"Don't follow me."
Zhu Zhuqing stopped at the edge of the training ground without looking back.
Dai Mubai stopped too.
His face darkened. "I just wanted to warn you. The terrain behind the mountain is rough."
Zhu Zhuqing gripped her water flask tighter, her voice turning colder.
"That's none of your business."
Dai Mubai's chest rose and fell. In the end, he forced the words back down.
"Suit yourself."
Zhu Zhuqing ignored him and headed into the back hills.
Ning Rongrong stood nearby with her arms crossed and gave a soft laugh.
"So even Young Master Dai gets snubbed sometimes."
Dai Mubai glanced at her.
"Did the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect teach you to stand around and watch?"
Ning Rongrong shot back without missing a beat.
"At least it didn't teach me to pester people who want to be left alone."
Xiao Wu leaned toward Tang San and whispered, "Why are those two acting so strange?"
Tang San shook his head.
"It's their business. Stay out of it."
Ji Yuan, however, drew every ripple of emotion into his perception.
Dai Mubai's White Tiger blood surged. Zhu Zhuqing's shadowy Soul Power moved through the back hills. Ning Rongrong's support-type origin was still slowly spilling outward. Oscar pushed his sausage cart back toward the dining hall, while Ma Hongjun's muddled, fiery aura flickered near the village entrance.
Shrek Academy's blood bags had finally scattered to their separate places.
Zhu Zhuqing trained in the back hills.
She was fast and struck hard, choosing narrow footholds on tree trunks. Each time the shadow of her claws fell, it tore deep grooves through the bark.
She trained until sweat soaked her clothes, then stopped beside a rock and opened her flask for a drink.
The moment the well water went down her throat, Ji Yuan's dormant Spores awoke.
The Hell Spirit Cat's Martial Soul Origin carried a dark attribute. It flowed more stealthily than the others and even actively rejected anything that did not belong to it.
Zhu Zhuqing had barely finished drinking when her brow furrowed.
She looked down at her flask.
"Today's water..."
Ji Yuan did not move any closer to her Heart Meridian.
He pressed the Spores into a near-dormant state and let them follow her blood into the meridians of her legs, where they clung to the places her shadowy Soul Power was most active.
Speed-type Soul Power washed through those places year after year. The heat left by training would easily mask a foreign disturbance.
Zhu Zhuqing flexed her legs. When her muscles felt warm, she assumed she had overtrained.
She capped the flask and charged toward the next tree.
From the shadows, Ji Yuan drew away the dark origin spilling from the Hell Spirit Cat.
Once that energy entered the Demon Vine, Ji Yuan's aura grew even more subdued, and its dark-red markings gained another layer of concealment.
Good stuff.
Her speed and shadow attribute would make the spore network even harder to detect.
When Zhu Zhuqing finished training, she looked at her ankles, faintly puzzled.
My speed felt a little smoother than usual today.
She gave it no further thought, assuming Oscar's sausage had healed the damage from yesterday.
By evening, the dining hall was finally full.
Oscar set a pot of soup on the table and said proudly, "I boiled the water myself today, Rongrong. You can drink without worrying."
Ning Rongrong looked up.
"I'd worry less if you stayed away from the pot."
Ma Hongjun squeezed through the doorway, his head drenched in sweat and a faint heat still clinging to his body.
"Is there anything to eat? I'm starving."
Dai Mubai frowned.
"You went to the village again?"
Ma Hongjun looked embarrassed.
"Boss Dai, not in front of the new students."
Xiao Wu's interest immediately stirred.
"What happened in the village?"
Tang San tugged at her.
"Xiao Wu."
Ma Hongjun looked at Tang San and grinned.
"You're Tang San, right? Heard you beat Zhao Wuji's face swollen. Impressive."
Zhao Wuji had just reached the dining hall entrance. At those words, his face darkened again.
"Ma Hongjun, can't you keep your mouth shut even while eating?"
Ma Hongjun hurriedly lowered his head and shoveled rice into his mouth.
Oscar snickered beside him, but one glare from Zhao Wuji made him behave too.
Flender took the seat at the head of the table and swept his gaze over them.
"Eat well tonight. Formal training starts tomorrow. Anyone who falls behind gets extra drills."
Holding her bowl, Ning Rongrong frowned. "Shouldn't you at least tell us what the training involves?"
Flender glanced at her.
"The first thing you need to learn is to stop expecting everyone to revolve around you."
Ning Rongrong's expression darkened.
"Headmaster, I only asked about the lessons."
Flender picked up some food with his chopsticks.
"You'll find out tomorrow."
The food had been made with well water.
So had the soup.
