Going to Heaven Dou

Early the next morning, the entrance to Shrek Academy was livelier than usual.

Flender stood before the shabby school Gate, looking as conflicted as if he had just sold his favorite glasses.

"You're really going to Heaven Dou City?"

Bai Jin yawned.

"Mm."

"What for?"

"To eat, train, and see if anyone wants to kill Tang San while we're there."

Tang San: "..."

He really could have said that without Tang San standing right there.

Flender rubbed his brow.

A letter had arrived from Ning Fengzhi the night before.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect already knew what had happened in the Star Dou Great Forest. Ning Fengzhi was worried about Ning Rongrong, but he was also interested in Bai Jin's growth and how Shrek was developing. His letter was courteous, but its meaning was clear.

If Shrek was willing to go to Heaven Dou City, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect could help arrange a place for them to stay.

Of course Flender was tempted.

Nothing frightened a poor man more than someone pelting him with sincere money.

But he was reluctant to leave, too.

Shrek might be run-down, but he had built the place brick by brick. He was happy to see the students leave for a bigger stage, and it hurt all the same.

Bai Jin glanced at him.

"Dean, stop looking like you're selling your children."

Flender's face darkened.

"Who's selling children?"

"You've got prices written in your eyes."

"Get lost!"

Everyone burst out laughing.

The laughter eased the gloom of parting.

Zhao Wuji patted Flender's shoulder. "Boss, children have to go out into the world eventually."

Flender was silent for a moment, then snorted.

"Fine, go. Just remember to come back and pay your tuition."

Ma Hongjun immediately wailed, "Dean, you're still thinking about that?"

"Of course I am. If I'm not thinking about money, should I be thinking about you?"

Oscar whispered, "The dean really loves us."

Dai Mubai nodded. "His love comes at a steep price."

Before they left, Bai Jin called everyone to the training ground.

His injuries had not fully healed. Standing lazily in the sunlight, he looked nothing like someone who had just driven off a Titan Giant Ape.

"One last lesson before we go."

Ma Hongjun grew wary. "We're not getting beaten up again, are we?"

"Smart."

Ma Hongjun turned and ran.

He had barely taken two steps when he slammed into Limitless and flattened against the air, as though he had hit a transparent wall.

Bai Jin smiled. "Come back."

And so the final lesson began.

Bai Jin used no powerful Soul Skills, only basic Soul Power suppression and footwork, as he took turns beating all seven of them.

He knew exactly how hard to hit.

It still hurt.

Bai Jin kicked Dai Mubai back three steps and told him to remember that being a Power Attack System Soul Master did not mean standing still to see who could shout louder. He forced Zhu Zhuqing out of hiding with a single leaf and told her that what an Agility Attack System Soul Master feared most was not being slow, but having someone predict her next move.

Ma Hongjun had it worst.

The moment his Phoenix Flame flared, Bai Jin used Limitless to stop it three inches from Ma Hongjun's face. The fatty nearly lost his soul to fright, but Bai Jin only smiled and asked, "Does your own fire smell good?"

Oscar took only a few hits.

Bai Jin said beating up a Food System Soul Master served no purpose.

Oscar had barely begun to feel touched when Bai Jin ordered him to run twenty laps around the training ground while reciting his sausage incantation. One wrong word, and he had to start over.

Bai Jin said the greatest skill of Support and Food System Soul Masters was not being useful when they were safe. It was still being useful when they were about to die.

Tang San took the most hits.

Because he thought the most.

Bai Jin had nothing against clever people, but clever people tended to make the road ahead too complicated. In the instant between life and death, ten plans often mattered less than one reliable choice.

Xiao Wu took plenty of hits too.

She was too quick to act on impulse, especially when Tang San was involved.

Dodging her kicks, Bai Jin said, "If you want to protect someone, protect yourself first. If you go down, he'll lose his mind."

Xiao Wu faltered.

Tang San glanced at her.

Neither of them spoke.

Ning Rongrong's training was the strangest.

Bai Jin had her stand in place and switch her enhancement between targets again and again. She could not call out the wrong name, be slow, or panic because someone was hurt.

"A Support System Soul Master can't just stand at the back and look pretty."

Bai Jin continued.

"If you're a moment late, someone at the front might lose their life."

Ning Rongrong gritted her teeth. Tears welled in her eyes, but she did not stop.

She had been spoiled since childhood, but she had gradually come to understand that willfulness meant nothing on a battlefield.

Bai Jin saw it, but offered no praise.

Praise came too early could make some growth go soft.

