"Easy. Too easy."
As soon as the round-robin matches ended,
Di Qiu'er and Wang Dong'er bid farewell to their respective teammates and gathered with Liu Yuan and the others.
The moment they met up, they heard Wang Dong'er boasting,
"...No matter who it is, I can crush them with one hand."
"How amazing." Liu Yuan smiled and clapped along obligingly. "Then during the elimination rounds, we'll see whether Miss Wang can keep crushing everyone." As he spoke, he deliberately lingered on Di Qiu'er for a moment.
Di Qiu'er played along perfectly as well, puffing out her chest and issuing a challenge. "Want to fight?"
"Ugh—"
Exposed, Wang Dong'er's face instantly flushed red. Then she shot Liu Yuan a glare. "Can't you let me enjoy myself for once? Do you have to tear me down so quickly?!"
"No."
As laughter and banter broke out,
after a while, Liu Yuan was the first to stop.
Then his gaze shifted toward the side. "Teacher, did you want to speak to us about something?"
It turned out that while they had been teasing Wang Dong'er just now, a refined-looking male teacher had stood nearby with a smile on his face, showing no intention of leaving.
"Nothing in particular."
The male teacher pushed up the glasses on his nose and looked over Wang Dong'er, Huo Yuhao, Liu Yuan, and Di Qiu'er in turn, his eyes practically burning with fervor.
That look was truly hard to handle!
Tap, tap...
Wang Dong'er silently took a step back.
Something was wrong with this guy's gaze.
Wang Yan: "..."
No, was taking a step back really necessary?
Wang Dong'er, meanwhile, leaned close behind Liu Yuan and whispered, "This teacher isn't some kind of pervert, is he?"
In an instant, Wang Yan's smile froze on his face.
"Don't say that." Liu Yuan helplessly stopped Wang Dong'er, then stepped forward. He asked again, "Teacher, may I ask what you need?"
"Cough, cough..." Reminded of himself, Wang Yan hurriedly coughed to ease his embarrassment. "Sorry, I was too abrupt. Let me introduce myself first. I'm Wang Yan, and I aspire to research Martial Soul theory."
But when that was mentioned,
a trace of bitterness inevitably rose in his heart.
If his cultivation talent had been good, why would he have clung to this path? He clearly possessed the powerful Coiling Dragon Staff, yet even now, he had only reached the cultivation of a Soul King. These days, advancing his cultivation had become even more difficult.
Left with no choice, he could only seek another path.
He decided to imitate the master from ten thousand years ago, starting with research into Martial Soul theory and making a name for himself in history.
Unfortunately, after tens of thousands of years of development, theoretical research on Martial Souls had become heavily fortified.
Trying to make further progress was as difficult as reaching the heavens.
Unless he got lucky and attached himself to a disciple capable of becoming a god, he could only approach it from other angles.
For example, by studying the rarest and most powerful Martial Souls in the world. But such Martial Souls were both difficult to encounter and difficult to obtain.
Who would have thought that this New Student Assessment would let him encounter three of them? If he included the rarely seen and equally precious Body Martial Soul, there were four in total.
One was the Light Goddess Butterfly. It had appeared before, but research on it was limited, and the books contained only scattered mentions.
One was the Golden Dragon. Even among soul beasts, it had already become a legend, not to mention as a Martial Soul.
The last was Liu Yuan's Origin Willow.
It appeared ordinary, but thanks to his status as Xuan Zi's disciple's disciple, he had been fortunate enough to see the Golden Ancient Tree. The aura of Liu Yuan's Origin Willow Martial Soul seemed to share the same origin as the Golden Ancient Tree.
Furthermore, through Di Qiu'er and Liu Yuan's soul battle, he had also been fortunate enough to learn the outcome during his investigation.
Could something capable of contending with the Golden Dragon possibly be ordinary?
He did not even need to think with his brain to know it was not!
"So Teacher Wang wants to study our Martial Souls?"
"Precisely."
