Douluo Dalu (Soul Land): Shadow Monarch

As night fell, the Suotuo Great Spirit Arena became lively once again.

Under the arrangement of the Grandmaster, the Shrek group arrived at the Great Spirit Arena.

Soon, with the Grandmaster's guidance, the Shrek Seven Devils were all given their own titles. However, when it came to arranging tonight's spirit fight training, a disagreement arose in the exclusive spirit master rest area.

"Grandmaster, I don't want to team up with Tang San," Xiao Wu said to the Grandmaster, her tone filled with dissatisfaction.

"Then who do you want to team up with?" The Grandmaster's expression was cold and stern as he responded calmly, "Based on my analysis, teaming up with Tang San would allow you to perform at your best. Therefore, I suggest you team up with him. It's beneficial for you and comes with no drawbacks."

As soon as the Grandmaster finished speaking, Tang San looked at Xiao Wu, puzzled, and asked, "Xiao Wu, is there a problem with us teaming up? Based on the teacher's analysis, with my control and your offensive strength, our winning rate is almost a hundred percent."

"No." Without hesitation, Xiao Wu rejected Tang San's proposal. She then turned her gaze toward Ning Rongrong, smiling as she said, "Rongrong, how about we team up?"

"Huh?" Tang San was dumbfounded.

Hearing this, Ning Rongrong giggled and replied, "Sure, Sister Xiao Wu, but you have to protect me."

"Don't worry, Sister Xiao Wu will!" Xiao Wu playfully clenched her pink fists, as if showing off her strength.

Seeing Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong successfully team up, Tang San's face darkened. He then turned to Oscar and said, "Little Ao, how about you team up with me? With my control and your recovery ability, we shouldn't do too badly."

"No, Little San, I've already decided to team up with Boss Dai," Oscar said, waving his hand.

"Who said I agreed to team up with you?" Dai Mubai glanced at Oscar before turning his gaze to Zhu Zhuqing, who had a cold expression on her face. "I plan to team up with Zhuqing for the two-on-two spirit fight. You should go find Fatty."

Hearing this, Oscar could only smile awkwardly to cover his embarrassment.

"Dai Mubai, you better stay away from me." Zhu Zhuqing coldly swept her gaze over Dai Mubai, saying, "Even if I team up with Oscar, I won't team up with you. You've disappointed me too much."

After discovering that Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun frequently visited brothels, Zhu Zhuqing felt utterly disillusioned with her so-called fiancé. Especially after everything that had happened over the past few days, she increasingly felt that she needed to make some changes, even though she wasn't sure what exactly to do yet. But distancing herself from disgusting men like him was the first step she needed to take.

Upon hearing this, Dai Mubai's face turned livid. He said, "I don't care who you team up with, but you cannot team up with Oscar."

"Do I need your permission to decide who I team up with?" Zhu Zhuqing retorted without backing down. She had finally seen Dai Mubai for what he truly was: a paper tiger who only bullied the weak.

"You!" Dai Mubai, enraged by Zhu Zhuqing's words, was left speechless. His blood boiled as he shifted his gaze to Oscar and said angrily, "Little Ao, if you consider me your brother, don't team up with her. Join me, and I'll lead us to victory."

"Uh… Boss Dai," Oscar hesitated, scratching his head in embarrassment, unsure of how to respond.

"Hey, Dai Tiger, the conflict between you and Zhuqing has nothing to do with Oscar," Ning Rongrong said, her tone playful as she stared at Dai Mubai's angry, handsome face. She couldn't help but laugh before mocking him, "All you know how to do is bully someone like Oscar, who doesn't have any combat abilities. Why don't you try bullying Tang San? What? Afraid you can't beat him?"

Upon hearing this, Dai Mubai roared angrily, "Stop with the sarcasm! What, do you think I can't beat Tang San?"

Sensing the tension rise because of her, Oscar quickly intervened, saying, "Boss Dai, calm down. Rongrong didn't mean it like that."

"Then what did she mean?" Dai Mubai snapped, as if her words had deeply provoked him. He pointed at Oscar and cursed, "Don't think I don't know what's going on in your mind. We're both men—stop pretending."

"You're just interested in them because they're beautiful and have great figures, right? If Zhu Zhuqing wants to team up with you, then go ahead! Do you think I care about a broken product like her?"

Perhaps due to the recent misfortunes he'd endured, combined with the punishment he'd received and the pressure from his fiancée, Dai Mubai's mental state had completely collapsed. He didn't care about anything anymore—brotherhood, what was that? To him, Oscar was just another animal trying to steal his woman.

