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"Thanks, Tang San. I'll repay this favor someday."
Without hesitation, Dai Mubai accepted the jade vial. He desperately needed something like this to boost his strength.
The others also gratefully received Tang San's gifts.
There were other matters to discuss, but Yu Xiaogang's eyes lit up with excitement upon seeing such a treasure. Eagerly, he asked:
"Xiao San, do you have more of these pills? Could you give me one?"
Tang San had clearly obtained plenty of medicinal ingredients this time and generously handed over a pill to Yu Xiaogang, adding: "Of course, I prepared one for you, Teacher. After all, you are my teacher."
Yu Xiaogang didn't notice the subtle undertone in Tang San's words and instead focused on admiring the pill in his hand. While it might not match the potency of the Nine Treasure Purple Zoysia from the original work, it still represented his hope of shedding the shameful title of Soul Grandmaster.
"Thanks, Xiao San."
With the treasure securely in hand, Yu Xiaogang regained some composure. Clearing his throat discreetly, he stashed the pill away and then called toward the door:
"You can come in now."
As Yu Xiaogang finished speaking, three figures slowly entered the room.
One was a sturdy young man in his twenties who appeared unusually mature. Another was a gloomy-looking girl around seventeen or eighteen. The last was a sweet-faced girl of the same age, her smile radiant.
Yu Xiaogang introduced them: "These three will be your teammates for the upcoming Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament. They are senior students Tai Long and Jiang Zhu, as well as the transfer student Bai Chenxiang."
The seven exchanged brief greetings.
Teamwork and chemistry weren't built overnight, but Ma Hongjun's eyes immediately lit up with green flames upon seeing Jiang Zhu and Bai Chenxiang—two beautiful female soul masters of high quality. Such rare gems were exactly what he craved!
However, given his unresolved evil fire, lack of weight loss, and recent self-indulgence, neither his appearance nor his aura impressed the two girls. If anything, they found him repulsive.
Noticing Ma Hongjun's ill intentions, the two girls subtly retreated behind the towering figure of Tai Long, using him as a shield.
Seeing his disciple embarrass himself so thoroughly, Flender felt a pang of shame. He casually smacked the back of Ma Hongjun's head, signaling him to tone it down, before leaving.
With Yu Xiaogang, the theoretical expert, present, Flender decided it was best to stay out of the spotlight and continue being a tool person.
After two years of maturation, Tang San seemed to have developed a bit more cunning. He enthusiastically conversed with Jiang Zhu and Bai Chenxiang for a moment before generously handing them some pills as well.
The two girls were astonished to receive such treasures and accepted them with gratitude.
As for Tai Long—
During their brief exchange, this towering brute made no attempt to conceal his allegiance, directly addressing Tang San as "Young Master!"
Clearly, over the past two years, Tang Hao had somehow decided to bring the Slave Clan under his wing ahead of schedule.
As for his stepping stone and future enforcer, Tang San had already generously provided Tai Long with pills beforehand. By now, Tai Long was far stronger than his counterpart from the original work, having reached the level 40 Soul Ancestor rank. Combined with the unique cultivation methods of the Strength Clan, his raw power could rival that of offensive-type Soul Kings.
As for Bai Chenxiang, things were a bit intriguing.
Even if Tang Hao had taken Tang San along for training, there was no way they would have traveled all the way to the Star Luo Empire. And in the Tian Dou region, recruiting Bai Chenxiang to Shrek Academy…
If Ye Wen were here, he might analyze that parts of this world still followed the manga's settings.
Bai Chenxiang had been exposed for hiding her identity and transferred from Tian Dou Imperial Academy to assist Tang San.
In the manga universe, Bai Chenxiang's true identity was Yu Feng, the agile attacker of the Royal Battle Team who disguised herself as a man.
Even if Ye Wen guessed this, he would still doubt himself. After all, the Agile Clan was indeed poor, and Tian Dou Imperial Academy wasn't running a charity—they wouldn't let someone in for free just because of potential.
But none of that mattered anymore. What mattered was that Bai Chenxiang had now become an official member of Shrek's Seven Monsters.
This world was about to spiral out of control!
As for Jiang Zhu, she had always been a substitute for Shrek Academy, nothing special to note. Her martial soul was the Staff of Healing, making her a pure healing-type auxiliary soul master. With a soul ring configuration of yellow-yellow-purple, she was a rare gem among civilian healers.
At this moment, Oscar remained oblivious to the false intelligence he had unknowingly relayed.
None of the new recruits in this lineup were actually brought in by Yu Xiaogang. Some were originally students from Blue Tyrant Academy, while others were reluctantly dragged in.
But Tang San didn't care about any of that. All he wanted was for the Soul Master Tournament to start so he could showcase the fruits of nearly a decade of hard training!
Before that, however, the team needed to look the part. Thus, the seven reformed as Shrek's Seven Monsters and headed to the Tian Dou Spirit Arena to begin their spirit battles.
Jiang Zhu and Bai Chenxiang, both newly added members, were only at the Soul Elder rank, while Tang San and the others had just entered the Soul Ancestor rank. However, according to arena rules, they could only challenge teams at the Soul Ancestor level.
Initially, Jiang Zhu and the others were anxious. Were they just going to be cannon fodder?
After all, in the face of overwhelming soul power differences, even top-tier martial souls couldn't compete.
But team battles in the spirit arena had one advantage: external tools were allowed!
Over the past two years, Dai Mubai realized that while the Boundless Celestial Force was powerful, it consumed too much soul power. Thus, he began using weapons.
Dai Mubai wielded a single-edged long-handled greatsword, which looked quite intimidating.
Ma Hongjun had honed his flame control to its peak, no longer wasting soul power indiscriminately.
As for Tang San, he wielded a hammer, executing the Chaotic Wind Splitting Hammer Technique.
Don't misunderstand—this wasn't the Hao Tian Hammer. Instead, it was a heavy hammer Tang San had forged from rare metals.
Combined with Tai Long's terrifying brute strength, Shrek's team was unstoppable during the early Iron-level spirit battles, cutting through opponents like a hot knife through butter.
Though the four displayed promising potential, the audience, spoiled by Ye Wen and Bai Ling'er's performances, remained unimpressed. This left Tang San and the others feeling disheartened. Hadn't they performed well enough?
Later events would prove that Tang San and his team truly weren't good enough.
Lower-ranked teams naturally lacked experience, and their strength reflected that.
As the spirit arena rankings increased, experienced teams leveraged their skills and combinations in ways that Tang San's group of novice Soul Ancestors couldn't easily counter.
Despite two years of preparation for the Dragon King's return, Tang San realized within less than a month that he couldn't dominate his peers as he had hoped.
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