Three months.
Three months of blood, sweat, and the relentless, grinding pursuit of power. The opulent tranquility of the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect was a distant, dream-like memory, replaced by the grit and grime of a life lived on the edge. For the Shrek Five Devils, the Great Spirit Arena of Silves City had become their entire world.
It was a brutal, unforgiving crucible, a stage where glory was paid for in pain and reputation was forged in the fires of combat. And they had thrived.
Under the cold, meticulous guidance of Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang, they had been molded from a group of talented but fractured individuals into a cohesive, terrifying unit. Their name, whispered with a mixture of awe and fear through the stands, had become synonymous with a ferocious, almost suicidal aggression.
They had fought sixty official five-on-five team battles.
They had won fifty-five of them.
Their losses were rare, bitter lessons learned at the hands of older, more experienced teams with bizarre spirit combinations that even the Grandmaster's vast theoretical knowledge could not fully anticipate. But each loss was a catalyst, a new data point that Yu Xiaogang would dissect with clinical precision, refining their strategies, plugging their weaknesses.
Their victories, however, were not just wins. They were statements. They were brutal, efficient, and often, bloody.
The air in Arena 17 was thick with the roar of the crowd and the sharp, ozonic tang of spirit power. On the stone stage, the Shrek Five Devils stood opposite their opponents, a team of five Spirit Elders known as the "Stonecrusher Brigade."
"Look at them," the Brigade's captain, a hulking young man with a Granite Golem spirit, sneered. "Just a bunch of kids. This will be over in five minutes."
On the Shrek side, there was no banter. Only a cold, coiled tension.
"Remember the plan," Tang San's voice was a low, even murmur. "Their captain is a pure defense type. Ignore him. Mubai, Hongjun, you will be the main assault. Break their two agility types. Oscar, keep your sausages ready. Xiao Wu, you are the assassin. Wait for my signal."
The bell rang, and the battle began.
"STONE WALL!" the enemy captain roared, slamming his fists into the ground. A thick, solid wall of granite erupted, splitting their formation.
"Useless," Dai Mubai snarled. "White Tiger Vajra Transformation!"
He became a golden-white blur of fury, not trying to break the wall, but running straight up its side, his claws digging in for purchase. Ma Hongjun took to the air, his phoenix flames a brilliant orange against the arena lights.
The fight devolved into a chaotic, beautiful dance of violence. Tang San's Blue Silver Grass was a constant, probing threat, binding and harassing, creating openings where none existed. Oscar's vulgar chants were a constant, if embarrassing, source of support, his recovery sausages appearing in the hands of his teammates at the most crucial moments.
The Stonecrusher Brigade was strong, their coordination polished. But they were not prepared for the sheer, unadulterated ferocity of the Shrek Five. Dai Mubai fought with the desperation of a man trying to outrun his own demons, every claw strike a release of his pent-up humiliation. Ma Hongjun's flames burned with a reckless abandon, a testament to his own simmering frustrations.
They were winning. It was a hard-fought battle, but the tide was turning in their favor.
And then, it happened.
Xiao Wu, in a blur of motion, teleported behind one of the enemy agility types, a girl with a Swift Fox spirit. Her attack was perfect, a powerful kick aimed at the back of the girl's knee.
But the fox girl was cunning. At the last possible second, she twisted, a sharp, poisoned dagger appearing in her hand. She couldn't fully dodge the kick, but she managed to lash out.
The dagger raked across Xiao Wu's arm, drawing a thin line of red.
Xiao Wu cried out, a sharp, pained sound, as she stumbled back, the blackish tinge of poison already spreading from the wound.
The world seemed to slow down. The roar of the crowd faded into a dull hum.
For Tang San, everything ceased to exist except for that single, red line on Xiao Wu's pale arm.
A cold, black, venomous rage, a fury so profound it was almost a physical thing, rose up from the depths of his soul. His usual calm, analytical expression vanished, replaced by a mask of pure, murderous intent.
"You… dare… to hurt her?" his voice was a low, chilling whisper that was somehow more terrifying than any shout.
The fox girl, seeing the look in his eyes, felt a jolt of pure, instinctual terror.
"Third Brother, I'm fine!" Xiao Wu called out, but her words were lost in the rising storm.
Tang San's hands were a blur. He didn't summon his grass. He didn't use his poison. He brought out his true weapons.
The Godly Zhuge Crossbow appeared in his hands. He didn't even seem to aim. He just pointed it in the fox girl's direction and pulled the trigger.
Twang-twang-twang-twang!
A storm of forty-eight black-fletched bolts screamed across the stage.
The fox girl's eyes widened in horror. She tried to dodge, but the barrage was too dense, too fast. The bolts slammed into her, not in a random pattern, but in a precise, brutal formation that targeted her limbs.
