CH 35: Her strange sense of happiness

"Hm, so this is a Soul Fighting Badge, huh?" Ah Li hummed in interest as he looked at his newly acquired fighting badge. A v-shaped Soul Fighting Badge which worked as an identity card for all participating in Soul Fights. Ah Li's was made out of iron, indicating his rank of the lowest level :"Nice design. It's at least pleasant to the eyes."

Night had arrived, and all of the Shrek students, except Oscar and Ning Rongrong, had come to the Great Soul Arena as Flender had ordered. A place with branches all around the continent in the big cities, the Great Soul Arena was a place where Soul Masters could fight legally while earning money, fame and experience while the people watched for entertainment.

Although Flender had sweet talked about actual fighting being the best teaching method for monsters like them, and although Ah Li agreed with him, the noiret still felt that it was mostly likely because there was nothing to teach them, and no way to teach them. Shrek School was dirt poor, so there were no facilities for the students to be taught in.

Their "class" today was out in the open field, for gosh sake. Also, there really wasn't anything to teach. Although there were some illogical shits that didn't match the world's ancient settings, like the whole TVs and alike in the Great Soul Arena, this world still was pretty ancient and didn't have much to be taught.

There wasn't any math, no science, no geography, no nothing. The most complicated thing you could get was multiplication and division. Or things like them. Nothing useless. So it was true that all schools, not just Shrek School, could only teach fighting and stuff about Soul Masters and Soul Beasts. However, there was a reason why other schools were far better than Shrek School.

Assistance in advancing.

The schools would help the students with leveling up their Soul Power Level through certain methods and special teaching areas and facilities such as Soul Mimicry Environments. A special artificial environment suitable for Soul Masters with specific attributes which could also actually spawn artificial Soul Beasts to fight against. Although these Soul Beasts didn't produce any Soul Rings or Soul Bones. Heck, not even a corpse. They were like extremely advanced illusions or something. Ah Li didn't know the principal behind them yet. But even without them, these Soul Mimicry Environments were very important to students and their growth, since they would accelerate their growth.

However, Shrek School did not have anything of the sorts, so it was just ruining the students. 'Hmph, accepting monsters, huh? Fucking scammer. That bastard Flender only accepts students of Lv 25, does absolutely nothing to help them actually grow, has the balls to say they were at fault for not reaching the graduation requirements, and actually has the nerve to try and gain fame when they succeed? This asshole deserves a special kind of ass whooping.'

"You can only take part in one normal battle per day, but you can register for different battle mods as well." Dai Mubai explained. Although he really didn't like Ah Li and wanted to beat him up, it was still Flender's orders to teach them correctly so no problems could arise. He at least comforted himself by ignoring the burly noiret and explaining everything mostly to Tang San and Xiao Wu instead :"Do you want to go for 2 VS 2?"

Once the two agreed and went to register as a team, the noiret hummed thoughtfully :"Duo team, huh...?" Before he turned to the shorter noirette :"You wanna team up?" Earning the surprise of the three of Zhu Zhuqing, Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun.

Zhu Zhuqing wasn't that shocked, just a little curious as to why. But Dai Mubai immediately grew angry, while Ma Hongjun was the truly shocked one. The blond had made it very obvious to him that he was after the sexy and aloof girl. And considering his impression of Ah Li, he must've known too. So he was a bit surprised when he tried to get close to her.

He didn't intervene though. Perverted as he may be, he was at least smart enough to not get himself killed. The noiret had beaten the dog shit out of Dai Mubai, their boss and the strongest among the three of them. What could he do against him if he got mad about his meddling?

"Team up?" She raised an eyebrow, and Ah Li nodded :"Yeah. You mentioned during the dean's scolding of Ning Rongrong that you came to get stronger, right? Fighting is the best way to get experience, grow stronger and find your shortcomings."

