Birds of a Feather

Ning Rongrong clearly had yet to realize that her identity had been exposed.

She smiled and said, "That's Jiang Nannan. Her martial soul is the Soft Bone Rabbit. She's thirteen years old, a level-thirty-six assault-type battle Soul Elder."

"She's also a student in our Outer Court's Elite Class and is known as the number one beauty of the Outer Court."

"She's usually never interested in the opposite sex. Even the young master of the Mysterious Underworld Sect beside her chased her for an entire year without moving her in the slightest."

"Who would've thought she'd actually come over and throw herself into someone's arms?"

As she said this, Ning Rongrong was undoubtedly gloating and mocking her inwardly.

Originally, because of the other girl's beauty, she had been somewhat worried. To that end, she had even dragged Wu Feng along, intending to win through numbers and have two women serve one man.

Yet who would have thought she was such a face-obsessed girl? The moment she saw a cute young man, she went crashing into his arms.

She had worried for nothing all this time.

There was no helping it. Jiang Nannan and Xiao Wu overlapped far too much.

Not only were their martial souls the same, but so were their personalities.

What she feared was that the Child of Destiny might also like this type, just like Brother San.

Little did she know that as she spoke, the way Wu Feng looked at her had already turned strange.

There was no other reason.

At their core, her young mistress was no different from "Jiang Nannan."

The only difference was that one had money, while the other did not.

"Jiang Nannan" lacked money, so she needed Xu Sanshi to support her.

Her young mistress had money and had no need for that. Yet as her appearance had continuously improved over the past year, she had likewise gained quite a few suitors.

But she had shown no interest in any of them.

Now that she had encountered Gu Yuan, not only did she want to throw herself into his arms, she even wanted to drag Wu Feng along.

They really were birds of a feather.

Although after seeing Gu Yuan, Wu Feng no longer found him quite so irritating—whether because of his appearance, his martial soul, or some other reason, she did not know.

Gu Yuan likewise gave Ning Rongrong a strange look. While inwardly mocking how her outward behavior was no different from Xiao Wu's, he also began considering her purpose.

Fine. Before I can determine whether Tang San has descended to this realm, I'll play along with her for now.

Having made up his mind, Gu Yuan began probing without revealing anything: "Miss Ning Tian, do you not get along with that 'Jiang Nannan'?"

Ning Rongrong said, "It's not that we don't get along. I simply dislike that sort of behavior of hers."

"On one hand, she enjoys a boy's affection and money. On the other, she runs off to throw herself into another boy's arms. She's simply insulting sacred love."

"Also, you don't need to keep calling me Miss Ning Tian."

"I don't like that. With your strength, getting into the Elite Class is practically guaranteed."

"In the Outer Court, no one is stronger than you. We'll all be comrades fighting side by side from now on, so just call me Ning'er."

It seemed Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu did not get along very well. Or rather, neither of them had recognized the other at all.

Gu Yuan swiftly reached this conclusion and continued asking, "Miss Ning'er, you said earlier that a city lord's letter of recommendation was needed last year but isn't needed this year. What happened?"

Ning Rongrong tilted her head, revealing an adorably innocent expression that was highly deceptive.

But who could have imagined that within this eleven-year-old body lived the soul of an old monster who had lived for tens of thousands of years?

"This began eleven months ago. Not long after school started, the Body Sect's leader led several thousand soul masters in a large-scale invasion."

"Though they were ultimately driven back, one of Shrek Academy's higher-ups was severely injured as well."

"Ever since then, the academy changed its rules."

"It began gathering students whose Soul Power had exceeded level twenty before enrollment, as well as Core Disciples."

"They were all assigned to the Elite Class, given the finest resources, and specially trained."

Gu Yuan nodded to himself. It seemed that his earlier trade of Yan Shaozhe's gold card for the Secret of the Body had caused the Body Sect and Shrek to go to war.

Furthermore, Shrek's decision to do this was presumably closely related to his exchange for Xuanzi's eyeball and hundred-thousand-year soul ring.

The eyeball was not too bad. If one was missing, Xuanzi could simply see half as many enemies.

But losing a hundred-thousand-year soul ring was an enormous blow to Shrek.

Not only would Xuanzi's strength decline, but it would also cut off his chance of advancing to a level-ninety-nine Limit Douluo.

With that being the case, it was hardly strange that Shrek would go mad training its disciples.

After that, Gu Yuan indirectly asked Ning Rongrong a few more questions.

To his surprise, she did not become wary at all. Whatever Gu Yuan asked, she answered.

This instead made it impossible for Gu Yuan to figure out her intentions.

Still, it was not entirely without gains.

From Ning Rongrong, Gu Yuan learned that He Caitou, the sole disciple of Fan Yu, a core teacher of the Spirit Guidance Department, had visited a brothel and was subsequently summoned to Fan Yu's office, where Fan Yu kicked his duck eggs to pieces.

The story had been blown wildly out of proportion.

That reminded Gu Yuan of the 'Food God Oscar's Egg' he had traded for using a Swift Ice Bird's egg, as well as the 'Food God Oscar's Egg: True' he had traded for using the Ten Absolute Poisons.

The former had no effect whatsoever. It was merely an ordinary 'egg.'

The latter had directly allowed a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in the Far North to break through to two hundred thousand years, drawing down the heavenly tribulation of a ferocious beast.

From this, it was clear that, barring any surprises, Oscar had also drunk Masticated Wine and undergone a body swap.

What could be confirmed was that no one in this world could withstand the Ten Absolute Poisons. The Food God's original body in the God Realm had most likely already perished.

The only question was whether the soul that had perished alongside that body had belonged to Oscar himself, or to the person who had exchanged bodies with him.

Thinking of this, Gu Yuan continued asking Ning Rongrong, "What happened to He Caitou afterward?"

"What else could have happened? He became a eunuch. They say the incident hit him too hard and left him with amnesia. He forgot all the Soul Tool techniques he had mastered and is now learning everything again from scratch."

This time, Ning Rongrong could no longer keep up the act and began revealing her true nature.

Gu Yuan saw through her but did not expose her.

Upon entering Shrek Academy, Gu Yuan saw nothing but vegetation. Rich and lush were the most fitting words to describe the plants here.

No matter where he looked, he could see at least ten types of carefully trimmed plants.

After proceeding another two hundred meters, Ning Rongrong led Gu Yuan to a plaza. Surrounding it were statues of the first-generation Shrek Seven Devils and the Golden Triangle.

This plaza covered an enormous area and sat right at the center of Shrek Academy's Outer Court.

The students previously found to possess Soul Power above rank twenty were all gathered here, numbering roughly a dozen or so.

They were lining up to undergo the assessment.

Ning Rongrong explained, "For new students to enter the Elite Class, having Soul Power above rank twenty is only the most basic requirement. It counts as passing the first round of assessment. There are still three more rounds."

"But that only applies to ordinary geniuses. Since your Soul Power exceeds rank twenty-five, you can go straight to the fourth round."

Gu Yuan clicked his tongue inwardly. Isn't this exactly Flender's recruitment method from ten thousand years ago?

Ning Rongrong took Gu Yuan's arm and said, "Come on, I'll take you through the assessment. No need to queue."

Gu Yuan glanced at her. Since he wanted to draw more information out of her, he did not mind.

What surprised him, however, was that Wu Feng, who had always disliked boys, actually gathered the courage to hug his other arm.