"Little ones, why don't you introduce yourselves?"
Imagining a bright future and suppressing her excitement, Liu Erlong turned to look at Chu Chengzhou and the others.
"I'll go first! Principal Erlong, my name is Ma Hongjun. My martial soul is the Phoenix; I'm a Level 28 power-type Soul Grandmaster."
Ma Hongjun stepped forward first, releasing his martial soul and spirit rings.
Liu Erlong: "..."
Your chubby old chicken can also be called a phoenix?
Little fatty, do you have some misconceptions about the phoenix?
"My name is Oscar, martial soul: Sausage, Level 32 food-type Soul Elder."
Oscar followed closely.
Looking at Oscar's sausage martial soul and the three soul rings glowing on his body—two yellow and one purple—Liu Erlong nodded with slight satisfaction.
Food-type soul masters were relatively rare, and their cultivation difficulty was higher. Oscar, who looked young after shaving off his full beard, fit perfectly into Liu Erlong's image of a talented student.
"Zhu Zhuqing, martial soul: Netherworld Spirit Cat, Level 28 agility-type Soul Grandmaster."
"Ning Rongrong, martial soul: Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda, Level 27 auxiliary-type Soul Grandmaster."
Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong successively released their martial souls and soul rings.
'Netherworld Spirit Cat? Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda?'
Seeing the two martial souls in front of her—one cat and one tower—Liu Erlong couldn't help but pause for a moment.
If she remembered correctly, the Netherworld Spirit Cat martial soul belonged exclusively to a prominent family in the Star Luo Empire. How did Zhu Zhuqing become Flender's student? Could it be that there was a White Tiger soul master in the group?
As for the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda, that was more familiar—the number one auxiliary martial soul in the world. Moreover, the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Clan was not far from Tian Dou City!
However, Liu Erlong didn't ask directly and instead turned her attention to the remaining three students.
"Dai Mubai, martial soul: White Tiger, Level 38 power-type Soul Elder."
The roar of a tiger sounded as Dai Mubai embodied his White Tiger martial soul, and three soul rings glowed on his body.
Seeing this, Liu Erlong inwardly confirmed her suspicions.
Since there was a Netherworld Spirit Cat, there must naturally be a White Tiger. Otherwise, a single Netherworld Spirit Cat wouldn't appear within the borders of the Tian Dou Empire.
However, upon seeing the five students from Shrek Academy, Liu Erlong couldn't help but feel puzzled. With this level of strength, how could they defeat the Imperial Battle Team?
Although the Tian Dou Imperial Academy had been declining in recent years, could such an average team really defeat them?
Could it be that Shrek defeated the Imperial Battle Team because Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing activated their spirit fusion technique: Netherworld White Tiger?
But something seemed off. She noticed that Zhu Zhuqing and Dai Mubai didn't seem to get along well. If they were close, why would one stand on the far left and the other on the far right?
At this moment, Chu Chengzhou and Xiao Wu stepped forward, releasing their martial souls and soul rings.
"Chu Chengzhou, martial soul: True Spirit Flag, Level 36 auxiliary-type Soul Elder."
"Xiao Wu, martial soul: Soft Bone Rabbit, Level 44 power-type Soul Ancestor."
There was no category for summoning-type soul masters on the continent. Considering that his Sky Azure Tree Summon Spirit Xiao Qing provided healing, the Light Lion Summon Spirit Xiao Bai offered support, and only the Fire Phoenix Summon Spirit Xiao Hong was offensive, Chu Chengzhou decided to classify himself as an auxiliary-type soul master.
After all, flag-type martial souls were generally accepted as auxiliary-type soul masters.
Looking at the soul rings on their bodies, especially Xiao Wu's four glowing soul rings, Liu Erlong couldn't help but widen her eyes.
So this was why Shrek could defeat the Imperial Battle Team—it was due to "one god carrying six pits"!
