Karni and Siduo were going back to work. The weekend was over. It was fun, it was relaxing, but it was time to get back to life. Their job was to teach students after all. And with their ongoing bet with Shrek, they could not afford to take a true break. At least not this year.
Thankfully, they could not fully focus on teaching. The business with the police has wrapped up. They had to go to a couple of hearings, but most of things were handled by Tang Sect, since the members' identities were always protected.
Plus, Zhen Haoran, the lazy bloke the two caught and gave them information, had been promoted to the Chief of Police of Star Luo City. He happily protected the two with his newfound bureaucratic power. They got rid of a big headache of his after all.
With finally being able to teach properly… first thing to do this morning? Junior Class. Jianyu and Wang Chao's class.
They entered the class, the children stood up to pay respects, Yi Lan nodded to the two of them.
"Alright, today we'll be doing something different. We will start with sparing practices." Siduo started.
The kids fell silent for a bit, before they all turned lively.
Karni turned his hand as if turning off a radio. The room slowly became silent. He had to admit to himself. He loved doing that. The looks he got always amused him.
"You've been diligent for the first semester." Karni said. "The first ten minutes, we will still spend checking on your improvements to see if you are diligent. Do not expect that you can just start slacking with the practice we demanded before."
"As for the first sparing session," Siduo continued where she left off before, "we will observe your abilities for today. Form pairs."
The class quickly got into pairs. One girl was left alone, looking worried. Her friends looked around as well, trying to find her a partner.
"You three just group up." Karni said.
The girls smiled and cheered.
Karni looked to Yi Lan. "Teacher Yi, please look after that group."
Yi Lan nodded, though he himself wasn't sure what the plan was.
"Everyone partnered up?" Siduo asked just to make sure, and the class nodded. "Good. Follow."
The group moved to the field orderly. They had been trained well in these three years of Junior Academy.
Siduo looked to Karni with a smile. He spoke. "You can have the honour."
She did a little thumbs up. "Now that you're paired up, you will fight each other. You can let loose, just don't intrude on others' spaces."
The whole class looked a bit surprised at that, then they saw Siduo create eight clones of herself. There were 16 groups, which made for a total of 33 students, as one group had three people. Yi Lan would watch over that group, Siduo would watch over eight groups, as for Karni, he first used his fifth Soul Ring, Quivering Silver Feathers, to push all the groups of children apart. To them it felt like an invisible force pushed them around. Since his new understanding of the Greatsword, he also learnt how to push Space better. The flow of the two went together naturally.
Then Karni sat on the ground on the opposite side of the field to Siduo. He placed his palm on the ground, roots spread throughout the field, Blooming Loti at the ready to intervene when there would be danger in the seven groups he would look after.
"Start." Siduo said without warning.
…
They especially watched over Jianyu and Wang Chao, who were against one another right now. And sure enough, it was as they remembered: Jianyu kept on losing. Now they understood why.
Wang Chao's Martial Soul, the Durvillaea, used electricity to its own purpose, even channelled it.
Ten minutes and Jianyu never won. Though Siduo couldn't help but snicker to herself. There was such a simple solution. It wouldn't guarantee a win, but it would at least give him a chance.
"Alright, stop." Karni said from the other side. He was keeping track of time. He nodded to her after he made sure everyone was paying attention.
"Stay in pairs. You two." She pointed to her left side, closest children. "Pair up with the two on your left." She then pointed to the second group. "You do the same." She went around, ordering everyone to pair up with.
"You will fight a two versus two now. Same rules, you can go all out. Start. You, group of three, fight teacher Yi Lan."
She turned to look at her brother. Hopefully he would find the solution on his own.
…
"Alright, that's the end of the class for today." Karni announced. Everyone stopped fighting. There had been quite a few rounds and changes opponents, but the initial pairs stayed the same for today.
"Think about what you experienced today." Siduo said. "If you have any questions, you can go to Teacher Val, Teacher Yi, or me."
