Brother Xiao Went from Arrogance to Obsequiousness; the Evil Fire Phoenix Attacked the God King

After a night had passed, they reached a remote wilderness on the border of the Dou Ling Empire.

"Why did we have to run so far? Flying to the Star Luo Empire wasn't enough—we had to fly all the way to the Dou Ling Empire too? Urgh..."

After spending an entire night aboard the Continent's Number One Airship, the weakling Xiao Hongchen crouched before a large tree, retching violently until he nearly vomited up his bile.

Ji Juechen said nothing. He lay sprawled nearby, panting heavily, his face deathly pale.

Refusing to cry out in pain was the Sword Addict's last shred of stubborn pride. What did these little winds and waves amount to? He would consider them a little wind and frost along the path of the sword.

"Because this way... we're safe. Cough, cough..."

After swallowing fierce winds all night, even a Qilin could not withstand the ordeal. Yu Tianjun coughed with a pale face, rubbing his chest to steady his breathing.

"Ahahaha! Young people just don't get enough exercise. Look how strong I am! Cough, cough, cough..."

Liao Mengkai lay on the male Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's belly, laughing up at the sky with a pale face—until his laughter made him choke!

That was a lie. Fleeing with a Level 9 Flying Soul Tool while carrying a ten-thousand-year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, looking after three precious youngsters and two captives, and keeping watch for experts from the Douluo Three Kingdoms had kept his nerves taut all night. Even a Level 9 Soul Engineer was nearly burned out.

"Since we're all like this, let's rest. If we keep running, I'm afraid those two will die."

Having vomited up a lifetime's worth of bitter bile, Xiao Hongchen pointed at the two unconscious women on the ground and spoke weakly.

Yu Tianjun tossed his long hair and took out the Soul Ring Storage Device, waving it. "Don't pocket the benefits and still play innocent. I stored the female bear's soul ring. Once we take it back, a special soul tool can remove Zhang Lexuan's aura and turn it into an unclaimed soul ring."

Xiao Hongchen's eyes instantly lit up. "Can I absorb it?"

"My Soul Ring Storage Device can only preserve it for seven days. First, think about whether you can reach rank fifty within seven days."

After reminding him, Yu Tianjun added, "You said you'd foot the bill for this trip. How much is a ten-thousand-year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear soul ring worth? Need me to calculate it for you?"

"Huh?"

Xiao Hongchen put on a mask of agony in an instant and wailed, "That's highway robbery!"

Yu Tianjun said, "Strictly speaking, you can't absorb it right now. It would be a shame to waste the soul ring. I'll try my luck at Mingdu's black market later. Someone will definitely pay a high price."

At some point, Liao Mengkai had stood up again. He raised his right hand high. "The Terror Claw Soul Engineer Legion has several promising youngsters with outstanding military achievements who need that soul ring!"

"Shut up, Vice Dean. The Hongchen Family has never known what money is."

Xiao Hongchen loudly interrupted Liao Mengkai. A flicker of pain crossed his eyes as he tossed out a Gold Soul Card.

"There are three million Gold Soul Coins in there. It's yours. Take your money and get away from my soul ring."

"Much obliged, much obliged."

"What a shame." Liao Mengkai clicked his tongue. The Terror Claw Soul Engineer Legion's totem was Xiong Jun. They were the ones best suited to a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear soul ring.

"Bwahahaha! Yu Tianjun, you're finished! You've personally created an unbeatable opponent! I'm still number one among our generation!"

The moment he received the Soul Ring Storage Device, Xiao Hongchen performed a Sichuan opera face change, planting his hands on his hips and laughing wildly at the sky.

The rain had passed, the sky had cleared, and Brother Xiao was back in business.

A Three-Legged Golden Toad paired with a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear soul ring would surely produce the strongest fifth soul skill. A measly Qilin? The Golden Toad would win!

"Really? What a shame, then."

Seeing this, Yu Tianjun clicked his tongue softly. "Last night, I found something else on that bear. Unfortunately, the weakest person here couldn't even get close."

"What else could be more valuable than a soul ring... holy crap!"