With this preconceived notion, Liu Erlong believed that Shrek's victory over the Imperial Battle Team was because Xiao Wu's exceptional strength, combined with Ning Rongrong's ability to ignore rank amplifications, turned the tide and decisively defeated the Imperial Battle Team.
After all, a Level 44 Soul Ancestor's strength was equivalent to several third-ring Soul Elders. Plus, with Ning Rongrong's Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda amplifying two attributes by 30%, as long as there wasn't a fourth-ring Soul Ancestor in the Imperial Battle Team, Xiao Wu's strength alone could match most of the Imperial Battle Team's forces.
Thus, how could the Imperial Battle Team not lose?
"Xiao Wu, may I ask your age?"
Liu Erlong asked with burning eyes.
A Level 44 Soul Ancestor, even among the geniuses participating in the Soul Master Tournament, was among the top tier.
Although the tournament had age restrictions, the limit was relaxed to under 25 years old.
Xiao Wu still looked youthful and innocent, so her age must not be very high.
"Principal Erlong, I've just turned 18."
Xiao Wu glanced at Chu Chengzhou, blinked, and revealed her age.
18 years old? Just her apparent age, she was actually just 13.
Uh… Wait, that's not quite right either? Big Sister Xiao Wu has lived for a long time!
Even if you add up the ages of everyone in Lan Ba Academy, none are older than this little rabbit!
"18 years old? Not bad, not bad!"
Liu Erlong looked joyfully at Xiao Wu.
Xiao Wu was currently 18, and anyone under 25 could participate in the Soul Master Tournament without restrictions on repeated entries.
This meant that including this upcoming tournament, Xiao Wu could participate twice.
Although she might not reach Soul King level in next year's tournament, she certainly could in six years!
And with the strength of a fifth-ring Soul King, even if her teammates weren't strong, securing the championship would be almost guaranteed.
Thinking this way, Liu Erlong looked gratefully at Flender.
Flender coming to her brought Lan Ba Academy three seven-ring Soul Sages, two six-ring Soul Emperors, seven talented students, and among these seven talented students, one was a Level 44 Soul Ancestor who had just turned 18! It was like hitting the jackpot!
Subsequently, Liu Erlong introduced the detailed situation of the entire Lan Ba Academy to everyone.
Although Lan Ba Academy wasn't the best advanced soul master academy in the Tian Dou Empire, and the entire academy only had over two hundred students, it was far superior to Shrek, which had nothing but decent teachers. Moreover, Lan Ba Academy had a good reputation in the Tian Dou Empire's soul master community.
Even noble-born soul masters had to admit Lan Ba Academy's contribution to the soul master world.
It could be said to be the cradle of commoner soul masters. Although it had only been open for ten years, it had produced many formidable commoner soul masters.
Liu Erlong fully displayed her forthright personality, treating the Shrek group to lunch, answering their questions, and then leading them on a tour of Lan Ba Academy. Finally, she arranged accommodations for everyone in the faculty dormitory building.
Indeed, Chu Chengzhou and the others also moved into the faculty dormitory building.
Because Lan Ba Academy had a rule: talented and outstanding students didn't need to stay in group dormitories; they could have single rooms, and single rooms were only available in the faculty dormitory building.
In addition, Liu Erlong directly appointed Zhao Wuji as vice-principal, food-type Soul Sage Shao Xin as the head of logistics, and the two six-ring level Li Yusong and Lu Qibin as special teachers.
As for Flender? Like Zhao Wuji, he was also a vice-principal.
Whether Flender could become the official principal in the future depended on his efforts.
In the original story, Liu Erlong gave Lan Ba Academy to Flender because she reconciled with Yu Xiaogang, feeling indebted to Flender and wanting to compensate him.
But now, Yu Xiaogang was still freeloading at Nuoding Academy, so naturally, the academy wouldn't be given away for free.
Chu Chengzhou couldn't help but suspect that in the original story, when Liu Erlong gave Lan Ba Academy to Flender, was it due to some unspeakable PY transaction behind the scenes?
