That evening, at the Soto Grand Hotel.
Qin Ming invited the Shrek teachers and students to a banquet. Since such occasions were rare—er... or rather, nothing like this had happened at all in recent years—no one except the two from the Star Luo Empire and Ning Rongrong had any suitable formalwear, so they all simply came dressed as usual.
When several members of the Imperial Fighting Team saw this, they grumbled inwardly and couldn't help wondering whether their teacher really had come from this academy.
Fortunately, Yu Tianheng and Dugu Yan gave them a few words of warning before going over to greet everyone. Otherwise, given their personalities, they would most likely have made up for the confrontation that had originally taken place.
Osler took the initiative to approach Oscar, whose name sounded much like his own. After deliberately making conversation and fishing for information, he learned roughly what their Soul Power Levels were. Looking again at how much younger they clearly were than his teammates, he thought, No wonder the captain and the others are being so polite.
They were all young people and genius Soul Masters besides. If someone lacked talent, they would do no more than keep up appearances.
After pulling Yu Feng away from his bickering match with Ma Hongjun, Osler told him what Oscar had deliberately let slip. The smell of gunpowder lingering beneath the surface immediately dissipated (though it was really just the two of them).
Hosts and guests alike enjoyed themselves. During the banquet, Qin Ming did pull Flender outside for a private talk. When they returned, Qin Ming was visibly disappointed, leaving those who didn't know why somewhat puzzled.
On the way back, Tang San pulled Xiang Yang a little to the right and said quietly, "I've arranged it with Dugu Yan. Her grandfather will meet us in two weeks."
That was also when Tang Hao would be around. Ever since his wife had become able to communicate, and her once-unimaginable resurrection had become something he could see in his lifetime, Tang Hao had wished he could stay with Ah Yin every day.
In any case, Tang San had two Soul Saints by his side and didn't go looking for trouble. Surely it wouldn't matter if he was one person short? Besides, he hadn't watched over Tang San in secret every day before, and nothing had happened then either.
Unfortunately, Ah Yin wasn't willing to have things that way. After a great deal of "difficult" bargaining, Tang Hao finally decided to visit his son once every half month. If Tang San was fine, he would hurry back to his wife; if something was wrong, he would stay a couple more days until it passed.
"Mm, good." Thinking of those famous Immortal Herbs, Xiang Yang found his emotions stirring considerably without realizing it. Tang San was a little surprised that he, who was usually unruffled by anything, would react this way. But then he thought, Aren't I just the same? and it seemed perfectly natural.
Xiang Yang quickly composed himself and remembered what had just happened. "Oh, right." He glanced at Flender and Grandmaster at the very back of the group. He didn't know what they were saying, but it had the look of a chaotic squabble, though not a sound reached him.
Great acting, Dean! After giving him a silent thumbs-up, Xiang Yang continued to Tang San, "Before long, we'll probably be moving somewhere else."
"Huh?" Here you go again? Tang San looked surprised, with a touch of helplessness. "Go on. What's going on?"
"Grandmaster probably hasn't told you yet that he wants us to take part in the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament, has he?" Xiang Yang said with certainty.
Sure enough, Tang San shook his head. "No. What's that?"
Accustomed to Tang San's habit of shutting his ears to everything outside his window, Xiang Yang explained without surprise, "Simply put, it's a public competition where genius Soul Masters under twenty-five compete in teams. The winners get all kinds of prizes."
"I see." Tang San understood somewhat. His teacher had always wanted to prove himself, and although he could be said to have done so now, Tang San, as his only disciple, was undoubtedly the most crucial and compelling part of that proof.
"No wonder Teacher placed so much importance on team battles before."
Tang San wasn't particularly interested in the thrill of fighting. If it weren't helpful to his cultivation and required by his teacher, he would never have gone to a place like the Soul Fighting Arena. He would rather have spent that time improving his Hidden Weapons and studying the "technology" Xiang Yang had taught him.
Seeing his thoughtful expression, Xiang Yang went on, "But there are requirements for more than just the Soul Masters entering. The academy has to be a registered advanced academy too. You know what our Shrek is like; there's no way it qualifies."
