The heavy oak doors of Heaven Dou Imperial Academy slammed shut behind them with a finality that echoed across the stone steps. The Shrek group stood at the academy gates in tense silence, each face bearing traces of pride, frustration, and quiet reflection. Behind them, Prince Xue Xing voice still rang with condescension and dismissal. They had been thrown out—not refused, but discarded like unwanted relics.
"So that's it, huh?" Ma Hongjun muttered, hands in his pockets. "We come all this way, pass their stupid tests, and they kick us out anyway."
Oscar lips twisted into a dry smile. "We did better than expected. They just couldn't handle us."
"It wasn't about performance," Li Wei said, his voice calm but sharp. "It was about politics. Xue Xing never intended to let us in. He just needed an excuse."
Zhu Zhuqing remained quiet beside him, her gaze fixed on the distant city skyline. Her fists were clenched. She hated being looked down on, hated being powerless to stop it. But above all, she hated the look in Dai Mubai eyes when they left—the familiar flash of anger, guilt, and helplessness. It remind her of the helplessness of her fate as a Zhu family member and the effort she take to break out of her destiny.
"Where do we go now?" Xiao Wu asked, her voice quieter than usual, the effect of the fact that they got kick out. Remembering about the rejection she felt when Tang San pick over power than her.
"Back to Shrek," Flender replied, stepping forward. The lines on his face were deeper than ever. "We regroup, we train. We'll find another way to enter the tournament. If Heaven Dou won't have us, we'll enter through force of merit."
Li Wei didn't respond. His mind had already moved ahead—calculating routes, estimating timelines, planning contingencies. The rejection stung, yes, but it wasn't a dead end. It was a reroute. There is something that he able to do, following canon or join other academy.
________________
They traveled back to Shrek in subdued quiet. Spirits were low, but training resumed the moment they arrived. Days passed with renewed purpose. Even Xiao Wu, usually cheerful, was more focused in her movements. She avoided Tang San eyes. Something had shifted between them, though no one had said it aloud.
Zhu Zhuqing pushed herself harder than ever. She didn't speak unless addressed directly, and her interactions with Dai Mubai remained curt and cold. Her respect and loyalty were clearly rooted elsewhere—in the quiet presence of Li Wei, who guided their group drills with unwavering precision.
One evening, after an especially grueling sparring session, Zhu Zhuqing lingered behind as the others left the field. Li Wei stood alone, wiping sweat from his brow, unaware of her watchful eyes.
"You don't have to carry it all alone," she said finally.
He turned, blinking. "What do you mean?"
"The disappointment. The responsibility. The weight of making decisions for all of us. I know you do. I see it."
Li Wei looked at her for a long moment. In the fading sunlight, her eyes were softer, her guard lowered. "Someone has to carry it. Might as well be me."
She nodded, but her voice was firmer now. "Then let me help carry it. I'm not weak anymore."
For the first time in a while, Li Wei smiled—not a faint smirk, but a real, quiet smile. 'This is what having a friend and teammates meant.' He thought. But in that moment he felt a little beat in his heart before it was drown back by a louder voice.
________________________
Elsewhere, Tang San sat cross-legged beneath the moonlight, eyes closed, his breathing steady. But his mind was not calm. He replayed the encounter at Heaven Dou Imperial Academy over and over. The rejection. Xue Xing contempt. Dugu Bo silence.
And Li Wei presence—so composed, so certain.
Tang San respected Li Wei intellect. He couldn't deny the results. But emotionally, the gap between them widened with each passing day. Yu Xiaogang absence weighed heavily on him. And he couldn't shake the sense that the others were gravitating toward Li Wei more than him.
Xiao Wu had grown distant. Zhu Zhuqing no longer interacted with anyone besides Li Wei. Even Rongrong laughed more easily with him now.
Tang San clenched his fists.
_________________
Training escalated.
Li Wei formed battle pairs and ran them through simulations. Ning Rongrong's buffs were now optimized for group synergy. Meng Yiran and Zhu Zhuqing began developing a coordinated dual-assault tactic, one combining venom and stealth. Xiao Wu's teleportation timing improved drastically, and even Oscar's food supply strategy was streamlined with clear priority protocols.
One afternoon, Flender gathered them.
"We manage to find an academy that trying to find a teacher." Flender said with a beaming smile. "Our teacher can be said to be of high quality and we will be able to enter."
Thanks to Li Wei suggestions that there might be an academy that tried to find a spirit master to be a teacher to joining them and they might be able to use this chance to join them.
If they able to join the academy and present their student strength there can be said to be not a lot of academy will try to reject them.
Except for the few academy that only noble can enter, they can be said to be qualified but for long standing academy not many wan to use other people student.
With this they able to join Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament.
"Do we trust them?" Xiao Wu asked.
"We trust strength," Flender said. "And we trust that we've exhausted our other options. This may be our best chance."
Li Wei looked toward the horizon. Another shift, another path. And another fate moving in their direction.
Hearing what Flender said, Li Wei confirm that the academy must be Blue Tyrant Academy that Liu Erlong part of where she is the dean there.
"Then we go," he said.
__________________
They departed at dawn. Spirits were higher now, tempered by hardship and united by shared rejection. The academy that had once scoffed at them would one day witness their rise.
As they walked, Xiao Wu nudged Zhu Zhuqing with a grin. "You and Li Wei seem closer."
Zhu Zhuqing didn't answer immediately. She stared straight ahead, her expression unreadable.
"He listens," she said simply.
"Yeah," Xiao Wu said with a small sigh. "He does."
"Do you like him?" Zhu Zhuqing asked, surprising her.
Xiao Wu blinked. "Do you?"
"I didn't ask that."
"Then neither did I," Xiao Wu grinned.
Behind them, Ning Rongrong walked in silence, her ears catching every word.