She looked to her brother again. He was a bit frustrated. He noticed Siduo's gaze during the spars. He didn't know what it was, except that he was lacking in something. Not only did he not find a solution, despite a few rematches with Wang Chao in between, but their cooperation even fell apart, despite the fact it should have been the best combination among the kids here. Lighting should have been able to channel through Durvillaea. It would have a been quite a good combo. Instead, toward the end, they started losing more often than winning.
"Kiki, relay a message for me." She whispered under her breath, knowing Karni would hear her anyway.
"Sure." She heard back. "To Jianyu?"
Siduo nodded.
"Tell him that if he cannot fix the cooperation and get a single win against Wang Chao until next week, he can say goodbye to Special training. He can still come until then though."
"What a strict sister." He couldn't help commenting but relayed the message anyway. Jianyu was already feeling frustrated, and she decided to add an additional burden on him.
The look she received from Jianyu told her everything. However, she leaned her head a bit and the boy backed off from the complaints he was about to say out loud. She really needed to be careful that her brother wouldn't become a spoiled little shit. He was kind, but no one was immune to falling under a false sense of confidence… not even she.
Siduo and Karni moved onto the next class. Advanced Academy classes. On Mondays they made special sparring sessions between first, second and third years. On Fridays they did the same for fourth, fifth and sixth years. It was a way to intermingle the teams and be forced to cooperate with someone weaker or stronger. Sometimes they prepared special limitations and challenges. These lessons were comprehensive on a similar level to Special Class of Intermediate Academy, just on a larger scale.
They moved from the Junior Academy sparring field to the Advanced Academy one. The three classes already waited there. All of them looked at Karni and Siduo with reverence and respect. The third years were the same age as them after all, but Karni and Siduo were far ahead the rest of them in terms of cultivation.
It was Karni who led this class. "Alright, find a partner." The class started similarly to the Junior Class.
The class grouped up immediately. They were used to this.
"Find yourself opponents. We will start with two v twos."
It didn't take long for that to begin either. Here however, the two of them wouldn't exactly be enough to keep everyone safe, so the students knew to use an appropriate level of power. The focus was on techniques and uniqueness of use.
As usual, the pairings were no different than any other day they did two v twos. If they had the choice, there were people who enjoyed cooperating and having certain opponents. For example, Tie Tiao and Ma Fai would pair up, and so would Hu Fuya and Song Daiyu. Both teams were great at cooperation and had great synergy.
Ma Fai would reinforce Tie Tiao's Little Swallow Martial Soul with her bloodline. On the other side, Song Daiyu prepared a dark field inside which Hu Fuya thrived. These four were also the strongest among all three years.
"Ho. So this is how you do things." A male voice came from behind. Karni and Siduo both turned. Siduo was surprised, Karni just waved. He heard them coming already. Two voices he was very familiar with.
Xie Xie and Yuanen Yehui showed up.
"You're early." Karni said. Once a week the two of them visited to help test Karni's Soul Tool technology. Both of them had Twin Martial Souls, so they were useful for testing, especially so because of Karni's little problem where he couldn't test things out on himself. However, the two weren't scheduled today.
"Mm. We had no plans today and we were curious." Yehui said.
"Hm. That group of four is quite strong. That fiery girl might even be able to rival some of our old classmates."
Siduo nodded. "That's Ma Fai. She has the bloodline of the Evil Phoenix but hadn't yet fully awakened it."
"Ho. Is that so? That lineage had mostly been lost from what I remember." Yehui commented.
…
"Alright, everyone stop." Karni announced. Ten minutes had passed.
Everyone stopped in unison. They already had a feel for the usual ten-minute sparring matches, so they knew when to expect it.
Xie Xie whistled. "That's quite the command you have here. Though…"
Except today an oddity appeared. "What's with them?"
All four used Purple Demon Eyes at once. Siduo explained. "We allow only one exception, if a person feels they're close to a breakthrough and stopping would be harmful, they can continue… except."
