After eating another sausage provided by Oscar, the wounds across Zhao Wuji's entire body began healing rapidly, and the pain diminished considerably.
Tang San, who had only barely recovered a sliver of his internal energy, was drained once more. This time he didn't even manage to get a word out before collapsing unconscious. Fortunately, Oscar was right beside him and quickly caught him.
Zhao Wuji was powerful — the injuries he'd sustained were all superficial and nothing serious. Under the effects of Oscar's sausage and cured sausage, he had recovered ninety percent in a short while.
Looking at Tang San, unconscious in Oscar's arms, Zhao Wuji furrowed his brow slightly and said, "Mubai, you're in charge of getting these four freshmen settled in. School starts tomorrow. Nobody touch the weapons this Tang San scattered all over the ground — some of them are poisoned. Let him clean up his own mess when he wakes up."
With that, Zhao Wuji turned and walked away.
Oscar watched Zhao Wuji disappear into the distance before helping Tang San over to Dai Mubai, letting Tang San lean against the wall as well. He glanced at Tang San, then at the badly battered Zhu Zhuqing, and then at Xiao Wu, still unconscious in Ning Rongrong's arms. He couldn't help but mutter, "What's with Teacher Zhao today? Did he get his period or something? Why pick a fight with a bunch of freshmen?"
Dai Mubai replied drily, "Go ahead, why don't you say that a little louder — let Teacher Zhao hear you. He's probably fuming inside right now and just looking for someone to take it out on. His period? I think you're the one on your period. Thirty days a month, with maybe one day off — and when February rolls around, you're short two days."
Oscar protested with some grievance, "Could you not be so vulgar? There are girls present, you know."
"Get lost. Wherever Big Sausage Uncle is, vulgarity is never far behind. Let's get them settled first."
As he spoke, Dai Mubai picked Zhu Zhuqing up from the ground. Her gaze was cold enough to kill, but he seemed utterly oblivious to it.
Oscar glanced at Dai Mubai, then at Ning Rongrong on the other side, and grumbled under his breath, "Why is it that you guys are carrying beautiful women, and I'm stuck carrying a man?"
Dai Mubai shot him a sideways glance with those heterochromatic eyes. "That's a character problem."
---
When Tang San regained consciousness from his deep sleep, the sky outside had already turned dark. He blinked his bleary eyes and found himself lying in a small wooden cabin.
The room wasn't large — roughly ten square meters or so. Besides the bed he was lying on, there was another bed nearby. Oscar was sitting on it, murmuring something under his breath.
"Where is this?" Tang San's voice was hoarse, and his body kept sending waves of emptiness through him.
Oscar noticed he was awake. "This is our dormitory. From now on, you're rooming with me. You're Tang San, right? You were really something today — even someone as tough as Teacher Zhao took a beating at your hands."
Oscar's peach-blossom eyes blinked at Tang San, excitement clearly shining in them.
"Where's Xiao Wu? How is she?" This was the question Tang San most wanted answered.
Oscar said, "Relax, she's fine. She's sharing a room with that pretty Ning Rongrong. One night's rest and she should recover. That Ning Rongrong from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan is really gorgeous." As he spoke, he swallowed hard, his peach eyes flickering with all sorts of light.
Tang San braced himself and sat up. After a massive expenditure of internal energy, the worst thing was to slack off — if he didn't recover promptly, it could very well cause his cultivation to regress.
"Hey, Tang San. We're going to be roommates from now on, so let's get acquainted, yeah? I'll introduce myself — I'm Oscar, a twenty-ninth-ranked Tool Soul Master. My Martial Soul is the sausage. People call me Sausage Proprietor. You can call me Sausage Proprietor Oscar, or just Little Ao."
Tang San smiled faintly. "Isn't it Big Sausage Uncle?"
"Pah, pah — what Big Sausage Uncle? I'm shaving the beard off tomorrow so you can see my handsome, dashing, debonair side — the wind-beneath-the-jade-tree look. Some pretty underclassmen have arrived at the academy, and I can't keep letting myself go like this. That Dai Mubai obviously has his eye on that ice-cold beauty, and Xiao Wu is yours. That just leaves me to reluctantly go after Ning Rongrong."
"Xiao Wu and I are just friends," Tang San said with a slight frown. Oscar's way of speaking left him somewhat uncomfortable.
Oscar gave a sleazy grin. "Come on, drop the act. We're all guys here — who's kidding who? I didn't expect someone your age to already have a pretty girl wrapped around his finger. A lone man and a lone woman traveling all the way to the academy together — you expect anyone to believe nothing happened? Boss Dai said you went all-out against Teacher Zhao precisely because Xiao Wu got hurt. Just friends? Who's going to buy that? Don't worry, I, Little Ao, have principles. The saying goes, a friend's wife is off-limits — whoops, no, I mean, a friend's wife must not be disrespected. I would never have any designs on your Xiao Wu."
Looking at Oscar's gleaming peach eyes, Tang San was rendered speechless. He couldn't be bothered to explain any further and simply entered a meditative state to begin recovering his internal energy.
---
Night fell and the world grew still. The entire Shrek Academy fell completely silent. As Dai Mubai had predicted, the day's examinations produced not a single candidate besides Tang San's group of four who had managed to pass the first three trials. And even so, this was the year in which Shrek Academy had admitted the most students in a long time.
As Vice Dean, Zhao Wuji naturally had his own quarters. At the moment, he was alone in his room, feeling thoroughly sullen.
He had changed into a clean set of clothes, and all the wounds on his body had healed. Those minor injuries were nothing, but the blow to his pride was considerable.
He had never imagined that what was supposed to be a casual warm-up to loosen his joints would end with such a loss of face. In the past, he wouldn't have thought twice — he would have killed Tang San on the spot. But things were different now. He was a teacher at the academy, and Tang San was a student. All he could do was swallow this bitter frustration.
(End of Chapter)