The Meaning of Existence

Huo Yuhao soon followed Zhou Yi to the teachers' office.

Zhou Yi then spoke to Huo Yuhao in her usual forceful manner. "Huo Yuhao, I don't like wasting words. I'm very curious about your martial soul. During the run earlier, you didn't reveal it to assist yourself."

"I also asked the students who assessed you. Among this batch of Class One students, the finest martial soul was Wang Dong's Light Goddess Butterfly, followed by your Spiritual Attribute Body Martial Soul, the Spirit Eyes."

"The student responsible for assessing you spoke highly of you. Can you tell me what your first Soul Skill is?"

Huo Yuhao frowned. "Teacher Zhou, isn't that question somewhat inappropriate?"

"Soul Skills are the most important means of every Soul Master. Aside from inherited martial souls whose abilities are already widely known, most people's Soul Skills are private."

"If that is your question, then forgive this student for refusing to answer."

Nor could Huo Yuhao explain that he had actually already used his martial soul; Zhou Yi simply could not see it.

Zhou Yi's tone did not change much as she continued speaking.

After all, not probing into another person's Soul Skills was indeed common knowledge in the Soul Master world. As his teacher, she was entitled to ask.

However, an academy was ultimately different from a sect. Teachers were not appointed for life, so there was none of a sect's harsh rigidity.

"Fine. If you don't wish to say, forget it. The main reason I called you here is because I hope you'll consider joining Shrek Academy's Soul Engineering Department."

Zhou Yi spoke bluntly. She had listened to Fan Yu go on and on about Spiritual Attribute martial souls, especially Body Martial Souls, until her ears nearly grew calluses.

Now that such a promising seedling had appeared in her class, Zhou Yi did not think pulling him into Soul Engineering would be difficult.

After all, Huo Yuhao's foundation was poor. With only Rank 12 Soul Power, he would not accomplish much in the Martial Soul Department amid the gathering of geniuses at Shrek Academy. He might as well try the Soul Engineering Department.

"You know your own circumstances. Your martial soul may be special, but your foundation is too poor. Rank 12 Soul Power is enough to show that your Innate Soul Power was not high. Rather than remaining in the fiercely competitive Martial Soul Department, you should consider joining the Soul Engineering Department."

Huo Yuhao shook his head. "Sorry, but I'm not interested in the Soul Engineering Department. Teacher Zhou should look for someone else."

Join the Soul Engineering Department? What a lunatic. If I really wanted to study Soul Tools, why wouldn't I find a way to go to the Sun Moon Empire? Studying Soul Engineering at Shrek Academy—who knows whether what they teach is some trap the Sun Moon Empire deliberately threw out there.

Besides, with my current strength, where would I find spare time to research Soul Tools? And if I were going to research them, I certainly couldn't proceed step by step like ordinary Soul Engineers.

Even if I truly wanted to properly learn Soul Tools, it would be more reliable to wait until my Spiritual Power and Soul Power cultivation improved before studying them as a secondary pursuit. The stronger one's Spiritual Power, the greater one's advantage as a Soul Engineer.

At those words, Zhou Yi's gaze cooled slightly, but she did not force him. She merely nodded.

At present, the value Huo Yuhao displayed was no more than that of a Soul Master with decent combat ability. His Innate Soul Power was too low, leaving him with little training value.

He had not displayed the immense value of Spiritual Detection as he had in the original story, so she had no need to force someone unwilling to learn Soul Tools into studying them.

"Mm. In that case, you may go back first. But think it over carefully. Tang Ya and Beibei previously submitted an application to the academy regarding combining hidden weapons with Soul Tools."

"However, neither of them has much talent for Soul Tools. I believe that, as a Spiritual Attribute Soul Master, you may have that potential."

Huo Yuhao nodded. "Goodbye, Teacher Zhou." He then left Zhou Yi's office directly.

Speaking of Soul Tools, I've been so busy lately that I nearly forgot. I haven't had the chance to study the one I'm carrying. Its origin is a little troublesome, but it's still a Class 5 Soul Tool. I can try researching it when I get back.

Since Soul Tool Core Arrays can function on metal, could they be improved through Spiritual Power and directly manifested in the form of Soul Skills?

Or the Invincible Shield from the original work. If I could regularly use Soul Power to freely wield the abilities of these one-use Soul Tools, wouldn't that be far more reliable than researching how to arrange Soul Rings?

