Exhibition Match (Combined Chapter)

Xu Lizhi stood there longingly, his gaze shifting back and forth between the grilled fish the three of them were eating and the Eastsea Academy uniforms they wore, clearly giving serious thought to whether he should ask for a bite.

His Adam's apple bobbed, and his round face flushed faintly from holding himself back.

Na'er suddenly spoke. "Do you want some?"

"Yes!" Xu Lizhi answered instantly, but the moment the words left his mouth, he realized it seemed inappropriate and hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no, that's not what I meant—"

Na'er could not help laughing. She pushed the remaining half of a grilled fish across the table, plate and all. "Take it. We're almost done anyway. We're all here for the Grand Tournament, so there's no need to be polite."

Xu Lizhi froze for a moment before accepting the plate, his face reddening. "Th-thank you. My name is Xu Lizhi, from Shrek Academy. Someday, I'll definitely treat you to the buns I make."

"Eastsea Academy. Na'er." Na'er pointed at herself, then at Gu Yue and Li Chen. "This is Gu Yue, and this is my... my brother, Li Chen."

Li Chen gave a slight nod in greeting, while Gu Yue gently inclined her head.

Xu Lizhi eagerly picked up a piece of fish and stuffed it into his mouth. After chewing twice, his whole face relaxed, and he let out a deeply satisfied sigh. He ate with complete dedication and focus, as though nothing in the world mattered more than the grilled fish before him.

"Xu Lizhi—"

However, that peace did not last long.

A crisp female voice exploded from the entrance of the alley, carrying barely restrained fury.

Before the voice had faded, seven or eight figures had already poured into the alley. At their head was a tall female soul master with a high ponytail, a beautiful face, and an aloof air.

Everyone behind her wore the uniforms of Shrek Academy's Core Disciples. The Shrek emblems on their chests were especially glaring beneath the dim yellow light, as though they were not simple badges, but banners representing unquestionable authority.

Their expressions were remarkably alike—a sense of superiority that seemed to seep from their bones. Their chins were slightly raised and their gazes looked down on everyone around them, as if this narrow alley, this bustling city, even the entire continent, were merely appendages of Shrek.

Xu Lizhi turned and was startled when he saw who had come. The chopsticks in his hand clattered to the ground. "Sister Xinglan, why are you here—"

"Why are we here?" Ye Xinglan sneered. She strode over, grabbed Xu Lizhi by the ear, and twisted it. "Do you know how long we've been looking for you? We searched the entire street! The exhibition match is tomorrow, yet instead of staying properly at the inn, you ran out alone to eat at some roadside stall? Are you crazy, or are we?"

"Ow, ow, ow—Sister Xinglan, lighter— I was just hungry—"

"Hungry? There's food at the inn! The pastry section is open twenty-four hours a day! You came all the way out here to eat this kind of—this kind of—what if something happens after you eat it? Don't you know you can't just eat things from outside?"

Ye Xinglan's gaze swept over the grilled fish on the table. Her lips moved twice before she released Xu Lizhi's ear. At last, her eyes fell on Li Chen's group of three, sizing them up before noticing the unfamiliar academy emblems on their chests. (In the original, Ye had this kind of bratty girl personality.)

A lanky male soul master stepped forward. His eyes swept across the three of them before lingering on Gu Yue's face. A flicker of amazement flashed through his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it. "The Skysea Alliance Grand Tournament isn't a stage for just any stray cats and dogs. I advise you to go home early. Don't embarrass yourselves onstage." (This could be understood as shifting the conflict. As captain, he could not let his teammates start fighting, so he redirected the conflict. He just had not expected they were not easy targets.)

Li Chen lifted his teacup and took a light sip, as though the group standing outside that cup did not exist at all.

Gu Yue remained as calm as ever. She did not even raise her eyelids, her slender fingers unhurriedly peeling away the remaining crisp fish skin.