Tie Tiao rushed out of the mist. "Fai is weird. She feels more reckless than usual."
"Evil Phoenix seeping out?" Karni asked Siduo. She was familiar with the Martial Soul.
"Hm. Yes and no. She is intentionally pushing herself; she is still in control. Let's see how it plays out."
The usually fully dark mist was fiery red in the middle. Ma Fai was trashing around with fiery feathers that flew in a tornado. It was her third Soul Skill, Flaming Feathers Tornado. She was fighting both Hu Fuya and Song Daiyu at once. An incredible feat. However, while her thrashing seemed intense, Hu Fuya who was at the frontlines was somehow able to follow closely.
Hu Fuya's third Soul Ring lit up. Translucent Crunch. It was strengthened by the darkness.
A fiery, deep red light collided with a pale green one. They were both Soul Elders, but Ma Fai was currently at the edge of reaching Soul Ancestor level.
And then the flaming glow deepened. Wings sprouted, then another pair. A total of four flaming wings.
Siduo vanished from her spot, lit in flames of Black and White. Xie Xie did so almost as soon as she did. She gave him a signal. They were the agility systems.
Siduo went into the mist, then punched the four-winged phoenix like figure that was about to attack the crunch of a glowing green cat. The mist disappeared as soon as it happened. Xie Xie appeared in front of the crunch just in case.
"Sit and concentrate. Suppress it as I taught you." Siduo said to Ma Fai who had just been punched out of an almost berserk state.
Ma Fai did so immediately, not minding the punch. It cleared her head.
Everyone gathered around Ma Fai in a wide circle, curious. She already had a fourth Purple Soul Ring glowing brightly.
"Huh. She really could have made it in Shrek."
Siduo shook her head. "With the test back then she likely would not have gotten enough points as she was. Now… maybe she's at the level of our peers."
Karni and Yuanen Yehui joined the two agility types.
"How is she?" Karni asked.
"Mm. She'll do just fine, she just needs to suppress it. It shouldn't take too long due to the Oasis Water she took earlier this year."
"Good. Alright, the rest of you, back to training. You know the drill. Circle the partners."
Hu Fuya and Song Daiyu went back to training while Tie Tiao stayed to watch since he had no one to switch with. That and, he was worried. He was Ma Fai's boyfriend after all.
Another ten minutes passed, then another.
"Hm. Tie Tiao, is it?" Xie Xie said. "We can battle if you want. I saw you using a pair of daggers."
"They're not my Martial Soul; I will be honest. Karni- er… Teachers Val and Wu made them for me ages ago."
"Hm. Those need an upgrade." Karni mused out loud. "So do Ma Fai's claws for that matter."
Siduo looked at him. "Weren't you-"
The four of them all turned to look toward one of the walls. A person came flying in and stepped toward Ma Fai. They were about to touch her mid cultivation.
Siduo had reflexes of a cat. Literally. She lit a flame in a split second and punched the man who approached her in the same way she punched Ma Fai, except with all of her power.
The man thrashed into the ground like a ragdoll, then on the fourth bounce flew into the air, flaming wings spreading and seven Soul Rings appearing.
Siduo's Soul Rings showed. All Black. Then she brought out her Whip-Blades, both of her Martial Souls in action. She had fully embraced her powerful Soul Rings by now.
More Soul Rings flared up around her. Karni joined with his five Black Soul Rings and Xie Xie and Yuanen Yehui also jumped into the fray. Whoever this was, he was a stranger. Both Karni and Siduo knew that Ma Fai cut ties with her family, so they did not dare hold back.
Yuanen Yehui and Xie Xie both had four Soul Rings still, but by now Karni could sense that Yehui was closing in on Soul King rank.
The man, seeing the so many Black Soul Rings on these young ones—each and every one of them had a Black Soul Ring on their Fourth slot--couldn't help but pause for a bit.
"I belong to the Ma family. I sensed that there was the bloodline of my ancestors in her, so I am taking her back."
