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"Finally broken through."
He Caitou carefully perceived his cultivation. After accumulating during the time stuck at Level 50, plus the soul spirit contract with over twenty thousand years of cultivation, he had broken through directly to Level 52.
Just at this moment, "Aruuuuumphf—"
Accompanied by an excited elephant trumpet, He Caitou's sole ten-thousand-year soul ring suddenly radiated brilliant light. After his body flickered slightly, a massive golden figure emerged from the soul ring, landing steadily beside him.
"Thud—"
The heavy sound seemed to make the ground tremble. A large, illusory Golden Mammoth stood beside He Caitou.
Its trunk swung, emitting another excited trumpet before curling the tip into a ball, presenting it to He Caitou.
At this moment, He Caitou and it were of one mind.
Exchanging smiles, he clenched his fist and bumped it against the trunk.
"Please guide me well in the future."
"Aruuuuumphf—"
The Golden Mammoth responded with action, wrapping its trunk around He Caitou's waist and flinging him backward, making him land steadily on its back. Golden light flashed across its body, and a seemingly indestructible Golden Shield appeared before the man and elephant.
"This is truly perfect for senior brother He. With a meat shield actively protecting him, even if senior brother He is alone, he doesn't need to worry about defense. That way, he can bombard with artillery freely and without restraint." Wang Dong, specially permitted to come to the island, was now slightly excited as he approached. Without waiting for permission, he reached out to touch the Golden Mammoth soul spirit.
But a golden light flashed, and he was directly repelled!
Wang Dong looked up to find the Golden Mammoth soul spirit's gaze actually filled with disdain. He instantly grew angry!
"What do you mean by this? Looking down on me!"
"Do you believe I can't find an even more powerful soul spirit to beat you up!"
"Wang Dong, stop it, stop it." Huo Yuhao, also specially permitted to come to the island, barely suppressed his laughter as he held Wang Dong back. "Don't be impatient. When we find a suitable one, you'll naturally get your soul spirit too."
Find a suitable one?
Beside him, Di Yao—who got along extremely poorly with Wang Dong—snorted.
This old lady won't give this blue-pink-haired guy any chance.
Light-attribute soul beasts were my food back then.
Elderly ones? Dying ones?
They've all long been in this old lady's stomach!
Even if you wait until death, you won't get one!
Then she turned to look at He Caitou riding on the Golden Mammoth, a trace of expectation in her eyes. Now, they just needed to wait for those soul masters with soul spirits to reach their next bottleneck—the point where they needed soul rings—and see if, as described in the soul spirit introduction, they could autonomously generate soul rings.
And at this moment, Di Tian and the others in the Star Dou Forest were also waiting for this moment. When the soul spirit method proved to be as described, they would actively break this invisible tacit understanding, fully reveal themselves, and reach cooperation with human soul masters.
"Little Junting, you two lovebirds are here!"
A teasing voice suddenly brought Di Yao back to her senses.
Following the sound, she saw Chen Junting and Ning Tian being blocked by a beautiful woman.
"Senior sister Ruoruo, what are you up to again?"
Chen Junting was holding Ning Tian's hand at this moment, looking helplessly at the woman before him whose eyes were full of amusement.
The day after entering the Inner Court, he had met many senior brothers and sisters through Wu Ming's introduction. The person before him was Han Ruoruo, ranked third in the Inner Court and known as the Inner Court's number one controller.
At first, everything was fine.
But after Ning Tian entered the Inner Court and they started living together, whenever Han Ruoruo encountered them, she would immediately tease them to their faces.
This made Chen Junting couldn't help but suspect, was this resentment from an old maid?
"Little Junting, Wu Ming has mentioned to me several times that she wants you to help her contract a good soul spirit when she reaches her eighth soul ring."
Hearing this, Chen Junting's heart stirred slightly.
"Senior sister Wu Ming broke through?"
"Probably tomorrow or the day after."
Tomorrow or the day after?
This timing was quite sensitive.
"Senior sister, tomorrow the two academies will begin their exchange program. Around the day after tomorrow, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy exchange students will arrive. The academy's meaning is..."
"Exactly what you're thinking."
Han Ruoruo's expression also turned serious. "Yesterday, before you finished your mission, Senior Sister sought me out and said she would be away on business assigned by Elder Mu for the next few days. So I'll be in charge of arranging matters for the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy exchange students. But the key points are: we can't bring all of them into the Inner Court, and it's time to start warming up the soul spirit matter."
Chen Junting nodded in understanding. The meaning was to leave the "mediocre" students from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy in the Outer Court, letting a couple Inner Court teachers teach them some superficial things to get by.
