Fatty's Tearful Complaint

When they noticed the Grandmaster's grim expression, the Shrek students exchanged glances, none daring to speak.

After all, what if the Grandmaster got annoyed and made them run all the way back to Shrek Academy?

In the end, Tang San was the one who stepped forward. "Fatty hasn't come back yet. Something must have held him up."

Yu Xiaogang's face darkened. He angrily flicked his sleeve. "This is utterly ridiculous!"

What else besides women could possibly hold Ma Hongjun up?

Yu Xiaogang couldn't help sneering. "The team match starts in ten minutes, and he's still out fooling around. It seems your training hasn't been enough. After tonight's match, you'll all carry fifty-kilogram stones and run back to the academy!"

In his view, since they were a team, if one person made a mistake, everyone should be punished together.

"Ah?" they all cried in unison, slumping onto the sofa.

Fatty had really dragged them into this mess.

"Xiaogang, the children have been competing all day. Isn't this a little too harsh?" Flender couldn't help speaking up. Seeing the Little Monsters so dispirited, he felt a little sorry for them.

After all, they were still just children. All that intensive training and competition was bound to be too much for them.

"There's no need to say anything more. They brought this on themselves." Yu Xiaogang's face was livid. Only if everyone shared the consequences of one person's mistake would they dare not make the same mistake again.

"Teacher, I'd like to go look for Fatty." Dai Mubai didn't say much else. He was already used to the Grandmaster's punishments.

But it was strange that Fatty still hadn't come back after all this time.

"Exactly. Let's all go look for him together." Tang San stood up and suggested.

The team match was starting in ten minutes, yet Fatty was still nowhere to be seen. It really was suspicious.

"Mm-hmm." The three girls nodded from where they stood.

"No need." Yu Xiaogang was about to tell them that the six of them could compete without Fatty when the door behind him suddenly swung open.

"Ah, pervert!" Ning Rongrong snatched up a teacup from the table and hurled it at the naked man who had just entered, then threw herself into Zhu Zhuqing's arms.

Oscar watched Zhu Zhuqing with envy. When would he get to hold Rongrong in his arms?

"Ow... that hurts..." Ma Hongjun clutched himself down below, having been caught completely off guard by the teacup flying straight into him.

"Fatty?" Dai Mubai recognized the voice at once. It was none other than the tardy Ma Hongjun.

His plump body was covered in crisscrossing purple bruises, and his face was so battered he was barely recognizable. But from his figure, they could just make out Fatty's familiar shape.

"Who did this to you?" Tang San's expression turned cold. He took a blanket from his Storage Soul Tool and draped it over Ma Hongjun.

Someone had actually dared to hurt his companion.

A murderous glint flickered in Tang San's eyes. Whoever had done this had sealed their own fate.

"Fatty, who did this to you? I'll kill them!" Flender roared furiously. He had raised Fatty himself, after all, and loved him like his own son.

How dare someone hurt Fatty this badly? Did they think there was no one at Shrek Academy?!

"Ah? Is that Fourth Brother?" Ning Rongrong cautiously peeked out from Zhu Zhuqing's arms and looked uncertainly at the battered lump of a man.

"Pfft! Fourth Brother, how'd you get beaten up again?" Xiao Wu burst out laughing beside them.

"Tell us what happened." Yu Xiaogang's expression stiffened as he looked at Ma Hongjun, who had been helped onto the sofa.

Fatty was full of grievances over the matter. Between broken sentences, he explained what had happened.

Apparently, he'd met a female Soul Master during a match. She'd deliberately picked a fight and beaten him up like this.

Of course, the part about how he'd flirted with her was just the sort of playful banter that went on between men and women. There was nothing worth mentioning.

"Do you remember her name?" The Grandmaster's expression turned icy. Anyone who dared humiliate the Shrek Team like this was practically asking to die.

"I think it was something like Qiankun, but she wore a white mask with slits for eyes." Ma Hongjun touched his face and winced in pain. For some reason, the feeling was strangely familiar.

He hadn't thought much of her, so he hadn't bothered to remember her name. He hadn't expected to suffer such a crushing loss.

"It was her?" Yu Xiaogang was a little surprised. He hadn't expected her to be matched against Ma Hongjun.

Tang San noticed the strange look in his teacher's eyes and asked, "Teacher, do you know her?"

"She's a young Soul Master from the Death Arena. She seems to know a kind of incredibly fast Ghost Asynchronous Method. Fatty, you were far too careless." Yu Xiaogang shook his head.

