Learning About Soul Tools

Sea God Island

Inside Shen Yichen's little house.

Shen Yichen sat cross-legged on his bed, seemingly meditating. In reality, he was secretly chatting away in the Diary's chat group in his mind.

[Great Sage Equal to Heaven: How did it go, Sect Master Du? When are you planning to visit Shrek Academy?]

Du Busi's reply came quickly.

[Du Busi: This old man has already been there. It won't be long before you hear about it.]

[Soul Engineer: Oh? How did it go?]

[Du Busi: How else could it have gone? What could possibly go wrong with beating up Xuan Zi?]

[Du Busi: It's just... the Sea God's Light really is strange. Even this old man had no choice but to retreat before its might for the time being.]

[Soul Engineer: The Sea God's Light?!]

Just hearing the name filled Jing Hongchen with a sense of foreboding.

Could Shrek really wield the Sea God's power?!

Wouldn't that make the empire's plans and development laughable?

[Du Busi: That's why, even if your Sun Moon Empire defeats the Douluo Three Kingdoms, you could never defeat Shrek Academy.]

[Du Busi: Unless... you can get rid of the one up above!]

If they really had the ability to kill the Sea God, they wouldn't have failed to unify the Douluo Continent even now!

Du Busi had revealed the Sea God's Light because he also wanted to make the Sun Moon Empire hesitate to strike for fear of breaking the precious vase beside the rat, easing some of the pressure on the Heavenly Soul Empire...

But... Du Busi had miscalculated.

Jing Hongchen had never intended to reveal that he was a Diary Copy holder.

Warn the empire?

He could, but only if he was absolutely safe and there was absolutely no chance of his secret being exposed.

Otherwise, he would rather develop slowly with the help of the Diary.

Shen Yichen opened his eyes and promptly abandoned his dignified cross-legged pose, crossing one leg over the other instead.

Perhaps because the Sea God's Light had frightened Du Busi, he stopped popping up in the chat after saying a couple of things.

Since Du Busi had beaten Elder Xuan awake for him, Shen Yichen gave up on the idea of continuing to "insult Du."

Not long after the chat ended, Zhang Lexuan finished the Sea God Pavilion Meeting and returned to Shen Yichen's little house.

"Little one, from now on, you're the heir to the position of Sea God Pavilion Master."

As soon as Zhang Lexuan entered, she couldn't wait to share the good news with Shen Yichen.

"Huh?" Shen Yichen's mind went blank. "Heir to the position of Sea God Pavilion Master? Me? Now?"

"Mm! The Sea God Pavilion voted unanimously in favor! You mustn't disappoint Mu En..."

Shen Yichen blinked his big, bright eyes. After his initial astonishment came excitement and secret delight.

Now I really do have to protect my Shrek!

"From now on, you'll have to cultivate for at least two hours every day."

Shen Yichen stared wide-eyed at Zhang Lexuan. Sister Lexuan, how can your thirty-six-degree mouth say such ice-cold words?

It's not like I absolutely have to be the heir to the position of Sea God Pavilion Master...

If absorbing a Soul Ring was a full-body spa treatment, then daily cultivation was an ascetic monk sitting in meditation, without a shred of enjoyment.

"Sister Lexuan, is that really necessary? Um, wasn't there a reward?"

Honestly, now that he had the Diary, Shen Yichen no longer thought much of the Soul Master system of Soul Power and Soul Rings.

His Mind, Constitution, and Skill were constantly increasing, and his Soul Master rank contributed a pitiful amount to his combat power.

"It is!" Zhang Lexuan reached out and pinched Shen Yichen's cheek. "Don't rely too much on external things. A Soul Master still has to depend on himself. If you don't cultivate properly, big sister won't hold you while we sleep anymore~"

Eh~

Then again, the Soul Skills gained by absorbing Soul Rings after a Soul Master broke through could make up for the shortcomings in his own mechanics.

This cultivation... what a wonderful thing it is...

"I'll cultivate hard from now on!" For the sake of beauty, the evil little white-haired dumpling had no choice but to work hard at cultivation.

"Mm, wonderful~"

After passing on the news, Zhang Lexuan prepared to attend classes in the Inner Court.

As the Senior Sister of the Inner Court, she wasn't like Shen Yichen, who loafed around with nothing to do all day.

After Zhang Lexuan left, Shen Yichen didn't want to stay alone in the room either. As it happened... he hadn't had time to visit the Soul Tool Department last night, so he would make up for it today.

The future great Sea God Pavilion Master was going to inspect his loyal Shrek Academy!

He changed into a neat, specially made uniform, with a blue-and-white base embroidered with gold patterns, making the evil little white-haired dumpling look both adorable and dignified.

Charm stat up!

Shen Yichen pushed open the door and felt that even the weather was much brighter today.

The water of Sea God Lake was so blue.

The grass, the clouds, and... Little Blue Hair?

Just as Shen Yichen was about to pass Little Blue Hair by...

"Hey! Yichen!"

Hearing Little Blue Hair's shout, the evil little white-haired dumpling could no longer pretend he hadn't heard.

He looked up at the sky. "Oh, a cloud?"

"Don't play dumb!" Little Blue Hair stood in front of Shen Yichen. "Where are you going to play?"

"Tsk..."

Shen Yichen clicked his tongue discreetly. When I called out, "Oh, a cloud?" you didn't call out, "Da da da da da~"

We were destined not to be on the same wavelength.

Little Blue Hair narrowed his eyes. "Are you secretly saying bad things about me in your head again?"

"Impossible! How could I? I've never done that!" Shen Yichen smoothly delivered a three-part denial. "I'm going to the Soul Tool Department to study Soul Tools properly. Want to come?"

"You've gotten hooked on Soul Tools?!" Little Blue Hair looked shocked.

As a traditional Soul Master, Bei Bei wasn't particularly opposed to Soul Tools, but he still looked down on Soul Engineers somewhat.

"Sure enough, you're not interested." Shen Yichen shook his head. "Then I'll go by myself?"

"No! I'm coming with you!"

"Tsk~"

"Did you just click your tongue?"

"Nope~"

The evil little white-haired dumpling rose on tiptoe and patted Bei Bei on the shoulder. "Come on, follow your grandmaster. Grandmaster will take you out to broaden your horizons!"

Bei Bei: "..."

With Bei Bei along, the two chattered away, and the journey to the Soul Tool Department Academy was less boring.

The reason Shen Yichen hadn't initially wanted to bring Bei Bei along was that he had originally planned to work hard in secret and then amaze everyone.

He hadn't expected to stumble right out of the gate...

Shrek's "Great Earthquake" had left the vast majority of Shrek's teaching buildings in danger of collapse.

Du Busi's invasion immediately afterward had hastened the collapse of those buildings.

The Soul Tool Department, however, hadn't been affected too badly, and a few students could still be seen strolling leisurely past.

Shen Yichen knew the way to the Soul Tool Department dean's office like the back of his hand.

Along the way, although quite a few students were curious about how two little children had gotten into Shrek, none had so little to do that they stopped the pair for questioning.

Knock, knock~

Shen Yichen knocked twice on the door.

"Senior Sister... I'm here to play with you!"

After saying that, he knocked twice more. Knock, knock.

Before long, the door opened. Xian Lin'er looked at the two little ones before her and smiled. "Yichen? Bei Bei?"

"Hello, Dean~"

Bei Bei was still a little reserved, but Shen Yichen was different.

With a sweet smile—a sugar smile—he hugged her leg, tilted his little head up, and cozied up to her. "Senior Sister, I'm here to learn about Soul Tools!"