Shrek, the Continent's Laughingstock

"You want me to stay in this trash heap as an undercover agent?" Wang Dong'er sneered inwardly.

She turned back to look at the calm-faced youth in white before her. It was this very person who had barely even fully unleashed his martial soul before crushing Shrek's pride as easily as swatting flies. That arrogance—the utter disdain for the so-called number one academy on the continent—felt more real to her at this moment than any false warmth ever could.

She did not hesitate for even half a second.

Wang Dong'er stepped forward.

Tap, tap, tap.

Her little leather boots landed on the cracked tiles of the arena. The sound was not loud, yet it struck everyone in the stands like a heavy hammer—and hit Wang Yan's already shattered heart at the bottom of the pit even harder.

"Dong'er... what are you doing...? Stop! Stop right now!" As though suddenly returning from the brink of death, Wang Yan lunged forward on all fours. His soot-covered hand clawed desperately ahead, his hoarse voice rasping like sandpaper against a wall.

Wang Dong'er did not even spare him a glance.

She walked straight up to Yu Chen and stopped before him. They stood very close. She could even smell the clean, crisp scent on him, completely unlike the scorched stench of the ruins.

She raised her hand and firmly, without the slightest hesitation, placed her small hand—chilled by her turbulent emotions—into his broad, powerful palm.

His hand was warm, carrying a sense of security so intense it made her scalp tingle.

"I'll go with you."

Four words. Her voice was clear and not loud, yet it rang distinctly through the deathly silent Soul Arena.

Boom!

The stands instantly erupted. Everyone sucked in a breath, their scalps going numb. A core member of Shrek Academy's Preparatory Team had not only failed to avenge her companions before the whole world—she had actually taken the enemy's hand and defected on the spot!

It was more humiliating than tearing down Shrek's signboard and soaking it in a cesspit for three days and nights!

At the bottom of the pit.

A pile of charred rubble clattered down.

Huo Yuhao, who had been deeply unconscious, was forcibly roused by the searing pain and the piercing cries around him. He cracked open one eye. His vision was blurry, his eyeball webbed with ruptured red veins.

Yet that one glance showed him the most infuriating sight of his life.

Wang Dong'er—the proud little swan who usually barely acknowledged him, the companion he had secretly admired—was now standing obediently beside the demon who had destroyed everything he had. Their hands were tightly clasped together.

A wheezing sound like a broken bellows came from Huo Yuhao's throat.

Jealousy, humiliation, despair, venomous resentment. Countless emotions churned wildly through his mind like a meat grinder. He wanted to roar, to rush over and tear those two hands apart, but the slightest exertion sent unbearable agony through his shattered meridians.

"Puh—"

A mouthful of black blood mixed with fragments of organs spurted from Huo Yuhao's mouth, splashing onto the scorching earth before him with a sizzling hiss.

His eyes rolled back. Before he could even force out a complete final word, his head lolled to one side, and he fell into a dead faint once more.

"Yuhao!" Wang Yan completely broke down, collapsing on the ground and howling in grief.

Yu Chen paid no attention to the farce behind him.

Feeling that cool softness in his palm, a satisfied curve rose at the corner of his lips. His fingers closed slightly around the girl's hand.

Without another word of nonsense, he directly pulled Wang Dong'er around.

The hem of his white robes fluttered in the breeze drifting through the ruins, leaving the tens of thousands in the arena with an incomparably aloof back.

"Let's go."

Yu Chen did not look back. His tone was as casual as if he were discussing dinner.

"I'll take you somewhere to kill some real beasts."

Soto City. Old Jack Tavern.

A coarse porcelain wine bowl slammed heavily onto a grease-stained wooden table. Wine splashed across half the face of a mercenary beside it, but he did not even have time to wipe it off. His eyes were fixed on the skinny monkey who had just run in from outside.

"You've gone crazy from drinking horse piss. How could Shrek's people possibly lose?"

The skinny monkey slapped his thigh anxiously, spraying spit all over the table.

"It's absolutely true! Even the arena at the Great Soul Arena was blasted to pieces! That Huo Yuhao was crippled, and Xu Sanshi was lying there like a dead dog. The most outrageous part was that Wang Dong'er ran off with that ruthless guy called Thunder Dragon right on the spot!"

The tavern fell deathly silent.

Then a burst of laughter erupted, loud enough to lift the roof.

The news seemed to have grown legs. In less than half a day, it had exploded across Soto City, Heaven Dou City, and Star Luo City.

Extra! Extra! Shrek Preparatory Team suffers crushing defeat! Genius Wang Dong'er defects publicly to the mysterious powerhouse Thunder Dragon!

The more the news spread, the more outrageous it became—and the more excited people grew.

At this time in previous years, the entrance to Shrek Academy's junior recruitment station in Soto City would be packed with people. The nobles desperate to send their children inside could practically trample down the threshold.

Now, outside the recruitment station.

A draft swept several withered yellow leaves across the entrance. The Shrek teacher in charge of admissions sat behind his desk, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.

All morning, not even a single person had come to fill out an application.

At the tea stall on the opposite street corner, several independent soul masters pointed in this direction, speaking loudly as though afraid no one would hear them.

"What monster academy? Turns out they're only tough among themselves."

"They were beaten flat without the other side even really using his martial soul, yet they still brag about being number one on the continent."

"I'd say that signboard is completely ruined."

The Shrek teacher abruptly rose to his feet and crushed the porcelain cup in his hand, but he could not utter a single retort. Because it was the truth.

Heavenly Dragon Gate's secret pavilion in Soto City.

Sandalwood incense curled through the air.

The First Elder clutched an urgent intelligence report stamped in red. His withered fingers trembled violently.

He read it three times in full.

The elders beside him barely dared to breathe, thinking some disaster had occurred.

"Good. Good!"

The First Elder suddenly slammed his palm onto the rosewood table. Several cracks instantly split across its hard surface.

He threw back his head and burst into wild laughter.

"The young master is mighty! Hahaha! Those hypocrites from Shrek have been swindling people in human skin for so many years. At last, someone has torn their faces off!"

The Second Elder stepped closer, his eyes lighting up as well.

"Heaven has eyes. The young master's fierce name as Thunder Dragon has truly resounded throughout the continent now."

The Third Elder rubbed his hands excitedly.

"First Elder, what should we do next? The young master has poked a hole in the sky. Shrek is definitely going to go mad."

"Mad? Let them go mad!" A vicious glint flashed through the First Elder's eyes.

He stood up, and the imposing pressure of a powerful expert flickered through the hall.

"Pass down my order. Immediately take over all industries around Soto City's Great Soul Arena! It's also time for Shrek's intelligence network in the area to change owners. Strike while they're down and tear off a huge piece of flesh for me!"

"Yes!"

The elders answered in unison, bloodthirsty light gleaming in their eyes.