Meet the Principal

"I thought he was just a peacemaker, but he's actually stepping up for us. Go, Feng Xinglie!"

Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong, watching the commotion from the side, widened their eyes in surprise.

Ma Hongjun, already annoyed, saw someone else stirring up trouble. Provoked by Ning Rongrong, who seemed to enjoy the chaos, his whole body ignited with fierce flames as he cursed:

"I'm already annoyed, are you looking for death?"

Feng Xinglie spread his hands and chuckled, "Yes, I'm a petty person. If my friends are disrespected, I must help them get their dignity back."

"Then die! First Soul Skill: Phoenix Fireline!"

Ma Hongjun roared, spitting a concentrated, unscattered purple flame from his mouth straight at Feng Xinglie's face. What followed was a bizarre sight: Feng Xinglie's upper body vanished. His legs remained rooted to the spot, but his upper body disappeared as abruptly as if erased by an eraser, causing Ma Hongjun's Phoenix Fireline to hit empty air. Just as everyone blinked, thinking they were hallucinating, the vanished upper body reappeared. Only Zhu Zhuqing's pupils contracted. She had seen Feng Xinglie use this move when facing pursuers from the Zhu family, dismissing it as a hallucination due to fatigue. But now...

"Did... did I see that wrong?"

Xiao Wu covered her mouth in surprise.

Only Tang San, aided by his Purple Demon Eye, could barely make out Feng Xinglie's movements. It was a visual distortion caused by extremely rapid evasion, where his upper body moved at a speed imperceptible to the eye while his lower body remained stationary.

"What kind of martial art is this?"

Tang San was immensely shocked, wondering in his heart if his own mastery, Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, could achieve such an effect.

The battlefield changed in an instant, and Feng Xinglie seized the momentary lapse. He surged forward, hugging the Phoenix Fireline, and reached Ma Hongjun. From below, he lifted his hand, cupped Ma Hongjun's chin, and tilted it upwards. This not only closed Ma Hongjun's mouth, cutting off his soul skill, but also propelled his bulky body into the air. Feng Xinglie then grabbed one leg and slammed him onto the ground like a towel.

The onlookers felt as if they saw Ma Hongjun's round body flatten into a pancake upon impact with the ground.

"Fatty! What are you guys doing?"

After Ma Hongjun was instantly defeated, Dai Mubai's shout came from not far away. Everyone looked over and saw the young master Dai jogging over with a worried expression, helping the dazed Ma Hongjun up from the ground. "What happened? Why did you start fighting?"

Before Feng Xinglie could speak, Ning Rongrong interjected, "What else? This guy was acting like a hooligan on the street, his eyes were practically devouring the three of us girls. Luckily, Lie stepped up to teach him a lesson."

Hearing this, Dai Mubai sighed and tapped Ma Hongjun's head. "You fatty, do you even know how many soul masters are in this small village? You have the nerve to try and take all three new junior sisters as soon as you meet them. You've got guts, kid."

Ma Hongjun, having recovered slightly, clutched his aching head and said aggrievedly, "But Brother Dai, you know about my issue with the evil fire. Cuihua just broke up with me, so it's normal I couldn't control it, right? You also go to the pleasure houses often, and you even took in two twins..."

"Shut up!"

Dai Mubai's face changed, and he quickly interrupted. He secretly glanced at Zhu Zhuqing, saw her cold, disgusted expression, and heard her snort before she turned away. A nameless rage surged within him. Unaware of this, Ma Hongjun continued, "Alright, alright, I won't mention it. But the junior this year is too ruthless! He beat me so hard my bones are about to fall apart. Brother Dai, you have to stand up for me!"

"I'll stand up for you? Then who will stand up for me! If you have the ability, fight back yourself, don't bother me!"

Dai Mubai shoved Ma Hongjun aside, shouting irritably. He had long been displeased with Feng Xinglie, but setting aside his significantly higher soul power level and soul ring configuration, just the fact that he alone confronted Zhao Wuji yesterday was not something a mere Soul Elder like himself could challenge. He wanted to teach him a lesson out of spite, but he didn't want to die.

"Sigh, fine..."

Seeing that his backer wasn't going to step in, Ma Hongjun sighed and got up from the ground. "I need to go to the pleasure house to deal with this evil fire. Brother Dai, you're really not coming with your brother this time?"

"Scram! When did I ever go to a place like that?"

Dai Mubai kicked Ma Hongjun's backside, then nervously glanced at Zhu Zhuqing. Seeing that she wasn't looking his way at all, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright, let's not talk about unpleasant things. Weren't we out for a meal? Dai Mubai should be familiar with the village. I said I'd treat, so let's eat quickly, we still have class to get back to."

Seeing Ning Rongrong step in to smooth things over, Dai Mubai also took the opportunity to de-escalate. "Yes, I'm certainly familiar with this place. Leave the leading to me. Also, what Rongrong said is right, we must hurry back after eating. The Dean hates late students the most."

A short while later, after a simple farmhouse meal, they returned to Shrek Academy. They saw Ma Hongjun and a bespectacled person standing on the training ground; it was Flender.

"Dean, we're back."

Hearing this, Flender nodded at Dai Mubai, then his gaze swept over the newly enrolled students, lingering particularly on Feng Xinglie and Zhu Zhuqing.

"Good, five more little monsters this year. Two of them I've already had dealings with. Later, all of you go see Teacher Li to pay one hundred Gold Soul Coins in tuition. As for Lie..."

Clearly, Li Yusong had already told him about the tuition waiver, but how could the greedy Flender watch so much money slip through his fingers, especially when this kid had used the patrol team to swindle him out of a crystal.

At this moment, Feng Xinglie saw two parts reluctance for a genius, three parts desire for money, one part inner struggle, and four parts annoyance at being tricked in Flender's eyes.

Does his eyes have a pie chart? Feng Xinglie thought.

"Since Teacher Li has already agreed to waive your tuition, Lie, you don't need to go."

In the end, he couldn't bear to let go of this little monster who dared to confront a Soul Sage. After all, it had been agreed that he could leave anytime he wished. Moreover, only by keeping him could he be slowly trained and squeezed for profit. With a few sinister chuckles, Flender said sternly, "Dai Mubai, find an opportunity to tell them the academy rules. Except for Oscar and Ning Rongrong, everyone else go rest and adjust yourselves to the best state. As for you two support-type soul masters, you must learn to protect yourselves in battle. So the first lesson you must learn is physical training. From now on, run twenty laps around the entire village. If you're not back before lunch, you won't get lunch."

After speaking, he pointed at Tang San. "You, come with me alone."

Feng Xinglie knew that this was because Flender recognized the Twenty-Four Bridges Moonlight Night on Tang San's waist and wanted to pass on a message to Yu Xiaogang. Feng Xinglie had no interest in this part of the plot. Seeing Ning Rongrong and Oscar already running far away, he prepared to return to his dormitory to cultivate and prepare for the soul battles that evening.