"Hmm... That's true..." She confirmed after a hum, causing Dai Mubai to get even angrier at the simple fact that she even considered it. Although their relationship wasn't anything pleasant, she was still his fiancee. How dare she try and get close to another man? And not just that, but right in front of his face.

"Why do you want to team up with me though? Aren't you already strong enough? The only shortcoming I see in you may only be your Soul Power Level. So wouldn't cultivating most of the time instead of fighting people weaker than you be better and more helpful?" She tilted her head slightly, asking calmly.

"Simple, I like fighting. So this place is a godsend for me." He answered casually with a shrug, a small smile on his face :"By myself, I can only fight once a day. But if we team up, I can at least fight as hard as I want twice. It's not much, but it's still better than nothing. I get to have fun, you get to get stronger. I think it's a pretty good deal, don't you think?"

"Hmm... That's true-" She nodded in response. But just before she could continue, Dai Mubai interrupted angrily :"No, she won't be joining you." Causing Ah Li to raise an eyebrow in curiosity. However, before he could say anything, Zhu Zhuqing spoke coldly :"And why's that?"

"Because I said so." He growled with a glare, but Zhu Zhuqing didn't back out at all. Her gaze grew colder as she snorted :"And am I supposed to care about what you say? What gave you the impression that I care?" Causing Dai Mubai to get even angrier :"You!"

Zhu Zhuqing's coldness was understandable. The cocky bastard had been having fun all these years without a care in the world while she was in the danger of getting assassinated every single day. Yet he suddenly acts like he owns her. Who wouldn't get angry? It's already admirable how Zhu Zhuqing didn't throw hands.

"Hmph, shut up, you disgusting bastard." And with a cold snort, she grabbed Ah Li's hand and walked towards the duo team registration desk :"Come on, Ah Li. Let's register as a team already and register for a team battle while we're at it."

"Y-you...!" Dai Mubai simply stood there, his face flushed with anger as he walked her drag Ah Li away. Not being allowed to cause a ruckus in this place making him even angrier. So in the end, he could only clench his fist till his nails nearly dug into his flesh while gritting his teeth. All while Ma Hongjun stood there awkwardly, curling his lips and staying silent.

"Hey, you spelled it wrong!" As the black haired duo reached the registration desk, they heard Xiao Wu's angry remark as she held up their badge to the pretty receptionist :"It's Wu, not 5 (woo)!" But the purple-haired lady just folded her arms under her above average bust, her eyebrows nearing each other slightly :"You may change the name, 10 gold coins stand."

"You!" Xiao Wu glared, but Ah Li's annoyed voice interrupted :"Sigh, what's going on here? What kind of trouble did you two cause now?" Hearing him, the three of them turned to look at the newly arrived duo. However, while Xiao Wu was angry, and even more so by seeing Ah Li, the receptionist lady was immediately flabbergasted.

Looking at Ah Li, she was blah blah blah. Long story short, she was amazed beyond measure. To the point where she had to bite her lip with a small grin, planning some unholy acts to do to the young man. She couldn't help but squeeze her thighs together to relieve herself a bit while looking at his face and muscles. The simple thought of what those muscles could do to her making her wet.

"Hmph, this lady got our name wrong! Instead of San Wu, she wrote it as 3 5!" Xiao Wu complained, but Ah Li just rolled his eyes :"Big deal, it's just a name anyway. Change it if you don't like it. Don't waste time on worthless stuff." Looking at the speechless and amazed beauty, he flashed a small smile :"Sorry for these two, miss. Anyway, we two would like to register as well."

"Oh! Ahem ahem, sorry about that." Getting out of her trance, she coughed likely before smiling :"Please choose a name for your team." As she finished speaking, the noiret looked at his soon-to-be-teammate :"Do you have anything in mind? If not, how about Qing Li?"

"H-huh? Y-you want us to use our given names?" Zhu Zhuqing blinked, a small blush forming on her supple cheeks as Ah Li shrugged, a small smile on his face :"I feel like using our Martial Souls' names would just make it cringe. Think about it, Abyssal Cat? Nether Centipede? That would honestly feel a bit embarrassing."

