Sudden Emergency on the Train

As she spoke, Gu Yue picked up the potato cake and took bite after bite. It felt... pretty good, somehow familiar, like she had eaten it before. It was really quite tasty.

"Mm! It really is delicious!" Gu Yue said.

"Right? A familiar uncle back home made these for me," Wu Yang Jin replied excitedly.

"Eh? That's so nice. You have a good uncle, then," Gu Yue responded.

"Yeah, everyone treats me very well. I think I'm pretty fortunate," Wu Yang Jin said.

As he spoke, he truly felt astonished by how far technology had developed, though so much time had already passed.

"By the way, I'm interested in Martial Souls, Soul Beasts, Soul Spirits, and all that too. I have another question I want to ask you. Is that okay?" Gu Yue asked.

"Hm? Sure, go ahead."

"So, what do you think about inferior Martial Souls, or so-called useless Martial Souls?" Gu Yue asked.

"Mm... there's that classic saying: there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters. But that saying has its problems. And in the current situation, don't people believe there are only useless Martial Souls and no useless Soul Masters? In other words, if a Martial Soul is considered useless, then it's useless."

"Mm, that's true."

"Besides, so-called inferior or weak Martial Souls might undergo a qualitative change through some lucky opportunity, unless they're especially unusual—like pots, bowls, ladles, and the like. Some of those might really have no solution, but many could be transformed by some chance encounter. And even Martial Souls like pots and bowls have their own uses."

"You mean literally, right? A pot can be used for cooking, a bowl can hold things, and so on," Gu Yue said.

"Exactly. More or less like that," Wu Yang Jin replied.

"So you really do know quite a lot."

"You flatter me."

"Then... I have another question!" Gu Yue suddenly cried out.

"Ah..."

"What's wrong? You don't want to answer?" Gu Yue asked again in a soft voice.

"No, no, no. Go ahead," Wu Yang Jin said.

"What do you think of Shrek Academy?" Gu Yue asked.

"Shrek Academy? It's definitely a place every child who wants to become a Soul Master dreams of attending. Other empires and such have good academies too, but Shrek's foundation is truly deep. And after Aurora Douluo appeared, then reincarnated, Aurora Douluo returned once more, along with Huo Yuhao and the others."

"After all, it produces outstanding talents one after another," Gu Yue added.

"Right. They created the Spirit Pagoda, calmed the public, stopped invasions, and all that. But no matter what kind of place it is, it will have bad sides, or things you don't like. As for Shrek, for reasons I don't know myself—or perhaps because of what I said before, something I've forgotten—I need to go there."

"I see."

"Still, Shrek Academy's current assessment requirements definitely aren't simple. But if you truly have the strength, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I think... Gu Yue, you should be able to do it."

"Eh? Me?"

"Yeah. I don't know what Martial Soul your Elemental Envoy is, but you should be able to control more than one element. That alone gives you an advantage."

"What about you?"

"As for me, I think I'll be fine too. My Martial Soul is pretty special, and to be honest, my bloodline should be special as well. I just need to figure out a little more," Wu Yang Jin said.

"Mm, got it, got it. Oh, we know each other now, so let's exchange Soul Guidance Communicator numbers," Gu Yue said, clapping her hands.

"Hm? Sure. I was actually just about to ask you too," Wu Yang Jin said.

After they exchanged numbers, sent each other messages, and made a brief call to confirm them, things returned to calm. After all, they couldn't chat nonstop for the entire journey.

Since this train was taking a detour rather than heading straight there, they had more time to sleep. But he had been late because he had overslept and had an upset stomach, so he was not sleepy this time. Gu Yue, on the other hand, dozed off for a while.

When she woke up, it was clear that Gu Yue had only taken a light nap, so she had not slept for long.

"Mmm~ Taking a nap really feels great," Gu Yue said, stretching.

"But you weren't asleep for very long," Wu Yang Jin replied.

"Because if you're just resting for a bit, half an hour or forty minutes is enough," Gu Yue said.

After a while, the train suddenly jolted as if it had been startled, then sped up rapidly before gradually slowing down again.

"Strange. What's going on? Did the train become sentient?" Wu Yang Jin said.

"Pfft, what is that supposed to mean?" Gu Yue said with a laugh.

"Still, it probably isn't a big problem, right? It's still moving, after all."

"It's fine, it's fine. Go to sleep. If anything happens, I'll wake you up," Gu Yue said.

With that, Wu Yang Jin intended to go back to sleep...

But at that moment, two people came in from another carriage and stood at the door leading into the aisle. The people in this carriage were startled when they saw them.

Strangely, although this train was not very large, the two people had come over without making the slightest sound.

More precisely, there had been no sound at all from the other carriages. That was very strange.

More importantly, those two were clearly not good people. It was not just the aura they gave off—their faces and overall appearance gave that impression as well.

Even stranger, no one else seemed to react. Were they asleep? Hypnotized? Or had they fainted?

And before those two appeared, he really had seemed to smell something, but he had not paid attention to it. It had been right when he said the train had become sentient.

"Hey! Who are you? You scared me to dea—"

"Hm? There are still people awake?" the two said at the same time.

"Hey, don't ignore—"

Before he could finish, one of the two standing there knocked him unconscious.

Then they seized a little girl and a little boy sitting closest to them. With a casual wave of a hand, a cloud of smoke spread out, and they vanished.

Wu Yang Jin and Gu Yue had not fallen unconscious...

"What's going on?" Gu Yue asked.

"A kidnapping, probably. I don't know if they're Evil Soul Masters, but most likely," Wu Yang Jin transmitted mentally.

"What are you going to do? Those two kidnapped two children."

"No, haven't you noticed?"

As he spoke, those two people came in again...

"Say, wouldn't kidnapping all the children be too much?"

"No, no. We're one person and can create many clones. We can handle it."

The two continued talking as they checked every seat.

"You understand now?"

"This is... his Soul Skill?" Gu Yue asked.

"Probably. I just think the kidnapping is going too easily. But we can't just sit around and wait, can we?" Wu Yang Jin said.

Were they Evil Soul Masters after all? Or simply terrorists? Or people from some other unknown organization?

Fortunately, Wulin had not run into them. That was good. Still, this news would probably spread very quickly.

"Hm? Looks like these are people preparing to join the cult," Snow Empress said.

"Join the cult?" Wu Yang Jin asked. (Gu Yue could neither sense nor hear this.)

"Yes, they're Evil Soul Masters. I can sense something like a brand on their backs," Old Long said.

"Then I'll wait for them to come close and use my First Soul Skill to blow them apart and freeze them. They'll definitely come back afterward; they can't possibly just let it go."