A Parting Gift

"Shrek... Academy?"

The Dean rapidly searched his memories for the name.

He knew every notable Soul Master Academy in the Balak Kingdom—even throughout the entire Heaven Dou Empire—like the back of his hand.

But he swore this was the first time he had ever heard of "Shrek."

"Student Lin Xi, where is this Shrek Academy you mentioned...?" a dean of studies asked cautiously.

"Suotuo City," Lin Xi said.

"Suotuo City... As I recall, its most famous academy is Suotuo Advanced Soul Master Academy." The Dean scratched his head in confusion.

"We're not going to that academy."

A trace of disdain colored Lin Xi's tone.

"The academy we're going to only accepts monsters."

"It doesn't accept ordinary people."

Only accepted monsters?

The Dean and several instructors exchanged looks.

What kind of strange admission standard was that?

But when they looked again at the great tree behind Tang San, dead wood now bursting back into life, they felt that this standard seemed... perfectly reasonable.

After all, weren't these three monsters among monsters?

"Since... since the three of you have already decided, then... it wouldn't be right for us to force you to stay."

The Dean looked as though he had lost several hundred million Gold Soul Coins.

"This is a small token of the academy's appreciation. Please, you must accept it!"

As he spoke, he pulled a heavy money pouch from his robes and respectfully offered it to them.

Lin Xi did not take it.

Naturally, neither Tang San nor Xiao Wu moved.

"We don't lack money," Lin Xi said calmly.

"This... this..."

The Dean held the money pouch out in midair, embarrassed beyond measure.

"If you truly mean it, then waive our work-study student fees for the next few years."

After saying that, Lin Xi turned and prepared to leave.

"Huh? That... that's all?"

The Dean froze.

Those work-study student fees only amounted to a few Copper Soul Coins.

Compared to the academy's future prospects, they were practically nothing!

He wanted to say more, but Lin Xi stopped walking.

She turned back and glanced at Tang San.

"Come with me."

Then she said to Xiao Wu, "Go back to the dorm first."

"Oh."

Though curious, Xiao Wu obediently nodded.

Tang San followed Lin Xi deeper into the back mountain, to a secluded place with no one around.

"Lin Xi, you..."

Tang San had just begun to speak when Lin Xi cut him off.

"Hold out your left hand."

Tang San's heart jolted.

His left hand!

His left hand concealed the greatest secret of his two lives!

Other than himself and his father, there could not possibly be a third person in this world who knew!

How could Lin Xi...

He looked up at Lin Xi's eyes, which seemed capable of seeing through everything, and a raging storm rose within his heart.

Without hesitation, he slowly held out his left hand.

"Will it into being," Lin Xi said.

Tang San took a deep breath and, following her instruction, activated the Soul Power within him.

Buzz!

A low hum rang out.

A small, entirely black hammer with an ancient design appeared in his left palm.

The Clear Sky Hammer!

The number one Tool Spirit in the world!

The moment the Clear Sky Hammer appeared, the air around them seemed to grow heavier.

An invisible, incomparably domineering aura spread from the tiny hammer.

Tang San looked at Lin Xi, waiting for her reaction.

He wanted to know what expression she would have upon seeing this spirit.

Yet Lin Xi's face remained completely expressionless.

There was no surprise, no curiosity, not even the slightest ripple of emotion.

It was as if she had known of its existence all along.

"Twin Martial Souls."

She softly spoke the term that was enough to drive any Soul Master mad.

"Very rare, but not unheard of."

"Your father should have told you that before adding a ninth Spirit Ring to it, you must never use it, nor must you attach any Spirit Rings to it."

Tang San nodded.

That was indeed Tang Hao's sternest warning to him.

"What he said is right, but also wrong," Lin Xi said.

"Hm?" Tang San did not understand.

"For ordinary people, that is indeed the best choice."

"Concentrate all resources on cultivating one Martial Soul to its limit before considering the other."

"But you are not ordinary."

Lin Xi looked at him, an inexplicable glint flashing through her eyes.

"From the very beginning, your path was different from everyone else's."

"So we can play a little bigger."

She extended her right hand.

The illusory Mysterious Sky Soul Suppressing Needle, formed from condensed starlight, appeared once more.

Unlike before, this time a deep Ten Thousand Year Spirit Ring, resembling a black hole, coiled around the Soul Suppressing Needle.

"You..."

Tang San's pupils contracted.

He could sense that the Martial Soul Lin Xi had summoned this time seemed somewhat different from before.

Its aura was more solid, and more... dangerous.

"When I gave you your First Soul Ring, I retained a portion of the Violent Vajra Ape's origin Soul Power," Lin Xi explained calmly.

