Challenge

"Truly loving someone meant you wouldn't treat her like a wager," Feng Piaoling said, shaking his head.

By then, quite a few new students who had passed the entrance examination had already arrived.

Among them were Jiang Nannan's companions, as well as God King Tang's daughter, who was disguised as a boy and came in three equal parts.

At those words, all the women present lit up and began pointing at Xu Sanshi.

Under the pressure of public opinion, Xu Sanshi found himself caught between a rock and a hard place. He looked at Feng Piaoling and asked, "Then what do you want?"

"It's simple. If you lose, you'll pay up with the Mysterious Water Pill and one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. On top of that, you'll give me an extra Mysterious Water Pill."

Feng Piaoling spoke with an air of unconcern.

"Why don't you just rob me?" Xu Sanshi immediately flew into a rage.

"Don't rush. Hear me out first," Feng Piaoling said. "If I lose, I'll drop out and leave Shrek Academy. Would that satisfy you?"

Drop out? Xu Sanshi's eyes lit up. That seemed like an even better wager than the one from before, which was that Feng Piaoling wouldn't pester Jiang Nannan.

He asked suspiciously, "Are you sure?"

"A gentleman's word is his bond." Feng Piaoling had already taken Mysterious Water Pills before.

As the Crown Prince of the Sun Moon Empire and its de facto ruler, Xu Tianran was immensely wealthy and had connections everywhere.

Getting two Mysterious Water Pills from the black market to cleanse and strengthen Feng Piaoling's body would be no difficult task.

His true purpose was, first, to test the Soul Skill he had just acquired.

This turtle bastard with his Tortoise Martial Soul was the perfect target to try it out on.

And secondly—

He wanted to keep these two Mysterious Water Pills out of Huo Yuhao's hands.

Whether or not Huo Yuhao had fallen out with Bei Bei and Tang Ya, Feng Piaoling was going to take the Mysterious Water Pills from Xu Sanshi and put a stop to Huo Yuhao's chance to keep cheating his way ahead.

After the first pill, his Soul Power rose from level 11 to the peak of level 12, his cultivation speed increased fourfold, and his Purple Demon Eye broke through to the Micro Realm. After the second pill, his Soul Power reached the peak of level 13, his cultivation speed increased sevenfold, and the impurities in his body were further purged.

Yeah, keep dreaming.

"Tomorrow evening, we'll meet at the Soul Fighting Arena," Xu Sanshi said. Naturally, he had no idea what Feng Piaoling was thinking. Wearing what he thought was the look of a man fighting for love, he formally challenged Feng Piaoling.

"See you there." Feng Piaoling casually raised a hand, then turned and continued toward Shrek Academy's new student teaching building.

Seeing how utterly unconcerned Feng Piaoling seemed, Xu Sanshi grew even angrier.

But he didn't believe he would lose.

He had broken through to Soul Elder several years ago. At most, it would take another year or two for him to advance to Soul Ancestor.

Feng Piaoling, on the other hand, no matter how impressive he was, had only just entered the Soul Elder realm.

Even if Feng Piaoling's Soul Ring Configuration surpassed his own, Xu Sanshi was still certain he would win this Soul Fighting match.

With the two of them agreeing to fight, the crowd erupted.

Xu Sanshi, a fifth-year student known throughout the Outer Courtyard for having the strongest defensive Martial Soul, would face Feng Piaoling, whose thousand-year second Spirit Ring and Soul Elder cultivation had earned him a growing reputation as the top new student.

The wager was two Mysterious Water Pills, one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, and expulsion.

And it was all for Jiang Nannan, the Outer Courtyard's number-one beauty.

This was such an explosive Soul Fighting match that it could be called the first of its kind in Shrek's history.

The news spread like a plague. It wouldn't be long before it swept through the entire academy.

When that happened, it would surely shake the whole Outer Courtyard.

Even students from the Inner Courtyard might come to watch.

Feng Piaoling, for his part, couldn't have cared less.

He simply continued on toward Shrek's white new student teaching building.

Shrek's teaching buildings stood behind the square with its towering statue, backed by an enormous lake called Sea God Lake.

The white new student teaching building was among them, at the southernmost end near a lakeside path.

Feng Piaoling followed the crowd across Shrek Square and entered the new student teaching building.

Shrek had admitted more than a thousand new students this year.

Because of the challenge between Xu Sanshi and Feng Piaoling, many people had stopped to watch.

As a result, the registration desk was packed by the time Feng Piaoling reached the white new student teaching building.

Feng Piaoling wasn't in a hurry.

As he waited in line, he observed the room discreetly.

This undercover mission hadn't been a whim on Feng Piaoling's part.

When he returned from hunting for a Spirit Ring at the age of eight, he had already told Xu Tianran about Xu He.

Xu Tianran had immediately set an undercover agent inside Shrek Academy to investigate.

Three years passed without a single lead.

Only then had Feng Piaoling volunteered for the mission while out hunting for his third Spirit Ring.

Before coming here, Feng Piaoling had naturally seen the undercover agent's portrait.

He soon spotted the undercover teacher at the registration desk.

He had a goatee, a hooked nose, and a monocle. His face was shrouded in gloom.

Seeing him in person left Feng Piaoling speechless. He'd already had his suspicions from the portrait, but this appearance was so outlandish that he might as well have had the words "villain" written across his face.

At that moment, the man was registering a black-haired girl with an extremely curvaceous figure.

Feng Piaoling paid the black-haired girl no mind, but a boy standing behind her caught his attention.

He was a sturdy young man who looked arrogant to the core, his long golden hair parted in the middle and falling over either side of his head.

He wore the distinctive noble attire of the White Tiger Duke Mansion.

Perhaps sensing someone watching him, the arrogant young man turned around. His handsome face was cold, and his eyes were a deep blue.

Is that Dai Huabin, Huo Yuhao's half-brother on his father's side? Feng Piaoling guessed his identity at once.

When Dai Huabin saw that Feng Piaoling was watching him, he immediately shot him a provocative look.

He had entered Shrek as a specially admitted student. With the strength of his White Tiger Martial Soul and his Soul Elder cultivation, he had expected to become the undisputed top new student.

He hadn't expected Feng Piaoling to come out of nowhere—a man with a thousand-year second Spirit Ring and Soul Elder cultivation, who had even dared to accept a challenge from the fifth-year Xu Sanshi.

Feng Piaoling had completely stolen his thunder.

It left him thoroughly displeased.

So this second-generation rich kid is as narrow-minded as ever. Still, I might be able to use him... Feng Piaoling remained outwardly impassive, but he quickly came up with a plan.

He glanced at Dai Huabin, then at the girl in three equal parts waiting in line a short distance behind him.

He sank his awareness into his Spirit Sea and looked at the gray-green bead that was Electrolux. "Senior, could I ask you to do me a favor?"

"Yes." The gray bead revealed a human figure. It was still blurry, but far more stable than before, when he had seemed on the verge of vanishing.

It seemed the Heaven-Reaching Demon Eye really was helping Electrolux recover.

Feng Piaoling's lips curled upward. "Please send a telepathic message to the one with the hooked nose. I'll say a line, and you relay it to him. Make sure no one notices."

"Very well." Electrolux didn't know what Feng Piaoling was planning, but since they had already reached an agreement, he didn't mind helping him.