You failed because this piece of jade hasn't been carved by us yet

When Tang San woke, all he saw was a blur of light. He blinked, and his vision slowly cleared.

Above him was a shabby wooden ceiling, several cracks stretching from one end to the other.

The air was filled with a faint medicinal smell, mixed with the damp odor of mildew.

Tang San turned his head. Xiao Wu was sitting beside the bed, both hands propped on the edge, her head nodding bit by bit as if she had fallen asleep.

Her eyes were red, and two obvious dark circles hung beneath them.

Tang San looked at her, and warmth stirred in his heart.

Then his memories surged back like a flood bursting through a dam.

He had been defeated by that fellow whose martial soul was also Blue Silver Grass. Tang San's pupils contracted sharply, and his fists clenched without him realizing it.

He had actually been beaten in front of everyone. Tang San gritted his teeth, and the anger he had forced down in his chest suddenly flared back up.

"Tang Wulin..."

He silently repeated the name in his heart, every word seeming to squeeze out from between his teeth.

"I'll get back that humiliation sooner or later."

Tang San took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He recalled every detail from the arena.

His Blue Silver Grass had been like paper in front of his opponent, shattering at the slightest touch.

Ghost Shadow Perplexing Step, the movement technique he took such pride in, had been utterly useless before those thick vines.

And there was the Sleeve Arrow. He had coated the Sleeve Arrow with poison; as long as it so much as grazed the skin, the other party would lose the ability to move.

But that Sleeve Arrow had been unable to pierce Tang Wulin's Blue Silver Grass. What was going on? How could Blue Silver Grass be that hard?

If his Sleeve Arrow had passed through Tang Wulin's Blue Silver Grass, then even if Tang Wulin had not died, he would have been seriously injured. But Tang San quickly realized that he had lost.

A trace of ruthlessness flashed through Tang San's eyes. He had to remember this humiliation, then turn it into motivation to move forward.

"Third Brother..."

A nasal voice came from beside him.

Xiao Wu had woken up at some point and was rubbing her eyes as she looked at him.

Those big eyes were red, and tears still shimmered in their rims.

"You're awake..."

Xiao Wu's voice was a little choked.

"You were unconscious for so long. You scared me to death..."

Tang San looked at her worried appearance, and his heart softened slightly.

A smile returned to his face, making him look no different from usual.

"I'm fine."

His voice was extremely gentle.

"I made you worry."

Xiao Wu shook her head and sniffled.

"As long as Third Brother is fine."

She reached out, wanting to help Tang San sit up, but she was afraid of touching his wounds. Her hand hovered in midair, not knowing where to place it.

Tang San watched her movements and smiled, then propped himself against the bed board and slowly sat up on his own.

A dull pain came from his chest. Tang Wulin's punch had injured him quite badly. If only he could find a place to temper his body.

"Right, where is Dean Flender?"

Tang San lifted his head and looked at Xiao Wu.

Xiao Wu wiped her eyes and said, "Dean Flender said..."

"The dean said that although you lost, Third Brother, that doesn't mean you're weak."

"On the contrary, reaching rank twenty-nine at your age already makes you a genius among geniuses. You're at the level of a monster."

"It's just that the other side was stronger."

Tang San listened. His expression did not change much, but he felt a little better inside.

Xiao Wu continued, "The dean also said that you only lost because you haven't gone through the academy's training yet."

"Once you receive the academy's training, you'll definitely become very, very strong."

"And the dean said that the other party being able to attach a thousand-year-level spirit ring as his first spirit ring goes against Grandmaster's theory."

"He must have used some kind of secret method."

"This secret technique definitely harmed the body. In the future, he was sure not to go far."

"And you're different, Third Brother. With the academy's training, taking it one step at a time and building a solid foundation, you'll definitely be able to go very, very far."

After Tang San finished listening, he let out a long breath.

After hearing Xiao Wu relay Flender's words, a weight finally dropped from his heart. Those words really did sound nice.

Flender was not bad either.

"That's right..."

Tang San thought to himself.

"I only just arrived at this academy. I haven't received any training yet."

"Losing doesn't mean I'm weak. It only means the other party was lucky, or used some dirty trick."

"Once I've trained at the academy for a while and my strength improves..."

A cold glint flashed through his eyes.

"The next time we meet, I'll definitely pay back this humiliation double."

And...

Tang San thought of hidden weapons.

If the Sleeve Arrow was not enough, then he would make stronger hidden weapons.

The Tang Sect's hidden weapons were ever-changing, impossible to guard against.

If one Sleeve Arrow was not enough, then ten. A hundred.

And also... the King of Hell's Invitation.

If the King of Hell wanted you dead at midnight, who could keep you alive until dawn?

If he could obtain the materials to make the King of Hell's Invitation...

A vicious look flashed through Tang San's eyes.

"The first one will be used on Tang Wulin."

But the thought only flashed by. He quickly suppressed that viciousness, and a gentle smile returned to his face.

He turned his head and looked at Xiao Wu.

"Xiao Wu, did Dean Flender say what the arrangements are next?"

"I want to start training as soon as possible."

Xiao Wu nodded.

"He did."

"The dean said that once you woke up, you should gather at the field."

Tang San braced a hand against the edge of the bed and slowly stood up.

The pain in his chest was still there, but it was already bearable.

He moved his shoulders a little and took a deep breath.

"Let's go."

The two of them left the room one after the other, passed through the overgrown little path, and arrived at the field.

Several people were already standing on the field.

Dai Mubai stood at the very front, his body wrapped in bandages. White strips of cloth covered his arms, his chest, and almost everywhere else.

But his back was ramrod straight, and the expression on his face was still arrogant. His strange double pupils swept over Tang San as he approached, and he nodded slightly, counting it as a greeting.

Ma Hongjun was squatting nearby, his round body curled into a ball. There were also several scrapes on his face, and a small piece of gauze was stuck to the corner of his mouth.

When he saw Tang San, he grinned, revealing a mouthful of not-very-neat teeth.

"Yo, Tang San, you're awake too?"

Oscar stood behind the two of them, holding a sausage in his hand and munching on it with crunching bites.

He looked the most energetic out of them all, clean all over, without a single injury on him.

Tang San's gaze swept over Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun, then he looked at Oscar.

The expression on his face did not change much, but in his heart, he had already started scoring them.

"A bunch of crooked melons and cracked dates."

Though he did not show it on his face, the disappointment in his heart was almost overflowing.

"This is Shrek Academy, the academy that only accepts monsters?"

"These people? Are they really monsters?"

Why was every single one of them injured?

But Tang San quickly suppressed that thought. Perhaps Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun had run into some powerful opponent, and that was why they had been injured.

An academy personally recommended by his teacher could not be that unbearable.

Tang San quickly threw the fact that his first choice had been the academy across the way to the back of his mind.