Cultivation is Truly a Bitter Word

Bang!

Smoke exploded outward!

The elderly teacher, who had been speaking in a dull, monotonous tone, snapped his head around and lowered his gaze toward Jiang Naruto, who sat expressionless in the corner of the classroom.

The smoke beside him had yet to fully dissipate, and the surrounding students all turned their gazes toward him in unison.

"Student Jiang Naruto, what are you doing?"

"Nothing happened, just a Martial Soul malfunction." Jiang Naruto's expression remained unchanged as he raised his eyes to meet the old teacher's gaze, answering calmly.

A Martial Soul malfunction?

Could a Martial Soul even malfunction?

The old teacher's mouth twitched, his expression subtle, but he ultimately chose not to expose Naruto's lie. He simply offered a few words of caution and let the matter slide.

It was merely a minor interlude; within moments, the entire classroom returned to normal.

"Big Sister Xiao Wu, what's wrong?"

Someone nearby whispered, and Xiao Wu, whose pupils had been dilated in terror, finally snapped back to reality. She turned her head and offered a smile, signaling that she was fine.

The working-student lackeys she had recruited yesterday didn't think twice, easily fooled by her act.

After doing this, Xiao Wu turned her head imperceptibly, casting a glance toward Jiang Naruto in the corner of the classroom.

A rank six innate soul power might be considered genius at Notting Academy, but in the eyes of Xiao Wu, a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, he was no different from the ordinary people around her. Besides, Xiao Wu was currently busy celebrating her encounter with someone who had full innate soul power, so her attention wouldn't be wasted on this "ordinary person."

Until just now.

The moment her peripheral vision swept over Naruto, Xiao Wu immediately shrank her ears and retracted her gaze in fright.

What on earth was going on?

His soul power level was lower than hers, and he was clearly just sitting there, looking full of openings, yet why...

Her instincts as a Soft Bone Rabbit were blaring a warning at maximum volume!

Could she actually die?

Unaware of Xiao Wu's internal struggle, Jiang Naruto let out a long breath.

"Hoo..."

It looked somewhat bizarre, as Jiang Naruto's face remained completely expressionless, yet a faint sound of exhaling was clearly audible.

Right beside "Jiang Naruto," the real Naruto, who was hunched over and hiding under the desk, glanced at his clone. Aside from a slightly stiff expression, it was indistinguishable from himself—a world of difference compared to the thumb-sized Naruto from before!

He truly was a Heretical Genius...

While feeling a sense of awe, Jiang Naruto patted his chest, still feeling a lingering fear.

The effect of the 100% focus boost was too exaggerated; the way it completely purged all distracting thoughts from his mind was terrifying. He really had to be careful about using it in the future.

"Uh... I already believe what you said before, there's no need to demonstrate it again..."

Bibi Dong's laughter echoed in his mind; she never missed an opportunity like this.

Jiang Naruto's forehead was covered in black lines. He didn't bother arguing with the old woman. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, he dispelled the clone and sat back in his original seat.

The old teacher's hypnotic voice continued. After a few more attempts, Jiang Naruto finally found the trick to maintaining control while in a state of hyper-focus.

The following days were a simple repetition: in the morning, he used [Ninja Student] to speed-read the Ninja Academy Textbook; in the afternoon, he used [No Regrets Youth] for high-intensity training; and finally, he returned home at night to sit cross-legged and cultivate.

For several days in a row, it was always the same.

As a soul master academy, even a primary one, Notting Academy still possessed a spacious training ground large enough for the entire school to use at once.

Based on the training area, they had also used white lines to mark out several crude soul-fighting arenas the size of basketball courts.

A burly man in a teacher's uniform paced back and forth in front of the students with his hands behind his back, shouting with great vigor, "Listen up! We are soul masters! Soul fighting will be an inevitable part of your lives from here on out! We are in school now, and this course is meant to let you adapt to soul fighting in advance!"

"Don't wait until you graduate and find yourself ignorant of the rules of soul fighting! Some have even lost their lives in the arena because of it!"

The crowd roared in response.

These were naturally not the new students, but the graduates who were twelve years old and in their sixth year of school.

Many of them had crossed the threshold of a level ten soul master and obtained their first soul ring.

