"You're looking for the dean? He's in the office building up ahead. Just go straight."
Ma Hongjun casually pointed in a direction, then went back to eating. He still wasn't full.
What a freak!
Yu Xiaogang muttered inwardly, but still headed in the direction the boy had indicated.
After walking for a while, just as Yu Xiaogang began to suspect that brat had pointed him in some random direction, a rather large wooden building appeared before him. Judging by its decor, it was undoubtedly an office.
Yu Xiaogang nodded in satisfaction. Without further hesitation, he took the recommendation letter from inside his clothes and walked straight in.
"Changsheng, so if we follow your plan, all the Little Monsters can develop their own Self-Created Soul Skills while keeping up with their cultivation?"
"That's right, but before that, we'll still cultivate according to the original plan!"
"All right!"
Just as he reached the doorway, Yu Xiaogang came face-to-face with two figures.
"Li Changsheng!? What are you doing here too!?"
"Gangzi, you really are something. I didn't think you'd actually come."
"What do you mean? You knew I would come?"
The encounter between the three figures formed a snapshot for the ages.
Flender looked at Yu Xiaogang, then at Li Changsheng beside him, his expression puzzled. What was going on? This old fellow knew Changsheng?
"You're... Flender?! It hasn't been that long. How did you end up looking like this?"
Thick black hair and body hair, along with those gray cloth clothes-although he looked somewhat unfamiliar, Yu Xiaogang still recognized the man before him as none other than Flender!
But wasn't this change a bit too drastic? He felt like someone drawn in an entirely different art style.
"You are..."
"You don't even recognize me? I'm Yu Xiaogang! The Corner of Wisdom of the Golden Iron Triangle! Your good brother!"
Boom!
The presence of a Soul Saint erupted abruptly, instantly pressing down on Yu Xiaogang until he could barely breathe.
A fierce look appeared on Flender's face, which brimmed with displeasure and anger. "What roadside nobody dares impersonate the Corner of Wisdom?"
In his heart, there was only one Corner of Wisdom: Li Changsheng! Where had this old man called Yu Xiaogang come from, trying to pull a scam at his Shrek Academy?
Watching this, Li Changsheng couldn't help finding it funny inwardly. Gangzi was on his way to having no one left to turn to.
To think the comic version of Flender wouldn't remember Yu Xiaogang at all. What an incredible alteration!
"I-I'm Yu Xiaogang! This is the recommendation letter you gave me!"
Yu Xiaogang used practically every ounce of strength in his body to raise the recommendation letter. The oppressive weight of Flender's Soul Power made it difficult to breathe, and the terror of approaching death drove him to unleash strength unlike anything before.
"A recommendation letter?"
At last, Flender withdrew his pressure, snatched the recommendation letter, and began reading.
"Hmm..."
Now he really was in a bit of a bind, because the recommendation letter was actually genuine. Even the handwriting was exactly like his own.
When did I write something like this?
Flender had absolutely no memory of writing a recommendation letter. He hadn't even written one for Li Changsheng, so where had this person come from?
"I wrote this? How come I don't remember?"
Looking puzzled, Flender gazed at Yu Xiaogang, who had collapsed to his knees before him.
"You did write it! If you don't believe me, here's my Martial Soul. Surely it can prove it?"
As he spoke, Yu Xiaogang summoned his purple-skinned Pig.
"Luo, luo!"
Looking at the purple-skinned Pig before him, Flender grew even more puzzled. What was this thing!? A pig or a dog?
Flender's brows knitted tightly. He genuinely had no idea when he had met someone like this. Instinctively, he turned to Li Changsheng beside him and asked:
"Changsheng, do you know him?"
Do you know him?
Those words struck Yu Xiaogang's heart like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.
What did that mean?
Flender didn't recognize me anymore?
"Flender!! You're pretending not to know me, are you? Just because I haven't visited you these past few years, you treat me like this!?"
Yu Xiaogang practically roared those words. He had never imagined that Flender would treat him this way, pretending not to recognize him.
Saying something like that was bad enough, but saying it to Li Changsheng was simply an insult to him, Yu Xiaogang!
"Yu Xiaogang, a man without shame is invincible. Flender already said he doesn't know you. What are you still doing here?"
"Hmph! I don't care. Either let me stay, or you're breaking your promise, Flender!"
Yu Xiaogang simply resorted to acting shamelessly. No matter what happened today, he had to stay here. Shrek Academy was his last hope. If he couldn't take in a perfect disciple, he would have no way to prove his Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, no way to prove to the world that he, Yu Xiaogang, was a Grandmaster!
"Are you threatening me? Relying on your rank twenty-nine Soul Power?"
Flender had sensed it when Yu Xiaogang summoned his Martial Soul earlier. The man before him, who called himself Yu Xiaogang, actually had only rank twenty-nine Soul Power.
A rank twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster openly threatening a Soul Saint-who would believe it?
"I-I..."
"Forget it, Flender. Let me handle this."
At those words, Flender gave Yu Xiaogang a long look, then stepped back slightly, leaving Li Changsheng to speak.
Looking at Yu Xiaogang, who lay there like a stray dog collapsed by the roadside, Li Changsheng shook his head and said:
"Yu Xiaogang, you've seen it yourself. This isn't a place where you can stay. Leave if you know what's good for you. Otherwise, I can't guarantee Flender won't do something to you."
"You! Li Changsheng, I'll remember this. We're not finished!"
Yu Xiaogang was panting like an ox now, his eyes bloodshot. He looked at Li Changsheng as though he were his father's murderer.
But after glancing at Flender, whose eyes had already narrowed, Yu Xiaogang ultimately lost his nerve. Without even asking for the recommendation letter back, he staggered toward the academy's exit.
"Changsheng, who is this man? He knows you, doesn't he?"
"Yes, but he once spent some time with me at the same junior academy."
Li Changsheng recounted some of what had happened between him and Yu Xiaogang at Nuoding Academy, making Flender laugh outright. Yu Xiaogang looked like an unusual fellow, but he hadn't expected him to be such a piece of work.
Although Flender remained somewhat puzzled about where the recommendation letter had come from, he could ultimately only put it down to someone with similar handwriting having written it. It couldn't be taken seriously.
Meanwhile, Yu Xiaogang dragged his bedraggled self toward the academy's exit, one step at a time, only slowly coming to a stop when he reached the entrance.
Glancing at Shrek Academy's gate, Yu Xiaogang's eyes filled with fury.
"Damn that Flender! Could he be holding a grudge against me and Liu Erlong? Now he's pretending not to know me? Live long enough and you really do see everything!"
After cursing a few times, Yu Xiaogang finally felt empty, because he no longer knew what he was going to do.
Shrek Academy didn't want him, and that fellow Li Changsheng was there too.
"I'll stay around here for a couple of days first..."