Sky Invincible, Qian Daoliu!

Ning Rongrong shook her head.

"Not necessarily."

"Bo Saixi can use her full strength in the Ocean."

"Qian Daoliu excels at fighting in the air."

"Who's stronger would depend on where they fought."

Zhu Zhuqing looked down at her hands.

"A Limit Douluo."

"One day, I'll become that strong too."

She clenched her fists, turned, and headed for the Training Ground.

Xiao Wu hurriedly called after her.

"Zhu Zhuqing, where are you going?"

"To train."

Xiao Wu looked helpless.

"Yu Xiaogang's already gone. What's the point?"

"Today's weighted training is over."

Zhu Zhuqing stopped.

"But I can keep going."

"At my current strength, I'm nowhere near them."

"If I waste even my spare time, how will I ever catch up to people that strong?"

Ning Rongrong walked over to Zhu Zhuqing.

She reached out and caught Zhu Zhuqing by the arm.

"Zhu Zhuqing, rest for a while."

"There's a right way to train."

"Making us carry rocks and run every day, like Yu Xiaogang does, barely helps at all."

Zhu Zhuqing frowned slightly.

"Weighted training can strengthen the body."

"It can," Ning Rongrong said.

"But it's far too inefficient."

"Having Teacher Zhao Wuji use Gravity Compression Training would work much better."

"Gravity acts evenly on the whole body, and he could adjust its intensity to what each person can bear."

"But Yu Xiaogang insists on making everyone run with rocks on their backs."

The more she spoke, the more dissatisfied she became.

"I'm a support-type Soul Master."

"My body was never as strong as those of you Battle Soul Masters."

"Yet Yu Xiaogang makes me carry a rock almost as heavy as yours."

"After every session, my shoulders hurt for days."

Xiao Wu nodded in heartfelt agreement.

"My feet hurt too."

"And after the run, we have to carry the rocks back ourselves."

Ning Rongrong gave a little huff.

"And he calls that treating everyone equally."

"Soul Masters all have different Martial Souls, Soul Power, and physical abilities."

"How is training everyone the exact same way treating them equally?"

Zhu Zhuqing hesitated.

"He said it was to build our willpower."

"That isn't how you build willpower, either."

Ning Rongrong pulled her back down to sit.

"Shrek Academy doesn't even have a decent Training Ground."

"No Mimicry Cultivation Environment."

"No proper training equipment."

"No Medicinal Baths or Recovery Medicine, either."

"Every day, all we do is run or fight each other."

She raised a hand and rubbed her shoulder.

"I'm the young lady of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect."

"But since coming to this run-down academy, I've slept in a shabby wooden hut and eaten ordinary meals."

"After training, I can't even find a Soul Master whose job is to help our bodies recover."

"And Yu Xiaogang still tells us every day that we aren't working hard enough."

Xiao Wu leaned against her.

"Rongrong, how did you train at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?"

"The sect has a Mimicry Training Ground," Ning Rongrong said.

"Support-type Soul Masters have their own training area."

"Elders plan everything: how long we cultivate each day, how many support Soul Skills we use, and how much Spiritual Power we expend."

"After training, we have Medicinal Baths to help our bodies recover."

"Nothing like this place."

She glanced at the crude wooden huts in the distance.

"We paid so much tuition, and they don't even have proper equipment."

"Dean Flender even says Shrek only accepts monsters."

"With conditions this poor, that's all he can say to save face."

Xiao Wu couldn't help laughing.

"If Dean Flender heard you, he'd say the academy doesn't have enough funding again."

"If funding's so tight, why is tuition so expensive?"

Ning Rongrong curled her lip.

"Even a random elementary Soul Master Academy run by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has better facilities than this place."

Zhu Zhuqing sat beside them.

She glanced toward the Training Ground, still looking conflicted.

"But if I don't train..."

Ning Rongrong cut her off.

"Resting for half an hour won't make you weaker."

"If your body hasn't recovered, more training will only leave you with hidden injuries."

Xiao Wu took Zhu Zhuqing's other arm.

"Zhu Zhuqing, sit with us for a bit."

"The Golden Rankings are about to reveal the next name."

Zhu Zhuqing looked at them both.

After a moment, she finally gave up on getting to her feet.

"Only half an hour."

Ning Rongrong nodded.

"All right."

The three of them looked up at the sky once more.

Golden light began to cover Qian Daoliu's name.

The sky changed again.

Shrek Academy.

By the lake.

Ning Rongrong, Xiao Wu, and Zhu Zhuqing were still sitting in the shade of a tree.

The three of them looked up at the sky.

Qian Daoliu's name hung high in sixth place.

A Level 99 Limit Douluo.

The Angel God's representative.

Invincible in the sky.

Yet even someone that strong had failed to reach the top five.

Footsteps sounded behind them.

Liu Erlong came walking along the lakeshore.

She glanced up at the Heaven Rankings and soon noticed the three beneath the tree.

Ning Rongrong was the first to stand.

"Teacher Erlong."

Xiao Wu stood as well.

"Teacher Erlong."

Zhu Zhuqing nodded slightly.

"Teacher Erlong."

Liu Erlong came over to them.

Her eyes remained on Qian Daoliu's description.

"Even Qian Daoliu is only sixth?"

"He's Spirit Hall's Great Enshrined, one of the strongest people known on the continent."

"A Level 99 Limit Douluo with Demigod-level cultivation who can call upon the Angel God's power."

"And even he can't make the top five."

Liu Erlong folded her arms, her brow furrowing.

"These Heaven Rankings are absurd."

"Almost every well-known powerhouse on the continent has appeared already."

"Tang Chen, Bo Saixi, Qian Daoliu, and Spirit Hall's Bibi Dong."

"On the Soul Beast side, there's the Snow Empress, the Evil-Eyed Tyrant, and the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King."

"I honestly can't imagine who could fill the top five."

Ning Rongrong nodded.

"We were just trying to guess too."

"But no matter how long we thought about it, we couldn't come up with a single name."

"Qian Daoliu is already a Limit Douluo, and he can borrow Angel Divine Power."

"If even he ranks only sixth, the top five may have surpassed ordinary Demigods."

Xiao Wu propped up her chin with one hand.

"Could the top five all be true Deities?"

"After receiving his reward, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King reached the level of a Third-Level God."

"Bo Saixi and Qian Daoliu received Third-Level God cultivation too."

"The top five might have been at the level of gods even before that."

Liu Erlong shook her head slightly.

"Deities rarely appear on the continent in person."

"If the Heaven Rankings included Deities from the Divine Realm, the top ten wouldn't consist of these people."

"Since this list is called the Douluo Strength Rankings, it should only rank powerhouses on the Douluo Continent."

Ning Rongrong looked toward the top of the Heaven Rankings.

Golden light still hid it from view.

"That makes it even stranger."

"There are at least five people hidden on the Douluo Continent who are stronger than Qian Daoliu."

"The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has informants across the continent, but I've never heard Dad mention any of them."