Douluo Continent: The Phoenix God Returns

Chapter 27 Punishment

The next morning, when Ye Li arrived at the restaurant, she was surprised to find that Shrek's usual breakfast of steamed buns and pickled vegetables had been replaced with a sumptuous meat soup.

"This food is going to break Flander's heart."

When the master saw them arrive, in addition to giving each of them a large bowl of meat soup, he also gave each of them two steamed buns and two eggs, saying, "Eat quickly. You are still growing, and you need to pay attention to your diet in the future and get more nutrition."

Judging from Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong's expressions, the soup must taste amazing. Half an hour later, the bell rang for class, and everyone gathered on the playground.

The master stood with his hands behind his back in the center of the playground, looking at the eight students arranged by age, led by Dai Mubai, and said, "Tomorrow at breakfast time, I hope to see you all in the cafeteria earlier. Food needs time to digest, so you can't do strenuous exercise immediately after eating. From now on, I will prepare breakfast at dawn. If you haven't come to eat within half an hour, then you don't need to eat."

The master's sharp gaze swept over the students. He could tell that some of them hadn't listened, but he didn't emphasize it again.

"I already have some understanding of your martial spirits and abilities. Starting today, I will begin intensive training for you. Li Ye, step forward."

Ye Li stepped forward. Although he looked down on Yu Xiaogang, he was still in class, so he simply held back.

"Here's your mission: either survive for ten minutes while being surrounded by these seven men, or defeat them."

"What?" Ye Li was stunned. Not only him, but everyone else also looked at the master with surprise.

"What? If I'm not mistaken, your soul power is already close to that of a Soul Master. Their highest level is only thirty-seven, and there are three others who are not even at level thirty. Is this requirement really that difficult?"

Six minutes later, with the master's shout to stop, the final result of this one-sided defeat was finally announced.

Ye Li breathed a sigh of relief. Through this battle, he had roughly figured out that Tang San's strength was still within his control.

Ma Hongjun couldn't help but exclaim, "It can fly, its attack power is so strong, and its speed isn't slow either! How are we supposed to fight it?!"

The rest of the Shrek Academy members seemed to agree with Fatty, realizing that Tang San's Blue Silver Grass couldn't restrain Ye Li's movements at all. Even Dai Mubai felt like he was kicking a steel plate when facing Ye Li in a contest of strength.

The master was also shocked and said, "Indeed, it's not simple. The attack power of the sword martial soul is indeed not weak." He had already become curious after hearing Zhao Wuji describe the attack power of Li Ye's sword martial soul, and now that the facts were in front of him, he was even more curious.

"Alright, Li Ye, go and rest for now. It's time to test you all," Yu Xiaogang said, glancing at the others.

Following Ye Li, the next to be beaten will be Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun, Oscar in a one-on-two match, and Tang San and Xiao Wu in a one-on-one match.

His gaze swept over the others, and the master continued, "Every Soul Master has their own strengths and weaknesses; there is no perfect Soul Master in this world. But..."

At this point, the master paused for a moment, "However, there are perfect teams. An individual's strength cannot reach absolute power, but a team, through tacit cooperation, can achieve perfection. By complementing each other's abilities, they are capable of facing enemies of any attribute."

.........

The master's face was stiff and his expression was grim. "Is this what you call a monster genius? Your performance today has disappointed me greatly. Everyone has made an unforgivable mistake. Now, you will all be punished. Run forward, supervise each other, and do not use your soul power. Run from the academy to Soto City and back. I require you to complete ten laps before lunch. You will eat only after you finish. Tang San, your mistake is the most serious, so you will run twelve laps. Get moving, begin."

Tang San was the first to run out. To him, the master's words were no different from an order. Xiao Wu, Dai Mubai, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun followed closely behind. Ye Li, Ning Rongrong, and Zhu Zhuqing exchanged glances and saw a hint of helplessness in each other's eyes. They wanted to follow and run towards the gate of Shrek Academy.

"There are prepared rocks at the academy gate. Each of you will carry one on your back and run with the weight. Remember, you are a team. If even one person fails to complete the punishment, then no one will eat," the master emphasized.

When the eight people arrived at the academy gate one after another, they found that there were eight bamboo baskets woven from bamboo, each containing stones of different sizes. Each basket had a carrying strap and a name written on it.

