Still the Shrek Seven Monsters

"Mm." Qian Ren Shuang merely answered faintly, his face showing little expression. He clearly had little interest in whether he joined their little group or not. Joining was fine; not joining did not matter either.

What occupied his mind now was something else—his older sister, Qian Renxue, was undercover in the Heaven Dou Empire. Since he had come to Heaven Dou City, he had to find a way to get word to her.

Taverns, casinos, brothels, auction houses, spirit arenas—places like these were always the most well-informed nodes.

He had to find an excuse to make the rounds of these places and spread the news that "Qian Ren Shuang has come to Heaven Dou City."

"Right," Ning Rongrong suddenly said, her tone brimming with bold generosity. "Once we merge into Blue Tyrant Academy later, I'm planning to go out for a meal to celebrate. Who wants to come with me?"

"Me, me, me!" Everyone raised their hands in a rush, voices rising one after another.

After a bout of commotion, the ones finally confirmed to go out for the meal were only the Shrek Seven Monsters and Qian Ren Shuang—eight people in all.

Flender and the other teachers had other arrangements. Xiang Ya volunteered to stay behind and tidy up the dormitory, while Guilmon naturally stayed inseparable from Qian Ren Shuang.

Heaven Dou City... If I remember correctly, the bishop of Spirit Hall there also has Soul Douluo-level cultivation. Tang Hao, following behind them, narrowed his eyes and weighed things over, then looked at Heaven Dou City's towering walls and the dense ranks of guards at the gate. In the end, he shook his head. Forget it. I'd better go back and stay with Ah Yin.

Tang Hao considered himself quite skilled at hiding. After all, back when Qian Daoliu had hunted him down, even he had failed to kill him.

Tang Hao believed he could still avoid ten pairs or a hundred pairs of eyes, but there were too many Spirit Hall informants inside Heaven Dou City. He could not guarantee that he would definitely go undiscovered.

After weighing it again and again, Tang Hao silently turned and left. His black robe swept in the wind, and he vanished along the road he had come from.

"Ahem, ahem, ahem." Flender suddenly cleared his throat again, his tone a little more solemn than before. "Right, there's also a piece of bad news I need to tell you."

"Tch, we're monsters," Dai Mubai said disdainfully, waving a hand. "What bad news could possibly stump us?"

Flender glanced at Dai Mubai, his eyes filled with envy toward rich people. "It won't affect you much. The ones mainly affected are Hongjun, Little Ao, Tang San, and Xiao Wu."

Hearing that his own disciple was included, Yu Xiaogang hurriedly urged him, "Flender, what exactly happened?"

Flender sighed, and only then revealed the truth. "When I took Little Ao to obtain his third spirit ring this time and went to register at the Spirit Hall branch, I discovered that the one hundred gold spirit coin subsidy for Spirit Elders had been canceled."

Dai Mubai, Ning Rongrong, and Zhu Zhuqing were not short on money, so naturally they showed no reaction and looked as normal as ever.

Qian Ren Shuang's expression stiffened for a moment—he knew the whole cause and effect of this matter. Strictly speaking, this had been entirely caused by him.

His external martial soul, Guilmon, could not be withdrawn into his body, so in the beginning, its consumption of spirit power had been extremely great.

The seven worship elders had moved quite a lot of money from Spirit Hall and bought many "Pulse-Renewing Pills" used to recover spirit power to supply him.

Over the years, this had dealt no small blow to Spirit Hall's overall finances.

Qian Ren Shuang remembered that back then, in order to give Spirit Hall some relief, Qian Daoliu had canceled the one hundred gold spirit coin subsidy for Spirit Elders.

It was not until he was nine that the spirit power inside his body became unusually dense and durable, like "muscles growing larger after being torn through physical training," and he no longer needed the support of Pulse-Renewing Pills.

But that subsidy was never restored.

"Ah?!!"

Oscar, Tang San, Ma Hongjun, and Xiao Wu wailed in unison, their expressions like eggplants beaten down by frost.

Especially Ma Hongjun—his evil fire problem was mainly solved by going to brothels. With his living funds cut off, he did not even know what he would do in the future, and his round face wrinkled into a bun.

"My subsidy—" Ma Hongjun threw his head back and howled, grief-stricken.

No one spoke along the way.

A little over a month later, Growlmon finally ran to the gate of Heaven Dou City.

"Oh no! A spirit beast is invading! Hurry and request reinforcements!"

Only when Growlmon's mountain-like body was almost right in their faces did the soldiers guarding Heaven Dou City finally react.

A man who looked like an officer fumbled about, preparing to light the beacon smoke and call for help, while several soldiers beside him had even begun retreating into the city gate—showing just how low the vigilance of these city guards was.

Flender hurriedly interrupted him with a spirit ability, then flew over and drifted down, pressing a hand onto the guard officer's shoulder. "Don't panic! This isn't a spirit beast invasion! That Growlmon is only an external martial soul!"

He turned back and gave Qian Ren Shuang a look. Qian Ren Shuang understood and withdrew his spirit ability. In the light, Growlmon degenerated back into Guilmon.

Guilmon, having returned to its small form, crouched beside Qian Ren Shuang's feet, tilted its head, and looked at those badly shaken soldiers with an innocent expression.

"Grandmaster," Flender turned to look at Yu Xiaogang again, "summon your Luo Sanpao too, and let them broaden their horizons."

Because Liu Erlong, that hopeless romantic, had plastered posters all over Heaven Dou City about "Yu Xiaogang being granted the title of Grandmaster by the current Pope of Spirit Hall."

Street corners, walls, notice boards, even the entrances of some taverns had one posted.

So after those city guards clearly saw Yu Xiaogang's face, their expressions immediately changed.

The head of the Heaven Dou City Defense Department even came straight down from the city tower at a brisk pace, jogging all the way to Yu Xiaogang. The smile on his face was so piled up it was almost overflowing. "No need, no need! The Grandmaster's name resounds like thunder in our ears. You have long been famous throughout the soul master world for your theoretical knowledge. We mere mortals have already savored enough of it. It was this humble one who failed to manage his subordinates properly. Please, Grandmaster, do not take offense!"

At least you know what's good for you. Yu Xiaogang felt as if he had been lifted into the clouds by this stream of flattery, but his face still maintained that aloof air of an otherworldly expert. He merely nodded slightly, then stepped toward the city. "Let's go in."

After entering Heaven Dou City, they walked along the wide streets. Buildings stood in rows on both sides, and pedestrians flowed like woven threads. Its prosperity was far beyond anything Soto City could compare to.

However, everyone's clothing and appearance soon drew comments from passersby.

"Hey! Isn't that the Grandmaster who claims to be unmatched in martial soul theory?" said a woman dressed extremely revealingly, who was rubbing the two soft mounds on her chest against the arm of the man beside her in surprise.

"You little hussy, are you planning to seduce him?" Another gold-digging woman beside her, dressed just as revealingly, cast Yu Xiaogang a look of disgust. "With that zombie face, I can't believe you could stomach him. Besides, what on earth are these adults wearing?"