Shrek Academy.
A graceful pink figure, carrying a small cloth bundle on her back, skipped into Shrek Academy. However, her expression was somewhat unnatural.
"X-Xiao Wu?" Li Yusong said incredulously as he lay in his recliner.
"Hello, Teacher Li." Xiao Wu greeted him with a beaming smile and continued inward.
The Shrek students and teachers were not at the academy. They were currently participating in spirit battles at the Soto Great Soul Arena.
Watching Xiao Wu enter the academy, Li Yusong abruptly rose to his feet. Soul Power gathered in his legs, and he turned into an afterimage as he raced toward the Soto Great Soul Arena.
"Are Tang San and the others training?"
Xiao Wu circled the usual training grounds but did not find Tang San and the others, so she headed toward the dormitories.
When she reached her dormitory door, Xiao Wu placed her hand against it but did not immediately push it open.
After a moment, Xiao Wu seemed to have figured something out—or perhaps steeled herself—and forcefully pushed open the wooden door.
There was no one behind it, just as Xiao Wu had expected.
She set her pink cloth bundle on the weathered wooden table and walked toward her bed at the far end of the room.
She stood before her bed, looking at its neatly made sheets and that unfamiliar bedsheet.
Xiao Wu froze in place as though lightning had struck the top of her head.
"S-Someone..."
Xiao Wu clicked her little mouth in disbelief.
She did not sit on the bed. Instead, she returned to the chair beside the wooden table, crossed her arms on its surface, and buried her pretty face in them.
She began to sob quietly.
All the grievances she had suffered in the Heavenly Prison, along with Di Lintian's terrible attitude, surged into her heart at once.
Those neatly made sheets became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Unable to hold back her emotions any longer, she finally cried.
Unnoticed by her, a black-robed man stood outside the dormitory door, watching everything she did.
After letting her cry for a while, the black-robed man finally spoke. "Xiao Wu."
Hearing the voice, Xiao Wu abruptly stopped crying, though she still could not keep herself from hiccuping twice.
That voice doesn't belong to Teacher Zhao or the dean.
Xiao Wu slowly raised her head and looked toward the doorway through tear-filled eyes.
"Are you a new teacher?"
Looking at the unfamiliar figure, Xiao Wu raised a hand and wiped away the lingering tears at the corners of her eyes.
"I'm Tang San's father. Can you tell me where you've been these past few days? Tang San has been very worried." Tang Hao did his best to keep his voice steady.
Tang San's father?
Xiao Wu walked out of the dormitory, looked at this uncle, and politely bowed. "Hello, Uncle Tang."
"It was like this. That day, I was sleeping in the dormitory when a voice suddenly woke me up."
Xiao Wu recited the excuse she had prepared on the way. "I looked in the direction the voice came from and saw an auntie with seven Soul Rings beneath her feet calling to me."
"She said she wanted to take me as her disciple, then brought me away to cultivate for a month."
Xiao Wu did not know whether this excuse could fool them, but time had been tight, and she could not think of a better one.
Tang Hao nodded upon hearing this. He believed her!
He immediately discarded his previous speculation.
If Xiao Wu had truly been captured by people from Sky Dragon Pavilion, she could not possibly have returned now. And if it had been some other powerful Soul Douluo or stronger expert, they would certainly have watched Xiao Wu around the clock.
How could they possibly have given a little Soul Elder girl the chance to escape?
After thinking it over, this seemed to be the only possibility.
"Didn't your teacher come back with you?"
Tang Hao still decided to ask further.
"No. Teacher said she wanted to travel the world and told me that we would meet again if fate allowed it." Xiao Wu shook her head.
Looks like the excuse I came up with is pretty good after all.
A few days later, Heaven Dou City.
Di Lintian sat casually on a cushioned couch in the Crown Prince's Residence while "Xue Qinghe" handled official business in the front hall.
He held an opened envelope in his hand, clearly having already read its contents.
This was the first letter Xiao Wu had sent. There was not much written in it, only that Shrek Academy would be heading to Heaven Dou Royal Academy in two months.