Xiao Hongchen turned to look. Before he could finish, a golden arm bone radiating a domineering aura appeared in Yu Tianjun's hand. Covered in a layer of bear fur and blazing with soul light, it was unmistakably a rare Left Arm Soul Bone.

Yu Tianjun displayed it for only an instant before putting it away. He shook his head and sighed. "What a shame, what a shame. A soul ring and soul bone work best when absorbed together. Absorbing the arm bone first would let you reach rank fifty without any side effects.

"I was going to give you first purchase rights in light of your generous patronage. Now it seems that won't be necessary."

"Vice Dean Liao, would you like it?"

"Oh my, I really do like this one. This treasure is unmistakably the real deal."

Liao Mengkai rubbed his palms together so hard they almost sparked, his eyes gleaming. "I already have a soul bone fused into my left arm, but there are still some hungry little cubs in the Terror Claw Soul Engineer Legion waiting to be fed..."

"Nobody fight me for it!"

"Brother! Brother Qilin! Brother Tianjun! I was wrong! Forgive your foolish little brother..."

Xiao Hongchen slid straight up to Yu Tianjun. The Three-Legged Golden Toad instantly transformed into a wealth-beckoning ingot beast, offering his last Gold Soul Card with an utterly sycophantic smile.

Brother Xiao knew when to bend and when to stand tall.

"Let's reconsider, okay? For Grandpa's and Meng's sake..."

Yu Tianjun said leisurely, "Before we left, I already gave Senior Hongchen a soul bone. If the hall master learns you got so cocky just after buying a soul ring from me, he'll lock you up for a year when we return."

"Huh? Don't let that woman and that old man affect the bond between us!"

Xiao Hongchen's expression changed at light speed. He quickly imagined Yu Tianjun recounting their journey to his grandfather after they returned, and his heartless grandfather shutting the peerless Brother Xiao in a dark little room for a year, depriving him of any chance to get close to rare metals...

Anything but that!

Gritting his teeth, hardening his heart, and stamping his foot, Xiao Hongchen took a golden emblem from his Storage Soul Tool. In excruciating distress, he said, "This is a single-use Level 9 teleportation soul tool I stole from the Radiant Virtue Hall—the Void Emblem. Trigger it when you're in danger, and it can instantly transport you a hundred li away."

"How about it? It's worth far more than a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone..."

Yu Tianjun's gaze instantly turned serious. "Something like this is too dangerous. Hurry and let me inspect it."

Before his words had faded, Xiao Hongchen discovered that the Void Emblem had vanished from his hand. He had not even reacted.

A heavy weight pressed against his palm. The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's left arm bone had appeared there.

"From this day forward, I, Xiao Hongchen, will remain undefeated among my generation!"

After repeatedly losing face, Brother Xiao had finally learned his lesson. He no longer proclaimed himself invincible, merely unbeaten.

Unlike a palm soul bone, the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's arm bone did not exert overwhelming pressure. Xiao Hongchen faced no risk of losing an arm if he failed. With his Three-Legged Golden Toad martial soul lending its strength, the absorption process was frightening but ultimately safe.

Half an hour later, having recovered through breathing exercises, Ji Juechen ended the male bear's life with one slash. With a thought, he drew its soul ring onto himself.

The male bear died with its head tilted, its wide-open eyes filled with hatred and coldness, as though determined to remember forever the humans who had killed it.

Ji Juechen ignored its gaze. Cradling the Heavenly Meteorite Iron Sword, he drew the soul ring onto himself.

Even while absorbing a soul ring, the Sword Addict had to hold his sword.

Liao Mengkai had watched everything from beginning to end, his grin stretching almost to his ears. Xiao Hongchen had a real talent for clowning.

He had seen the two exchange the Void Emblem, but for a mere Soul Ancestor like Xiao Hongchen to possess such a treasure, Jing Hongchen must have tacitly permitted it.

Jing Hongchen had made it himself. Its materials were precious, and only one finished piece existed.

"What a haul from a single trip. Tianjun, you're still searching the bear? Not every bear has a soul bone, you know."

Seeing Yu Tianjun hacking and slicing at the male bear with a small knife, Liao Mengkai chuckled.

"There really isn't a conventional soul bone."

