Book 2: Academy of Monsters

Chapter 12.2: Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan

“Brat, are you courting death?” The black-shirted youth roared angrily. He actually crushed the coals he’d grabbed within his hands, causing sparks to fly everywhere. However, he didn’t seem to have been burnt by them at all. He swept his right leg out, kicking Huo Yuhao’s grill to one side. At the same time, he stepped forward and used his large hands to grab Huo Yuhao by the shirt.

Using his Spiritual Detection, Huo Yuhao realised that this black-shirted youth wasn’t just being overbearing. His ‘simple’ grab actually contained countless variations in it, and although Huo Yuhao was able to make out some weaknesses in it, his cultivation was too weak to make use of them. Thus, he wasn’t able to dodge, and was thus grabbed by the shirt by the black-shirted youth.

“Hey.” The black-shirted youth raised his right hand, lifting Huo Yuhao into the air. At the same time, he forcefully snatched the two skewers of roasted fish from Huo Yuhao.

The entire process, from the time that the black-shirted youth had appeared to him making his move, happened incomparably quickly—to the extent that the surrounding people were only just realising what had just happened.

Two voices echoed out at practically the same time.

“What are you doing?”

“Stay your hand.”

The former was the exceedingly beautiful young lady, who currently had a startled and angry expression. The latter had already charged over with as fast as lightning and had used his palm in an attempt to directly knock the black-shirted youth away.

Clearly, the black-shirted youth hadn’t thought that someone would make a move against him. Thus, he wasn’t able to protect himself in time. He was using one hand to hold Huo Yuhao, while using another to hold onto the roasted fish. If he wanted to defend himself from his opponent’s attack, he would had to forfeit one of the two.

He chose to let go of Huo Yuhao. With a flick of his wrist, Huo Yuhao was sent flying horizontally. He then lowered his right hand to collide with the incoming hand.

“Pa—” The two people simultaneously trembled, then both took a step back. In this clash, neither of them had managed to take the upper hand.

The newcomer wasn’t some random person; it was Huo Yuhao’s eldest senior brother, Bei Bei.

Huo Yuhao, who’d been flung into the air, spun around in the air twice. However, an attractive figure appeared below him and used her hands to catch and lower him steadily to the ground.

The person who helped Huo Yuhao was naturally Tang Ya. At this moment, her originally small and charming face was filled with rage.

“Xu Sanshi, you dare to bully one of my men? I’m gonna beat the shit out of you.” As she said that, Tang Ya raised her hand, causing a golden light to fly directly towards Xu Sanshi.

The black-shirted youth waved his right hand, causing a sharp black light to flash as he attempted to sweep away the golden light. However, an astonishing scene occurred: The golden light suddenly brightened, unexpectedly burrowing its way through that strong black soulforce, before burying itself and disappearing inside of the black-shirted youth.

The black-shirted youth’s body trembled violently, and his gaze suddenly froze. Afterwards, his tiger-like eyes flared with anger, and his three soul rings instantly rose up from his legs—there were two yellow rings and one purple ring. His originally pale skin immediately darkened as his muscles expanded, and his entire body seemed to swell up. The most peculiar thing was that a tortoiseshell shield—which had a diameter of around one metre—had appeared in his right hand.

Huo Yuhao activated his Spiritual Detection, allowing him to sense that the martial soul released by the black-shirted youth had a level of grandeur that wasn’t any weaker than the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon that Bei Bei possessed.

“Tang Ya, don’t think that I can’t do anything to you just because you have Bei Bei protecting you.” As the black-shirted youth let out a low roar, his eyes lit up with anger.

Tang Ya laughed coldly. “Come! Did you think that I’d be afraid of trash like you?”

Bei Bei indifferently said, “Xu Sanshi, you’ve bullied my junior brother. You’ll have to give me an explanation for today’s matter. If not, we’ll go to the Soul Dueling Arena and settle it with an official fight.”

