It'll cost extra

"Senior, I've finished eating. I'm heading back first."

"I'll walk you back. You probably haven't recovered yet, so I'll have Bei Bei get you an excuse."

"Why me? I still need to keep Xiao Ya company."

"I need some time to process what I gained this time. Xiao Xiao hasn't recovered either, so she should take leave too. Freshman Class Nine's homeroom teacher has a younger brother named Mu Ling, and he's in our class."

"Fine, then. You two go ahead."

Bei Bei had nothing to say. He really was the only one suited for this job.

Xu Sanshi was no longer in the same grade as them, while Huo Yuhao and Tang Ya were immediately ruled out.

One currently had psychological issues, while the other was still a freshman.

Bei Bei felt exhausted. He realized that the most reliable person around him was actually himself.

"Remember to clear the table."

With that, Chen Yuan left the cafeteria with little Xiao Xiao.

"Xiao Xiao, once you're feeling better in a couple of days, come work out with me. We can see whether your Soul Suppressing Cauldron can help me train."

"But Senior, why do we need to deliberately train our bodies? Doesn't physical strength naturally improve along with Soul Power?"

"Wealthy families use heavenly treasures to temper their bodies. Does ordinary exercise really have much effect?"

"It does a little, but not much. You have to keep at it for years."

"Xiao Xiao, you have Twin Martial Souls. In the future, you'll definitely need to add Soul Rings to your second Martial Soul, and your physical condition and Spiritual Power will be extremely important."

"The improvement exercise brings is indeed limited, but you might one day fail to absorb a Soul Ring because you lacked just that little bit, or be forced to absorb a lower-year Soul Ring. So come train with me."

"Training..."

Xiao Xiao secretly glanced at Chen Yuan. That handsome face now looked terrifying in her eyes.

She, Xiao Xiao, was a lazy bum! She was too lazy even to cultivate, let alone exercise!

But training would not only benefit her—it would also give her a chance to spend time alone with Chen Yuan.

Forget it!

Only by suffering now could she have a better future, whether in strength or love.

Clearly, at her age, Xiao Xiao held beautiful fantasies about love, especially when the person in question was Chen Yuan, with whom she shared a Martial Soul Fusion Skill.

This was a match made by heaven.

The two returned to the dormitory together and parted ways on the third floor. Above that was the Female Dormitory, where Chen Yuan was not allowed to go.

After returning to his room, Chen Yuan had barely entered a cultivation state when a familiar aged voice abruptly sounded in his mind.

"Child, do you have time to chat with this old man?"

So he came after all.

From the moment he had sought out Mu En, Chen Yuan had known that Mu En would surely sense some things about him.

Chen Yuan wanted to see what Mu En intended to do and how many of his secrets he had discovered.

"What would you like to talk about?"

"Your Martial Soul."

"According to this old man's senses, when you fused Martial Souls with that little girl today, the flames within your body leaked a trace of their aura for an instant."

"That aura far surpassed the quality of your current flames and reached the legendary Ultimate Fire. Though it lasted only an instant, even this old man's Light Attribute was affected to some extent."

When faced with an Ultimate Attribute, ordinary attributes would inevitably be affected by the difference in quality.

Among them, attributes of the same type and opposing attributes suffered the most severely. They could even be completely suppressed.

If Chen Yuan had not frequently used his Martial Soul, and if Mu En had not previously sensed an Ultimate Attribute from him, Mu En would have thought Chen Yuan had been hiding it.

Chen Yuan had previously entered a Dragon Soul Awakening state, similar to Bei Bei's Bright Sacred Dragon Awakening and Xu Sanshi's Black Tortoise Awakening.

In that state, Chen Yuan's flames had merely touched the threshold of Ultimate Fire. Yet even that threshold was one that nearly all Soul Masters would never cross in their lives.

Many could not even touch the threshold at all, so Mu En had not paid Chen Yuan much attention.

But now, Chen Yuan had actually reached Ultimate Fire for an instant through Martial Soul Fusion. That meant there was a great chance he could complete the transformation in the future.

