The stern roar stunned Shangguan Hong, Tang San, and the others. They turned in confusion to see Yu Xiaogang striding toward them, his face dark and his brow filled with anger. Without allowing a word of explanation, he began to berate them.
"Look at what you just did! Little San, you knew perfectly well that Shangguan Hong's Martial Soul belonged to the Summoning System. A Summoning System Soul Master's greatest weakness is his own body! Why did you get tangled up with his summons from the start? If you had forced your way through, the power of your Third Soul Skill, combined with your first and Second Soul Skills, would absolutely have won you an easy victory!"
"And you, Shangguan Hong! You rely too heavily on your Soul Skills. I admit your summons are powerful, but why did you leave only one to protect yourself? You were facing Tang San, a Control System Soul Master, this time, but what if you were facing an Agility Attack System Soul Master?"
Yu Xiaogang rained reprimands down on them. At first, his words seemed to make some sense, but after thinking them over carefully, everyone's expressions instantly turned peculiar.
Was it that Tang San had not wanted to force his way through?
Of course he had! But the sand soldiers Shangguan Hong created worked together seamlessly, especially with that Emperor of the Sands. The power those five summons possessed was simply too astonishing. Surrounded by four soldiers, Tang San had only managed because he possessed a Tang Sect Secret Art like Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. Anyone else would probably have had to surrender outright.
And what about Shangguan Hong? Had he been careless?
Not at all! In the end, this had only been a sparring match. Shangguan Hong had merely unleashed his Second Soul Skill. If, as Yu Xiaogang said, he had been facing an Agility Attack System Soul Master, he would naturally have adopted a conservative defensive formation.
Judging their talent for combat from a single cursory sparring match was not wisdom. It was stupidity!
"Teacher, I..."
Tang San's face was filled with shame. He seemed to truly believe that what Yu Xiaogang said was fact, completely forgetting that his conjecture rested on an ideal scenario-one so ideal that it ignored the intelligence of Azir and the soldiers, and ignored the fact that these summons bore no killing intent.
The others were different. Ning Rongrong, who had seen her share of grand occasions, looked utterly disdainful, while Dai Mubai and the rest were speechless. Yu Xiaogang made it sound so easy, but he had never seen Shangguan Hong's Third Soul Skill! If that terrifying steel monster of his appeared, Tang San's Third Soul Skill would be useless, no matter how powerful its restraints were.
But Yu Xiaogang did not know that, and Shangguan Hong had no desire to explain. He simply listened calmly, silently watching Yu Xiaogang use an outrageous approach to lead everyone at Shrek further and further astray.
As far as he was concerned, this could only benefit him, with no downside at all!
Spittle flew as Yu Xiaogang berated them, laying out the perfect tactics he had dreamed up from his simple conjectures. The fellow certainly had a way with words. The disdain on the Shrek students' faces gradually changed, and they actually began to feel that Yu Xiaogang had a point.
Simply outrageous!
Next, after explaining the tactics he considered perfect, Yu Xiaogang arranged two-on-two matches for the remaining Shrek Academy students. Apart from Xiao Wu's teleportation Soul Skill making his eyes light up, the others' performances could only be described as a complete mess! Nor did they put any of the points Yu Xiaogang had taught them into practice.
What could this rank-29 Soul Grandmaster understand? The tactics he taught could only be executed under the most ideal circumstances. Dai Mubai and the others tried to reproduce them, only to discover far too many unstable factors, and ultimately did not use them. But in Yu Xiaogang's eyes, this meant the students had no regard for him!
How could Grandmaster tolerate such a thing?
Yu Xiaogang's face was filled with anger. After furiously scolding them, he pointed toward the academy gates.
"A performance like that must be punished!"
"Go to the academy gates. There are things I prepared for you in the baskets there. Take them and walk Devil's Road without using Soul Power!"
It was an extremely harsh punishment! Danger lurked on every side along Devil's Road, and the path was rugged. This hardly seemed like something a group of Soul Grandmasters and Soul Elders could accomplish, especially when Yu Xiaogang would not even let them use Soul Power.
It was like ordering an athlete to run a hundred meters in under ten seconds. Success was possible, but it required endless sweat.
Shangguan Hong had no objections. Like the others from Shrek, he wore a bitter expression, yet had no choice but to groan as he shouldered the stones and set off with everyone else. Notably, the stones in his basket were the heaviest, weighing ten kilograms more than even Tang San's and Dai Mubai's.
The journey was full of hardships, but they also supported one another all along the way. It was a mad bout of training, yet it did temper their wills, making them more resilient, while also bringing them closer together.
Sharing sweetness and sharing hardship-the bonds forged by the latter were far beyond anything the former could compare with.
Shangguan Hong did not display his overwhelming advantage. A few dozen kilograms of stones were actually nothing to him. His current physical strength was far beyond what an ordinary Power Attack System beast Soul Elder could match. Carrying this little load was child's play.
Still, to conceal his strength and grow closer to everyone, he put on an exhausted look. From his initial ease, to gritting his teeth and holding on, to pretending he could no longer endure so others would take some of his stones, and finally bursting forth with all his strength to shoulder the heavy burden, Shangguan Hong appeared much like everyone else. In the eyes of his companions beside him, he was quite dependable.
During this process, however, Ning Rongrong drew some of Shangguan Hong's attention.
The story's development was no different from the beginning. Oscar was still utterly bewitched by Ning Rongrong, who came from a major faction. But the team no longer had that fat chicken Ma Hongjun. In his place was Shangguan Hong, handsome and eerily striking, with purple hair and purple eyes. As the daughter of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's sect master, Ning Rongrong knew the sect's rules well. Naturally, her first choice now was a more outstanding Battle Soul Master! As the strongest person on the team, Shangguan Hong, with his good looks, naturally caught Ning Rongrong's attention.
Shangguan Hong was a man oblivious to romance, a man who could ruthlessly crush a flower, but he was also an actor. Pretending to be a normal person was no difficult task for him. He did not reject Ning Rongrong's deliberate overtures. Bringing them closer would benefit his future designs on the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect!
And Oscar...
Watching Ning Rongrong, who had fainted from exhaustion, lie on Shangguan Hong's back, this genius Food System Soul Master quietly developed a desire to grow stronger.
In the end, everyone from Shrek completed the arduous task. Supporting one another, they collapsed unconscious together in front of Yu Xiaogang. Shangguan Hong had been pretending at first, but the prolonged exhaustion also made him unknowingly fall asleep as he lay on the ground.
As Yu Xiaogang looked at these astonishingly talented children before him, a smile unconsciously appeared on his face.
That smile was called ambition!