Across Shrek Square, Mu Jin had not even made Class Nine run, purely to form a vivid contrast of "one in heaven and one on earth" with Zhou Yi.
The students strolled around the square in a scattered manner, chatting and laughing, thoroughly relaxed and content.
To avoid disturbing the others running, Tang Qi intentionally led Huo Yutong and Xiao Xiao to the very outer perimeter. Even so, someone lacking eyes still proactively crashed right into them.
A blonde youth with an alluring and wicked face, followed by a panting black-haired girl, was running fast against the flow of people from the outermost circle.
Both fully displayed the posture of Jiahao.
"Huabin, wait for me..." The black-haired girl was out of breath, her voice carrying a hint of entreaty.
"Huabin, on the path to growing stronger, I, Dai Huabin, will not wait for anyone!" The blonde youth turned his head, his tone full of adolescent determination.
Tang Qi, who was chatting idly with the two girls, raised his gaze at the sound. The next second, those two maverick figures had already rushed right up close.
Tang Qi's gaze flashed, and he took a light step forward.
"Boom-!"
The ground suddenly churned, and countless thick pieces of Blue Silver Wood burst out from the earth, coiling and intertwining as they rose layer upon layer to stand tall.
In the blink of an eye, a dark-green giant wooden shield rose straight from the ground, its surface covered in dense patterns with its roots firmly anchored in the earth.
"Huabin, watch out!" Zhu Lu's pupils shrank as she let out a startled cry.
Dai Huabin was caught off guard and crashed straight into the wooden shield.
"Bang!"
After a dull thud, the wooden shield remained completely motionless.
Dai Huabin bounced backward, heavily crashing onto the ground.
"Huabin, are you alright?" Zhu Lu trotted forward and reached out to help him up.
Yet Dai Huabin angrily brushed her hand away and abruptly scrambled up from the ground.
He stepped past the wooden shield, rubbed his nose, and opened his mouth with uncontrollable rage to hurl insults.
Yet when he clearly saw Tang Qi's iconic pink-blue short hair, he paused in a daze: "It's you?"
Tang Qi protected Huo Yutong and Xiao Xiao behind him, looking at this blondie with a bewildered expression.
Does this Jiahao know me?
The anger in Dai Huabin's eyes subsided slightly.
As one of the only four Soul Elders among this batch of first-years, he naturally had intentionally inquired into the backgrounds of the other three.
Ning Tian, young master of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, a Support Soul Master, nothing to worry about.
Xie Huanyue, limited threat.
Only this Tang Qi, reaching rank thirty-seven at age eleven with a Martial Soul that was even the legendary Blue Silver Emperor, managed to arouse a bit of his interest.
He considered his and Zhu Lu's innate talent to vastly surpass that of Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing from ten thousand years ago.
And now, a Tang Qi with a "Tang San template" had popped out instead.
Wasn't Ning Tian the Nine-Colored Goddess?
This looked like a golden age for sure!
How could his own uterine brother, who didn't even have a cat-girlfuck-buddy, possibly contend with him for the position of "Dai Mubai"?!
Just as Dai Huabin was completely immersed in his own self-indulgent daydreaming delusions, his gaze was suddenly drawn to the girl behind Tang Qi.
The girl's delicate body was tense, her complexion as gloomy as frost, emitting a terrifying aura all over.
Those tender eyes were currently filled with bone-deep hatred, and the girl's fists were clenched so tightly that her nails dug into her palms without her even realizing it.
It was this person.
It was him! He was one of the culprits who killed her mother!
"Yutong..."
Xiao Xiao was the first to notice the girl's abnormality. She reached out in a fluster and gently grabbed the girl's trembling wrist.
Within the Sea of Consciousness, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was also tossed right out of her bedding by this sudden, violent surge of emotion.
She scrambled up in a flurry, and having previously inspected Huo Yutong's memories, she realized what was happening in an instant: "Little Yutong! Calm down for sister's sake, will you!"
Dai Huabin narrowed his eyes, lingering on the girl's face, the more he looked the more familiar she seemed.
"Whose humble maid's daughter are you?!" he suddenly said in a deep voice.
Huo Yutong's delicate body trembled violently.
"How did trash like you even enter Shrek Academy? Didn't I long ago tell Mother to sell you off?"
Dai Huabin's tone was full of disgust and disdain.
The feudal nobility's offspring disdain chain had always been: legitimate son > concubine's son > maid-born son > mistress's son.
And Huo Yutong's identity in the White Tiger Duke's Mansion happened to be that of a maid-born child.
