Travel with Tang San (Part 2)

"Erm..." - he looked ahead in horror. Then his vision dropped to look at the round belly. Then it again looked ahead and an expression of tremendous grief with unsurmountable indignation appeared on his youthful face.

Ma Hongjun was in trouble. He was fighting for his life. That was a life and death struggle, a situation that can get lethal any moment. His stomach rumbled, screaming for his owner to give some food.

But he stayed strong in adversity, he honed his will to the utmost.

'Ma Hongjun, don't give up. You will prevail. Nothing can stop you on the way to greatness! Nothing can bar your way to this paradise!'

"This time I will take you properly. You are mine!" - he declared to the plate of the food five steps away from him. It was lying on the stone, surrounded by an array of strange symbols.

"I see you got cocky in front of me, your father Ma Hongjun."

The plate of park ribs remained silent to his provocation.

"You won't be able to act so cockily for long. You just wait. I will devour you whole not leaving a single bone aside!"

He stretched the arm in a grabbing motion and flame poured out of his body. It gathered around his palm and extended a meter outward.

"What is this cloudy claw you created? I can blow on it and it will evaporate. Do it properly!"

"Of course you can, you are a Titled Douluo, after all." - whispered Ma Hongjun feeling wronged. He gave a careful glance at the beautiful woman by the side, overlooking their training. She glared back. Ma Hongjun shut his mouth.

He tried to talk back the last time. The result was depressing. The stone was moved an additional step away.

He concentrated on a plate of grilled pork ribs and his heartbeat intensified. His desire to be one with them became more prominent.

"You are mine! Or I'm not Ma Hongjun!" - he declared.

"What are you blabbering about out there? If you want it, seize it!" - scoffed Erlong and paid attention to others.

Hongjun again conjured a claw from pure firepower from his martial spirit.

"Darn it, those symbols are my enemy. It is them! They are standing on my way to my meal."

But he stayed strong in adversity, he honed his will to the utmost.

'That damn Aiden. You just wait and see! We will all team up against you and show who's the bosses here! Where did he even get all this pattern from? The closer my flame to the plate, the stronger the suppression and the harder they are to control. Grrr.'

Others didn't have better times either. This was a different level of training. It was created in the distant cultivation era to help people exert control over natural energies and develop Nature Aura.

It is something similar to Sword Aura but governs elements of nature instead. It not only helps solidify power but enhances its strength and versatility. Later, one can spread it out to create a domain imbued with universal laws and elemental power. This training was vital for people to understand and hone it.

Every single person from the Shrek team was standing in their own places while performing individual tasks.

"Don't even think of leaving this forest and having a meal, if you can't do this. You have three months. If you can't comprehend even Primary level of the aura, I will expel you." - said Erlong with all seriousness. - "An expulsion is an act of saving your lives because in one month from now we move on to the second part of the training and if you didn't comprehend first steps of aura control, you will most likely die there."

She looked around. So far Xiao Wu,Tang San, and Bing'er were at the lead.

Xiao Wu became a real master of close combat because of training in martial arts of the prior cultivation civilization. If they fight only using the power of the bodies, Aiden will find her a fit sparring partner. After some prolonged time, she understood more about bodily functions and will soon give birth to the aura.

What element it will be? Hard to say.

Tang San was naturally a freak of nature any reincarnator should be. He will be the first to complete the first step if nothing unexpected will happen.

As for Bing'er, her body marks and Divine Frozen World arts both made her extremely strong in the usage of freezing power and time-related abilities. Her comprehension was closing the breaking point of converging aura like Tang San.

When they complete the entire training regimen, the original Shrek will disappear and reborn anew. They will breeze through the competition like nothing. What Aiden was aiming for here is to give them enough power to not show actual strength.

Aura was a very subtle thing. It can enhance the power of skills seamlessly. They can mask his combat arts as a tremendous battle experience if they don't use special moves.

And they won't need them in the student competition.

Body power can be controlled as well and as a last resort covered with the excuse of eating the immortal herbs.

If possible, he wanted them to win by exposing nothing, especially to prevent Tang San from using his second spirit. He didn't know how much trouble it will really cause with all the world changes, but the lesser the better.

The only enemy to be cautious of is Dark Spirit Hall. If the composition of the Spirit Hall team involved them, it can become ugly. Aiden was ready to issue a first-class Dragon Fang kill order to get rid of any corrupted Spirit Hall participants in advance.