"That giant ape was born with immense strength and possessed a powerful body. Its origin is best suited for tempering a Tool Spirit."

"Now, I'll use this power to sharpen your little hammer."

Sharpen it?

Tang San's mind could barely process it.

A Martial Soul could be sharpened?

What kind of theory was that?

Before he could figure it out, Lin Xi had already made her move.

The Mysterious Sky Soul Suppressing Needle in her hand lightly tapped forward.

It struck the Clear Sky Hammer in Tang San's palm.

Buzz!!!

A vast, violent dark-gold energy, overflowing with the aura of destruction, surged wildly from the tip of the Soul Suppressing Needle into the Clear Sky Hammer like floodwaters bursting through a dam!

Tang San's body shuddered violently!

He felt as though what he held in his left hand was no longer a hammer.

It was a volcano on the verge of erupting!

That violent force crazily battered the interior of the Clear Sky Hammer, as though it intended to burst it apart!

"Guard your mind! Guide it with your Mysterious Heaven Skill!"

Lin Xi's voice rang in Tang San's mind like the ringing of a great bell.

Tang San did not dare delay. He immediately sat cross-legged and circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill with all his strength!

He continuously poured the inner force within his body into his left hand, trying to soothe and guide that violent energy.

But it was, after all, the Origin Power of a two-thousand-year Spirit Beast.

With his current Soul Power, having only just broken through level eleven, and his second level Mysterious Heaven Skill, trying to control it was nothing more than a fool's dream!

Crack!

A faint shattering sound came from the Clear Sky Hammer.

Tang San's heart lurched. He saw a tiny crack appear on the black surface of the hammer!

His Martial Soul was about to break?!

"Don't lose focus!"

Lin Xi's voice rang out again.

"Your Clear Sky Hammer is the number one Tool Spirit in the world. Its potential exceeds your imagination."

"Believe in it, and believe in yourself."

"More importantly, believe in me."

Lin Xi spoke the last three words softly.

Yet they were like a warm current that instantly calmed the anxiety in Tang San's heart.

That was right.

What did he have to worry about?

The person before him was Lin Xi.

Lin Xi, the one who could turn decay into something miraculous.

He took a deep breath, cast aside every distracting thought, and devoted all his focus to guiding that energy.

Time passed second by second.

More and more cracks appeared across the Clear Sky Hammer.

Yet strangely, it did not shatter.

After spreading to their limit, the cracks were drawn back together by an invisible force.

With every fracture and every reformation,

the Clear Sky Hammer's aura became more condensed and more domineering.

And the dark-gold energy pouring into it was no longer mere destruction.

It seemed to be undergoing some deeper fusion with the Clear Sky Hammer.

No one knew how much time had passed.

Tang San felt that the violent energy had finally begun to settle.

He slowly opened his eyes.

Then he lowered his head and looked at his left hand.

The black Clear Sky Hammer still lay quietly in his palm.

But it was now completely different from before.

The once plain and unadorned hammer was now covered in mysterious dark-gold patterns.

The patterns seemed alive, slowly flowing across the hammer's surface.

The hammer itself did not seem to have changed in size.

But Tang San felt that its weight had increased by at least ten times!

He tried swinging it.

Whoosh!

A dull sound split the air.

He felt as though he were swinging a small mountain!

"This..."

Tang San was utterly stunned.

Was this still his Martial Soul?

"How does it feel?"

Lin Xi withdrew the Mysterious Sky Soul Suppressing Needle, her face seeming a shade paler than usual.

Clearly, using "Sharpened" just now had not come without cost to her.

"It... it changed."

Tang San muttered.

"I can feel it. It seems to have gained the attributes of 'weight' and 'armor-piercing.'"

"Correct."

Lin Xi nodded approvingly.

"I fused the Violent Vajra Ape's origins of 'immense strength' and 'shattering toughness' into your Clear Sky Hammer."

"From today onward, it will be a divine artifact with an innate passive skill."

"Consider this my parting gift to you."

A gift...

Tang San looked at the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand, then at Lin Xi's slightly pale face.

His throat felt dry.

This gift was too heavy.

So heavy that he did not know how to bear it.

[Ding! Detected that the host has intervened early and strengthened the core plot item, the 'Clear Sky Hammer,' drastically altering the worldline's trajectory!]

[Worldline alteration rate: 5%! Current total alteration rate: 15%!]

[Congratulations, Host! Reward obtained: Subversion Points *5000!]

[Congratulations, Host! System Mall permissions increased! Some basic items have been unlocked!]

The system's cold prompt sounded in Lin Xi's mind.

At last, an almost imperceptible smile appeared on her face.

Suotuo City.

Shrek.

I'm coming.