Although the Divine Bird Academy was weak in terms of strength, its headmaster was still a formidable Soul Sage. Dealing with him could have been difficult for Meng Bei with his current abilities.
To counter this, Meng Bei invoked the name of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect as his backing.
Why waste such a powerful ally? Only a fool would fail to leverage such an advantage.
One of the main reasons Meng Bei had visited Ning Fengzhi with such respect—besides him being Ning Rongrong's father—was precisely to gain the influence of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
As expected, the reputation of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect worked wonders.
The moment Meng Bei mentioned the sect, the headmaster of Divine Bird Academy quickly agreed to the challenge request.
Soon, the Divine Bird Academy's team assembled. It consisted of seven members, of which only three were Soul Elders, and the rest were Great Soul Masters.
Such a lineup posed no real challenge to the Shrek team.
However, all of their martial souls were bird-type spirits, enabling them to fly, which made achieving a quick victory somewhat troublesome.
Considering this, Oscar, who usually remained on the bench, finally got his chance to shine.
As a food-type soul master, Oscar was rarely deployed in team battles. But against flying soul masters, his third soul skill proved invaluable.
The Shrek lineup consisted of Dai Mubai, Oscar, Tang San, Huang Yuan, Jing Ling, Tai Long, and Xiao Wu.
With seven team members and 21 soul rings combined, the Shrek team immediately consumed Oscar's mushroom sausages and launched a relentless aerial assault against Divine Bird Academy's soul masters.
Within less than fifteen minutes, the battle concluded. Under the livid gaze of Divine Bird Academy's headmaster, Meng Bei led the Shrek team to their next opponent.
By noon, Meng Bei and the Shrek team had swept through three neighboring academies.
During these battles, Tang San's performance stood out the most.
Although his Blue Silver Grass struggled against top-tier martial souls, it was particularly effective against more ordinary opponents.
In essence, Tang San excelled at overwhelming weaker foes.
Against enemies with low offensive capabilities, Tang San could even hold his own in one-versus-three or one-versus-four scenarios. His control abilities occasionally outshone Dai Mubai's attacks, as the latter could only focus on one opponent at a time.
Perhaps driven by the desire to impress Xiao Wu, Tang San fought exceptionally hard in all three matches. Often taking on multiple opponents at once, he created opportunities for his teammates, pushing himself to the brink of exhaustion.
In the end, the Shrek team emerged victorious in all three battles, suffering only minor injuries. With some treatment from Jiang Zhu, the team quickly recovered.
Despite the relatively weak opponents, fighting three battles back-to-back in one morning left the Shrek members thoroughly exhausted—especially Tang San, who collapsed into a deep sleep at a hotel they stopped at for lunch.
Xiao Wu took special care of Tang San, gently covering him with a blanket.
"Brother San, you've worked hard. Rest well this afternoon!" she said tenderly, stepping out of the room with a soft smile. To prevent anyone from disturbing him, she even locked the door.
Once Tang San was peacefully asleep, Xiao Wu sneaked off to find Meng Bei.
During their brief midday break, Xiao Wu somehow found herself boldly stepping on Meng Bei's head—whether it was his "big" head or "small" head, her audacious actions made it clear that her punishments had not been strict enough.
"Hmph! Call me the Bunny Queen!" Xiao Wu demanded arrogantly, hands on her hips.
Having locked Tang San's door, Xiao Wu appeared completely unbothered, her demeanor far more daring than usual.
Meng Bei smirked like a predatory eagle and grabbed the "bunny" in his grasp.
By afternoon, Tang San had regained much of his strength. However, Xiao Wu appeared unusually fatigued, even more so than Tang San, and her steps wobbled noticeably.
Tang San, concerned, asked, "Xiao Wu, are you okay? You look so tired."
Xiao Wu gave an awkward laugh, her eyes avoiding his gaze.
"Oh, Brother San, it's nothing. I'm just feeling a little under the weather today."
"What?!" Tang San's expression darkened with worry. He quickly asked her if she was unwell or needed a doctor.
Xiao Wu repeatedly assured him she was fine and just a bit tired. Meanwhile, Ning Rongrong eyed Xiao Wu suspiciously.
The more Ning Rongrong observed Xiao Wu, the more familiar her "symptoms" seemed.
The team resumed their afternoon matches, but the short break hadn't been enough for the Shrek members to fully recover. As a result, the battles became increasingly difficult.
Tang San continued to shoulder much of the burden, hoping to end the fights quickly. Despite Xiao Wu's reassurances, he couldn't shake his concern and wanted to finish the matches as soon as possible so he could take her to a doctor.
The fourth academy fell, followed by the fifth.
Unlike the previous opponents, the fifth academy boasted stronger fighters: four Soul Elders and three Great Soul Masters who were no pushovers. Given Shrek's fatigue from earlier battles, Meng Bei decided to step in personally to avoid any surprises.
This was the moment when the Shrek team finally witnessed Meng Bei's true strength.
When Meng Bei revealed his soul rings, everyone was stunned.
"No way... Is that a fourth soul ring? And it's a ten-thousand-year ring?!"
Until now, Meng Bei hadn't participated in any fights, so Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and the others had no idea he had reached level 40, let alone absorbed a ten-thousand-year soul ring.
As the deep black soul ring materialized, the shock on their faces was unmistakable. Anyone with basic knowledge of soul beasts knew what a black ring represented.
Even Tang San couldn't hide his surprise.
"What in the world?!"
He knew Meng Bei had reached level 40 through dual cultivation with Xiao Wu and had gone to the Extreme North to hunt for a soul ring. But a ten-thousand-year ring? That seemed impossible!
According to the master's theory, a fourth soul ring's maximum age should be five thousand years. Meng Bei's ring had clearly exceeded ten thousand. How could this be?
Tang San couldn't help but reevaluate his beliefs. If Meng Bei had achieved this, could it mean the master's theories were flawed?
"Frozen Wind!"
Meng Bei activated his second soul ring, and the battlefield instantly transformed into a frozen tundra. The bitter cold swept through, forcing the seven opposing soul masters to retreat, their bones nearly frozen stiff.
In moments, three Great Soul Masters and one weaker Soul Elder collapsed unconscious from the cold.
Meng Bei had eliminated half the opposing team with a single move, leaving only three struggling opponents who were quickly defeated.
As the last soul master fell, a crisp sound rang in Meng Bei's mind.
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