Xiao Yan: No Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, No Need to Bother, Thanks!

Listening to Xiao Xiao put on a stern face and earnestly offer to give up the Soul Bone, Xiao Yan showed no sign of being moved.

He briskly stretched out both hands, pinching Xiao Xiao's cheeks on either side as they tightened with seriousness. Then, applying force with all ten fingers, he pulled them outward as though kneading dough.

The faintly solemn, touching atmosphere in the room vanished instantly because of that sudden move.

"Mm... Brother! Let go!"

The emotions Xiao Xiao had painstakingly worked up were interrupted. With her mouth pulled open and leaking air, she protested indistinctly.

Annoyed, she raised both hands and tried to pry away the two "demonic claws" pinching her face.

But no matter how hard she tugged and twisted, Xiao Yan's wrists were like iron pincers rooted in place, utterly unmoving.

The difference in strength was simply too great. After struggling for a long while, Xiao Xiao could only give up and let her brother pinch her cheeks, her large emerald eyes brimming with resentment.

Seeing the little girl's comical appearance, Xiao Yan chuckled and voluntarily released her.

"Alright, enough messing around." Xiao Yan sat back down in his chair and crossed his legs.

"Xiao Xiao, do you think your brother is someone who needs the physical enhancement from a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone? Have you forgotten what colors my Spirit Rings are?"

Xiao Xiao rubbed her reddened cheeks and froze in place.

With that reminder, the image of the four deep-black Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Rings rising beneath Xiao Yan's feet whenever he released his martial soul immediately surfaced in her mind.

There was a common understanding among Soul Masters: the first requirement for absorbing a high-year Spirit Ring was having a sufficiently strong physique. Otherwise, the body would be directly burst apart by the surging Soul Power.

She suddenly recalled that their father, Xiao Zhan, had once said that Xiao Yan's fourth Spirit Ring had already reached the terrifying level of eighty thousand years.

Given such an outrageous progression, by the time he reached his fifth or sixth Spirit Ring, he would surely be hunting Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.

And Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts were guaranteed to produce Soul Bones!

Only then did Xiao Xiao realize how unnecessary her earlier concession had been.

For someone who treated Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Rings as standard equipment and Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones as something already in his future possession, a sixty-thousand-year right arm bone truly was not worth much.

"You should've said so earlier! I got all emotional for nothing!"

Xiao Xiao gave an adorable snort, but her movements were faster than anyone's.

She eagerly reached into the brocade box and grabbed the Earth-Shaking Desolate Bear Right Arm Bone, which glimmered with a dark golden radiance.

She took off her shoes and climbed onto the bed, sitting cross-legged. She pressed the right arm bone against her own right arm, then closed her eyes and circulated the Soul Power in her body to begin the fusion.

Dark golden light instantly enveloped Xiao Xiao.

The sixty-thousand-year Soul Bone contained the Earth-Shaking Desolate Bear's exceedingly domineering savage aura. During the initial stages of fusion, that wild earth-element power rampaged through Xiao Xiao's meridians, making her knit her brows tightly.

Xiao Yan sat beside the table and beckoned with one hand. The Fuxi Zither appeared across his knees.

His fingers plucked the strings, and soothing zither music that calmed the mind echoed through the room.

The sound waves precisely entered Xiao Xiao's body, turning into invisible shackles that firmly suppressed the frenzied Desolate Bear aura. They guided it into becoming docile and merging bit by bit into Xiao Xiao's bones and flesh.

With Xiao Yan personally standing guard, the entire absorption process went exceptionally smoothly.

An hour later, the dark golden light completely receded.

Xiao Xiao opened her eyes and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

She lowered her head and looked at her right hand. With a casual clench of her fist, her joints erupted in a series of crackling pops.

The sixty-thousand-year Soul Bone had raised her physical condition by a great margin out of thin air, filling her entire body with a sense of power.

"Brother! I feel like I can punch a cow to death now!"

Xiao Xiao excitedly jumped off the bed and immediately assumed a punching stance. With a shriek of wind, she launched a punch straight at Xiao Yan's face.

She could not wait to show her brother the power she had just gained.

Xiao Yan merely raised his right hand indifferently and extended one index finger.

"Smack."

His fingertip landed precisely against Xiao Xiao's forehead.

No matter how hard Xiao Xiao pushed, even stomping her feet hard enough against the wooden floor to produce dull thuds, she could not advance another inch.

That slender index finger was like an insurmountable mountain, utterly suppressing the new power she was so proud of.

