Study Hard

"What? What do you mean by that?! How did I become some kind of pervert in your eyes?! We didn't even know each other before this, okay?! Isn't that incredibly rude of you?!"

"My manners are reserved for normal people, not perverts like you. When you start doing what a normal person should do, I'll naturally treat you with courtesy."

At that moment, Jiang Yue's striking heterochromatic eyes looked like cold blades in Wang Dong's eyes. Under Jiang Yue's gaze, Wang Dong felt her skin crawl, as if she had been stripped naked before him, with no secrets left to hide.

Yet Wang Dong still raised her head and stubbornly snapped back at Jiang Yue. Who told him to say something so awful? Even if she looked like a boy on the outside right now, she was still a girl inside. What girl would be willing to be called a pervert by a boy?

"Y-You... what exactly do you mean by that?"

"Tsk. It's one thing for you not to care about your own martial soul, but the people around you are all the same. Don't assume everyone else is as ignorant as you are."

"You know perfectly well what your situation is. You don't need to return the clothes—consider them compensation for collapsing my dorm. Go ask Dai Huabin for the rest of the damages. And preferably, let's never meet again."

The Radiant Goddess Butterfly was an exceedingly rare martial soul across the entire continent. But since it only appeared in female soul masters, that was that.

Shrek was clearly an advanced soul master academy—indeed, the number one soul master academy on the Douluo Continent—yet aside from the elderly masters who were high-level, advanced in age, and rich in experience, along with a few people deeply versed in martial soul theory, not a single person knew the characteristics of the Radiant Goddess Butterfly.

Yan Shaozhe had mentioned in the original work that the inner academy possessed a book recording many rare martial souls on the continent and their traits, including the Radiant Goddess Butterfly. Jiang Yue was here to clear up a misconception: it was not only the inner academy that had such records. A book in the outer academy library contained much the same information.

Jiang Yue had learned this from a teacher who often frequented the library. After checking a little, he found that the teacher's theories were all genuine; he was not some fame-seeking fraud like Yu Xiaogang. Jiang Yue had indeed found that book tucked away in a corner.

Should he say that Shrek Academy truly deserved to be called a gathering place for illiterates? Sure enough, people needed to study properly. If you did not even understand your own martial soul, what kind of soul master were you? You might as well go home and roast sweet potatoes.

The funniest one was Wang Dong herself. The Radiant Goddess Butterfly was merely rare in human records, not unheard of. Yet a soul master who had awakened a documented rare martial soul knew absolutely nothing about its characteristics.

Normally, after awakening a rare martial soul, shouldn't one first look up past records and figure out its abilities and traits to better plan for future development? Yet Wang Dong had never even considered that. No, it should be said that no one in the entire Clear Sky Sect had considered it. Or perhaps the Clear Sky Sect simply did not care?

Jiang Yue felt that this whole world was a little insane. His way of thinking simply did not fit in with it.

"Hey! Explain yourself properly! Hey!"

Wang Dong felt somewhat guilty after hearing what Jiang Yue had just said. Her feet, which had been following behind Jiang Yue, stopped at that moment. By the time she came back to her senses, Jiang Yue had already gone far away.

And because of what Jiang Yue had said, Wang Dong did not dare continue following him. She was afraid that Jiang Yue truly knew something.

Not only had she gotten no advantage out of Jiang Yue, but he had also left her mind in a complete mess. Wang Dong felt that the Jiang Yue before her was like a completely different person from the one who had given her clothes to cover herself earlier.

Wang Dong angrily watched Jiang Yue's retreating back, but all she could do was vent her impotent rage by kicking fiercely a few times. However, because the clothes she wore did not fit, her movements looked utterly ridiculous.

No matter how slow or foolish Wang Dong might be, at this moment she finally sensed that something was wrong.

Could that guy have discovered that she was actually a girl?

That seemed to be the only explanation for why Jiang Yue had given her a set of clothes one moment, only to hurl such harsh words at her the next.

There was nothing wrong with a woman disguising herself as a man. Some men even liked dressing up as women.

But the problem was that Wang Dong was currently in the boys' dormitory! A girl disguised as a boy and living in the boys' dormitory—wouldn't it be strange if she were not treated like a pervert?

That had to be it. He must have discovered that she was a girl, which was why he kept calling her a pervert.

