When Strength Fell Short, So Did Backing-Despair

The corridor was quiet.

It was so quiet you could hear everyone breathing, and the soft rustling of Ma Hongjun's shoes on the ground.

The Shrek Team trudged wearily toward the hotel.

The line stretched out very long, but no one spoke.

If outsiders saw them looking like this, they would probably think they had just crawled out of a graveyard.

In fact, they're pretty much the same.

Dai Mubai walked at the front, his steps heavy, and he didn't look back at anyone along the way.

His fists were clenched so tightly they cracked, his jawline was taut, and he exuded an aura that said, "Don't talk to me or I'll beat you up."

Tang San's face was pale.

Although the poison has been neutralized.

However, the weakness left by the rampant effects of the compound toxins in the body has not subsided.

He steadied himself by holding onto the wall with one hand, while his other hand remained firmly in Xiao Wu's grasp, his gaze occasionally falling on Xiao Wu's hand clutching her ribs.

With each glance, a darker glint appeared in his eyes.

Xiao Wu noticed his gaze, forced a smile, and tried to say, "I'm fine."

But just as he raised the corners of his mouth, a dull pain shot through his ribs, and his smile froze on his face.

She chose to remain silent.

Ma Hongjun walked in the middle with his head drooping.

He didn't even have the energy to complain anymore.

For Ma Hongjun, this was probably the most severe symptom he had ever experienced.

Oscar stood beside Ma Hongjun, his lips moving several times, as if he wanted to say something to liven up the atmosphere.

"That..."

Ma Hongjun raised his eyelids and glanced at him.

Oscar swallowed back what he was about to say.

Forget it, nothing I say is appropriate at a time like this.

Saying "It's okay, come again next time" sounds frivolous, while saying "Don't be discouraged, everyone" sounds like someone who doesn't understand the situation.

For the first time, Oscar realized that even his usually eloquent tongue sometimes failed him in his speech.

Zhu Zhuqing walked silently.

Her expression was the calmest of all, almost indifferent.

The Shrek Team, which had been on a winning streak, had never suffered such a crushing defeat.

This was not a close defeat.

It's crushing.

They were completely dominated and humiliated, without even a chance to fight back.

The group returned to the hotel lobby.

One by one, they slumped into their chairs, and a suffocating silence filled the air.

The silence was broken by Yu Xiaogang.

That's enough.

Yu Xiaogang stood in front of the crowd, looked around at the group of dejected students, and frowned deeply.

Look at the state you've become!

No one looked up.

"They all looked dejected, like wilted eggplants."

"You act like this after losing just one Soul Fighting? Do you even want to participate in the Soul Master Tournament anymore?"

Yu Xiaogang's tone was cold and hard, offering no words of comfort whatsoever.

"The road ahead is long. If you give up at the first sign of trouble, do you even deserve to be called students of the Shrek Academy?"

Ma Hongjun instinctively wanted to retort, "Is this what you call a little setback?", but he swallowed the words back.

Because Yu Xiaogang's expression at that moment was as ugly as it could possibly be.

Yu Xiaogang gave them no chance to catch their breath.

He then shifted the focus, offering a sharp and incisive analysis of the problems that had surfaced that day.

"The formation wasn't coordinated well enough, and once the front line was breached, the entire system collapsed."

"What did I tell you during training? If anyone is breached in any position, the others must cover for them within three seconds!"

What about today?

"If the front row collapses, the back row will fall one after another like dominoes."

Dai Mubai clenched his fists even tighter.

"Their ability to deal with unknown Martial Soul Mutation is almost zero."

"When faced with an unfamiliar poison-type Mutated Martial Soul, no one on the team except Little San could come up with a solution."

"Do you think your opponents in the competition will send you the Martial Soul manual beforehand?"

Tang San lowered his head slightly.

"And there's the most fatal point."

Yu Xiaogang paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone.

"You're all too reliant on the Little San alone."

The Little San's commands, the Little San's antidote, the Little San's judgment... Once the Little San is specifically countered, the entire team becomes like headless flies.

After Yu Xiaogang finished speaking, the hall fell silent again.

The crowd was so humiliated that they couldn't lift their heads.

I understand the principles, I understand every single one of them.

But after such a crushing and humiliating defeat, who can calmly accept a lesson in replaying the results?

The frustration in my heart churned and churned, more painful than any physical injury.

"Bang--!"

The hotel door was suddenly kicked open.

Zhao Wuji strode in with a dark expression.

The fluctuations of his Soul Power hadn't completely subsided, and the resulting shockwave made the vase by the door shake twice.

He went there to inquire about the details of the battle.

Before he went, all he knew was that Shrek had lost.

After he returned, he found out how he had lost.

Zhao Wuji glanced at everyone in the hall.

Seeing that all the Shrek members were injured, his blood pressure immediately spiked.

"Damn it!"

A hand slammed onto the table, and the solid wood table let out a mournful sound, instantly leaving a palm-shaped dent in the surface.

"Who did this?! The Imperial Fighting Team, huh?! I'm going to find them right now!"

Zhao Wuji turned and was about to rush out.

"If I, Zhao Wuji, were to tolerate my student being beaten like this, would I even be a man?!"

Flender grabbed him.

"Old Zhao, calm down!"

He gripped Zhao Wuji's wrist tightly, his expression extremely grave.

Have you thought about who you're going to hold accountable?

"No need to think about it! Whoever hit me, I'll go after them!"

"This is Heaven Dou City."

Flender interrupted him, saying each word clearly, "The territory of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy."

Zhao Wuji paused for a moment.

Flender didn't give him a chance to catch his breath and continued, "The three teaching committee members of the Heaven Dou Academy are all Soul Douluo- level powerhouses. Which one of them can you defeat?"

"Even if all of us from Shrek were to join forces, we might not be a match for them."

Zhao Wuji's expression changed, but he still forced a smile, "That's still not acceptable..."

"Besides."

Flander emphasized, "The grandfather of Dugu Yan, the vice-captain of the Royal Fighting Team, is the Bi Lin Douluo, Dugu Bo, a Title Douluo!"

"!"

Zhao Wuji closed his mouth.

Titled Douluo.

These four words, delivered forcefully, are more effective than any logic.

Zhao Wuji stood there, his anger stuck in his chest, unable to rise or fall.

His face turned bright red, and the veins on his forehead throbbed.

Reason told him that every word Flender said was true.

For Titled Douluo to crush them would be no different than crushing an ant.

"Bang!"

Zhao Wuji slammed his fist heavily on the table, which already had a dent, and the table legs made a "crack" sound as they could no longer bear the weight.

He didn't say anything more.

Instead, he plopped down in a chair, crossed his arms, and sulked with a sullen face.

Flender's words plunged everyone present into a deep silence.

That silence was even more suffocating than before.

The group exchanged bewildered glances, their eyes filled with bitterness.

If you can't beat them in terms of strength, then so be it.

Insufficient training can be improved through practice, and poor teamwork can be honed through practice; these are gaps that can be bridged through hard work.

But what about the background?

The Royal Fighting Team's backer is the Soul Douluo Instructor of the Heavenly Dou Academy, the Title Douluo Dugu Bo.

Their backer at Shrek...

Everyone glanced instinctively at Flender and Zhao Wuji.

Two Soul Sage.

In other words, Shrek Academy is still a diploma mill with questionable qualifications to operate properly.

This feeling of powerlessness is even harder to accept than defeat on the field.