Two months had passed since Blue Tyrant Academy was renamed Shrek Academy.
Over those two months, Lin Hao's soul power had risen by one rank, reaching rank thirty-nine.
In another two months or so, Lin Hao would be able to obtain his fourth soul ring.
He had already decided on the soul beast and age he wanted for his fourth soul ring.
For that ring, Lin Hao wanted to hunt a Sky-Splitting Mantis with twenty thousand to twenty-five thousand years of cultivation.
As for his fourth soul skill, Lin Hao wanted the same one Bibi Dong had: the Soul-Devouring Spider Emperor's sixth soul skill, Eternal Wound.
It ignored physical defenses and, once it struck, also inflicted extremely severe wounds on the enemy's soul.
Lin Hao did not require his fourth soul skill to attack the soul. An attack that ignored defenses would be enough, making a ten-thousand-year Sky-Splitting Mantis a perfect choice.
After more than two months of diligent cultivation, Xiao Wu had also advanced one rank, reaching rank thirty-eight.
As Xiao Wu's soul power drew closer and closer to rank forty, Lin Hao told her his idea: when she needed to condense her fourth soul ring at rank forty, they would head into the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest together to visit Da Ming and Er Ming.
The surprise caught Xiao Wu completely off guard, and she was overjoyed.
For the next few nights, Xiao Wu satisfied practically every request Lin Hao made, sending him straight to cloud nine.
Another month passed.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's party returned from their soul hunt in the deep sea.
Lin Hao's hundred-thousand-year life attribute soul bone arrived with them.
How had Lin Hao learned of their return? Naturally, Bone Douluo had crossed through space and appeared on Shrek Academy's training grounds. He had come to take Ning Rongrong and Lin Hao to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
The two told their classmates they would see them later, then left with Bone Douluo.
As soon as Lin Hao followed Bone Douluo into the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's council hall,
he saw two other people there besides Ning Fengzhi, Sword Douluo, and the old monster, Poison Douluo.
After Ning Fengzhi introduced the two, Lin Hao learned who they were.
One was the spiritual-type Soul Douluo Ning Fengzhi had personally recruited earlier. His martial soul was the Illusion Dream Butterfly, and he was now a rank eighty-seven Soul Douluo. Barring any surprises, he would certainly become a Titled Douluo within the next dozen or so years.
The other was an elderly man with crane-white hair and a youthful face. His name was Ye Renxin, and his martial soul was the renowned Nine Heart Begonia.
The Nine Heart Begonia martial soul had a cruel, ironclad rule of inheritance: no more than two people in the world could possess it at the same time.
But when it came to martial souls with exceptionally powerful vitality, the Nine Heart Begonia martial soul undoubtedly topped the list. This elderly gentleman, Ye Renxin, was presumably Ye Lingling's grandfather.
"Greetings, seniors!"
The Illusion Dream Butterfly Soul Douluo and Ye Renxin each nodded to Lin Hao in acknowledgment.
After they took their seats, Ning Fengzhi chatted with the two for a while longer. Ye Renxin knew when to excuse himself and left with a soul bone just over ten thousand years old.
Shortly after Ye Renxin left, the Illusion Dream Butterfly Soul Douluo also departed the council hall.
With those two gone, only Ning Fengzhi, Sword Douluo, Bone Douluo, Ning Rongrong, Lin Hao, and Poison Douluo remained.
"Young friend Lin, here is the payment for our earlier transaction: a hundred-thousand-year Life Jade Spirit Turtle left leg bone. My eighth soul ring came from the same beast."
At those words, Lin Hao used his soul power to take the jade box from Ning Fengzhi's hand, then probed it with his soul power. It was indeed a hundred-thousand-year life attribute soul bone.
Lin Hao nodded.
"Good! Sect Master Ning, Senior Sword Douluo, Senior Bone Douluo, our transaction is now settled in full."
"In that case, I'll be leaving!"
Lin Hao stood and looked at Dugu Bo.
"Old monster, let's go! After you take me back to Blue Tyrant Academy, you can stand guard for me while you're at it."
Dugu Bo stood and cupped his hands toward Ning Fengzhi, Sword Douluo, and Bone Douluo.
After Lin Hao and Dugu Bo left,
Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo immediately went over to Ning Rongrong.
"Rongrong, did you miss your Grandpa Sword?"
"Rongrong, did you miss Grandpa Sword more, or Grandpa Bone?"
Clever little Ning Rongrong wrapped her arms around both Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo.
"Both! I missed you both! Hehe!"
Dugu Bo brought Lin Hao back to the gates of Shrek Academy in Heaven Dou City.
The eight large gilded characters on the gatehouse that had originally read "Blue Tyrant Advanced Soul Master Academy" had now become nine large gilded characters reading "Shrek Academy."
Looking puzzled, Dugu Bo asked Lin Hao,
"Say, Little Monster, I've only been away for two or three months, and your Blue Tyrant Academy has already changed its name?"
Lin Hao smiled.
"As you know, the Shrek Academy I originally attended was founded by Flender. He and our dean, Liu Erlong, are both members of the Golden Iron Triangle."
"I don't know what the two of them discussed after they met, but anyway, our academy was renamed Shrek Academy after that."
"Come on, let's head inside. I'll introduce you to my Uncle Hao while we're at it!"
"Oh, right, old monster, I need to visit the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well."
Dugu Bo said, "Little Monster, you don't need to tell me. From now on, that place is yours. I'm giving it to you. Go whenever you want."
"All right, then. I won't keep that place all to myself."
When they reached the training grounds, Tang San and the others were still training under Gravity Suppression.
"San, come here for a moment!"
Hearing the call, Tang San turned from practicing his spear techniques to look over.
"Brother Hao! You're back?"
Tang San stopped practicing, put away his Blue Silver Overlord Spear, and jogged over to Lin Hao and Dugu Bo, dragging along ten times his own weight.
"Teacher Zhao! Please release the Gravity Crush effect on San. We have something to discuss."
Zhao Wuji had noticed Lin Hao and Dugu Bo as they approached the training grounds. After greeting Poison Douluo, he dispelled the Gravity Crush effect on Tang San.
"Greetings, Senior Poison Douluo."
"Mm!"
Feeling the Gravity Crush effect disappear, Tang San asked Lin Hao,
"Brother Hao, what is it?"
"Something important! Come on, let's go to your dormitory courtyard."
Once they reached Tang San's courtyard, the three sat on the chairs around the table, and Lin Hao called Tang Hao out.
"Uncle Hao, come out for a moment. We have something to discuss."
The next instant, Tang Hao appeared beside the three, dressed in black robes.
Upon seeing Tang Hao's face clearly, Dugu Bo shot to his feet.
"You... you're Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao."
"Then doesn't that mean Tang San is..."
Lin Hao nodded.
"That's right. My good brother Tang San is the son of Clear Sky Douluo, my Uncle Hao."
"Uncle Hao, I called you out because this concerns whether Aunt Ah Yin can recover quickly!"
After speaking, Lin Hao did not look at Tang Hao's excited face, but turned to Tang San instead.
"San, you know about the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, right?"
At the mention of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Tang San looked stunned.
"Do you mean the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, one of the three great treasure basins, where plants can grow ten times faster?"
Lin Hao nodded.
"That's right. All the immortal herbs I brought out came from there, and the owner of this Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well is none other than Poison Douluo, Dugu Bo."
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