Soul Tool Department

"Yo! Old Yan! You're here too!"

The speaker was a burly man in his fifties, tall and powerfully built, with not a single wrinkle on his face.

He had broad shoulders and a wide back, his bronze muscles firm and solid, showing no signs of slackening with age.

He stood well over two meters tall!

Qian Duoduo, the vice dean of the Soul Tool Department, had come this time to see whether there were any students he could recruit into his department early.

At Shrek Academy, the Soul Tool Department had always been suppressed by the Martial Soul Department and could only pick through the leftovers the Martial Soul Department did not want.

That applied to both students and resources. Only when it came to rare metals was Shrek not stingy.

After all, the Martial Soul Department had no use for rare metals. Keeping them around would only make them useless scrap, so they might as well be given to the Soul Tool Department.

Among all the Elders of Sea God Pavilion, although Mu En understood the potential of Soul Tools, he no longer had the energy to do much.

Only three people remained who supported the development of the Soul Tool Department: Song Yunzhi, Xian Lin'er, and Qian Duoduo.

"Old Qian? What are you doing here?"

"What else? I came to see whether this batch has any new students suited for my Soul Tool Department."

Qian Duoduo curled his lips. At first, he had been a pure Martial Soul supporter just like Yan Shaozhe, but as his research into Soul Tools deepened, he discovered that their future potential was limitless.

Of course, part of it was also his sense of responsibility as the vice dean of the Soul Tool Department.

"Students split into departments when they advance from Third Grade to Fourth Grade. What? Are you trying to break Shrek's rules?"

"Don't go on and on about rules all day. You're the one who follows the rules the least."

Yan Shaozhe felt a little awkward at that. He could tell that Qian Duoduo was taking a jab at him.

Originally, Ma Xiaotao had not been a member of the Shrek Reserve Team five years ago. It was not because her talent or strength was lacking.

It was because Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire could erupt at any time, making her far too dangerous.

And now, after Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire had been suppressed and she could temporarily fight normally again, Yan Shaozhe had directly kicked out the Soul Tool Department student from the previous Reserve Team, who was currently preparing as one of the Shrek Seven Devils.

Shrek had decreed four thousand years ago that the Shrek Seven Devils must include one Soul Tool Department student. Yet over the years, whenever someone more talented appeared, the Soul Tool Department student was always the first to be kicked out.

"Old Yan, I didn't come today to hold you accountable. I just want to ask: can you send some students to our Soul Tool Department earlier this year?"

"Sure."

To Qian Duoduo's surprise, Yan Shaozhe agreed to his request immediately.

"But I have one condition. Any student who goes to the Soul Tool Department must do so voluntarily. You can't threaten or tempt them in any way."

Everyone knew that Shrek's Martial Soul Department was number one in the world. As long as there was even the slightest hope of staying in the Martial Soul Department, what fool would choose the Soul Tool Department?

Qian Duoduo obviously knew that too, and his neck flushed red with anger.

"Damn it, Yan Shaozhe! Today, you have to give my Soul Tool Department an explanation!"

"An explanation? Beat me, and I'll give you one."

Yan Shaozhe might have been petty, but his cultivation was genuinely Level 95. His martial soul was the Bright Phoenix, far beyond anything Qian Duoduo could defeat.

If they were going to fight, they would have to call over Xian Lin'er, the Martial God Douluo.

As the two argued, the three people beside them became rather nervous.

Was this really a place where Fourth Grade students could stay? Would they actually start fighting? And if they did, what were the three of them supposed to do?

Fortunately, there were new students below them. The two Title Douluo would not make too much of a scene here.

"Hmph, Yan Shaozhe! I don't care about anything else! But this year's Reserve Team must have one Soul Tool Department disciple, and five years from now, that person must represent the academy in the Sun Moon Empire's Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament!"

"And you have to let me choose one person from your Martial Soul Department!"

"I agree to the first condition. The second is impossible."