"Back? You guys threw her out. You think she'll just return?"
The man laughed. "She doesn't have a choice. She should be grateful we're taking her back."
"I should be?" Ma Fai stood up and stopped cultivating. She had already stabilised herself before the man approached. She was just too focused to realise someone was there.
"Last time you guys threw me on the street and my fucking sperm donor decided to beat me up before. If I hadn't been lucky enough to encounter friends who dealt with medicine that day, innocent people would have died due to you."
Xie Xie and Yuanen Yehui were shocked by this quick recap.
"Sure, sure." The man waved his hand. "You either come with nicely now, or the rest of the family will visit you later."
"No they won't. If you don't let off now, Shrek Academy will find out about the danger your put innocent people in. Tang Sect as well."
"Heh. And why would they believe your word."
"Because of us." It was somehow Yehui who first stepped forward. "The name is Yuanen Yehui. I belong to the new generation of Shrek Seven Devils."
"So do I." Xie Xie stepped forward.
"And if you remember the match a couple of months ago…" Karni pointed to himself and Siduo. "You'll know we're from Shrek as well."
The man stood silent. Also in slight worry. He would have to tell the family about this. If what the kids are saying is true… This could be a disaster.
"You will hear from me again." He said and was about to leave.
"No, I won't." Ma Fai said, her four Soul Rings shining. The man was about to prepare to defend, but Ma Fai just stepped forward.
"What you sensed before wasn't me awakening my bloodline. It was me purging it. You can even bring my sperm donor to test it out if you want to. There's no Evil Phoenix left in me." She offered her hand.
The man frowned. Was that even possible? He flew toward Ma Fai and grabbed the offered hand. His eyes were in shock. He really didn't feel anything. How… how could one remove a bloodline?
"I got help. I only needed this breakthrough to fully get rid of it." Ma Fai said with a mocking voice. "I refuse to be associated with you people anymore. In fact, if you want to contact me, please refer to me as Tie Fai from now on."
The man scoffed, then wordlessly flew off. As soon as Karni confirmed he was not close anymore, Ma Fai… or perhaps Tie Fai now, sat on the ground exhausted. Bits of her Evil Phoenix rose out.
"Good job." Siduo nodded. "But they'll likely check back anyway. Probably in the next few days. Here, take this. She brought out her Scorched Moon Phoenix feather.
"What's this?"
"A special item that will help you fool your family when they check again. This trick might have worked on a Soul Sage, but it won't work on a Titled Douluo.
The girl nodded and took the feather. "My sperm donor is actually a Hyper Douluo as well."
"All the more reason for you to carry it. I'll teach you how to use it later today. No one would be able to feel your bloodline. It would feel completely eradicated to them. You're returning it to me after this is over though."
"Mm." Tie Fai nodded.
"And you need to be careful until your next few breakthroughs. When you reach Soul Sage level, you will not be able to hide it anymore."
"I understand."
Siduo nodded then smiled cheekily. "So. Tie Fai, eh?"
Tie Fai blushed and looked at Tie Tiao who also blushed. He straightened out. "I-I'm fine with it. Dad will probably be happy about it. Grandpa even more so…"
"Look at them, getting ready to get married so young." Karni teased. "On the other hand…" He looked to Xie Xie as if he was disappointed.
"I'm working on it!" Xie Xie complained.
"Since you two are here, care to join for the Special Class as well?" Siduo offered. "The kids could use a good sparring partner."
Yehui clasped her fists. "Of course."
… … …
Yuanen Yehui jumped into the air just as Lan Meixiang, who was the last one standing, did the same. Yehui punched her into the ground without Meixiang being able to fight back.
Yehui landed, slightly out of breath. She looked back at Siduo and Karni who were smiling. "You've created monsters." Xie Xie and Yehui were fighting people three years younger than them, yet they still had trouble winning. Granted, if it was a two on two they wouldn't have problems, but it was still impressive.
"That is the motto of our academy." Karni smiled.