Wang Yan nodded, expectation in his eyes.
"I wonder if that would be possible?"
As for that...
Liu Yuan considered it briefly.
"Teacher Wang, we still have the New Student Assessment ahead of us, so I'm afraid we won't have much time."
"No matter, no matter."
Hearing his polite refusal, Wang Yan expressed his understanding. He could only say, "I wouldn't study them for free, of course. I will definitely provide appropriate compensation. If Student Liu changes his mind, you can contact me."
Upon hearing this, Liu Yuan did not refuse again.
"In that case, we'll discuss it another day."
"Of course, of course..."
After that,
Wang Yan did not press the matter further and turned to leave.
Watching his hurriedly departing back, Wang Dong'er turned to Liu Yuan. "Did you really agree to that teacher?"
"I didn't exactly agree."
Liu Yuan did not say anything more. He merely waved to the others. "All right, let's go."
He knew that Xuan Zi stood behind Wang Yan. Before long, Wang Yan would most likely go find that Taotie Douluo.
Although Xuan Zi was unreliable as a person,
if he truly came, he would not mistake the Ultimate Wood attribute of his Martial Soul, would he?
By the lake on Sea God Island.
"Elder Xuan, that's the situation."
Wang Yan stood respectfully to one side,
waiting for Xuan Zi, who took a bite of chicken for every sip of wine, to speak.
"You've set your sights on quite a lot of Martial Souls, kid." Xuan Zi tore off a piece of chicken. As he mumbled with his mouth full, a thoughtful gleam flashed through his cloudy eyes.
"There's nothing much to say about that Light Goddess Butterfly girl. Although the Light Goddess Butterfly is indeed rare, it cannot be considered powerful. Besides, she's the little princess of the Clear Sky Sect. You shouldn't have known about that."
"She's from the Clear Sky Sect?"
Wang Yan was startled upon hearing that.
"Could she have Twin Martial Souls?!"
"Mm."
Seeing that Xuan Zi was unwilling to say more, Wang Yan did not ask further and shifted the topic to someone else.
"Then what about Di Qiu'er?"
"You're talking about the one with the Golden Dragon Martial Soul?"
"Yes."
"Her..."
At the mention of this, Xuan Zi's hand paused.
"Actually, that girl caught our attention the moment she entered Shrek Academy. But there are some issues with her background. She was brought in by people from the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, yet she has nothing to do with the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect."
"So the academy plans to observe her for now. If nothing unexpected happens, she will become an Inner Court student in the future."
No wonder!
A look of understanding appeared on Wang Yan's face.
He had wondered why the academy had not approached her when she possessed the Golden Dragon Martial Soul with Ultimate Strength.
"Elder Xuan, then what about Huo Yuhao?!"
A Body Martial Soul...
A sharp light burst from Elder Xuan's cloudy eyes.
He could not help thinking of Old Poison.
"That kid's Martial Soul is indeed quite good."
"And from my estimation, it may not be limited to his eyes. It might even connect to his brain. If that's true, then it would be an extremely powerful Body Martial Soul."
He tossed aside a chicken bone. "How is his cultivation?"
"Level twenty, with a hundred-year first ring."
Wang Yan quickly replied.
"I see..."
Elder Xuan weighed it for a moment. "Then that's not bad. As long as his Martial Soul hasn't undergone a second awakening, this kid is worth cultivating. His talent is just a little lacking."
As he spoke, he glanced at Wang Yan.
"Your eyes are sharp, kid."
After casually wiping the grease on his clothes, he picked up the wine gourd beside him and took a huge gulp.
"Little Wang, find a suitable match and have Xiao Du arrange a spot for me. I'll go take a look personally when the time comes. Especially that one you mentioned, Liu Yuan. His Martial Soul not only resembles the Golden Ancient Tree, but can also contend with the Golden Dragon, and his background is clean as can be..."
Tsk, tsk, tsk—
"That kid is the one with a truly bright future!"
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