The dean's office.
"What do you mean, you want me to write you a letter of recommendation?"
"You're passing up a bright future at headquarters to attend the advanced Soul Master Academy at the Heaven Dou branch?"
Su Rou's eyes widened, disbelief written all over her face.
She had only just awarded the boy his graduation certificate as one of the year's ten outstanding students, and already he was reaching for the sky again.
"I'm going on a secret mission," Chen Zhuo said casually.
He had to go to Heaven Dou City for his future development.
There was no longer anything to gain by staying in Spirit City.
Bibi Dong was the sort of ruler who did not even treat her subordinates as people.
Chrysanthemum Ghost Douluo had served loyally all his life and had not received a single Soul Bone.
Of course, Bibi Dong hated Spirit Hall more than she loved it. How could she possibly devote herself to winning over talent?
Probably only Hu Liena could make her show a little concern.
As for everyone else, whether they were elders or geniuses...
In her eyes, they were all tools to be discarded once they had served their purpose.
They were no different from dogs.
"His Holiness the Pope agreed?" Su Rou asked uncertainly.
"Of course. Would I dare come to you otherwise, Dean?"
Meanwhile, in the Pope's Hall.
After presenting the letter Chen Zhuo had asked her to deliver to Bibi Dong, Hu Liena stood quietly to one side.
"He doesn't know what's good for him!"
"And what is Su Rou doing? She approved it outright. She has no sense whatsoever."
Bibi Dong tossed down the letter, her expression faintly angry.
But remembering that Su Rou was the Ninth Elder's daughter, she could not be bothered to pursue the matter.
Since Chen Zhuo liked Heaven Dou so much, she would let him go.
He would regret it in time.
Once he graduated from the Heaven Dou branch's academy and returned...
He would understand the gap between himself and Hu Liena's group.
Spirit Hall's headquarters possessed the finest cultivation resources on the continent. How could the imperial families of the two great empires or the branches stationed in various countries compare?
As for Chen Zhuo's claim in the letter that he was going to win over that old fellow Dugu Bo...
To have him abandon the darkness for the light and become an honorary elder of Spirit Hall or something of the sort...
Bibi Dong did not take it particularly seriously.
He was merely a low-ranking Titled Douluo.
To Spirit Hall as it stood, he was dispensable.
Besides, she knew Dugu Bo was not only narrow-minded but also proud and unruly.
Otherwise, he would not have rejected the olive branch extended by the previous Pope.
Even if he accepted a nominal position in Spirit Hall, he would probably still accept deployment orders while refusing summons from her, the Pope.
A morsel with no flavor.
At that moment, Bibi Dong still did not know.
Dugu Bo had long since ceased to be the weakest Titled Douluo.
He was now a Super Douluo with a Soul Core and soul power as high as level 95.
He was already every bit the equal of her right and left hands, Chrysanthemum Ghost Douluo.
Su Rou sighed.
She truly could not understand how these geniuses' minds worked.
But if His Holiness the Pope had agreed, would she dare refuse?
So she immediately wrote Chen Zhuo a letter of recommendation.
"If you ever run into any difficulties, boy..."
"Remember to write to me."
"I count as at least half a teacher to you, don't I? If there's anything I can help with, I'll do my best."
No teacher could dislike a good student who excelled in both character and academics.
Su Rou was no exception.
She really was reluctant to see Chen Zhuo leave.
"All right, Teacher." Chen Zhuo smiled, revealing a neat row of pearly white teeth.
She was the second genuinely good person he had met since coming to this world.
Chen Zhuo shared a farewell meal with the Golden Generation trio.
"Hehe! Next time we meet, your big sister here might already be a Soul King."
Hu Liena raised her orange soda and clinked glasses with Chen Zhuo.
"When that happens, we have to have a proper fight!"
Yan picked up his milk and joined the toast.
"Then I'll definitely be the first."
Xie Yue drank his plain water with all the swagger of someone drinking liquor.
He declared that the Soul Skill he was creating was almost fully worked out.
When the time came, he would give all three of them a huge surprise.
"With a true friend within the seas, even the ends of the earth feel close as neighbors."
"Let us not, at the fork in the road, wet our handkerchiefs with tearful farewells."
"Come, to our friendship!"
While Chen Zhuo was on his way to Heaven Dou City.
Black Snake Village.
Two deliverymen carried a large chest to the village chief's home.
They grumbled about what could possibly have been shipped to make it so heavy.