In an instant, Wang Dong became incomparably nervous and embarrassed. She was not sure whether Jiang Yue truly knew she was a girl, nor was she sure whether he would tell anyone else. If he did, would she become famous throughout Shrek Academy?

That must not happen! Her life would become utterly bleak and be completely ruined!

Wang Dong felt that she needed to have a proper talk with Jiang Yue. But Jiang Yue had already vanished without a trace, and she did not even know his name, which class he was in, or anything else. Searching for him among the new students would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Especially if Jiang Yue was deliberately avoiding her, this "pervert," the chances of finding him and having a proper talk became even smaller.

For a time, Wang Dong felt that her reputation was under an unprecedented threat.

"Bastard! Bastard! What a complete bastard! Why did something like this have to happen to me?!"

Who knew what Wang Dong had imagined, but her eyes filled with tears. She instinctively raised an arm to wipe them away, only to notice that she was still wearing the clothes Jiang Yue had handed her.

Wang Dong's feelings were incredibly complicated. After arriving at Shrek Academy, the first person to show her kindness and hostility had been the same person. She fell silent, lost in thought.

"No! I can't just sit around and wait. I have to take the initiative. I have to make that guy shut up!"

Meanwhile, Jiang Yue had not heard any academy broadcast promoting Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi's soul battle, nor had he seen Huo Yuhao go out to set up his stall. He knew that the Mysterious Water Pill plotline had likely been delayed.

But that was fine. Jiang Yue happened to need some time to clean up his new dorm and solve the problem of where he would sleep tonight.

After receiving a new dorm key from the Academic Affairs Office, Jiang Yue arrived at his new dormitory. It was on the third floor, greatly reducing the chances of him running into Wang Dong.

That made Jiang Yue quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

Wang Dong had not actually done anything wrong. More precisely, Wang Dong was merely a victim who knew nothing of Tang God King's plan.

Was Wang Dong unattractive? Not at all. Even dressed as a boy, Wang Dong could be said to appeal to both men and women. People naturally yearned for all beautiful things, especially beautiful people—but that was only if there was not a venomous snake beside that beauty, ready to strike at any time.

Before one's own intact life, all beauty and worldly possessions were empty talk.

Wang Dong was wonderful. Back when Jiang Yue had read the original work, he had always liked Wang Dong very much. But unfortunately, after Sea God's Fate in the original work, Wang Dong had become completely different. Not to mention Tang Wutong, who appeared later.

Moreover, Wang Dong's spiritual sea contained the spiritual imprint left behind by Sea God Tang San. If that thing were truly activated, no person or soul beast on the Douluo Continent could withstand it at present.

Tang God King was undoubtedly the Sword of Damocles hanging over Jiang Yue's head. Jiang Yue was already trying his best to avoid Tang God King, let alone take the initiative to approach Wang Dong.

After cleaning his new dormitory, Jiang Yue suddenly remembered that his bedding had disappeared along with the collapse of Dorm 208. Tonight, he could either make do with the wooden bed for one night or rent a room at a hotel in Shrek City.

"Whew. Time to cultivate."

After calming himself and entering a cultivation state, Jiang Yue needed to reach Level 40 before the end of the first school year. Otherwise, the holiday of more than a month afterward would be far too rushed.

And the sooner he broke through, the more time he would have to search for spiritual-attribute soul beasts suited to him.

Spiritual-attribute soul beasts were exceedingly rare, especially those over ten thousand years old. Even though Jiang Yue now valued quality more than age, they were still extremely difficult to find.

He couldn't possibly imitate Xuan Zi from the original novel and threaten Crimson King by kidnapping the Three-Eyed Golden Lion to obtain a spiritual-type soul beast with a suitable cultivation age, could he?

Hiss, it actually didn't seem impossible.

The only requirement was having someone powerful enough by his side. He would wait until he got the Living Gold before considering something so incredibly dangerous.

After making do for a night on the bare wooden bed in this new dormitory, Jiang Yue felt that his legs were somewhat numb. It seemed he still needed a proper set of bedding.

When morning came and he saw that it was already getting late, Jiang Yue got up, washed up casually, and headed toward the freshman teaching building.