In his mind, Oscar was now labeled as a beast coveting his brother's woman. Little did Dai Mubai know that Oscar's hesitation had nothing to do with Zhu Zhuqing and everything to do with Dai Mubai himself.

"Boss Dai, that's going too far," Oscar said, his face filled with bitterness. He never expected such hurtful words to come from Dai Mubai's mouth.

"Don't call me Boss! Oscar, you're nothing but a dog that flatters everyone. If I wanted, I could kick you away anytime. Understand?" Dai Mubai sneered, glancing at Oscar with disdain before turning to Zhu Zhuqing, who stood coldly, trembling with anger. "As for you, trash, do you think I can't find anyone better than you? Without you, I can still find plenty of women to play with, all different every day."

"If you don't value me, then we'll go our separate ways!"

"Enough, Dai Mubai!" The Grandmaster finally spoke up after listening for a long time. He glared at Dai Mubai, his voice filled with fury. "You are the captain of the Shrek Seven Devils! How can you say such things?"

"And you, Oscar, Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing—I don't know what conflicts you four have, but this is Shrek Academy! You are the Shrek Seven Devils. As a team, you should act like one. If you don't, I'll send you back to resume running laps!"

"Yu Xiaogang, who do you think you are?" Ning Rongrong frowned slightly and said, "You're nothing but a mere Spirit Grandmaster. You act so high and mighty, but why didn't you say anything earlier?"

"When Oscar was being bullied by Dai Mubai, why didn't you speak up? When Zhu Zhuqing was being humiliated, why didn't you stop it? Aren't you a teacher at Shrek Academy? Shouldn't you be resolving conflicts the moment they arise? Now you're speaking up after the fact? Do you even deserve to be called a teacher?"

Ning Rongrong's words left the Grandmaster speechless. He had thought that the past few months of training had tamed her fiery temperament, but now it seemed that she had been faking it all along!

"Ning Rongrong, I won't let you insult my teacher." Hearing Ning Rongrong's words, Tang San spoke up as well, his voice cold. "The Grandmaster is my teacher. Insulting him is insulting me. Don't think that just because you're the eldest daughter of a big clan, you can act spoiled and unreasonable. If you continue to be so stubborn, I won't hesitate to discipline you on behalf of your elders and teach you what it means to respect your teacher!"

"With you?" Ning Rongrong scoffed. "Tang San, sometimes I wonder if something is wrong with your head. How could you take someone who plagiarized theories and came up with spirit theories based on his own logic as your teacher? I suggest you go see a healing spirit master to check your brain. Don't let your focus on cultivation turn you into an idiot."

"What did you say?!" Tang San's face flushed red with anger, breathing heavily.

"I don't want to repeat myself," Ning Rongrong said dismissively. "As a fellow Shrek student, I'm kindly advising you: be careful who you take as your teacher. Don't take just anyone as your master, especially not someone who steals others' spirit theories and claims them as his own."

As she spoke, Ning Rongrong's disdain was clear. She had been pretending for so long, just to see what kind of "spirit theory master" the Grandmaster really was.

The first phase of training had already ended, but Ning Rongrong still hadn't seen anything special about the training methods. The so-called "devil training" was just waking up early every day for weighted running, followed by internal sparring matches. Other than that, there was nothing.

Yes, nothing! How was this different from any other advanced academy? Ning Rongrong even started to wonder if there was something wrong with her brain for choosing to stay in such a place for so long. If she'd known this earlier, she would have gone to play at Heaven Dou Imperial Academy instead.

At least compared to this running-based "devil training," Heaven Dou Imperial Academy had a Spirit Mimicry Environment, which was perfect for Spirit Masters to cultivate. And the accommodations and food were the best as well. Comparing the two, wasn't your Shrek Academy just a third-rate school? Listening to Ning Rongrong's sarcastic tone, Grandmaster's chest heaved with anger, his face flushed red, and he was panting heavily.

"If you think this Grandmaster is so incompetent, you can leave Shrek Academy anytime! I'm not begging you to stay!" Grandmaster was so agitated that his speech became somewhat incoherent.

"Leave? Yu Xiaogang, you, a mere Spirit Grandmaster, think you're worthy of saying that?" Ning Rongrong sneered. "Before you came, I thought Dean Flender's teaching had some merit, but after you arrived, what exactly are you teaching us?"