The best way will be to prevent their entrance to the arena and give proper people to fight it out without underhanded means. He never even thought about participating in the competition himself.

What would he do in this kindergarten? Let alone he will draw a huge target on his forehead this way.

But ensuring the safety of his friends is a must. Dragon Fang will be their shield for the upcoming events.

Aiden was sitting on the faraway branch and looking at the training while chewing on jerky. Third landed near and snatched one for herself. They silently observed the training camp.

Nexus did a splendid job.

It had a track with many obstacles. Furthermore, inside it were formations to block spirit power. It will force anyone running in it to use only bodily strength.

"Okay, now run!" - ordered Erlong. It was imperative to prevent rest and to change their focus from time to time. The former was used to force their intuition to work more because of tiredness and the latter to prevent them from stubbornly focusing on one point without a broader view.

Such a regime might not help in focused training, but surely let them have more ideas, increasing chances of enlightenment.

"Nooo!" - screamed Ma Hongjun.

Oscar smirked. He was the safest in this whole training as even earlier could learn spear aura under the direct tutelage of Aiden. But it never made his training easy, because he received a higher level of difficulty to further develop his aura.

It will take years for any of them to reach True Aura, which Aiden uses now and Oscar made the first step.

"Ho... I noticed someone has time to laugh at others." - Oscar heard a voice right near his ear and shivered in despair. He provoked the demon. - "Double weight for you, my dear student."

Oscar paled. Everyone looked at him with pity, but they knew full well why Erlong was so harsh. Doubling his weight won't let him move at all. She did it for everyone to share it.

"They are taking it well. Although the training is strict and tedious, it will give them tremendous benefits." - Third noted coldly. - "Sovereign. Can you devise something like that for me?"

Aiden looked at her oddly, and his look became contemplative.

"I need to think about it for a while. For now, I lack understanding of your limits and powers."

"May I show you?"

"Not now. I think soon enough you will face a person to show your prowess." - he said with a slight smile.

Shrek students began the run. They were already exhausted, but clenched teeth to keep going.

'They are remarkable. I can't imagine youths of their age behaving that way in my previous world.'

"Okay, hide. I need to have a chat with San." - Aiden said and jumped down right on the track in front of Tang San.

The latter was breathing deeply but with a steady rhythm. He was far from his limit.

"San, I have news about your father. I know where he is. Are you coming? I need to talk to him." - Aiden didn't mince words and directly threw the bomb.

Tang San froze in place and looked at platinum purple eyes with a kaleidoscope of emotions. Soon he hid them deep enough for most to ignore.

"I'm going." - he said without hesitation. - "When?"

"Rest, we will step out in the evening. It's not that far away." - said Aiden. With their speed, it will take a week at most. But if they rush it, three to four days will be more than enough.

Tang San nodded. Several people ran past them giving curious gazes but didn't dare to stop.

"Do you have something to tell me?"

Aiden sighed. Xiao Wu ran past them with a suspicious glint in her eyes. She will try to follow San for sure.

"Your father is alive, but hurt. He took part in a very serious fight. I don't know more about it. We will ask him. That is why I'm going. I relate it to her death." - said Aiden seriously.

Oscar passed them with the helpless face of someone ready for death. Aiden laughed at that. Their faces were priceless. Erlong really knew how to breed despair and create hardships.

"What are you saying?" - asked Tang San.

"San, don't let your imagination run wild. As far as I know, your father tried to protect her that day."

"Oh." - Tang San wasn't a kid and calmly contemplated what he heard.

"Are they strong?"

"Deadly."

"Your enemy is my enemy. Everyone in Shrek is on your side. Tell me everything when you are ready." - Tang San patted Aiden's shoulder.

"I will. I think your father needs to know what he faced too."

"Yes, and no. I know little to no facts but have many speculations. Let's wait until we get to your father. Oh, and I might... give your old man some harsh words. Let us talk it out by ourselves."

Tang San just shrugged. Bing'er passed them and gave a tired smile at Aiden, who reciprocated with a nod and a smile on his own.

"I might do just the same thing, Aiden. So it will be a turn-based talk." - said Tang San.

"Okay, meet me in the evening at the entrance of Shrek Academy. I'll go talk with aunt Erlong."

On the evening of the same day, two people left academy grounds with a speed of ghosts. A moment later another one followed them behind.