Li Chang'an saw right through Ning Rongrong's intentions with a single glance. That expression on her face—it reminded him vividly of when he was twelve in his previous life, the first time he passed a love letter to the girl sitting next to him in class. The look and reaction were exactly the same.
Just a few days ago, he had clashed with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. Yet now, their little princess was coming over to deliver him a gift. He couldn't help but wonder—how would Ning Fengzhi react if he found out?
Still, it wasn't in Li Chang'an's nature to be a scumbag. He wasn't going to lead her on. But that didn't mean he'd be making any moves on Ning Rongrong either. First, her personality was far too arrogant; if he agreed too easily, she'd think he was cheap. Second, he hadn't even gotten anywhere with Zhu Zhuqing yet—how could he have time to mess with Ning Rongrong?
Back in his room, Li Chang'an casually opened the gift box. Inside was a brooch—just one look told him it was high-quality and definitely expensive. As expected of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, rightfully known as the wealthiest Clan on the continent.
Of course, if we're talking about total assets, the Spirit Hall was even richer. But in terms of liquid assets—cash flow—it was only after they began producing soul tools in recent years that the Spirit Hall started catching up. This just went to show how truly wealthy the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan was.
After all, the name of the continent's number one merchant guild was the Seven Treasure chamber of commerce. That position hadn't budged for over a century—now that was terrifying.
Meanwhile, the final ruling from the incident in Heaven Dou City had also come down. The Ye and Wang Clans had been completely expelled from the chamber of commerce, and all their assets were handed over to the Li Clan.
With that power grab, the Li Chamber of Commerce officially rose to become the fifth-ranked chamber of commerce on the continent, stepping into the ranks of the Powerfull Clans. And all of this—every last piece—had been secured by Li Chang'an's own efforts and the backing of the Spirit Hall.
Shaking his head, Li Chang'an stopped thinking about all that nonsense. What he needed now was rest and sleep—his back was killing him...
---
The next day, Li Chang'an used the excuse of "making breakthroughs during closed-door cultivation" to get out of teaching classes. Even Xiao Wu couldn't bother him with that reason in play. He slept in lazily, finally regaining some much-needed energy.
After a quiet night, on the third day, Li Chang'an had breakfast with the Shrek Seven Devils, then brought them to the training field. Yu Xiaogang also arrived shortly afterward.
"Ahem. Everyone gather up," Li Chang'an said, his playful grin vanishing as he grew serious.
"I've looked into your last team match against the Mad Battle Team. Yes, you won—but from where I'm standing, it was an absolute mess!"
Li Chang'an didn't mince words. He went straight into a harsh critique of their last team fight—which had been led by Yu Xiaogang, no less. Truth be told, only Tang San, Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ma Hongjun had actually contributed meaningfully in that fight.
Among them, Zhu Zhuqing's performance stood out the most. As the Midnight Shadow Cat, a top-tier agility-attack type martial soul with dark attributes, and with soul power already in the 30s, she didn't even give the Mad Battle Team a chance to unleash their trump card before finishing them off. Her performance outshone even Tang San, the team's control specialist.
"Let's start with you, Dai Mubai. Who told you to charge into the enemy formation on your own right at the beginning? Sure, your martial soul is strong, and Tang San can pull you back with his Blue Silver Grass, but what if they'd cut the vines? Did you even think about the consequences?"
"And you, Oscar! You're a support-type Spirit master—why were you standing next to Ning Rongrong? Were you trying to protect her? What you were doing was getting both of you killed!"
"And you, Tang San—you were the biggest problem. I don't know who taught you your tactical approach, but as the team's control-type, it's your job to monitor the entire field—both your allies and your enemies."
"You failed at that. If Zhu Zhuqing hadn't noticed the opponent preparing to activate their berserk ability and stopped them in time, do you think you would've won so cleanly?"
---
Li Chang'an let it rip—he was just short of pointing at Yu Xiaogang's nose while tearing into him. Especially that line to Tang San: "I don't know who taught you these tactics." It was a direct slap in Yu Xiaogang's face.
Objectively speaking, for his time period, Yu Xiaogang's tactical theories—combined with Tang San's intelligence—were indeed impressive. But for Li Chang'an, a modern man from the 21st century, they were simply garbage.
In short, Yu Xiaogang and Tang San's strategy relied too heavily on sacrificing the contributions and skills of most teammates just to pave the way for one person's finishing move. That was their blind spot. That was their flaw.
Yes, before he arrived, Tang San had been the protagonist. But did that mean the rest of the team didn't matter? Nearly every battle was won because Tang San turned the tide and made the decisive blow. That kind of strategy was wrong. That way of initiating teamfights was flawed!
"Tomorrow's your match against the Emperor Team, right?" Li Chang'an said coldly. "Tang San, you're benched. I'm taking your spot."
"I won't use any soul skills or soul rings. I'll show you what real teamfighting looks like!"
He gave this order without leaving room for discussion.
Grumble if you want. Be dissatisfied if you must. Just bottle it all up—for tomorrow, everything will be decided on the battlefield. That was the level of authority Li Chang'an had built up in Shrek. Even Tang San, who had just been sidelined, didn't dare raise an objection.
Yu Xiaogang, on the other hand, wasn't too concerned. In his mind, even if Li Chang'an led the team to victory, he'd only be relying on his personal strength as a five-ringed Spirit King. That wouldn't count as team coordination in his book.
After all, he had devoted his entire life to the study of martial souls and tactical planning. Training? Sure, Li Chang'an might be better. But strategy? Not a chance. He had the experience. Li Chang'an didn't.
So in Yu Xiaogang's mind, even if they won tomorrow, he'd openly say: Li Chang'an didn't rely on teamwork, he relied on brute strength!
---
"Oh, right—before we start training, I have an announcement to make," Li Chang'an added with a smile. "Yesterday, I was stabilizing my soul power. I've officially broken through to Spirit Emperor. So stop thinking of me as a Spirit King."
This was just him playing it safe. After all, he'd just shown off as a Spirit Sage during the incident in Heaven Dou City. Though he had a doppelganger working inside Spirit Hall, if his "real body" suddenly revealed such high-level power again, it might raise suspicion.
Spirit Emperor!
The moment he spoke those words, the system's notifications started chiming in his ears:
[Yu Xiaogang. Points +9]
[...…]
The most shocked of all was, unsurprisingly, Yu Xiaogang. Sure, he had already accepted that he was outmatched, but seeing someone break through like it was nothing? That stung. Badly.
As Li Chang'an finished speaking, six soul rings appeared behind him, slowly hovering into place:
Purple, Purple, Black, Black, Black, Red!
When the last ring revealed itself to be red, everyone froze—especially Yu Xiaogang.
They all knew what red represented: a 100,000-year soul ring.
That meant Li Chang'an had at least two soul skills at that level. And he also had a 100,000-year soul bone!
Not even fourteen years old, already a Spirit Emperor, with a 100,000-year soul ring—these honors stacked up like monstrous achievements, crushing everyone else's confidence, especially Yu Xiaogang's.
And this… wasn't even all Li Chang'an had revealed.
T/N:
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