During his stay at Shrek Academy, Qin Ming shared his years of teaching experience with his mentor, Flender, along with tales of the many astonishingly talented Soul Masters he had encountered.
After Flender took him on a tour of the academy, Qin Ming found that Shrek was just as it had been in the past—admitting only monsters. The students were still terrifying prodigies who had reached the rank of Spirit Grandmaster with two soul rings by the age of twelve.
Among them was a student named Oscar, whose martial soul was a sausage—an unprecedented food-type soul with innate full soul power.
There was also a student named Dai Mubai, who possessed similarly outstanding talent.
According to Flender, one of his old buddies had introduced him to two more young prodigies—both of whom had over level 25 soul power at the age of eleven. Once they graduated from Nuoding Academy, they would enroll at Shrek.
To compare the results of their respective teaching methods, Qin Ming and Flender made a bet: before their students graduated, each team had to obtain at least a Silver Battle Spirit Badge at the Great Spirit Arena. The team whose students reached that milestone in the shortest time would be deemed to have the better teaching approach.
Thus, Qin Ming had returned to the academy with the intention of putting this agreement into action.
Casting a glance over Lü Buliang, Yu Tianheng, and the others, Qin Ming smiled faintly and said, "Starting today, my combat classes will undergo major changes. The eight of you will train under a completely different curriculum than the rest of the students."
Turning to the rest of the class, he added, "Instructor Shi Gao will be leading your training today. I will be focusing solely on the top team from Heaven Dou Imperial Academy—Yu Tianheng and the others. All of this is in preparation for the Continental Elite Youth Soul Master Tournament three years from now."
Having finished speaking to the rest of the class, Qin Ming looked back at the eight: "Come with me. Starting today, your combat classes for the next year will take place at the Heaven Dou Great Spirit Arena. You won't just be honing your individual combat sense—you'll also be developing team synergy. Within one year, I expect each of you to qualify for the Silver Battle Spirit Badge. As a team, you must also reach the Silver rank."
—
The next day.
Heaven Dou City.
Qin Ming had already submitted an off-campus training application to the academy's three deans, outlining the plan for the Great Spirit Arena. As acting principal, Xue Qinghe approved it, also granting the eight of them permission to skip morning theory classes and head straight to the arena for combat.
After assigning the rest of the class to Instructor Shi Gao, Qin Ming led Lü Buliang, Yu Tianheng, and the others toward Heaven Dou City.
They made a brief stop at a teahouse to rest.
While they drank tea and snacked, Qin Ming began explaining the various requirements of the Great Spirit Arena training.
Overall, the training goals were quite similar to the ones Flender had set for Tang San and his team in the original story.
Qin Ming also gave Lü Buliang a refresher on the rules and structure of the Great Spirit Arena.
Apparently, the arena had a tiered ranking system similar to that of Soul Masters. The lowest rank was Iron, followed by Copper, Silver, Gold, Amethyst, Sapphire, Ruby, and Diamond—eight ranks in total, each represented by a badge.
For this training period, Qin Ming expected Lü Buliang and the others to reach the Silver badge within a year.
To do that, they'd need to climb up from Iron, accumulating enough points at each level to rank up: Iron to Copper, then Copper to Silver.
Oslo explained to Lü Buliang that ranking up was no easy feat.
Heaven Dou City, being the imperial capital, was crawling with powerful individuals. Many of the arena's combatants were nobles or clan heirs looking to sharpen their skills, making for a deeply competitive environment filled with wildly diverse martial souls and unpredictable power levels.
Trying to reach Silver within a year in this setting was, in Oslo's words, "almost impossible."
He also told Lü Buliang that each soul master could only participate in one combat match per day, although they could enter different types of matches.
There were three main types of combat:
1. Standard Duels – Competitive matches where killing was prohibited. Participants were grouped by the number of soul rings. A Spirit Elder could only fight in Spirit Elder-level duels. Upon reaching four rings and becoming a Spirit Ancestor, they had to enter the next tier.
2. Life-or-Death Duels – Reserved for resolving irreconcilable conflicts. Many noble clans chose this method when serious disputes arose.
3. Wager Duels – Judged by the arena, where both parties bet on the outcome and field equal numbers of Soul Masters.
There were also three match formats: one-on-one, two-on-two, and team battles.
Team battles were further split into standard and non-standard formats.
A standard team battle meant equal numbers on both sides—usually seven-on-seven, the most common format.
