Chapter Sixty-Six: The Creditors of Shrek

A few days later, in an inn on the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest.

Huohuo was a quasi-Titled Douluo, and Radamanthys was a Super Douluo with a soul power as high as ninety-six. Their speed was remarkable, and as Xiao Yu calculated that the time was about right, he prepared to go downstairs and book rooms for the two of them.

The Star Dou Forest was teeming with people; there were simply too many soul master teams seeking spirit rings, and it was common for the inns to be packed to capacity.

Of course, for powerful Titled Douluos, resting under the open sky was of no consequence. But as the leader of a sect, Xiao Yu preferred to offer his companions the best possible environment to recuperate.

"Let's rest here for the night and adjust our states. Tomorrow, we'll head into the Star Dou Forest to find a spirit ring for Little Ao."

Having just booked two rooms and intending to return to his own to continue cultivating, Xiao Yu was suddenly interrupted by a boisterous voice.

Damn it, could it really be such a coincidence?

The corner of Xiao Yu's mouth twitched as he turned toward the source of the voice. There, a group of eight stood—a burly middle-aged man and seven youths of various attire. Wasn't this Zhao Wuji and the Seven Shrek Monsters?

Xiao Yu hadn't planned this at all. The Star Dou Forest was vast, and there were more than a dozen such small towns along its outskirts. He hadn't expected that the inn he'd chosen for a rest, as he had several times before, would turn out to be the scene of one of Douluo's famous events.

The two main targets of this trip—the Titan Giant Ape and the Man-faced Demon Spider—did not have to be found by following the Shrek group. The Titan Giant Ape was seeking out Xiao Wu, but with its reckless rampaging through the forest, it was like a beacon in the night. If several Titled Douluos couldn't find it, they might as well give up and go to bed.

After intercepting the Titan Giant Ape, the subsequent events from the original story wouldn't unfold, and Tang San wouldn't encounter the Man-faced Demon Spider. If Xiao Yu wanted to find it, he could approach Meng Shu and Meng Yiran instead.

Dragon Duke Meng Shu was a famous Soul Douluo of many years. Recruiting him was far easier than chasing after Shrek Academy, and the reasoning was simple: enlisting a lone Soul Douluo who, together with his partner, could perform a martial soul fusion skill to briefly match a Titled Douluo—what sect leader wouldn't want that? And in this way, Xiao Yu wouldn't expose any foreknowledge.

So, while the Star Dou trip was closely tied to the Seven Shrek Monsters, Xiao Yu had no real need of them. It was simply an odd coincidence that his choices years ago had led him here now.

What piqued Xiao Yu's curiosity even more was the strange formation among the Shrek Seven. Ning Rongrong strode proudly at the front, showing none of the dejection or defeat from the original story following her ordeals and constant browbeating.

This, too, was a butterfly effect brought about by Xiao Yu. Because Ning Fengzhi had always demanded more from Ning Rongrong, when Flender ordered her and Oscar to run laps around the village, she didn't sneak away but gritted her teeth and persevered. What's more, she broke through to Soul Ancestor at twelve, leaving the other six Shrek monsters in the dust. Aside from being mildly surprised that Oscar, the food-type soul master, had innate full soul power, nothing else fazed her, and Flender's psychological tactics failed.

But this alone wasn't enough to place Ning Rongrong in the center of Shrek's stage.

After that day's assessment, our God King Tang San became interested in the soul tool Ning Rongrong used. In his mind, as long as he could figure out the internal structure of the soul tool and integrate it with his hidden weapons, his creations would have an edge over ordinary soul tools.

His ambitions were lofty, but reality was far harsher. After a flurry of operations, he ended up breaking the Grade 5 defensive soul tool.

Ning Rongrong was so furious she could barely speak. If not for Tang San having Xiao Wu pester her repeatedly, she would never have lent it to him. Even before handing it over, she had warned him repeatedly not to attempt disassembling its internal structure.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School had tried to recruit skilled craftsmen to study soul tools for replication, but the soul tools from the Nine Star Palace all had self-destruct mechanisms in place during manufacture, and every attempt ended in failure.

She had already warned Tang San, but still he went his own way. Who knew where he got the confidence to think he could surpass craftsmen with decades of experience?

Ning Rongrong’s anger erupted, and she demanded compensation on the spot.

That Grade 5 soul tool cost ten thousand gold soul coins. Tang San's entire fortune amounted to only a few hundred at best; Xiao Wu was even poorer; Oscar and Ma Hongjun were both orphans with nothing to their name. Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing, though both from the Star Luo Empire's royal family, had both run away on their own—Zhu Zhuqing had fled in haste from her sister’s pressure, not even considering money, and the little she had was just enough for tuition. Dai Mubai had brought quite a bit when he escaped, but after years of supporting Shrek Academy and living lavishly in Soto City, he had little left. Even if they wanted to help, they couldn’t.

In the end, Flender, having read the letters from old friends, stepped forward and issued an IOU to Ning Rongrong on behalf of the academy.

Now, Ning Rongrong was Shrek Academy’s creditor, and of course, she walked with her head held high before the others.

“It’s you!”

Just as Xiao Yu wondered what exactly had happened to the Seven Shrek Monsters, Xiao Wu had already spotted him. Though she had lost her cultivation after being reborn as a human, her spiritual perception was still sharper than most.

Following Xiao Wu’s gaze, Dai Mubai and Tang San also noticed Xiao Yu. Their expressions instantly darkened, and the humiliation from the Rose Hotel rushed back to them.

“Truly, enemies are bound to meet on a narrow road! Who would have thought we’d run into you here!”

With his teammates close and a Soul Sage teacher backing them up, Dai Mubai suddenly grew bold, forgetting entirely how meek he had been that day. He strode forward and blocked Xiao Yu's path.

Tang San and Xiao Wu followed closely, flanking Xiao Yu left and right, their eyes filled with hatred, determined to wash away the shame of that day.

Oscar and Ma Hongjun, following the academy's motto of "not daring to cause trouble is a mediocrity" and their respect for their big brother Dai Mubai, didn't hesitate before stepping up and standing behind Dai Mubai.

Zhu Zhuqing hesitated, glanced at Dai Mubai, sighed softly, and also moved forward. After all, her fate was now intertwined with his; their fortunes rose and fell together.

Ning Rongrong hesitated as well. Her relationship with the others was not particularly close, especially after becoming the academy's creditor and feeling increasingly ostracized. Still, they were all from the same academy, and in the end, she stepped forward.

Zhao Wuji, however, stayed where he was. In his mind, his students were all peerless geniuses. Seven against a young man in his twenties—how could there be any difficulty?