For example, Flender bringing Yu Xiaogang to Lan Ba Academy, and once Liu Erlong got her long-desired man, she gifted the academy to Flender as a bribe?
In the evening, in the elegant seats of the second floor of Lan Ba Academy's cafeteria, except for Dai Mubai who was excluded, the original six students from Shrek gathered for dinner.
It was undeniable that apart from the teachers' abilities, Lan Ba Academy surpassed Shrek in every aspect—even the culinary skills of the academy's kitchen staff were far better than those of the ordinary villagers hired by Flender.
However, despite the sumptuous dinner, Chu Chengzhou ate absentmindedly.
In the afternoon, the six of them explored all the simulated training grounds in Lan Ba Academy, and everyone except Chu Chengzhou found suitable simulated environments for themselves.
Xiao Wu's martial soul was a rabbit, and Zhu Zhuqing's martial soul was a cat; both were suited to forest environments.
There was a grove planted with fire-attribute plant-type soul beasts: Fire Parasol Trees, perfect for Ma Hongjun's fire-attribute flying martial soul.
Oscar, being a food-type soul master, chose the dining hall as his simulated environment.
Ning Rongrong's Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda was a gemstone-type martial soul, so her simulated training environment was a treasure room filled with crystal gems.
Although it wasn't as effective as her exclusive simulated training ground in the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Clan, it was not too far off.
However, after searching through the academy, Chu Chengzhou didn't find any simulated environment suitable for him.
Generally speaking, the simulated training environment for weapon-type soul masters should be an armory full of various weapons.
But his True Spirit Flag martial soul was a flag, different from martial souls like swords, spears, blades, clubs, or hammers.
He even visited places where flags were hung, like the banner room and the flagpole on the playground, but after meditating, he found no enhancement effect, or the improvement was too minimal to notice, even with his mastery techniques.
On the contrary, when meditating with Xiao Wu in the forest environment, he discovered that meditation efficiency improved by about four to five percentage points.
Of course, Chu Chengzhou estimated that this four to five percent increase wasn't due to the forest environment suiting his True Spirit Flag martial soul, but rather because the concentration of natural energy in the forest was slightly higher.
"Brother, are you okay?"
At this moment, Xiao Wu beside him asked with concern.
She knew why Chu Chengzhou was like this. After all, simulated training environments were important for soul masters. Those with high compatibility could even boost their cultivation speed by 10-20%.
Chu Chengzhou's inability to enjoy the benefits of a simulated training environment naturally made him feel frustrated.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. It's just the lack of a simulated training ground. You know my cultivation talent, Xiao Wu. Compared to the difficulties I faced before, this isn't much."
Waving his hand, Chu Chengzhou said indifferently.
With my half-level innate soul power, I reached the Level 36 as a Soul Elder at the age of 14. Do I care about the 10-20% cultivation speed boost from some simulated training environment?
Hmph, tomorrow I'll go fetch some immortal herbs! Then you'll see what true genius looks like!
Hearing this, Xiao Wu nodded.
These words made sense. Little Chu, with his great wisdom and perseverance (cheats), solved the problem of his extremely low innate soul power. Compared to that, whether or not there was a suitable simulated training environment really wasn't much.
After dinner, the six of them left Lan Ba Academy.
Of course, their paths and purposes were different.
Tian Dou City was the most prosperous city on the continent, incomparable to Soto City. Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong took their good friend Zhu Zhuqing shopping, accompanied by Chu Chengzhou as their protector.
Meanwhile, Ma Hongjun and Oscar discussed whether the hostesses at Tian Dou City's clubs were of higher caliber compared to those at the Black Horse Club in Soto City.
Hmm, Chu Chengzhou sincerely hoped that tomorrow Flender wouldn't have to retrieve anyone from some club in the city.
After all, Tian Dou City was the capital of the Tian Dou Empire, and the consumption at high-end entertainment venues here was definitely not comparable to that of cities in subordinate kingdoms.
On the bustling street, while strolling with the three girls, Chu Chengzhou suddenly noticed the Seven Treasures Merchant Guild at the intersection ahead.
