Oscar and Dai Mubai Got Set Up

"Fatty, who hurt you?"

Dai Mubai wasn't as careless as Oscar. He had noticed something wrong with Ma Hongjun.

That dangling arm proved he had suffered a serious injury.

"Boss, it was someone I met in the village, a stranger. He interrupted me and Cuihua getting intimate for no reason. With my temper, do you think I could put up with that? Of course I fought him, but I couldn't beat him."

Ma Hongjun gave a brief account of what had happened, in his own fashion.

"What? Someone actually dared to throw their weight around on Shrek's turf? Does he have a death wish?"

Oscar immediately grew furious.

He and Ma Hongjun had grown up together and shared a deep bond.

To Ma Hongjun's surprise, however, the usually loyal Dai Mubai didn't immediately take his side. Instead, he frowned.

"Boss, what's wrong?"

Ma Hongjun couldn't help asking.

After all, he had come back for reinforcements to settle the score. Otherwise, how could he ever hold his head up at Shrek again?

"Fatty, tell me what that person looked like."

Dai Mubai remembered that Your Holiness the Thunder Emperor had left Shrek Academy and still hadn't returned.

Could Fatty have been unlucky enough to run into him?

If so, there was no way he could help.

Ma Hongjun frowned and thought back carefully before saying, "Boss, that guy was, at most, a little taller and thinner than me, and slightly better-looking. But compared to you, he was miles and miles behind. You're at the very top, and he's at the very bottom."

As Dai Mubai's underling, Ma Hongjun knew exactly what to say to make him happy.

If he was happy, wouldn't that take care of my problem?

"Well, if that's how it is, let's go find that guy and avenge you."

After hearing Ma Hongjun's description, Dai Mubai relaxed.

Dai Mubai was widely acknowledged as handsome, but after meeting Qin Xiao, he had realized that Qin Xiao left him streets behind not only in strength, but in looks as well.

Now that Fatty said the man was only slightly better-looking than him, it definitely couldn't be Qin Xiao.

As long as it wasn't Qin Xiao, everything would be easy to handle.

"Fatty, lead the way." Oscar patted Ma Hongjun on the shoulder.

"Sure thing! Hopefully that brat hasn't run off yet."

"Boss, beat him half to death first, then leave the rest to me. I'll make sure he learns what cruelty means."

Ma Hongjun looked at Dai Mubai as he spoke.

Dai Mubai nodded.

And so, the three of them headed toward the village together.

However.

Before long.

All three stopped in their tracks at the same time.

They had all spotted a tall, slender figure approaching from the distance.

"That's His Eminence the Thunder Emperor!"

Dai Mubai and Oscar exchanged glances, each seeing the fear in the other's eyes.

Instinctively, they wanted to step aside and clear a path for this formidable figure.

But fatally, Ma Hongjun excitedly pointed at Qin Xiao in the distance and exclaimed with delight, "Boss, that's him! That's the guy who bullied me!"

"Hahaha! I wore out iron shoes searching in vain, only to find him without lifting a finger! This time, I'll make sure he learns how to spell death!"

He was immensely pleased with himself.

He was already imagining the moment he finally got his revenge.

By contrast, Dai Mubai and Oscar looked as though lightning had struck them. They almost forgot to breathe.

"What did you say? He's the one you're after?"

Even Oscar's voice trembled.

At that moment, he desperately hoped Fatty had mistaken him for someone else.

"That's right, it's him. I'd recognize him even if he were reduced to ashes."

Ma Hongjun was absolutely certain.

"Fatty, I think you should donate your eyes to someone who still has hope. With judgment like yours, I doubt having eyes makes much difference."

"A man like this, with such bearing, and you actually said he was only a little better-looking than you? You're really plastering gold all over your own face!"

Dai Mubai spoke irritably.

"Uh, well..."

Ma Hongjun couldn't help scratching his head as he said awkwardly, "Boss, Oscar, don't worry about those little details."

As he spoke, a vicious gleam flashed in his eyes. "Anyway, this is the guy. Let's just gang up on him and be done with it."

As his words fell, his soul power surged, and substantial changes appeared across his body. He had already completed Martial Soul Possession.

For a moment, even the air grew hot and dry, and Ma Hongjun's fighting spirit blazed.

Then two unexpected voices rang out beside him.

"Dai Mubai pays his respects to Your Holiness!"

"Oscar greets Your Eminence the Thunder Emperor!"

What the hell?

Your Holiness?

Ma Hongjun looked left and right, discovering that Dai Mubai and Oscar were both bowing respectfully, not even daring to raise their heads to look at the figure ahead.

"H-he's a Titled Douluo!"

No matter how oblivious Ma Hongjun was, he knew what that term meant.

In an instant, his martial soul dissipated, and his fighting spirit vanished with it. He felt as though he had plunged into an ice cellar, chilled to the bone.

His lips quivered, and he trembled so badly that he couldn't get a word out.

"Were you waiting for me?"

Qin Xiao regarded the three with a faint, ambiguous smile.

Without being told, he could roughly guess why they had come.

What he hadn't expected was for Dai Mubai and Oscar to be so bullheaded as to stand up for Ma Hongjun.

Of course.

Had he known that Ma Hongjun had hoodwinked them into coming, he wouldn't have thought that.

"Your Holiness, I sent them to find you. I've already had breakfast prepared, and we're waiting for you to join us."

Suddenly, a figure descended from the sky behind them. It was Flender, the dean of Shrek Academy.

"Oh?"

Qin Xiao regarded Flender with that faint, ambiguous smile until the latter's expression grew somewhat strained. Only then did he nod. "Let's go, then. Since the dean has been so kind, it would be discourteous of me to refuse."

With that, he walked past them, though he gave Ma Hongjun a meaningful glance.

Thud!

As though struck by lightning, Ma Hongjun dropped onto his backside.

Flender's eyelid twitched slightly at the sight, but he said nothing. He hurried after Qin Xiao in two quick strides, though his voice lingered behind him:

"It would be a terrible waste not to use these fine morning hours for exercise. The three of you will run twenty laps around the village. No food until you're finished..."

Up ahead, Qin Xiao smiled faintly. Flender certainly knew how to handle people.

After Qin Xiao and Flender disappeared from view, Dai Mubai and Oscar also collapsed weakly to the ground.

Together with Ma Hongjun, all three looked utterly drained. Without their realizing it, sweat had already soaked their clothes.

"That was far too close. If the dean hadn't bailed us out, we might have been done for today."

Oscar spoke with lingering fear.

A Titled Douluo was not someone they could afford to offend. Had they failed to offer a suitable explanation just now, disaster would have struck.

"Fatty, you really screwed us over."

"Oscar and I nearly got killed because of you today."

Dai Mubai had lost his usual easygoing manner and instead began blaming Ma Hongjun.

It wasn't difficult to understand why.

Hadn't he fled all the way to Shrek just to preserve his life and live a few more years?

And now, thanks to Ma Hongjun's coaxing, he had nearly made an enemy of a Titled Douluo.

Wasn't this fucking like the God of Longevity hanging himself because he'd lived too long?

After all, he had witnessed Qin Xiao's cultivation firsthand. It was terrifyingly fierce. Even if he searched the entire Star Luo Imperial Family, he wouldn't find someone that powerful.

In other words, if he offended such a powerhouse and got swatted to death, no one would be able to avenge him.