When the class bell rang, Dai Huabin's seat was still empty. It was only the second day of school, and Dai Huabin had only become class monitor yesterday, yet he was already absent today.

This drew the attention of quite a few students in the class, and many gazes landed on Zhu Lu as well.

Dai Huabin had no intention of keeping a low profile in class. In just one day yesterday, he had let most of the class know that he came from the White Tiger Duke's Manor and was the duke manor's legitimate second son.

Then Zhu Lu's identity, as someone at Dai Huabin's side, was naturally easy enough to guess. Now that Dai Huabin was absent, anyone who wanted to learn the full details of what had happened in the dormitory yesterday naturally turned their attention to Zhu Lu.

Zhu Lu looked listless, clearly having slept poorly last night. She had most likely spent the night taking care of Dai Huabin while he was unconscious.

Zhu Lu seemed to have already learned the whole story. Perhaps Dai Huabin had told her himself after waking up? Jiang Yue did not know, but he could be certain that this girl now bore him tremendous hostility. He could feel the anger and concern practically overflowing from Zhu Lu.

Her anger was directed at Jiang Yue, while her concern was naturally for Dai Huabin.

Over the ten-thousand-year history of marriage alliances between the White Tiger lineage and the Netherworld Spirit Cat lineage, the Netherworld Spirit Cat lineage had always been the one dependent on the White Tiger lineage. As a result, although the White Tiger lineage had now lost the throne of the Star Luo Empire, and though the White Tiger Duke and the Netherworld Duke were nominally nobles of equal ducal rank—

The White Tiger Duke's Manor still stood faintly above the Netherworld Duke's Manor.

Jiang Yue did not take Zhu Lu's hostility to heart. She was merely someone who regarded a man as more important than anything else and could not live for herself. Her hostility posed no threat whatsoever to Jiang Yue.

Rather than caring about Zhu Lu's hostility, Jiang Yue felt he should consider whether Dai Huabin would really be brain-dead enough to secretly send people after him out of temporary anger because he had lost.

Probably not, right? Jiang Yue had not humiliated Dai Huabin by making him kneel like Huo Yuhao had in the original novel. He had simply defeated him head-on with his own strength and shattered his dream of being a genius. Dai Huabin would not send people to assassinate him, would he? He could not possibly lack even the tolerance to accept that someone else was stronger than him, could he?

Based on Dai Huabin's behavior in the original novel, Jiang Yue truly had no way to be completely sure. The thought processes of people like Dai Huabin simply could not be judged by the standards of ordinary people.

Jiang Yue's tolerance for Dai Huabin had reached its limit. From now on, he would not show Dai Huabin the slightest friendliness. Jiang Yue did not want to start conflicts on his own, but if someone dared to dance on his head, then they would have to find out whether the swords on him were sharp enough.

Even if Dai Huabin really sought help, the people he could likely find would be those who had hunted Huo Yuhao in the original novel. Of those six people, five were Soul Kings and one was a Soul Emperor, which counted as a fairly formidable force.

But Jiang Yue truly was not afraid of a combination of five Soul Kings and one Soul Emperor. He might not be able to kill them, but that did not mean he had no way to deal with them.

Emotion Shakes Heaven was an outrageous skill that could seal the Abyssal Sage King, who wielded a divine artifact yet had no godhood, for three days. The gap between gods and mortals was far greater than that between a Soul Elder and a Soul Emperor. Of course, Jiang Yue currently had no way to bring out Emotion Shakes Heaven's true power.

Even considering Jiang Yue's current lack of strength and the fact that the Unfeeling Sword did not have a single soul ring, making it difficult to kill those people, sealing them for a while would not be a problem.

If Dai Huabin truly dared to send people after him, Jiang Yue guaranteed that once he dealt with them, he would immediately make Dai Huabin wish he were dead. At worst, he would only have to leave Shrek Academy. Douluo Continent was so vast—could there really be no place for Jiang Yue to stay?

If Dai Huabin truly did that, then every man, woman, elder, and child of the White Tiger lineage beneath the Star Luo Empire's very nose would be wiped out in one stroke. Not even a Titled Douluo could stop it, and the person who ended the White Tiger lineage's inheritance would definitely not be Huo Yuhao.

The lessons were the same as yesterday, covering knowledge Jiang Yue already knew. After the day's classes ended, Jiang Yue packed up his things and prepared to make a trip to the library.