After pondering for a moment, Chu Chengzhou said to Ning Rongrong, "Rongrong, do me a favor."
"A favor? What kind of favor?"
Blinking, Ning Rongrong curiously asked.
"Have someone send a visiting card to Jade Phosphorous Douluo. Tell him that I'll visit his residence in three days with you."
Jade Phosphorous Douluo was Dugu Bo. Dugu Bo's proper title wasn't "Poison," but "Jade Phosphorous." However, the title "Poison" was closer to Dugu Bo's abilities and behavior style. People called him that often enough that his "Jade Phosphorous" title became "Poison."
"Senior Chu wants to visit Poison Douluo?"
"Yes, you'll come with me; otherwise, I don't have the qualification."
Chu Chengzhou nodded.
He planned to make a deal with Dugu Bo. Using the method of transferring toxins through soul bones from the original story, and promising to detoxify Dugu Yan in the future, he intended to pick a few herbs from Dugu Bo's medicinal garden.
For Dugu Bo, completing this transaction would only cost him a few unused medicinal herbs in his garden, but he'd gain assurance that his granddaughter Dugu Yan wouldn't have to worry about toxin backlash in the future. Additionally, he'd receive a proper detoxification method, making him likely willing to complete the trade.
However, Chu Chengzhou understood his own limits. A mere Soul Elder like him didn't have the qualifications to negotiate with a titled Douluo.
Let alone negotiation—if Dugu Yan hadn't informed Dugu Bo about his detoxification abilities, he wouldn't even have the qualifications to enter Dugu Bo's mansion.
But bringing Ning Rongrong changed things significantly. She was the young lady of the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Clan, and the clan's influence was strongest around Tian Dou City.
Respecting the Buddha if not the monks, bringing Young Lady Ning Rongrong could solve many problems.
Although obtaining the immortal herbs through a trade, and detoxifying Dugu Yan later, would mean Dugu Bo wouldn't owe him any favors officially, Chu Chengzhou believed that as long as he could obtain the immortal herbs quickly, it wouldn't be a loss.
"Alright, leave this matter to me!"
Patting her chest, which had grown slightly larger since their first meeting, Ning Rongrong readily agreed and headed towards the Seven Treasures Merchant Guild ahead.
Sending a visiting card? Conveniently, there were plenty of useful tools inside the Seven Treasures Merchant Guild.
"Brother, what are you planning?"
After Ning Rongrong left, Xiao Wu looked suspiciously at Chu Chengzhou.
What could he possibly want to discuss with a titled Douluo after a meal? Did Little Chu set his sights on the granddaughter of that Douluo?
It seems Big Sister Xiao Wu needs to be vigilant in the future and prevent Little Chu from being seduced by a vixen.
"It's a good thing; you'll know in a few days!"
Chu Chengzhou smiled and didn't elaborate.
Without consuming immortal herbs, Xiao Wu's exhibited talent already far exceeded normal full innate soul power. If she consumed immortal herbs, what would happen?
Of course, Chu Chengzhou was aware that the efficacy of divine-grade medicinal herbs was limited and couldn't infinitely enhance talent.
After consuming immortal herbs, Xiao Wu's cultivation talent would improve, but a dramatic transformation was unlikely.
Conversely, his own talent gains from consuming immortal herbs would likely exceed Xiao Wu's improvements.
On the other side, in the principal's office of Lan Ba Academy, Flender and Liu Erlong were chatting casually.
During their conversation, when Liu Erlong learned the ages of Oscar and the others, she couldn't help but be surprised and commented that Flender had incredibly good luck to attract so many talented soul masters to Shrek Academy.
However, Flender's luck paled in comparison to hers. Now that Shrek Academy had closed, all these talented students came to Tian Dou City to join her Lan Ba Academy!
It was like an orphaned fiancée winning the lottery, and just after claiming the prize, everything became part of her dowry entering her home.