Her screams were drowned out by the sound of splintering bone and tearing flesh. The bolts pinned her to the arena floor, her arms and legs twisted at unnatural angles. She was alive, but she would never walk, never fight, the same way again.
But Tang San wasn't finished. His gaze shifted to the other members of the Stonecrusher Brigade. His hands moved again, and a dozen Sleeve Silent Darts shot from his wrists.
The referee, a seasoned Spirit Emperor, finally snapped out of his stupor. A wall of pure spirit power erupted in front of the remaining opponents, deflecting the deadly needles.
"The match is over!" he roared, his voice booming with authority. "Winner, Shrek Academy! But for your excessive, life-threatening cruelty, you are banned from this arena for one week!"
Tang San didn't even seem to hear him. He was already at Xiao Wu's side, his hands glowing with the Mysterious Jade Hand as he carefully sucked the poison from her wound, his face a mask of cold, terrifying fury.
In the private viewing box, Yu Xiaogang watched the scene unfold with a quiet, analytical satisfaction. "Good," he murmured to himself. "His will is hardening. His sentimentality is being burned away, replaced by a necessary ruthlessness. He is becoming a true monster."
This scene repeated itself, in various forms, over the next few months. They were banned twice more, their reputation growing with every brutal victory. They were the Shrek Five Devils, a team you did not want to face, and a team you certainly did not want to injure.
It was into this city, a city that now whispered their name with a mixture of awe and fear, that a new power arrived.
They were the Emperor Team of the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy. Seven young men and women, their movements synchronized, their auras powerful and regal. They walked through the streets of Silves City not as visitors, but as conquerors, their eyes holding the cool, arrogant confidence of the empire's chosen elite.
Their leader was a young man named Qin Ming. He was handsome, his posture ramrod straight, his spirit power, even when contained, a palpable pressure. He was a Level 62 Spirit Emperor, a genius of his generation. And he was a graduate of a small, shabby, and now-defunct academy that had once called itself Shrek.
He heard the whispers in the arena, the stories of the ferocious, five-person team that fought with the reckless abandon of devils. He heard the name of their academy, and a jolt of nostalgic surprise shot through him.
He sought them out. Not in the arena, but in the quiet, tense halls of the inn they had claimed as their temporary home.
The reunion between Qin Ming and Flender was an emotional one, a meeting of a proud student and his equally proud, if eccentric, teacher.
"Dean Flender!" Qin Ming had exclaimed, his usual stoic composure breaking as he performed a deep, respectful bow. "I never thought I would see you again!"
Flender's own eyes had misted over. "Qin Ming, my boy. Look at you. A Spirit Emperor. The captain of the Emperor Team. You've done well. You've done Shrek proud."
That evening, Qin Ming sat with the entire Shrek faculty—Flender, Yu Xiaogang, and Zhao Wuji. He had seen the new students, had felt their raw, untamed power.
"They are magnificent, Dean," he said, his voice filled with a genuine, heartfelt admiration. "Their ferocity, their coordination… they are true monsters, in the best tradition of Shrek."
He leaned forward, his expression turning serious. "Which is why I must make this offer. Dean, you must bring them to Heaven Dou City. Shrek Academy, as it was, is no more. You are wandering teachers with a handful of students. This is not a sustainable path."
He laid out his proposal, his words clear and logical. "The Heaven Dou Imperial Academy is the greatest institution in the empire. We have resources beyond your wildest dreams. Simulation fields, vast libraries, the best nutritionists and spirit beast experts. But we lack… a certain edge. A certain ferocity. Your students have that in spades."
He looked at Flender, his gaze intense. "Join us. Shrek Academy can merge with the Imperial Academy. Your students can become our second official team for the Continental Tournament. They will have access to everything the empire can provide. And you, Dean, and your teachers, will be given positions of honor, your wisdom and experience valued."
Flender's face was a mask of stubborn pride, his arms crossed tightly over his chest as if to physically ward off the temptation of Qin Ming's offer. The inn room felt small, suffocating under the weight of a decision that could change the very soul of his life's work.
"I appreciate the offer, Qin Ming. Truly, I do," Flender said, his voice strained. "But Shrek Academy is not just a name. It's an ideal. It's about independence. We don't bow to empires or sects. We create monsters, and then we set them free. To be absorbed into the Imperial Academy… it would be a betrayal of everything I've built."
Yu Xiaogang, who had been listening with a quiet, calculating intensity, finally spoke. His voice was a flat, emotionless counterpoint to the emotional turmoil in the room.
"Flender," he said, his gaze fixed on his old friend. "You are thinking with your heart, not your head. This is not a matter of pride. It is a matter of opportunity."
