The Battle Was Postponed, and the Other Side Turned Hostile?

"What do you mean, the opponents are still recovering?"

After checking how well the students had recovered, Di Ao paid him a visit.

"Uh, a teacher from Shrek Academy said the students still needed time to recuperate, so they applied to postpone the match."

Di Ao was helpless. He'd set aside a lot of resources for this match.

The previous day's matches had gone over well, and even after raising the ticket prices twice today, they'd still sold out in no time.

Then Shrek had pulled a huge stunt on them. Anyone would be upset.

"Then just follow your rules."

Chen An looked a little regretful. If the match had gone ahead today, dealing the other side blow after blow would've been ideal.

But it was what it was. What could he say? Nothing. He couldn't be bothered to care.

"No, no, sir, that's not what I meant." Seeing that Chen An had misunderstood, Di Ao hurriedly explained.

"We'd also like to postpone the match. I wanted to ask if you'd agree."

He was looking at it from a business perspective. The match between Phantom Star and Shrek had already become a marquee event. If it was canceled, all the resources they'd invested beforehand would go to waste.

As he spoke, he took several boxes out of his soul tool. Their lids were half-open, revealing Gold Soul Coins inside.

"This is the arena's compensation for you. What do you think?"

Chen An thought it over, then said he agreed.

He also stressed that they'd still compete as usual that evening.

Di Ao left the hotel beaming, unable to keep the grin off his face.

Looking at the Gold Soul Coins in the room, Chen An shook his head. It seemed the arena had earned just enough from this match to pay him back.

They'd only wanted to make a name for themselves and drum up publicity.

Seen that way, Di Ao really was a talent.

"Postponed? Were they really that badly hurt?"

At Shrek Academy, Dai Mubai and Tang San were the worst off, with Oscar joining them as well.

Ma Hongjun and Xiao Wu had suffered the lightest injuries.

"Xiaogang, you need to pull yourself together. If even you're feeling down, how can the students keep their spirits up?" Flender urged.

He looked at the students and his brother, feeling a knot of frustration in his heart.

"Sigh."

Yu Xiaogang still didn't respond. Ma Hongjun remained his usual carefree self, while Xiao Wu silently trained harder on the field. The other three were soaking in medicinal baths.

"I've applied to postpone the team match."

Flender was disappointed in his brother once again. With a sigh, he left.

Shrek needed nearly a week to recover.

By the time Di Ao went to see Chen An again, another week had passed.

"Sir, the people from Shrek have recovered. The postponed match will be held tomorrow." Di Ao came in respectfully and reported.

Chen An froze for a moment.

He'd nearly forgotten all about it. After thinking it over, he muttered, "I thought they'd run off."

Di Ao smiled at that.

How could they run off? With him around, nobody could. He wasn't some lowly supervisor; the whole district was under his jurisdiction.

"You needn't worry, sir. They're under contract with me. They can't run."

Chen An immediately understood. No wonder Di Ao had seemed so confident.

It wasn't hard to guess that if Shrek ran, he'd have Flender arrested and thrown in prison.

After all, with the support of the three great sects behind him, he might not be able to get a grip on Phantom Star, but he could certainly take care of Shrek for breaking their contract.

"You really know how to work the political and business worlds."

Di Ao took Chen An's words as praise and nodded. "Thank you for the compliment."

After Chen An asked him a few questions, Di Ao took his leave, saying he had other business to attend to.

Now alone in the room, Chen An fell into thought.

"Did the people from Shrek really need that long to recover from their injuries?"

He suspected something else had happened. But on second thought, well, they really were a bit poor.

Back when he'd been at his poorest, he'd still had medicines and the like stocked up. He'd forgotten that Shrek really was poor.

Then he thought about how the students had been competing under restrictions these past few days. The Elite Team hadn't lost a single match, while the High-Rank Team had only lost twice.

Things had gone quite smoothly, so he'd been thinking that once Shrek was dealt with, he'd head back and teach his students himself.

The academy had three people looking after things, but he still wasn't entirely at ease. He'd heard that a batch of students were about to reach the second ring.

"I'll wait until everything here is completely settled," Chen An said with a sigh.

His thoughts kept drifting back to the academy, but then he remembered that a few days ago, the name of an Imperial Fighting Team had appeared at the arena.

There was one student on that team who interested him a lot.

If possible, he wanted to recruit him.

"I'd better focus on tomorrow night first."

Chen An gathered himself and headed out.

The day passed in the blink of an eye.

"Kids, today's opponents are old acquaintances. You can let loose a little."

Chen An gathered the seven members of the Elite Team and gave them a pep talk.

As the eldest among them, Zhu Zhuqing naturally took on the role of asking questions.

"Master, who are we facing? Shrek?"

They all had their guesses about who he meant by old acquaintances. They'd also run into other opponents these past few days, so several possibilities came to mind.

Chen An nodded. "That's right. But they'll only be fielding five people in this team match."

"That arrogant?" Ning Rongrong blurted out.

Perhaps realizing she'd put that badly, she reined in her emotions and added sheepishly, "I mean, they're only fielding five people?"

Chen An didn't mind. He simply explained, "There are only five students in their academy, so they've always taken on seven-person teams with five. They win more often than they lose."

Thinking about those five, Chen An felt both speechless and baffled.

An academy with five students, refusing to take anyone who didn't meet their standards. They called it "Shrek only accepts monsters."

They were acting as if all they had to do was accept fewer students, and their graduation rate would be one hundred percent, their excellence rate one hundred percent.

That ran counter to everything he believed in. Damn it.

"Hm? Why do they all look so dispirited?"

When he brought the kids into the preparation area, he glanced across at the other team. The atmosphere over there was oppressive.

He asked around and found that there was no discussion from the other side, nor any teacher giving them instructions.

Well, that wasn't too strange. Yu Xiaogang was terrible at adapting in the moment.

Still, there wasn't the slightest sound. That seemed a bit much.

"Forget it. We'll discuss our own strategy."

Chen An began explaining how they should handle the opposing team.

"Watch out for the vines Tang San uses. They're pretty weak, but they can still slow you down, and they're poisonous. Remember to protect yourselves with your astral energy. As for Dai Mubai, he's no threat."

Chen An went through the details.

"Yiran, stay alert for the other side's Hidden Weapon ambushes and support the others when needed. Zhuqing, you take out their support first... Forget it, just do as you see fit."

He'd planned to assign matchups, but seeing the state they were in, he shook his head and decided to let the students act freely.

Besides, they looked like they were bottling up some mischief.

"Don't worry, teacher. We've got a strategy. We'll definitely win this match."

Ever since Little Stone had talked with Chen An, he'd been doing much better.

"That's right, Master. Don't worry."

The other three echoed him.

Well, he'd let them do as they pleased. He'd just keep a close eye on them. With him there, nothing could go wrong.