"With this, you will definitely have a chance at winning the bet. Though there is a bit of a problem. Most of them outside of this girl lack firepower."
"Mm. I was going to fix that today." Karni said and walked over. "I've been working on a little project in the background the past year. Everyone, get in line."
The Special Class was efficient. They quickly stepped up.
"Lan Meixiang." Karni said, and the girl straightened up. "Here goggles. They should help you with your speed, but I suggest you train up Purple Demon Eyes. If you can get the technique to a decent level before the exam, you won't need these. Oh, and they are compatible with the sect glasses. And they have a few bonus options. Test them out."
Lan Meixiang nodded and took the goggles and bowed.
"Qiang Rouye." Karni said, and the Dead Apple Tree girl stepped up.
"Here, handguns."
"Handguns?"
Karni nodded. "How close are you to breakthrough?"
"I've been at the bottleneck for a while now. I should be able to break through it soon. I hope. Then I can finally become a Soul Elder like my brother." She looked to the side with some jealousy.
"Well, when you do breakthrough and get that Spirit Soul we talked about, you will soon realise how important these guns will be. They use your energy as fuel."
"Okay. Thanks." She bowed.
"Qiang Enru." Karni called out, and Rouye's brother stepped forward.
"Here." Karni said and gave him a metallic handle with openings on either side. "Point the opening away from you and click the button." Karni pointed.
Qiangu Enru did as told, and two contained energies appeared on either side. They were glowing in pure white. "Energy sword!" He finally called out. It was a known weapon a few centuries ago.
"Mm. Though I modified it a little. It should be able to cut through most things with time. Here, you can split it up. You can have two of them that way." Karni showed him, and Qiang Enru looked with awe.
"It is good at intercepting most energy-based attack, and you can imagine how effective it is in close combat. While your Martial Soul is mostly control focused, you and your sister both have aggressive styles so I felt that I should help you out a little. I call this one the Lightsaber." Karni smiled, proud of himself. The best-known Sci-Fi weapon there was in his previous life. Star Wars came to life. The abilities Qiang Enru had with his Vector Scarf also reminded Karni of the Force.
"Thanks teacher." Qiang Enru bowed.
"As for you two." He turned to Xu An and Qin Ming who were next in line. "You get nothing. Neither of you will get any particular benefits to your fighting styles, I might even ruin them for you. If you think you need anything do say, but you're both Mecha Engineers as well, so try and create them yourselves. I will fund you if needed."
The two nodded happily. The promise of support was just as good as getting a weapon. It was true that neither of them knew what they would be getting, or even the nature of what they could get, as they didn't really need much due to their specialties. The promise might even be better.
"Finally, Nan Genji." Karni stepped up to the last girl who had the Slug as her Martial Soul.
"I will be honest, I have nothing for you, but I do know your weakness. You need a proper weapon. So, for the next week, I will give you a task. Choose one, and I will help you design it so it will be compatible to your style and Martial Soul. Even something like gloves or handguards is fine, if you want to develop a more punching style." As he said the last part, the girl's eyes shined. She was already developing toward punching anyway. She didn't think that she could strengthen that with a Soul Tool.
"And if you wanna get a feel for that," Karni continued, seeing her eyes, "you can ask Yuanen Yehui today." He looked back and threw something at Yehui.
Yehui grabbed it and smiled.
"I took into account your last feedback. Try them on. You can see how effective they are on them if you want." He pointed at the kids.
Yehui nodded and put them on. Gauntlets in dark colour. Ones that supported both her Martial Souls. This meant that she could use her second Martial Soul, the Fallen Angel more effectively together with her Titan Giant Ape.
"Alright then. Nan Genji, was it?" Yuanen Yehui said. "Watch and learn."
Before Nan Genji got too excited, Karni added a comment. But he only said it to the girl so he wouldn't rile up Yehui. "Do keep in mind her punching style is a bit more direct than yours. You'll see. You are a tad more flexible. Don't confuse her power to be better for you. Take what is useful, discard what isn't. Play to your own strengths."
