The Rift

"Whew... We were only chatting, so why did it feel more exhausting than fighting ten Soul Fighting matches in a row..."

After wiping the fine sweat from his forehead, Feng Xinglie looked back at the now-closed door with lingering apprehension, then hurried away from this trouble spot.

After a full day of preparations, everyone gathered at the academy gates on time the next morning. Even Dai Mubai, who was badly injured, had crawled out of his sickbed. Zhao Wuji, who was leading the group, had already been waiting for some time. Seeing that everyone had arrived, he announced:

"Let's go!"

Just as in the original story, they set off on foot toward the Star Dou Forest. With Oscar's sausages to help them, everyone kept up their energy along the way... except Ning Rongrong. She had refused desensitization training the day before, so how could she bring herself to ask for a sausage now? Even with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's support, it wasn't long before Ning Rongrong ran out of strength and fell behind.

"Here, eat this."

Just as Ning Rongrong was about to give out, Feng Xinglie suddenly held out a small bottle. When she opened it, she found it full of sugar beans.

"Teacher Shao Xin made these. They can restore your stamina and Soul Power, too. Don't worry, his soul incantation isn't that lewd."

"Th...thank you..."

Panting for breath, Ning Rongrong thanked him and tossed a few sugar beans into her mouth. Admittedly, although Shao Xin's Martial Soul wasn't as good as Oscar's, the gap in their Soul Power Levels was enough to make up for the difference. Seeing Ning Rongrong quickly recover, Feng Xinglie couldn't help feeling that his efforts had paid off; he'd gone to get these sugar beans in advance for a reason.

"Take my hand."

A voice suddenly came from beside them. They turned to see that Zhu Zhuqing had slowed down and come up alongside them at some point. Without a word, she propped up one of Ning Rongrong's arms, taking a great deal of the burden off her.

"Thank you, Zhuqing!"

After thanking her again, the three gathered together and took turns helping to bear some of the weight. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's boost stayed focused on just the three of them. Shrek Academy now seemed split in two, running silently in two groups, one ahead of the other. No one spoke to anyone else. This oppressive atmosphere lasted for the entire day. Only when dusk was approaching did they finally reach a small town. Zhao Wuji picked an ordinary hotel at random, then told the students:

"We'll stay here. Rest for the night, and we'll set out at dawn tomorrow. You'll cover your own lodging and food."

After saying that, he got himself a private room and went upstairs. The others discussed it and decided to put the three girls in one room. As for the five boys, considering the grudge between Dai Mubai and Feng Xinglie, they booked two rooms so the two could stay apart.

"Let's eat before we go upstairs. I've had sausages all day; I'm about to gag." Ma Hongjun voiced what everyone was thinking. Even Zhu Zhuqing nodded in agreement. The seven of them found a table in the corner and sat down. Before long, Ma Hongjun, the "biggest eater," ordered a pile of food.

Just then, eight people walked in through the door. At their head was a middle-aged man of about forty. Feng Xinglie only had to glance up once to recognize Ye Zhiqiu of Canghui Academy, who had brought his students to hunt for soul rings.

"That little girl's pretty cute, Boss Dai. Those guys must be from Canghui Academy, right?" Ma Hongjun's beady eyes were fixed on the only girl in the group of eight. His lecherous expression made Feng Xinglie frown. He cursed inwardly that the guy had spent so long in brothels that his head was full of filthy thoughts. Dai Mubai, who had just taken a beating and was eager to restore his reputation, glanced over and said, "It's only a little place like Canghui Academy. What are they acting so cocky for?"

Neither of them had bothered to lower their voices. At their words, everyone from Canghui Academy turned to look. When they saw that Dai Mubai and the others were just a bunch of kids, their expressions darkened. They looked especially grim after noticing the filthy stare fixed on one of their female students.

Oscar was sitting beside Tang San. He chuckled softly. "Looks like we're in for a good show."

Tang San glanced at him in confusion. "What good show?"

Oscar lowered his voice. "This is part of our training, too. Dean Flender once said that a Soul Master who doesn't dare cause trouble isn't a good Soul Master. As the saying goes, those who don't dare cause trouble are good-for-nothings. Besides, picking a fight with people from a Soul Master Academy is the safest option. At most, we'll just have a brawl."

Tang San couldn't help laughing. "If you put all our dean's sayings together, you could make a whole collection of monster quotes."

At that, Feng Xinglie lifted his head and asked abruptly:

"Do you really think so?"

"What?"

Oscar asked in confusion, not understanding what Feng Xinglie meant.

"I mean, that those who don't dare cause trouble are good-for-nothings. Do you really think that's right? What if their teacher leading the group is a Soul Douluo, or even a Titled Douluo? Would you still pick a fight?"

"Um... Surely we wouldn't run into a Titled Douluo that easily, would we?"

Clearly, Oscar had never encountered anyone who questioned Flender before. He suddenly grew hesitant and halting. Seeing this, Dai Mubai, who had never gotten along with Feng Xinglie, gave a cold snort. "A Titled Douluo? If you're a coward, just say so. People like you are only good at throwing your weight around at home."

Feng Xinglie glanced at Dai Mubai without replying, then turned to Tang San and asked:

"Xiao San, do you think the same way?"

"I..."

Caught off guard when the question suddenly turned to him, Tang San grew hesitant, too. Just then, Xiao Wu cut in from the side. "Exactly! It's not like we run into Titled Douluos every day. And don't you think 'those who don't dare cause trouble are good-for-nothings' sounds so cool? I love fighting. If we get into trouble in a bit, none of you are allowed to step in. I'll lead the charge!"

Seeing Xiao Wu looking eager for a fight, Tang San smiled along with her.

"Xiao Wu's right. That saying sounds cool. And we're students of Monster Academy—why would monsters be afraid of causing trouble? So what if they're Titled Douluos? Once we know our opponent is an enemy, as long as they deserve to die, we shouldn't show mercy. Otherwise, we'll only bring trouble upon ourselves."

Listening to Tang San's famous words from the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, then looking at Xiao Wu, whom he spoiled to the skies as she went around picking fights; the student who was a regular at brothels in his teens; the dean who used those so-called monster quotes to mislead his students; and their teacher, Yu Xiaogang, a man who was incompetent, arrogant, a womanizer, irresponsible, and a plagiarist all rolled into one, Feng Xinglie felt an overwhelming helplessness well up inside him. In an environment like this, with people exposed to such twisted ideas in both their past and present lives, how could they possibly turn out well?

"Looks like there's no hope of winning them over..."

Feng Xinglie lowered his head and fell silent.