Ma Hongjun Was Completely Ruined!

Suotuo City, Shrek Academy.

Calling it an academy was generous. It was really just a courtyard enclosed by a few rundown single-story houses, without even a proper front gate.

An oil lamp burned in the courtyard, its dim yellow light barely illuminating a battered wooden table.

Flender sat behind the table, holding a jug of cheap wine and sipping it with narrowed eyes.

No one knew how long had passed before a burst of hurried footsteps shattered the courtyard's silence.

"Teacher! Teacher, something terrible happened!"

Dai Mubai rushed into the courtyard unsteadily, carrying a round, plump figure in his arms.

"What is it? Why are you shouting like that?"

"New students arrive tomorrow, yet you senior students are still this reckless. What will the new students think?"

Flender stopped halfway through his scolding when his gaze landed on the round figure in Dai Mubai's arms. His pupils abruptly contracted.

Ma Hongjun was curled into a ball, his crotch blackened and charred, giving off a nauseating burnt stench.

His face was white as paper, his lips trembled, and tears still clung to the corners of his eyes.

"Hongjun?!"

Flender shot to his feet and crossed the distance in two strides. "What happened? Who did this?!"

Dai Mubai swallowed and carefully placed Ma Hongjun on the battered wooden table before lowering his voice.

"Teacher, we... we ran into that Karma Fire Phoenix at Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena."

"Karma Fire Phoenix?"

Flender frowned. "The one who's been making quite a name for himself lately?"

"That's him."

Dai Mubai gritted his teeth. "Fatty won seven matches in a row at the arena and announced that he wanted to challenge him. That guy really showed up. Once they got on the stage, Fatty... Fatty lost."

"So he lost. Does that mean he had to be beaten into this state?"

Flender looked down at Ma Hongjun's crotch, his face turning so dark it seemed ready to drip water. "That bastard was trying to cripple him!"

"Teacher..."

Ma Hongjun weakly opened his eyes, grabbed Flender's sleeve, and burst into tears.

"It's gone... it's all gone... Wuwuwu... You have to stand up for me!"

"Don't worry, your teacher will definitely—"

Flender abruptly stopped. His eyes swept over Ma Hongjun's face, then shifted to Dai Mubai. His brow furrowed tightly.

"Wait. You said you were in Heaven Dou City?"

"Yes..."

"Heaven Dou City is at least several hundred li from Suotuo City. What were you doing over there?"

Dai Mubai's expression stiffened as he stammered, "Well... we just wanted to take a look around..."

"Take a look around, my ass!"

Flender slammed his palm onto the table. "Recruitment starts tomorrow, and you two ran all the way to Heaven Dou City to fight in the arena, then got Hongjun turned into this sorry state!"

Ma Hongjun sobbed as he complained, "Teacher... that Karma Fire Phoenix was too arrogant... He humiliated me in front of the whole arena... He even said Shrek was full of trash..."

"He said Shrek was trash?"

Flender's eyes widened, and even his beard bristled.

"Yes! He said you were nothing but a poor con man who couldn't even afford to run a proper academy, and that you could only fool idiots into coming here to study..."

Ma Hongjun wiped his tears as he spoke. "I couldn't take it, so I fought him... Who knew he'd be so vicious..."

Flender's face turned livid, and his clenched fists cracked loudly.

"What did that Karma Fire Phoenix look like? What was his cultivation? What Martial Soul did he use?"

Dai Mubai hurriedly answered, "Red hair, looked about twelve or thirteen, a Soul Ancestor. His Soul Rings were two purple and two black. His Martial Soul was also a phoenix like Fatty's, but his flames were much stronger than Fatty's Evil Fire. And..."

"And what?"

"And... his flames could suppress Fatty's Martial Soul."

Dai Mubai paused before cautiously adding that last sentence.

Flender fell silent for a moment, a flicker of alarm and disbelief passing through his eyes.

A twelve- or thirteen-year-old Soul Ancestor, with two purple and two black Soul Rings, who could even suppress the Evil Fire Phoenix?

What kind of monster was that?

Flender remained silent with a grim expression for a long while. "You two wait here. I'll go get Teacher Shao Xin!"

With that, he turned and headed outside.

Not long afterward, Flender returned with a short, plump middle-aged man with a kindly face. He was Shao Xin, Shrek Academy's sole food-type Soul Emperor.

"Teacher Shao, please take a look at Hongjun!"

Flender urgently pointed at Ma Hongjun, who was curled into a ball on the wooden table.

The moment Shao Xin saw Ma Hongjun's miserable state, his expression changed drastically.

He hurried forward, crouched down, and carefully pulled away the hand Ma Hongjun was using to cover his crotch.

Under the dim yellow lamplight, the blackened area was horrifying to behold.

Shao Xin sharply inhaled, his brow knotting tightly.

He extended a finger and gently pressed the skin around the charred area. Then he leaned closer and sniffed the burnt smell, his face growing uglier and uglier.

"Teacher Shao, how is he?" Flender leaned closer and asked anxiously.

Shao Xin stood, dusted off his hands, and sighed. "Old Flender, I'll be honest with you."

He pointed at Ma Hongjun's crotch. "I can barely heal the rotting flesh around it with my Soul Skill, but the middle part... has already been completely carbonized. The meridians, blood vessels, and nerves have all been burned away."

"What does that mean?" Flender's face went pale.

"It means..."

Shao Xin spread his hands, his tone helpless. "That thing has turned into charcoal. Even an immortal couldn't put it back. From now on, he'll have to squat when he uses the toilet. Forget about pissing standing up."

When Ma Hongjun heard that, his eyes rolled back, and he nearly fainted again.

"Teacher Shao... p-please, think of something else..."

Ma Hongjun sobbed and grabbed Shao Xin's pant leg. "I haven't even married yet! I haven't left an heir for the Ma family!"

Shao Xin looked down at him, then at Flender, and helplessly shook his head. "Old Flender, it's not that I'm not trying. There really is no way. Those flames were extremely strange. They didn't just burn the flesh—they also destroyed the Soul Power channels inside. Even the best healing medicine could only grow back a layer of skin. The inside would be hollow."

"Hollow?" Ma Hongjun's eyes widened.

"Yes, hollow."

Shao Xin gestured with his hands. "Like an overbaked sweet potato. It may look fine on the outside, but the inside is all black charcoal."

After saying that, he shook his head, sighed, patted Ma Hongjun on the shoulder, and turned to leave.

When he reached the doorway, he paused without looking back and added one final sentence.

"Old Flender, let me give you some advice. It's best not to provoke that Karma Fire Phoenix. Anyone capable of producing flames like that definitely has someone backing him."

With that, he vanished into the night.

The courtyard fell silent for several seconds.

Ma Hongjun lay on the wooden table, staring wide-eyed at the pitch-black night sky. His lips trembled as tears silently streamed down his face.

It wasn't as though he had never cried before.

When he was young, Flender had forced him to train until he cried from exhaustion.

When girls at brothels looked down on him, he had cried in anger.

But never before had he felt such a chill seeping from his bones.

Gone.

It was all gone.

He would not even be able to stand up anymore.