Level 20, What Soul Ring Should I Get?

The days that followed returned to a state of dullness; those who needed to cultivate cultivated, and those who wanted to slack off slacked off.

Chen An was not accustomed to such a comfortable life. The two children were training so diligently that they rarely emerged, which meant he was asked questions far less frequently.

Naturally, he found himself with nothing to do again. Unable to sit still, Chen An left a note and slipped away to the villages surrounding Suotuo City.

He was currently shouting at the top of his lungs to an uncle who was somewhat hard of hearing.

"Uncle, hello! May I ask if your village chief is in?"

After some careful consideration, he had decided to find a few uncles and aunties to come back and work for him.

He wasn't in a rush, but after calculating the time, he realized that while the new recruitment cycle was still a few months away, the busy farming season would arrive soon. If he didn't find people now, it would likely be difficult to hire anyone later.

As for why he didn't recruit in Suotuo City, the workers there would inflate their prices the moment they heard it was for Phantom Spirit Academy, knowing full well he was desperate for staff.

He naturally couldn't afford those wages.

"Eh? Village what?"

"Village chief!"

"Eh? What about the village chief?"

Chen An was dumbfounded. How could he run into a scene straight out of a comedy sketch here?

The way the old man furrowed his brow was so convincingly ignorant that, in his past life, he would have easily won an Oscar for it.

Perhaps having spent so much time with Zhu Zhuqing lately, Chen An felt he had been somewhat influenced by her.

With a shift in his mood, he spoke up.

"Uncle, to be honest with you, your village chief has committed a crime. I've been sent here to arrest him. If you don't tell me where he is, I'll have to consider you an accomplice."

As soon as those words left his mouth, the old man jumped up, his neck turning red instantly, followed by his entire face.

"You little brat, you can't be so unreasonable! Whatever Ma Dong did has nothing to do with me!"

Chen An watched the old man's performance with great interest. He was quite satisfied with this "overheating" display and found it rather amusing.

But by now, the old man realized he had been played. He was usually the one playing others; he had never been on the receiving end before.

Having been outsmarted, he turned even redder, his speech becoming stuttered and incoherent.

"You..."

He couldn't get the words out for a long time. It was fortunate he wasn't old enough to actually collapse from the sheer indignation.

Chen An held back his laughter and gestured for him to continue his performance.

Who would have thought the old man would simply ignore him and walk away?

Sigh, what a pity; the grand show had ended just like that.

If this place didn't work out, there were plenty of others. In the Douluo world, the one thing there was no shortage of was scattered villages.

Thus, Chen An visited a few more villages and eventually found some aunties and uncles willing to come.

"Good, then it's settled. Report for duty in four months."

After signing the contracts, Chen An let out a sigh of relief. Another important task was complete.

Once finished, he had intended to head straight back to the academy, but he remembered the trip Zhu Zhuqing had taken a while back.

Seeing that it was still early, he decided to go and take a look at the so-called Shrek Academy.

"That's the plan."

Having made up his mind, he concealed his aura and set off toward Shrek.

Upon arriving, he could only sigh. The descriptions were spot on; the place was excessively rustic.

"Eh? Who is that kid? Dai Mubai?"

Looking down from the mountain, he could vaguely see a youth training.

At this distance, he shouldn't have been able to see clearly, but the youth had transformed into his White Tiger form, and the features were far too distinct.

He looked up at the sky, puzzled that this guy wasn't out fooling around at this hour.

"Rare. Could he have been spurred on by Zhuqing? Interesting."

He didn't do anything else and simply left.

These matters were better left for his two disciples to resolve.

He had always been like that rabbit; he believed in having a legitimate reason for action. If the other party didn't strike first, he wouldn't move.

Inside the Shrek training grounds.

Flender suddenly frowned. Beside him, Zhao Wuji, though not particularly sharp, was quite good at reading people.

"Boss? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just an illusion, perhaps. I haven't been sleeping well lately."

With that, they said no more and turned their attention back to the situation on the training field.

On the other side, Chen An was humming a little tune, strolling back as if he were out for a leisurely walk.

"When the sun comes out, I bask in the sun; when the moon comes out, I bask in the moon."

He usually stayed cooped up in the academy and rarely ventured out, so since he had the rare opportunity today, he simply enjoyed the scenery along the way.

In his past life, let alone having such scenery, even if he did, he never had the time to appreciate it.

His pace was only slow in relative terms, and by the time he returned to the academy, the sky hadn't even shown the slightest hint of darkening.

"Teacher, it's bad!"

Luo Xiaoshi was guarding the entrance, and the moment he saw Chen An return, he rushed forward.

He lacked even a shred of his usual steady demeanor.

"What's so bad? Your teacher is doing just fine."

Chen An felt helpless upon hearing this, feeling a bit of disdain; if it had been Zhu Zhuqing saying this, it would be fine, but coming from Little Stone? Forget it.

"Speak, what is so urgent? Did your senior sister get snatched away by a monster, or did someone come and beat you up?"

Chen An teased, showing that he was completely unbothered.

This place was quite remote; Luo Xiaoshi's enemies? They wouldn't be able to find it. As for that bunch from the Zhu Family... Zhu Zhuqing had gone to Suotuo City alone before and was fine, so why would they choose this moment to come?

What's more, the little student Zhu had talismans on her; even if it were a surprise attack, the offensive talismans on her body would be enough to hold out until she tore a distress talisman.

It wasn't as if the little student Zhu was actually a little pig; she possessed the Spirit Cat martial soul, not a Spirit Pig martial soul.

"Uh, Teacher, please don't tease me. I just couldn't expand my energy no matter what; it felt like I hit a limit, but I also felt like there was still space, and I didn't feel any headaches or anything like that."

Uh, just because of this?

Ah, no, no, every disciple is important, I must answer properly.

"Are you stupid? If you hit a limit, then break through. Did you really think you could finish the entire cultivation manual at level 20? You can't keep doing this at level 30?"

He couldn't help it, he really couldn't help it; he felt ashamed but had no regrets.

He truly hadn't expected this kid to be so inflexible. Chen An really wanted to cover his face; looking at it this way, his eldest disciple was much smarter.

"Ah, oh, right!"

Luo Xiaoshi froze, then suddenly realized, as if that were indeed the logic. He scratched his head, looking embarrassed as he realized he had been stuck in a dead end.

"Hurry up and go break through; I'm going to call your senior sister."

Little Stone was stunned again, saying blankly, "Huh? Why call Senior Sister?"

Chen An felt a bit of anger rising, responding, "You pose no threat to my martial path, but you are making me lose face in the field of education."

"You're level 20, don't you need to go get a spirit ring?"

Chen An replied, wondering to himself why this kid was getting dumber the more he trained. He remembered that monkey being sharp; he shouldn't be getting dumber, that shouldn't be right.

He subsequently pushed this thought aside, as another problem began to occupy his mind.

"Little Stone is level 20, what kind of spirit ring should I get for him? A ten-thousand-year spirit ring? No, no, he can't handle that right now. A thousand-year spirit ring? No, he's too weak."

Chen An blissfully ignored the fact that Luo Xiaoshi was only level 20, but that was normal, as he was used to cheating.

In the end, he decided to look for one with a high age limit that hadn't yet broken the thousand-year mark; he had no choice but to take the path of the Rainbow Warrior.