Conflict

"Ha! What a fine excuse—'they're just young.'" Dugu Yan let out a cold snort and was about to say more when Qingxi pressed down on her hand.

Qingxi smiled brightly. "Since that's the case, thank you, big brother."

"You're welcome, little miss." Dai Mubai smiled like a gentleman. What a sunny, cheerful little girl she was.

Qingxi glanced over and called a waiter over. "Did you hear what big brother just said?"

The waiter nodded. Both sides were Soul Masters; he couldn't afford to offend either.

"Ah, take your time eating. I'm going to the restroom." Qingxi patted Dugu Yan's hand and turned toward the back courtyard.

After winding her way into the kitchen, she ordered five hundred portions of every dish on the menu.

The head chef was both shocked and delighted, and hurriedly sent people out to buy more ingredients.

The head chef could only say: There was no way they'd finish cooking it all. No way.

After Qingxi left the kitchen, thoroughly satisfied, she saw that the dining hall had descended into chaos.

The two groups were fighting. More precisely, a hundred-thousand-year-old rabbit spirit was pinning the other side down and beating them.

And her well-behaved disciple stood off to one side, looking three parts aloof, three parts mocking, and three parts intrigued.

"What happened?" Qingxi asked curiously.

Dugu Yan told Qingxi everything that had happened. In short, that deadbeat fatty had leered at a female student from Canghui Academy, and then Dai Mubai had mocked the other side, calling their academy a bunch of trash.

One of the male students who had come with them couldn't stand it and tried to teach them a lesson, only to get beaten up too.

"Picking on the weak and fearing the strong! Bah!" Dugu Yan spat, itching to join the fight as she watched it unfold.

Mostly, she wanted to poke that little fatty's eyes out. She'd never seen an academy so domineering.

"A Soul Master who doesn't dare cause trouble is a good-for-nothing."

Ridiculous!

By their logic, if she killed them despite having no grudge against them, they could only blame themselves for being useless, right?

"Canghui Academy?"

"Mm. It's an advanced Soul Master Academy, with a bit of a reputation." Dugu Yan nodded, rubbing her hands together as she itched to get involved.

Seeing that the two students from Canghui Academy were losing, their instructor, Ye Zhiqiu, had no choice but to step in. He tried to smooth things over and settle the matter peacefully.

But Shrek wouldn't listen.

Ye Zhiqiu had no choice but to show his Soul Rings: one white, two yellow, and two purple. Even then, he still tried to reason with them.

But the fatty immediately started jeering. "Yo! So you're a turtle! No wonder you've got the nerve to act like such a coward here."

Tang San had already begun planning how to beat up the other side's instructor.

"I don't want to! We were in the wrong first, and they've already been very polite." Ning Rongrong had only recently joined Shrek and had never been accepted into the group. At that moment, she still took the fair and impartial side.

"Since that's the case, do as you please." Tang San paused, his tone turning somewhat hostile.

The other six stopped paying attention to her and followed Ye Zhiqiu out the door.

Ning Rongrong stamped her foot angrily, but in the end, she followed them out.

Qingxi and Dugu Yan exchanged a glance. "Come on, let's go watch."

The two of them followed them outside.

The Shrek group was already fighting Ye Zhiqiu, Soul Skills flying everywhere, though their destructive power was pitifully weak.

Yet as time went on, Ye Zhiqiu, with Soul Power above level fifty, actually found himself at a disadvantage.

"Who do you think would win if you fought them?" The two found a tree and sat on a branch, watching the farce unfold nearby.

Dugu Yan watched the one-sided fight, her expression grave.

Most of the Shrek students had Soul Power around level thirty, yet they could pin down a Soul King above level fifty and beat him.

It was truly hard to believe.

After considering it for a while, she said, "If we're only talking about Soul Power, I might not be their match. But with my late Foundation Establishment cultivation added in, I'd win."

Qingxi nodded. "Still, judged only by their talent as Soul Masters, these children are geniuses. It's just a shame no one taught them properly."

What use was great talent if they had no character?

"Master, I want to try." Dugu Yan's eyes gleamed with eagerness.

"What, you want to bully children?" Qingxi glanced at her, then turned her gaze to the fight nearby and said calmly, "Besides, I can sense a Titled Douluo at level ninety-five protecting them from the shadows."

Her eyes narrowed slightly. She had sensed that person in hiding as soon as Shrek entered the hotel, which was why she hadn't let Dugu Yan start a fight in the restaurant.

