"Teacher Juggler, why are you back?"
Seeing Ye Xinglan leave with the white-haired woman, her eyes unfocused, Lan Kai finally asked in confusion.
"Because those Evil Soul Masters were nothing but small fry. Compared to them, that old woman surnamed Cai was far more dangerous. Even I hadn't expected her to go this far.
"Yet even someone as twisted as her doesn't have a Dark Ring. Now that's truly unbelievable..."
Juggler shook his head. Seeing Lan Kai's current outfit, he seemed to have something to say but stopped himself. Then, he took out an old-fashioned radio from who knew where and hoisted it onto his shoulder. The radio was playing that classic tune of Kurenai Gai's.
"Uh..."
Seeing Juggler suddenly hoist the radio, Lan Kai didn't know what to say. Should he point out that Juggler and Kurenai Gai really did share a deep bond, and that "Gai, I'm never helping you again" was the biggest lie of all?
"If even the Silver Moon Dog Donkey isn't worthy of a Dark Ring, then the only two people at Shrek Academy who might be worthy are Yun Ming and Long Yeyue.
"I think Cai Yue'er may already have a Dark Ring. It's just that she publicly considers herself a noble Shrek person, so she wouldn't use that kind of dark power lightly.
"But if she suffers enough setbacks, or runs into a crisis that destroys the faith she holds dear, she'll have no choice but to use the Dark Ring—and then find some way to justify what she's done.
"The Dark Ring is probably still in the Sea God Pavilion, or hidden in the most secret compartment of the Storage Soul Tool she carries, right?"
Trying to dispel the strange atmosphere, Lan Kai offered his theory about what Cai Yue'er might do if she possessed a Dark Ring.
"A Storage Soul Tool? Those things really are troublesome. If I could search them, this would probably be much easier."
Juggler looked displeased as he gazed in the direction the white-haired woman from Shrek Academy had gone.
The mechanism behind a Storage Soul Tool wasn't complicated, but most of the ones around these days were bound to their owners and had self-destruct functions. On top of that, the power of space on Douluo Continent was relatively fragile. If Juggler tried to force his way into someone else's Storage Soul Tool, he might destroy it and send its contents flying off to who knew where.
Otherwise, Juggler wouldn't have "overlooked" Storage Soul Tools, nor would he have found them so troublesome.
That didn't mean he was out of options, though. If he knew that someone might have a Dark Ring in their Storage Soul Tool, at least he'd have a target.
"By the way, do you think we can win that match?"
"Win? Teacher Juggler, do you have any other requirements?" Lan Kai asked again.
"Of course. If the Dark Ring is in Cai Yue'er's hands, the best way to force it out would be to hand her a humiliating defeat—one so bad that everyone supporting Shrek Academy starts yelling, 'Give us our money back!' and 'You've got no shame!'"
"What if someone starts shouting, 'Shrek is awesome!'?" Lan Kai hadn't expected Juggler to know those memes, and reflexively answered with another.
"Wouldn't that be even more humiliating?" Juggler smiled meaningfully again, then returned to the restaurant with Lan Kai, radio still slung over his shoulder.
The next day, the opening ceremony of the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition finally began.
The proceedings before the end were incredibly dull. Lan Kai was so sleepy he nearly nodded off.
Once the final draw of lots was over, the staff quickly gathered in the center of the arena and began building a raised platform for the exhibition match.
But after several days of hype, the exhibition match had taken on a very different flavor. Most of the spectators had turned into bloodthirsty onlookers, eagerly anticipating a clash thick with the smell of gunpowder.
There were not only videos released by the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition's organizers, but also plenty of privately recorded footage. Naturally, it all showed Ye Xinglan in her Shrek Academy uniform getting effortlessly schooled by Lan Kai that day.
On top of that, Lan Kai's pre-match declaration had been so brazen and overbearing that it drew out a crowd of Shrek diehards to trade heated barbs with the competition's spectators. The atmosphere leading up to the match had reached unprecedented heights.
The easygoing mood of Lan Kai and Class Zero was the complete opposite of the suffocating tension among the people from Shrek Academy.
Cai Yue'er glared furiously at the seven boys and girls in front of her, her brows knitted. Ye Xinglan, standing at the front, bore the brunt of her anger.
"Today, you must strike with overwhelming force and seriously injure—or even kill—those clueless brats. Use their blood to defend Shrek's honor. Do you hear me?!"
"Yes!" the seven boys and girls shouted in unison, though each had different thoughts in mind.
Among them, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Soul Master Yu Tianlin, who had the highest Soul Power cultivation on the surface, stole a glance at Ye Xinglan, who stood at the front, and looked down on her.
If she hadn't taken it upon herself to fight Lan Kai and been thoroughly beaten by him, they wouldn't be under nearly so much pressure now.
Besides, even if she was supposedly a genius who had already been chosen to enter the inner court, Yu Tianlin still wasn't convinced by her.
His own Martial Soul was more powerful, his cultivation was stronger, and he had even hunted a Sea Soul Beast to obtain a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring. No matter how he looked at it, he was stronger than Ye Xinglan.
If it were him, he'd use his overwhelming lightning to show those country bumpkins in Skysea City what a true powerhouse looked like!
Before long, once the platform was complete, Lan Kai and his group, along with the people from Shrek Academy, walked up onto it amid the host's announcement.
They were all wearing Eastsea Academy uniforms. They looked young, but led by Lan Kai and Gu Yue, they had managed to put away their nervous expressions. Only their slightly trembling hands and feet gave away their excitement.
They were really going to compete on the same stage as people from the legendary Shrek Academy! And in front of such a vast crowd!
As for Lan Kai and Gu Yue, they both looked calm and composed, as though this weren't the opening ceremony of the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition, watched by countless people.
That attitude infuriated the seven representing Shrek Academy—and Cai Yue'er, seated in one of the private boxes.
"Don't you dare show Shrek any disrespect!"
Yu Tianlin, who was leading the people from Shrek Academy, couldn't help shouting.
"What, do we have to kneel and kowtow when we see you before you'll consider us respectful?"
Lan Kai couldn't help laughing, but his gaze passed over the people from Shrek Academy and landed on a private box in the distance.
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