Having found none of the six conventional soul bones, Yu Tianjun glanced at Ji Juechen, who was absorbing his soul ring, then sat cross-legged and used darkness to refine pesticide.

Yesterday, he had snatched up Electrolux and one Zhang Lexuan. His august heart was delighted, his spirits were lifted, and his bottleneck had vanished.

After a brief meditation, his soul power broke through to rank forty-six.

This was not Liao Mengkai's first time seeing Yu Tianjun cultivate, but the corners of his mouth still twitched. This differed rather greatly from how normal humans cultivated.

He had thought the Sun Moon Empire's pill-popping was already fierce enough, but the Dark Qilin went straight for pesticides. He truly was the Sun Moon Empire's heaven-chosen Holy Son.

"Good grief. Cultivating like this, he'll be a Soul King for next year's tournament. Won't he be a Soul Saint by the following one? Shrek is bound to lose."

Liao Mengkai thought it over. Among all Shrek's students over the years, the one closest to becoming a Soul Saint was Zhang Lexuan, and she had already been captured.

A Qilin Soul King with ultimate darkness could be assumed to rival a Soul Saint. Even reduced to a Five-Element Qilin, he would still be immensely powerful. Next year, they would give Shrek something to remember!

The Laughing Heaven Sword trio were all continuing to make breakthroughs. With these three heroes, why would the Sun Moon Empire worry about failing to unify the continent?

He glanced again at Wu Ming, whose furrowed brow suggested she was about to wake, then brought down a knife-hand strike and sent her back to dreamland, laughing like a villain.

"Hahahaha! I spent all night trying to figure it out, but when good fortune arrives, there's simply no stopping it!"

"Say goodbye to your beloved Shrek Academy. Have a good sleep, and you'll be joining the warm, welcoming Sun Moon Empire family—especially you, Your Highness, the exceptionally gifted commandery princess."

"I'd really love to see the Sea God Pavilion Elders' faces right now. Will the legendary Sea God Pavilion Master, the world's strongest expert, personally come out and scour the continent for this vice dean's dog head? Just thinking about it is exciting."

"Shrek is already the continent's number one academy, so why are there so few toilets, and why doesn't the cafeteria have any seats? Did Dean Flender's penny-pinching habits get passed down too?"

At the Shrek Outer Court, beside Sea God Lake.

Having just experienced campus life, Ning Rongrong gave Shrek Academy a poor review. Its basic living facilities were inferior even to those of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect ten thousand years ago.

In her previous life, she had grown accustomed to comfort in the Divine Realm. Even down in the mortal world, she had only spent one hard year at the truly impoverished Shrek. In this life, she was still the Nine Treasures' young sect master, and she found Shrek's present living conditions very difficult to adjust to.

Tang San chuckled and comforted her. "Stop complaining. Perhaps this is part of how the academy tempers its Outer Court students' wills. There must be a reason it has maintained its position as number one for ten thousand years after our departure."

"Perhaps only those who meet every requirement can enter the Inner Court."

"Honestly, when I walked past our statues and saw Shrek Academy as it is today, I felt truly proud of it. It's just a shame about the Tang Sect."

Ning Rongrong nodded and said softly, "Third Brother, I heard about the Tang Sect too. It was wiped out a few years ago. Do you want to rebuild it?"

"There's no need."

Tang San shook his head. "Someone in this era will rebuild the Tang Sect. We don't need to trouble ourselves. We should simply focus on cultivating."

"When the Tang Sect is rebuilt someday, the legends of us, the original Shrek Seven Monsters, will naturally stand within its lofty halls for later generations to admire and learn from."

"Screee!"

Just then, a piercing cry suddenly rang out in the distant sky.

Tang San and Ning Rongrong looked toward the sound and saw a fiery-red figure flying out from Sea God Island in the middle of the lake. She moved extremely fast, and as she flew toward the lake's outer edge, even the air grew hotter.

As she rapidly approached, they could make out her familiar martial soul silhouette and its signature fiery-red phoenix wings.

"An Evil Fire Phoenix? Is she Fatty's descendant?"

Recognizing the newcomer's martial soul, Ning Rongrong looked wistful.

The Temporal Turbulence had been far too terrifying. Of the original Shrek Seven Monsters, only the two of them remained.

