Gengxin City

"Are you two graduating? If you haven't decided on an Intermediate Soul Master Academy yet, I can recommend a particularly impressive one to you."

Because Yu Xiaogang was currently pleading with Li Luo, he did not put on his usual high-and-mighty facade; in truth, he had been beaten into submission by Li Luo earlier and dared not act arrogant anymore.

"Not interested."

Li Luo replied, pushing Yu Xiaogang aside directly.

Li Luo possessed great strength, and even though it was just a casual shove, Yu Xiaogang stumbled and nearly lost his footing.

Watching Li Luo's retreating back, Yu Xiaogang did not have the courage to intercept him again.

He shouted toward Li Luo's back.

"That Intermediate Soul Master Academy is called Shrek Academy, located in Suotuo City of the Bala Kingdom. Its faculty includes at least two Soul Saints and several Soul Emperors. It is an academy that specifically recruits monsters like you."

Li Luo did not stop upon hearing Yu Xiaogang's words; he knew that the place Yu Xiaogang was talking about was none other than Shrek Academy.

However, Li Luo knew exactly what kind of place Shrek Academy was. As for whether he would go, Li Luo intended to go eventually, though not to attend school—he had other purposes.

Li Luo's advancement required capturing soul beasts to obtain soul rings after reaching the bottleneck of each soul master rank. Four years later, when he turned twelve, he would go to Shrek Academy to enroll. By then, Ning Rongrong of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the Hell Spirit Cat Zhu Zhuqing would also arrive.

As a Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda soul master with innate level nine soul power, Ning Rongrong's talent was beyond question; she had to be captured as a contract beast.

Although Zhu Zhuqing's innate soul power was slightly inferior, she was diligent and hardworking in her cultivation.

Once Zhu Zhuqing was captured by Li Luo's Prism Ball, her martial soul would naturally evolve to the highest potential.

At that time, given Zhu Zhuqing's attitude toward cultivation, Li Luo's soul power level would increase very rapidly.

As for whether Li Luo had any thoughts about the little witch and the big cat?

That was a certainty.

After leaving Notting Academy, Li Luo first took Tang San and Xiao Wu back to Holy Soul Village to report their safety to Old Jack, who was overjoyed that Li Luo and Tang San had become honorable soul masters.

Li Luo left some money for Old Jack, while Tang San returned home to find that Tang Hao had not returned, leaving him feeling somewhat despondent.

The three of them swore an oath of brotherhood on the grass behind the mountain, with Li Luo as the eldest brother, Tang San as the second, and Xiao Wu as the third sister.

Subsequently, Li Luo took Tang San and Xiao Wu to Gengxin City. At this stage, Li Luo, Tang San, and Xiao Wu were all in a window of stagnant soul power growth and could only rely on meditation to improve.

However, cultivation is like rowing a boat against the current; if you don't advance, you retreat. It wasn't as if Li Luo had no way to quickly and steadily improve his strength.

That method was Whale Rubber. As a medicine capable of significantly increasing the body's limits, Li Luo naturally wouldn't forget it.

But Whale Rubber was, after all, a virility-enhancing drug. Although the price wasn't exorbitant, Li Luo's current financial strength only allowed him to buy a few pieces that were several decades old, or at most a hundred years old.

As for thousand-year or ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber, it was considered a potent tonic for those debauched nobles who indulged in nightly revelry, so the merchants selling it naturally hoarded the high-aged stock to sell at high prices.

Therefore, Li Luo planned to fully utilize Tang San's craftsmanship to forge hidden weapons with high lethality and wide range, such as the Godly Zhuge Crossbow and the Sand-Shooting Shadow, and auction them off to earn his first pot of gold.

Li Luo brought Tang San and Xiao Wu to Gengxin City. Xiao Wu's martial soul had now evolved into the Soft Bone Charm Jade Rabbit, and her soul beast aura had been hidden; under normal circumstances, even a Titled Douluo could not discern her identity.

"Hello, I am here to register as a registered blacksmith of Gengxin City."

Li Luo brought Tang San to the Blacksmith Association, and Tang San walked up to the staff member.

The staff member looked up at Tang San upon hearing someone call him.

"Little kid? Are you sure you haven't come to the wrong place? This is the Blacksmith Association. Did you lose your parents?"

Tang San was only nine years old at this time, and although absorbing two soul rings had promoted his development, his childishness could not be entirely hidden.

Tang San was already used to such situations; the three of them had attracted quite a bit of attention along the way.

Especially when they went to a pharmacy to buy decades-old Whale Rubber, the clerk had looked at the three of them with a strange expression.

"Are children these days so precocious? They look like they're barely ten, yet they're already playing so wildly?"

Clearly, the three of them buying Whale Rubber had caused a misunderstanding. Li Luo and Tang San's combined ages from their two lives exceeded thirty, and Xiao Wu was a hundred-thousand-year-old rabbit, so they naturally understood the clerk's subtext.

At first, Xiao Wu had been very expectant, but when Li Luo told her that softening the Whale Rubber with soul power and consuming it could raise the limits of one's physical fitness to assist in cultivation, she became very unhappy and looked dejected.

"Big brother, don't look at me because I'm young. I have plenty of strength, and I have a full two and a half years of forging experience."

Hearing this, the staff member focused his attention on examining Tang San.

"Little brother, how old are you this year?"

"Nine!"

"A nine-year-old child has already grown this tall and has such a sturdy build? I thought you were a fourteen-year-old child!"

"Little brother, is your elder a blacksmith? Did he teach you how to forge?"

Tang San thought for a moment; Tang Hao was indeed the blacksmith of Holy Soul Village, so he nodded.

"So it's a family of blacksmiths. Your background is good. Come with me."

Gengxin City was different from the outside world. In Gengxin City, soul power level was not the most valued standard; rather, it was a person's forging ability and family background. Undoubtedly, a blacksmithing background was very welcome here.

The president of the Blacksmith Association was only a Soul Emperor, but by virtue of his superb forging techniques, he was hailed as a "Divine Smith" and held a very high status in Gengxin City.

Under the guidance of the staff member, Tang San arrived at a forging room.

There were no other items in the forging room, only a blacksmith's bench. Under the bench was a furnace, and on top sat a piece of ordinary, pure natural iron ore that had not undergone any forging.

"That's enough. Now, forge and purify this piece of iron ore. You have a time limit of two and a half hours. As long as you can purify this ore to fifty percent within the allotted time, you will pass the assessment and receive a Junior Blacksmith Certificate."

"Once you have the Junior Blacksmith Certificate, you can register a storefront in Gengxin City and run your own business."

After the staff member finished speaking, he walked out of the forging room and called the assessment examiner inside.

Once the assessment examiner announced that the timer had started, Tang San picked up the forging hammer designated for the test and began to forge the piece of iron ore.

"Eighty!"

"Eighty!"

"Eighty!"

Small hammer forty, big hammer eighty!

Tang San started immediately with the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer, stacking the layers with every strike, each blow more powerful than the last.

After only ten strikes, the iron ore had already been purified to forty-nine percent, just a fraction away from the assessment standard.

The invigilator standing nearby was stunned, drawing in a sharp breath as he exclaimed in surprise.