The Four Who Were Very Unhappy

It was late at night. Most of the lights in the dormitory building at Shrek Academy had gone out.

Only the four-person dormitory, piled high with clutter, still held a faint light.

More precisely, it wasn't a lamp. It was the faint Heavenly Flame in Xiao Yan's palm.

Han Li sat cross-legged on the bed that was missing a leg, using a brick to prop it up and keep it somewhat level.

His eyes were closed, his breathing even, as spiritual power circulated through his body along a mysterious path.

He tentatively absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in this realm and discovered that it was utterly different from the spiritual energy of the Cultivation Realm: more mixed, heavier, and much harder to refine.

But the Heavenly Bottle still worked.

Inside his sleeve, the little emerald-green bottle slowly absorbed the moon's radiance, transforming it into energy similar to this realm's Soul Power before feeding it back to Han Li.

Its efficiency was less than a tenth of what it had been in the Cultivation Realm, but it was still several times faster than the cultivation speed of other Soul Masters.

There was a chance. No need to panic.

Han Li silently weighed things in his mind.

Though the rules of this realm were different, the essence of cultivation was the same: absorb the energy of heaven and earth, temper oneself, and break through one's limits. As long as he found a suitable method, returning to his peak was only a matter of time.

He kept his face expressionless, but the slight curl at the corner of his mouth betrayed how he really felt.

Xiao Yan wasn't nearly so calm.

He sat cross-legged on the floor. It wasn't that he didn't want to sit on a bed; it was that of the three beds, only Han Li's was even remotely usable. The plank on Shi Hao's bed was cracked, Wang Lin's had no blanket, and an unknown Soul Beast was sprawled on top of it, snoring away.

None of the four tried to shoo the Soul Beast away, because none of them wanted to touch the filthy thing.

A faint flame kindled in Xiao Yan's palm, its azure light illuminating half his face.

The Heavenly Flame was still there, but it was as weak as a newborn baby. It couldn't even cook a chicken.

He tried to absorb the Soul Power of this realm and convert it into Dou Qi, but the efficiency was appallingly low. After cultivating for an hour, he hadn't gained enough Dou Qi to use even one Eight Extremities Collapse.

"Damn it."

Xiao Yan slammed a fist into the ground, punching a small hole in it.

He irritably ruffled his hair and muttered, "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river... sooner or later, I'll turn this crappy realm upside down."

Shi Hao wasn't cultivating. He was training his body.

More precisely, he was doing handstand push-ups.

"Arbitrary Eternity... eighty-nine... Arbitrary Eternity... ninety... Arbitrary Eternity... ninety-one..."

With every push-up, he shouted "Arbitrary Eternity" in a voice just loud enough for the other three in the dormitory to hear.

Xiao Yan endured it ten times, then finally snapped on the ninety-ninth. "Could you shut up?"

Shi Hao turned his upside-down head toward him, innocence written all over his inverted face. "I'm cultivating. Why should I shut up?"

"You call that cultivation?"

"This is body cultivation. Arbitrary Eternity, a sacred body, one punch to break ten thousand laws." Shi Hao spoke with absolute seriousness, as if this were some peerless technique.

Xiao Yan's mouth twitched. "You're just exercising!"

Shi Hao thought it over earnestly, then nodded. "Right. Exercising is cultivation, too."

Xiao Yan was left speechless, because he couldn't even argue with that.

Wang Lin hadn't said a word.

He leaned against the wall with his eyes closed, as if he were asleep.

But his fingers moved faintly inside his sleeve, the Heavenly Inverse Bead turning slowly at his fingertips.

Gray light emanated from the bead, blending into the surrounding air before returning to the space between his brows.

He was sensing the laws of causality in this realm.

Unlike the Cultivation Realm, the causal threads here were looser and less stable, but that also made them easier to manipulate.

Though the Heavenly Inverse Bead was suppressed, he could still use it, barely.

If he could find the right causal nodes, he might even be able to perform a few low-level causal arts in this realm.

A strange smile curled Wang Lin's lips.

Then he opened his eyes, his gray-white pupils gleaming faintly in the gloom.

He glanced at Han Li. The man was pretending to sleep; his spiritual fluctuations were steady, and his cultivation speed wasn't bad.

Then he looked at Xiao Yan. Irritable, but with a decent foundation. That flame had potential.

Finally, he looked at Shi Hao. A madman, but purely mad. That kind of person was the hardest to deal with.

Wang Lin looked away and closed his eyes again.

Four people, four methods of cultivation. They neither interfered with nor paid any attention to one another.

And so the night passed.

The next morning, sunlight streamed into the dining hall.

Shrek Academy's dining hall wasn't large. With a few long tables and a few dozen seats, it was usually crowded enough already. Today it was even more packed, because there were four extra people.

Han Li held his tray and quietly joined the line for food.

He deliberately chose an inconspicuous spot and kept his head down, trying to appear as plain and ordinary as possible.

But the title of "Heaven-Sent Brawny Man" had already spread through the academy. No matter how low-key he tried to be, he couldn't escape the curious, judgmental stares.

Whispers came from behind him.

"Look at that guy. He's the one who fell from the sky yesterday."

"Which one?"

"That one, the one who looks... distinctive."

"Oh, him. He's so ugly."

"Exactly. Someone who looks like that is cultivating Soul Power? What a waste of resources."

"I heard he's a one-ring loser, too. Ugly people sure know how to make a scene."

Han Li's ears twitched. He heard every word clearly.

He didn't turn around or argue, and his expression didn't change in the slightest.

Only the corner of his mouth twitched faintly.

Inwardly, he thought, Noted. Window Three: two in blue, one in yellow. If this realm has rules about paying back debts, these people will repay theirs sooner or later.