Huo Yuhao quickly finished eating at the cafeteria and returned to the dormitory. Wang Dong had also returned early and seemed to be waiting for him.

"Huo Yuhao, what did that perverted old hag call you over to say?" Wang Dong asked curiously.

"Why do you talk so much?" Huo Yuhao casually lay down on his bed. "What about the question I asked you before class? Have you thought about it? What kind of person do you think Zhou Yi is?"

Biting her lip lightly, Wang Dong answered, "Brutal? Unreasonable?"

Huo Yuhao shook his head helplessly, then said, "There is one thing she truly wasn't wrong about. You're an idiot."

"You come from a major sect or great clan too, right? Didn't they teach you any of this? Listen carefully. I'll only say it once. How much you understand depends on yourself."

"You must have heard about Zhou Yi's reputation around the academy recently, right?"

"A strict, good teacher? A one-quarter Inner Court admission rate? Unanimous praise from all Inner Court Disciples? That's right, isn't it?" Huo Yuhao said with a faint smile.

Wang Dong nodded and sat up on her bed, looking at the languid Huo Yuhao across from her. "Yes. What's wrong with that? At least, although that perverted old hag expelled a few people before, but—"

"But you want to say that they were all expelled for breaking the rules? Then tell me, who set those rules?"

"Were they expressly stipulated by the academy? Or weren't they all just Zhou Yi's rules?"

"A one-quarter Inner Court admission rate is indeed not low, but that is all it is. Go ask about the students Zhou Yi expelled—wasn't her expulsion rate far higher than other teachers'?"

"Only by compiling those two figures can you discover that her so-called teaching and strictness do not produce better results than other teachers. In fact, they produce worse results."

"In the end, her teaching model isn't teaching at all. It's discipline."

"As a teacher, isn't the real duty to help lazy students and students with poor physical foundations correct themselves and become outstanding?"

"Zhou Yi's method does solve that problem at its Origin. After all, if I expel you, then naturally you can no longer hold anyone else back. The proportion entering the Inner Court naturally rises, doesn't it?"

Only then did Wang Dong suddenly understand why, after asking around about Zhou Yi before, she had vaguely felt that something was wrong but could not figure out what it was.

"But then again, Zhou Yi herself cannot really be blamed for this. From what I can see, she doesn't have much brains either. She's simply stupid and malicious."

"You don't think Zhou Yi can cover the sky with one hand through her methods, do you?" Huo Yuhao sneered. "The entire Shrek Academy is like this."

"Zhou Yi's style is merely a miniature reflection of Shrek Academy. In truth, she is nothing more than an insignificant component within Shrek Academy."

"A Soul Emperor may sound impressive, but out on the continent, that is really all it is. It cannot stir up much of a storm."

"Inner Court Disciples, heh. Have you ever considered how many people who come to Shrek Academy sincerely want to enter the Inner Court? And how many will truly remain in the Inner Court and completely become people of Shrek Academy?"

"You should know that the first necessary condition for joining Shrek Academy is a City Lord Recommendation Letter."

"For anyone capable of producing a City Lord Recommendation Letter, if they have backing, how could the forces behind them possibly allow them to remain at Shrek Academy forever?"

"If they have no backing, then let me ask you this: wouldn't the city lords of those imperial cities try to recruit civilian geniuses with excellent Innate Soul Power and martial souls?"

"Whether taking them in as subordinates or having them join their own families to improve their bloodline inheritance, it would bring nothing but benefits."

"In the end, they are all more or less the same. Aside from talent, the second most important condition for someone to ultimately enter Shrek Academy's Inner Court is—"

"What is it?" Wang Dong pressed.

"How close they are to Shrek Academy. At the very least, they cannot harbor ulterior motives and must genuinely accept Shrek Academy's educational philosophy."

"And that is Zhou Yi's role." As he spoke eloquently, Huo Yuhao activated the Eye of Truth. Outside the dormitory building, the emotions of a humanoid figure glowing somewhat dazzlingly seemed to fluctuate slightly.

"Why doesn't the academy stop Zhou Yi's behavior? Because even if the students she filters out eventually leave Shrek Academy—"

"After being conditioned by her year after year, these people will still hold Shrek Academy in admiration. They will believe only that they failed to meet Shrek Academy's 'elite' standards, and at most, they will hate Zhou Yi alone."