"Come, release your Martial Soul and let this old man inspect it carefully."

Chen Yuan released his Martial Soul and felt a strange power envelop it. The Dragon Soul immediately counterattacked upon sensing that power, and the flames around Chen Yuan grew much stronger.

Even Dali Gu was startled by that power. It felt as though it had suffered more scares during this period than in all the previous years combined.

The power came and went quickly. Before Dali Gu could react, it receded like the tide.

"Mm, just as expected. Your Martial Soul has already shown signs of evolution. From now on, your cultivation speed will gradually slow down."

"As long as you frequently fuse Martial Souls with that little girl, and acquire suitable Soul Rings and Soul Bones, you will definitely achieve Ultimate Fire by the seventh ring at the latest!"

"Really?!"

Having anticipated Chen Yuan's reaction, Mu En's voice carried an unconscious hint of delight.

That was Ultimate Fire!

If Chen Yuan truly succeeded, he would become the fourth person in history to possess an Ultimate Martial Soul!

Once an Ultimate Attribute appeared, Shrek would have no worries for the next three hundred years!

Mu En had not expected that a few casual pointers last night would give a child the possibility of advancing to Ultimate Fire.

He simply could not understand why a Cauldron and Flute Martial Soul could promote the evolution of Chen Yuan's Flame Gauntlet.

But that was not important.

Chen Yuan had been at Shrek Academy for more than three years and was roommates with Mu En's great-grandson, Bei Bei. Naturally, Mu En had paid attention to him.

Chen Yuan had a clean background and came from a commoner family. He had quite a reputation in the Outer Court and got along very well with others.

He was on excellent terms with Mu En's great-grandson Bei Bei. As for whether he was lovestruck, that required further observation.

What was rare was that Chen Yuan returned to his hometown every holiday to help ordinary people awaken their Martial Souls.

Because of what happened in Small Lake Village, he felt no sense of belonging toward the Three Great Empires. He despised nobles who treated human lives as worthless and hated Evil Soul Masters even more.

His only problem was that he liked money a little too much, but that was a result of his upbringing.

Unlike Yan Shaozhe's petty-mindedness, Chen Yuan clearly understood what he needed and never hesitated to spend money where it should be spent.

He had a good personality, high talent, no petty streak, knew gratitude, and most importantly, had no bad habits.

And now he even had a Martial Soul Fusion Skill! Its partner was a Twin Martial Souls wielder with a clean background! It was like buying one and getting one free!

He was practically the perfect successor in Mu En's eyes.

If Mu En's health had not been failing and he did not have much time left, what place would there have been for Xuan Zi? He could go all in right now and make Chen Yuan the heir to Sea God Pavilion!

Still, the current situation was not bad. As long as Mu En left a will, he could have Xuan Zi serve as Sea God Pavilion Master for around ten years, then step down once Chen Yuan had fully matured.

The prerequisite for all this was that Chen Yuan's Martial Soul could smoothly evolve into Ultimate Fire.

Of course, even if the evolution failed, Chen Yuan's value was still far from low.

In Mu En's eyes, Chen Yuan and Xiao Xiao were now bound together.

Even if Chen Yuan could not evolve, a Trinity Martial Soul Fusion Skill would still be exceptionally good!

At worst, the two of them would become Super Douluos. A Super Douluo's Martial Soul Fusion Skill was comparable to a Limit Douluo.

"From now on, do your best to compress your Soul Power and build a stronger foundation. That way, your Martial Soul can evolve sooner."

"Oh, right, little fellow. Are you interested in making a deal with this old man?"

"A deal?"

"Yes. It's very simple. Just give that roommate of yours named Bei Bei a good beating."

"What? Beat up Bei Bei? Senior! He's my friend!"

"Can't you? You three little fellows from the dormitory go to the Spirit Fighting Zone quite often, don't you?"

"No, Senior, what I mean is... if I'm beating up Bei Bei, it'll cost extra!"