"Su Zui, do you think... the two great empires have really become this corrupt?"
Hearing what the old man had just said, Tang San found it absurd.
A Soul Master had barreled down the road and sent someone flying, yet the ordinary person had been convicted of a hit-and-run and locked up for thirty whole years.
Was this a twisting of human nature, or the collapse of morality?
Su Zui sighed.
From Su Zui's perspective, the two great empires were, of course, rotten to the bone.
If they weren't, Su Shi would never have proposed establishing the Spirit Hall Enforcement Hall.
After all, both empires had decaying feudal systems and systems of nobility, all the more so in a world with superpowers.
The nobility and upper classes had essentially monopolized all the high-grade Martial Souls.
Even the free annual awakening of Martial Souls was handled by Spirit Hall.
Su Zui could hardly imagine how commoner Soul Masters would awaken their Martial Souls if Spirit Hall didn't exist in this world.
Just imagining such a scene was enough to make him feel suffocated.
"Tang San, I don't know what you think, but consider this: since you became a Soul Master, where have you collected your monthly allowance? Have you received a single coin from either of the two great empires?"
At Su Zui's words, Tang San fell silent.
Half an hour passed before Tang San's lips moved and he slowly spoke.
"My teacher told me that the two great empires also contribute to the money Spirit Hall gives out as allowances."
Su Zui sneered. "Let's not even discuss whether what your teacher told you is true. If the two great empires contributed, why didn't they hand it out themselves?"
Tang San was stunned by Su Zui's words.
His teacher had clearly told him that this was all a way for Spirit Hall to win people over, and that Spirit Hall had asked the two great empires for the money.
But hearing Su Zui put it that way, could there be more to it?
Very soon, however, Tang San shook his head and cast the absurd thought out of his mind.
"No, my teacher... he wouldn't lie to me..."
"Then next time, don't go to Spirit Hall to collect your Gold Soul Coins. Go straight to the Heaven Dou Imperial Family and ask them for money. See if they give you any."
When discussing Spirit Hall, Su Zui's attitude had clearly turned forceful, and his tone was nothing like the spring breeze it had been before.
Hearing Su Zui's words, Tang San immediately shut his mouth.
Seeing Tang San rebutted into silence, Xiao Wu spoke up instinctively. "Hey, Su Zui, you're praising Spirit Hall so much. Don't tell me you came from there?"
Su Zui smiled faintly and waved the hand holding Ning Rongrong's in front of Xiao Wu.
"Obviously, I'm from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Besides, I'm not defending Spirit Hall. I'm just stating an objective fact. It's as simple as saying the sun rises in the east."
Su Zui had won the school-wide debate championship at Hope High School. Even Tang San and Xiao Wu together couldn't outargue him.
Seeing that neither Tang San nor Xiao Wu had anything to say, Su Zui dropped the subject.
"All right, why are we dragging up such a serious issue so early in the morning? We came out to eat, not hold a debate."
With that, Su Zui led Ning Rongrong by the hand into a large restaurant.
Xiao Wu immediately followed them in without a care, leaving only Tang San with his brows still knitted tightly.
Tang San's worldview had undoubtedly been shaken.
His teacher didn't seem to like Spirit Hall very much, but truth be told, all the financial support he had received seemed to have come from Spirit Hall.
Could it be? Had his teacher really been wrong?
At that thought, Tang San was startled by the treacherous notion in his own heart.
As the saying went, a teacher for a day was a father for life. How could he question his own teacher? He really deserved to die!
His teacher had told him more than once that Spirit Hall was made up of people who sought fame and fished for praise, and that everything it did was because it was wildly ambitious and wanted to win people over.
His teacher would never lie to him!
Tang San brainwashed himself over and over until he had completely forgotten what had just happened.
Su Zui naturally had no idea that Tang San was staging an entire drama in his own head.
If he had known, he would definitely have suggested that Tang San get his head checked at Qingshan Mental Hospital. After all, Qingshan Mental Hospital was full of talents like Tang San.
Brainwashing himself like that really wasn't something an ordinary person could pull off.
They had a particularly satisfying meal, and afterward, the four of them returned to Shrek Academy together.
Meanwhile, in Shrek Academy's square, Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, Zhu Zhuqing and Oscar were already standing obediently as they listened to Flender lecture them.
Flender was in quite a bad mood today.
It was one thing for the three troublemakers Tang San, Xiao Wu and Su Zui to run off for a meal, but even Ning Rongrong, whom he had thought was well-behaved, had run off too!
He had only just been hoping Ning Rongrong wouldn't expose anything about him. How had it all blown up in less than an hour?
This batch of students was really hard to manage!
Flender decided that today, right here, he would lay down the rules for them.
At that thought, Flender's face immediately darkened. His gaze swept over the group, and he prepared to start by taking Su Zui, the strongest of them, to task.
"Su Zui, you've really disappointed me!"
Flender looked at Su Zui with a pained expression.
Su Zui looked baffled. "Wait, what did I do?"
Seeing Su Zui's baffled expression, Flender grew angry.
"You're asking me what you did? First thing in the morning, you actually incited them to skip class with you!"
"You woke up this morning and first beat up two classmates, then took three more to skip class. Su Zui, do you have any regard for rules? For discipline?"
Hearing Flender immediately blow things out of proportion, Su Zui refused to stand for it.
Although Su Zui was also a good student with an all-round development in morality, intellect, physique, aesthetics and labor, this blame was too big a pot for him to carry.
"Hang on, Dean Flender, I just went out for a meal. How is that inciting my classmates to skip class? Besides, skipping class means going out and not coming back. Didn't I come back?"
At Su Zui's words, Flender immediately demanded furiously, "Doesn't the cafeteria have food? Did you have to drag your classmates such a long way just to eat?"
As soon as Flender mentioned the cafeteria, Su Zui launched into a tirade.
"Come on, Dean Flender, don't you know what the cafeteria serves? Just a little congee and steamed buns, all with the same nutrients. What can eating that stuff do besides give you a carb crash?"
Su Zui was already fully immersed in his debating spiel. "There's a saying: the body is the capital of the revolution. Eating is the foremost affair in life! The food in the school cafeteria is seriously lacking in nutrition. There are only plain steamed buns, and the noodles are full of sugar."
"And consuming these same nutrients over a long period will cause severe malnutrition and anemia, and could even lead to diabetes!"
"By then, forget cultivation. The whole of Shrek Academy will be converted straight into Suotuo City's Number One Hospital!"
Su Zui gave Flender no chance to interrupt and poured everything out in one breath. "Dean Flender, I have to criticize you on one point. We all paid, you know—a hundred Gold Soul Coins each! Never mind the living conditions, but you should at least take care of our food, shouldn't you?"
Since the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had donated a lot of money to Flender yesterday, Su Zui spoke with complete confidence.
After all, he had paid, so why shouldn't he get good food? The customer was god, wasn't he!?
As for whether the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had spent the money or he had, that didn't matter at all. There was no difference anyway.
"In short, I'll say this: however vast heaven and earth may be, eating matters most. Since ancient times, who has ever cultivated on an empty stomach?"
"As long as the school cafeteria doesn't improve, we'll eat out every day!"
"Today I only took three people out. Tomorrow I'll take Zhu Zhuqing out to eat too! She's a young lady—what if she eats the school's steamed buns and congee every day and gets anemia from going hungry?"
"If she gets sick from going hungry and a certain parent comes knocking again, who's going to take responsibility?"
As he spoke, Su Zui cast Tang San a discreet glance.
The four of them had gone out together that morning, so naturally, he couldn't take all the fire himself.
Su Zui was clearly going to drag Tang San down with him.