He stood up, pacing the small room with a stiff, measured gait. "Let us analyze the situation logically. What do our students need right now? They need resources. They need the best nutrition to fuel their physical growth. They need advanced simulation fields to hone their spirit abilities. And most importantly," he paused, his eyes gleaming with a cold, strategic light, "they need opponents. A constant stream of talented, varied opponents to test their skills against. Silves City is a provincial backwater. Heaven Dou City is the heart of the empire, a gathering place for geniuses from across the continent."
He stopped pacing and turned to face Flender directly. "Your independence is a noble sentiment, but it is a luxury we cannot currently afford if we wish to maximize the potential of these children. Think of this not as a surrender, but as a strategic infiltration. We will use the Empire's resources. We will use their training grounds. We will use their students as whetstones to sharpen our own blades."
Zhao Wuji, who had been listening quietly, let out a low rumble of agreement. "The Grandmaster is right, Flender. Pride doesn't feed the kids. And a chance to fight the empire's so-called geniuses every day? That sounds like a proper Shrek education to me."
Yu Xiaogang delivered the final, decisive argument. "Once they have made a name for themselves, once the name 'Shrek' is synonymous with victory in the Continental Tournament, we can leave. We can re-establish the academy on our own terms, and this time, the best talent in the world will flock to us. This is not the end of Shrek Academy, Flender. It is the beginning of its legend."
The logic was unassailable. Flender's shoulders slumped, the fight going out of him. He looked at his old friend, at the unshakeable certainty in his eyes, and he knew he was defeated.
"Alright, Xiaogang," he sighed, the words tasting like ash in his mouth. "You win. We'll go to Heaven Dou City."
Their arrival at the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire was a study in contrasts. The city was a breathtaking marvel of white stone and gold, its avenues wide and clean, its people dressed in fine silks. The Heaven Dou Imperial Academy was its crown jewel, a sprawling complex of elegant buildings and manicured gardens that radiated an aura of wealth and power.
The Shrek contingent, however, looked like they had just crawled out of a ditch. Three months of brutal training and travel had left their clothes shabby and stained, their faces etched with a weary, road-worn grit. They stood before the grand, gilded gates, a small, unimpressive island of poverty in an ocean of opulence.
The guards at the gate, their armor polished to a mirror shine, looked them up and down with open, undisguised contempt.
"What do you beggars want?" one of them sneered. "This is the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, not a soup kitchen."
Flender stepped forward, his face flushed with anger, but he forced himself to remain calm. "We are here at the invitation of Teacher Qin Ming of the Emperor Team. We are the faculty and students of Shrek Academy."
The guard just laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "Shrek Academy? Never heard of it. And you expect me to believe Teacher Qin Ming would associate with the likes of you? Get lost before I have you thrown out."
It was at that moment that a new voice, dripping with an arrogant, aristocratic drawl, cut through the tense air.
"What is all this commotion? Can't you see you are disturbing the peace?"
A young man, flanked by a group of fawning students, strode towards them. He was handsome in a petulant sort of way, his fine robes embroidered with the four-clawed dragon of an imperial prince. It was the Fourth Prince, Xue Beng.
His gaze swept over the Shrek group, his nose wrinkling in disgust as if he had just smelled something foul. "Look at this lot. Are you refugees from some backwater kingdom? Your clothes are filthy. This is a place of learning for the empire's elite, not a shelter for vagrants."
That was the final straw.
Dai Mubai had been simmering, his pride already raw from his recent humiliations. The Shrek philosophy, 'those who don't dare to cause trouble are mediocre,' was a fire in his blood.
With a low, guttural snarl, he moved. He was a white blur, his hand shooting out not to injure, but to humiliate. He grabbed the front of Xue Beng's fine robes and, with a single, powerful heave, lifted the stunned prince off his feet and threw him into a nearby ornamental fountain with a loud splash.
For a moment, there was a stunned silence. Then, chaos erupted.
Xue Beng's followers screamed. The guards drew their weapons.
"You… you dare to attack me?!" Xue Beng sputtered, emerging from the fountain, his clothes soaked, his hair plastered to his head, looking like a drowned rat. "Do you know who I am?! I am the Fourth Prince! I'll have you all executed!"
He scrambled out of the fountain and, with a final, hate-filled glare, he turned and ran, screaming for his uncle.
Flender's face was ashen. "Mubai, you fool!" he hissed.
The scene was salvaged by Flender and Zhao Wuji unleashing their power as Spirit Saints.
A few days later, the official decree arrived. The Shrek Academy, for assaulting a member of the imperial family, was formally and permanently expelled from the grounds of the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy.
Flender was crushed. He sat in their cheap inn room, his head in his hands. "It's over," he murmured, his voice hollow. "My dream… it's all over."
Yu Xiaogang just watched him, his expression impassive. This setback was inconvenient, but not fatal. His mind was already calculating their next move.