Xiao Wu had already learned of Tang Hao's strength, and she also knew that she had constantly been under the watchful eye of a Titled Douluo.
However, she had not written anything about Tang Hao in the letter.
"Heaven Dou Royal Academy in two months?"
Di Lintian murmured.
"Hey, why are you here?"
After finishing her work, "Xue Qinghe" returned to the inner chambers where she normally rested. She raised her chin at Di Lintian, wearing the arrogant air of a spoiled young lord.
If it had been Qian Renxue's own body, Di Lintian might have found the sight somewhat beautiful.
But with Xue Qinghe's male face... it was really hard on his eyes.
"Change back first." Di Lintian looked disgusted.
Qian Renxue snorted coldly, but she still canceled the soul skill of her head soul bone and returned to her original appearance.
Her golden hair cascaded down like a waterfall, and her exquisite features carried a hint of heroic spirit.
Seeing this, Di Lintian rose directly from the couch. He stepped forward, grabbed her hand with his left hand, and naturally wrapped his right arm around her waist.
"Of course I came to deepen our relationship." Di Lintian wore a mischievous grin.
Qian Renxue's body stiffened slightly. She had not expected Di Lintian to make such a move.
Then a wave of heat rose from her slender neck and quickly spread to the tips of her ears.
She pushed at Di Lintian's sturdy chest with her free hand and struggled as she said, "Who wants to deepen our relationship with you?"
Looking at the lovely figure struggling in his arms and smelling the fragrance lingering around his nose, Di Lintian smiled faintly and released Qian Renxue.
"What exactly do you want?"
Having broken free, Qian Renxue avoided his gaze, not daring to look at him.
"Didn't I say it? I came to deepen our relationship."
Di Lintian pulled Qian Renxue down onto the couch with him, as though he were the true owner of this place.
"You really just came to deepen... pfft, nothing?" Qian Renxue stumbled over her words.
"I'm teasing you." Di Lintian changed his tune again.
"You—!!!"
Qian Renxue glared at Di Lintian with puffed cheeks.
"Alright, alright. I brought good news." Di Lintian soothed her. "I've even prepared your Eighth Soul Ring for you."
"The Eighth Soul Ring?"
Qian Renxue's Soul Power was currently level seventy-three. She had not had much time to cultivate, so the Eighth Soul Ring was still far too distant for her. "What Soul Ring?"
"I'm telling you in advance, I don't want anything below a hundred thousand years!" Qian Renxue drew out the final words, clearly joking.
Unexpectedly, Di Lintian nodded seriously. "Your Seventh Soul Ring is already eighty thousand years. How could I possibly offer you a Soul Ring below a hundred thousand years as your Eighth Soul Ring?"
The Eighth Soul Ring Di Lintian had prepared for Qian Renxue was Xiao Wu. After thinking it over, he could only give her to Qian Renxue.
His three Soul Rings had already been decided. One would be a Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, while the remaining ones could be God-Bestowed Spirit Rings. Na'er did not need one either.
As for the five members of the Imperial Dou Team, Di Lintian had already treated them well enough.
So after considering it all, Qian Renxue was the most suitable choice.
Of course, he would only give her the Soul Ring. The soul bone was his.
In any case, Qian Renxue did not need a soul bone. The soul bones inherited by the Qian Family could form the Angel God Set; not one piece could be missing.
"What?"
Qian Renxue stared blankly at Di Lintian.
"A hundred thousand years!"
Di Lintian raised his hand and flicked Qian Renxue on the forehead.
"Really?"
Qian Renxue rubbed the spot he had flicked, still finding it hard to believe.
"Of course it's real. I found a hundred-thousand-year transformed Soul Beast," Di Lintian said directly.
"You're amazing."
Qian Renxue excitedly threw her arms around Di Lintian. Only after embracing him did she realize what she was doing, and the blush that had yet to fade from her pretty face deepened further.
"A Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring is worth a hug from you?" Di Lintian said with a wicked smile.
Qian Renxue rolled her eyes at Di Lintian, then quickly pecked his cheek like a chick pecking at rice.
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