"Brother Lin, I was wrong! That's eight laps already—spare me!" Xu Ye sprinted ahead, pleading for mercy, while Lin Yao simply put away his Martial Soul and doggedly chased after him.
Even with Lin Yao's Martial Soul put away, the sheer intimidation he had built up in Xu Ye's heart still left Xu Ye without the courage to turn around and fight back. Instead, Lin Yao kept urging him on. "Turn around and fight back! I don't have my Martial Soul possessed right now. You can get the first hit in—come on!"
Xu Ye wailed, "Forget getting the first hit in, Brother Lin. Even if you let me hit you three times first, I'd still get crushed. I'm not an idiot; there's no way I'm turning around to fight you now."
Lin Yao retorted irritably, "So you're not stupid after all. You said that crap in the grade director's office, so you're getting a beating today, no matter what."
Ye Guyi had gone to buy food for the two of them, leaving Lin Yao alone to chase Xu Ye around the track for two more laps. When Xu Ye finally collapsed onto the ground, looking ready to vomit from exhaustion, Lin Yao stopped. He wasn't even breathing hard as he said, "You still need to train, got it? Today it's your Brother Lin. But what if the wife you find someday has a fiery temper and chases you like this too? If you can't outrun her, you'll be enjoying your 'bliss'~"
Xu Ye struggled to prop himself up and smiled at Lin Yao. "As expected of Brother Lin. You've got so much more stamina than me. That's domineering."
Lin Yao scratched his head, then said, "What kind of nonsense is that? I'm more than twenty levels above you. How could you possibly compare with me for stamina?
"Anyway, when we get back, absorb the Soul Bone properly. After that, take a shower and forget about what happened today. At least in Director Du's office, we were a complete team. Dividing things according to need is normal among teammates. Nobody owes anybody anything."
"I've already had a clear rejection reaction to that Soul Bone. Your big sister Ye will get something better from me in the future. She doesn't need this ordinary one."
Xu Ye grinned cheekily at Lin Yao. "So 'a happy marriage for a hundred years' really wasn't wrong after all... Ow!"
Lin Yao punched him into the ground. Then Huo Yuhao rolled his wrists and said, "You're getting carried away."
After that, Lin Yao ignored Xu Ye, who was still grinning foolishly nearby, and turned toward the cafeteria.
Just as he left the track, a beautiful flute melody reached Lin Yao's ears. He turned his head and saw a petite figure among the trees, gently playing a green bamboo flute.
A yellow Soul Ring floated quietly beneath the girl's feet. It wasn't glowing, which made it clear that the flute melody didn't contain her Soul Skill.
Lin Yao recognized the girl as Xiao Xiao, one of Huo Yuhao's teammates.
Xiao Xiao opened her eyes and looked at Lin Yao. He waved to her. "You play well."
Xiao Xiao smiled at Lin Yao, then said, "Thank you for the compliment. I chose the Control System as my specialization, so I was assigned to Freshman Class One too. We'll be classmates, Brother Lin. I hope you'll look after me."
Lin Yao sized Xiao Xiao up, then suddenly asked, "When you say you hope I'll look after you, are you just being polite, or do you really want to hear my opinion?"
Xiao Xiao paused, then lowered her head slightly and replied, "Wisdom comes with experience. Of course I'd like to hear what you have to say, Brother Lin."
Lin Yao said to Xiao Xiao, "Your two Martial Souls, the Nine-Phoenix Flute and the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, represent the fortune of the nation and the phoenix aura of the empress's lineage, respectively. In that respect, the two Martial Souls are equal in quality. That's why you could have Twin Martial Souls."
Seeing how seriously Lin Yao spoke, Xiao Xiao's smile faded. She listened closely to every word he said.
Although she'd been partly polite when she spoke to Lin Yao just now, Xiao Xiao also believed that wisdom came with experience. Lin Yao's cultivation had progressed much faster than hers, after all, so his advice was something she truly looked forward to hearing.
"To be honest, I don't really understand. Your family background should be pretty good, so why have your family neglected you so badly? Not only did you cultivate your Martial Souls in the wrong order, they even let you add Soul Rings to both of them at the same time."
Lin Yao looked at Xiao Xiao and asked a question he'd been curious about ever since his previous life, when he'd read Douluo.
At his words, Xiao Xiao lowered her head and said quietly, "The pressure in the freshman class is immense. I didn't want to become a burden to the class, so I secretly added the First Soul Ring to my Nine-Phoenix Flute without telling my family. That way, although I only had the strength of someone with two Soul Rings, I could use three Soul Skills. I could at least fight at the level of a half-Soul Elder."
Lin Yao sighed and thought to himself, That Old Woman Zhou has done real harm. She's unknowingly ruined a Twin Martial Souls prodigy, yet she's smugly convinced she's a good teacher.
"Foolish. If you can excel at everything, what are you even doing at Shrek Academy? To have fun? To go on vacation? Or do you have money burning a hole in your pocket?" Lin Yao looked at Xiao Xiao, unable to hide his frustration.
"Do you know what an academy is? It's a place where students go from knowing nothing to learning, from having no abilities to gaining them. If you already have every ability from the start, there's no point wasting time at an academy."
Xiao Xiao looked up at Lin Yao and asked, "What about you, Brother Lin?"
Lin Yao gave a wry smile and said to Xiao Xiao, "I had no choice. The day my Martial Soul awakened, a beam of light shot into the sky, letting Shrek Academy know I existed.
"The dean personally came all the way here to deliver a letter. Do you think the son of an official in the Dou Ling Empire could afford to refuse? If I had, my whole family would've mysteriously disappeared the next day."
Seeing that he'd frightened Xiao Xiao, Lin Yao softened his tone and said, "My father is the chief instructor at the Dou Ling Empire's Spirit Hall Academy. Given what my family knows about your two Martial Souls, I recommend switching your primary Martial Soul to the Nine-Phoenix Flute."
Xiao Xiao looked at Lin Yao curiously. He continued, "That's because the Nine-Phoenix Flute's abilities are relatively limited. It mainly uses music to control enemies and deal damage. The Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, on the other hand, has three cauldrons that can exist together.
"Each cauldron can control different things, giving it more uses than the Nine-Phoenix Flute. That makes it suitable as your Second Martial Soul. Later, you can give it a whole set of high-rank Soul Rings, allowing it to do many things the Nine-Phoenix Flute with high-rank Soul Rings couldn't—like powerful offense and defense."
Xiao Xiao nodded, then clasped the Nine-Phoenix Flute in her hands and said, "Thank you for your advice, Brother Lin. I'll give your suggestion serious thought."
Lin Yao nodded, then turned to Xiao Xiao and...
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