After all, this was basically the same for both academies.
But for top students like Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, they would be allowed to study in the Inner Court. As for soul spirits, there was no need to hide them anymore—they would appropriately show them off to demonstrate strength.
After all, it wouldn't be long before soul spirits were fully revealed to the world.
This was the perfect opportunity to let the news spread, then wait for people from the three Douluo nations to come seeking cooperation. By then, the timing would be just right.
As for the research on the soul spirit method, of course they wouldn't see it. And the combination of soul ring cleansing and soul spirit method was even more of an Inner Court secret.
"Senior brother Junting, senior sister Xiao Tian." After Chen Junting finished talking with Han Ruoruo, Huo Yuhao also came forward at this moment.
And seeing Chen Junting, his tone carried a hint of surprise.
"Senior brother Junting, how do you have time to come today?"
Seeing this, Chen Junting chuckled lightly.
"Yuhao, it's been quite a while since we've seen each other. If I don't make time now, the next time I see you will be three years from now."
Hearing this, Huo Yuhao didn't react much.
But Wang Dong pouted, his face full of dejection.
Noticing this, Ning Tian—who had been silent beside Chen Junting—gave him a look to cooperate, then quietly approached Wang Dong. Her gentle words were filled with teasing, "What's wrong? Can't bear to part with your little sweetheart?"
"Woosh!" Wang Dong's face instantly flushed red.
His previous sadness had been thrown to the winds!
"Senior sister Xiao Tian, we're both boys. How can..."
"You're still trying to fool me."
Noticing Chen Junting had taken Huo Yuhao aside, Ning Tian no longer concealed anything. "A girl disguised as a boy to live in the boys' dormitory—I wonder what you were thinking? I can see from your current state that you've already fallen deeply in love with Yuhao."
"Senior sister Xiao Tian, you already knew!?"
Hearing Ning Tian's tone, Wang Dong immediately sensed something was wrong. Her face flushed with embarrassment as she exclaimed in surprise, even catching Huo Yuhao's attention. Fortunately, she covered her mouth in time to avoid exposure.
Ning Tian tapped Wang Dong's forehead, smiling.
"Not just me—your senior brother Junting knows too. And this can't be hidden from the deans either. After all, though the Light Goddess Butterfly martial soul is rare, there are records of it. And according to those records, the Light Goddess Butterfly martial soul only appears in female soul masters."
"This this this..."
Wang Dong's face couldn't get any redder.
At this moment, she had completely turned into a steaming maiden!
For the thin-skinned Wang Dong, Ning Tian stopped teasing her and instead asked a crucial question, "Dong'er, when do you plan to confess your true identity to Yuhao? After all, this kind of secret love rarely ends well."
"This..."
Wang Dong hesitated slightly, revealing her plan with some reluctance. "Actually, I heard from senior brother about the Sea God's Fate event. I planned to restore my true form at the Sea God's Fate while keeping it a secret from Yuhao. Then..."
"You can't do that."
Ning Tian waved her hand to reject Wang Dong's plan. "Do you want to wait until three years later? Don't you know that Yuhao is so outstanding, and with you two being so far apart for the next three years—can you be sure there won't be other girls around him? If there really are, won't you regret it terribly? After years of waiting, someone else picks the fruit."
That's right!
Ning Tian's words were like a splash of cold water awakening Wang Dong.
Images even began to form in her mind—images of "Huo Yuhao having someone else outside, abandoning her."
But after the images flashed by, she recalled her father's words.
For a moment, she was caught in indecision.
But ultimately, her feelings for Huo Yuhao tipped the scales toward Ning Tian's advice. As for her father's instructions...
They had already been thrown to the back of Wang Dong's mind.
"Alright! I've decided!"
Wang Dong looked at Huo Yuhao with determination in her eyes!
But Huo Yuhao knew nothing of all this.
Because at this moment, he was listening to Chen Junting's instructions.
"After you go there, besides learning all the Sun Moon Empire's soul guide technology, you also need to work hard to poach talent back to our sect. Use money to buy them if you can. After all, the Sun Moon Empire lacks everything except soul guides—there must be some who are dissatisfied."
As he spoke, Chen Junting took out a token.
"This token gives you permission to mobilize all resources at the Nine Treasures Pavilion in Mingdu City. We trust your judgment."
"Yes!"
Huo Yuhao nodded seriously, taking it.
Chen Junting gave Ning Tian a nod of confirmation, then patted Huo Yuhao's shoulder. "Alright, I've said everything I needed to say. Now, you and Wang Dong should spend good time together. After all, you won't see each other for a full three years—you shouldn't let yourself become too lovesick."
