Everyone's Progress

Ma Hongjun was tortured by Wang Xiaofeng's training plan. Every morning, he had to endure Zhao Wuji's relentless training.

Originally, Wang Xiaofeng had arranged for this training to last all day. However, he discovered that by the end of it, the Evil Fire could no longer keep up with Ma Hongjun's expenditure, so they could only train in the mornings. He could do whatever he wanted with the rest of his time.

Neither Oscar nor Dai Mubai relaxed. Instead, they became even more diligent, especially Dai Mubai. He trained even harder now, exercising with Wang Xiaofeng in the mornings and fighting at the Great Spirit Arena at night. He was even crazier than Wang Xiaofeng.

Wang Xiaofeng naturally continued cultivating step by step. He had also come up with some ideas on how to improve Flash, as long as nothing went wrong with his Third Soul Ring.

Time passed slowly. Winter gave way to spring, and in the blink of an eye, Wang Xiaofeng had been at Shrek Academy for a year.

"Xiaofeng, are you going home?" Oscar asked curiously as he watched Wang Xiaofeng pack his luggage.

"Yeah." Wang Xiaofeng folded the clothes in his hands and placed them into his suitcase.

"After I obtain my Third Soul Ring, I'll head home on the way. I've been away for a whole year, so I should go back and take a look."

"Huh?" The cup in Oscar's hand dropped to the floor. "When did you break through to Rank 30?!"

What's going on? I've only just sensed the barrier of Rank 26 and was planning to break through to Rank 27 in the next few days, yet you're telling me you're getting your Third Soul Ring? Are you trying to mess with my mindset?

"I broke through a week ago." Wang Xiaofeng naturally had no idea how helplessly furious Oscar was inside. He casually stored his finally packed suitcase in his Soul Tool. Seeing the cup on the floor, he asked strangely, "Oscar, why did your cup fall to the ground?"

"...Ha... ha... My hand just slipped."

Oscar gave an awkward laugh and picked up the cup from the floor.

"Then are you going back? You've been away from home for a year too, right?" Wang Xiaofeng asked.

Oscar's parents had visited him at Shrek Academy several times over the past year, and Wang Xiaofeng had met them twice. They were both very kind people and had even given Wang Xiaofeng quite a few local specialties.

"I won't be going back. My parents know about my situation anyway." Oscar had originally planned to go home, but Wang Xiaofeng's breakthrough to Rank 30 had frightened him. If he did not work harder, would he become the lowest-ranked one at Shrek?

"All right." Wang Xiaofeng shrugged.

Nothing happened that night...

Early the next morning, Wang Xiaofeng saw Zhao Wuji waiting boredly at the Training Field and hurriedly said, "Teacher Zhao, you're here really early."

"The sooner we leave, the sooner we return." Zhao Wuji looked emotional. "I really don't know how you cultivate, kid. You actually improved by 7 Ranks in a single year!"

"Teacher Zhao, didn't you and the Dean already see how I cultivate?"

Zhao Wuji nodded helplessly. It was precisely because he knew that he found it unbelievable.

Time returned to a week earlier...

"What?" Zhao Wuji stared wide-eyed at Wang Xiaofeng and said in disbelief, "You said you're already Rank 30?"

"That's right. I came this time to ask you to help me obtain my Third Soul Ring."

"Wait." Zhao Wuji took out a Crystal Ball from a nearby drawer. "Seeing is believing; hearing is not. We'll know after testing you."

Wang Xiaofeng placed his palm on it. In an instant, the white crystal became as brilliant as a diamond, intense light filling every corner of the crystal. This was clearly the sign of reaching Rank 30.

"You've really given me a huge surprise, kid!" Zhao Wuji put away the Crystal Ball and said happily.

"But how did you improve so quickly? You didn't use some secret technique that consumed your potential, did you?"

"No." Wang Xiaofeng smiled mysteriously. "If you don't believe me, you can come to my Mimetic Cultivation Ground tonight and take a look."

That night, Zhao Wuji dragged the idle Flander along with him to Wang Xiaofeng's Mimetic Cultivation Ground.

Normally, teachers like them would not interfere with how their students cultivated. Cultivation depended entirely on self-discipline, and there was nothing they could do about any fortuitous encounters either.

But Wang Xiaofeng's situation was too strange. Zhao Wuji worried that Wang Xiaofeng had taken some crooked path, sacrificing his future potential in pursuit of temporary strength, so he had to get to the bottom of it.

"This is!" Zhao Wuji and Flander looked at Wang Xiaofeng in shock. "Top-level Mimetic Cultivation?"

Before their eyes, every gourd growing on the Calabash Vine looked exactly like Wang Xiaofeng's Green Calabash martial soul. Moreover, the surrounding gourds swayed to an inexplicable rhythm, creating an indescribably bizarre feeling.

By the time Wang Xiaofeng woke from his immersed state, dawn had already arrived.

Zhao Wuji and Flander had arrived at some unknown point. Both were looking at him with strange expressions.

"Xiaofeng, I never expected you to possess such talent." Zhao Wuji said this, though even he could not achieve Top-level Mimetic Cultivation.

"Teacher Zhao, I don't know how I did it either. It should be because of my martial soul mutation." Wang Xiaofeng rubbed his nose and spoke helplessly.

"I always thought your martial soul was far too strange. So its mutation was in the direction of improving cultivation speed?" Flander said thoughtfully.

"That's right, that's right." Wang Xiaofeng nodded. This way, he could blame any future problems on his martial soul mutation.

Time returned to the present...

Zhao Wuji brought Wang Xiaofeng to the Star Dou Great Forest once again.

This time, since there were only two of them, Zhao Wuji directly led Wang Xiaofeng to a relatively deep area of the outer region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Seeing that they had gone far enough, Zhao Wuji cleared an open space around them and prepared to rest for a while. "All right, sit down and rest for a bit. Then we'll look for a Soul Beast suitable for you. By the way, what kind of Soul Beast are you planning to hunt?"

"I plan to hunt a defense-type Soul Beast." Wang Xiaofeng said, "For my next Soul Ring, whether I add defense or speed would be a good choice. But Teacher Zhao, you probably aren't very good at dealing with speed-type Soul Beasts, so..."

If he had not guessed wrong, no matter what Soul Beast he absorbed, the soul skill provided by the Soul Ring would be fixed.

He could tell just by guessing that his Golden Finger was clearly making him cosplay the Calabash Brothers, right?

This trash Golden Finger was not powerful at all. It merely gave him some fairly decent soul skills; he still had to rely on himself for cultivation.

So he did not really count as cheating, Wang Xiaofeng thought, amusing himself.

After resting sufficiently, Zhao Wuji began leading Wang Xiaofeng in search of a river. After all, Soul Beasts needed to drink water too. And whether they lived on land or swam in water, there were quite a few defense-type Soul Beasts.

P.S.: Current Shrek student ranks:

Dai Mubai, fourteen years and two months old, Rank 34.

Ma Hongjun, eleven years and four months old, Rank 24.

Oscar, thirteen years and five months old, Rank 26.

Wang Xiaofeng, thirteen years and three months old, Rank 30.