"But since she dared hurt someone from our Shrek Team, she'd better be prepared to pay the price. Fatty, Zhuqing, I'll be increasing both your training loads over the next few days. As Soul Masters below level thirty, you're bound to run into her sooner or later. You must defeat her in an upcoming Soul Fighting match and trample her underfoot. The next time you meet, you can use Hidden Weapons."

A vicious glint flashed in Yu Xiaogang's eyes. First she'd rejected him, then she'd injured his student. It seemed she needed to be taught a lesson.

"Why wait until the next match? We can surround her as soon as this one's over!" Dai Mubai slammed a hand on the table, furious.

"Exactly! She's gone too far!" Ma Hongjun nodded vigorously beside him.

"I'm glad you feel that way. Our Shrek Team is one unit, and we won't let anyone be humiliated by outsiders. For now, get ready for the next match." Yu Xiaogang looked very pleased.

"The Grandmaster is right." After hearing him speak, Tang San jumped to his feet, fired up. "We Shrek students are one. Every one of us is family. How could we stand by while one of our family is humiliated? Whoever dares bully my family will have to get past me, Tang San!"

"Xiao San is right!" Dai Mubai held out his hand. Tang San placed his hand on top of it, followed by Ma Hongjun, wrapped in his blanket.

"Right, we're one unit." Ning Rongrong.

"We're family." Xiao Wu, Oscar, Zhu Zhuqing, and the others all reached out and piled their hands together.

"We'll avenge Fourth Brother!" Xiao Wu gritted her teeth. She'd never had a family of her own, and Tang San's words moved her deeply.

From now on, she had a family, too.

"Shrek Team? Shrek Team? If you don't come out soon, you'll be disqualified!" The host's countdown echoed through the arena.

"Come on. The match comes first. Fatty, are you up to it?" Dai Mubai took a deep breath. He'd calmed down, but he was still in a foul mood.

Oscar stepped forward and patted Ma Hongjun on the shoulder. "Fatty, don't worry. We'll get revenge for you sooner or later!"

"Fatty, your clothes." Tang San asked a staff member for an outfit in Fatty's size and handed it to Ma Hongjun.

"Thanks, Third Brother..." Ma Hongjun was so moved he nearly cried. He was full of grievances over the whole thing. His Storage Soul Tool had even been smashed by his opponent, and all his belongings were gone.

As they reached the door, Ning Rongrong glanced back at Yu Xiaogang and asked cautiously, "Grandmaster, do we still have to run back to the academy tonight?"

"Mm." Yu Xiaogang nodded indifferently. What had happened today had made him realize that the Little Monsters' training still wasn't enough.

The Shrek Team had never lost a match before, yet today they'd suffered such humiliation. He had to intensify their training.

Sitting on the sofa, he flipped through the book he'd written with all the talent of his life. His voice was cool and detached. "From now on, after your special training every day, you'll all run back to the academy carrying weights."

"Ah?" They all groaned and trudged toward the Soul Fighting platform, heads hanging.

"A level-twenty-eight Soul Grandmaster dared bully the Little Monsters like this? I'm going to teach her a lesson!" Flender only spoke up indignantly after the others had left.

"Flender, that's the person I mentioned to you before." Yu Xiaogang closed his book, his eyes gleaming with an unusual light.

"If she joins Shrek Academy, I believe we'll take first place at the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament. Don't you want Shrek Academy's name to resound across the continent?"

Yu Xiaogang had great faith in his judgment, just as he had with Bibi Dong back then and Tang San now...

And after Qingxi defeated Ma Hongjun, even though it troubled him, he'd also begun considering taking on a second disciple.

One Tang San, one Qiankun Mingxin. Yu Xiaogang understood the wisdom of not putting all his eggs in one basket.

Even now, Yu Xiaogang still hoped to bring her into Shrek Academy. But with someone like her, he first had to grind her into the dirt!

"Let the Little Monsters handle this. We'll treat it as a test."

"It was her?!" Flender was surprised.

"The Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament requires ten members per team: seven main fighters and three substitutes. We only have seven people right now, and she's qualified to join Shrek. Why not let the Little Monsters take the edge off her while they're at it? I'll take you to watch her Soul Fighting matches over the next few days. What do you think?" Yu Xiaogang suggested.

Flender nodded. It was true: a level-twenty-eight Soul Master wasn't worth having the parents step in.

But Xiaogang could be far too stubborn. Once he'd made up his mind about something, he never changed it.

Otherwise, how would the Golden Iron Triangle have fallen apart back then?

At the thought, Flender couldn't help feeling a pang of sorrow.

He thought again of the woman who had blazed like a brilliant flame. When would the Golden Iron Triangle be together again?