Chapter 120: Causing Trouble, Fighting Canghui Academy

Not long after, a group of eight people walked into the restaurant. Leading them was a middle-aged man, probably in his forties, who appeared to be their teacher. Unlike Su Ming's group, this group wore uniforms that had "Canghui" embroidered on them, indicating they were from Canghui Academy, a soul master academy, unlike the ragtag clothes Su Ming and his companions were wearing.

The restaurant owner, noticing their arrival, immediately greeted them with a polite and welcoming attitude. After all, his business thrived on soul masters coming and going near the Star Dou Forest, so he had to treat them well.

At that moment, Ma Hongjun, seeing that Su Ming and the others weren't around, started misbehaving when he noticed a pretty girl among the Canghui Academy group.

With a sly grin, Ma Hongjun whispered to Dai Mubai, "Hey, Boss Dai, check out that girl. She looks pretty nice, and I think she's from Canghui Academy."

Oscar, in a hushed voice, teased, "Fatty, you really can't change, can you? Aren't you afraid Su Ming will beat you up again?"

Hearing this, Ma Hongjun immediately remembered the beating Su Ming had given him a few days ago. But, emboldened by lust, he rationalized, Su Ming's not here right now. He thought it was fine to make some offhand comments and admire the girl from afar, thinking that as long as he wasn't forcing anyone, it wasn't a big deal.

Although Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ning Rongrong were all quite attractive, they were only twelve years old. Besides, Ma Hongjun had already mentally "assigned" them—Xiao Wu clearly belonged to Su Ming, Zhu Zhuqing to Dai Mubai, and Ning Rongrong was from the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Clan, someone he couldn't afford to offend. She also seemed to have a bit of interest in Su Ming, so while he had some thoughts, there was no way for him to act on them.

But this girl from Canghui Academy was different. She looked more mature, and Ma Hongjun found himself even more drawn to her. Just looking at her made his "evil fire" start to stir.

Dai Mubai smirked, "It's just Canghui Academy. What's there to brag about?"

If Su Ming had been there, he would have rolled his eyes. Canghui Academy was, at the very least, an advanced soul master academy, while Shrek Academy wasn't even recognized as a proper institution. It was only known for having strong teachers, but its reputation paled in comparison to official academies.

Neither Ma Hongjun nor Dai Mubai bothered to lower their voices. With soul masters' heightened senses, the leading middle-aged teacher from Canghui Academy easily overheard their conversation despite the noise in the restaurant. His brows furrowed as he scanned the room, quickly identifying the table where the remarks had come from. Seeing that it was just a group of kids, his expression soured further. Who do these kids think they are to mock us?

Oscar, meanwhile, leaned over to Tang San and whispered, "Looks like we're in for a show. The Canghui Academy teacher has brought seven students, so they're probably heading to the Star Dou Forest to hunt soul beasts, just like us. Their teacher's strength won't be low, and I bet a fight's about to break out."

Tang San frowned and asked, "You call that entertainment? If a fight breaks out, do you think you, Fatty, and I can take them on?"

Oscar quietly replied, "It's part of our training. Dean Flender always says that soul masters who don't cause trouble aren't real soul masters. You know the saying: 'Those who don't stir things up are useless.' And honestly, picking a fight with another soul master academy is the safest thing we can do. At most, it'll just be a brawl."

"And besides," he added, "if a fight does break out, it'll be noisy enough for Zhao Wuji and Su Ming to come down quickly."

Tang San nodded slightly in agreement. Soul masters did need to go through plenty of battles to grow stronger. But if Su Ming had been there, he would've been quick to point out that many powerful soul masters who reached the Title Douluo level didn't start fights on purpose. Were they considered useless too?

Moreover, if they were truly brave, why not pick a fight with someone from the Spirit Hall? And if stirring up trouble really made for great soul masters, then why only target other academies? Why not challenge the sects or independent cultivators? They clearly wanted to stir up trouble but were afraid of real consequences.

As for Su Ming, if he heard any commotion later, he'd probably wait before going downstairs or just watch the show from the sidelines. Why bother helping them out?

Upstairs, after checking his room, Su Ming pondered how he could avoid getting involved. Watching them get into trouble wasn't a good look, especially since Zhao Wuji was around, and he was still technically a student of Shrek Academy.

Whatever, he thought. I'll meditate for a while, and if the situation downstairs gets really noisy, I'll deal with it then.

After a few minutes of meditation, Su Ming suddenly felt like he was on the verge of breaking through! He immediately stopped everything else, fully focusing on his cultivation, hoping to reach the 44th level of soul power. The day's long use of soul skills had apparently boosted his energy just enough to bring him to the edge of a breakthrough.

Meanwhile, downstairs, things were going just as they had in the original storyline—Dai Mubai, Tang San, and Ma Hongjun had successfully provoked a conflict with the students and teacher from Canghui Academy.

After Dai Mubai, Tang San, and Ma Hongjun fought the Canghui Academy students, the teacher finally stepped in.

Ma Hongjun taunted, "What's the matter, teacher from Canghui Academy? Your students lost, and now you're going to bully us because we're younger?"

The middle-aged man chuckled coldly, "If it were a fair contest, I wouldn't intervene. But since you deliberately provoked us, and this fat brat couldn't keep his eyes off our female student, it looks like it's up to me to teach you some manners!"

After sizing up the Shrek students, the teacher realized that, despite their young age, these kids were already two-ring and three-ring soul masters with extraordinary talent. He couldn't help but feel a bit jealous, which only fueled his desire to teach them a lesson and restore his academy's reputation.

His eyes gleamed with determination as he growled, "Black Tortoise, possess me!"

As he summoned his martial soul, five soul rings—white, yellow, yellow, purple, purple—rose around him, indicating he was a powerful Soul King.

Seeing that their opponent was a Soul King, Ma Hongjun's arrogance quickly faded. He turned to Dai Mubai and whispered, "Boss Dai, with all this noise, how come Su Ming and the others haven't come down yet? If they were here, this Soul King wouldn't be a problem."

Dai Mubai shook his head, unsure of the answer. He looked at Tang San and said, "This Canghui Academy teacher is no pushover. The three of us will have to hold out until Su Ming and the others come down. I'm sure they'll hear the commotion soon enough, and don't forget, Teacher Zhao is upstairs too. We can't let our academy lose face!"