Driven Poor by Three Pet Beasts

Yan Shaozhe brought the three of them back to Shrek City overnight.

Early morning.

The vast Shrek City had already begun to stir. Vendors pushing carts clogged the streets from the south of the city to the north, while all kinds of shops lined the main roads in a dazzling variety.

In a small courtyard in the south of the city.

Old Zhuang looked at Jiang Nannan's mother on the sickbed, then glanced at Yan Shaozhe in surprise, and at Jiang Nannan, whose face was full of hope. "Shaozhe, you called me over to treat such a simple illness?"

"Old Zhuang, this matter is a little special..." Yan Shaozhe's lips moved, forcing his voice into a thread and sending it into Old Zhuang's ears as he briefly explained.

Jiang Nannan was, in truth, the banner for Shrek Academy's transformation—a commoner.

As an academy, rather than something of an imperial nature, the people it ought to recruit and nurture most were actually "commoners." These "commoners" included small clans without much foundation or strength, as well as true commoner geniuses like Jiang Nannan and Su Wen.

The latter were even more important.

In reality, quite a few Elders of the Sea God Pavilion had been born as commoners. It was just that, after they had occupied high positions and lived in comfort for so long, few people still knew about it.

That was why he intended to raise Jiang Nannan as a banner and attract many commoner geniuses to apply for Shrek Academy...

There were also quite a few accumulated problems in all this.

For example, very few commoners across the entire continent could awaken their martial souls, because unlike Ten Thousand Years Ago, there was no longer a Spirit Hall to awaken martial souls as a duty. Even if they did awaken, the commoners would first consider the sect forces that had awakened their martial souls for them, not Shrek Academy. The sects across the land were like one Soul Valve after another, firmly controlling commoner resources. Even with Shrek Academy's prestige, they did not dare to easily break this delicate balance.

Secondly, he had also wanted the Martial Soul Department to go to various regions and awaken martial souls for commoners, but unfortunately, every time he brought it up, he was met with strong opposition from the Elders. Their reason was that such actions were what Spirit Hall had done. Wouldn't doing so mean allowing Spirit Hall's ashes to flare up again?

He wanted to abolish the city lord's letter, but the Elders said the ancestral laws could not be changed.

Only in the end did he understand.

The Elders merely wanted him to be a "qualified" Dean of the Martial Soul Department, not a "saint."

That was a digression.

As Yan Shaozhe explained, realization dawned on Old Zhuang, and his expression grew a little more serious.

He stretched out his palm. A surge of green welled up inside it, and a verdant little sprout drilled out. Then it rapidly grew a flower bud, and the petals expanded at a visible speed. Old Zhuang tore off three tender pink petals and handed them to Jiang Nannan.

"Swallow one petal each day. In three days, the illness will be gone."

"Thank you, thank you..." Jiang Nannan's beautiful eyes were full of excitement.

"If you want to thank someone, thank that little fellow. If not for him, the academy wouldn't have learned that your mother was seriously ill." Old Zhuang shook his head.

"Sister Nan Nan, let Auntie take them," Su Wen said, seeing Jiang Nannan cast him another grateful look, and changed the subject to urge her on.

"Okay."

After Jiang Nannan's mother swallowed the petal, the color visibly returned to her face. Her complexion, which had been somewhat haggard and sallow from illness, became increasingly radiant and moving.

But thinking about it, that was only natural. Jiang Nannan was one of the top three beauties in the Original Work, so her mother's genes were bound to be quite good too.

The days passed one by one.

Aside from his daily cultivation, Su Wen would occasionally visit Jiang Nannan's mother, cultivate Ice and Fire Twin Heavens with Ma Xiaotao in the bathtub, and discuss the true meaning of the Ice Element with Ling Luochen. In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.

Inside the wooden house by the Golden Tree.

Su Wen let out a long breath of turbid air.

His face was filled with joy. "I finally broke through to rank thirty-two. Gaining one rank in just over a month isn't too bad..."

