Farewell, Nuoding

Three days later.

At the gates of Nuoding Academy.

Lin Xi, Tang San, and Xiao Wu stood in the morning light with simple packs on their backs.

They were leaving.

The news had long since spread throughout the academy.

Today, nearly every student and teacher had come voluntarily to see them off.

They stood along both sides of the road, watching the three small figures with complicated expressions.

There was awe, envy, and reluctance.

"Safe travels, Lin Xi, Tang San, Xiao Wu!"

"Come back and visit sometime!"

"Nuoding Academy will always be your home!"

The Dean stood at the front with the academy's senior staff, his face full of smiles and his words earnest.

Lin Xi merely nodded faintly without speaking.

Her gaze passed over the crowd and settled on a figure standing at the very back.

Yu Xiaogang.

He looked even more haggard than he had three days ago.

His eye sockets were sunken, and much of his hair had turned white.

Yet his eyes shone frighteningly bright.

It was the feverish gleam of someone who had witnessed a miracle and glimpsed the truth.

Clutching a thick, freshly bound volume, he pushed through the crowd and hurried over to Lin Xi.

"Teacher!"

He respectfully offered her the volume in his hands.

"I have not failed your expectations! This is... the paper I wrote over the past three days!"

His voice trembled slightly with excitement.

Lin Xi accepted the volume.

A line of vigorous, powerful characters was written on the cover.

<On the Structural Advantages of Twin Martial Souls and a Revolutionary Hypothesis Regarding Soul Ring Attachment>.

Lin Xi casually flipped through a few pages.

The contents were densely packed with all kinds of deductions, data, and hypotheses.

Although many parts were still immature and overly idealistic.

Some of the views even seemed utterly laughable to Lin Xi.

Still, she could tell that Yu Xiaogang had truly put his heart into it.

He had shattered all the knowledge he had accumulated over the past forty years and worked it into these two entirely new frameworks proposed by Lin Xi.

He was trying to use his old logic to explain and prove this brand-new world.

"It's not bad."

Lin Xi closed the volume and gave a mild assessment.

"Though ninety percent of it is nonsense."

Yu Xiaogang's face instantly flushed red.

A low murmur rose from the surrounding crowd.

After Master had poured his heart and soul into this for three days, only ten percent of it was useful?

This... was far too discouraging, wasn't it?

"But at least you're on the right path."

Lin Xi's next words made Yu Xiaogang's eyes light up at once.

"Teacher..."

"Keep this for yourself."

Lin Xi returned the volume to him.

"Continue refining it."

"The next time I see you, I hope it will have become a textbook truly capable of overturning the continent."

"Rather than a pile of worthless paper filled with empty fantasies."

Yu Xiaogang's body trembled violently.

He understood.

Lin Xi was assigning him long-term homework!

She was acknowledging his identity as her "disseminator of truth"!

"Yes, Teacher! I will never fail your trust!"

Hugging the volume as though it were a priceless treasure, he solemnly bowed deeply to Lin Xi.

Lin Xi nodded and ignored him after that.

She turned to Tang San and Xiao Wu.

"Let's go."

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the three of them walked out through the gates of Nuoding Academy.

"Little San! Lin Xi!"

A familiar voice came from the side.

It was Wang Sheng.

He had come to see them off as well, along with several work-study students from Dorm Seven.

He was carrying a cloth bundle in his hand.

"This is... some travel food we pooled our money to buy for you."

A little embarrassed, Wang Sheng handed the bundle to Tang San.

"For the road."

Tang San looked at Wang Sheng, then at the companions behind him—the ones who had once cleaned together with him and been bullied together with him.

Warmth rose in his heart.

"Thank you."

He did not refuse and accepted the bundle.

"If anything happens, come find us in Suotuo City."

"Okay!" Wang Sheng nodded hard.

After bidding Wang Sheng farewell.

The three set foot on the main road leading to Suotuo City.

The morning sunlight was warm and gentle.

Lush green wheat fields stretched along both sides of the road.

"Ah, we've finally left that awful place!"

Xiao Wu stretched lazily, skipping and hopping along the road in delight.

"Suotuo City, here I come! I heard there's lots and lots of delicious food there!"

Tang San walked behind her, watching her lively back with a smile on his face.

He did not feel much reluctance about leaving Nuoding.

Because his world had long ceased to be that tiny academy.

His world was right beside him.

One person was ahead, leading the way.

The other was at his side, laughing and making trouble.

That was enough.

"Suotuo City is about seven days from here."

Tang San said as he looked at the map.

"Should we find a place to take a carriage, or... walk there?"

"Walk."

Lin Xi's voice came from ahead.

"It's a good chance for you to get familiar with your new strength."

"And while we're at it, let certain people learn what it means to bring disaster upon themselves with their words."

Her words seemed to come out of nowhere.

Tang San and Xiao Wu were both puzzled.

But they understood soon enough.

They had only just left the boundaries of Nuoding City and had not gone very far.

Several luxurious carriages caught up from behind and blocked their path.

The carriage doors opened.

A pale-faced young man dressed in finery stepped down amid a group of guards.

It was Suo Tuo, the Lord of Nuoding City's son—the same boy Lin Xi had defeated in a single move during the martial soul awakening ceremony.

But at this moment, he was no longer the arrogant young nobleman he had been before.

His eyes were filled with fear.

As he looked at Lin Xi, both his legs trembled.

"L-Lady Lin Xi!"

With a thud, he dropped to his knees.

"I... I came to apologize to you!"

A steward-like man behind him hurriedly presented an exquisite box.

"Inside are one thousand Gold Soul Coins, as well as a piece of Hundred-Year Black Iron treasured by the Suo Tuo Family! Please accept them, my lady!"

"Please spare my life!"

Suo Tuo frantically kowtowed.

Ever since Lin Xi had defeated him in a single move that day, he had lived in terror.

When his father, the Lord of Nuoding City, learned of the incident and heard of the various "miracles" Lin Xi had performed at the academy, he had been terrified out of his wits.

He feared that one day, this little ancestor would be displeased and simply wipe out their city lord's residence.

So, upon learning that Lin Xi was leaving Nuoding, he immediately sent his son with lavish gifts to apologize.

He hoped to resolve this grudge.

Lin Xi looked at the kneeling Suo Tuo without the slightest ripple in her eyes.

"I have no interest in your life," she said flatly.

"Take the things back."

"Get lost."

The words "get lost" were spoken lightly.

Yet Suo Tuo felt as though he had received a pardon.

"Yes! Yes! Thank you, my lady! Thank you for sparing my life!"

He scrambled back into the carriage and fled without looking back.

Xiao Wu stared in stunned disbelief.

"And that's... it?"

"What else?"

Lin Xi asked.

"He's just an ant. Do I need to crush him personally?"

She glanced in the direction where Suo Tuo's carriage had vanished.

"Let's go."

"There are more interesting 'monsters' waiting for us ahead."

The "monsters" she spoke of naturally referred to the future Shrek Seven Devils.

A trace of anticipation also rose in Tang San's heart.

He clenched his fist and felt the surging power within him.

Shrek Academy.

An academy that only accepted monsters.

I'm coming.

I hope you won't disappoint me.