An Ordinary Upgrade

After the annual Freshman Competition, Shrek returned to its usual tranquility.

In fact, for senior students, the Freshman Competition is just a diversion from academic life, a way to relax after class during their studies. After all, apart from the annual Freshman Competition, there isn't much else to see in the Outer Court's activities.

As for Zhou Huan, he wasn't even interested in watching the Freshman Competition; he'd rather spend his time reading in the library or quietly cultivating and leveling up.

Zhou Huan wouldn't have watched the final if Le Wuxue hadn't been performing.

Moreover, he didn't have the mind to keep paying attention to Le Wuxue. It was only when Xiao Xiao told him about the finals that Zhou Huan became a little interested and went to watch the excitement.

As it turned out, it was discovered that the Five-Colored Ball inside the Floating Pagoda were reacting to Le Wuxue, or rather, to her Soul Skill.

This gave Zhou Huan a bad feeling, and she thought that she should stay away from that blonde little angel in the future.

However, since one was in Fifth Year and the other in first grade, the two really didn't have much interaction.

As time went by, Zhou Huan never actually ran into Le Wuxue at the academy; it could only be said that their life trajectories were different.

This put Zhou Huan at ease.

At least there was no preordained encounter or arrangement between the two of them.

Another six months passed in Zhou Huan's daily routine of going back and forth between school and home.

After his trip to the Flame Palace, Zhou Huan spent more than eight months, and with the help of the Snow Empress Origin, a super-powerful Milk Bottle of energy, he quietly leveled up from level 76 to level 80 at an average rate of one level every two months, reaching the Quasi-Soul Douluo level.

This time, Zhou Huan didn't ask for leave to go out and absorb Soul Ring. Instead, he came to Sea God Island and leveled up in Zhang Lexuan's training room.

To be precise, the Floating Pagoda was hidden inside the training room, and then Zhou Huan himself entered the Floating Pagoda to absorb the Soul Ring.

As for Zhou Huan's Eighth Soul Ring, he naturally obtained it from the Ice Bear King.

Although the Ice Bear King never came out after Zhou Huan and Snow Empress took it out of the Extreme North, it made no other contributions except for helping Zhou Huan successfully become its keeper.

Absorbing the Ice Bear King's Soul Ring now seems a bit of a bad deal, after all, it would mean losing a Ferocious Beast as a combatant.

But there's no way around it; Zhou Huan has to level up, and his growth and strength are fundamental.

Therefore, neither the Snow Empress nor the Ice Bear King had any objections to this, as it was their original plan.

Moreover, although the Ice Bear King still has thousands of years before his next life-threatening period, a thousand years is really nothing to the Ice Bear King who has lived for more than two hundred thousand years.

Zhou Huan couldn't possibly wait a thousand years, so whether it was a few years earlier or later made no difference.

And so, Zhou Huan easily obtained his Eighth Soul Ring.

The Ice Bear King's Eighth Soul Ring granted Zhou Huan two Soul Skills: Ice Bear Roar and Ice Meteor.

Unlike the second Soul Skill, Ice Dragon's Roar, in his third Soul Ring, Ice Bear Roar is a pure sonic attack. If facing enemies with weak mental strength, Zhou Huan can even shatter their Sea of Consciousness with a single roar.

Zhou Huan once thought that this Soul Skill should be called Lion's Roar, oh no, it should be called Bear's Roar to be more appropriate.

As for Ice Meteor, as the name suggests, it is a powerful area-of-effect skill that unleashes a shower of Ice Meteor.

In fact, these two skills are different from the Ice Bear King Soul Skill that Huo Gua obtained in the original trajectory, which Zhou Huan knew.

Zhou Huan could only conclude that it was probably because the Martial Soul and the person absorbing the Soul Ring were different.

Even if you acquire the same type of Soul Ring, different Soul Master will definitely not receive the same Soul Skill.

In addition, the Ice Bear King also brought Zhou Huan a Soul Bone — the Ice Bear King Left Leg Bone.

At this point, apart from the Head Soul Bone, Zhou Huan has collected the Soul Bone for all five major parts of his body.

After absorbing the Ice Bear King's Soul Ring and Soul Bone, Zhou Huan's Soul Power Level has reached level eighty-two.

According to Snow Empress's calculations, the Origin Power contained in Snow Pill could only help Zhou Huan condense his Second Soul Core and break through to the level of Titled Douluo.

In other words, Zhou Huan had only reached the Titled Douluo when he completely absorbed the Snow Empress's nearly 700,000 years of Origin Power.

Even disregarding the inevitable conversion and loss during the absorption process, as well as the consumption of Snow Empress's Soul Ring and Soul Bone, Zhou Huan's absorption power is still terrifying.

