As his martial soul manifested, two yellow Soul Rings spiraled up from beneath his feet!
One yellow, one deep yellow!
At the same time, the aura of a twenty-two-level Soul Grandmaster swept out without restraint!
Flender froze at the sight.
First, he was stunned. Su Ming had actually absorbed his Second Soul Ring!
Then his fury erupted. "You're abandoning what matters for what doesn't! Utterly backward! You had a top-tier Fire Phoenix martial soul, and you've turned it into this chaotic mess! You're squandering a heaven-given talent!"
Su Ming's brows furrowed slightly at those words, and his voice turned cold. "Doesn't the strength I've shown prove enough?"
"Prove what? That your choice was right?"
Flender laughed in sheer fury and barked, "You've reached level twenty-two not because of your damned theory about evil attributes, but because you were talented to begin with!"
"If you'd listened to me over these past three years and absorbed pure fire attributes, your explosive power would already be unmatched among your peers!"
"Look at yourself now. Your martial soul is neither fiery nor evil—it's an utter mishmash. Sooner or later, you'll set yourself on fire!"
Seeing how stubborn Flender was,
Su Ming lost patience as well.
He had thought that if he showed his strength, he could change Flender's mind. Clearly, he had been wrong.
A person's beliefs were set in stone. Try to change them from the outside, and they would only see it as a provocation.
"We're not on the same path, so we have nothing to discuss. In that case, I'm leaving." With that, Su Ming turned to go.
At that, Ma Hongjun, standing nearby, rolled his eyes.
He immediately stepped forward and shouted at Su Ming, "Su Ming! How can you talk to our teacher like that? He's only thinking about your future!"
Then Ma Hongjun pretended to offer some friendly advice. "Listen to your buddy. Hurry up and apologize to the teacher! Promise him you'll absorb a fire-attribute Soul Ring for your third one, and that'll be that!"
Su Ming couldn't even be bothered to respond to Ma Hongjun.
"Enough. If he wants to leave, let him!"
Flender, however, had no intention of giving Su Ming the chance.
Su Ming had challenged his authority again and again, and he had run out of patience!
This was a villain who, on the strength of a little talent, had become disrespectful, selfish, cold-hearted, and arrogant!
If they kept him, he would inevitably have a terrible influence on Shrek in the future!
He swept his sleeve and pointed toward the academy gates, bellowing, "Shrek Academy is too small to contain a great expert like you, who refuses to be disciplined!"
"Su Ming, don't you despise my theories? As of today, you are no longer a student of Shrek! Now, get out of Shrek Academy this instant!"
Having said all that,
Su Ming couldn't be bothered to waste any more words. He turned and left, not even bothering to pack his things.
As he turned, he suddenly came face-to-face with a golden-haired, double-pupiled youth. They exchanged a glance, then went their separate ways.
After Su Ming had disappeared from sight, the golden-haired youth asked, "Who was that? Why did he make the dean so furious?"
Ma Hongjun replied, "Oh, don't mind him. He's an arrogant fool who's already been expelled."
Expelled?
The golden-haired youth looked toward the gate, recalled the brief glance they had exchanged, then let out a soft laugh.
Su Ming walked through the streets of Suotuo City.
Leaving Shrek Academy wasn't a setback for him. It was a release.
Su Ming considered the path ahead.
He understood perfectly well that on Douluo Continent, talent was everything!
But talent alone wasn't enough.
He also needed powerful backing.
He had awakened a mutated, top-tier martial soul, but if he became a lone cultivator with no connections, he would probably never accomplish much.
For starters, he wouldn't be able to get Dugu Bo's Immortal Herbs.
So he needed the shelter of a sufficiently powerful force.
Across the entire continent, there was only one place suited to him: Spirit Hall.
The Upper Three Sects were insular, and the other factions were too weak. Only Spirit Hall cared about talent rather than background, and it possessed the largest cultivation resources on the entire continent.
More importantly, with Spirit Hall backing him, everything he did would be far easier!
Having made up his mind, Su Ming quickened his pace.
An hour later, he arrived at the main hall of the Spirit Hall Branch in Suotuo City.
As luck would have it, Su Ming ran into Green, the Soul Elder who had helped him, once again.
Green froze when he saw Su Ming, then hurried over.
"Su Ming? Didn't you just go back to that Shrek Academy? Why are you here again? Got another mission?" Green asked in surprise.
Su Ming got straight to the point. "Officer Green, I want to officially join Spirit Hall."
"What?!"
Green froze for a moment, then erupted with joy!
A wish he'd only been hoping for a second ago had already come true?
He had witnessed Su Ming's terrifying talent firsthand: nine years old, and already a level-twenty-two Soul Grandmaster!
Even more astonishing, with only twenty levels of Soul Power, Su Ming had absorbed an eight-hundred-year Nine-Nether Demon-Faced Owl Soul Ring—despite being a whole rank below the usual threshold.
A peerless prodigy who had shattered a ten-thousand-year-old ironclad rule had taken the initiative to join Spirit Hall, and Green himself would be the one to recommend him. Within Spirit Hall's system, this was a contribution beyond imagination!
It was enough to earn him three promotions in a row!
Green fought to steady his trembling hands, then thumped his chest and promised, "Good! Excellent! Wait here a moment. I'll report this right away, then take you to Spirit City, to the main hall!"
"We're leaving now?" Su Ming asked.
"Of course!" Green said excitedly. "With talent like yours, there's no need to go through the usual process. You can join Spirit Hall directly! You might even be summoned by the Pope."
"All right." Su Ming nodded.
After Green made the arrangements, about ten minutes later,
a luxurious carriage pulled by four pure white steeds came to a stop outside the branch. Six of Spirit Hall's emblematic symbols were emblazoned on its body.
"Su Ming, get in," Green said proudly.
"Mm." Su Ming climbed into the carriage.
Several elite Soul Elder and Soul Ancestor guards then took up positions alongside it, escorting the carriage at full speed toward Spirit City.
A few days later, the carriage entered the magnificent Spirit City without incident and finally stopped at the foot of Pope Mountain.
Su Ming stepped down from the carriage and, escorted personally by a Red-Clothed Cardinal, headed toward the Pope Palace—the structure that symbolized the highest authority over soul masters on the entire continent.
"Creak—"
The palace doors slowly swung open.
Su Ming stepped inside.
The hall was spacious and grand, with two neat rows of solemn-looking soul masters standing along either side.
Their clothes came in different colors—red and gold.
Su Ming could sense that the Soul Power radiating from these warriors was astonishingly strong. Every one of them possessed the terrifying strength of a Soul Saint.
At the very top of the hall, a stunning woman sat upon the throne.