With the Spiritual Energy support from the Golden Tree, his three Pet Beasts increasing their strength by devouring Spirit Beast Flesh and Blood, the Spirit Pill Technique, and the aid of all kinds of heavenly treasures, his cultivation speed was becoming faster and faster. When he had been in the teens, raising his Soul Power by one rank had taken one or two months. Now, at the Soul Elder realm, the time needed to advance by one rank was instead about the same.

Although Little Gold, the Ice Sovereign, and Hurricane were soul beasts, and their cultivation rose far more slowly than humans', relying on devouring Spirit Beast Flesh and Blood was equivalent to humans consuming heavenly treasures. In half a year, their bodies had grown quite a bit.

However, today was the end of winter vacation, and a new batch of students had advanced to second year.

Su Wen stood up, got dressed, and headed toward the Outer Court.

The Beast Fighting Zone.

Gray, fortress-like walls separated the soul beasts from the academy.

The Beast Fighting Zone, which usually did not have many people, was packed at its entrance today with First Grade students. They would be facing their second Assessment here—confronting soul beasts directly. Compared to the cruelty of the first Assessment, the grouped three-on-three Elimination Tournament, this one was much gentler. As long as they were not too hopeless, chose a hundred-year soul beast, or performed abysmally, they would not be made things too difficult and would be allowed to pass normally...

"Old Gong, today is their competition. Why did you call me over?" Su Wen saw the little white-haired old man from afar. After greeting him, he asked curiously.

"To call you over and see..." Old Gong gave Su Wen a sidelong glance.

"Just how much these soul beasts of yours can eat!!!"

Su Wen: "..."

No way, right? You couldn't hold out after just half a month?

Your Great Spirit Arena takes a third of the academy's income. That's at least tens of millions of Gold Soul Coins every year. They're just three little guys, and you can't afford to feed them? How stingy...

Su Wen curled his lips.

"Hey, don't you dare look unconvinced." Old Gong exploded.

He dragged Su Wen over to a fake mountain.

Little Gold was lying leisurely on top of it. Beside him was a small mountain of meat. His bear paw picked up a piece and stuffed it into his mouth. Old Gong's eyes were practically spraying blood. "That's all flesh and blood from ten-thousand-year soul beasts! This soul beast of yours is incredibly picky. It won't touch anything below ten thousand years! Even for ten-thousand-year soul beast raw meat, it wants good quality. Its appetite alone is comparable to several Thousand Year Spirit Beasts! In just half a month, I've spent at least over a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins! And that's not even counting that Wind Baboon and Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion!"

Su Wen: "..."

The corner of his mouth twitched.

No wonder its cultivation had risen so quickly. So this guy had been carrying the burden all along.

Looking at it that way, what Old Gong said wasn't unreasonable. The yearly expenses for three spirit beasts probably came to more than a million Gold Soul Coins. That was no small sum. Gold Soul Coins had even greater purchasing power now than they had ten thousand years ago; a million Gold Soul Coins would be enough to arm a thousand-man heavy cavalry regiment to the teeth.

Although the Great Spirit Arena was managed by Old Gong, there were far too many places that needed money. The little old man even had to put his own money into it...

There was no helping it. Artificial rearing was just like this. If they were left in the Star Dou Great Forest, they wouldn't cost a single coin, but they might attract the attention of Bear Lord, Di Tian, or even the Silver Dragon King. Before his strength had risen, it was better to keep a low profile...

But eating only Spirit Beast Flesh and Blood wasn't a solution either. He wondered if there were any treasures like Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Ice Marrow that stored vast amounts of energy. Giving these Pet Beasts a little would at least keep things stable for a while.

"All right, Old Gong. Then I'll take it with me," Su Wen said, waving a hand.

"Hey, wait. What's the rush? Help me get through this match and teach that bunch of ignorant little brats a lesson," Old Gong said with a grin.

"You were just complaining that my Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear ate too much," Su Wen said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'll cover another half month of food!" Old Gong said through gritted teeth.

"Deal~" Su Wen grinned.

Even a mosquito was still meat, no matter how small. If he could freeload a little, he might as well.