Chapter 315: Regrouping and Rest

Du Bai's eyes were red; although they had won the battle, he felt horrible at this moment. He wasn't injured, but during this battle of life and death, he felt as though he had done nothing. All he could do was watch helplessly as his companions risked their lives fighting tooth and nail with a powerful enemy.

They didn't linger in the Great Beast Fighting Arena, not even stopping to collect their prize money. After changing their clothes, Tang San quickly led his friends away from the arena.

Cheng Zicheng and Gu Li could wait a bit, but Wu Bingji's condition could not afford any delay. They needed to restore his health as soon as possible; otherwise, there would be lasting consequences.

The five of them walked out of the Great Beast Fighting Arena. Du Bai supported Wu Bingji, while Tang San carried Gu Li on his back. Cheng Zicheng could walk on her own, though her arms were in bandages and splints

As they left the arena, they were met with earth-shattering cheers. An unknown number of human vassals gathered around the arena, their cheers rising in waves.

"Shrek, Shrek, Shrek!"

Listening to the thunderous shouts, the Shrek Squad looked around and saw face after face flushed with excitement.

Color slowly returned to Wu Bingji's pale face, and even the intense feeling of weakness seemed to diminish slightly.

Du Bai's face flushed as red as the faces of the cheering crowd, his fists clenched in excitement.

Cheng Zicheng initially looked bewildered, but her eyes slowly moistened, and her delicate body started to tremble slightly.

They had truly won. Not only that, but—in the hearts of the humans around them—it was humanity itself that had triumphed!

This was the highest consecutive victory count in human history for team battles. On this very night, within Kali City, a flame in the hearts of humanity was ignited by the Shrek Squad.

Wu Bingji took a deep breath. Despite his poor physical condition, at that moment, he felt an unprecedented sense of happiness and pride.

Tang San smiled as he listened to the cheers; he genuinely smiled. This was what he wanted to see! It was unity, the unity of humanity.

When a group truly wants to rise, what matters most isn't ability or strength, but unity. Only when all hearts feel as one can there be a real possibility of rising.

In this world, humanity was frail, yet he believed that as long as humans could unite, one day, no oppression in the world could stop their rise.

That night, countless human vassals were laughing and crying!

With practiced ease, the group slipped into the Kali Mountains. Tang San used his divine consciousness and the Discerning Eye of Heaven to shield their auras. He handed Gu Li over to Du Bai, while he himself carried Wu Bingji on his back and led the way back to Golden Valley.

He had allowed Wu Bingji to burn his own bloodline power because they had the vast life energy of Golden Valley as a backup; under the nourishment of that life energy, the life force Wu Bingji had consumed could be restored.

"Eldestbrother, do you feel it?" Tang San asked, carrying Wu Bingji and moving swiftly through the mountains.

"Mm-hmm." Wu Bingji nodded.

Tang San smiled and said, "Maybe, we are the hope for humanity's future. When our kind truly sees the first light of hope, we will unite like never before. In the future, there will be no more slaves, no more vassals."

"Little Tang, thank you. Your arrival changed everything," Wu Bingji said softly. "I will suggest to our teacher that you take over my position as eldest brother. If possible, come to the academy and guide the younger students. With your leadership, our academy will rise faster, and humanity will see hope sooner."

Wu Bingji was well aware that without Tang San's guidance, he would not have achieved what he had today. He had long admitted in his heart that what Tang San taught him and his companions was even better than the education from the academy’s teachers. Even the god-level instructor Si Ru couldn't compare with Tang San in this respect.

Tang San smiled and said, "Eldestbrother, you can't shirk your responsibilities."

Wu Bingji gave a bitter smile and said, "Of course, I won't. It's just that after this, I don't know how much my cultivation will drop. I..."

"You're overthinking it. With the Golden Tree, the life force you lost can be replenished. Moreover, burning bloodline power isn’t necessarily all bad. In the short term, your cultivation will indeed decrease, but the burning process itself is also a form of tempering. Our Demonic God Transformation comes from demon heritage, so impurities are inevitable. What you burned today were mostly these impurities. The real essence is what remains. As they say, you have to break it down to build it back up. When you manage to regain the cultivation you’ve lost, you’ll see yourself become a lot stronger. It’s a way of purifying your bloodline by using its own power."

Wu Bingji was stunned. “Are you serious?”

Tang San chuckled “What else?”

Wu Bingji smiled bitterly. “Honestly, I’m finding it harder and harder to read you. Were you holding back today? I didn’t quite catch how you defeated that Red-Crowned Crane. I thought we were done for.”

Tang San didn’t answer his question directly, but said, “No matter how powerful an individual is, they can't decide everything. The strength of a team is what truly matters. Like our Redemption Society compared to all of humanity. Just the efforts of the Redemption Society aren’t enough to change the human condition. Only when all humanity unites, with one heart and mind, can we break free from our fate.”

Wu Bingji said, "The mayor trusts you so much, and you've always been helping everyone. I have no reason not to trust you. Actually, many times when I'm with you, I feel like it's not me who should be your senior brother, but rather you should be mine."

Tang San smiled, "That can't be, you're the eldest brother after all!"

Wu Bingji suddenly said, "Right, since I'm not seriously hurt, why didn’t we wait to collect our prize money before leaving! Think about it, our reward today must be substantial. Just the basic rewards alone would add up to several naturae coins each, and that's quite a lot of naturae coins! Not to mention the share from the betting."

Tang San’s lips twitched as the eldest brother's love for money resurfaced. He had been lamenting his lack of a future, but as soon as he heard he was fine, he immediately focused on what was most important to him.

"It's too late for that. The Great Beast Fighting Arena needs time to process the earnings; they can’t give us our cut so quickly. Although your condition isn't too bad, it's still important to stabilize your life force first. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have taken you away first. Don't worry, we won’t be shortchanged. The Great Beast Fighting Arena counts on us to be their cash cow. After today's battle, we can probably negotiate the price the next time we fight since our popularity has increased."

"Right. Once I’m better, let’s go get our money. This money comes so fast, it's a bit overwhelming. But Tang San, today’s battle really was a wake-up call for me. The demons are still much stronger than us. If there were one or two more at the ninth order among our five opponents, we would have been in big trouble. Are we continuing with the ten team battles?"

Tang San replied, “No rush. Everyone should have gained some insights this time. Let’s first stabilize our cultivation and see how things stand. For the next match, we’ll make the Great Beast Fighting Arena tell us in advance about our opponents before we decide. The toughest moments have passed. We probably won’t have real problems until the final matches, because that wouldn’t be in the arena’s best interest.”.