Ecstasy!

Boom!

The whole crowd erupted.

His wording was polite and his bearing gentle, yet his tone was provocative to the extreme.

In an instant, the little kids watching around the Playground looked at him differently.

"What are you acting so arrogant for? With that lousy fireball martial soul, what do you have to be proud of?"

"Trash! You're just as trashy as your martial soul!"

"You level-fourteen big oaf, what are you barking about? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were level twenty-four."

"Get him! Don't chicken out!"

"First-years, can you handle him or not? If not, hurry up and let the next year take over. We second-years will teach him a lesson."

"Damn! What gives him the right to be so arrogant? If anyone can beat that big oaf to his knees, I'll consider dating them!"

"..."

The Playground descended into a boiling mess again, with all manner of filthy insults flying.

On the dais.

Du Weilun frowned and addressed the three vice deans serving under him.

"Do you have his enrollment records? Let me see them."

"Yes, yes. His homeroom teacher, Li Qun, submitted them."

One vice dean hurriedly took the paper records prepared the day before out of his Storage Soul Tool and handed them over.

Another vice dean, worried that Jiang Dongjun's arrogant attitude had offended Du Weilun, spoke up in his defense.

"Dean, this boy may be a little arrogant, but he's a Shrek man through and through. Both his parents are instructors in our academy's Outer Court Soul Tool Department. He's still young, so flaws in his character are perfectly normal. Correcting them is our job as teachers."

Du Weilun looked surprised. "He has parents? His biological parents?"

"Er... aren't they? His fireball martial soul follows the family line. That should be enough to establish their blood relationship."

Du Weilun asked again, "Have you personally seen that boy's martial soul?"

"No, but, Dean, won't we see it in a moment?"

Du Weilun pressed further. "Heh. What if he doesn't use his martial soul, and relies solely on spiritual power?"

The three vice deans were struck speechless. However dull they might be, they could smell something amiss.

The atmosphere on the dais grew strange.

Meanwhile.

A middle-aged Soul Master stepped out from the edge of the Playground and reached Jiang Dongjun's side in a few bounds.

"Quiet!"

His voice, reinforced by the tremendous soul power of a Soul King, suppressed the unrest throughout the crowd.

"I will officiate today's bouts. Does any Soul Master from the first year wish to step forward and challenge him?"

"I do!"

A big-boned boy with a sturdy, burly build stepped out from the first-year students.

At the Soul King referee's direction, he took his position roughly fifty feet from Jiang Dongjun.

"Classmate, I'm no teacher, but I'll show you what endurance means. I hope that when you fail to break through my defenses, you'll come to understand humility on your own."

The Soul King referee acted decisively, giving neither side any more time to trade barbs.

"Both sides, state your names!"

"Jiang Dongjun."

"Chen Xi!"

"Only after I announce the start may you use Martial Soul Possession and attack. Ready-"

"Begin!"

As the referee's arm swept down, the composed boy immediately gave a low shout, and a Rhino-Head Round Shield over half a meter tall appeared in his hand.

"Guard!"

The pale yellow soul ring pulsing around him suddenly lit up. As though fed a powerful tonic, the Rhino-Head Round Shield swelled in size and grew thicker. Planted on the ground, it covered most of Chen Xi's body.

Chen Xi crouched behind his shield and peeked out to check Jiang Dongjun's reaction, wondering why he still hadn't moved.

I've defended. Come on, attack! Where's your fireball?

But the moment he peeked out, he met Jiang Dongjun's peculiar gaze.

Two brilliant streaks, like flashes of lightning, actually shot from those bright eyes.

Then Chen Xi felt as though a sledgehammer had struck his head. With a muffled grunt, he lost consciousness and toppled stiffly to the ground.

An instant knockout?!

For a moment, the entire crowd fell deathly silent.

"Tsk~ It's good to be young. You can fall asleep the moment your head hits the ground."

Jiang Dongjun clicked his tongue and offered that remark, which every stunned, speechless teacher and student heard clearly.

Spiritual Shock!