Na'er's expression had already darkened, but the first thing to appear in her eyes was a trace of mockery.

It was not the anger of someone who had been offended. It was more like she had heard a group of people passionately reciting a set of long-outdated lies to thin air.

"People from Shrek Academy," Na'er said as she put down her chopsticks. Her voice was not loud, yet it carried with extraordinary clarity to everyone present. "Couldn't get any grilled fish, so you got sick from holding it in?"

Ye Xinglan stiffened.

That remark hit precisely where it hurt.

She really had been furious from searching for Xu Lizhi, and she really did look down on a roadside stall like this—but being called out face-to-face by someone from a "second-rate academy" was an entirely different matter.

She turned around to face Na'er directly, her gaze turning cold.

"What did you say?"

"I said—" Na'er stood up and leisurely brushed a speck of charcoal ash from her skirt. "Do you Shrek people think every road in the world belongs to your family? Even someone else eating at a roadside stall offends your eyes? We paid for fish to eat. Your guy came over staring longingly, so we kindly shared some with him. Then you charged in yelling and making a scene—from beginning to end, what does any of this have to do with you?"

"You—" Ye Xinglan's face turned ashen. Every word Na'er said stood on solid ground, yet she had no way to refute her.

But as someone from Shrek, she had never experienced being publicly scolded by an "outsider" like this—nor had she ever imagined she would need to defend herself.

In Shrek's dictionary, status itself was truth.

"A mere Eastsea Academy, some bottom-tier trash no one has even heard of—who gave you the nerve?" The lanky male soul master stepped forward, raising his voice. "Our Shrek Academy has stood for ten thousand years! How many Soul Sages and Soul Douluos have we produced? How many times have we defended the continent against soul beast tides? What are you supposed to be? What right do you have to speak so recklessly?"

"Here we go again." Na'er rolled her eyes, her tone openly weary. "Every time, it's the ten-thousand-year school history. Next time, why not erect a monument at the city gates and carve your founding year onto it? You have to recite your achievements even when you go out to eat? So what, you don't practice soul skills in class—you only practice memorizing school history?"

"You—"

"Oh, right, right." Na'er raised a hand to cut him off. Narrowing her eyes, she suddenly lowered her voice. It was so soft it sounded like she was speaking to herself, yet everyone heard it perfectly. "You've said 'ten-thousand-year history,' and you've mentioned 'the continent's strongest.' You haven't brought up 'champions of every Grand Tournament' yet. Hurry up and add that."

The lanky male soul master's face went red, then white—those were exactly the words he had intended to say next. Having them blocked off in advance, he could neither spit them out nor swallow them, like a goose with its neck stuck.

He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and finally managed only a completely harmless retort. "That mouth of yours is far too vicious! Who do you think you are? Eastsea Academy? More like Hide-East-and-Hide-West Academy!"

"Vicious? This is called stating facts. The difference between me and you is—" Na'er paused, extending one finger and slowly pointing at the Shrek emblem on his chest. "Everything I say is true."

"Say that again!" The lanky male soul master's eyes turned red as Soul Power erupted from him.

Four soul rings rose beneath his feet—two yellow and two purple, the standard peak Soul Ancestor configuration.

The other Shrek disciples behind him released their martial souls as well. Yellow and purple soul rings lit up one after another, and the narrow alley was instantly filled with dense Soul Power fluctuations.

"Stop—"

A guileless voice suddenly cut in. Xu Lizhi had somehow gotten back to his feet. He spread his arms between both sides, his round face flushed red. "Don't do this—it was our fault first. They even shared grilled fish with me. We can't fight—" (He was not that deranged in the original; perhaps it was because he had less screen time.)

"Xu Lizhi, move aside!" Ye Xinglan shouted sharply. "This has nothing to do with you! They insulted Shrek Academy. Shrek's honor cannot be trampled on!"

Xu Lizhi did not move.

A small piece of crispy grilled fish skin still clung to the corner of his mouth, but his expression was astonishingly serious. He slowly shook his head.

