Han Ruoruo

[Dou Er Era]

In the plaza of Shrek Academy, the students' discussions rose and fell in waves.

"Teacher Wang Yan's research on martial souls is truly unrivaled. It was he who guided me on how to attach soul rings to my own martial soul."

"Indeed, he can always pinpoint our problems with surgical precision."

In their eyes, Teacher Wang Yan was a pure scholar, a mentor worthy of deep respect.

On the sky screen, Wang Yan's monologue continued.

[Later, I fell in love with a girl.]

The scene shifted abruptly.

The library door was pushed open, and a beautiful figure walked in.

The young girl was dressed in white as pristine as snow, her features elegant and her temperament as holy as an ice lotus.

[Her name is Han Ruoruo, the most dazzling genius of the outer courtyard.]

[Her martial soul is the top-tier tool martial soul "Huangjin Rope," and she possesses an Innate Soul Power of rank eight.]

[She is like the moonlight in the sky, so beautiful she remains untainted by dust.]

[And I was merely a poor boy from the countryside; I felt I was unworthy of her.]

[Dou Er Era]

As the monologue reached this point, a woman with a beautiful face and a cold temperament in the plaza crowd suddenly stiffened.

It was the inner courtyard disciple, Han Ruoruo.

She looked up at the sky screen in disbelief.

The gazes of everyone around her "whooshed" and converged upon her, filled with surprise, curiosity, and a hint of teasing.

A flush of red instantly flew to Han Ruoruo's cheeks, her heart in total disarray.

She... how could she have never known about this?

Teacher Wang Yan, he...

The monologue continued, carrying a trace of bitterness and longing.

[She is a daughter of heaven, while I am but dust.]

[I only dared to watch her secretly from the most inconspicuous corner.]

Wang Yan's monologue was filled with such self-deprecation and longing that it tugged at the heartstrings of countless people.

In the scene, Wang Yan hid in the shadows of the bookshelves, his gaze following Han Ruoruo's figure.

She took down a high-level manual on soul skills and sat in the reading area, flipping through it quietly.

Sunlight spilled through the window onto her, making her look as beautiful as a painting.

And Wang Yan could only remain in the shadows, greedily etching this beauty into his heart.

[I knew that the distance between us was even greater than the distance from Shrek City to the Ming Capital.]

[But that could not stop me from yearning to catch up to her footsteps, yearning for the day... I could stand side by side with her.]

[For that, I had to become stronger!]

The young man's monologue was filled with unwillingness.

But soon, a new scene appeared.

In the library late at night, Han Ruoruo was alone, her brows tightly furrowed, with several books on tool martial souls spread out before her.

Her martial soul, the "Huangjin Rope," hovered quietly at her side, golden light flowing, yet it carried a hint of stagnation.

[The Huangjin Rope is a top-tier control-type tool martial soul with immense potential.]

[But precisely because of that, its development path is extremely complex.]

[During that time, I happened to overhear her troubles.]

[She had encountered a bottleneck; her martial soul's development was difficult to choose between, leading to impure and chaotic soul power usage, which hindered her breakthrough.]

In the scene, he hid behind the bookshelves, listening to the conversation between Han Ruoruo and her teacher.

A flash of heartache crossed his eyes, along with a glimmer of light that others would find difficult to detect.

[At that moment, I suddenly realized... perhaps, there was something I could do for her.]

[I did not have powerful strength or a prominent family background, but I had... theory.]

Over the next few days, the scenes on the sky screen shifted rapidly.

[During the day, I worked a work-study job in the library.]

[And when night fell, I became the most focused researcher.]

[I scoured every record in the library concerning control-type, rope-type, and metal-type tool martial souls.]

[From ancient fragments to the theses of modern masters, I didn't let a single one slip by.]

In the scene, Wang Yan's eyes were bloodshot, yet they shone with an astonishing brilliance.

[I compiled three development paths for her Huangjin Rope martial soul.]

[First, the ultimate control flow; second...]

[I pulled several all-nighters and finally finished this thick notebook.]

[But I didn't sign my name on it.]

[The next morning, I secretly tucked the notebook into a copy of Detailed Explanation of High-Level Tool Martial Soul Application that she often read.]

[After doing all this, my heart hammered against my ribs, and I fled the library before anyone else arrived.]

[Dou Er Era]

When Han Ruoruo saw that familiar notebook appear on the screen, she froze completely.

"So... it was you..."

She murmured to herself, and for the first time, a violent emotional fluctuation appeared in her cold, clear eyes.

She had always believed it was the guidance of a senior who wished to remain anonymous.

She never expected it to be Wang Yan, the one who was always so quiet in the corner.

The scene shifted.

Han Ruoruo discovered the notebook in the library.

She flipped through it in surprise, her beautiful face filled with shock.

Wang Yan hid behind a bookshelf, his palms sweating with nervousness.

He watched as Han Ruoruo carefully tucked the notebook into her storage soul tool, a cherished smile appearing on her face.

[She smiled... she accepted it...]

[At that moment, I felt that all the hard work before had been worth it.]

[But the gap between us was still too vast.]

[She passed the inner courtyard selection with ease, yet I could only graduate from the outer courtyard.]

[To be worthy of her, and for the sake of the ideals in my heart, I gave up the path of becoming a combat soul master and chose to stay at the academy to teach.]

The scene shifted again; Wang Yan had become a young teacher.

He put on glasses, appearing even more refined.

When he stepped onto the podium for the first time, his palms were sweating with nerves.

But when he began to explain the mysteries of martial souls, a confident radiance bloomed in his eyes.

[I love this job; I treat every student as if they were my own child.]

[I hope to help them unearth the potential of their martial souls and never give up on any martial soul deemed "trash."]

Scenes began to flicker across the screen.

[A student named Xu Sanshi had the Black Tortoise of Profound Darkness as his martial soul.]

[His defensive power was astonishing, but because his soul power circulation was sluggish and his offensive means were lacking, he was once considered a pure meat shield and ranked low among power attack types.]

[I discovered that Xu Sanshi's Black Tortoise of Profound Darkness martial soul was not purely defensive; a faint trace of bloodline power lay hidden deep within it.]

[I scoured all records concerning ancient tortoise-type soul beasts and finally found the answer in a tattered ancient book.]

In the scene, Wang Yan was in the library late at night, his eyes bloodshot, finally finding a few blurred ancient characters on a dusty piece of animal hide.

He was ecstatic and spent the night formulating a training plan to stimulate the bloodline.

[I instructed him on how to use his soul power to reverse-impact specific patterns on the tortoise shell, using his own life force as a catalyst to ignite the bloodline power.]

[The process was agonizing, but he persisted.]

In the scene, Xu Sanshi was under a waterfall, circulating his soul power according to Wang Yan's instructions, letting the water crash against him until his skin cracked from the collision of soul power.

But in the end, he succeeded.

A layer of black halo appeared over Xu Sanshi's Black Tortoise of Profound Darkness martial soul.

In the plaza, Xu Sanshi, who had already become an inner courtyard disciple, saw this scene with tears in his eyes, his fists clenched tightly.

Without Teacher Wang Yan, he would not be where he was today!

"Teacher Wang Yan is absolutely not a hypocrite!"

Xu Sanshi roared, punching the air.