Cloud Peak vs. Shrek

"Come on, Boss. If you wanted to test our strength, you could've just said so. Why make up an excuse? It's not like we—"

Before Wang Sheng could finish, Xiao Chenyu jabbed him several times and manually muted him.

"No need to trouble yourself with tempering us, Boss. We haven't finished challenging all the major cities of the Heaven Dou Empire yet. We'll go kick up a fuss right away—ptui, go gain experience."

As he spoke, Xiao Chenyu covered Wang Sheng's mouth and tried to drag him out of the meeting room, only for Chu Zhao to stop them.

"Go challenge Shrek Academy's team. While you're at it, deliver this letter to a girl among them named Zhu Zhuqing and bring her to our academy."

As she spoke, Chu Zhao tossed over a letter. Xiao Chenyu, standing by the door, caught it steadily. He did not understand how a student from another academy could be summoned by a single letter, but he knew he only needed to follow Chu Zhao's instructions.

Thus, he merely said, "Understood. We'll get moving right away. But for this match, do we have to win like before?"

"You don't have to win. Just do your best."

Although Xiao Chenyu's group of seven far surpassed the Shrek team in Soul Power, Chu Zhao had no idea how powerful Tang San's Male Lead Halo was. Shi Yang, that Transmigrator, definitely had some sort of halo as well, so she truly could not guarantee that they would win.

Still, they were bound to meet and become opponents eventually. It would be good for them to test each other first and prepare for what was to come.

Chu Zhao did not go herself. She merely arranged for two Soul Saint teachers to lead the team—one specializing in powerful attacks and the other in healing—to ensure their safety.

She also told them to report the match's process and outcome in detail from beginning to end.

Xiao Chenyu's group of seven encountered the Shrek Seven Devils at the Great Soul Arena in a major city not far from Heaven Dou City. Xiao Chenyu's group had deliberately made it happen.

There were only so many Gold Dou Spirit Teams at the Soul Elder level in any major city. As long as they looked in the right place, running into each other was easy.

Before the match began, Xiao Chenyu deliberately took Wang Sheng for a walk around the betting area of the Soul Arena. After seeing countless people gambling away fortunes in a single throw, Wang Sheng's aura immediately began to rise.

As he did before every match, Xiao Chenyu had taken Wang Sheng to look at the gambling house to stir up his anger and raise his strength. But this time, Wang Sheng was angrier than ever, because he happened to run into Flender, who had come to place a bet.

"Isn't that bespectacled guy the headmaster of Shrek Academy? As the head of an academy, he's actually addicted to gambling? Can he guarantee his luck will stay good forever? Isn't he afraid of losing everything and dragging his students down with him?"

Wang Sheng despised every gambler equally. Once he thought of how the Shrek team they were about to face consisted of students of the gambling addict Flender, he had been holding back a breath of anger ever since.

That anger pushed his strength to an unprecedented level. Though only level thirty-five, he faced the level thirty-eight Dai Mubai as soon as he took the field and actually did not fall behind.

On Shrek's side, Tang San, acting as the team's main controller, was stunned by the two familiar faces on the field. He nearly thought he was dreaming and failed to react for a moment.

"Aren't those Wang Sheng and Xiao Chenyu? How did their strength rise so quickly? They're Soul Elders too? Did they eat some kind of miraculous pill or something?"

Xiao Wu understood Tang San's shock, and unlike him, she was not so composed. She could not suppress the astonished words spilling from her mouth.

Looking at Wang Sheng and Xiao Chenyu, both Soul Elders with one white, one yellow, and one purple Soul Ring respectively, Xiao Wu suspected just as Tang San did that she was dreaming—or that they had simply encountered people who looked exactly the same.

Yet the same names, the same Martial Souls, and the same First Soul Skills all told them that these were their former classmates from Notting Academy.

"Xiao Wu, you know them? Which academy are they from?"

Shi Yang suddenly heard two rather familiar names from Xiao Wu. Though he had already charged into the enemy formation, he abruptly turned back to look at Xiao Wu and hurriedly asked.

"Why ask Xiao Wu when you can ask me?"

Xiao Chenyu met Shi Yang's attack and very kindly answered his question.

"Xiao Wu and I were classmates for a year at Notting Junior Academy. But I'm now a student of Cloud Peak Advanced Soul Master Academy. Isn't my team name obvious enough?"

As he spoke, Xiao Chenyu activated his First Soul Skill.

With his Martial Soul Possession activated, his hands had already taken on the form of wolf claws. His First Soul Skill, Wolf Fang Thrust, further enhanced the claws' sharpness and power.

Shi Yang was still dazed by Xiao Chenyu's mention of Notting Academy and failed to respond in time. Had Tang San not reacted quickly and used Blue Silver Grass to yank him away, he would likely have been injured.

"Focus. Leave him to me."

After pulling Shi Yang out of Xiao Chenyu's attack range, Tang San faced Xiao Chenyu himself.

"I never expected your strength to improve so quickly after five years apart. I almost didn't recognize you just now."

After exchanging a palm strike with Xiao Chenyu, Tang San discovered that the other party's strength was not weak in the slightest. He made his assessment, then curiously asked how Xiao Chenyu had improved so quickly.

"What level are you now? How did you improve so fast?"

"I'm level thirty-five now. As for why I improved so quickly, I can only say that I met a benefactor. I suffered a little, but gained powerful strength in return. It was worth it."

Xiao Chenyu did not go into detail. He knew Tang San and they had a bit of friendship between them, but it was too shallow. He would not do something as foolish as speaking too deeply with someone he barely knew.

Some things did not need others to know about them or acknowledge them.

The medicinal baths and medicinal cuisine of those years, the day-and-night high-intensity training—he did not know how much blood he had shed or how much pain he had endured. It was as if every piece of muscle and bone had been reforged before he achieved what he had today.

He was proud enough of that. He did not need anyone else's gaze.

"Level thirty-five!"

Tang San's voice brimmed with astonishment. He could not believe what he had heard. He had thought Xiao Chenyu had only just entered the thirtieth level, but Xiao Chenyu was actually two levels higher than him. Tang San was beginning to wonder whether Xiao Chenyu, rather than himself, possessed Innate Full Soul Power.

"What about Wang Sheng? Don't tell me he's level thirty-five too."

In the corner of Tang San's eye were two tigers fighting in close combat, one with White Fur Black Stripes and the other with Yellow Fur Black Stripes. They still had not determined a victor and remained locked in stalemate.

"You guessed right."

After saying that, Xiao Chenyu looked at Shrek's seven members, all of whom possessed the ideal Soul Ring configuration, and felt immensely envious.

"Unfortunately, we met her too late. Our first Soul Rings are only ten-year ones."

"But even if our Soul Rings aren't ideally configured, we'll never give up on ourselves. Our Innate Soul Power was so low, yet haven't we still cultivated to become Soul Elders?"

Xiao Chenyu's aura suddenly changed.