The instant Le Bai stepped forward half a pace and threw his punch, Flender finally sensed the Soul Power fluctuations around him—far beyond level eight!
"This intensity, level nineteen... no, nearly level twenty! What did he do?!"
Flender could not make sense of it, but what mattered now was not what Le Bai had done, but what he was about to do.
"With Soul Power Intensity close to level twenty, even without Martial Soul Augmentation, that counts as a 'heavy blow' for Hongjun!"
Flender gathered his Soul Power, spread his legs, and rushed forward to stop him.
A Soul Saint above level seventy was formidable, and Flender himself belonged to the Agility Attack System, specializing in speed. In the fraction of a second before Le Bai's fist advanced, Flender had already reached Ma Hongjun's side and was about to touch him.
But Le Bai's attack took effect first.
Before Le Bai's fist even made intimate contact with Ma Hongjun, the Soul Power on his fist erupted in advance, creating a not particularly powerful shockwave that spread in all directions!
The shockwave whipped up a fierce wind, scattering the flames around Ma Hongjun's fist and sending his round body flying into the distance.
Flender had no time to think. He accelerated, caught Ma Hongjun in his arms, then retreated several steps in the direction Ma Hongjun had flown, using Soul Power to cancel out the remaining force.
"Whew—"
Le Bai held his punching stance and slowly let out a long breath. The foot he had stepped forward with had stamped a small pit roughly forty centimeters across into the ground, while faint traces of undispersed Soul Power still seemed to rise from his outstretched fist.
Ma Hongjun lay wide-eyed in his teacher's arms, utterly bewildered: Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?
Flender first checked Ma Hongjun's condition and found no obvious external or internal injuries. Only the clothes over his chest had torn, leaving a piece of fabric missing. He immediately relaxed.
"Hongjun, how are you? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"
Just in case, Flender still asked.
"No..."
Ma Hongjun emerged from his shock and gradually came to his senses. "Sorry, Teacher. I lost."
"Winning and losing happen all the time. Don't dwell on it."
Flender comforted him. "This loss doesn't matter. Just win it back next time."
Ma Hongjun nodded hard. "Mm! I'll work hard, Teacher!"
Flender set Ma Hongjun down, then turned to Le Bai and asked sternly, "Le Bai, what did you do just now? At the instant you punched, I sensed your Soul Power reaching nearly level twenty! You didn't use some evil method to increase your Soul Power just to enroll here, did you?"
"What kind of evil method do you mean?"
Le Bai stood properly, looking innocent. "If you mean the method I used to erupt my Soul Power just now, that was a technique I created over the past two years. It's called Spirit Power Overclocking. It's a very simple technique—just compressing Soul Power, then releasing it."
"Compressing it, then releasing it?"
Flender glanced again at the torn clothes on Ma Hongjun's chest. "Your fist released Soul Power before it even touched Hongjun. Wasn't that because you lost control?"
"No."
Le Bai shook his head and quickly gathered even stronger Soul Power in his hand as proof. "If I couldn't control even this much Soul Power freely, then Spirit Power Overclocking would be impossible to talk about."
"!"
Flender's eyes widened. He could clearly sense that the Soul Power gathered in Le Bai's hand had surpassed level twenty, yet Le Bai did not even have a single Soul Ring. "I'll thank you on Hongjun's behalf for showing mercy. But I can't quite understand your current strength. If you don't mind, could you explain it to me in detail?"
"As long as you want to hear it!"
Le Bai smiled. "I still want to join Shrek!"
Flender chose the nearest dormitory as the place for their conversation.
There were only two chairs in the dormitory. Flender casually pulled them over from beside the bed for Le Bai and Oscar to sit on, while he and Ma Hongjun simply sat on the bed. "Although I'd like to have you explain that skill called Spirit Power Overclocking right away, I'm also concerned about how quickly your Soul Power Level has risen. Let's start there."
"There's nothing much to say about that."
Le Bai scratched his head. "I just kept cultivating according to the cultivation method Oscar taught me back then."
Flender had just been about to say that was impossible when an idea flashed through his mind, and he changed his wording. "What do you mean by 'kept cultivating'?"