Zheng Xiu signed for the package with some suspicion.
He wondered who had sent it.
The moment he opened the chest...
Mother Zheng's legs gave way beside him, and she dropped straight to the ground.
In the sunlight, gold gleamed dazzlingly.
The chest was filled with Gold Soul Coins.
There was also a letter.
"Greetings to Uncle Zheng Xiu."
It was signed by Chen Zhuo.
Back then, Zheng Xiu had helped him with twenty Gold Soul Coins.
Now, he repaid him with ten thousand.
Heaven Dou City, Dugu Manor.
For days, the household attendants had scrubbed the entire manor spotless.
Even the leaves of the potted plants had to be wiped one by one.
They dreaded leaving even a speck of dust.
Everyone in the manor knew that the young master had returned from his studies in Spirit City.
After more than two years, Chen Zhuo saw Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan again.
The former looked younger with every passing year.
The latter was seventeen this year and had grown into a graceful young woman.
Her soul power level had also reached 37.
"Young master, I've completed the task you assigned me."
Dugu Bo reported his progress to Chen Zhuo.
He had bought up all the ten-thousand-year whale glue he could obtain within the Heaven Dou Empire.
Now, he was making contact with merchant associations in the Star Luo Empire, which dominated the south.
Sooner or later, he would sweep up all the high-aged whale rubber in one net.
Dugu Bo took out a Storage Soul Tool.
Chen Zhuo swept it with his spiritual power. Inside were more than three hundred pieces of ten-thousand-year whale glue, amber-like in appearance and giving off a musky scent.
When nobles indulged in pleasure, they generally used whale rubber only ten or a hundred years old.
Anything over ten thousand years old was a rarity wherever one went.
Even when apothecaries large or small carried something of that age, they would not stock much.
The older it was, the harder it was to sell.
It could easily rot on their hands.
Chen Zhuo was already very satisfied with this quantity.
And that was only possible because no one in this era knew whale rubber's true value.
As he spoke, Dugu Bo's old face reddened.
Some brat from the southern Star Luo Empire had somehow leaked the news that he was buying up whale rubber.
Word had then spread back to Heaven Dou.
Now people in every street and alley were saying behind his back that Dugu Bo had become quite the charmer in his old age.
He wanted to find Dugu Yan a grandmother...
There were even rumors that he had already taken an eighteenth concubine.
Next, Dugu Bo took out a jade box.
Inside was the Speed Clan's family heirloom, crystal blood dragon ginseng.
Chen Zhuo examined the translucent, blood-red ginseng. Raised patterns connected across its surface, resembling a true five-clawed dragon soaring above the nine heavens.
Judging from its rhizome, it was approximately five thousand years old.
Although it was younger than the Immortal Herbs at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, which were often tens of thousands of years old, its ability to reshape the body and repair damage to one's foundations still made it exceedingly precious.
After putting away the Immortal Herb, he noticed Dugu Bo hesitating to speak.
Chen Zhuo knew then that the visit to the Speed Clan must have encountered some complications.
"What is it? If you have something to say, say it."
Dugu Bo felt rather ashamed, believing he had mishandled the task.
But he did not dare conceal anything.
"Originally, I intended to negotiate peacefully."
"Who would have thought that old Bai He wasn't quite right in the head?"
Dugu Bo recounted the whole story.
He had gone to the Speed Clan intending to exchange resources.
He swore that he had never intended to hurt or kill anyone.
Yet in the end, the Speed Clan had been wiped out.
Of the entire clan, only its chief, Bai He, and his granddaughter, Bai Chenxiang, had escaped.
Dugu Bo told Chen Zhuo that Bai He had been struck by his jade phosphorous serpent poison and was certain to die.
Bai Chenxiang, however, had gained the Breaking Clan's protection.
Without Chen Zhuo's instructions, he had not dared take it upon himself to escalate matters.
"That sounds like something the Speed Clan's chief would do."
"Since they don't dare come looking for trouble with us, the matter ends here."
Chen Zhuo did not consider Bai Chenxiang's escape worth worrying about.
These stray-dog clans unwanted by the Clear Sky Sect could not stir up any waves for the time being.
He had obtained what he wanted. That was enough.
With Su Rou's letter of recommendation, Chen Zhuo could enroll whenever he pleased.
But he did not want to report in so soon.
"You two, come with me."
His soul power had now reached level 30.
Chen Zhuo planned to obtain his third Soul Ring first.
Before you continue