"You all successfully passed the final exam!" Zhao Wuji spoke loudly with him, folding his arms under his chest as Tang Wutong brought Ning Rongrong back to the ground.
Meanwhile... The rest of us were just lying on the ground. Wrecked and beaten down until Tang Wutong came over to help me sit up so she could hand me a healing pill.
"That will help... Go give the rest of them a healing pill as well." I said exhausted as I felt my bones fixing and my bruised muscles losing their swelling.
Then Zhao Wuji chuckled as he came over said. "So did you learn a good lesson today Tian Long?"
I gave the short bastard a dull look and said flatly. "And what lesson is that teacher?"
He grinned and said shamelessly. "Don't get into a fist fight with someone several realms above you. As well as also being a close range fighter to begin with!"
My face twitched and then after a moment of him giving a look as though waiting for my reply to his dumbass 'lesson' I said with finality.
"You are right teacher... I am going to poison you next time teacher. Make sure to bring a plug as you will be shitting blood out of your ass."
And that got Zhao Wuji's attention as he HAD seen the effects of my Organ Rotting Tincture that would dissolve a Spirit Ancestor's innards. As it was used on some spirit spirits that attacked us when I went for my second spirit ring.
"Haha... That won't be needed Tian Long." Zhao Wuji chuckled but clearly very much not at ease.
Then a groan rang out as Dai Mubai also got up after taking the healing elixers from Tang Wutong along with Zhu Zhuqing rolling to her knee's but also looking to have issues getting up properly.
Still then Yu Xiaogang approached and said flatly. "You played with them rather hard there Wuji... It wasn't needed to actually leave them with injuries when you could have just suppressed them with your gravity skills."
I looked to the Grandmaster with a new light in my eyes at him standing up for his abused discples.
Then my face twitched as Zhao Wuji laughed more naturally and said. "Eh it's not like they won't be able to walk by tommorrow. Especially with Tian Long's pills. Besides! What do you know about combat training?"
Yu Xiaogang had no answer, merely snorted as Xiao Wu made her over to me and leaned on me with a whine as she muttered. "He twisted my ankle hard... It hurts still."
I gently patted her head with a sigh before I said more loudly. "So can we go relax now? Social meet and greets can wait when I can don't feel my spine popping with each breath I take."
Zhao Wuji and Yu Xiaogang shared a look before nodding with Zhao Wuji taking a breath and then looking towards the dorms and yelling out loudly. "Oscar! Get your ass out here!"
We all shared a look before with a charge a white haired young teen all but skidded out of what I thought was probably the 'caferteria' but in reality was just a long hall of sorts.
Still he came over quickly and said excitedly. "Master Wuji, you called for me?"
Zhao Wuji grunted and said with a wave towards us as in me, Tang Wutong, Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, and Xiao Wu. "Show them to the boys and girls dorms. Me and Xiaogang are going to get Flender from the city. That damned fool is still trying to sell off fake spirit tools."
As the two 'adults' left leaving Oscar to guide us. He swiftly introduced himself all the while I could see how he was laser focused on Ning Rongrong in particular. "Hello! My name is Oscar, I am a rank 27 Spirit Grandmaster with my Martial Soul being the Almighty Sausage!"
Oscar then with a grin held out his hand and spoke proudly. "See look! I your father have a big sausage!" He chanted.
And floating above his hand was several large sausages that I knew from his chant would help heal us...
But the girls?
"No thank you." Tang Wutong said coldly with disdain, looked at the sausage and then me. Clearly pointing towards how my healing elixers were doing just fine.
"Disgusting." Zhu Zhuqing said with clear disgust as she moved further away from Oscar even as she leaned on Xiao Wu who was also leaning on me as we moved.
As for Ning Rongrong... "Fucking kill yourself. Don't bring it closer!" She all but screamed and literally ran away from Oscar as he in suprise stepped a little closer in shock.
All the while, Dai Mubai took a sausage with a helpless chuckle as he said. "You guys should have one. Although Oscar's incantation is a little wretched. The effects are nothing to do look down on."
So with a shrug as I knew I needed to get over with especially when Oscar's sausages would only get more powerful over time with his cultivation rising. I took one, and after munching it down.
I could feel it's spiritual energy fusing with my own. And the foriegn energy quickly went to my injuries and I felt some more of the pain soothing under it's effects.
"Not bad." I said with a nod and then I looked to Dai Mubai as Oscar gave me a smile at giving him a chance at least.
"So Brother Mubai, how long have you been here at Shrek?" I asked curiously as I knew he was like... Three or four years older then us at this point.
So with how Soul Master's matured faster into adults due to our cultivation. He literally looked like a grown adult and explained why at sixteen he was going around fucking all the time.
Before Zhu Zhuqing got here anyway.