"Oh... Well, I guess you do have a point..." She nodded, her blush still there. But after a moment of thinking, and stealing a few glances at his innocent smile, she finally sighed, a slightly timid nod being her answer :"Alright, let's go with our given names."

"Alright then! Miss, please write the team name as Qing Li." He flashed a smile at the receptionist, causing her to click her tongue at the fact that prey seemed to have been taken already. However, that wasn't enough to stop her. In fact, wasn't it more fun to take him away from the pretty little girl using her mature beauty and techniques? Licking her lip, a small smile hiding evil intentions formed on her face :"I see. Well, that will be 10 gold coins."

"Oh, then here-" The noiret nodded, but before he could finish, the receptionist stood up with a playful smirk, dragging her slender fingers gently on the desk before standing in front of Ah Li, looking into his cat-like crimson eyes and bringing her fingers to his chest to play with the front of his trenchcoat and sneakily glancing at the exposed cleavage of muscles while only a desk stood between them, her voice low and laced with honey as she spoke :"Say, how about I treat you to this, pay the 10 gold coins for you instead, and you'll let me have some of your time later in exchange? Just chatting, having fun, maybe over a nice and delicious dinner?

Of course, it will be my treat. It would be wrong to ask you to... Spare me some of your time, and have such a handsome guy pay for it. So, what do you say? I promise you won't regret it and will have so much fun~."

'This fucking harlot...' Sitting on Ah Li's shoulder and clenching her fists, Bibi Dong gritted her teeth in anger, veins showing up on her pretty face from somebody flirting with her Li'er! Her own thoughts annoyed her even further, but she didn't have the time to get mad at her own thought process. At the moment, she was thinking about how to have Ah Li refuse. But she didn't know if it was the right thing to do or not.

After all, she wasn't his lover.

She was his teammate, sure, but she still wasn't somebody who could control his love life. If she told him to refuse, she knew that he would. But she knew that it wasn't the right thing to do. In fact, if she did tell him to refuse and didn't give a reasonable answer, she would only be earning his dissatisfaction.

He wasn't a child anymore, and was in the age to want a romantic life and a sexual relationship as well. It wasn't wrong, it was his body. Everybody would mature eventually. So telling him, who had never had a relationship with anybody, to refuse the invite of a beautiful girl just because she was jealous and didn't give a good reason, would simply be unfair to Ah Li.

So she could only sit there, clenching her fists and biting her lip in frustration caused by reasons she wasn't willing to acknowledge. It was obvious that Ah Li would agree. After all, which teenage boy would refuse the advances of a pretty older girl? However, his next words left her speechless. A shock caused by the fondness that laced her heart.

"I'm sorry, but I'll have to refuse." He gave an apologetic smile, gently grabbing her hand and guiding it away as she furrowed :"Huh? But why? Do you already have someone? Is that it?" And unexpectedly, causing a small, fond smile filled with love to appear on his face, just captivating her and Zhu Zhuqing even further, even making Xiao Wu's heart skip a beat even though she hated him :"Well, something like that. My heart already belongs to someone else. Someone who has helped me in everything. Someone who has guided and supported me through every hardship from long ago. So, I'll have to apologize, because I have to refuse."

"Oh, alright then..." While the receptionist sighed in disappointment and walked back to her seat, Bibi Dong sat in her place with a strange sense and amount of happiness overtaking her heart. Shock leaving her speechless while a small blush formed on her cheeks, and an unconscious sweet and fond smile formed on lips.

Somehow, despite not liking shocking things and surprises, this one was warmly welcomed by her. Enough to cause her to lean against Ah Li's exposed neck, finding the mixture of softness and hardness of his flesh pleasant against own hot skin. Enjoying the silence between them while ignoring the world around them for once.