Making Friends Out of Thin Air, Darkness Under the Lamp

Yan Shaozhe ultimately agreed to Yuwen Tuo's deal.

He had already been inclined to agree, and with Mu En's order added to that, how could he refuse?

Before long, Beast King Gong Changlong was summoned.

"Old Yan, you wanted me?" Gong Changlong's voice was as bold as ever. He did not open the door—he simply kicked it in.

"Beast King, please take this child to the Beast Cage and let him choose a soul beast for his second soul ring," Yan Shaozhe said.

Gong Changlong looked at Yuwen Tuo. "You again, kid? Honestly, the soul beasts the academy worked so hard to gather will sooner or later be picked clean by this brat. Fine, since it's the dean's order, kid, come with this old man."

He was actually rather surprised. This child had managed to persuade Yan Shaozhe to give him a second soul ring so quickly. Who knew what kind of under-the-table deal he had made?

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Senior Beast King." Yuwen Tuo cupped his hands, then looked at Xiao Xiao. "Xiao Xiao, I'll be back soon. Let's meet at Sea God Lake later."

"Got it. Good luck, Tuo Tuo!" Xiao Xiao said with a smile, raising a thumbs-up.

Yuwen Tuo had become extremely popular in the class. The only thing in which he still fell short of Wang Dong was his cultivation.

Wang Dong already had two rings, and her second soul ring was a thousand-year one. Yuwen Tuo, meanwhile, only had one ring. In this world where strength reigned supreme, Soul Power Level was far more appealing than a handsome face.

But after today, she knew that the Tuo Tuo she liked would no longer lose to anyone.

Yuwen Tuo followed Gong Changlong out of the dean's office. Yan Shaozhe spoke up, "All right, Xiao Xiao. I've done what I promised you. Now it's your turn. Tell me, where is that friend of yours with Twin Martial Souls? I'll send someone to fetch him immediately."

Xiao Xiao shook her head. "There's no need, Dean. I'm right here."

As she spoke, Xiao Xiao raised her hand. "Nine Phoenix Dancing Flute!"

With a soft cry, an emerald-green flute engraved with phoenix patterns appeared in her palm. A yellow Hundred-Year Soul Ring circled around it.

Yan Shaozhe was stunned. "This... Xiao Xiao, the friend with Twin Martial Souls you mentioned is actually you?"

Xiao Xiao scratched her head sheepishly. "Hehe, sorry, Dean. This was a trick Tuo Tuo taught me. It's called making friends out of thin air, and Darkness Under the Lamp."

"Darkness Under the Lamp—what a Darkness Under the Lamp!" Yan Shaozhe nearly spat blood in anger. For all his scheming, he had actually been played by a little brat and a little girl.

"Forget it. Though I was deceived, at least you didn't fool me about the most important matter." Yan Shaozhe waved his hand and stopped dwelling on it. Instead, he stared excitedly at the flute in Xiao Xiao's hand. He had seen Xiao Xiao's records before; after all, she was one of the few geniuses with a top-tier martial soul.

He remembered that Xiao Xiao's first martial soul was the Three Lives Soul-Quelling Cauldron. Then this Nine Phoenix Dancing Flute was undoubtedly a second martial soul of the same level.

"Good... good... Our Shrek Academy has finally welcomed another Twin Martial Souls genius."

Yan Shaozhe was still rejoicing when he saw that Xiao Xiao's flute already bore a Hundred-Year Soul Ring. His face immediately darkened. "Xiao Xiao, since this Nine Phoenix Dancing Flute is your second martial soul, why have you already added a soul ring to it?"

"Because I wanted the academy to value me, so I planned to use my second martial soul to achieve good results in the Freshman Competition," Xiao Xiao answered honestly.

"Foolish!" Yan Shaozhe flew into a rage at once. "Xiao Xiao, wanting the academy to value you is a good and perfectly correct idea, but why make things so complicated? You only needed to come directly to me and reveal your martial souls. With the words 'Twin Martial Souls' alone, how could the academy possibly fail to value you? Now you have wasted an extremely important soul ring slot, which will also be a tremendous loss for your future."

"Sorry, Dean. I know I was wrong. Tuo Tuo criticized me over this too." Xiao Xiao lowered her head. She now knew that she had done something incredibly foolish.

"Never mind. The soul ring has already been added and cannot be replaced. Fortunately, you've only added one, so there is still time to correct course." Yan Shaozhe sighed. "But remember this: before your cultivation reaches maturity, never casually add soul rings to your second martial soul again. First, your body is not strong enough. Cultivating two martial souls at once could cause your body to explode and kill you; there have been precedents for this in the continent's history. Second, the talent of Twin Martial Souls is one in ten thousand. Do not squander such heaven-given ability."

Xiao Xiao nodded. "Mm, Tuo Tuo told me the same thing. Don't worry, Dean. I won't do this again."

"Xiao Xiao, do you have feelings for Yuwen Tuo?" Yan Shaozhe saw that Xiao Xiao could not go three sentences without mentioning Yuwen Tuo. How could he fail to see what was on the girl's mind?

"I like Tuo Tuo." Though Xiao Xiao looked like a little girl, her temperament was as straightforward as any man's. If she liked someone, she would not hide it.

She was the complete opposite of Ma Xiaotao's tsundere nature.

"As expected. But my disciple seems to also..." Yan Shaozhe had a headache. Back in his day, he had been quite the scumbag himself.

He had wronged quite a few girls. The most formidable among them was Xian Lin'er, the current dean of the Soul Tool Department and the Flying Valkyrie, as well as a very powerful female Evil Soul Master.

He knew that relationships between men and women were the hardest things to handle.

Still, this was not necessarily a bad thing. He could tell that Yuwen Tuo did not like his disciple Ma Xiaotao.

It would not be easy to use Ma Xiaotao to make him let go of his grudge against Shrek.

But he seemed to treat Xiao Xiao exceptionally well. If Xiao Xiao could resolve this resentment, it would be a good thing.

If Yuwen Tuo knew what he was thinking, he would definitely laugh at him for overthinking it.

Xiao Xiao was Xiao Xiao, and Shrek was Shrek. He would not confuse the two.

He would definitely leave Shrek in the future, and he would also reclaim some things from Shrek. Perhaps he might even lure away Xiao Xiao, this Twin Martial Souls genius.

"Xiao Xiao, then get along well with Yuwen Tuo. In truth, Shrek owes him a little. If possible, I hope you can make him sincerely come to like Shrek," Yan Shaozhe instructed.

"Owes him?" Xiao Xiao froze. She did not know about the grudge between Yuwen Tuo and Shrek Academy. Rather than agree rashly, she said, "I'll treat Tuo Tuo well."

Yan Shaozhe nodded. Meanwhile, Gong Changlong had already brought Yuwen Tuo to the area for thousand-year soul beasts.

"Senior Beast King, you're quite perceptive this time. You knew I'd already outgrown hundred-year ones," Yuwen Tuo said with a smile.

"Tch, this old man isn't an idiot. Your first ring was already eight hundred years, so your second ring can surely reach a thousand years. Do you think this old man couldn't figure that out?" Gong Changlong pointed behind him. "The soul beasts here are all between one thousand and two thousand years old. Go pick one yourself."

"Thank you!" Yuwen Tuo thanked him, then walked toward the rows of Beast Cages.

The academy had collected relatively few powerful types of soul beasts, but that did not matter. A soul ring did not need to be the strongest—it needed to be the most suitable.