Tang Wulin Under Immense Pressure, Unwilling to Join Shrek

For the next week, Lin Jin did not go to the academy.

He needed to further stabilize his Spiritual Power cultivation.

At the same time,

the improvement in Spiritual Power brought obvious benefits to blacksmithing.

It could also help with controlling his physical strength.

It even made him more sensitive to the elemental power in the air, or rather, spiritual energy.

As a result, his Soul Power cultivation speed had improved as well.

In truth,

this was not solely because of his increased Spiritual Power.

His situation was different from that of other Spirit Masters.

As his Soul Power Level rose, his Lotus Flower Flame Martial Soul would continuously evolve.

It had started with one color and had now reached two. It was foreseeable that it would have even more colors in the future.

At the very least, it could reach the realm of seven colors.

Only then would the Lotus Flower Flame's tempering effect on him, as well as its own functions, be completely unleashed.

Right now, neither Soul Power, Spiritual Power, nor physical improvement could be achieved with mere spiritual items.

The Lotus Flower Flame was what played the greatest role.

Thinking back to when he was six, he had been a severely malnourished, skin-and-bones orphan.

And now...

At nine years old, whether it was his Soul Power cultivation, his status as a Level 5 Blacksmith, or even his appearance,

he was completely different from before.

"Phew!"

Lin Jin gently exhaled a breath of stale air and picked up his Soul Guidance Communicator.

In order to quietly focus on his insights,

he had not turned on his Soul Guidance Communicator since that battle, as he had remained within the Blacksmith Association the entire time.

The first message that appeared before his eyes was from Tang Wulin.

Tang Wulin: Sorry, Brother Jin. I shouldn't have spoken like that that day.

Lin Jin raised a brow.

He knew Tang Wulin was referring to the words, "You've gone too far."

In battle, injuries were unavoidable.

Those four words from Tang Wulin had naturally been inappropriate.

But Lin Jin had not taken them to heart.

He replied: It's fine.

He casually scrolled through the communicator for a while, preparing to put it away.

Tang Wulin's message immediately arrived.

It was as if he had been staring at the Soul Guidance Communicator the whole time.

Tang Wulin: That's great. I thought you didn't want to talk to me anymore because of that.

"?"

Lin Jin's face was full of question marks, as if it said: Come on, man. I'm a guy, get it?

Tang Wulin continued sending messages—

*You haven't come to the academy this week. I couldn't reach you and was really worried.

Now that I've finally received a message from you, it's good to know you're all right.

Oh, right!

I forgot to tell you, the academy has now established a special Zero Class in our first year.

Teacher Wu is personally leading it.

Everyone in Zero Class has already gotten on track. You're the only one missing!

And you probably don't know this yet, but I heard Teacher Wu came from Shrek Academy!

Shrek... do you think we'll have a chance to join it in the future?

...*

Tang Wulin typed rapidly and sent a great many messages.

To sum it up,

Lin Jin saw two words between the lines—

guilty conscience.

His brief reply had probably made Tang Wulin think he was angry.

Please...

It's not like I'm a woman...

Lin Jin rubbed his forehead, feeling rather speechless.

After thinking it over, he replied: Got it. Don't overthink it.

Elsewhere,

Tang Wulin finally let out a sigh of relief when he saw Lin Jin's reply, completely putting his mind at ease.

Then he opened another chat window.

He: Teacher, Master Cen Yue wants me to take President Mu Chen as my teacher, and President Mu Chen seems to have the same intention. What should I do?

After a long while,

Mang Tian: This is a good thing. What successful expert has only had one teacher on his path?

After pondering for a moment, Tang Wulin replied: I know what to do, Teacher.

Then he opened another chat window.

It was from Gu Yue.

Gu Yue: Can you spend less time around that Lin Jin? I don't like him.

Tang Wulin stared at it for a long time, not knowing how to respond.

Then came another chat window.

Xie Xie: Boss, are all blacksmiths as amazing as you guys? Is it too late for me to start learning now?

Then he remembered what Old Tang had told him after his injuries healed.

Old Tang: Lin Jin's flame is quite beneficial to your absorption of the Golden Dragon King Essence. If you trust him, you can try asking him to burn you a little more often.

"..."

Tang Wulin felt as though his head were about to explode.

What was all this?

Lin Jin's figure involuntarily surfaced in his mind again.

But what he thought was—

*If I become President Mu Chen's disciple, won't I become Brother Jin's junior disciple in the future?

But what if Gu Yue doesn't like Brother Jin?

And besides...

Brother Jin's words that day clearly showed that he had known Gu Yue for a long time. The process just probably hadn't been very pleasant...

How should I resolve the conflict between them?*

Tang Wulin's head spun.

He suddenly slapped himself and thought:

"Brother Jin has such a good relationship with Senior Sister Mu. Why am I thinking about reconciling Gu Yue and Brother Jin?"

"Wouldn't that just be causing trouble for Brother Jin?"

At that thought, Tang Wulin felt much more at ease. He even began humming a little tune.

Not long after Lin Jin emerged from seclusion, Mu Chen called him over.

"Teacher."

Lin Jin bowed.

"Mm."

Mu Chen nodded faintly, then examined Lin Jin's current condition.

His eyes immediately revealed satisfaction.

He grew even fonder of Lin Jin, his disciple.

After thinking for a moment, Mu Chen asked:

"Do you know about Zero Class?"

"I just learned about it from Wulin."

Mu Chen nodded and asked again:

"What do you think?"

Lin Jin answered casually:

"I'm not interested."

Mu Chen did not seem surprised by that answer.

But he immediately continued:

"Zero Class's homeroom teacher, Wu Zhangkong, came from Shrek."

"Something seems to have happened there, though I haven't been able to find out what."

"However, I did uncover one thing."

"Wu Zhangkong seems to be the disciple of Zhuo Shi, the Red Dragon Douluo and an elder of the Sea God Pavilion."

That was all he said.

Mu Chen did not continue.

Even with his status as an Eight-Star Saint Artisan, he obviously could not have uncovered that information himself.

Clearly,

after Eastsea Academy had shared the information about Zero Class with him, he had specifically asked Zhen Hua to investigate it for the sake of evaluation.

A few days earlier, he had already called Zhen Hua to tell him about Lin Jin and explain his thoughts.

Therefore, Zhen Hua had taken the matter seriously and investigated it in great detail.

And the reason he was saying all this now

was that he wanted a more precise understanding of Lin Jin's plans for the future.

Because it concerned another opportunity.

Lin Jin naturally already knew everything Mu Chen had said.

Still, he put on a deeply shocked expression.

After all, Shrek Academy was now a sacred supreme hall in the eyes of nearly all Spirit Masters.

It would have been strange if he had not been shocked.

But he quickly calmed down.

As if he had thought it over for a long time, he shook his head again.

"After I finish studying at Eastsea Academy, I don't want to enter any other academy."

"So I don't want to join Shrek either."