A non-standard team battle involved uneven numbers—typically found in challenge matches, where a smaller team took on a larger one. The smaller team's members usually had a level or two advantage to balance the numbers.
The most thrilling—and rarest—of these was the Beast Battle.
Lü Buliang's ears perked up at the term. In the original story, Tang San and his team had fought the Fierce God Team in a challenge match, but never in a Beast Battle.
Qin Ming explained, "In non-standard team matches, numbers aren't fixed—as long as both sides agree. Equal numbers make it a standard battle. Seven-on-seven is the norm."
"But there's a more intense version—when there's a big power difference between the teams. That's the Beast Battle."
"It's like the ancient arenas, where a few warriors would face off against a ferocious beast in a life-or-death fight. Think three-on-seven, four-on-eight, five-on-ten—matches where the few overpower the many. That imbalance makes Beast Battles the hardest and most exciting."
"Despite being outnumbered, the stronger team is expected to win. This gives the format a level of fairness. Beast Battles only occur between teams below the Spirit Sage level. Unless special circumstances arise, Spirit Sages don't compete at the arena."
"Also, Beast Battles are exclusive to capital cities like Heaven Dou, where nobles have both power and endless wealth. For them, this arena is entertainment, and the format was created to suit their tastes."
Glancing at his students, Qin Ming added, "Once you've built enough synergy, I'll arrange a Beast Battle for you—eight of you against a Spirit King. That's what Instructor Shi Gao's training sessions are meant to simulate. It might seem unfair for a team of Spirit Elders to fight a peak Spirit Sage, but technically, that counts as a Beast Battle too."
As he listened, Lü Buliang nodded thoughtfully. No wonder Tang San's team never participated in a Beast Battle—those matches were unique to the capitals like Star Luo or Heaven Dou.
"Teacher Qin, the seven of us already have Copper Battle Spirit Badges. Lü Buliang hasn't fought in the arena yet, has he?"
Dugu Yan said, "Does that mean he has to start at Iron and work his way up to Copper before he can join us for two-on-two matches? That'll put him way behind."
"Not necessarily," Lü Buliang smiled. "Yan, I might just reach Copper in a month, and Silver within two."
"Did you not hear what Oslo just said?" Dugu Yan frowned. "Climbing the ranks quickly in the capital is a pipe dream."
"I just need to win every match."
Yu Tianheng chuckled, "If winning streaks were that easy, I wouldn't still be stuck at Copper after two years. I may have slacked off before, but even if I gave it my all, it's not that simple. The capital's arena isn't as forgiving as you think."
"True," Lü Buliang didn't argue. Instead, he was contemplating whether to take on a Beast Battle.
After all, he could summon the Shadow Legion. That meant he alone could take on an entire team.
Beast Battles, as the hardest and flashiest format, surely offered far more points and gold soul coins.
Qin Ming had only required them to reach Silver rank within a year.
But Lü Buliang was aiming higher: reach Silver in two months, then request a new challenge—breaking win streak records in all the empire's arenas.
That way, he'd have a valid reason to leave the academy, all under the guise of further training.
His real destination? Star Luo Empire, where he would seek out Yang Wudi of the Breaking Clan to negotiate a deal and study alchemy and poison-making for half a year.
Armed with that knowledge, he could help Dugu Bo solve the issue of venomous backlash and beat Tang San to harvesting all the untouched herbs.
—
After paying the bill, Qin Ming led everyone from the teahouse toward the city center, where the empire's largest auction house and most prestigious Great Spirit Arena were located.
They entered the arena and approached the front desk.
Registration was simple—just fill out a form with name, age, martial soul, and soul power level, and pay ten gold coins.
The receptionist accepted Lü Buliang's payment with a smile. "Sir, you may register under an alias. Once you fill out the form, you'll be identified by that name in the arena."
She handed him the form.
Lü Buliang filled in his age, soul power, and martial soul—but hesitated at the name field.
He remembered how Tang San and his friends had all used flashy aliases—like Evil-Eyed White Tiger, Fiery Phoenix, Thousand-Hand Shura, Sausage Vendor, Boneless Grilled Rabbit.
Nicknames based on one's martial soul.
His was "Shadow," and there were countless shadow-themed names from Earth: Tarrasque from Shadow Legion, Varong, Ghost Shadow Demon King.
Or Zed, the Shadow of the League of Legends.
After thinking for a moment, he picked up the pen and confidently wrote down his chosen name:
Shadow Monarch.
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