"Erlong, now that you're their principal, there's something I need to tell you, but you absolutely mustn't leak it."
Suddenly, Flender spoke with a serious expression.
"Oh?"
Instantly, Liu Erlong narrowed her eyes, becoming curious.
"The other prodigies are less significant. Talented soul masters emerge frequently on the continent, and there are surely those stronger than them. But Oscar, Chu Chengzhou, and Xiao Wu—you need to pay special attention to them, especially Xiao Wu.
Oscar is an unprecedented full innate soul power food-type soul master. If there's ever a food-type titled Douluo on the continent, it will undoubtedly be Oscar.
As for Chu Chengzhou and Xiao Wu, their real ages are far younger than you know."
Pushing his glasses, Flender said.
Upon hearing this, Liu Erlong raised her eyebrows. Xiao Wu's age was far younger than the stated 18?
As for Oscar having full innate soul power, although she hadn't known earlier, she had somewhat anticipated it.
Given that food-type soul masters cultivated relatively slowly, Oscar reaching the third ring as a Soul Elder at age 15, even if not full innate soul power, couldn't be far off; otherwise, his cultivation speed wouldn't be this fast.
"Erlong, Chu Chengzhou and Xiao Wu aren't 18 but 14 and 13 respectively!
Xiao Wu's soul power level was too shocking. When these kids enrolled, they asked me to keep their ages secret, adding four or five years to their actual ages."
Flender hadn't told anyone else, including Zhao Wuji, about Chu Chengzhou and Xiao Wu's true ages.
But Liu Erlong was different. Since she would be their principal in the future, and Flender knew his sworn sister wouldn't harm them, he revealed this secret.
The purpose was to ensure Liu Erlong paid more attention to them.
"What? Xiao Wu is only 13?"
Instantly, Liu Erlong widened her eyes, standing up in shock.
"That's right! But Erlong, you must keep this to yourself and not let it out."
"Goodness~, I've struck gold!"
Liu Erlong muttered.
Originally, she thought Xiao Wu had potential for a titled Douluo, but now it seemed insufficient to describe her. She should be described as having unparalleled talent (Level 99 Limit Douluo) or even potentially divine talent!
As a seven-ring Soul Sage with ties to the long-standing Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon family, Liu Erlong knew that the existence of deities was not a fabrication but a reality, such as the Angel God worshiped by the Spirit Hall.
Why was the Six-Winged Angel martial soul passed down by the Angel family so powerful, with all family members mastering Domains, and each able to become a titled Douluo unless they perished prematurely?
There was no other reason—it was because the Six-Winged Angel martial soul was inherited from the Angel God after achieving divinity.
Though the powerful martial soul resulted in fewer descendants, in recent years, even the position of Pope had been ceded to outsiders; otherwise, the continent would already belong to the Spirit Hall.
"Flender, rest assured, I'll keep this a secret!"
Coming to her senses, Liu Erlong, overwhelmed with joy, immediately assured him with a pat on her chest.
Instantly, Flender's full attention was drawn to the large treasures hidden beneath her robe.
Noticing Flender's gaze, Liu Erlong blushed slightly. To avoid an awkward situation, she quickly turned around and sat back down.
Long ago, twenty years prior, Liu Erlong knew Flender had feelings for her, even confessing to her.
Unfortunately, her heart belonged not to Flender but to Yu Xiaogang, who, though not strong (very weak), was knowledgeable. Between her and Flender, there was only sibling affection, not romantic love.
However, Liu Erlong didn't realize that her feelings for Yu Xiaogang were no longer pure love but a deep-rooted obsession.
Without deep communication, couples separated for twenty years—how could this love not change?
Moreover, when a woman doesn't harbor disgust for a man, the foundation for developing love exists.
When a woman of a certain age, feeling empty inside, finds a man she doesn't dislike and truly loves her, pursuing her, the possibility of this foundation turning into love becomes infinitely amplified.
Once this love fills her inner void, the deep-rooted obsession in her heart will gradually fade, or even completely dissipate.
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