What Dai Huabin had done in the dormitory last night had buried the books Jiang Yue borrowed from the library beneath the rubble. It was definitely impossible to return them on time, and he might even have to pay compensation. It would be better to go explain the situation to the library.

He also needed to borrow a few more books while he was at it. After all, he did not want to become illiterate. Hopefully, these books would not be destroyed again. Otherwise, Jiang Yue might not be able to borrow books from the library in the future.

Fortunately, the faculty members seemed to know what had happened in the dormitory last night, so they did not make things difficult for Jiang Yue. They merely fined him one gold soul coin as a token penalty.

They even said something like, "The academy will seek compensation from all those responsible." Thank you, classmate Dai Huabin, for your selfless contribution.

"Hmm? Jiang Yue, have you already finished the books I recommended to you the day before yesterday? You're here to borrow more already? Don't bite off more than you can chew. You need to read every book carefully."

Just as Jiang Yue stepped out of the library, a middle-aged teacher who looked to be around forty appeared before him. He had an extremely ordinary appearance, a smile on his face, and a very amicable demeanor.

Wang Yan, a senior teacher of the outer court, was a teacher who truly researched martial soul theory and possessed genuine expertise. He was also the teacher Jiang Yue had encountered when he first came to the library.

At the time, Wang Yan had been curious to see a freshman coming to the library to look up books, so he had approached Jiang Yue. After discovering that Jiang Yue had an exceptionally solid foundation, he had recommended several books to him.

"It's Teacher Wang. The books I borrowed the day before yesterday were all lost in an accident, so I came to borrow a few more."

"I see. Loving to learn is a good thing, but this is your golden period for cultivation. You should put more of your effort into cultivating. Besides, you're a freshman. The freshman assessment is only three months away, so you need to work even harder at cultivation. Otherwise, the academy will expel you."

"Mm, I understand. Thank you for your concern, Teacher Wang. I'll definitely get a good ranking in the freshman assessment."

"You've got spirit, but this year has three specially admitted students at the Soul Elder level. I've also heard that there's another Soul Elder besides those three. You need to work hard. Strive to reach the top eight and become a core disciple."

"The treatment for core disciples is completely different from that of ordinary students. The soul beast meat provided every day alone is good stuff for children your age."

"Teacher Wang, have you not been paying attention to outside news these past two days?"

"That's right, I've been researching something these past two days. Wait, why are you asking me that?"

"Nothing. I just mean that my goal isn't merely the top eight."

"Oh? You're quite ambitious. The academy gives extra rewards to the top three in the freshman assessment. If you can make it into the top three, I'll lend you one book from my personal collection. How about it?"

"Alright, it's a deal. Teacher Wang, you can't go back on your word."

As a senior teacher of Shrek Academy and the disciple's disciple of Xuan Zi, the Gluttonous Douluo and Shrek Academy's publicly recognized strongest combatant, Wang Yan had access to far more things than ordinary teachers. He was probably only a little behind the academy elders.

His personal collection was certainly extremely valuable. It might even contain records of something important that had never been mentioned in the original novel.

And judging by Wang Yan's reaction, he clearly did not know about the commotion Jiang Yue had caused last night. This was wool delivered right to his doorstep! How could he possibly not take advantage of it?

"Don't worry, I won't go back on my word. I have something to do, so I'll be leaving first. See you later."

Wang Yan remembered that his grandmaster seemed to have something to instruct him about. After saying goodbye to Jiang Yue, he left.

After placing the books he had borrowed into his storage soul tool, Jiang Yue headed toward Shrek Academy's gates.

Because of Dai Huabin yesterday, Dormitory 208 had crashed into Dormitory 108, preventing Huo Yuhao from setting up his stall to sell grilled fish and triggering the storyline related to Xu Sanshi, the money-delivering boy. That part of the story would presumably begin today.

Perfect. Jiang Yue needed to see what Huo Yuhao's soul skills were and whether they could help Bei Bei win his battle against Xu Sanshi. If they could, Jiang Yue would bet his entire fortune!

Even if he could not gather enough money to buy the Spirit Devouring Carving Knife, it would at least ease Jiang Yue's financial troubles and let him live more comfortably in Shrek Academy afterward.