"Why does something seem wrong?"

Tang San was more observant than Ning Rongrong. His Purple Demon Eye discerned the finest details, bringing Ma Xiaotao's flames into clear focus. Those flames were impure, burning madly with a chilling ferocity.

Ning Rongrong noticed it too. "Third Brother, why does she seem to be coming at us?"

While they spoke, Ma Xiaotao had already closed to within a hundred meters of the shore. Terrifying heat swept toward them, carrying the Evil Fire Phoenix's crazed aura.

"She doesn't just seem to be—she is! Run!"

Tang San broke into a sprint using Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.

Evil fire swept across the sky toward them. Her face deathly pale, Ning Rongrong hurriedly released her martial soul and bestowed three layers of enhancement on Tang San, her features contorted with terror.

"Third Brother, could this also be a test from the academy? It looks like it's going to kill us!"

Evil fire raged within a hundred-meter radius, and the vegetation along Sea God Lake rapidly turned scorched yellow.

If Outer Court students had to endure such a test to enter the Inner Court, did the Inner Court even have any support-type or food-type students?

"This is the academy's mistake, damn it! How could Shrek's experts let a phoenix Soul Emperor with unstable evil fire run loose?"

Tang San's eyes filled with despair. Despite possessing two lifetimes of cultivation experience, the enormous disparity in cultivation made it useless now. The bolts from his Godly Zhuge Crossbow burned to ash before reaching Ma Xiaotao, and he had not yet made any more powerful hidden weapons.

Ma Hongjun's descendant was chasing him, the reincarnated Sea God, along Sea God Lake, trying to kill him. Had he not woken up properly, or had Shrek Academy gone mad?

"How could Fatty have a descendant like this?"

The gap in cultivation was too great. As a three-ring Soul Elder, Ning Rongrong could not withstand it at all. The heat struck, and she fainted before finishing her sentence.

Tang San fared slightly better, but not by much. The enormous heat burned away his Blue Silver Grass and battered his will.

"Evil fire has gone to your head, and you've lost all reason! Which bastard let a dangerous person like you out? This will get Outer Court students killed!"

With his life hanging by a thread, Tang San had no other choice. A trident rune appeared between his brows, and all the meager energy he had accumulated erupted in that instant. His black-and-white eyes abruptly turned a deep ocean blue, reflecting the sea's raging waves.

Vast, boundless water elements suddenly spread from his body, dispersing every trace of evil fire within a hundred meters.

"Ah!"

Ma Xiaotao gave a muffled groan and fell from the sky, her evil fire and martial soul gradually receding.

At the same time, Tang San toppled backward, his face filled with grief and indignation. Only one thought remained in his mind.

You aren't Fatty and Xiangxiang's descendant. Their descendants don't have an evil fire problem. Who brought a bastard like you into Shrek...

With a thud, the reincarnated Sea God and Nine-Colored Goddess collapsed beside Sea God Lake.

A moment later, two figures rushed over from Sea God Lake at astonishing speed, the Bright Phoenix's feather flames shining especially brightly.

"Oh no. Something still happened."

Yan Shaozhe stepped forward and drew with both hands, lifting their bodies into the air.

Seeing that they were not dead, he breathed a sigh of relief and instructed the healing-type Soul Saint beside him:

"Alas, Ling Luochеn has been away for a long time, and Xu Sanshi's cultivation is too low to be useful. Suppressing Xiaotao's evil fire is getting harder and harder. It erupted much earlier than I predicted."

"Teacher Li, treat these two Outer Court students and give them generous compensation. Tell them to forget what happened today, or they'll be expelled."

Teacher Li was well practiced in handling such matters. He agreed, "Understood, Your Eminence. I know what to do."

Tang San's fingers twitched. Having just expended his Divine Sense, he could not open his eyes, but he could clearly hear the people outside speaking. Nor did he dare let himself lose consciousness completely at a time like this.

Holy Chovy! Is this still Shrek? Did I come to the wrong place, or has it been possessed by the remnants of Spirit Hall?!

No, even Qian Renxue's character was much better than this bastard's. Could they be remnants of Slaughter City?

Why didn't the Snow-Colored Swan Kiss poison your ancestors to death?