Xiao Xiao bared her teeth in frustration, wildly flailing both hands in midair like an enraged little tiger, yet she could not even touch the corner of Xiao Yan's clothes.

Time flew by amid their repetitive daily routine.

In the blink of an eye, three months passed.

Over those three months, Xiao Yan and Xiao Xiao lived exceptionally fulfilling lives at Shrek Academy, each in their own distinctive way.

Every morning, the siblings unfailingly went to the small grove by Sea God Lake.

The Fuxi Zither and Nine Phoenix Flute played in ensemble, drawing in the dense heaven and earth essence around Sea God Lake for deep cultivation.

At noon, the two would appear on time at the snack street outside the academy for an hour-long "foraging expedition."

The afternoons were reserved for the siblings' sparring sessions.

Though it was called sparring, it was really one-sided training from the elder brother.

Within this grove, where Xiao Yan had set up a soundproof formation, the daily roar of the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron smashing into the ground could be heard, along with Xiao Xiao's exasperated shouts.

With the enhancement of the Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone, Xiao Xiao's ability to withstand blows rose dramatically, but the outcome never changed.

After every sparring session, several bumps would appear on Xiao Xiao's head. She would squat on the ground with both hands covering her head, sulking.

Meanwhile, Xiao Yan would always put on the airs of an elder, put away the Fuxi Zither, and solemnly declare that those bumps were "prominent horns," proof of her improved combat ability.

When night fell, Xiao Yan would remain alone in his room and circulate the Art of the Fuxi Emperor.

Occasionally, his consciousness would sink into the Sea of Consciousness.

Within that vast Star River Sea of Consciousness, Electrolux still spent every day circling the Eastern Emperor Bell.

Xiao Yan would take the opportunity to ask the old god of magic for advice on fine control techniques for spiritual power, or discuss differences in the laws of various planes.

The old man and the young man often argued endlessly atop the Bagua Formation Map, adding quite a bit of amusement to the otherwise dull days of cultivation.

As for the theory and practical combat classes at Shrek Outer Academy...

Ever since they had visited Class Nine's classroom on the first day of school, the siblings had not set foot in the teaching building again.

This worried their homeroom teacher, Mu Jin, terribly.

Although he had agreed to give Xiao Yan a great deal of freedom, three consecutive months without seeing him was an unprecedented rate of absenteeism even in the history of the outer academy.

Every day when Mu Jin went to teach the class, he would nervously watch the corridor, afraid that Du Weilun, the outer academy's director of education, would suddenly come to inspect the class and discover that the class monitor was leading everyone in skipping lessons.

How could Mu Jin know that Xiao Yan's connections at Shrek Academy were far more formidable than his own?

Not to mention that Yan Shaozhe, the dean of the Spirit Soul Department, personally had his back. Even Du Weilun, after seeing the token bestowed upon Xiao Yan by Mu En, the Pavilion Master of Sea God Pavilion, would never dare ask about Xiao Yan's whereabouts.

Of course, Xiao Yan had kept his promise as well.

He had not gone back on his agreement with Mu Jin to play the Lingshu: Yuan-Gathering Melody for the entire class once every half month.

He had merely moved the performance venue from the classroom directly to the shore of Sea God Lake.

The reason he gave was, "The heaven and earth essence by the lake is denser, so the formation works better."

In truth, he was simply too lazy to walk back to the classroom, so every half month, he had Mu Jin lead all the freshmen of Class Nine in a grand procession to the lakeside to find him.

The students of Class Nine had no objections whatsoever. They could enjoy double cultivation speed; forget the lakeside, they would have been willing to go even to Star Dou Forest.

Those peaceful, regular days were broken on this day.

That morning, two long-absent figures appeared outside Class Nine's classroom.

Xiao Yan wore his signature moon-white robe and walked in front, while Xiao Xiao, dressed in Shrek's freshman uniform, followed slightly behind him.

The moment they stepped into the classroom, the previously noisy Class Nine fell silent.

More than sixty pairs of eyes turned toward the doorway in unison. Ning Tian, Wu Feng, Li Dazhuang, and the others all wore astonished expressions, as if they had seen some rare species.

Mu Jin, who was seated behind the lectern organizing the assessment roster, looked up. Upon seeing the two "missing persons," he let out a long breath, and his taut nerves finally relaxed.

He quickly stood up and clapped his hands, drawing the entire class's attention.

"Everyone is here." Mu Jin's gaze swept across every student below the platform, and his tone turned serious.

"Students, the three months of theoretical and foundational instruction are over. The Freshman Assessment begins tomorrow, and the first thing is grouping!"