Le Bai answered with a serious expression, "Exactly what it sounds like. I cultivated day and night."
Flender adjusted his glasses. "You cultivated even at night? Didn't you want to sleep?"
"At first, I did."
Le Bai looked as though he were trying hard to Recall. "For the first few days, I often fell asleep halfway through cultivating at night. But after persevering for a few days, I could cultivate all the way until dawn. Ever since I started using cultivation in place of sleep, my Soul Power has increased a little faster!"
"No wonder you increased by six levels in two years!"
Flender acknowledged Le Bai's effort. "Then what exactly is this Spirit Power Overclocking? It actually allows you to erupt with Soul Power close to level twenty. And judging by how you look now, that eruption seems to have had no effect on you at all. As far as I know, there isn't such a convenient and useful technique anywhere in the Soul Master world."
"It's really very simple."
Le Bai directly explained the principle. "You only need to compress the Soul Power in your body, then circulate it while maintaining that compression. That lets you accumulate Soul Power beyond your Soul Power Level inside your body. Then, you just release that Soul Power when you attack."
"That's it?"
Flender could hardly believe it. "That's your so-called Spirit Power Overclocking?"
Le Bai (OvO): "Yes."
Flender said nothing. He simply closed his eyes and tried it himself.
Before long, Flender began to frown.
Three minutes later, Flender opened his eyes. "No, I can't do it."
"Eh? Why?"
Le Bai scratched his head. "It went very smoothly for me."
"Le Bai, what you said just now was that you maintained the compressed state of your Soul Power while circulating it, right?"
Flender explained the difficulty he had encountered. "But normally, nearly every Soul Master, myself included, can only do one of those things: either compress Soul Power or circulate Soul Power. To do both at once, I'm afraid one would need to master the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's secret art that is never passed down—Heart Separation Control."
"The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect? Isn't that one of the Seven Great Sects you mentioned during class? Why bring up that sect? And what is Heart Separation Control? I don't know that secret art."
Le Bai controlled his body according to the Panel's guidance, allowing his level-three [Acting] skill to perform at full effect and write all his current "feelings" across his face: Dean, what are you talking about? Dean, can you say something I can understand? Dean, do you want me to join the academy?
Though Le Bai did not say it aloud, his expression clearly said exactly that.
"Simply put, Heart Separation Control is the ability to do several things at once."
Flender looked at Le Bai as though he were looking at a Monster. "What you described—maintaining compressed Soul Power while circulating it—is a typical case of Single-Minded Dual-Use. You actually figured it out by yourself without a word!"
"Is that really something amazing?"
Le Bai asked happily, "Then does that mean I count as a Monster?"
"Ah... hahahaha!"
Flender laughed. "You do! Of course you do! You independently comprehended Heart Separation Control, created a technique like Spirit Power Overclocking, and even defeated a Battle Soul Master at the same level as yourself despite being a Support System Soul Master. If you don't count as a Monster, then who does?"
"So I can join Shrek now?"
Le Bai looked at Flender expectantly. "Does that mean I can attend class with Oscar from now on?"
"Yes!"
Flender patted Le Bai on the shoulder. "From this moment today onward, you are a member of Shrek Academy. You may enjoy all the academy's resources. Once your Soul Power reaches level ten, I'll personally take you to hunt Soul Beasts!"
"Thank you, Dean!"
Le Bai thanked him sincerely, then seemed to remember something. "By the way, Dean, since I'm already an academy student, can I keep living in your house? How should I pay the tuition? And can I keep doing the work at the Iron shop?"
"Don't worry about the tuition for now. You can make it up once you have the ability to repay it in the future."
Flender stood. "As for everything else, if you like, you can keep it all the same as long as it doesn't affect your studies. However, starting tomorrow, unless the teachers tell you otherwise beforehand, remember to gather at the academy's Playground before six every morning."
After saying that, Flender had already reached the door.
"Okay! Take care, Dean!"
Hearing Le Bai's cheerful voice behind him, Flender could not help but let a faint smile appear at the corner of his lips.
"His Martial Soul and Innate Soul Power are both quite ordinary, yet he entered the ranks of Monsters through his control over Soul Power. Heh. I hope he can go even farther..."
Before you continue