You had to admit, those with a solid foundation picked up martial arts with remarkable ease.
Little Li Mother Flying Dagger—no, that was wrong. Little Li Flying Dagger. After Chen An took her through it a few times, Meng Yiran had already grasped the basics.
After explaining the Heavenly Profound Scripture, he left.
"Junior Sister, you're back! How was it? What amazing cultivation technique did Master get for you?"
At Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing's insistence, Meng Yiran's dormitory assignment had been changed to their room.
Meng Yiran had wondered whether three women together would make for a dramatic show, and whether her two senior sisters would gang up on her.
But when she returned to the dormitory—well, she'd been wrong.
"Some techniques for using Hidden Weapons."
At first, she'd thought they'd be just like everyone else outside, hiding everything from one another. But then the two girls told Meng Yiran about their circumstances.
And then, in return, she told them a little about hers, too.
Just enough to give them the gist.
"Why are you willing to tell me all that? Aren't you afraid I might be a bad person?"
Ning Rongrong looked at Meng Yiran, thinking her junior sister seemed a little silly. Then she explained,
"Master has a way to tell. Since you passed his test, of course we trust you."
Meng Yiran didn't understand yet. She didn't get it, but she respected their decision. The three girls chatted for a while, then went to the dining hall together for a meal. Finally, they paid a visit to a certain lonely man.
"Why hasn't a single male disciple come to study under Master? Sigh."
Luo Xiaoshi sighed. He still had the dormitory to himself, even now. He was also responsible for teaching the students the Five-Tiger Eight-Trigram Staff, which made the other students even less likely to approach him.
"Maybe your destined student just hasn't come along yet. Give it some more time, Senior Brother."
Luo Xiaoshi was troubled, but he changed the subject so he wouldn't bring down his senior and junior sisters' spirits.
"Have you decided how to split into teams?"
He meant the Great Soul Arena. Ning Rongrong and Meng Yiran exchanged a glance, then both looked at Zhu Zhuqing. Under their gaze, Zhu Zhuqing didn't hesitate.
"Yiran and I talked about it. For now, we've decided you and Rongrong will be one team, and Yiran and I will be the other."
Zhu Zhuqing suggested dividing the teams according to level. She and Meng Yiran were both Soul Elders, while Luo Xiaoshi was level 24 and Ning Rongrong was now level 26, so their levels were close, too.
After hearing the proposal, Luo Xiaoshi understood what Zhu Zhuqing meant.
"I have no objections."
There was another interesting point about this arrangement: the two strongest fighters among them would each lead a slightly weaker teammate, which made for a reasonable balance of strength.
Though Meng Yiran was now a Soul Elder, she wouldn't stand much chance against Luo Xiaoshi going all out. After all, he'd started a year earlier, and he had stronger skills at his disposal.
"What about the seven-person team?"
"Let's find three defense-type students. We have enough offense already. I happen to know three students who've mastered the basics of Golden Body."
"Good."
After settling the matter, the four went off to train. This was a rather delicate time. Aside from preparing for the matches, Luo Xiaoshi was single-mindedly focused on getting stronger. His level was now close to Ning Rongrong's, which made her work even harder, too. Zhu Zhuqing carried on as usual, while Meng Yiran was still excited about her new technique.
The students were working hard, and Chen An was no slacker either.
At that moment, he was on his way to Suotuo City to meet the Great Soul Arena's manager. His students were going to compete there, so he needed to make arrangements as well.
When he arrived in Suotuo City, he got in without the slightest trouble. Chen An was puzzled. Why were they so respectful when they saw him?
He'd concealed his presence, and by sheer chance, had picked up a tiny bit of concealment skill without even realizing it. So at that moment, he passed for an ordinary citizen. He didn't drop his disguise until he reached the Great Soul Arena.
A tall, burly man came down to meet him. He looked quite young, no more than thirty. A middle-aged man in his forties followed behind him.
Such a pair wasn't unusual. But to see them here, meeting him at a time like this, meant they were in a superior-subordinate relationship.
"Dean Chen, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Di Ao, the manager for this district. This is Ao Tian, the manager of the Soto Great Soul Arena."
Chen An was confused. He didn't know either of the two men, though Manager Ao seemed a little familiar. After all, he was a character mentioned in the original story.
But this was their first time meeting. Was he really that famous?
"Have we met before?"
Di Ao looked like a rich young master, but he was certainly professional. From the moment he arrived, he'd maintained a professional smile.
And his professional smile didn't look fake, either. That was a rare talent.
"Dean Chen, you flatter me. This is our first time meeting, but everyone in Suotuo City knows you. In fact, the important officials throughout our district—that is, in the several cities nearby—all know who you are."
That explained it. It must have been because he'd beaten up Flender back then.
Then the Heaven Dou Imperial Family must have suppressed the news. Otherwise, surely more people would have heard of him.
"Sir, I imagine you came here to discuss something. Please, come with me."
As he spoke, Di Ao led Chen An to a large, luxurious yet dignified room, like a hotel attendant showing a guest the way.
Chen An looked over the decor. This was the VIP reception room of Suotuo City.
It was probably used to entertain high-ranking officials and distinguished guests, and wasn't open to the public on ordinary days.
"May I ask what brings you here, sir? I'll be glad to help in any way I can."
Di Ao kept his position humble, not acting like a district manager at all.
The truth was, he wasn't very strong. In front of Chen An, he was an ant. Besides, his youth made it all the more impressive that he'd risen to this position.
"I have a few students who want to compete at your Great Soul Arena."
"That would be our honor. I'll make sure they receive fair competition."
"Good. Would you be interested in working together more closely?"
From Di Ao's introduction, Chen An had learned what position he held.
He figured the man had the authority to make certain decisions. Since Chen An didn't feel like making things more complicated, he decided to discuss it with him directly.
Chen An spoke about publicity, branding, and the competition formats for the fighters.
In the end, one of the heads of the Seven Great Sects Alliance was brought into the discussion. They essentially adapted the ideas behind esports and sports competitions from his previous life for the Soul Fighting Arena.
After they finished talking, Chen An left feeling satisfied. This trip had earned him a seven-percent stake in the Soto Great Soul Arena.
It was all because the head hadn't been sure what to do and had asked his superiors. When the people from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect heard about it, they strongly endorsed the proposal and suggested using a stake to win Chen An over.
At this point, there was no reason to refuse.
"The Great Soul Arena's been closed for the past few days. Wonder what all the fuss is about."
Passersby found it strange that the Great Soul Arena had shut down. After all, something like this was incredibly rare to them.
"Third Brother, what do you think? They're closed again today. They've only changed the sign—Suotuo Arena? Did they change the name?"
Tang San was among the crowd, accompanied by Ma Hongjun.
"Forget it. I'll go ask Teacher."
He meant Yu Xiaogang. For some reason, the man had changed his original plan.
Their three months of closed-door training had now been changed to a combination of training and actual combat.
High-intensity training from the first day to the fifth, matches on the sixth and seventh. Even pigs weren't worked this hard.
Now that the arena had closed for renovations, it had gotten in the way of their training.
Tang San calmly reported the situation. The answer was to keep training, so the Shrek Five Monsters could only grimace and bury themselves in their exercises again.
Meanwhile, at Phantom Star Academy,
a great battle was underway. One after another, they fought until their faces were flushed red.
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