Xu Sanshi trembled slightly as he pointed at Huo Yuhao and asked, “He’s your junior brother?”

Bei Bei expressionlessly nodded his head.

Xu Sanshi coldly said, “So what? He didn’t give Jiang Nannan any face, nor did he didn’t give me any face either. It was just two skewers of roasted fish, and I already paid for them.”

Tang Ya angrily said, “Those were the fish that Huo Yuhao had saved for me. Bei Bei, why are you still listening to his bullshit? Beat him up! Beat him up until he can’t move anymore. I’ll give you a kiss later.”

Bei Bei’s face, which he’d originally been carefully controlling, finally twitched when he heard Tang Ya’s impish words, who seemed to want to see the world burn right now.

Xu Sanshi curled his lip and said to Bei Bei, “Your Tang Ya’s still so berserk, I see. I haven’t compared notes with you in a long time; why don’t we immediately go to the Soul Dueling Arena? Let’s go!”

As he was speaking, he turned around and walked away without pausing at all. With a few steps he arrived in front of the exceedingly beautiful lady named Jiang Nannang. His previously angry expression actually turned tender the instant he arrived, and he passed the two skewers of roasted fish to her. He then spoke in a gentle voice. “Nannan, you can eat first. I’ll be back later.”

However, Jiang Nannan wasn’t grateful at all. She was always very kind towards everyone else, but she was as cold as ice towards Xu Sanshi. She proceeded to speak in a cold voice, “Xu Sanshi, I’ve told you before. There’s no possibility of anything happening between us. Please stop bothering me in the future.” Once she’d finished saying this, she turned around and walked away.

A burst of embarrassment appeared on Xu Sanshi’s face. He suddenly straightened his body and stared angrily at the crowd, who’d in-turn been watching the show. “What’re you looking at? Go away. Bei Bei, let’s go.” After saying this, he walked towards the academy. The roasted fish in his hand were thrown towards Huo Yuhao.

Tang Ya stood in front of Huo Yuhao and raised her hand to catch the fish. Her movements were very smooth and gentle, yet she seemed to have caught the fish in a very natural manner. She bluntly took a bite out of one, while she used her hand to pull Huo Yuhao with her as she ate. “Let’s go watch something fun.”

The Soul Dueling Arena was an extremely important location within Shrek Academy. It was located on the northwestern corner of the Martial Soul Institution, and was close to Shrek Academy. In fact, it wasn’t that far from the Soul Tool Testing Area that Huo Yuhao had visited before. This was a place that many students from all years would frequent. You could carry out various types of competitions within this building, with specialised teachers to act as referees. The referees were responsible for determining the victor of each competition, and were also responsible for protecting the students, providing assistance students who needed it, healing injured students, and such. Naturally, all of this needed to be paid for.

When carrying out a duel in the Soul Dueling Arena, each party would need to pay a minimum of ten gold soul coins for arena expenses. However, many students never grew bored of these competitions, due to the fact that there were no restrictions whilst competing here. Furthermore, you didn’t need to be afraid of any dangerous situations if you were too heavy-handed, since the teachers who were acting as referees would keep everything under control. At the same time, students who won a match within the Soul Dueling Arena would obtain a certain amount of credits, which would, in turn, increase one’s marks by a certain amount during their annual advancement test.

Past their fourth year, students who wanted to continue on to become fifth-years and sixth-years would need Soul Duelling Credits. A fourth-year student who wanted to become a fifth-year student would need at least ten victories within the Soul Dueling Arena over students from his same year group, while advancing from a fifth-year to a sixth-year required even more credits. Soul Duelling Credits were supposedly even more important when one wanted to enter the inner courtyard after becoming a sixth-year.

All competitions within the Soul Dueling Arena were open to all students, but the entrance fee was one silver soul coin.

What astonished Huo Yuhao the most was the fact that Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi’s duel actually attracted the attention of so many students. An overwhelming majority of the students who‘d been watching the liveliness outside actually chose to go watch the duel, with no care for what year they were.