Lovesick?
Huo Yuhao tilted his head in confusion.
Was senior brother Junting using the wrong word?
Though it was hard to part with Wang Dong for three years, this reluctance hadn't reached the level of being lovesick, had it?
With this confusion, Huo Yuhao returned to Wang Dong's side.
But when he returned to the Outer Court dormitory that night, he understood what senior brother Junting meant by "lovesick."
Though it's unclear what happened that night, by the next day when the Shrek exchange students were about to depart, Huo Yuhao—who everyone thought would be composed—had also grown reluctant to part with Wang Dong.
Even those unaware of the truth felt that the term "inseparable as glue" was perfectly fitting for these two 'boys'.
For a moment, there was an indescribable strange feeling.
...
The next day, at three in the afternoon.
"They've arrived."
Outside Shrek Academy's main gate, Chen Junting, Ning Tian, and several other Inner Court students were led by Han Ruoruo to welcome the arrival of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy exchange students.
Under the scorching sun, Yan Shaozhe was walking through the sky from the distant horizon. Under his protection, the ten Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy exchange students were all enveloped in a soul power barrier.
Right behind him were the two accompanying teachers from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy this time. Without exception, both were ninth-grade soul guides. One of them was an old friend—Elder Ma.
As they neared Shrek Academy, Yan Shaozhe finally lowered the soul power barrier to the ground, bringing everyone to a gentle landing.
"So this is the continent's number one soul master academy!"
"Hehe, number one soul master academy or not, their soul guide technology isn't that good. Just look at this outdated design."
"..."
The safely landed Sun Moon group unabashedly examined Shrek Academy. Their words contained admiration, disdain, indifference—but none underestimated Shrek Academy's strength.
In the exchange student group, Xiao Hongchen's gaze locked firmly on Chen Junting standing near the front of the group. He clenched his teeth, seeming ready to bite his flesh off alive.
He had thought he'd have to wait until the next fighting tournament, but never expected to have the chance to avenge his sister and redeem his shame now!
But for Xiao Hongchen's gaze, Chen Junting merely glanced at him blandly before seeming to lose all interest in him completely.
This only intensified the anger in Xiao Hongchen's heart.
This despicable guy absolutely didn't deserve his sister's affection!
Thinking of this, Xiao Hongchen looked at Meng Hongchen beside him.
Facing her complex expression, he spoke earnestly.
"Sister, that guy isn't worth your affection. At the tournament over a year ago, he didn't hesitate to strike you heavily—don't you remember? You had to lie in bed for quite a while after returning."
"No need for you to say it!"
Meng Hongchen rolled her eyes angrily, then her expression turned somewhat desolate. "I know all this, so I've already given up long ago."
Hearing this, the corners of Xiao Hongchen's mouth couldn't help but twitch upward.
But before he could be happy for long, Meng Hongchen's next words almost made him faint. "His ruthlessness has completely tipped the scales in my heart, so I no longer need to struggle between choosing Chen Junting or Wang Dong. Wang Dong, I'm coming for you!"
"Meng!"
Facing his sister's infatuation, Xiao Hongchen instantly had black lines across his forehead. Perhaps having quick wits, he rolled his eyes and came up with content to slander Wang Dong. "Sister, I advise you not to get love-struck over Wang Dong either. Didn't you notice at the last tournament?"
Xiao Hongchen deliberately lowered his voice. "That Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao have an unusual relationship. Maybe between those two boys..."
"Ah—Brother! What are you saying!"
Meng Hongchen's scream instantly silenced the entire area.
When the Hongchen siblings came to their senses, they discovered that both the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy people and the Shrek Academy people were all staring at them.
At this moment, the two of them died of social embarrassment!
"Hehe, Sect Master Jing Hongchen's grandchildren truly have deep brother-sister bonds. No wonder they have a martial soul fusion skill between them."
Yan Shaozhe looked at the leading teacher Elder Ma, his face carrying a polite yet warm smile. His words were the first to break the deadlock.
"Dean Yan is joking."
Elder Ma could only glare at the Hongchen siblings with his peripheral vision, then responded with a forced smile. "We hope that in the next three years, our students can receive your academy's full teaching."
"Of course."
Yan Shaozhe smiled in response.
"But we also agreed earlier—as much ability as you have, that's how much you can learn. Otherwise, it's just a waste of time. So to prove your students' strength, you'll need to pass some small tests just like our students did when entering the Inner Court."
"However, before that, please enter the academy first."
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