Earth-Shaking Desolate Bear Right Arm Bone, Money-Seeking Lay Buddhist Returns to the Scene!

By the time they returned to the freshman dormitory, the sun was already sinking in the west.

Xiao Xiao followed close behind Xiao Yan, stepping into his clean, tidy single room.

She sat on the edge of the hardwood bed, swinging her little legs lazily in the air. She showed no sign of wanting to go back to her own room.

"Brother, I'll stay here with you while we wait for Dean Yan's compensation. I can also take advantage of the afterglow from earlier and cultivate a little longer." She braced both hands on the bed, tilted her head up, and gazed at him with bright green eyes full of undisguised ingratiation.

Looking at her shamelessly clingy behavior, Xiao Yan shook his head helplessly.

This girl was usually clever and mischievous in front of others, but with him, all she had was persistence and pleading.

Considering they had indeed weathered a commotion that afternoon, he didn't make her leave. He pulled up a chair beside the desk and sat down, closing his eyes to meditate and regulate his breathing while she stayed in the room with him.

Time slipped by quietly as they cultivated.

When Xiao Yan opened his eyes again, stars dotted the sky beyond the window, and night had grown deep.

The bustle of Shrek Academy had long since faded, leaving only the insects chirping along the distant shore of Sea God Lake.

He turned to look at Xiao Xiao, who was sitting on the bed.

The little girl had her eyes closed, her breathing steady, her blue-green hair falling on either side of her face. She was clearly still meditating.

Xiao Yan stood up.

It was late at night, and propriety dictated that a young man and woman shouldn't be alone together in a room.

Besides, he knew perfectly well that he and Xiao Xiao weren't related by blood in the slightest.

Though they hadn't yet lifted the veil between them, and Xiao Xiao still regarded him as her own brother, they should still avoid giving rise to any unnecessary complications in the future.

He walked over to the bed and tapped Xiao Xiao on the shoulder twice.

"Wake up. Go back to your own room."

Xiao Xiao opened her eyes groggily, looking thoroughly unhappy at having her cultivation interrupted.

She rubbed her eyes and glanced at the darkness outside. "It's so late. Dean Yan definitely won't come until tomorrow. I'll just make do here for the night. This bed's pretty big."

"No. Men and women should keep their distance. Go back to your own room."

There was no room for negotiation. Xiao Yan grabbed Xiao Xiao by the wrist and, ignoring her protests, pulled her off the bed and ushered her all the way to the door.

"Bang."

The door shut without mercy.

Left outside, Xiao Xiao glared at the closed wooden door, grinding her teeth in anger.

She stamped her foot, the sole of her shoe thudding against the hallway floor.

"Stupid brother! You're such a blockhead!"

She shook her little fist in frustration, then reluctantly fished out her key and turned back to her own dorm room.

With the clingy little pest gone, the room finally fell quiet.

Xiao Yan sat cross-legged on the bed again and circulated the Art of the Fuxi Emperor.

Soul Power flowed ceaselessly through his meridians, and his consciousness gradually sank into his Star River Sea of Consciousness.

He silently shook his head, judging Yan Shaozhe's efficiency.

As the dignified head of Shrek Academy's Spirit Soul Department, he'd taken until the middle of the night to deliver some compensation and still hadn't shown up. Most likely, he'd wait until daylight tomorrow to make good on it.

But the thought had barely crossed his mind when the Fuxi Bagua Formation Map slowly revolving in his Sea of Consciousness picked up two distinct auras.

They were lingering in the open space outside the freshman dormitory.

One was vast as an abyss, restrained yet full of unfathomable depth. The other was hot and restless, but at that moment, a powerful force was firmly suppressing it, barely keeping it steady.

Xiao Yan's eyes snapped open, a sharp glint flashing in his dark pupils.

He swung his legs off the bed, casually threw on his moon-white robe, and walked out of the dormitory.

Outside the dormitory, beneath a century-old tree with thick, leafy branches, two figures stood quietly in the shadows, lit by sparse starlight.

They were Yan Shaozhe and the red-clad girl from that afternoon, Ma Xiaotao, who had lost control and attacked them in a frenzy.

Xiao Yan strode toward them at an unhurried pace.

When Yan Shaozhe saw him come out of the dormitory, a flicker of surprise passed through his eyes.

The master and disciple had deliberately concealed their auras on the way here, yet this boy had sensed their arrival precisely from inside his room. His mastery of spiritual power had once again raised the ceiling of Yan Shaozhe's estimation.

"Dean Yan, visiting in the dead of night means the compensation is ready."

Xiao Yan stopped three paces away from them. His gaze swept over Yan Shaozhe's empty hands, and he got straight to the point.

Yan Shaozhe coughed twice, masking his embarrassment at being asked for payment so bluntly.

He brushed a hand over his Storage Soul Tool, and a pitch-black brocade box appeared in his palm, giving off a faint, woody fragrance.

His fingers rubbed across the lid, his expression openly pained and reluctant.

In the end, though, he still held the box out.

Xiao Yan took it without hesitation and, right in front of Yan Shaozhe, popped the clasp open with a click.