A Spiritual Shock unleashed with what appeared to be Spirit Sea Realm spiritual cultivation. Had Jiang Dongjun not held back, even if Chen Xi's head hadn't burst from the impact, he would have suffered extremely severe injuries to his soul.

There was something Jiang Dongjun was very curious about.

Spiritual Shock was clearly the most basic, least technically demanding of all spiritual power techniques. How could something like that take up a soul skill slot?

As for how Jiang Dongjun had mastered the technique?

First, he had a yin spirit, the foundation necessary to employ spiritual power techniques.

Second, he had played with the Fantastical Fox since childhood. After so much exploration of the Soul Bone Skill within it-[Illusion Imbuement]-he had naturally mastered it.

That Soul Bone Skill was an illusion technique that invaded consciousness and wove illusory realms, involving fine manipulation after spiritual power had been projected.

But if you've already learned that fine control, how could you not manage a crude, direct blast of spiritual power?

Is your head a solid block of elm wood?

After the deathly silence lasted for a dozen breaths, cries of astonishment suddenly erupted like mountains collapsing and seas surging.

The Soul King referee came to his senses and hurried over to examine Chen Xi. Discovering that he had merely fainted, with no other problems detectable, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Xi's homeroom teacher ran over. The Soul King referee whispered a few words to explain the situation, and the teacher visibly relaxed before picking Chen Xi up and running toward the temporary medical station at the edge of the field.

The Soul King referee gave Jiang Dongjun a long, searching look, then announced the result with a grave gaze.

"Jiang Dongjun wins!"

"Will you continue competing?"

Jiang Dongjun was thinking about something and hadn't heard the Soul King referee, so the latter repeated himself.

"Jiang Dongjun, will you continue competing?"

Only then did Jiang Dongjun snap out of his thoughts.

"Yes. Of course I will."

What he did next was even more brazen. He pulled a chest out of his Storage Ring and slammed it onto the ground. The lid flipped open, revealing a flash of gold. It was filled entirely with Gold Soul Coins.

"Fellow students, as long as you have a hundred-year soul ring, you're welcome to challenge me.

"If you lose, you can take one Gold Soul Coin from here;

"if you win, I'll give you one thousand Gold Soul Coins!"

"Referee, this is for Chen Xi. Please pass it on to him."

Thousands of eyes watched Jiang Dongjun pick up a Gold Soul Coin and place it in the Soul King referee's hand, proving that his words were no empty promise.

Another uproar rose like mountains collapsing and seas surging.

Everyone thought Jiang Dongjun had gone mad. Even if his family owned a gold mine, who threw money around like this?

Watching from the sidelines, Li Qun's expression changed. He said urgently, "Brother Jiang, sister-in-law, hurry and stop your boy! How can you let him run wild like this? Won't he squander everything you two own?"

But Jiang Ming merely narrowed his eyes slightly and gave a composed smile, reassuring him. "Old Li, don't worry. I have a fair bit of wealth. Let him have his fun. We can't let the other children take a beating from my son for nothing, can we? Consider that Gold Soul Coin compensation for their fright."

Beside him, Diwu Ying merely smiled gently, offering no opinion.

In truth, Jiang Ming's heart was as clear as a mirror.

His son was the sort who wouldn't loose the hawk until he spotted the hare. If he was so eager to invite others to fight him, he must be gaining some tremendous benefit from the bouts!

A benefit worth far more than one thousand Gold Soul Coins!

The old saying was right: no one knew a son better than his father.

The reason Jiang Dongjun had suddenly become so frenzied was that, after defeating Chen Xi, he discovered that the Light of Time and Space had actually pulled a tiny thread of fortune from him!

It was a minuscule thread, almost imperceptible, but it was undeniably there.

Small gains would accumulate, and a change in quantity would become a change in quality, eventually condensing into soul liquid!

At that moment, Jiang Dongjun's heart was undoubtedly bursting with ecstasy.

This was the right move. Coming here to rule the kindergarten really does get me soul liquid!

Three rings! Just wait until I have three rings!

Then I'll definitely pummel everyone in the Shrek Outer Court, seize the fortune of the continent's greatest geniuses, and turn it into fuel for my advancement!