Ever since that day, Lu Yu's life had gradually settled into a three-stop routine.
He attended classes during the day to learn theories he did not know, then trained his physique in the afternoon.
After school, he plunged straight into the Soul Tool Department's teaching building to research Soul Tools with the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and Elder Yi.
During that time, because Xu Tianzhen had moved into the workshop, Huo Yutong moved her things over too, making the once fairly spacious workshop considerably more cramped.
It was worth mentioning that after being hit by the Evil Fire Phoenix's truck of fortune, Wang Dong had taken leave to go home.
According to Wang Yan, she had been injured while cultivating. According to rumors among their classmates, Wang Dong had apparently been caught in the fallout while clearing her head beside Sea God Lake that afternoon.
Lu Yu thought Wang Dong should be fine with a God King intervening. She might have gone home because things had turned somewhat unpleasant with Shrek Academy.
Tsk, tsk. I wonder who that turkey was. They attacked the Clear Sky Sect's crown princess, God King Tang's daughter, the Butterfly God's successor, and even beat her badly enough that she needed to recuperate from serious injuries. Surely settling this would take eight hundred thousand or a million Gold Soul Coins and a few Immortal Herbs.
One day a month later, Lu Yu received a letter from Xiao Xiao's father.
After the afternoon classes ended, Lu Yu called out to Xiao Xiao, who was about to leave.
"Xiao Xiao, let's go. The Soul Beast your father caught for you should be here."
After checking the time, Lu Yu and Xiao Xiao asked Wang Yan for leave and met Xiao Xiao's father at the academy gates.
"Grandmaster Lu, I caught the Soul Beast you mentioned, but it's two thousand years old. Will that be a problem?"
The Xiao Clan Chief was a little hesitant. After all, the normal age limit for a Soul Elder's Soul Ring was only seventeen hundred years. His daughter was merely a Soul Grandmaster; absorbing this might make her explode and die.
"Don't worry. Two thousand years won't be much of a problem."
Lu Yu made an "okay" gesture. After the infusion of gold of life, Xiao Xiao's physique was already comparable to a Soul Elder's. A two-thousand-year ring would not pose much of a problem.
If not for the possibility that the Xiao Clan Chief and the other two Soul Ancestors might fail, Lu Yu would have wanted them to find an even older Soul Beast.
They arrived at a large, enclosed building outside Shrek City, with members of Shrek City's law enforcement team standing guard outside.
Shrek's vacation lasted only a month, and the rules stipulated that any non-core disciple who missed the first day of school would be expelled outright.
What student would not want to use their sole month of vacation each year to rush into a Soul Hunt forest and survive in the wilderness, finally find a suitable Soul Ring after much difficulty, then return to school to discover that the first day had become their expulsion day?
Thus, most students decided to pay Soul Hunting teams to capture the hundred-year or thousand-year Soul Beasts they wanted and bring them over so they could absorb their Soul Rings. Shrek City's related industries flourished as a result.
Lu Yu and the others handed over their token and entered the building.
Under the illumination of the Soul Guidance Lamps, the interior was just as bright as outside. An enormous turtle lay in the center of the room.
Its head bore horns, and its shell resembled a tower. Even lying there, it exuded a sense of ponderous weight.
An earth-type Soul Beast, the Mountain-Earth Baxia Turtle was a descendant of the top-tier Soul Beast Baxia and possessed the ability to control gravity and the earth element.
Xiao Xiao picked up a dagger and struck a vital spot in one blow. A purple Soul Ring appeared above the turtle's head.
Xiao Xiao hurriedly sat cross-legged and guided the Soul Ring onto her Martial Soul. The intense pain lasted two hours before she opened her eyes, an irrepressible smile on her face.
"Grandmaster Lu, it's just as you said! My second Soul Skill, Cauldron's Weight: it doubles the cauldron's weight, defense, hardness, and attack power for half an hour. Once the Three Cauldrons as One, the duration is halved and the effect doubles!"
Lu Yu immediately absorbed Xiao Xiao's three rings as well. A single cauldron's effect rivaled the White Tiger Martial Soul's Third Soul Skill, while the Three Cauldrons as One effect rivaled its fifth Soul Skill. More importantly, the cauldron's weight and attack power already synergized with her first Soul Skill, Cauldron's Tremor. Who could use a Martial Soul like this without grinning?
