(A/N: This chapter is just narrating through what happened. Because let's be honest, who the hell cares about Shrek ark? There's nothing important, Ah Li is gonna be left out, so the story would be more focused on the useless stuff. We've got more stuff to focus on. Like the bullshit plot that's gonna happen after this useless ark.)
- (3 months later)
[Arachnid Age: 878,906,230,000,000,000-years (3M) (eight hundred seventy-eight quadrillion nine hundred six trillion two hundred thirty billion)]
After three months, Yu Xiaogang's first phase of training had ended, and then it was time to move to the second phase, which would take place in the Great Soul Arena. The place where Ah Li and Zhu Zhuqing were already quite familiar with, thanks to constantly going there every day to train in combat. They would train and fight each other, but she needed actual combat experience where the opponent wasn't holding back.
Things went like the original, except a few things. One, Tang San's nickname became just Silver Grass, because he was not going to be seen as cool in Ah Li's sight. Also, the original nickname was cringe as hell too. Thousand Hands Asura. Ugh. Ah Li's was Abyssal Centipede, the name of his Martial Soul. He really couldn't come up with a nickname resembling his Martial Soul, so he just rolled with it. Although he did feel cringe, he endured.
Two, the team's name was Shrek Devils instead of Shrek Seven Devils.
Three, Ah Li would also fight from time to time so Yu Xiaogang wouldn't make it suspicious, but everybody had already realized how Ah Li was being involved in less and less fights.
Four, Dai Mubai "somehow" found out about Ah Li's Innate Soul Power and told everyone about it, so the others became colder towards him. Not finding him that intimidating and just staying away from him because of his "low talent".
Everybody except Zhu Zhuqing of course. She was someone who wouldn't repay favors coldly. Ah Li had saved her life a few times, and had helped her so much already. In the school, he was her only true friend. After all, she chose to train with Ah Li instead of Yu Xiaogang, earning his dissatisfaction, and chose to hang out with him all the time as well, so the others didn't like her that much. Even the girls had become more distant to her.
But she didn't care.
She had always been alone anyway, so why would she care now? In fact, she already had a friend she could hang out with, so why bother with the hypocrites? She would rather train than waste her time bothering with them.
Five, the fights were a lot harder than the original timeline. After all, Tang San was trash compared to the original one. In talent. He was always trash to begin with. But with Zhu Zhuqing becoming a lot stronger, at least that evened out a bit. Also, if the enemy team was too powerful, Ah Li would be sent out. It was an emergency, so Yu Xiaogang would roll with it at those times.
-
But something interesting had happened. After winning their first match, the Shrek group were on their way back. Having won their first team match, they were all treated to a night of drinking by Flender. And after enjoying themselves, they were all on their way back. They were a bit tipsy, but not too drunk.
"Li'er, I didn't expect you to drink so much." Bibi Dong mused, one leg over the other on his shoulder, smirking :"I didn't think you would like drinking so much. In fact, I had thought you'd find it gross for your first time. Color me surprised, you were chugging down drinks after drinks."
"(Huh, what can I say? Maybe I'm talented in drinking too.)" He smirked. Being part Russian in his previous life of course brought benefits when drinking. "It's good to be able to hold your alcohol." She nodded, before turning somewhat serious :"But be careful to not turn into an alcoholic. You're way too young to start drinking too much."
"(Hm, okay.)" He nodded. But suddenly, everybody's attention was pulled towards an alleyway. "Shit!" Someone unknown cursed, before quickly making a run for it. With a girl on his shoulder. Specifically, an unconscious one. It wouldn't take a genius to guess what was happening.
That part was proven right when even Ma Hongjun understood the situation :"Oh no! It's a kidnapping! We have to help!" Flender didn't waste a second. Being the fastest one in the group, he made the first move. His movements weren't even seen by the children as he disappeared to go after the kidnapper.
"Ahhh!" And a moment later, a pained scream was heard. The others quickly moved, running after the kidnapper to see him passed out on the ground and Flender holding the unconscious girl :"Don't worry, everything's solved. All that's left to do is find out what to do with this guy."
Xiao Wu :"Huh, what's there to think about?! We have to teach him a good and painful lesson!"
Ning Rongrong :"Right, we can't just let this kind of person go."
Glancing at the girl, veins popped on Ah Li's face :"What else is there to think about? This girl is 6 or 7 years old! What else are we supposed to do besides killing this trash?!"
He wasn't the only angry one. He had only seen that much anger on Bibi Dong's face a few times. Gritting her teeth, veins popped even on her neck :"Li'er, you can't let this bastard leave here alive! No matter what these bastards say, you must kill this trash!"
Her anger was justified. Being a victim of r*pe herself, just the mention of it was enough to enrage her. And seeing just a kid being subjugated to this cruel fate? The bastard better be happy she doesn't have a physical form.
Ma Hongjun :"Wait, I know this guy!"
Dai Mubai :"You do?"
Ma Hongjun :"Yeah, this bastard is called By Le, if I'm right. He's a notorious asshole who takes advantage of being a Lv 40 Soul Ancestor to do wicked things like kidnapping young girls!"
Xiao Wu :"What?! Then we definitely can't let him off the hook!"
