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Yan Shaozhe brought the three of them back to Shrek City overnight.
Morning.
The massive Shrek City was already in full swing. Street vendors pushing carts were jammed from the southern gate to the northern end, and all sorts of shops lined the main roads in dazzling variety.
In a small courtyard in the southern part of the city.
Elder Zhuang looked at Jiang Nan'nan's mother lying on the sickbed and glanced at Yan Shaozhe with a surprised expression. Then he turned to Jiang Nan'nan, who was full of hope.
"Shaozhe, you're calling me in for such a simple illness?"
"Elder Zhuang, this case is a bit special..." Yan Shaozhe slightly moved his lips, using sound compression to quietly explain the situation to Elder Zhuang.
Jiang Nan'nan was actually the banner for Shrek Academy's reformation—a representative of the commoners.
As an academy rather than a royal institution, it should ideally nurture and absorb talents from common backgrounds. These included minor noble families with little influence, and more importantly, true civilian geniuses like Jiang Nan'nan and Su Wen.
In fact, the latter were even more crucial.
Many of the elders in Sea God's Pavilion originally came from humble beginnings, but after ascending to high ranks and living comfortably for so long, very few still remembered those roots.
This was why Yan Shaozhe held Jiang Nan'nan up as a symbolic figure—to attract more gifted commoners to apply to Shrek Academy.
But there were underlying issues.
For example, across the continent, very few commoners could awaken their martial spirits. Unlike ten thousand years ago, when the Spirit Hall offered free awakenings, nowadays, if a commoner managed to awaken their spirit, they were more likely to join the sect or clan that helped them, rather than Shrek Academy. Local sects acted like soul power cartels, monopolizing these resources. Even with Shrek's prestige, it couldn't easily disrupt this delicate balance.
He had even proposed sending the Martial Soul Department to help awaken spirits among commoners, but every time he brought it up, the elders strongly opposed it. Their reasoning? "That's what Spirit Hall used to do. Are you trying to revive them?"
He also wanted to abolish the City Lord's Letter, but the elders insisted, "You cannot change the rules left by our ancestors."
Only then did he realize—
The elders merely wanted him to be a qualified Martial Soul Department dean, not some idealistic savior.
But that's getting off-topic.
After hearing Yan Shaozhe's explanation, Elder Zhuang finally understood and became a bit more serious.
He extended his palm, and a surge of green energy swirled into view. A vibrant green sprout emerged and rapidly grew a bud, the petals expanding visibly. Elder Zhuang plucked three soft, pink petals and handed them to Jiang Nan'nan.
"Take one daily. She'll be cured in three days."
"Thank you so much…" Jiang Nan'nan's beautiful eyes sparkled with emotion.
"Don't thank me. Thank that little guy. If not for him, the academy wouldn't have even known your mother was gravely ill." Elder Zhuang shook his head.
"Sister Nan'nan, help Auntie take it," Su Wen said, changing the subject as he noticed Jiang Nan'nan's grateful gaze returning to him.
"All right."
As her mother swallowed the petal, a visible glow returned to her face. The dull, sallow complexion caused by illness quickly gave way to a more vibrant and radiant appearance.
Not surprising, considering Jiang Nan'nan ranked among the top three beauties in the original work. Her mother's genes couldn't be too far off.
Days passed one after another.
Apart from his regular cultivation, Su Wen occasionally visited Jiang's mother. He trained with Ma Xiaotao in the bathtub using the Ice-Fire Dual Cultivation Technique, and discussed the essence of ice-type abilities with Ling Luocheng. In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.
Inside the golden treehouse—
Su Wen let out a long, relieved breath.
His face lit up with joy. "Finally broke through to Rank 32! Gaining one level in just over a month—pretty good, right?"
Thanks to the spiritual energy from the golden tree, the strength gained by his three soul beasts from devouring soul beast flesh, spirit pills, and rare heavenly treasures, his cultivation speed had significantly accelerated. In the past, during his lower levels, it would take one to two months just to advance a single level. Now, at the Soul Exalt realm, the time required for a level-up remained roughly the same.
Although Xiao Jin, the Ice Emperor, and the Gale Baboon were soul beasts—and generally slower in cultivation compared to humans—their consumption of soul beast flesh was essentially equivalent to humans taking heavenly treasures. In just half a year, their sizes had already increased noticeably.
But today marked the end of winter break, and a new batch of students had advanced to their second year.
Su Wen stood up, got dressed, and headed for the outer courtyard.
Beast Combat Zone.
A gray, fortress-like wall separated the soul beasts from the academy.
Normally, the Beast Combat Zone didn't attract a large crowd, but today, it was swarmed by first-year students. They were about to face their second assessment—direct confrontation with soul beasts. Compared to the first, a brutal 3-vs-3 elimination round, this one was far more lenient. As long as they didn't embarrass themselves too badly, chose a hundred-year-old soul beast, and didn't perform terribly, they'd be allowed to pass.
"Elder Gong, today's their match. Why'd you call me over?" Su Wen greeted the white-haired old man from afar and asked curiously.
"I wanted you to see something…" Elder Gong cast a sidelong glance at Su Wen.
"How much your soul beasts EAT!!!"
Su Wen: "…"
What? It's only been half a month, and they're already eating too much?
Come on, your grand Beast Combat Arena eats up a third of the academy's income—tens of millions of gold soul coins a year. And you're telling me you can't afford to feed my three little guys? Miserly old man…
Su Wen curled his lips.
"Hey, don't get cocky," Elder Gong snapped.
He dragged Su Wen to a rockery.
There, Xiao Jin lay sprawled out, casually relaxing atop the artificial mountain. Beside him was a meat pile as tall as a small hill. He casually picked up a chunk with his bear claw and shoved it into his mouth. Elder Gong's eyes practically bulged with blood.
"That's the flesh of ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts! Your bear is super picky—won't even touch anything under ten thousand years! Even among ten-thousand-year soul beasts, he only eats top-grade meat! Just his appetite alone is equal to several thousand-year-old beasts! In just half a month, I've already spent over a hundred thousand gold soul coins! And that's not even counting the Gale Baboon and Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion!"
Su Wen: "…"
The corner of his mouth twitched.
No wonder my power is growing so quickly. This old man has been funding my progress.
To be fair, Elder Gong wasn't wrong. These three soul beasts probably cost over a million gold soul coins a year. That wasn't a trivial sum. Gold soul coins had even more purchasing power now than they did ten thousand years ago. A million coins could outfit a thousand-man heavy cavalry unit to the teeth.
Although Elder Gong managed the Beast Arena, the expenses were immense, and the old man even had to dip into his own pockets sometimes...
There wasn't much choice. Hand-rearing beasts came with a price. If they were let loose in the Star Dou Forest, they could feed themselves for free—but that risked drawing the attention of Bear Lord, Di Tian, or even the Silver Dragon King. Better to lay low until they were stronger.
Still, feeding them only soul beast meat wasn't sustainable. Maybe I could find something like Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow, some treasure packed with massive energy reserves. That would give them a break from constantly eating.
"All right, Elder Gong, I'll take them with me then," Su Wen said, waving his hand.
"Hey, hold up. What's the rush? Help me out with this match first. Teach those cocky little brats a lesson." Elder Gong grinned wickedly.
"You were just complaining that my Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear eats too much," Su Wen raised an eyebrow.
"Another half month of free meals!" Elder Gong gritted his teeth.
"Deal~" Su Wen grinned back.
Even a mosquito is still meat. Might as well freeload while I can.
(End of Chapter)