With her current late Nascent Soul cultivation, she might have been able to fight him.

But a Grand Soul Master in their twenties who could go toe-to-toe with a level-ninety-five Titled Douluo would inevitably attract the attention of various factions.

That would be real trouble.

"Beat the young ones, and the old ones come running."

"Remember, in a one-on-one fight, if the difference in strength is too great, try not to reveal your cultivation in public. A cultivation technique like yours will only bring disaster at this point."

Dugu Yan was surprised. No wonder her master had never let her make a move. There really was someone hiding nearby.

"Don't worry, Master. I understand."

Her grandfather had told her the same thing before.

Qingxi nodded. Nearby, the fight had reached its climax.

Ye Zhiqiu had only wanted an explanation, so he had focused on defense without attacking, hoping the other side would realize they were outmatched and back down.

He hadn't believed there could be an academy so unreasonable. He'd assumed the students below were simply arrogant and had wanted to talk to their instructor.

Well, as soon as their instructor showed up, he'd announced that Canghui Academy was a trash academy, full of good-for-nothings.

At that point, Ye Zhiqiu would've been a fool not to get angry.

Fuming, he'd gone up to demand justice, only for Zhao Wuji to slap him more than ten meters away. He crashed heavily to the ground.

Zhao Wuji wore a disdainful expression. "Trash will always be trash."

With that, he put his hands behind his back and returned to his room.

Qingxi rubbed her hands together, ready for a fight. She suspected Dugu Yan had infected her.

Why... all of a sudden... did she feel like slapping someone?

That was no way to insult someone.

"Bah!" Dugu Yan spat, her face full of disgust. "As the saying goes, the beam is crooked, so the rafters follow! There isn't a single decent person in that whole academy."

She was talking about Shrek Academy, of course.

Meanwhile, Ye Zhiqiu had been badly injured. That remark had made him so furious that he spat out a mouthful of blood, and his students helped him leave.

They'd come to find a Soul Ring for their youngest junior sister. Instead, the whole group had ended up badly injured right from the start...

"Come on, let's go find a Soul Ring." Qingxi patted Dugu Yan and then flew toward the Star Dou Great Forest.

This time, Qingxi didn't take Dugu Yan along with her, in case she threw up again.

"Master, what do you think I should choose for my fifth Soul Ring?" Dugu Yan rode the wind behind her.

Her Martial Soul had evolved from the Jade Phosphorous Serpent into the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor, which didn't have the ability to fly. But she had Foundation Establishment cultivation, and with her wind spiritual root, she could ride the wind.

"Hmm... we'll see when we get there." Qingxi already had a plan in mind, but they might not be able to catch one. She pulled a jade pendant from her robes and tossed it to Dugu Yan. "Here, take it. I got it by swindling that fool just now. One for each of us."

"What is it?" Dugu Yan examined the pale green jade pendant in her hand. A tiny character, "Dao," was carved into it.

"It's similar to your Storage Soul Tools. It works about the same way, but has more space. I put some high-grade pills and spirit stones inside." She answered calmly.

Dugu Yan's eyes lit up. She sent her divine sense into the jade and found a small mountain of spirit stones, a pile of food, and several bottles of pills of second rank or higher.

One sixth-rank Violence Pill in particular made her ecstatic: it strengthened her physical abilities tenfold, gave her unlimited strength, and lasted for three minutes with no side effects.

Its ingredients were scarce, and it was incredibly valuable.

What she found even more unbelievable was that her master could actually refine it.

Dugu Yan looked at the black-haired girl flying ahead of her, her eyes burning with excitement. She hadn't expected her master to be an alchemist too.

"Master, actually, I have a lot of questions about pill refinement. My success rate is always pretty low."

With her current cultivation, she could only refine second-rank pills at most, and even then, her success rate was low.

Her master's skill was truly enviable.

"It's fine. Pill refinement... depends on comprehension. When I was at Three Stars Cave, my senior brothers and sisters and I had to refine at least five hundred batches of pills every day..." She seemed to recall something amusing and laughed. "I remember my senior brother saying that even dogs wouldn't dare eat the pills I made."

Her senior brother probably never dreamed she'd become someone's master one day.

In an instant, the smile gradually faded from Qingxi's face.

It had been a long time since she'd thought about the past. People had to keep moving forward.

Her stern, aloof senior brother, who had demanded that she cultivate for nine hours every day, had remained forever at the foot of Spirit Mountain...

Dugu Yan thought that sometimes, not saying anything really was a virtue.