Dai Mubai :"Damn it, this hateful bastard! Just because he's powerful, he decides to do these disgusting things!"
Tang San :"Master, what should we do?"
Everybody, including Yu Xiaogang, knew what to do. But none of the children wanted to actually kill someone. Yu Xiaogang was thinking of what was the best solution, but Ah Li's scoff came before him :"As I said, kill him. Keeping this bastard alive will only bring more harm to ordinary civilians."
Everybody was shocked. Even Yu Xiaogang and the two teachers. They knew he was a wild card, always vicious if he wanted to. But they never thought he'd be murderous enough to decide to kill someone without hesitation. And from the cruel and cold look in his eyes, none of them thought he was joking or bluffing.
"What? Kill..." The children, not having seen death, were obviously hesitant. They had never seen someone die. Everybody except Zhu Zhuqing, after all. She had killed and almost gotten killed several times.
"That's not necessary. This kind of person only dares to bully the weak and fear the strong. Now just teach him a lesson!" Yu Xiaogang agreed with him. But seeing the children's reaction, he thought it wasn't the time to let them see blood yet :"As Soul Masters, you can't simply kill when you want to kill. Although this fellow is a wretched person, we can't just kill him."
And the children, not wanting to kill, hastily agreed.
Ma Hongjun :"T-that's right! This bastard is cruel, but he has never killed!"
Dai Mubai :"Master is right. Whether it's the imperial law of the Tian Dou Empire or the Star Luo Empire, his behavior doesn't deserve death!"
"Tsk, where's that law to punish him for his actions then?" Zhu Zhuqing surprisingly scoffed, glaring at the guys and at Bu Le :"This bastard kidnaps young children and God knows what he does to them. Do you really think he deserves to live?"
Everybody was silent. In fact, Tang San actually agreed with Ah Li and Zhu Zhuqing. This kind of trash didn't deserve to live. But since his master had already disagreed, he couldn't argue and go against his master.
"Damn it, what's there to talk about?! This kind of wretched bastard deserves to die!" Their words enraged Bibi Dong. She wouldn't be satisfied if she didn't see him dead tonight :"If this kind of person fell into the hands of the Martial Soul Hall, he'd be dead by now! And even if he wasn't, he'd be sent to the Slaughter City! Li'er, forget these hypocrites and kill him already!"
"(Sister Goddess, please wait for a moment.)" But Ah Li didn't act immediately. He was angry, but he wanted to expose Yu Xiaogang's Hypocrisy if possible :"Since you don't want to kill him, let's hand him over to the Martial Soul Hall. The empire clearly doesn't care to deal with people like him, so let's hand him over to the Martial Soul Hall and let them handle what happens."
"Nonsense! What right do the Martial Soul Hall have to meddle with the matters of the Tian Dou Empire?!" Surprisingly, that was all it took to enrage the old fool. He immediately began yelling at the noiret :"The Martial Soul Hall just keeps stretching its hand too far!"
He actually appreciated his idea to kill the disgusting bastard, but the idea of handing him to the Martial Soul Hall enraged him to no end. Since being "abandoned" by Bibi Dong, he held resentment towards her. And being the leader of the Martial Soul Hall, he of course resented her organization as well.
What's more, over the years, he had discovered the wolfish ambitions of Martial Soul Hall, constantly interfering in the affairs between the two empires, and his opinion of them was even worse. Hearing his outage, everybody except Flender was surprised. He obviously knew why his old friend was so mad, but it wasn't his turn to speak.
Tang San :"Master, why are you mad?"
Ma Hongjun :"Yeah, the Martial Soul Hall deals with criminals like him, so isn't that the best solution?"
Yu Xiaogang :"Huh, Martial Soul Hall simply gathers Evil Soul Masters like these and throws them into a place that's filled with Evil Soul Masters and is like a paradise for the strong and hell for the weak! Except for a few Soul Masters who went in on their own initiative, the rest are criminals and Evil Soul Masters caught by the Martial Soul Hall!
Putting so many evil people in one place, who knows what the Martial Soul Hall is thinking?! Anyway, the purpose is definitely not simple! In short, as long as it is related to the Martial Soul Hall in the future, you all have to be careful! Never trust the Martial Soul Hall!"
His words enraged Bibi Dong to no end. Yeah, she could understand he was angry with her for breaking up with him. But she didn't expect him to be narrow-minded enough to act like this. In her original timeline, she had suffered so much for protecting him, yet she had still held him dear. Even when he actually went and found someone else, his cousin no less, she still loved him.
Yet here he was, calling the entire Martial Soul Hall evil because of his hate for her. The fact she had wasted her life and love for him, and the fact he of all people dared to be angry, had made her angrier than she ever was.
But something had made her even angrier. This entire situation had nothing to do with her or the Martial Soul Hall. It was just how to bring this trash to justice. Her morality as a human being made her angry because he was unwilling to bring him to justice, who had kidnapped god knows how many children and did what unspeakable things to them, just because of his hate for her.
She wouldn't call herself a saint nor a good person, but even she wasn't willing to let go of a bastard disgusting enough to "touch" children. Her anger didn't seem to know any bounds. So before she could explode, she returned to the Rakshasa Domain to let out rage there. Her remaining logic trusted Ah Li to not let the trash remain.