The current state of affairs on the continent, apart from the internal causes within the two great empires, was most critically shaped by the covert interference of several major Soul Master families and Spirit Hall. After all, how could a vast and unified empire tolerate forces that threatened its rule?
To reach Heaven Dou City, the group from Shrek Academy first had to leave the Balak Kingdom, cross the entirety of the Sylvester Kingdom to the north of Balak, and then enter the imperial heartland of the Tian Dou Empire. Only after heading east would they arrive at the Tian Dou Empire's imperial capital. The entire journey spanned nearly two thousand li—an testament to the sheer vastness of the Tian Dou Empire's territory.
Among the Shrek Seven Devils,
"Alright, you little monsters—you've had two months of rest. From now on, we pick up the pace. Everyone must keep up with my speed. If you can't, well… heh heh." Flandre seemed to have reverted to his old self, a crafty glint in his eyes. He grabbed the Great Master's arm with one hand, and the moment he finished speaking, he launched himself forward like an arrow.
Flandre naturally wouldn't go all out. The academy teachers, led by
The Shrek Seven Devils exchanged glances and broke into a run without hesitation. They'd done loaded marches before—this kind of plain running was nothing. They didn't even need to use Soul Power. Even
The Great Master, carried along by Flandre's Soul Power and expending no effort of his own, asked with some puzzlement, "Flandre, what's the point of this kind of training for the kids? Their physical foundations are already extremely solid."
Flandre chuckled. "Really no point? Xiao Gang, there are some methods you simply can't use. Besides, even if it has no training value, the faster we travel, the less time we waste, and the fewer meals we eat and inns we stay at along the way. That should save quite a bit of money, right? We already agreed last time that the three thousand Gold Soul Coins we took from the final match would go toward this third-stage trial. Every bit we can save, we should."
"You… you really haven't changed a bit." The Great Master was speechless. He was the exact opposite of Flandre—he never placed much importance on money, always taking the view that a thousand gold pieces spent would come back again. After all, he'd always been a Great Soul Master, and Spirit Hall provided a stipend.
Flandre shot the Great Master a crafty wink and suddenly accelerated. He shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.
No one knew Flandre better than Zhao Wuji. With a helpless glance at the bean-system Soul Master
With Flandre's acceleration, the Shrek Seven Devils behind him were in real trouble. Running on pure physical strength alone, how could they possibly keep up with someone using Soul Power? And Flandre was an agility-attack system Soul Master—an agility-attack system Soul Emperor, no less.
In their haste, the Shrek Seven Devils had no choice but to accelerate as well. This meant Ning Rongrong and Oscar could no longer keep up on their own. Oscar was carried by Dai Mubai, while Ning Rongrong was alternated between Zhu Zhuqing and
Using Soul Power for a short time was fine, but how could the Shrek Seven Devils' reserves compare to their teachers'? And Flandre was controlling the pace at the absolute maximum speed they could reach. In less than an hour, the Shrek Seven Devils' Soul Power was already more than seventy or eighty percent depleted.
Flandre, seeing that the group behind him could no longer keep up, finally slowed to a normal pace and gave the Shrek Seven Devils time to eat Big Sausages to recover. Of course, Flandre and the others wouldn't eat Oscar's Big Sausages—a few bean pills were far more effective. After all, the bean-system Soul Master Shao Xin's rank was nothing Oscar could currently compare to.
Traveling in this manner, after a full day the Shrek Seven Devils were as exhausted as if they'd been put through the Great Master's hellish training all over again. But in that single day, they'd covered roughly four hundred kilometers—one-fifth of the total journey.
Fortunately, Flandre wasn't as stingy as he made himself out to be. He didn't make everyone sleep outdoors, instead stopping at a small town for the night.
The so-called small town was really just a rather large village. The only inn in the place was where the Shrek Academy group checked in—rough around the edges, but at least passably clean.
Flandre put his miserly talents to full use and booked only three rooms: one for the teachers, one for the male students, and one for the female students.
"I'm dead." Oscar flopped onto his bed, breathing in deep gasps with a look of bliss on his face. They'd been traveling all day, and finally being able to rest, nobody cared how shabby the place was.
Dai Mubai said irritably, "What do you have to be tired about? Most of your weight was hanging off me, you know."
Oscar protested, "But I still had to make Big Sausages and Mushroom Sausages for all of you! That last stretch—if it weren't for my Mushroom Sausages, could we have kept up? My Soul Power consumption was never less than yours. Soul Power expenditure causes fatigue too, you know."