Dai Mubai made a humming noise before he said thoughtfully. "Hmm I been here for a good couple of years. So if you have any questions about Suotuo city go ahead and ask me brother! Besides Oscar who was basically raised here, you are the first other guy to get into Shrek for the last few years."
Then he blinked and he said powerfully at his realization with him grabbing my shoulder and pulling me into a hug. "Wait! You are that divine alchemist who made Ma Xiaotao all her elixers to keep her sanity!"
"Hey! Get off my brother you big dumb cat!" Xiao Wu all but hissed as she tried and failed to pull me out of the manly side hug Mubai gave me.
But he wasn't done as he all but cried. "Broooo you don't know! She is fucking insane when she is on her period. She has literally killed people who got too far on her nerves. They were bandits and all... But she burnt them alive! From their crotches upwards!"
"Uhh... I will keep that in mind. Just uhh yeah." I said helplessly as before Dai Mubai gave the rest a look before he said more quietly.
"Sooo yeah you work on commission right? Can you make some elixer's to enhance my physcial body?" He asked firmly.
I nodded and he gave me a bit of space so I grinned and patted his shoulder and said. "Yeah dude. So long as you are willing to pay for the herbs and such needed I will happily help. At least until we all head into the spirit beast forests to get some more herbs for free."
Dai Mubai nodded in understanding before he said a bit sheepishly. "I understand bro. I don't have too much gold on me right now... I kinda spent alot uhhh entertaining some very good friends. But what can two hundred gold coins get us?"
I blinked at his long speech before I thoughtfully ran through some formula's and his own request. And after a moment, I had a good thought, actually.
"Oh, you want to strengthen your bodies durability and inner strength. So the Iron Body Refinement would be a good start to things."
Dai Mubai, besides Oscar himself, was the most talented member of the Shrek Seven's original cast. And that was due to his martial soul being tied to a legit divine spirit beast who would bless him in the far-off future.
And in the future, he was the strongest front-line fighter in the series basically. No one wanted to throw hands with the guy who was half a divine tiger and could literally tear you in half with his bare hands.
So making the 'tank' of the party more durable was just smart as I was going to be relying on these people for... Shit the rest of my life basically unless I wanted to go alone which I very much didn't want to do.
"What's this elixir Tian Long? You haven't mentioned it before?" Xiao Wu asked with a slight pout.
To which I could only smile helplessly as I said. "Because it's a body refinement method and elixer path that requires a whole mountain of gold to reach it's peak."
Seeing everyone's look of confusion, I explained how herbal concoctions even my elixers would have people develop resistances for them. But this special body refinement elixer was a bit special as instead of using more powerful elixer's.
I needed to concentrate the elixer instead, which wouldn't be something you would eat or drink. But a bath you would need to take.
"So... How much would it help?" Dai Mubai asked after my explanation with a slight frown.
And I said honestly. "With two hundred gold coins worth of materials. You would gain probably forty percent more physical strength, and your durability and stamina would more than double."
Dai Mubai firmly nodded and he went to hand me a pouch filled with the money before he paused and said sheepishly. "Sorry bro. We can go get those herbs tomorrow so you can relax and heal for the rest of today."
I shrugged and then said thoughtfully. "Alright, that's fine. It will be for the best after we do training anyway."
We then went to rest... Besides Tang Wutong and Xiao Wu following me into my room without a word until I went to my kinda shitty bed and Xiao Wu whined at me.
"Tiaaaan Long! Why haven't we used that elixer yet?"
I gave Xiao Wu a loooong look. Before, I said flatly to both her and Tang Wutong as I knew she was here for the same reason. "You two... We are fucking broke! Broke orphans with no sugar in our lives! For the three of us it would have cost us several thousand gold coins a months!?"
Although Soul Master's typically dealt with gold coins as the true coinage for our value while commoners and people who couldn't even become soul Masters used bronze and silver coins.
Most families didn't make more than ten gold coins a year as each gold coin was worth a hundred silver coins. Still in this context herbs and treasures were very fucking expensive due to how all of them basically had to be collected from extremely dangerous, uninhabitable zones controlled by Spirit Beasts.
And most spirit master's weren't looking for herbs and such unless they were divine herbs... It was the fat nobles who wanted 'elixers of vigor' that sponsored people to go look for the herbs and such.
I shook my head with a sigh as I said helplessly. "We got new friends here. Let's just take one step at a time. As Grandmaster said he was going to help me, especially in getting the funds we need."
And how were we going to make that money? I had... Zero doubt it wasn't going to be Flender and Shrek throwing us into an arena and have us gamble to win our battles.
Still, that was tomorrow's issue. For now I was just going to rest as the remaining herbal energy made sure I was in tip-top shape for whatever nonsense was to come.