Back at the dormitory, Xiao Xiao raised both hands in celebration before everyone.
"Hehe, level 22! Now we've got the New Student Competition championship in the bag."
Xiao Xiao was beaming, only for Lu Yu to grab her springy cheeks and pull hard to either side.
With a "pop," he let go, and her cheeks even bounced back. They really were incredibly soft.
"Aaah! Grandmaster Lu, what are you doing? That hurts so much!"
Her eyes misty with tears, Xiao Xiao rubbed her reddened cheeks.
"You're asking me why? It's been a month. You've eaten all that Soul Beast meat and cultivated with me in our five-person party every day, yet after absorbing a two-thousand-year Soul Ring, you've only just reached level 22."
After obtaining Ning Tian's cultivation insights on Heart Separation Control, Lu Yu had quickly learned to divide his attention four ways thanks to his Spiritual Power. He had spent this entire month helping the other four accelerate their cultivation every day.
"A Thousand-Year Soul Ring contains a little over two levels' worth of energy. No matter what, you should have reached mid-level 22. This shows your mental cultivation isn't up to par. You still haven't fully brought out your talent for innate full Soul Power."
"Huh? But I feel pretty confident now. I'm confident I can beat any student in our year."
Xiao Xiao stood up and patted her flat-as-an-airstrip chest.
"Then go challenge Jiang Nannan to a duel right now. If you lose, you're out of our five-person cultivation party."
"No, Grandmaster Lu, I was wrong!"
Xiao Xiao immediately hugged Lu Yu and pressed her head against his waist.
"Big Sister Nan Nan's ten-meter teleportation is way too unfair! I have absolutely no way to counter it!"
Xiao Xiao wanted to cry but had no tears. How could there be such an absurd Soul Skill as teleportation, especially on Jiang Nannan, a Level 3 practical-combat Soul Engineer who had received guidance from Lu Yu, a high-level PvP player?
As a long-range control-type Soul Master, Xiao Xiao had learned a whole repertoire of close-range fighting techniques from Lu Yu, but her own strength still could not compare to Jiang Nannan's, who had also been fed life force from gold of life by Lu Yu.
As a tool Soul Master, Xiao Xiao had far too miserable a time facing an Agility Attack System Soul Master like Jiang Nannan, who could use Teleportation to appear right in her face with zero startup frames.
Even more outrageously, Jiang Nannan had two Soul Tools on her. One was a pair of Level 3 Soul Tool paralysis gloves Lu Yu had equipped her with. Their effect was simple: the instant they touched an enemy, they could paralyze them and slow the flow of Soul Power within their body.
The other was a Level 3 propulsion Soul Tool she had received from the Soul Tool Department.
Combined with Gravity Control, a Level 3 propulsion Soul Tool could even enable rapid low-altitude flight.
And for some reason, Jiang Nannan's Third Soul Skill, teleportation, had a range of ten meters rather than the usual Soft Bone Rabbit's five. Good heavens, a fast-moving, low-flying Agility Attack System Soul Elder who also had a ten-meter teleport!
A tool Soul Master like Xiao Xiao had only one possible outcome against Jiang Nannan.
Jiang Nannan dodged the Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, blinked into her face with zero startup frames, and activated her paralysis gloves. Unable to use Soul Power, she faced Waist Bow · Gravity Control · Throw, KO!
Never mind Xiao Xiao, not even fourth-years could withstand this combo from Jiang Nannan. This delighted Qian Duoduo, the Soul Tool Department's vice dean, so much that he gave Jiang Nannan another huge pile of assorted Soul Tools.
"See? You're scared again. Even if you can't beat her, at worst you just try a few more times. I can teach you how to fight her too. Your mentality still isn't good enough."
"Grandmaster Lu, even if you can guide me through a few more tries, Big Sister Nan Nan has your guidance too! My level is so far behind hers. How am I supposed to beat Big Sister Nan Nan when you're coaching her?"
"Damn, why didn't you say so earlier?"
Lu Yu rubbed his chin and thought for a while. True, how could a level-20 version of him beat a level-30 version of himself? It seemed he could only try another approach.
He looked around. Huo Yutong, Tang Ya, Jiang Nannan. Good, no outsiders.
Then he took a deep breath and spoke to Xiao Xiao.
"Xiao Xiao, do you want to be a mother?"
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