Estrangement

"Phew... It's just chatting, but it feels more tiring than fighting ten soul duels in a row..."

Wiping the fine sweat from his forehead, Feng Xinglie looked back at the closed door with lingering fear and quickly left the place of trouble.

After a full day of preparation, the next morning everyone gathered punctually at the academy gate. Even the heavily injured Dai Mubai had gotten out of his sickbed. Zhao Wuji, who was in charge of leading the team, had been waiting for a long time. Seeing that everyone had arrived, he announced:

"Let's go!"

Then, as per the original plot, the group ran towards the Star Dou Forest. With the help of Oscar's sausages, everyone maintained sufficient energy to keep going... except for Ning Rongrong. After all, she had just refused desensitization training yesterday and couldn't bring herself to ask for sausages now. Even with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's assistance, it wasn't long before Ning Rongrong's stamina gave out and she fell behind the team.

"Here, eat this."

Just as Ning Rongrong was about to collapse, Feng Xinglie suddenly handed her a small bottle. Upon opening it, she found it filled with candies.

"These were made by Teacher Shao Xin and also have the effect of restoring stamina and soul power. Don't worry, his soul curse isn't that perverted."

"Thank... thank you..."

Gasping for breath, Ning Rongrong thanked him, grabbed a few candies, and popped them into her mouth. It had to be said that although Shao Xin's spirit quality was not as good as Oscar's, the difference in soul power levels was enough to bridge that gap. Seeing Ning Rongrong quickly recover, Feng Xinglie couldn't help but sigh that his efforts to get these candies in advance were not in vain.

"Grab my hand."

A voice suddenly came from beside her. The two turned to look and saw Zhu Zhuqing had also slowed down and come near. Without a word, she took one of Ning Rongrong's hands, sharing a lot of her pressure.

"Thank you, Zhuqing!"

After another grateful thank you, the three gathered together, taking turns to help share some of the weight. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's amplification was also always focused on the three of them. At this point, Shrek Academy seemed to be divided into two halves, running silently one after the other, ignoring each other. This oppressive atmosphere lasted for a whole day until it was almost dark, when they finally arrived at a small town. Zhao Wuji casually found an ordinary hotel and said to the students:

"We'll stay here. Rest for one night and depart tomorrow morning. You'll have to cover your own accommodation and food expenses."

After saying that, he booked a single room for himself and went upstairs. The rest of them discussed and decided to get one room for the three girls, and two rooms for the five boys, considering the feud between Dai Mubai and Feng Xinglie, to keep them separated.

"Let's eat first before going up. I'm about to get sick of eating sausages all day," Ma Hongjun voiced everyone's thoughts, and even Zhu Zhuqing nodded in agreement. The seven of them found a table in a corner and sat down. Soon, Ma Hongjun, who was "the best eater," ordered a pile of food.

At this moment, eight people suddenly walked in through the door, led by a middle-aged man around forty years old. Feng Xinglie only glanced up and knew it was Ye Zhiqiou from Canghui Academy, bringing his students to hunt for soul beasts.

"That little girl is quite good-looking. Boss Dai, these guys should be from Canghui Academy, right?" Ma Hongjun's small eyes were fixed on the only girl in the group of eight. His lewd gaze made Feng Xinglie frown, cursing that this guy had been in brothels for too long, his mind filled with yellow waste. Dai Mubai, who had just been beaten, was eager to prove himself. He glanced over and said, "It's just a small Canghui Academy. What's there to brag about?"

Their conversation was not kept quiet. The people from Canghui Academy all turned their heads in unison. Seeing that Dai Mubai and the others were just a group of half-grown children, their expressions turned somewhat unpleasant. Especially after noticing the lewd gaze fixed on their female student, their faces became even more grim.

At this moment, Oscar sat beside Tang San and chuckled, "There's a good show to watch."

Tang San looked at him with some confusion, "What good show?"

Oscar whispered, "This is also part of our training. Dean Flander said that a soul master who doesn't dare to cause trouble is not a good soul master. As the saying goes, 'not daring to cause trouble is mediocrity.' Moreover, provoking people from a soul master academy is the safest; at most, it's just a fight."

Tang San couldn't help but laugh, "Your dean's sayings combined could form a monster's quote book."

Hearing this, Feng Xinglie looked up and abruptly said:

"Do you really think so?"

"What?"

Not understanding Feng Xinglie's meaning yet, Oscar asked in confusion.

"I mean, 'not daring to cause trouble is mediocrity.' Do you really think that saying is correct? If their team leader was a Soul Douluo, or even a Titled Douluo, would you still go looking for trouble?"

"This... Titled Douluo shouldn't be that easy to encounter, right?"

Clearly encountering someone who questioned Flander for the first time, Oscar became hesitant. Seeing this, Dai Mubai, who had long been at odds with Feng Xinglie, snorted and said, "Titled Douluo, my foot. If you're scared, just say you're scared. People like you are only capable of bullying those weaker than you."

Feng Xinglie glanced at Dai Mubai and didn't reply. Instead, he turned to Tang San and asked, "Xiao San, do you think so too?"

"I..."

Unexpectedly being targeted, Tang San also became hesitant. Just then, Xiao Wu, who was beside him, suddenly interjected, "Exactly, how can you easily encounter a Titled Douluo? And don't you think the saying 'not daring to cause trouble is mediocrity' is so cool? I love fighting the most. If trouble breaks out later, none of you are allowed to make a move, I'll go first!"

Seeing Xiao Wu's eager expression, Tang San also smiled, "Xiao Wu is right, that saying is very cool. And we are students of the Monster Academy, how can monsters be afraid of causing trouble? And what about Titled Douluo? If the opponent is confirmed to be an enemy, and they have a path to death, don't hold back, otherwise, you'll only add to your own troubles."

Listening to Tang San's famous quote from the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, and then looking at Xiao Wu, who was blindly spoiled and always looking for fights, the students who were regulars at brothels in their teens, the dean who misled his students with so-called monster quotes, and the teacher Yu Xiaogang who embodied incompetence, arrogance, being a scumbag, lacking responsibility, and plagiarism, Feng Xinglie felt a deep sense of powerlessness. In such an environment, receiving such twisted ideological education in both his past and present lives, how could people possibly become good?

"It seems... there's no hope of winning them over."

Feng Xinglie lowered his head and said no more.