoted himself to studying Soul Skills.
Then, one evening a few days later, Dai Mubai suddenly spoke. His voice was a little hoarse as he asked a question.
First, he asked Oscar, "Why do you work so hard at studying Soul Skills?"
Oscar froze, then scratched his head. A little embarrassed but completely earnest, he said, "I want to become the greatest food-type Soul Master ever, so that every Soul Master in the future will know my name!"
Dai Mubai fell silent, then turned to Ma Hongjun.
Ma Hongjun was gnawing on dry rations with a glass of water. At the question, he grinned, his face gleaming with grease. "Me? I just want to get this Evil Fire completely under control and turn it into real power."
"Then I'll marry a beautiful, capable woman who won't look down on me, and eat my way through every delicious dish on the whole continent! That's my biggest dream!"
Finally, Dai Mubai looked at Xiao Qing, who was wiping down a short blade.
Xiao Qing's tone was as casual as if he were commenting on the weather. "To take control of my own fate. I don't want others deciding things for me, threatening me, or taking something important from me when I'm powerless to fight back. Getting stronger is the only way."
Three answers, three different desires, yet all equally clear and powerful.
That night, Dai Mubai was sleepless again.
But this time, his mind wasn't churning with humiliation, anger, or emptiness. Instead, he thought of the light in Oscar's eyes, the hope on Ma Hongjun's face as he spoke about the future, and Xiao Qing's words: "take control of my own fate."
He remembered how hard he had trained as a child in the Star Luo Imperial Palace. He remembered his original ambition to grow stronger and win it all, and the fear and resentment he had felt while fleeing...
Flender's words echoed again: "At least you'll die on your feet. You'll have fought for yourself."
Running away and indulging himself hadn't brought him true happiness, only a deeper emptiness and contempt for himself.
Yet the effort that looked "foolish" could make Oscar's eyes shine, help Ma Hongjun stand tall, and give Xiao Qing that calm certainty.
Maybe Flender was right. Maybe he could struggle a little longer.
Even if it was only so he wouldn't vanish like a lump of mud, even if it was only to do right by the talent and pride he had once possessed.
The next morning, just as dawn was breaking.
As usual, Xiao Qing appeared right on time at the academy's crude training ground and began his regular endurance run.
When he finished the first lap and turned onto the straightaway, his gaze swept past the starting line, and his steps faltered slightly.
A figure had appeared at the edge of the track.
He wore practical athletic clothes. His golden hair was slightly tousled, and he was doing some simple warm-up stretches, his expression tinged with a seriousness and tension he hadn't shown in a long time.
It was Dai Mubai.
He didn't look at Xiao Qing. He focused on loosening his joints, then drew a deep breath, stepped forward, and entered the track, beginning the true cultivation he had abandoned for so long.
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