Keep This Old Man Company

"Ah..."

Below the Shrek Academy dormitory building.

Mu En lay in his personal wheelchair, utterly exhausted. Xuan Zi had failed in his duty as guardian, and the future would be difficult to bear.

There was no suitable successor below them either. Shrek's future truly seemed visible at a glance.

When he had heard that something had happened to the reserve team, Mu En's deadened heart had nearly suffered a heart attack. Bei Bei, his great-grandson, had been among them!

If anything happened to Bei Bei, he truly would not be able to rest in peace after death.

Fortunately, he was fine...

Speaking of Bei Bei, Mu En suddenly recalled something Jiang Bai had said before leaving.

"Old man, Bei Bei is your great-grandson no matter what. You should take care of Sister Xiaoya too. She'll be your great-granddaughter-in-law someday."

Thinking of this, Mu En closed his eyes and began sensing Tang Ya's location.

After Bei Bei and Tang Ya had confirmed their relationship, he had naturally begun looking after Tang Ya as well. She was his future great-granddaughter-in-law, after all, so he could not simply ignore her. From time to time, he would keep an eye on her movements in his own way, making sure she lived peacefully at the academy.

Where had she gone?

With his eyes closed and his senses spread out, Mu En failed to detect Tang Ya's aura. His brows furrowed, and he immediately felt that something was wrong.

Releasing his Soul Power at full force, Mu En easily detected Tang Ya's aura. She was leaving the academy?

Seeing this, Mu En was somewhat puzzled. Tang Ya was an academy student. Why was she leaving the academy at a time like this?

Then, a power that repulsed him began to emerge from within Tang Ya's body.

Mu En was a Rank 99 Limit Douluo. His Martial Soul was the Bright Sacred Dragon, and he possessed an exceptionally high-quality light attribute.

The rejection of his Martial Soul, coupled with Mu En's experience, made him understand everything at once.

Painful memories buried deep within his soul surged forth.

If Tang Ya had been leaving for any other reason, Mu En would not have interfered. Everyone had their own choices. But she could not leave because of this.

The tragedy of the older generation could not be repeated upon these two children.

At that moment, Tang Ya, who had traveled far from the academy, halted and turned around, gazing from afar at Shrek City, where she had lived for so long.

The liveliness that had once filled Tang Ya's eyes was gone, replaced by a deathly stillness.

This was both her pride as the current sect master of the Tang Sect and the responsibility pressing upon her shoulders. That sect had once been glorious enough to stand against Spirit Hall as an equal, yet now only she remained. She could not allow the Tang Sect to vanish without a sound.

She had to restore the Tang Sect to glory, no matter the cost!

"Child, could you keep this old man company for a while?"

An aged, familiar voice came from behind her. Tang Ya froze, then turned around.

Why was that old gatekeeper here?

Time passed quietly, and the tournament was about to begin...

The teachers had finished drawing lots, and the spectators and contestants entered the venue together.

Because Xiao Xiao was too short, she nearly got swept away by the crowd.

Fortunately, Jiang Bai and Huo Yuhao protected her.

Shrek Academy sat in the foremost seats of honor. Naturally, this had been arranged deliberately by the Star Luo Empire, since Shrek was the continent's number one academy.

Everyone thought so, yet a question suddenly arose in their hearts.

Why were all of Shrek Academy's students so young?

Their average age was not even fifteen, was it?

The people from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy were seated directly behind Shrek Academy, watching the Shrek team ahead of them.

"Brother, what do you think Shrek is up to?"

Meng Hongchen, her wine-red curls falling around her shoulders, looked at the scene ahead and asked Xiao Hongchen beside her.

Did Shrek think they could handle this battle with just these people? There probably was not even a Soul King among them, was there?

Xiao Hongchen narrowed his eyes. He did not know what Shrek was plotting either.

But it did not matter. No matter what Shrek intended to do, he would not lose. This victory would definitely belong to their Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy.

