Tang San vs. Ma Hongjun

Notting Junior Soul Master Academy, training grounds.

Tang San stood in the center of the field, his eyes cold as he looked at the three people before him.

Of the three standing opposite him, the leader was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses. Yet every inch of him exuded the air of a shrewd, calculating profiteer.

Behind him stood a fat boy about Tang San's age, with a plump face, big ears, a head full of red hair, and tiny eyes that darted around constantly. From time to time, his gaze would stray toward Xiao Wu at the side.

The last was someone they knew well: Yu Xiaogang, the master who had fled Notting Academy in disgrace after Xu Linjiu mercilessly exposed the flaws in his theory.

"Kid, if you know what's good for you, come with us quietly!"

The red-haired fatty stood behind them, grinning. "Otherwise, with just those two little blades of grass, one blast of my evil fire will burn you straight to ashes. By then, you won't even have a place to cry."

He licked his lips, and his rolling eyes shifted back to Xiao Wu.

"Who knows why the master took a fancy to such a useless martial soul? Still, his taste in female disciples isn't bad. What do you say, little sister? Want to keep your big brother company for a while?"

"You dead fat pig, what did you just say?!"

Xiao Wu exploded the instant she heard that. She rushed forward, ready to teach that lecherous fat bastard a lesson.

But the moment she moved, the dean beside her reached out and stopped her.

He could not see through the strength of the bespectacled middle-aged man leading them, so he truly did not dare act rashly.

The dean looked at the bespectacled man opposite him. "Sir, your student is being far too rude. This is Notting Academy, not your Shrek Academy territory."

"Rude?"

The middle-aged man pushed up his glasses. "So what if he is? Shrek Academy students have always been like this. Soul masters who do not dare cause trouble are nothing but mediocrities."

The dean's expression turned even uglier. He turned toward the last of the three. "Xiaogang, you were at Notting Academy for quite some time. We were colleagues, at least once."

Before the dean could finish, Yu Xiaogang cut him off with a harsh voice.

"You remember we were colleagues? Then where were you when that brat Xu Linjiu questioned me in public? Where were you when that ignorant child Tang San humiliated me before everyone?"

"Enough."

Tang San finally could not endure it any longer.

He looked at Yu Xiaogang. "Don't you just want revenge against my teacher? My teacher isn't in Notting right now, so I'll stand in for him. Whatever you've got, bring it on me!"

"Good!"

The bespectacled middle-aged man clapped his hands. "Since you put it that way, I won't bully the young."

He pulled the red-haired fatty in front of him. "This is my student, Ma Hongjun. He's actually a little younger than you. Having you two fight at the same level is already giving you a slight advantage."

Tang San glanced at Ma Hongjun.

Younger than me? We awakened our martial souls in the same year. How much younger could he possibly be?

A fire-element soul master fighting a plant-element soul master—wasn't it obvious who had the advantage?

Tang San thought this, but he did not say a word.

The middle-aged man was clearly quite powerful. No matter what he said at this point, it would be useless.

"Let's make this clear beforehand."

Ma Hongjun swaggered to the middle of the field, planted his hands on his hips, and looked at Tang San. "If you lose, kneel and kowtow to me three times. Then come to Shrek Academy and obediently become a researcher for the master's martial soul theories. Understand?"

Tang San did not answer. He merely slowly raised his right hand, and two blue blades of grass gradually grew out.

"Then come."

"Hmph! You don't know your own limits!"

Ma Hongjun snorted. His martial soul possessed him in an instant, red bird feathers sprouting from his arms as flames coiled around his entire body.

On anyone else, that appearance might have looked rather cool.

But on this fat pig, he looked exactly like an oversized turkey.

"Pfft!"

Seeing this, Xiao Wu's anger instantly vanished, and she burst out laughing.

Hearing the laughter, the fat bastard actually thought Xiao Wu was praising him, and he proudly struck a pose.

"Ma Hongjun, level-twelve assault-type battle soul master, martial soul: Evil Fire Phoenix!"

"Tang San, level-seventeen battle soul master, martial soul: Blue-Phosphor Silver-Veined Grass. Please advise!"

"Level seventeen!"

Upon hearing Tang San's words, Yu Xiaogang's eyes widened instantly.

He had increased his soul power by seven levels in just six months. Such talent was truly terrifying!

But then, a smile appeared on his face.

So what if Tang San's level was high? Plant-element soul masters were naturally countered by flames, especially the mutated evil fire of someone like Ma Hongjun.

Once Tang San lost to Ma Hongjun, wouldn't he still have to obediently admit defeat and become the best test subject to prove Yu Xiaogang's martial soul theories?

Thinking of this, Yu Xiaogang's mood greatly improved, and his face immediately filled with smiles.

On the training grounds, Tang San and Ma Hongjun stood facing each other. The middle-aged man stood to one side as the referee. After looking left and right, he announced, "Begin!"

The moment his words fell, Ma Hongjun activated his soul power, and three fireballs rose from his body.

With a flap of his chicken wings, the three fireballs flew toward Tang San.

Tang San narrowed his eyes. The first soul ring beneath his feet had already lit up as Blue Silver Evergreen began stacking its enhancement.

The ground began to shake. A blue vine as thick as an arm burst from the earth and blocked the three incoming fireballs.

The instant it blocked the flames, Tang San's expression changed, and he immediately severed his connection with that vine.

"This fire is wrong!"

When Ma Hongjun saw the vine rapidly withering under his evil fire, he immediately became smug.

"This isn't ordinary fire! It's the mutated evil fire of the Evil Fire Phoenix! What do you think? Scared now?"

As he spoke, he violently flapped both wings, sending another three balls of evil fire whistling out.

Tang San's gaze sharpened. The flames truly were strange. They possessed not only scorching heat, but also a sinister corrosive force. He could not confront them head-on.

His soul power circulated, and three green seeds flew from Tang San's hand.

Boom!

The instant the seeds collided with the evil fire, they exploded into a cloud of black smoke. Ma Hongjun instinctively narrowed his eyes and flapped his wings as he retreated two steps.

Before he could steady himself, another green seed pierced through the smoke and shot straight at his face.

"Heh! Again?"

Ma Hongjun sneered and tilted his head aside. The seed grazed past his ear. "Do you take me for an idiot?"

However, when he turned his head back, the smoke had already rapidly dispersed in the wind. The center of the training grounds was empty. Tang San had vanished.

"What? Where is he?"

Ma Hongjun immediately sensed danger and tried to turn around, but it was already too late.

A jade-colored palm shot out from behind him and struck him directly in the waist.

A burst of excruciating pain instantly exploded from his kidney. Ma Hongjun was in so much pain that he could not straighten his back. He dropped to his knees, barely able to maintain his martial soul possession.

In this battle, Ma Hongjun had not even managed to use his first soul skill before Tang San defeated him with ease.

"You were right. I really was treating you like an idiot."

As Tang San spoke, the jade color on his hand slowly faded. Yet a blue vine had already quietly wrapped itself around Ma Hongjun's neck.

Tang San looked at the middle-aged man leading them and bowed. "Senior, I have already won this battle. What do you think?"

The middle-aged man glanced at the vine around Ma Hongjun's neck, then suddenly laughed. "What? Are you threatening me?"

As his words fell, a violent burst of soul power erupted from him, crashing down toward Tang San's head with the force of Mount Tai bearing down.

Facing that violent soul power, Tang San instinctively closed his eyes.

Yet he felt none of the expected pressure. Instead, a familiar voice came from behind him.

"What, so my student threatened you? What can you do about it?