Ye Li complained inwardly, "So even though I won, I still got punished."

Among them, Ye Li's basket contained the most stones, Tang San, Dai Mubai, and Ma Hongjun's baskets contained slightly fewer stones, Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing, and Oscar's baskets were next, and Ning Rongrong's basket contained the fewest stones.

As the master watched the eight people carrying bamboo baskets and running away, a faint smile involuntarily appeared on his stiff face.

"Isn't running a long distance with a heavy load without using soul power a bit too harsh a punishment?" Flander, who had somehow appeared beside the master, asked with some concern.

Oscar looked at the stones in Li Ye's basket and couldn't help but laugh, "Xiao Ye, you're really in a bit of a predicament."

"Laugh now, Oscar, you won't be laughing in a minute," Ye Li said, patting Oscar on the shoulder.

But Oscar's smile soon faded as everyone realized that carrying these stones for ten laps was no easy task.

"Stop for a moment." After running less than two kilometers, Ye Li called on everyone to stop.

Ma Hongjun, panting heavily, asked, "What's wrong, Fourth Brother?"

Ye Li said, "These bamboo baskets even have names written on them, and the weights they carry are all different. It's obvious that they were prepared in advance. Before we set off, the master also emphasized that we are a team. I'm afraid this is a test of our teamwork."

Tang San nodded and said, "Based on my understanding of my teacher, this is very likely."

"Mu Bai, Tang Xiaosan, and I can definitely complete it, but you may not. Although I have the most stones, their weight is negligible to me. Rongrong is a support-type Soul Master with only level 26 Soul Power, but she has the same number of stones as Oscar, which is obviously beyond her limit. Perhaps the master's original intention was for us to cooperate with each other and complete the test together."

Oscar wiped his sweat and said with a wry smile, "Xiao Ye is right. I really can't carry these stones back and forth ten times."

Ma Hongjun suddenly suggested, "How about we sneak some of Xiao Ao's sausages? We won't be worried about not having enough energy then!"

Oscar rolled his eyes at him. "How do you know the master didn't arrange for a teacher to monitor us? You're trying to cheat?"

"How about this: the eight of us run at a constant pace, starting with the slowest one. When someone runs out of energy, we adjust the weights for each other. What do you all think?"

Dai Mubai nodded and said, "Let's do it this way."

Among the group, Oscar and Ning Rongrong, both support-type Soul Masters, were the weakest in terms of stamina. The group then ran at their pace, making steady progress towards Soto City. The first round trip was completed at a steady speed.

Once they started running, everyone felt the pressure from the weight. If it were just ordinary running, even without using soul power, this round trip wouldn't be much of a burden. But now, with the weight, their bodies were clearly not used to it. After one round trip, Oscar and Ning Rongrong were already drenched in sweat, and the others were showing signs of fatigue.

Ning Rongrong was undoubtedly the weakest in terms of physical strength among them. Oscar had at least broken through to level 30, and his third spirit ring provided a significant boost to his body. Ning Rongrong, however, was only at level 26.

The weight Ye Li was carrying was a stone weighing over thirty kilograms. He was already a Soul King, and his physical abilities were unmatched by them, so the stone was practically useless to him.

Dai Mubai and Tang San carried 20 kilograms of stones, Ma Hongjun, Xiao Wu, and Zhu Zhuqing carried 15 kilograms, while Oscar and Ning Rongrong carried only 10 kilograms of stones, yet it felt like carrying a mountain, forcing them to grit their teeth and maintain a steady pace.

Looking again at the academy gate, to everyone's surprise, the master was standing at the gate watching them complete their first round trip. Beside the master was a table with a large bucket on it.

"Everyone, have some water before you continue," the master said succinctly.

The bucket contained warm water, which was a bit salty, probably because salt had been added. Under the master's supervision, each person was only allowed to drink one cup before they resumed their journey.

Watching the eight students' departing figures, the master couldn't help but smile. Flander walked up behind him, saying with no small amount of pride, "How about it? My little monsters are not bad, are they?"

The master said, "They are all good children."

Flander laughed and said, "I believe that no matter where the little monsters are in the future, as long as they gather together, they will still be an inseparable whole."

The master sighed, "I hope so. You can continue to monitor them."

…………

(End of this chapter)