For Ma Xiaotao's sake, Yan Shaozhe could agree to the first part of Qian Duoduo's conditions. The Martial Soul Department had indeed been too harsh on the Soul Tool Department over the years, and offering a little compensation was not impossible.

But the latter condition would not do. If Qian Duoduo picked some extraordinary genius after Yan Shaozhe agreed, Yan Shaozhe would have nowhere to cry.

"It's not impossible for me to agree, but I have to approve the person."

"Fine! It's a deal!"

Just like that, Yan Shaozhe and Qian Duoduo reached an agreement, and the matter of Ma Xiaotao replacing the Soul Tool Department student as one of the Shrek Seven Devils was settled.

The competition was about to begin. Yan Shaozhe went off to prepare his speech, while Qian Duoduo headed to another raised platform to join the other teachers.

"Hey, Chen Yuan, if these freshmen really join us in the Reserve Team selection, who do you think would work well with us?"

Since the competition had not started yet and they could not go down to find Jiang Nannan, Xu Sanshi idly started chatting nonsense with Chen Yuan and Bei Bei.

"There's no point talking about that. The Reserve Team selection method is different every year. Who knows who our three teammates will be?"

"There's nothing else going on right now, so we're just talking. I think Xiao Xiao has a pretty good chance among the freshmen. After all, she has a Martial Soul Fusion Skill with you, Chen Yuan."

If possible, Bei Bei wanted Tang Ya to join the Reserve Team too, but with Tang Ya's talent, that was completely unrealistic.

Even if she got lucky enough to enter, Tang Ya was only Level 32 right now. By the time that tournament began five years later, it would be basically impossible for her to reach five rings.

"Yeah, that's very possible. I think Nannan also has a good chance of entering the Reserve Team! Her cultivation in the Outer Court is second only to the three of us."

"No, there's one more. I heard the Soul Tool Department has a Food System Soul Elder our age whose cultivation is about the same as yours."

"What? What did you say?! Food System? And his cultivation is about the same as ours?!"

After Chen Yuan dropped that bombshell, Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi were left completely dumbfounded.

The Food System was the hardest type of martial soul to cultivate among all martial souls, yet there was a high-level Food System Soul Elder their age with cultivation equal to theirs?

Didn't that mean that if that person had any other type of martial soul, his cultivation would be higher than theirs?

"Oh, right. He's also a Level 3 Soul Engineer."

For a moment, Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi were so thoroughly shaken that they did not know what to say.

A Level 3 Soul Engineer meant that person had become a Food System Soul Elder without even focusing solely on cultivation.

That was a little too cruel.

Ten thousand years ago, Oscar of the Shrek Seven Devils had only just broken through to three rings at fourteen. Yet now, there was a fourteen-year-old high-level Food System Soul Elder who was also a Level 3 Soul Engineer.

Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi both felt that if the information was true, that person was absolutely the most talented Food System Soul Master in the history of Douluo Continent.

That was indeed the case. As the currently hidden owner of Twin Martial Souls, He Caitou truly was the most talented Food System Soul Master in history.

A prince carrying a blood feud, forced into hardship, disguising himself and changing his name, with Twin Martial Souls—wasn't that the perfect protagonist of a novel? He was just a little too dark-skinned.

He Caitou was another character whose setup felt like it had been written with someone's feet.

"Wait, that's not right. If this guy is so talented, how could he possibly stay in the Soul Tool Department? The Martial Soul Department would have to be brain-dead to let someone like that go."

"Who knows? Anyway, every word I said is true."

"If everything Chen Yuan said is true, then our batch might have a lineup of one Soul King and four Soul Ancestors next year. Pick any two people, and we'd crush everyone."

"Sanshi's right. If things go smoothly, that really might happen. Then we might sweep through the first half of the tournament, and the Inner Court seniors would not even get a chance to compete."

Bei Bei's mouth was terrifyingly accurate.

Chen Yuan had countless damn its in his heart, but he could not say any of them aloud.