Nominally, a maid-born child was higher than a mistress's child, but at least a mistress's child didn't live in the mansion and didn't have to endure daily torment from these people.
How could Dai Huabin possibly tolerate a daughter born to a lowly maid having the qualifications to share the same academy with him?
Huo Yutong bit down hard on her lower lip, her pink lips already bitten until they seeped blood. Crimson light flickered within the girl's pupils.
She couldn't cause trouble for Brother Tang Qi.
"I asked you a question! Are your ears deaf?" His volume abruptly rose, his features slightly distorted with anger.
Tang Qi abruptly grabbed Dai Huabin's wrist.
"What did you just call her?"
A chilling voice suddenly rang out.
"Lowly-"
Dai Huabin instinctively opened his mouth, but before the words could finish.
"Slap-!"
A crisp, resounding face-slap landed solidly across his cheek.
Dai Huabin staggered back two steps, half of his face swelling up at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"You hit me for her?" Dai Huabin covered his face, his eyes full of sheer disbelief.
Oi, don't say things that easily make people misunderstand.
Tang Qi, whose eyes had originally been crimson and breathing like a bull, instantly had black lines covering his head upon hearing this: "Do I fucking know you? What kind of thing do you think you are?"
The astonishment in the depths of Dai Huabin's eyes was gradually replaced by a towering rage. He glared fiercely at Tang Qi.
"Huabin, he actually dared to hit you!" Zhu Lu rushed over with a heart-pained expression, reaching out to touch his swollen cheek.
"Scram!"
Dai Huabin shoved her away with a single push.
He had originally cast himself into the role of Dai Mubai, fantasizing about writing a continuation of the First-Generation Shrek Seven Devils alongside Tang Qi, this "Tang San".
Yet...
"Third Soul Skill, White Tiger Vajra Transformation!"
Dai Huabin let out a furious roar, his muscles bulging all over his body, and white fur drilled out from beneath his skin like steel needles, his entire figure expanding by a full circle.
Before his claws could even lash out, a dark shadow faster than him had already met him head-on.
Crimson light wrapped in purple-black patterns, a Clear Sky Hammer, appeared in Tang Qi's hand without any warning.
"Ugh, ah-!"
A miserable, piercing scream pierced the sky above the square.
Dai Huabin flew backward, drawing a curve in the air before heavily slamming onto the ground, going straight to sleep right then and there.
"Huabin!" Zhu Lu let out a startled cry, turning her head to glare at Tang Qi with rage.
Yet what met her was a pair of cold, indifferent eyes.
Zhu Lu only felt as though she had been tossed into an ice cellar in the Far North.
Trembling uncontrollably all over, she ran like fleeing for her life toward the fallen Dai Huabin.
"You've really turned rebellious." Tang Qi curled his lip, casually putting the Clear Sky Hammer away.
Let alone this Dai Huabin, even if his ancestor Dai Mubai dared to curse Xiao Wu right in front of Haji San, he should try it.
Did he really want to force Old Three to awaken his Tang family bloodline and eat a taste of the Way of Death before he'd behave?
The next second, a soft, delicate figure pounced right into his arms.
Huo Yutong buried her face in his chest, her suppressed sobs coming in broken gasps, whimpering like an injured little beast.
Tang Qi remained silent for a moment, extending a hand to slowly stroke the girl's head.
This wave should probably start with the nuclear family.
"The Clear Sky Hammer..."
In the distance, Ning Tian blankly gazed at Tang Qi, her beautiful eyes wide open, her pretty face filled with sheer disbelief.
Wu Feng, who had previously still dared to "hiss" at Tang Qi behind her, was now withered as if lacking water, holding not a shred of her "Spinosaurus Form" anymore.
"Tang Qi, you really have given me an enormous surprise." Ning Tian murmured to herself, her tone filled with suppressed excitement and fanaticism.
"Tang Qi, I'm locking you down!"
"Young Master... you?" Wu Feng hesitatingly opened her mouth.
Ning Tian turned her head, fixing a blazing gaze upon her: "When the critical moment comes, you're getting up there too!"
"I... I have to go up too?" Wu Feng widened her eyes, the tips of her ears slightly red.
Did this count as... living and dying together with the Young Master, growing old together to the white of their hair, to some extent?
Just as Wu Feng's mind was wandering beyond the heavens, Ning Tian suddenly raised her head to look around, her delicate brows slightly furrowing as she shook Wu Feng.
"Where are people?"
Wu Feng snapped back to her senses, looking around in a daze: "I don't know?"
Before you continue