Chapter 186: The Spider King's Pressure (Part 2)

She didn't rush to drink. Standing there, she looked at everyone, her eyes rimmed with red. "When I first came to the academy, I brought everyone quite a bit of trouble. Back then, Third Brother and Xiao Ao were right — if I'd kept going on like that, I'm afraid I never would have understood what the word 'friends' truly means. So many days have passed, and we've been cultivating together, fighting together, going through life and death together. Thank you, all of you, my partners. I raise this cup to everyone, and I also want to say something I've never been able to say. I'm sorry."

After those last three words, Ning Rongrong drained her barley beer in one gulp. As she drank, two lines of crystalline tears had already begun streaming down her fair cheeks.

"Rongrong, don't drink so fast," Oscar warned kindly. Of all people, he was probably the happiest seeing Ning Rongrong like this. From the very first time he'd laid eyes on her, he'd set his sights on her — only to be shot down later.

But the Ning Rongrong now had become so lovable. They always said children were the most malleable, and at only twelve years old, Ning Rongrong was already a completely different person from just a few months ago.

"Rongrong, we're partners, and we're brothers — now and always. Back when we returned from Star Dou Forest, we'd already accepted you. So don't say things like this anymore. Come on, everyone, drink. But you're all still too young — take it easy."

Oscar suddenly seemed to think of something and said, "Rongrong, why is it that you call Tang San 'Third Brother' but you call me 'Xiao Ao'? That doesn't seem very fair."

Ning Rongrong's pretty face flushed red, and she shot him an exasperated glare, but didn't answer.

Ma Hongjun, off to the side, caught on to something. "Xiao Ao, no wonder you're ranked second — you really are clueless. I'd love to have that kind of special treatment."

Oscar was a sharp one — he caught on almost immediately. He gave Ning Rongrong a long, meaningful look, was so excited he nearly laughed out loud, and hastily said, "Right, right, my bad. I'll drink a penalty."

Alcohol was the sort of thing where the more you drank, the closer everyone became — and the harder it was to hold back. Even Dai Mubai, who had initially insisted on drinking less, ended up asking for more and more. Though none of the seven were very old, as Soul Masters they already possessed physical constitutions far beyond ordinary people's, and with the recent training, their ability to process alcohol was undoubtedly formidable. The drinking session lasted a full two hours before it finally came to an end.

When everyone woke from their drunken haze the next morning, the only thing they could vaguely remember was that one person had drunk far more than anyone else — and was also the last one still standing.

It wasn't Dai Mubai, who had the strongest Soul Power, or Tang San, who was the most formidable in overall ability. It was Ning Rongrong, the one who wielded the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul.

At the time, the first to pass out was Ma Hongjun — the little fatty's tolerance for alcohol was clearly nothing to speak of. The second was Oscar. Right after that came Xiao Wu. What no one had expected was that Dai Mubai, the oldest of them all, was actually the fourth to go down. Zhu Zhuqing and Tang San fell together. And the last one standing was Ning Rongrong.

Ning Rongrong not only hadn't passed out — she had drunk the most of anyone. While drinking, she'd practically been downing one cup after another in single gulps, carrying the same fierce energy she'd shown back when she used to throw tantrums. And according to Ning Rongrong herself, this was her very first time drinking alcohol.

After the fact, whenever the other six members of the Shrek Seven Devils recalled this event, only two words came to mind: natural talent.

The fighting tournaments continued. Over the next month, the Shrek Seven Devils absolutely dominated the branch arena of Sotuo Grand Fighting Arena. In that single month, the team had participated in twenty-seven team battles — twenty-seven fights, twenty-seven victories. In the tier-30 bracket, they faced absolutely no opposition whatsoever.

In the individual events, the Three-Five combination also racked up an impressive twenty-seven-win streak. Tang San and Xiao Wu's seamless coordination and powerful Soul Skills left their opponents utterly helpless.

Dai Mubai and Oscar's Twin-Wing White Tiger combination posted a record of sixteen wins and eleven losses across twenty-seven fights. After all, only Dai Mubai did the actual fighting, and Oscar's sausages had limited utility in this style of arena combat.

Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing's Seven Treasure Spirit Cat combination actually performed even better than the Twin-Wing White Tiger, since they competed in the tier-20 Great Soul Master bracket's two-on-two division. They achieved an impressive twenty-two wins and five losses across twenty-seven fights, including an eight-fight winning streak that earned them a hefty sum of points.

As for the individual events, the Shrek Seven Devils swept the board across the board. Dai Mubai, in the tier-30 bracket, lost only twice — both times to Control Type Soul Masters — and otherwise racked up twenty-five wins. Tang San had tremendous luck, never once facing an opponent with a fire-type Martial Soul, and despite being at a lower rank of thirty-two, he maintained a perfect undefeated record in the tier-30 Soul Venerable bracket.

After all, facing his Spider Web Binding, without some hard counter, it was extremely difficult for anyone at that level to break free. Xiao Wu did somewhat worse — though her Teleportation was highly unique, she repeatedly ran into opponents whose abilities happened to counter hers. Still, she managed twenty wins.

Ma Hongjun also performed splendidly in the tier-20 bracket, posting twenty-three wins out of twenty-seven fights. Zhu Zhuqing's individual results were no less impressive, falling only a single win short of Ma Hongjun's record.