Since his head hurt so badly, Ma Hongjun couldn't even be bothered to protest his Martial Soul being mocked as a turkey. He could only endure the pain and ask again, "Big bro, what side effects does your Guilmon have? How did you deal with them?"
Guilmon didn't miss the chance to twist the knife. "Some Evil Fire Phoenix! I'd say it's more like a chicken that played with fire and got burned."
At that, everyone around them burst out laughing.
"Now that's more like it." Only then did Qian Renshuang let go.
The moment Ma Hongjun was free, he darted behind Zhao Wuji and complained tearfully, "Teacher Zhao, look! He just got here and he's already yanking my hair and picking on me!"
Zhao Wuji's nickname was the "Demon King of the World." To him, hair-pulling was no more than kids roughhousing, so he didn't take it seriously at all.
He casually reassured him, "He only pulled out a few hairs. You're not hurt, so it's nothing."
Afraid the conversation would get sidetracked, Oscar quickly steered it back on course. "Come on, quit messing around. Frost, hurry up and tell us how you deal with Guilmon's side effects!"
"Yeah, yeah! I'm so curious!" Ma Hongjun hurriedly chimed in.
But when Ma Hongjun turned and caught sight of the beautiful Ning Rongrong, he remembered that Guilmon's name sounded like "dick beast" in Chinese, and his imagination immediately went wild.
He decided that Qian Renshuang was just like him, finding women to vent his Evil Fire.
When Qian Renshuang saw Ma Hongjun glance at Ning Rongrong, a look of smug, supposedly all-knowing understanding flashed through his eyes.
As a man himself, Qian Renshuang knew exactly what that look meant: thoughts like, "That chick's pretty cute" and "She's got a great figure."
Without a word, Qian Renshuang raised his hand and rapped Ma Hongjun on the crown of the head. The sharp crack echoed through the registration area.
"Ow!" Ma Hongjun clutched his head and cried out in pain.
Qian Renshuang glanced at Li Yusong's corpse, which lay dead on the ground, and his voice turned as cold as ice. "She's the person I'm here to protect. If I dared lay a hand on her, her two Titled Douluo grandfathers would mince me into meat paste. If any of you dare make a move on her, don't blame me for showing no mercy."
He put particular emphasis on the words "show no mercy," his gaze sweeping over Ma Hongjun, Dai Mubai, and Oscar in turn. His meaning couldn't have been clearer: he wasn't joking.
Ma Hongjun, Dai Mubai, and Oscar all shuddered. They hurriedly looked away from Ning Rongrong and nodded like pecking chicks, swearing, "We wouldn't dare! We absolutely don't have any thoughts like that!"
After warning the three shameless lechers, Qian Renshuang's expression finally softened, and he patiently continued explaining. "As for the side effects, they're pretty violent. We dealt with them in two steps. First, we'd pin Guilmon to the ground and fight fire with fire. If once wasn't enough, we'd do it twice; if twice wasn't enough, we'd do it three times..."
"What about the other step?" Ma Hongjun pressed eagerly. This method might give him a new way to suppress his Evil Fire, so his ears were practically standing straight up.
"The other step..." Qian Renshuang paused, and his tone suddenly turned a little peculiar. "During those three and a half years, I mainly practiced the four arts—music, chess, calligraphy, and painting—to cultivate my character."
"Let me correct you." Ning Rongrong raised her hand, eager as a student jumping in to answer a question. "He didn't practice music. He played the flute. Flute, chess, calligraphy, and painting."
A trace of awkwardness crossed Qian Renshuang's face at being exposed. He coughed and tried to cover for himself. "It's just that 'flute, chess, calligraphy, and painting' is a bit of a mouthful. 'Music, chess, calligraphy, and painting' rolls off the tongue better."
Ning Rongrong put on a righteous expression, her chin raised and her manner utterly solemn. "I call that being precise!"
"Fine, fine. Precise, precise, precise..." Qian Renshuang couldn't be bothered to argue over such a small thing, so he simply humored her.
I have to practice flute, chess, calligraphy, and painting too...? Forget it. That sounds exhausting. Ma Hongjun silently gave up on the idea. He could fight and cultivate all he wanted, but make him sit down and dabble in the arts? He'd rather take a few more raps on the head.
Side effects from having a Divine Slaughter's Domain from birth? He's twenty-one. Take away the six years before his awakening, then subtract the three years he spent on other things... That leaves only about twelve years of actual cultivation. Hiding nearby and listening in, Tang Hao quietly estimated Qian Renshuang's rough talent.
Just then, Guilmon caught a tempting smell coming from Oscar. It leaned its enormous body toward him and opened its mouth slightly, revealing a row of sharp teeth. Drool ran down the corners of its mouth. "Wow~ You smell so delicious! You smell like sausages!"
Looking at Guilmon's teeth, which could snap his arm in a single bite, and its gleaming claws, Oscar was admittedly a little scared at first.
But he quickly composed himself, took a deep breath, and shouted his signature line: "I Have a Big Sausage—"
As soon as the words left his mouth, a sausage appeared in Oscar's hand. He tentatively held it out in front of Guilmon. "Here, see if it's to your taste."
Though Qian Renshuang could be rather extreme in the way he dealt with people, he didn't go around hitting everyone he met. He pulled a Gold Soul Coin from his Storage Soul Tool and tossed it to Oscar. "We're all from the same academy. How many sausages can I get from you for this?"
"Oscar," Zhao Wuji interjected, reminding him, "This is Qian Renshuang. He'll be your teacher from now on, so make sure you charge him a fair price."
"Sure thing!" Oscar caught the Gold Soul Coin, his face full of professional cheer. "I usually sell them for five Copper Soul Coins each. Since you're a teacher, I'll give you the friends-and-family price: one Copper Soul Coin each."
One Gold Soul Coin could be exchanged for one hundred Silver Soul Coins, or ten thousand Copper Soul Coins.
Oscar was thrilled at landing such a huge order. This deal was making him one happy man.
Since Zhao Wuji had been chatting with Qian Renshuang throughout registration, the scene from the original story—where Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Zhu Zhuqing all passed out after registration and were carried off to the dormitory to rest—never happened.
Once registration was over, Zhao Wuji clapped his hands. "All right, all right. You eight, get to know one another."
Generally speaking, beautiful girls had a natural pull on boys.
What was more, Ning Rongrong, Xiao Wu, and Zhu Zhuqing were all among the prettiest girls there. Zhu Zhuqing was so well-developed that girls her age would have felt inferior beside her.
But as it turned out, to the boys, a living, fire-breathing dinosaur was far more fascinating than three beautiful girls.
Dai Mubai, Tang San, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun crowded around Guilmon, peppering it with questions:
"Guilmon, how strong are you?"
"Guilmon, how fast can you run?"
"Guilmon, how tough a material can your fangs and claws cut through?"
"Guilmon, how powerful an attack can your hide withstand?"
Questions came one after another like a string of firecrackers, while Guilmon simply answered everyone's questions, one by one, with an endearing air of innocence.
Before you continue