Only after someone at a nearby table left and the restaurant quieted down did some people notice what was happening over here.
The Gold Soul Coins spread conspicuously across the table drew everyone's attention.
The girl seemed to have taken Lin Chuan on as a personal challenge. She had already guessed what he was thinking.
He neither left nor agreed, making it obvious that he wanted to turn the tables and humiliate her.
Given her status, she naturally couldn't back down, but she was also at a disadvantage.
This was the greatest grievance she had suffered in all her years.
For a moment, tears welled in her eyes. She stopped slapping down Gold Soul Coins, crouched down, and began to cry.
Lin Chuan remained perfectly at ease. Under everyone's watchful eyes, he swept the hundred or so Gold Soul Coins on the table into his Storage Soul Tool.
"I don't know why you're so attached to this seat, but I've finished eating and had a good rest."
"Before I leave, I'll do you a favor and switch places with you."
"Go ahead and sit."
With that, Lin Chuan left without another word.
The girl clenched her little fists, wiped the tears from her face, and angrily shouted at his retreating figure:
"Don't let me catch you again, you hear me!"
Back at the courtyard he had rented.
Lin Chuan took a look at the Blue Silver Emperor in the corner. Its life signs were strong. As expected, it was tenacious.
After washing up and changing his clothes, he headed out again.
His destination this time was Shrek.
He planned to find out whether Tang Hao was still there. Who knew if he had been watching from the shadows the whole time?
If he was hiding nearby, he would notice when Lin Chuan tried to speak with Xiao Wu.
If Lin Chuan sensed powerful mental energy trying to probe him, that would mean Tang Hao was still there.
If he sensed nothing, he would simply abduct her.
Shrek was not far from Suotuo City.
Lin Chuan left through the city gate and followed the road toward a secluded village that nevertheless saw plenty of traffic.
After passing through a long, bustling road, he came upon an ordinary yet lively village.
Shrek Academy was a well-known academy in the village.
In the eyes of those who had seen the wider world, Shrek was nothing more than an ordinary, dirt-poor, utterly worthless academy.
But to the people here, Shrek was a genuinely good academy.
After all, anyone capable of running an advanced academy was no ordinary person.
If the students here could enroll, they would have protection during dangerous tasks like hunting Spirit Rings. They could also train their combat skills and learn more.
The pity was that Shrek Academy had its head in the clouds.
It only accepted geniuses. Only monsters.
Shrek Academy had poor dormitories, few resources, and no good Mimicry Cultivation Environment. It even charged applicants just to test whether they met its admission requirements.
It was an academy with no connections, resources, or money, yet it only wanted talented, capable geniuses.
A genius with Innate Soul Power of rank eight or higher, and Soul Power reaching rank twenty-one by the age of twelve, would receive at least twice as much support and resources at a good academy.
The admission requirements at Shrek ten thousand years in the future were actually pretty good.
But for an academy to have such requirements ten thousand years earlier was truly "far-sighted"—all the way into the distant future.
Shrek had already passed its recruitment period, and the registration office looked deserted.
The wooden gate, built in a wholly rustic style, bore five slightly shabby characters, caked in dust: "Shrek Academy."
Its top was arched, supported by pillars on both sides. With the greenery around it, the place had a somewhat natural, tranquil air.
"Too bad I'm here to smash the place up."
Looking at it, Lin Chuan shook his head with a sigh, feeling a long-forgotten sense of comfort.
"Could it be that I really am cut out to be a villain? Just thinking about beating up Little Scumbag, smashing the place, and showing off has me secretly excited."
He glanced around. No one was stopping him, so Lin Chuan simply walked right in.
There was nothing left to steal from an academy like this, and hiring more guards would only be a waste of money.
Anyone who actually made it into the academy would be spotted by its teachers or students.
There was no sign at the gate, but Shrek had a rule:
Anyone caught trespassing would be punished severely!
Of course, that didn't apply to anyone stronger than them.
At that moment.
On Shrek's training field.
The group from Shrek, having already gotten to know one another, had gathered there and lined up in an orderly row.
Flender stood on the platform, his expression solemn and imposing. His leather jacket gleamed a deep, light brown beneath the sun, and the ornament on his chest swung as he paced.
"I told you to run today. Did you all finish late?"
His voice was low. His scrutinizing gaze swept over everyone below.
No one dared meet his eyes. They lowered their heads and each gave a subdued "Yes."
Ma Hongjun's face was bruised purple and green, making his already chubby cheeks look even puffier.
Under Flender's scrutiny, he looked like a quail, head ducked as low as he could manage.
"Ma Hongjun, Oscar, did you finish your extra five laps?"
Oscar opened his mouth, but seeing the state his buddy was in, he nodded anyway.
"Y-yeah, we finished."
Seeing him like that, the anger in Flender's eyes flared. He shouted:
"Oscar, do you know why I punished you?"
"You're such a great guy. You ran Ning Rongrong's laps for her, and you ran Ma Hongjun's laps for him too."
"Want me to give you a medal?"
Feeling the pressure Flender released in his anger, the others looked at him with a mixture of fear and respect.
It was only after Oscar and Dai Mubai explained things a few days earlier that they had learned just how powerful a Spirit Saint was.
Their understanding had been inflated a bit by all the Swagger, too.
Ma Hongjun knew why Flender was so angry and hurried forward.
"I'm sorry, Dean. I'll run five more laps right now. Oscar only did it because he saw I was injured, so—"
Flender immediately shouted:
"You knew you hadn't finished your laps!"
Flender knew why Ma Hongjun had been beaten and why his injuries were so severe.
A few days earlier, Ma Hongjun's Evil Fire had started acting up. He had pestered his girlfriend Cuihua to help him out, but Tang San had stepped in to do the right thing and beaten him up.
After Ma Hongjun came to his senses, he and Cuihua broke up.
But yesterday, his Evil Fire flared again. He used his lecherous, craning ways to sneak a look at Zhu Zhuqing's stunning figure and Ning Rongrong's sweet, innocent face.
His old injuries hadn't healed, and the two of them beat him up again.
That left Flender, his teacher, utterly helpless.
Unfortunately, there was no way for him to directly resolve Ma Hongjun's Evil Fire. And with the whole mess involving Ning Rongrong, his mood was especially foul.
The shouting match that morning had left neither side better off.
They had each struck at the other's sore spots, but Flender had been through plenty and could still keep his composure.
At first, to make the students respect him as their dean, he had calmly accepted Oscar and Dai Mubai's Swagger.
But Ning Rongrong, the daughter of a sect master from the Upper Three Sects, had seen far more of the world. She had no interest in his Swagger.
Now this farce had happened as well.
To keep the students from losing respect for him, he had no choice but to personally demonstrate the dignity of the dean.
It was a warning to the others, delivered by punishing someone he knew well—someone he could easily smooth things over with later.
Actually, he wasn't all that angry. He was just about to scold them a little more and then send Ma Hongjun and Oscar off to finish their punishment when, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of someone approaching along the road outside the academy gate.