As the lid lifted, a rich, overbearing burst of Soul Power, tinged with a hint of primeval wildness, surged out of the box.

A bone lay quietly at its center.

The Soul Bone was a deep, dark gold, like a top-grade amber that had settled for countless ages.

It was a right arm bone, its surface covered in naturally formed, ocher-yellow patterns of profound mystery.

The patterns resembled the veins of mountains and earth. Just looking at them, one could feel the terrifying force within, powerful enough to shake mountains.

"This is a six-ten-thousand-year Earth-Shaking Desolate Bear Right Arm Bone," Yan Shaozhe introduced, his voice carrying both pride and the pain of a bleeding heart.

"The Earth-Shaking Desolate Bear is a power-type Soul Beast, and its explosive force is second to none among the Soul Beasts of Star Dou Forest. The skill attached to this Soul Bone is called 'Desolate Bear Earth-Splitting Strike.' It not only grants a Soul Master terrifying strength in an instant, but also carries a high-frequency shock force that can pierce armor and defensive Soul Skills, damaging an enemy's body from within."

Xiao Yan looked at the Soul Bone in the box, impressed.

A sixty-thousand-year Soul Bone, pure power, and on top of that, a shock force.

If Xiao Xiao absorbed this bone, then paired it with the gravity control and crushing attacks of her Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, she'd be like a tiger with wings. Her combat power would make a qualitative leap.

Xiao Yan looked up and met Yan Shaozhe's gaze.

He'd expected the other man to fob him off with some ordinary Soul Bone that had barely passed the ten-thousand-year mark. He hadn't expected Dean Yan to be so generous.

What he didn't know was that Yan Shaozhe had indeed planned to hand over some low-grade ten-thousand-year Soul Bone.

But after returning that afternoon, Du Weilun had told him that Mu En, the Sea God Pavilion Master, had personally given Xiao Yan a token wooden plaque.

When Yan Shaozhe learned how highly his teacher regarded the boy, he immediately scrapped his original plan and gritted his teeth as he selected this top-grade Soul Bone from the Spirit Soul Department's treasury.

If he wanted to form a good bond with these two monstrous siblings and foster their sense of belonging to Shrek, this was a price worth paying.

"Thank you for your generosity, Dean Yan. We're very satisfied with the compensation." Xiao Yan closed the box and slipped it into his Storage Ring.

Now that he'd got what he came for, he had no intention of standing around in the freezing night with an old fox. He gave a slight nod and turned to head back inside.

"Wait."

Seeing him about to leave, Yan Shaozhe hurriedly called out.

Xiao Yan stopped and turned, looking at him in confusion.

Yan Shaozhe sighed and stepped aside, revealing Ma Xiaotao, who had been standing silently behind him with a complicated expression.

Ma Xiaotao had changed into a clean red uniform.

Her red hair fell neatly over her shoulders, and there was no trace of the madness or savagery from that afternoon on her bright, lovely face.

Her gaze was clear, even carrying the quiet of someone just awakened from a long dream. But when her eyes met Xiao Yan's, a flush of shame rose involuntarily across her cheeks.

"Xiaotao was in the wrong this afternoon." Yan Shaozhe dropped his official tone, sounding like an elder who'd been worrying himself sick over a younger generation.

"But I came here tonight not only to deliver the compensation. I also have another favor to ask."

He gestured toward Ma Xiaotao and continued.

"Her Martial Soul is the Evil Fire Phoenix, and she's long been tormented by the backlash of its evil fire. Over the years, I've tried every kind of rare ice-type treasure, but they've only treated the symptoms, never the root cause. But this afternoon, when the sound of your zither entered her Sea of Consciousness, it instantly extinguished her rampaging consciousness. Even now, the evil fire in her body seems frozen by some kind of rule. It's incredibly docile."

Ma Xiaotao looked up at the boy before her, who was much younger than she was, her eyes full of hope.

Only she knew how liberating it felt to have the torment that had been scorching her meridians every waking moment for years suddenly stop.

"So I brought her here in the middle of the night to ask you." Yan Shaozhe swallowed, his voice edged with urgency.

"How long can the freezing effect of your zither music last? Do you... have any way to eradicate the hidden danger of the evil fire in her body?"

The master and disciple stared at Xiao Yan like searchlights in the dark. They held their breath, afraid of missing a single word.

Xiao Yan looked at the hopeful pair and gently rubbed the cuff of his moon-white robe twice.

The corners of his mouth slowly lifted into a confident smile.

"Of course I have a way. I can guarantee that she'll be rid of the evil fire completely—and even refine her Phoenix Martial Soul to the level of Ultimate Fire."

At those words, Yan Shaozhe and Ma Xiaotao became incredibly excited.

There was a way! And it could even refine her Martial Soul! This was wonderful news!

But then Xiao Yan changed tack, drawing out his words.

"But..."

The excitement that had just surged through the master and disciple hung in midair, their hearts leaping into their throats.

They stared at Xiao Yan nervously, afraid the method would come with impossibly strict requirements.

Looking at their tense expressions, Xiao Yan calmly spoke three words.

"Pay me more!"

Yan Shaozhe and Ma Xiaotao both slipped, nearly tumbling to the ground together on the empty lawn.