In no time, all the students of Heaven Dou Imperial Academy and most of the teachers began rushing toward the back mountain of the academy.
After all, when they fought Skywater Academy before, the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy team led by Dugu Yan had lost. This wasn't just because the team lacked unity—more importantly, Skywater Academy's martial soul fusion technique was simply too powerful.
Especially under the influence of their freezing environment, a Spirit Master's spirit power would gradually drain away.
But this battle would be completely different. This was just some unknown academy that Qin Ming had mentioned. Even if they'd beaten Heaven Dou Imperial Academy's second team, they absolutely couldn't achieve victory against a four-person squad led by a Spirit King.
But if their Heaven Dou Imperial Academy lost this battle too, it would be like losing face for the entire Heaven Dou Empire. The empire's future funding for the academy would also take a major hit.
Therefore, this match could only be won—defeat was absolutely not an option.
Walking on Heaven Dou Imperial Academy's marble pathway, Ma Hongjun stuck out his big head. Every time a female student from Heaven Dou Imperial Academy passed by, his eyes would lock onto the girl's retreating figure, especially when he saw those female students whose dresses were lifted by the gentle breeze. Ma Hongjun's gaze became even more heated, fully displaying his lustful and perverted nature.
"Hongjun, watch your image."
Flender, his teacher behind him, couldn't help but remind this disciple of his who had very... substantial needs in certain areas. The other team members couldn't help but smile when they saw Ma Hongjun like this.
"A bunch of country bumpkins."
A Heaven Dou Imperial Academy student who was hurrying along glanced at Ma Hongjun with disgust.
The Shrek members, having been insulted like this, all looked displeased. Just as Ma Hongjun was about to teach this foul-mouthed, low-quality student a lesson like Dai Mubai had done before, the student had already run away.
"Fatty, listen to the dean and suppress that evil fire in your body. Otherwise, when the evil fire erupts, you might end up naked doing something inappropriate."
Oscar, walking beside Ning Rongrong, teased Ma Hongjun mercilessly in front of everyone.
"Little Ao, my big sausage uncle, you're not much better than me, are you? Too bad all of you are paired up, and I'm the only one without—"
Halfway through his words, Ma Hongjun looked at Dai Mubai at the front of the group, fists clenched tight, and swallowed the rest of his words.
At this moment, Tang San showed neither joy nor anger, but his expression was somewhat grave as he looked into the distance.
A Spirit King? Their team, including himself, only had four Spirit Elders. In a team battle, their Shrek six-member team had a seventy percent chance of failure.
Since Shrek Academy was joining Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, their six members absolutely could not lose. If they lost, both their teachers and they themselves would never be able to hold their heads up in Heaven Dou Imperial Academy again.
Tang San would never allow this to happen. The core element of this battle would be his poison.
When they officially arrived at the back mountain, they saw Mengshenji standing beside four students, greeting them very warmly.
"Dean Flender, and Grandmaster, Qin Ming has already introduced you to me. Welcome, everyone, to Heaven Dou Imperial Academy for this sparring match."
"Thank you for the attention from the three education committee members. Without you, we wouldn't have been able to come to Heaven Dou Imperial Academy."
Flender respectfully bowed to Mengshenji. As the Shrek Academy members' gazes shifted, they suddenly caught sight of Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling nearby.
Ma Hongjun and Oscar's eyes widened like copper bells, licking their lips from time to time, as if seeing two breathtakingly beautiful landscapes that were beyond words.
"Little Ao, why does my martial soul have this strange feeling, like there's some kind of intimacy but also a fighting instinct? Is it because of her?"
Ma Hongjun whispered, his gaze now completely focused on Dugu Yan, especially her proud figure curves, instantly igniting the evil fire within him. Wisps of pale black aura began emanating from Ma Hongjun's body.
His heart felt like it was being scratched by cats, making him unbearably itchy all over. If Flender beside him hadn't poured spirit power into his body to forcibly suppress it, the lush green back mountain of Heaven Dou Imperial Academy would probably have been completely burned to ashes today.
Although Oscar was also drooling over Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling's beauty, after seeing Ning Rongrong get angry, he completely abandoned that idea.
At the same time, the only other person with this martial soul sensation was Dai Mubai. Although he was still angry about the previous incident with Zhu Zhuqing, his Evil-Eyed White Tiger martial soul had already developed a frenzied battle instinct.
However, he was still somewhat nervous. According to what Senior Qin Ming had said, after Dugu Yan's martial soul evolved, it had become a sub-dragon martial soul similar to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.
Moreover, that Dugu Yan wasn't a Spirit Ancestor—she was a living, breathing Spirit King.
However, a thought suddenly emerged in Dai Mubai's mind. As long as he defeated her in the team battle, regardless of whose hands she fell to, he just needed to show some small kindnesses and use some of his unique girl-chasing techniques to win Dugu Yan over.
With the Poison Douluo that everyone feared behind Dugu Yan, he would completely have the qualifications to return and compete for the throne. When he became emperor of the Star Luo Empire, he would definitely make Zhu Zhuqing understand that without him, Dai Mubai, she was nothing.
As for that Ignaz guy who seemed to be Dugu Yan's boyfriend, Dai Mubai didn't care at all. Although Dugu Yan was beautiful, to him she was just a chess piece for advancement. Once he secured the throne and accumulated enough power, couldn't he just throw her into the cold palace?
Ye Lingling looked at the three men across from them with ill intentions and whispered close to Dugu Yan's ear:
"Yan, these guys are clearly up to no good from the moment they arrived, especially that perverted-looking fatty. You can tell he's lusting after your body."
As she spoke, Ye Lingling also licked her lips. She had to admit that Dugu Yan, who was a head taller than her and had been deliberately molded by her over the years, had become much more womanly.
The early bird gets the worm—if she were a man, she definitely wouldn't let Dugu Yan go to that Ignaz who was still on his way back. Fortunately, over these three years, she'd already had the chance to appreciate all the areas she should see under the pretext of medical reasons.
"Lingling—"
Dugu Yan called several times before Ye Lingling snapped back to attention.
"What's wrong?"
Dugu Yan crossed her arms over her chest, looking at Ye Lingling with a particular expression.
"Nothing. During the battle, I won't be able to spare the energy to protect you, so make sure those three guys don't take advantage of you."
After pondering for a moment, Dugu Yan still voiced her inner feelings:
"Lingling, that fatty gives me a special feeling, similar to what I felt from Bingbing's Ice Phoenix before, but also somewhat different. Could it be..."
As she spoke, a scene suddenly flashed through Dugu Yan's mind. In just a moment, her expression became extremely disgusted, and she unconsciously spat out a few words:
"Disgusting, absolutely disgusting."