"And always with the running, weighted training, and punishing the whole group. Do you think you're clever or something? People call you 'Grandmaster' as a joke. Don't tell me you've started believing it yourself?"

"And what's with the rule that we can't reveal our identities during Soul Battle? The codename you gave me was 'Seven Treasure Glazed Tile.' Do you think everyone's an idiot? How many people in the entire continent can be associated with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan? I seriously suspect you're stuck in some kind of mental fantasy and that something is wrong with your brain."

No one would have expected that the usually gentle Ning Rongrong would explode with such ferocious verbal power today. Although her words were harsh, there was no denying that this morning's weighted running had left everyone, except Tang San, simmering with resentment.

This was also one of the main reasons why Dai Mubai had lost control of his emotions earlier.

"Damn, is this really the Ning Rongrong I know?" Oscar glanced secretly at the fierce Ning Rongrong, thinking to himself, "Even though she's fierce, I feel kind of touched knowing she's standing up for me. What's wrong with me?"

At this moment, inside the Soul Master's lounge, aside from Tang San and his master who were panting furiously and fuming with anger, everyone else seemed indifferent, just quietly watching Ning Rongrong confront Grandmaster.

Even the previously enraged Dai Mubai had calmed down. He now wished he could slap himself; what had he been saying earlier? Zhu Zhuqing still stood there coldly, but her tightly clenched fists betrayed that she was not as calm as she appeared. Perhaps her cold demeanor was just a protective shield.

...

Ning Rongrong's taunting left Grandmaster completely defenseless, and Tang San, deeply influenced by his master, immediately stood up. He glared coldly at Ning Rongrong and said, "If you keep running your mouth like that, you're courting death."

"Enough!"

Just as Tang San finished speaking, the door to the Soul Master lounge suddenly swung open. Flender and Zhao Wuji entered, their faces grim. Flender gave Tang San a stern look and said, "I don't care what conflicts you have, but as long as you're all students of Shrek Academy, I won't allow any situation where fellow students are killing each other."

After saying this, Flender turned to Ning Rongrong, who was smiling nonchalantly, and said in a deep voice, "If you don't want to stay, you can return to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan anytime. No one will stop you."

"I wouldn't do that, Dean Flender. I'm just telling the truth," Ning Rongrong said without fear, smiling cheekily. "If you were the one training us, I wouldn't say anything, but having a mere Spirit Grandmaster throwing his weight around? I don't think anyone would accept that, would they?"

"Enough! Say another word, and I'll send you home right now!" Flender glared at Ning Rongrong. No wonder Ning Fengzhi had sent her to Shrek Academy. With such a spoiled and difficult temperament, she really needed some discipline.

Seeing that Flender was genuinely angry, Ning Rongrong stuck out her tongue and stopped her sarcastic remarks.

With Ning Rongrong quiet, the Soul Master lounge also fell silent. Looking at the scattered and dispirited Shrek Seven Devils and Grandmaster, who was shaking with anger and had a livid expression, Flender sighed helplessly.

"Xiaogang, as the teacher, you should apologize first." Flender looked at his old friend, then at the Shrek Seven Devils, and said, "You all should apologize as well. Except for Tang San, the rest of you owe Grandmaster an apology. Let's settle this matter now."

"Handle problems directly, don't let the problems handle you, right?"

Seeing that Flender had given everyone a way out, Ning Rongrong seized the opportunity to step down, and she was the first to apologize to Grandmaster. Afterward, Dai Mubai, Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing, and the others followed suit and offered their apologies to Grandmaster.

Although Grandmaster was not highly respected, he was still their teacher. Since the instigator, Ning Rongrong, had already apologized, the others symbolically followed suit.

After everyone apologized, Grandmaster, with Flender's exhaustive efforts to calm him down, reluctantly apologized to the group as well.

Then, Flender assigned Zhao Wuji to take the group to participate in Soul Battles, allowing them to form their own teams. Apart from Ma Hongjun, who would compete solo, the others were arranged into teams.

Once the Shrek Seven Devils had left the room, Grandmaster couldn't hold back his anger any longer. He roared, "Flender, you made me apologize to this group of disrespectful students! What were you thinking?"

Flender didn't respond. He just felt tired, so very tired. On one side was his friend, on the other, his students. Having both sides apologize had been the best solution he could think of.

Unfortunately, Grandmaster didn't understand Flender's thoughts. But even if he did, he wouldn't have cared. After all, he hadn't founded Shrek Academy, so he had no reason to be concerned about such things.

...

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