Ye Xinglan clenched her fists, her chest rising and falling violently. Her gaze moved back and forth between the few figures who had not even stood up and Xu Lizhi's back, as though a fire she could not swallow had lodged in her chest.

At that moment, Li Chen set down his teacup.

The bottom of the porcelain cup tapped against the rough clay table with a faint, crisp sound.

It was not loud, yet amid the noisy collision of Soul Power, it felt like a stone sinking into water, inexplicably weighing down everyone's hearts.

He stood up, neither quickly nor slowly. In fact, he was almost unhurried.

He adjusted his collar, tugged the dark blue ribbon around his wrist upward, then stepped forward.

Just one step.

But the instant that step landed, an invisible pressure descended.

It was not a direct release of Soul Power, but the suppressive force formed when spiritual power condensed to the extreme overwhelmed those beneath it—at the late Spirit Sea realm, his spiritual power had long surpassed what ordinary soul masters could comprehend.

When he deliberately restrained it, he could erase his presence entirely. But when he no longer did, that pressure was like a ten-thousand-ton boulder silently pressing down upon everyone's chests.

The air froze.

Ye Xinglan felt as if an invisible hand had seized her throat. The terrifying pressure made even breathing difficult, as though her blood had congealed inside her veins.

She wanted to speak, but discovered that her lips were trembling and her vocal cords seemed sealed shut, unable to produce a single sound.

The Shrek disciples behind her fared even worse. The lanky male soul master's knees buckled, and he nearly fell to the ground. The soul rings in his hand shook violently and nearly dispersed on their own.

Xu Lizhi stood between the two sides and felt the pressure too, but it was not directed at him—he merely felt the air grow heavier, with no other significant discomfort.

He stared wide-eyed at Li Chen, his eyes full of disbelief. He was only a food-system soul master, and his combat instincts were not especially sharp, but at this moment, he clearly understood—this person was far stronger than all of them.

The entire alley fell silent.

Even the clamor from the distant streets seemed to have been cut off by that invisible aura.

His gaze passed over Ye Xinglan and swept across the faces of the Shrek disciples one by one.

Everyone his eyes touched involuntarily took a step back. Some had already pressed their backs against the cold walls of the alley.

"If you want to embarrass yourselves here before the exhibition match—I don't mind helping you make it happen early."

His tone was not harsh. It could even be called polite. Yet that very calmness chilled them more deeply than any roar or threat.

Because there was no anger in Li Chen's voice, no provocation, not even a threat—only a calm, certain statement.

If he wanted to do it, he could do it.

Ye Xinglan clenched her teeth, her fingernails digging into her palms.

It was not as though she had never seen powerful people.

There were Soul Sages and Soul Douluos everywhere in Shrek Academy, and their pressure was more profound than this person's.

But every one of them was an established powerhouse who had cultivated for decades or even centuries, whereas this person—his aura was clearly still young, yet his pressure carried something she had never felt before.

It was the aura of death.

Not killing intent, not murderous energy, but an icy, profound presence somehow connected to death itself.

Her perception of Soul Power was frantically warning her. It was instinctive fear from her body, unrelated to willpower.

"The exhibition match is important," the lanky man said through gritted teeth, his voice practically squeezed through the gaps between them. "We'll settle today's matter on the field."

Even he knew, as soon as he said it, that it was merely a face-saving line.

The soul masters behind him, who had been so aggressive moments ago, looked as though they had been granted a pardon. They hurriedly retreated toward the alley entrance, desperate to escape the suffocating air of oppression. One of them backed away too fast, tripped over the stone steps at the entrance, and staggered several steps before regaining his balance.

Ye Xinglan dragged away Xu Lizhi, who still looked as though he wanted to say something, and vanished around the alley entrance without looking back.

The alley fell quiet again.

The fire in the charcoal brazier was nearly dead, with scattered sparks flickering uncertainly in the night wind.