But there's nothing that can be done about it; after all, he wanted to condense the Yin-Yang Complementary Three Soul Cores.

Even the Beast God Di Tian only condensed Yin-Yang Complementary Dual Soul Cores.

It's important to know that before the Silver Dragon King recovered, Di Tian was the strongest Douluo at the Half-God level.

As for the Da Ming Qing Tian Niu Mang and the Er Ming Titan Giant Ape, they were already God Official and were not considered within the scope of Douluo powerhouses.

Strictly speaking, even if they suppress their cultivation level and remain in the Douluo Continent, it still violates the rules of the Divine Realm.

If they were to interfere in the affairs of mortals in the Douluo Continent again without cause, it would be a serious crime.

However, Zhou Huan felt that he was just an ordinary Shrek student, especially after Wang Dong entered the Inner Court, the two of them had even less interaction, so he probably wouldn't run into Da Ming and Er Ming.

Let Huo Gua, the Son of Destiny, handle all the messy affairs; it's none of Zhou Huan's business anyway.

Zhou Huan only wanted to level up quietly and develop his character peacefully.

I've now broken through to the Soul Douluo without any major incidents, so I should give myself a pat on the back.

After becoming a level 82 Soul Douluo, in addition to a surge in strength, the Floating Pagoda was strengthened once again, especially after it absorbed the remains of the Ice Bear King.

Although it wasn't as exaggerated as absorbing the remains of the Extreme Cold Snow Dragon before, Zhou Huan felt that the current Floating Pagoda really had the potential to become a divine artifact.

Moreover, the Five-Colored Ball on the first floor of the tower shone even brighter.

It's unclear whether it was due to Zhou Huan's advancement, the fact that the Floating Pagoda absorbed the Ice Bear King's remains, or both.

Moreover, Zhou Huan still had no idea what this Five-Colored Ball was.

Shaking his head, he stopped thinking about it and chatted with Snow Emperor and others for a few more minutes before Zhou Huan suddenly left the Floating Pagoda and returned to his cultivation room.

After going downstairs, Zhou Huan saw Zhang Lexuan busy in the kitchen.

Zhou Huan took a sniff. "It smells so good! Is this stir-fried green peppers with pork?"

There's also Wine-Braised Eight-Treasure Chicken, Red Date Pork Rib Soup, Steamed Small Sea Bass!

This looks like they're about to have a big feast!

Zhou Huan walked to the kitchen door, her throat bobbing involuntarily, and said, "Sister Lexuan, are you preparing a feast? You've made so much delicious food."

Zhang Lexuan looked up and said, "Your family only serves three dishes and a soup at a banquet?"

Hearing this, Zhou Huan smiled and said, "But Sister Lexuan's cooking, just in terms of deliciousness alone, is worth five of them."

Zhang Lexuan: "... You're so good with words. Come on, bring the dishes to the table first."

After setting out the dishes, the two began their lunch.

Unlike Zhou Huan's wolfing down of her food, Zhang Lexuan ate with such elegance.

The key point is that her elegance is a habit, as if it were innate, giving people the feeling that this is the true Senior Disciple Sister Zhang Lexuan.

"Looks like your advancement went pretty smoothly this time?" Zhang Lexuan suddenly asked.

"Hmm." Zhou Huan nodded. "Anyway, everything is going according to plan, so there shouldn't be any major mistakes."

"Do you still want to stay in the Outer Court?" Zhang Lexuan asked.

"Let's continue. There's no rush to go into the Inner Court," Zhou Huan replied.

Entering the Inner Court signifies that one is about to embark on a mission for the Shrek Inspection Team.

He wasn't like Xiao Xiao and Wang Dong, who were being groomed as future Sea God Pavilion member. They wouldn't be allowed to go out on missions until they reached a certain level of strength.

Although Zhou Huan had already stated his position, he did not say that he would tie himself to Shrek Academy.

His relationship with Shrek is now more of a mutually beneficial one.

Of course, given Zhou Huan's current strength, it's impossible to say they're on equal footing.

It can only be said that this is a transitional phase. Shrek will not try too hard to win Zhou Huan over or give him any special treatment. Just like with most Shrek Academy students, he will be treated the same as usual. After all, this is also Zhou Huan's original intention.

This can be considered a temporary tacit understanding between the two parties.

However, Zhang Lexuan clearly didn't care about such things; she was more concerned about Zhou Huan himself. "I'm not pressuring you, I'm just asking casually. Once you've made your plans, that's fine."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Huan replied with a grin, "I understand. If Sister Lexuan urges me, I'll come right away."

Zhang Lexuan: "... You should eat more green peppers; they'll refresh your mind."

Please recommend, vote with monthly tickets, and subscribe.

Thank you all for your great support.