He, Xiao Hongchen, was the number one genius of the Sun Moon Continent!

Next came the Star Luo Emperor's speech.

After a meaningless round of ceremonial remarks, the Star Luo Emperor announced the opening of the tournament!

After one hundred and eight cannon salutes exploded, the tournament officially began! The citizens of the empire all cried out one name.

"Shrek! Shrek! Shrek!"

Overwhelming waves of sound surged in from every direction, as if they would drown everyone present. Jiang Bai stood in the contestants' area and felt countless gazes gathering upon him.

There was anticipation, curiosity, scrutiny, and hostility in those stares.

Seeing Xiao Xiao trembling beside him, Jiang Bai found this attention from such a massive crowd somewhat uncomfortable as well. This was his first time experiencing it.

It felt pretty awful.

Huo Yuhao in front of him froze for a moment too, but quickly recovered.

As the continent's number one academy, Shrek was the first academy to take the stage and display its strength.

"Heavenly Spirit Advanced Soul Master Academy versus—Shrek Academy!"

Huo Yuhao led the seven members of the reserve team onto the stage, while Jiang Bai went down to sit with Ling Luochen.

"Junior, aren't you nervous?"

Ling Luochen asked. She was especially nervous right now, but she wanted to help and could not. All she could do was pray inwardly that the seven juniors would win.

"Senior Sister, trust them."

Holding Xue Ying, Jiang Bai sat in the audience below. As someone who had read the original novel, he naturally was not worried.

Besides, with Shrek's strength, there was no way they could be eliminated.

Just as in the original, Huo Yuhao's simulation soul skill erupted, and the ten-thousand-year and hundred-thousand-year soul rings burst forth. Heavenly Spirit Academy immediately lost its will to fight and was easily defeated by Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong's Martial Soul Fusion Skill.

The price, however, was that Huo Yuhao's legs went weak after leaving the stage. Only with Wang Yan and Bei Bei supporting him did he make it back to the room.

"By the way, Senior Sister, shouldn't you go recover?"

Jiang Bai looked at Ling Luochen, who was lingering beside him without leaving. Why was she staying by his side instead of returning to heal?

"My injuries are minor. I'll be fine in a few days."

Ling Luochen answered, though that was only one reason.

The other reason was that she felt she recovered faster whenever she was near Jiang Bai.

Jiang Bai possessed Ultimate Ice. Although it was being suppressed, it was still Ultimate Ice.

Unlike the Ice Empress's Ultimate Ice, Jiang Bai's ice was even purer. The Soul Power it emitted was like a supreme tonic for ice-attributed soul masters who did not possess Ultimate Ice.

Ordinary soul masters truly would not know this, since there had not been many possessors of Ultimate Ice in the world.

The next match was won by Xu Sanshi, who relied on his shameless aura to take down six opponents in a row.

That was right, shameless aura. Not sword aura, not domineering aura—shameless aura.

His Dark Tortoise Martial Soul, which possessed the Black Tortoise Bloodline, should have been overwhelmingly domineering and carried the bearing of a king.

Yet in Xu Sanshi's hands, it became this suffocatingly bizarre Martial Soul. Worse still, whenever he eliminated an opponent onstage, he pushed that air of What can you do about it? to the absolute limit.

In the final match, Xu Sanshi stood on the stage after defeating the last opponent. He patted his shield, grinned broadly at the audience, revealing two rows of white teeth, and looked toward Jiang Nannan, who was watching the match.

However, she seemed to have no reaction. Jiang Nannan's delicate brows furrowed, and she immediately turned her gaze away. She had been a little worried about him, but Xu Sanshi still had no sense of propriety.

"Ah..."

Ever since learning that Bei Bei's bloodline had stabilized, Xu Sanshi had been extremely annoyed. Today, he could finally vent by using these people as punching bags.

Whenever he recalled the experience of awakening his Martial Soul, Xu Sanshi felt utterly dejected. Nannan...