"As for student recruitment, Shrek Academy, the Number One Academy on the Continent, does not lack such a small number of students. So what if every student in a grade is expelled? They can simply recruit another batch of geniuses."

"And geniuses are outstanding to begin with. What does it matter whether teachers wholeheartedly teach them? A Soul Master's path is nothing more than cultivation and hunting Soul Beasts, and in the end, it is all about allocating resources."

"No matter what, Shrek Academy is backed by the Star Dou Great Forest. Combined with the reserves it has accumulated over the years as the Number One Academy on the Continent, its resources in this regard are still quite abundant."

"Coupled with its reputation built over ten thousand years, is it difficult to pick seven who cultivate well from among a huge group of geniuses and make them into shining examples?"

"In truth, most noble and sect disciples who come to Shrek Academy know exactly what they are doing. They come to gild themselves, build connections, and recruit promising commoners. That is Shrek Academy's true value of existence."

"Only idiots like you truly think everyone comes here to study."

"Otherwise, sects have passed down their inherited martial souls for thousands, even tens of thousands of years. Even if a sect's inherited martial soul were a pig, experience alone should have turned it into a pig king by now."

"What help could Shrek Academy possibly offer them? Soul Ring arrangement methods? Or preferential educational resources?"

Lying on his bed, Huo Yuhao sighed. "After today's lesson, you should have realized that Zhou Yi's teaching ability can only be described as a disaster. She merely follows the textbook, rigid and inflexible. If you truly learn from her, you can only become someone just like her."

After saying that, Huo Yuhao paused and did not continue. Wang Dong, however, asked anxiously, "Go on! You've gotten this far, so why won't you explain it clearly?"

"Of course, you'll become an authentic Shrek person. Hahaha. All right, I'm taking a nap first. Entertain yourself. We still have class this afternoon."

Huo Yuhao said nothing further. He turned over and pulled the blanket over himself.

He had already said enough. Wang Dong could think through the rest herself. Some things only became truly yours when you figured them out on your own; what others told you would always belong to others. Whether this idiot could understand was her own matter.

Seeing this, Wang Dong's teeth itched with frustration as she glared viciously at the back of that riddle-spewing Huo Yuhao.

Outside the teaching building, Mu En lay on a recliner beneath the afternoon sunlight, his aged eyes narrowed.

An interesting kid. He sees things quite clearly. Shrek Academy, on the other hand, lacks people capable of seeing so clearly. To keep Shrek Academy going, passion alone is not enough; wisdom is equally important.

Compared to him, this little girl from the Clear Sky Sect is somewhat foolish. Still, her talent is outstanding. Let me see what the Clear Sky Sect intends to do next.

And while I'm at it, let's see whether you, you slippery little brat, have the potential to be worth Shrek Academy's investment.

The leisurely lunch break quickly passed. During that time, Tang Ya brought Beibei to the dormitory to find Huo Yuhao, but Wang Dong fobbed them off by saying that Huo Yuhao was resting to recover from Zhou Yi's punishment that morning.

Working is impossible. I'm never working in this lifetime. Huo Yuhao naturally had no intention of setting up a stall to sell grilled fish. Wouldn't that be purely wasting his time?

If it truly came to it, he could simply sell the Class 5 Soul Tool White Tiger Dagger in his possession. Even a Class 3 Soul Tool could sell for several thousand Gold Soul Coins. Even if a Class 5 Soul Tool was relatively weak, selling it for over ten thousand would be easy.

Moreover, the White Tiger Dagger itself was of fine quality, and even those with low cultivation could use it. Wouldn't that cover his living expenses at Shrek Academy for the next few years?

As for it being Huo Yun'er's supposedly only keepsake? Huo Yun'er had not had her soul scattered to the winds. Only once Huo Yuhao's strength improved would it be possible to save her.

And if she could not be saved, then keeping this single keepsake would serve no purpose. On the other hand, if that keepsake could be exchanged for greater value in his hands, Huo Yuhao believed the original owner would agree. After all, he had inherited the original owner's memories as well.

Though he was supposedly sleeping, Huo Yuhao was not idle. Within his Spiritual Sea, he was dismantling the structural composition and operating principles of the Class 5 Soul Tool, the White Tiger Dagger.