"Don't be so dramatic, Flender," he said, his tone clinical. "This is merely a temporary obstacle. We can search for some other academy. I don't believe they won't accept us like this arrogant Heaven Dou Imperial Academy."
Flender looked up, a flicker of hope in his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"I have another idea," Flender said, his voice low. He deliberately avoided Yu Xiaogang's gaze. "There's… another academy in the city. The Blue Tyrant Academy. It's also an Advanced Spirit Master Academy institution, but its facilities are decent. The dean is an old acquaintance. Perhaps… perhaps they would be willing to take us in, at least for a while."
He did not mention her name. He knew, with a certainty born from decades of friendship, that if he said the name 'Liu Erlong', his old friend Xiaogang would turn and walk away without a second thought.
The Blue Tyrant Academy was a world away from the Imperial Academy's opulence, but it was still a proper, well-funded institution. Its buildings were sturdy, its training grounds well-maintained. They were met at the gates by a middle-aged teacher named Yin Shu, a man with weary eyes and a professional demeanor.
Flender, with Yu Xiaogang and Zhao Wuji in tow, explained their situation. Yin Shu listened patiently before sighing. "I cannot make this decision myself. You will have to speak with the Dean. Follow me."
He led them not towards the main administrative building, but away from it, towards a secluded path that wound its way into a dense, quiet forest on the edge of the academy grounds.
Yu Xiaogang frowned. "Where are we going? Why does your Dean not reside within the academy?"
"The Dean… prefers her privacy," Yin Shu replied evasively.
The path opened up to reveal a breathtaking sight. A small, crystal-clear lake, its surface like a flawless mirror, was nestled in a sun-dappled clearing. On the far side of the lake stood a simple, elegant wooden cabin. And sitting on the porch, her back to them, was a woman.
She had a head of fiery red hair that cascaded down her back like a waterfall of molten lava. Even from this distance, they could feel the potent, almost violent aura of her spirit power.
"Dean, you have visitors," Yin Shu called out respectfully.
The woman turned, and the world seemed to hold its breath. She was beautiful, a mature, fierce beauty with sharp features, piercing eyes, and full, red lips. She was a Spirit Saint, her power a palpable, crackling thing.
She stood and walked towards them, her movements fluid and powerful. Her gaze swept over them, cold and dismissive. "Flender," she said, her voice a low, dangerous purr. "It's been a long time. What trouble have you gotten yourself into now that you've come crawling to my door?"
Flender just laughed, a nervous, weary sound. "Erlong, you haven't changed a bit."
But Liu Erlong was no longer looking at him. Her cold, aggressive gaze had landed on the stiff, silent figure standing beside him.
Her eyes widened. The coldness, the aggression, the entire dangerous aura she projected… it all just melted away, like snow in the spring sun. Her face, which had been a mask of sharp indifference, softened into an expression of pure, unadulterated, love-struck adoration.
"Xiao… gang?" she whispered, her voice trembling.
Yu Xiaogang flinched as if he had been struck. He took an involuntary step back, his face a mask of awkward, profound discomfort. He couldn't meet her gaze.
Liu Erlong didn't seem to notice. She moved as if in a dream, her eyes fixed on him, and only him. The powerful, fearsome Spirit Saint was gone, replaced by a gentle, almost brainless girl who was seeing the love of her life for the first time in twenty years.
"It's really you," she breathed. "I knew it. I knew you'd come back for me one day."
She rushed forward, throwing her arms around his stiff, unyielding frame, burying her face in his chest. "I've missed you so much," she sobbed.
Yu Xiaogang stood there, trapped in her embrace, his expression a mixture of panic and a deep, festering pride. He had abandoned this woman, left her without a word of explanation for two decades.
And yet, her love for him was as fierce and unwavering as the day he had left. His prideful heart swelled, even as his mind frantically calculated how to best use this unexpected, powerful asset that had just fallen back into his lap.
He needed resources for Little San. He needed a base of operations. And here was Liu Erlong, a powerful Spirit Saint, the dean of her own academy, offering it all to him on a silver platter, no questions asked.
He looked down at the beautiful, sobbing woman in his arms, and a cold, hypocritical decision was made.
He would use her. He would take her love, her loyalty, her academy, and he would use it all to forge his disciple into the legend he was destined to be.
With a final, silent nod to a stunned Flender, Liu Erlong, still clinging to Yu Xiaogang, made her pronouncement. "Flender, this academy… it's yours now. Do with it as you will. Rename it. Rebuild it. From now on, I will follow Xiao Gang wherever he goes."
The problem of a home for Shrek Academy had been solved.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels like "Harem Master: Seduction System" and the "Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist" and I hope you like this story and those stories as well.
Check out more chapters on my P.atreon. The P.atreon will have 20+ Chapters ahead for this story. I hope you like it.
The link of p.atreon is: bit.ly/evildragon