He collected his food without changing expression, carried his tray to a corner, and sat down to eat in silence.

In the distance, Xiao Yan wasn't nearly so composed.

He stood at the serving counter, exchanging looks with the cafeteria lady.

"I want meat."

"We only have vegetables."

"I want meat."

"We only have vegetables."

"Thirty years east of the river..." Xiao Yan nearly shouted out the classic line on reflex, then realized something was wrong and forced the words back down. His face turned red from holding them in.

A student behind him laughed. "I heard you were going to yell something about thirty years east of the river? Hahaha, that's hilarious, you weakling!"

Xiao Yan's face darkened. He turned around and stared at the student.

"What did you call me?"

"Weakling." The student grinned, completely unaware of the danger. "What about it? You're a one-ring loser. What else would you be?"

Xiao Yan's right arm began to glow.

The patterns of the Heavenly Flame rippled beneath his skin, and azure fire burst from his palm, scorching straight toward the student's eyebrows.

"Ah!" The student screamed. His eyebrows were instantly burned off, and one side of his face was blackened with soot.

The dining hall erupted into chaos. Ning Rongrong reacted fastest, releasing her Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda Martial Soul. With a water-attribute boost, she precisely splashed a bowl of cold water onto the student's face and put out the fire.

Xiao Yan was still standing there, fury unabated. He roared, "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river! Don't bully a young man just because he's poor!"

The instant the words left his mouth, Zhao Wuji appeared from who-knew-where and smacked Xiao Yan to the ground with one slap.

"Making trouble in my dining hall? You're asking for a beating!"

Xiao Yan was left seeing stars, but even sprawled on the ground, he still muttered, "Thirty years..."

Zhao Wuji kicked him again. "Not even in thirty years!"

Nearby, Shi Hao punched through the wall of the dining hall.

The reason was simple: his steamed bun was too hard, and he got angry.

"What kind of bun is this? It could kill someone!" Shi Hao punched the wall. Bricks and stones flew everywhere, leaving a gaping hole in the dining hall's north wall.

Zhu Zhuqing appeared behind him like a ghost and kicked him.

"Nutcase!"

Shi Hao was sent flying through the dining hall's south wall. With a clear passage from north to south, the hall suddenly had much better ventilation.

Ma Hongjun cried out, "Well, now our dining hall's open-air!"

Flender saw what had happened from a distance and clutched his chest. "My wall... More money down the drain..."

Things were even stranger over by Wang Lin.

As he queued for food, an upperclassman patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, beauty, you're up early for breakfast. How about we get to know each other?"

Wang Lin slowly turned his head and stared at the other student with his gray-white eyes.

Only then did the student get a good look: the Adam's apple, the flat chest, and... though his face was so delicate it hardly seemed like a man's, he was, without a doubt, a man.

"Sorry, bro, I mistook you..." The student gave an awkward grin and tried to flee.

A dangerous smile curled Wang Lin's lips.

"I shall wipe out your entire clan."

The Heavenly Inverse Bead flashed faintly inside his sleeve. The student suddenly felt his legs go weak and crumpled to the ground, his face deathly pale, as if he had just lived through something terrifying.

Dai Mubai rushed over and quickly stepped between Wang Lin and the student. "Don't get worked up, don't get worked up."

Wang Lin gave Dai Mubai a cold look. "I'm not worked up. I'm merely stating a fact."

Dai Mubai: "...You call that not being worked up?"

Wang Lin turned and walked away with his tray.

The student left collapsed on the ground, muttering, "I'll never run my mouth again..."

That evening, in the dormitory.

The four of them lay on their respective beds. More precisely, Han Li lay down, Xiao Yan sat up, Shi Hao stood on his head, and Wang Lin leaned against the wall.

Silence stretched on for a long while.

Han Li was the first to speak, his tone as flat as if he were commenting on the weather.

"Who got insulted today?"

Xiao Yan said, "Me."

Shi Hao said, "I got insulted, too."

Wang Lin said, "This venerable one was insulted as well."

Han Li paused. "...So did I."

Three more seconds of silence passed.

Xiao Yan suddenly spoke, confusion and anger in his voice. "Why? Back in the Great Thousand World, who didn't call me the Flame Emperor? And now, in this lousy place, they call me a weakling?"

Shi Hao tilted his head. "I don't know, but they called me a nutcase. What does 'nutcase' mean?"

Wang Lin snorted. "Ants who can't recognize a mountain when they see one."

Han Li said nothing, but his hand unconsciously traced something on his pillow. If anyone had looked closely, they would have seen row after row of names and numbers.

"Forget it." Han Li closed his eyes. "Go to sleep."

The four of them rolled over, each facing the wall.

Xiao Yan ground his teeth at the wall until they nearly shattered.

Shi Hao continued doing push-ups toward the wall, silently mouthing "Arbitrary Eternity."

Wang Lin leaned against the wall with his eyes closed, idly turning the Heavenly Inverse Bead at his fingertips.

Han Li faced the wall and opened his eyes.

Beneath his pillow lay a small notebook.

It was densely covered in writing: names, identifying features, what they had said, and when and where they had said it.

Three more lines had been added today.

Window Three: two in blue, one in yellow.

"Ugly freak," "waste of resources," "ugly people sure know how to make a scene."

Han Li's lips curled faintly. He closed the notebook and slipped it back beneath his pillow.

Just you wait.

He couldn't kill people indiscriminately in this realm, but... he could make them wish they were dead.

He closed his eyes, but the smile at the corner of his mouth lingered for a long time.

That night, each of the four had their own plans.

But they all shared one thing.

They were all nursing a burning anger.

And sooner or later, that anger would catch fire.