Three Teachers?

Shen Ming finished speaking and even coughed once. He wore a helpless expression, but could barely suppress the smile at the corners of his mouth.

By any measure, his disciple was better than the disciple of his big boss.

What was so impressive about Innate Full Soul Power? His disciple not only had Innate Full Soul Power, but also possessed nearly a ton of terrifying strength.

In a fight against his disciple, even a three-ring Soul Master might not win, let alone a little girl with just one ring.

Those were Shen Ming's private thoughts. He hadn't said them aloud, but Leng Yaozhu had still heard the boast disguised as an insult.

Leng Yaozhu looked at him without getting angry. Instead, a faint smile appeared at the corners of her mouth.

"This child really is talented, and I can sense that he has a strong grasp of the elements, too. Ever since he came in, the earth elements around us have been gathering toward him. They've even affected my fire element."

Leng Yaozhu's voice was calm. Her eyes remained fixed on Li Ang as she raised a hand slightly, and a faint spark of fire gathered in her palm.

But when that spark appeared, there was hardly any fire element around it.

Normally, with her strength, she could summon flames at will without consuming her own Soul Power. The world itself was full of elemental energy.

Yet in this room, every element besides earth was either forcibly erased, forcibly stripped away, or even forcibly transformed.

The feeling was downright terrifying.

In a larger environment, it might not amount to much. But in a small space like this, the elements around them were being destroyed almost constantly, then transformed by the earth element—or by some element she had never sensed before.

It seemed even stronger than the earth element, yet it was connected to the same source.

Having sensed all this, Leng Yaozhu looked at Li Ang with equal parts curiosity and scrutiny.

Na'er, standing nearby, was also watching Li Ang, her beautiful eyes full of curiosity.

She hadn't sensed any of that. If the Silver Dragon King were here, she would have noticed it clearly, but she had completely lost her memories.

Under the circumstances, Na'er knew nothing at all.

Besides, because she had mastered other elements, the earth element and the Rock Element weren't exactly the same, but she didn't find them particularly uncomfortable.

She could even make limited use of the Rock Element, though her control couldn't compare to Li Ang's.

Hearing Leng Yaozhu praise him, Shen Ming looked unusually excited. But before he could figure out what to say, her next words shut him down completely.

"Not bad, Little Shen. I like this child. Let him become my disciple. As it happens, I'm planning to return to the Spirit Pagoda and resume my post. He can come with me to the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters!"

Leng Yaozhu's voice was calm, and she spoke casually. But as soon as Shen Ming heard her, he opened his mouth to object—and felt an overwhelming pressure bear down on him.

Feeling that terrifying pressure, Shen Ming's mouth twitched.

"Boss, Li Ang is very talented. He... he's also taken Mu Chen, the head of the Blacksmith Association, as his teacher and is learning Forging from him. Mu Chen thinks very highly of him."

As he spoke, Shen Ming looked helplessly at his direct superior. Leng Yaozhu, however, remained expressionless.

"Shrek City has Level 8 Blacksmiths as well. If this child really is as talented as you say, he can go there and study under another Level 8 Blacksmith."

Leng Yaozhu's tone remained calm. She even gave Shen Ming a faintly amused look.

Shen Ming opened and closed his mouth several times. Meeting Leng Yaozhu's gaze, he wore an unusually conflicted expression.

Under normal circumstances, he would have given in. After all, he hadn't known Li Ang for long, and they weren't that close.

But he couldn't bear to see such a promising child taken to the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters.

He knew what the environment there was like.

After all, before coming to the Spirit Pagoda in Eastsea City, he had been a Spirit Master at the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters.

The atmosphere back then had been suffocating. Apart from the children of the Qiangu Family, almost no one else had any rights.

It wasn't that their lives were terrible, but compared to the Qiangu Family, they were oppressed at every turn.

Someone as useless as Shen Ming had been fine. But for a true genius, there had been few good options beyond joining the Spirit Pagoda or the Qiangu Family and becoming the Qiangu Family's dog. That remained true even if Leng Yaozhu took Li Ang as her disciple.

If Li Ang's astonishing talents became known and the Qiangu Family took notice of him, they would either completely subdue and tame him or wipe him out altogether. Shen Ming couldn't bear to see that happen.

At that thought, hesitation flickered in Shen Ming's eyes. But he still took a small step forward, directly placing himself between Leng Yaozhu and Li Ang.

"Boss, I can't let you take this child away. He's very talented, and he'd be better off training here. We can give him a stable environment and help him build a solid foundation in the early stages."

"Once he's strong enough, I'll send him to the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters—but absolutely not now."

Shen Ming sounded tense, but he still stood between the two of them.

Li Ang glanced at Leng Yaozhu, then at Shen Ming, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

He felt no particular anxiety or fear toward Leng Yaozhu, so he watched her subtle expressions closely.

She hadn't come to take him away. More likely, she planned to leave both him and Na'er here in Eastsea City.

After all, Eastsea City was entirely under Leng Yaozhu's control, and there weren't as many complications to deal with.

Sure enough, facing Shen Ming's resolute gaze, Leng Yaozhu merely smiled softly. Then she stood up and brushed dust that wasn't there from her clothes.

"At least you've got some backbone. This child is still my student, but I really am going to leave him here with the Spirit Pagoda. And my other student will stay here at the Spirit Pagoda in Eastsea City, too."

"Do you really think I'm an idiot? If you can see what's going on, do you think I can't? These two children have monstrous talents. They'll surely become pillars of my Spirit Pagoda in the future."

"But if they go to Headquarters now, the Qiangu Family's influence could make the outcome unpredictable. A tree that towers above the forest is bound to be battered by the wind. Do I really need you to teach me that?"

After saying that, Leng Yaozhu glared at Shen Ming.

With a slight turn of her hand, two wooden boxes appeared. She placed them directly on the table, then her figure transformed into a streak of light and shot away from the Spirit Pagoda.