At some point, the old stall owner had hidden himself at the deepest end of the alley, curled up in a corner. Only now did he shakily poke his head out. Seeing that the conflict had ended, he let out a long breath, patted his chest, and sighed, "Young people sure have hot tempers."

Li Chen withdrew his aura, sat back down, and picked up his teacup.

The tea had already gone cold, but he did not care. He merely held the cup and slowly turned it in his hand.

His presence had completely receded, and he returned to that unruffled appearance from before, as though everything that had just happened had been nothing more than a trivial interruption, not worth mentioning.

Only Gu Yue noticed that his fingertips had turned slightly pale—the anger had been forcibly suppressed, but it had not vanished.

Gu Yue turned to look at him, her eyes holding a hint of understanding and a tacit bond only the two of them shared.

She picked up the teapot and poured him another cup of hot tea. The movement was as natural as if she were pouring herself a drink. Steam rose from the cup, blurring her features.

Na'er sat back down on her stool, picked up the remaining grilled fish, and calmly finished it. Then she took out a handkerchief and wiped the corner of her mouth. Once she was done, she suddenly burst out laughing.

"Ten-thousand-year school history—your line was absolutely brilliant." She looked at Li Chen, her eyes sparkling.

Li Chen said nothing. He raised the fresh cup of hot tea Gu Yue had poured for him and took a sip.

Gu Yue's hand still held the teapot, and her gaze rested on Li Chen's profile. The corner of her lips curved upward almost imperceptibly.

The remaining coals in the brazier cast their last trace of red light across the tips of her silver hair. It flickered once, then dimmed as well.

Li Chen's group stayed at the stall for a while longer.

No one hurried to leave, as though the brief, intense confrontation just now had merely been an untimely gust of wind. After it passed, the peace of the moment seemed all the more precious.

Na'er dipped her chopsticks into the sauce remaining on the table and drew a crooked little dragon on the rough clay plate. After looking at it herself, she decided it did not resemble one at all and wiped it away with her finger.

"That little chubby guy was actually pretty decent." She was referring to Xu Lizhi.

"Not everyone in Shrek is crazy," Li Chen said, setting down his teacup. "It's just that if you stay in that kind of environment for too long, even normal people have a hard time staying normal."

Gu Yue nodded softly without saying anything more. She had lived too long and seen too many things like this.

Shrek Academy's ten-thousand-year glory was real. It had protected the continent through countless crises and had indeed cultivated innumerable top-tier soul masters. None of that was false.

But glory was somewhat like fine wine—proper aging made it richer, while excessive fermentation spoiled it, turning pride into arrogance and confidence into conceit.

Shrek's problem was not that it was not strong enough, but that too many people had forgotten what strength was meant to be used for.

"But honestly," Na'er said, placing her chopsticks on the plate and resting her cheek on her hand as she looked toward the alley entrance where the Shrek group had disappeared, "their excuse about the exhibition match being important came at just the right time. They ran because they couldn't win, yet still had to say, 'It's not that I can't beat you, I'm just not free today.' That skill isn't any worse than their soul skills."

The corner of Li Chen's mouth lifted slightly. What that male soul master had said before leaving was less a threat than a fig leaf. But fig leaf or face-saving line, ending the conflict there really had been the most appropriate choice.

No matter how unpleasant those Shrek people were, the three of them were still participants in the exhibition match, at least on the surface.

Starting a major fight with another academy outside the arena would only create trouble for the Federation's arrangements.

But trouble had always been mutual. After the Shrek group experienced his aura today, it was impossible for them not to weigh things carefully.

Even if they returned and told their supervising teacher, that Soul Sage might not step in over such a "small matter" as several disciples being insulted at a roadside stall—after all, Shrek had started the whole thing from beginning to end. As long as Shrek's supervising teacher's brain had not rusted along with ten thousand years of glory, he would not bring it out into the open.