With every bite of food and every sip of soup, Ji Yuan's Spores from the water supply entered their bodies.
The White Tiger node inside Dai Mubai lit up. Ning Rongrong's Seven Treasure Glazed Tile node lit up. The shadow node in Zhu Zhuqing's legs lit up. The hundred-thousand-year origin node at the back of Xiao Wu's neck lit up, and Oscar's food-type node was quietly reinforced.
Tang San went without saying. He had long since become the main root.
Only Ma Hongjun remained.
Ma Hongjun lifted his bowl and gulped down the soup.
The next instant, a mass of tangled flame seared Ji Yuan's perception and sent it recoiling.
The fire was impure, riddled with impurities and prone to fierce backlash, yet it concealed precisely the power plants feared most.
Ji Yuan did not force his way in. He left the Spores at the edges of Ma Hongjun's meridians, wrapped them in moisture, and waited for the flames to loosen their hold.
Ma Hongjun finished his soup and rubbed his belly.
"This soup's good today. Goes down easy."
Oscar immediately claimed the credit.
"I boiled the water."
Ma Hongjun nodded.
"You should do it more often."
Ning Rongrong said with disdain, "You two really aren't picky."
Ma Hongjun chuckled.
"As long as I get a full stomach, who cares about the details?"
Flender glanced at him.
"Fatty, behave yourself for a while. The new students just arrived. Don't cause trouble."
Ma Hongjun kept his head down and mumbled, "Got it."
But Dai Mubai heard something wrong in his voice.
"You're losing control again, aren't you?"
The chopsticks in Ma Hongjun's hand paused. His expression turned uneasy.
"I'm fine."
Flender set down his bowl.
"What does 'fine' mean?"
Ma Hongjun scratched at his hair in irritation.
"I'm just a little hot. It's nothing."
Hidden deep within the Dark Web, Ji Yuan watched the flames inside Ma Hongjun.
The Evil Fire circled the Spores from the water supply. Instead of burning them away at once, it was temporarily held back by their moisture.
But the instant Ma Hongjun lost control of his emotions, that fire would lash back.
Ji Yuan felt no fear.
Fear was merely a plant's instinct.
Evolution would grind instinct underfoot.
By the end of the meal, Ji Yuan had drawn the flow of Soul Power, emotional shifts, and Martial Soul flaws of all seven Shrek Academy students into his web.
Tang San was still discussing Zhao Wuji's defense with Dai Mubai.
"There are gaps when Zhao Wuji projects his Soul Power, but they're very brief."
Dai Mubai nodded.
"The fact that you caught one is absurd enough."
Tang San shook his head.
"I just got lucky."
Ji Yuan coldly tightened the web.
Lucky?
Without the poison paralyzing him, Tang San's Hidden Weapons couldn't even have broken Zhao Wuji's skin.
Ning Rongrong had been listening nearby. Suddenly, she said, "Tang San, you were hurt worse than anyone yesterday, but you've recovered pretty quickly today."
Tang San paused.
Xiao Wu immediately grew wary.
"What are you implying?"
Ning Rongrong put down her bowl.
"I just think it's strange. Oscar's sausages work well, but your recovery has been too even. It's as though your depleted Soul Power is slowly being replenished too."
Tang San frowned as well.
Ji Yuan did not panic.
He simply drew away the internal energy Tang San had just recovered, turning his face pale again.
Xiao Wu immediately caught hold of him.
"You call this a quick recovery? Look at him!"
Ning Rongrong had no answer. She gave a small huff and fell silent.
Tang San pressed a hand to his chest and said quietly, "Maybe I still haven't recovered from yesterday's exertion."
Dai Mubai said, "Get some rest. Tomorrow's training won't be easy."
Zhu Zhuqing had already risen and left.
Ma Hongjun, however, remained in his chair. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his breathing grew heavier.
Flender noticed, and his face sank.
"Fatty?"
Ma Hongjun raised his head. Dark-red fire burned in his eyes.
"Headmaster, I need to step outside."
With that, he headed out, walking far faster than usual.
Dai Mubai immediately went after him.
"Fatty, don't do anything stupid!"
Tang San and Xiao Wu exchanged a glance and followed.
Ji Yuan's Dark Web moved with them. Inside Ma Hongjun, the Evil Fire roasted the Spores from the water supply until they burned hot, but they did not break.
A girl's tearful cry came from the direction of the village entrance.
"Ma Hongjun, let go of me! I can't take it anymore!"
Dark-red flames rose from the village entrance, sending a wave of heat rolling over the dirt road.
Inside the sole of a shoe, Ji Yuan's Demon Vine body contracted, then slowly opened its feeding pores again.
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