The girl nodded and stepped onto the field with her fellow classmates again.
"Hm. From now on, we should start focusing on teamwork more." Siduo added.
"Agreed. It's about time. Teamwork and weapons for those who got them."
The battle started, and Karni and Siduo simply observed. That was their job as teachers. Less than half a year remained. Shrek Exams would come soon.
… … …
"Hmm. Your brother has a problem." Yuanen Yehui argued as she watched. She was taking a break.
"I'm aware. I gave him a task to complete it by next week, or he can forget about this training."
"Harsh. But with how narrow-minded he is right now, fair." Yehui nodded.
They were watching what must have now been a hundredth battle between Jianyu and Wang Chao. Jianyu was getting exceedingly frustrated.
"Hm. Maybe I should give him a little push. He did make those games I like so much." Yuanen Yehui stepped forward without waiting for Siduo's opinion.
"You two, attack me together." She announced.
The kids stopped the battle and refocused.
They attacked, and Yehui already sighed. "Sloppy." She just stood there, activated her strengthening Soul Ring and let them bombard her. They couldn't even scratch her.
"Hm. Wasting your own potential. Sad."
Jianyu sharpened his eyes. He crashed into Yehui as a ball of lightning.
"Tickles." She just pushed him away and he fell to the ground. "I am resistant to energy." It wasn't true, but to Jianyu with his somewhat weak prowess, it might as well have been.
Wang Chao entangled her from the side, trying to weaken her balance, but couldn't move her. "Hm. Perhaps if you had the same power when you fight the boy. You guys are neither playing to your strengths or my weaknesses."
The two rushed together, at the same time, but not in sync. And Yehui yawned and pushed the algae away and simply took the lighting directly. "I'll see how you two are next week." She walked back to Siduo.
"Thanks. If they can be calm enough, they should see the path ahead." Siduo said.
"No worries."
… … …
Friday. The end of the week. Formerly known as Ma, now Tie Fai hopped to the Special Class in a jovial mood. She was late, even though she was supposed to be helping today.
"Ho?" Siduo noticed her mood immediately. "Let me guess, they came, and the Headmaster helped?"
Tie Fai nodded. "Yep! Thanks for convincing him by the way."
"Of course. The Headmaster owes us."
"But he went above and beyond. Fooling them could have been enough. I just needed the confidence. But Headmaster apparently notified the Tang Sect and they were put on a watch list. You should have seen my sperm donor's face when he said it."
Karni coughed on the side. "That was Sisi."
"Kiki! You said you wouldn't tell!"
"… Wait. You put them on a watch list?"
Siduo scratched her head. "Yea. I have some influence in the Tang Sect. Enough for this at least."
"Thank you!" Tie Fai hugged Siduo.
"Well, if you're so thankful, how about you help my brother." Siduo pointed at Jianyu. "He'd been practicing physical moves recently. You can fight him and Wang Chao at the same time as well. They should give you decent challenge."
"Sure!" She said, watching as Jianyu crashed into Wang Chao. He built up speed, then disabled his own electricity, and used force instead. He finally figured out the obvious solution, but he was still clumsy at it.
"Oh right, before I forget." Tie Fai returned the Scorched Moon Phoenix Feather to Siduo, then hopped on over and offered the training to Jianyu and Wang Chao. The two agreed and all of them even stepped into the Blooming Loti area where the rest of the Special Class was currently ongoing constant two v twos and three v threes.
Jianyu and Wang Chao started slowly. Jianyu pumped a bunch of electricity into Wang Chao, but it was slow. Tie Fai flew over with blazing hotness and split the two apart.
Siduo snickered on the side in satisfaction. "They've taken the first steps."
She looked over at her man teaching the rest of the group. Currently, he had Mirage Bestowal active, as he made them fight in confusion to get better coordination. Yes, everything was going smoothly. It won't be long before the exams!