Little Scumbag Was Nothing Special?

"Stop! You crazy woman! Stop right now!"

Ma Hongjun's eyes were bloodshot. The Evil Fire Phoenix possessed him, and he was about to unleash the Phoenix Fire Line.

"Your opponent is me."

A burly figure stepped in front of him.

It was Shi Mo.

"Fourth Soul Skill, Basalt Wall!"

A massive tortoiseshell shield burst from the ground, blocking the Phoenix Fire Line completely.

"Fatty, come back!"

Oscar grabbed Ma Hongjun before he could charge in again.

"We can't beat them... We have no chance..."

Oscar's voice trembled.

The Blue Silver Academy had sent out only three students, yet they had already pinned down the four of them from Shrek, leaving them unable to fight back.

The healing-type Soul Master named Ye Lingling and the other one, Shi Pan, hadn't even made a move!

How were they supposed to fight?

In the center of the Martial Arts Arena, the whipping continued.

"Crack!"

"...to win back his right to snuggle in his mother's arms."

"Crack!"

"...to win back the encouraging look his father should have given him when he took his first unsteady steps."

"Crack!"

"...to win back everything he should have had, but which you cruelly stole from him!"

The final lash landed hard across Tang San's face.

A streak of blood ran from his temple, across his cheek, and down to his jaw.

Tang San's body had gone numb.

Compared to his physical wounds, every word from Ah Yin fell like an invisible hammer, smashing his will, his understanding, his entire worldview to pieces.

In his previous life, he had been an outcast of the Tang Sect, with no family, no friends, and nothing to hold him back.

In this life, he had a father, a mother, and companions.

He had always thought this was the heavens' way of making it up to him.

He had always made finding his mother and bringing her back to life one of his most important goals.

But now, the mother he had missed most, the one he had loved and revered most, stood before him and told him in the cruelest way possible:

Everything you have is stolen.

You are a thief.

You took over another soul's body and stole his life.

"Argh—!"

Tang San let out a howl that sounded nothing like a human voice.

His eyes turned bloodred in an instant.

"Buzz—"

Eight Spider Lances burst from his back, writhing viciously.

A frenzied, bloodthirsty aura spread wildly from him.

"An External Soul Bone?"

At the edge of the arena, Chen Xuan raised an eyebrow but remained seated, unmoved.

"Die!"

Tang San's reason seemed to have been utterly destroyed.

Howling, he drove the eight Spider Lances toward Ah Yin, who stood within arm's reach. They thrust at her like sharpened spears!

The poison coating the Spider Lances was potent enough to melt steel in an instant.

Faced with his frenzied assault, Ah Yin finally showed a flicker of emotion.

It was... profound revulsion.

"Are you going to defile even this body?"

She raised her slender, jade-white hand to meet the eight vicious Spider Lances.

"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang..."

A dense string of metallic clashes rang out.

Ah Yin's palm looked soft and delicate, yet it was like the hardest divine metal.

The eight supposedly indestructible Spider Lances couldn't even pierce the skin of her palm!

A flash of instinctive horror crossed Tang San's blood-red eyes.

The next moment,

Ah Yin clenched her fingers.

"Crack! Crack!"

The sound of shattering rang out.

Those eight incredibly hard External Soul Bones... She had crushed four of them with her bare hand!

"Pfft—!"

The Soul Bones were connected to his soul. Having them forcibly destroyed inflicted wounds on Tang San far worse than any he had suffered before.

He spat out a huge mouthful of blood and crumpled to the ground, as limp as a puppet with its strings cut.

The four remaining Spider Lances drooped uselessly from his back.

The blood-red in his eyes slowly faded, replaced by endless emptiness and despair.

He had lost.

He had been utterly crushed.

His strength and his will had both been trampled into the dirt.

Ah Yin lowered her hand. Her palm was smooth as jade, without a mark.

She looked once more at Tang San, who lay on the ground like a heap of mud. The hatred in her eyes had turned into a bone-deep indifference.

She looked at him as if he were a piece of trash that had nothing to do with her.

She slowly turned away, as though even one more glance might sully her child's eyes.

"W-why...?"

Tang San summoned the last of his strength to make a faint sound.

"Tell me... why..."

He needed an answer.

An answer that would let him... give up all hope.

Ah Yin stopped.

She didn't turn around.

"Teacher will tell you the answer."

"But not now."

"Until then, all you need to do is repay your debt with your suffering."

With that, she kept walking, step by step, back to Chen Xuan's side. She stood quietly beside him, as if she weren't the same person who had just used overwhelming force to beat Tang San to a pulp.

The entire Martial Arts Arena was silent enough to hear a pin drop.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the boy lying in a pool of blood.

The Shrek group's hearts twisted in pain, but they were powerless to do anything.

The Blue Silver Academy students remained calm, as if they had expected this outcome all along.

"Cough... cough, cough..."

Tang San coughed violently, blood and foam spilling from his mouth with every breath.

His body had reached its limit.

His spirit, too, was on the verge of collapse.

He knew there was no point in continuing to fight.

This wasn't a battle. It was an execution carried out by one side alone.

With great difficulty, he used the remaining Spider Lances to prop up his upper body. His gaze passed Ah Yin and settled on the man who had remained calm and composed from beginning to end.

Chen Xuan.

He had arranged all of this.

Tang San's lips moved. Using every last bit of strength, he squeezed three words from his throat.

"I..."

"Con..."

"Cede."

As the last word left his mouth,

Tang San's mental defenses collapsed completely. His head tipped to one side, and he passed out.

"Third Brother!"

Xiao Wu screamed. With no one left to hold her back, she rushed over and gathered Tang San in her arms, tears pouring down her face.

Dai Mubai, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun hurried over as well, frantically checking Tang San's injuries.

"Individual match, first round."

Chen Xuan rose, brushing nonexistent dust from his clothes, and announced in an even voice:

"Blue Silver Academy wins."

"No... Third Brother!"

Xiao Wu held Tang San as tears blurred her vision. She could feel his faint breathing against her, along with the crisscrossing, horrifying wounds covering his body.

Oscar hurriedly rummaged through his Soul Tool and pulled out a Recovery Big Sausage.

"Xiao Wu, quick! Give it to Little San!"

Even his voice was trembling.

Everything that had happened that day had completely overturned his understanding of the world of Soul Masters.

With shaking hands, Xiao Wu fed the sausage into Tang San's mouth.

It melted as soon as it entered his mouth. A gentle warmth spread through Tang San's limbs, and the terrifying lash marks on his back began to heal before their eyes.

Yet everyone knew that what had truly broken Tang San wasn't his physical pain.