Even so, their soul fights still seemed boring, no different from street brawls. One couldn't expect a ten-year soul ring to provide any decent soul skills; even hundred-year soul skills had abstract and boring ones like "Blue Silver Bind," let alone these ten-year rings.

But this didn't stop the lower-grade students from gathering at the edge of the arena, looking with envy at the white soul rings beneath the others' feet.

Only Jiang Naruto frowned.

He watched with embarrassment as the people in the arena struck various poses they thought were incredibly cool before beginning their fight.

One couldn't expect much from the educational standards of a primary soul master academy. Jiang Naruto felt internally grateful that he had the guidance of the Dong Trumpet; otherwise, he wouldn't be any better than the two people on the field.

Shaking his head as he left, feeling his arms sore and swollen, Jiang Naruto removed his weights, intending to finish today's training with a few laps of jogging.

"Can I increase my current training intensity even further?"

Jiang Naruto exhaled a breath of turbid air while running, assessing his current physical condition as he asked the question.

The strengthening effect of [No Regrets Youth] on his physical training was obvious. The amount of exercise that had left him exhausted just a few days ago was something he could now handle with ease, even feeling like he hadn't had enough.

"Your training intensity is already quite good; you're almost catching up to the Spirit Hall elites." Bibi Dong remained as indifferent as usual, offering a casual critique.

As for which Spirit Hall elites she was using as a benchmark—whether they were six or twelve years old—she wouldn't say unless Jiang Naruto asked.

"So, that means I haven't caught up yet?"

Jiang Naruto twitched his lips and slightly increased his speed. Was the talent in this world a bit too exaggerated?

He clearly remembered that when the Grandmaster trained the Shrek Seven Devils, the most exhausting part was just long-distance running with weights. He, however, was doing combat training with weights all day long until he was half-dead. Could he really not compare to them?

Could it be that they were running marathons back then?

Bibi Dong gave a dry cough.

"How can those be the same? They had all sorts of expensive medicinal baths and healing Spirit Masters catering to them all day, so they could train recklessly. Can you do that?"

Jiang Naruto lowered his eyes and thought about it; it seemed that was indeed the case.

The Grandmaster had prepared medicinal baths for the Shrek Seven Devils, and Bibi Dong had prepared them for him too, but he was just too poor and could only stingily use the lowest grade.

Not only that, Shrek Academy seemed to have more than just Flender and Zhao Wuji as teachers. They were, after all, a high-level Spirit Master academy and had a Spirit Emperor-level food-type Spirit Master who could serve as a healing-type Spirit Master to treat everyone.

Seeing Jiang Naruto lost in thought, Bibi Dong seized the moment to change the subject.

"If you ask me, since you're unwilling to go to Shrek Academy, how about joining Spirit Hall? Although your talent is a bit lacking, under my tutelage, I can still make you stand out."

"No thanks, I don't want to sign a contract of indentured servitude."

"How can you call that servitude? Spirit Hall provides you with cultivation resources, and you repay them with your strength; this is only natural."

Naruto glanced sideways at Bibi Dong. How could this former Saintess, who once risked everything to leave Spirit Hall for her lover, have the nerve to say such a thing?

However, if Jiang Naruto dared to point that out right now, Bibi Dong would surely fly into a rage and hiss.

Over these past few days, Jiang Naruto had finally figured out Bibi Dong's temper. As long as it didn't involve Spirit Hall or Yu Xiaogang, Bibi Dong acted perfectly normal—just a bit arrogant without any sweetness. But if he dared to touch upon those topics, Haji-Dong would bristle and hiss at him in a heartbeat.

Not daring to linger on this topic, Jiang Naruto found a random excuse to brush it off.

The topic could be brushed off, but as for the core of the problem—Bibi Dong's twisted psyche—Jiang Naruto could only adopt a stalling tactic.

Sighing, Jiang Naruto had just withdrawn his consciousness when he was drawn by a commotion not far away. Looking toward the sound, he saw that quite a crowd had gathered at the main gate of Notting Academy.

In the center of the crowd was a travel-worn carriage, and standing in front of it was the rather portly Principal Jin.

Seeing this familiar carriage, the memories in Jiang Naruto's mind gradually became clear.

Is this... Tang San returning?