Sensing the change in Teacher Feng's attitude, Mo Yuan smiled faintly and didn't mind. He simply handed over the envelope.
"There's no need to look. It's definitely from the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan..." Teacher Feng began, then suddenly froze. "Bandle City? What kind of place is Bandle City?"
"It's an ordinary little city on the border of the Heaven Dou Empire. It's my hometown," Mo Yuan replied.
At that, Teacher Feng's face lit up again. His voice carried a hint of urgency. "So you're not from the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan?"
Mo Yuan's tone was meaningful. "Not yet."
Hearing his answer, the same thought immediately sprang into Teacher Feng's mind: while Mo Yuan hadn't committed to any faction, he had to do everything possible to bring him over to his side.
Sensing the unusual look in Teacher Feng's eyes, Mo Yuan gave a quiet nod. This was exactly the effect he wanted.
He hadn't joined either side, but had left both with plenty to speculate about. Only then could he have it both ways.
Meanwhile, when Beibei and the others heard that Mo Yuan came from an ordinary little city and had no backing whatsoever, they were even more stunned.
An exceptionally rare commoner genius!
Looking at Mo Yuan's flawless face and his monstrous talent, Huo Yuhao couldn't help feeling a deep sense of inferiority.
He'd assumed Mo Yuan was also from the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. If so, it would've been perfectly normal for him to be stronger in every way. But now it turned out Mo Yuan's circumstances were much like his own, while the gap in their strength was enormous!
Sensing Huo Yuhao's fluctuating emotions, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm in his Sea of Consciousness immediately encouraged him.
"Little Yuhao, don't be so down. Have a little confidence, okay? You've got me, the only million-year Soul Beast, helping you now. Mo Yuan's nothing. Three years—no, give me one year and I'll make you surpass him!"
"Mm! I will, Brother Sky Dream!" Huo Yuhao clenched his fists and declared resolutely.
Meanwhile, Teacher Feng put away the three recommendation letters containing information about Mo Yuan and the others, then said, "You passed the entrance test. After you've collected your school badges and uniforms, the Soul Tool screen at the dormitory entrance will show your randomly assigned classes."
Having passed the test, Mo Yuan and the others thanked him, then prepared to enter Shrek Academy proper and see which classes and dormitories they'd been assigned.
After chatting warmly with Ning Tian and Wu Feng for a long while, Tang Ya suddenly spoke up. "Ning Tian, Wu Feng, and Mo Yuan, Beibei and I still have to take Little Yuhao to buy some daily necessities, so we won't be entering the academy with you.
"But we're all from the Heaven Dou Empire, so we're compatriots. If anything comes up, you can tell your senior sister. I can't help with big things, and I don't need to help with little things, but remember: if something comes up, tell your senior sister."
6
Mo Yuan silently gave her a six. So telling you means there's something fun to watch, huh?
Ning Tian and Wu Feng were amused by the brazen, ridiculous declaration. Their moist red lips curled into faint smiles.
Watching his lively girlfriend, Beibei shook his head with a helpless laugh and prepared to drag Tang Ya away.
This was so embarrassing...
But Tang Ya, usually so lively, hesitated. As Mo Yuan and the others watched her, she opened her mouth as if to say something, then swallowed her words.
Seeing his girlfriend in this state, Beibei paused. As if he'd suddenly realized something, he sighed softly and said nothing more, simply lowering the hand he'd been about to use to pull her along.
Mo Yuan and Ning Tian naturally noticed the obvious change. Ning Tian, who knew Tang Ya fairly well, asked softly, "Senior Sister Tang Ya, is there something you want to say?"
Those words seemed to break through the last of Tang Ya's hesitation. She pushed down her embarrassment and began, "Junior Sister Ning, Junior Sister Wu, and Junior Brother Mo Yuan, our Tang Sect may no longer be as prosperous as it once was, but it still preserves the inherited techniques and cultivation methods of its Hidden Weapons. They can still be very useful in certain situations.
"If you're interested in learning the Tang Sect Secret Arts, I, as the Tang Sect's leader, would be delighted to welcome you. I won't force either junior sister to leave the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, of course. And if Junior Brother Mo Yuan is willing to join, the same goes for him."
Tang Ya wanted to invite Mo Yuan, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng to join the Tang Sect. The sect was now at its lowest point in ten thousand years. There were fewer than five disciples in the entire sect—even counting the dog.
So Tang Ya had thought that since the Nine Colored Goddess Ning Rongrong had once joined the Tang Sect, there was a historical connection between the Tang Sect and the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. If she could bring two geniuses like Ning Tian and Wu Feng into the sect, surely she could help revive it.