"This..." Tang San couldn't help frowning. He had lived here for four years, four times as long as in the original story, so he naturally knew Shrek Academy's circumstances better.
Although the academy's teachers had cultivation no worse than those at the advanced academies, and were even stronger than most, the so-called advanced academy was merely a title they had given themselves, without any official certification.
So those recruitment pitches were only worth listening to...
At that thought, the corners of Tang San's mouth couldn't help turning down. Fortunately, his teacher had put a stop to that behavior after arriving, and the academy was no longer recruiting students. Otherwise, judging by what Oscar had said, if they had asked him to "help out" too, it would have been rather embarrassing.
"So?" What did that have to do with the academy moving? Surely changing locations wouldn't make it eligible?
"So I talked it over with the dean..."
"Uh... ah..." Teacher has a wife? Trick Teacher into going over there?
That was right. Xiang Yang and Flender's target was none other than Liu Erlong's Blue Tyrant Academy.
It wasn't that Heaven Dou Royal Academy was bad. Quite the opposite: with Xiang Yang's intervention, if Shrek joined it as Qin Ming intended, they definitely wouldn't be obstructed by Xue Beng and Xue Xing as in the original story.
And as a royal academy whose dean was the current Heaven Dou Emperor himself, it was undoubtedly among the best in terms of resources. Apart from certain specific resources, where it might fall short of special-attribute academies backed by major sects, it definitely surpassed them in other resources.
But as the saying went, better the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix.
The freedom Blue Tyrant Academy offered alone left him no other choice. How could Xiang Yang and Tang San carry out their research right under someone else's nose? And then there was Xiao Wu's identity...
So, after weighing everything, he had approached Flender on his own and shared an idea he called inquiry and speculation, but which was actually based on doxxing.
The process naturally hadn't been that simple, but in the end the two had hit it off at once. Even if Qin Ming hadn't come this time, Flender would have proposed making contact himself. After all, as a friend of many years whose rapport with Grandmaster made their Martial Soul Fusion Skill one hundred percent compatible, how could he not know what Grandmaster was thinking?
What was more, he could continue to expand Shrek Academy, into which he had poured years of effort. With three gains in one stroke, why wouldn't he do it?
As for Shrek's rule that its students had to be monsters?
For one thing, that rule existed partly because the teachers were short of money and couldn't produce the resources to train a large number of students at once. The several teachers, himself included, had high cultivation and plenty of fighting experience, but as for Martial Souls, everyone knew... In any case, apart from fighting, they really didn't have much they could teach their students.
And what Xiang Yang had said also made him feel ashamed. Could it be called a Monster Academy just because its students were all naturally gifted? Weren't they monsters wherever they went?
Wasn't that just the same as Heaven Dou Royal Academy? It recruited only nobles and no commoners.
So, after a painful period of reflection, and with his old friend and Xiang Yang as two "theory masters," Flender decided to change Shrek Academy. The first step would be its location!
"All right, Yu Xiaogang. I'll listen to you." Flender tilted his head up at a forty-five-degree angle and gazed at the sky, speaking in a despondent tone.
"Mm. This is also for the children's sake." Seeing him like this, Yu Xiaogang felt bad too, but Flender was right. Shrek's help to the eight students, Tang San included, had always been very limited. Aside from protecting them with its strength, it could truly be said to fall short of even ordinary advanced academies.
And as their strength rapidly improved and they became able to hunt for their own Soul Rings, that role was gradually diminishing too.
Generally speaking, a Soul Master at an early stage couldn't beat a Soul Beast of the same cultivation. But that was because Soul Masters' fighting methods were very limited, while Soul Beasts weren't constrained by Soul Skills and were also far stronger physically.
But human wisdom lay in the ability to use tools, combining them to produce an effect where one plus one was greater than two.
Soul Skills could interact in the same way. Through different combinations, they formed a person's unique fighting style, to say nothing of the fact that humans could also form teams.
What about Soul Beasts, then? Apart from species that lived in groups, such as wolves, or special cases like Xiao Wu, Da Ming and Er Ming, the vast majority of Soul Beasts had no concept of companionship.
That was why, although Soul Beasts were much stronger than humans overall, human Soul Masters had steadily whittled them away.