By dusk, they finally set out.

The carriage rolled out of Shrek Village, and the setting sun stretched the shabby school Gate's shadow far across the ground.

Flender stood by the Gate, grumbling.

"Little ingrates. They leave without even looking back a few more times."

Zhao Wuji stood beside him.

"Didn't you tell them not to look back?"

"Just because I told them not to, they really won't?"

Zhao Wuji thought about it. "They really are ungrateful."

Inside the carriage, Bai Jin leaned against the window. Hearing them, he gave a lazy wave.

"Dean, when I'm rich, I'll fix your Gate."

Flender's eyes lit up.

"Really?"

"No."

"Bai Jin!"

Laughter rang down the village road.

Tang San sat in a corner of the carriage, holding a blade of Blue Silver Grass.

What had happened in the Star Dou Great Forest still circled through his mind.

Blue Silver Emperor Blood.

The Titan Giant Ape.

Bai Jin's power.

They were like Gates, each hiding a world he had never imagined beyond it.

Bai Jin suddenly spoke.

"Don't think too much."

Tang San looked up.

Bai Jin's eyes were closed, as if he were asleep.

"Some answers aren't found by thinking. You have to fight your way to them."

Tang San was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"I know."

Bai Jin smiled.

"Then get some sleep. Once we reach Heaven Dou City, we still have to meet a troublesome young fellow."

Ning Rongrong asked curiously, "Who?"

Bai Jin thought for a moment.

"The Crown Prince."

Everyone fell silent at once.

Ma Hongjun whispered, "We're meeting the Crown Prince on our first day in Heaven Dou City?"

"Not necessarily."

"That's a relief."

"He might come to meet us first."

Everyone: "..."

That sounded even scarier.

But Bai Jin had already closed his eyes.

The next few days on the road were anything but peaceful.

Though Bai Jin had told them to rest, he sprang several little tests on them every day. In the morning, Tang San had to thread Blue Silver Grass through the gaps in the wheels while the carriage rattled along. In the afternoon, Ning Rongrong had to close her eyes and locate people by sound. At night, Bai Jin sent Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing into the woods to find each other before one stick of incense burned down.

Ma Hongjun and Oscar were in charge of logistics.

"Logistics" meant being forced to cook, set up camp, keep watch, and run errands.

The fatty protested once.

Bai Jin only asked, "You plan to fight without eating from now on?"

The fatty shut up at once.

Xiao Wu, unusually, had grown much quieter.

Now and then, she gazed toward the Star Dou Great Forest, her eyes distant. Tang San noticed, but did not press her. He simply sat down beside her.

Bai Jin saw it all and said nothing.

Some things were better understood on one's own than explained by someone else.

On the third day of their journey, a group of Soul Masters blocked the road.

They called themselves local mercenaries and demanded a toll, but as they spoke, their eyes kept drifting toward Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing.

Dai Mubai's expression darkened on the spot.

Bai Jin did not intervene.

He merely tossed Tang San a pebble.

"Handle it."

Tang San did not ask why.

Blue Silver Grass slipped out from beneath the carriage and wrapped around their ankles. With the force of Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, the pebble shot out and struck the lead Soul Master squarely on the wrist. Before his Martial Soul had fully manifested, he had been flung into a roadside ditch.

Xiao Wu charged after them, dropping one with every kick.

Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing sealed off both sides.

From start to finish, it took fewer than ten breaths.

Only then did Bai Jin clap slowly.

"See? Teamwork takes less effort than fighting one-on-one."

Ma Hongjun looked at the row of people sprawled on the ground and whispered, "Why does it still look pretty violent to me?"

Bai Jin shot him a glance.

"Efficient violence is called execution."

Oscar nodded solemnly. "Lesson learned."

Outside the carriage, Zhao Wuji's mouth twitched at the exchange, but he did not argue.

Because he had realized that these Little Monsters were truly beginning to look like a team.

Before, each of them had shone brightly on their own.

Dai Mubai's Power Attacks, Xiao Wu's close combat, Tang San's control, Zhu Zhuqing's speed, Ning Rongrong's enhancements, Oscar's Food, and Ma Hongjun's explosive power all had edges of their own.

But scattered edges only cut people.

Now, after Bai Jin had battered and kneaded them together, they were slowly taking shape.

Zhao Wuji suddenly found himself looking forward to it.

Once these children truly stepped onto a Soul Fighting stage, they would probably give a lot of people the shock of their lives.

The carriage rolled into the distance.

The lights of Heaven Dou City still lay farther off, deep in the night.