And of course, it would be even better if Mo Yuan agreed to join too.
Hearing Tang Ya's invitation, Ning Tian and Wu Feng were taken aback. Ning Tian immediately declined apologetically.
"I'm sorry, Senior Sister Tang Ya, but Wu Feng and I have no plans to join another sect right now."
The Tang Sect had a historical connection to the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. Otherwise, if some small sect had invited the clan's young lady to join, Ning Tian wouldn't have even considered it worth a glance.
Ning Rongrong had joined the Tang Sect back then because of her bond with the Shrek Seven Monsters and because the clan had nearly been wiped out by Spirit Hall.
Besides, did Tang Ya really think the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan had become wealthy by appraising treasures and picking up bargains? Ten thousand years had passed. Even they weren't so foolish that they couldn't piece together what had happened back then!
The clan had nearly been destroyed. The Protecting Sect Douluo had paid with his life, his sword shattered and bones broken, to reclaim Tang San's corpse. And what had they gotten in the end?
Ning Rongrong's silence? Or the real Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda?
They'd gotten nothing. No, that wasn't true—they'd gotten one thing: a Big Daddy looming over them!
Mo Yuan also directly refused Tang Ya's invitation.
Tang San's sect deserved to be called the Tang Sect? If it were the Tang Sect described by someone from his previous life on Blue Star—a sect filled with loyal heroes who served their country and people, where ten set out and only three returned—Mo Yuan would've joined without a second thought.
But this Tang San's sect?
Ptooey!
Tang Ya wasn't discouraged by the failed invitation. She simply let the matter drop. After they said their goodbyes, Mo Yuan, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng headed deeper into the academy.
After walking for more than fifteen minutes, a spacious rectangular plaza came into view. A sign beside it read "Shrek Square."
Beyond Shrek Square stood a series of tall classroom buildings, each a different color. Most were white, yellow, purple, or black, while a cluster of gray buildings stood in the distance.
The colors of Shrek Academy's classroom buildings represented different year levels, distinguished according to Soul Ring colors.
The white buildings were for new students, corresponding to the lowest-ranked Soul Rings, Ten-Year Soul Rings. The yellow buildings were for second- and third-year students in the Outer Court, and the purple buildings were for fourth- and fifth-year students.
The black buildings were for sixth-year students. Once students graduated from those buildings, they could receive their Outer Court diplomas.
The gray classroom buildings in the distance belonged to the Soul Guidance Department. Besides the buildings at the front, there were many other facilities further inside.
For example, the Battle Soul Arena, examination areas, dormitories, and faculty offices.
After collecting their uniforms, dormitory keys, and school badges from the white classroom building, the three headed to the student dormitory area behind it.
The dormitory complex covered a vast area, but consisted of only one building. Boys and girls lived on separate floors, which were marked white, yellow, purple, and black.
Those colors clearly represented the residential areas for students of different year levels. There were six floors in all, corresponding to the six year levels of the Outer Court's Spirit System.
Looking at the dormitory building, Mo Yuan remembered a joke: the top academy on the continent had its students sharing just two toilets between four hundred people. Compared to that, even the ordinary high school he'd attended in his previous life seemed extravagantly well-funded...
"Mo Yuan, come take a look! It seems we got assigned to the same class." Ning Tian stood beneath a Soul Tool screen at the base of the dormitory building and waved him over.
The same class? If things were unchanged from the Original Work, they'd probably be in Class Nine.
Mo Yuan came over and took a close look at the screen. It was just as he'd thought: he, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng were all in Class Nine, with Mu Jin as their homeroom teacher.
"Damn it. I wonder how you got so lucky, Little Fire, to end up in the same class as Ning Tian again." Wu Feng snorted. She'd been hoping the class assignments would separate Mo Yuan and Ning Tian.
That way, maybe the distance would cool their relationship a little, giving her an opening.
But it seemed the heavens were helping them. They'd even ended up in the same class.
Ignoring Wu Feng's grumbling, Mo Yuan looked at the student list for Class One on the other side, his eyes brimming with interest.
Huo Yuhao...
Wang Dong...
Now that he'd been assigned to Mu Jin's class—Teacher Zhou's sworn enemy—he was bound to clash with Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong sooner or later, given their feud.
Mo Yuan didn't mind. He'd already decided to elbow Pure and Innocent Tang San Shao. He wasn't strong enough to do it yet, so for now he could have some fun with his daughter and the dog he'd bound himself to.
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