"No wonder! Junior Brother Mu, if you ranked second among your peers in strength, no one would dare claim first!"
With the support of Mu Changqing's arm, Dai Yaoheng sprang to his feet. After this battle, he had begun to admire Mu Changqing and regarded him as a worthy opponent.
"Dai Yaoheng! Had your fill of fighting this time? You're always saying you can't find an opponent!"
Ma Xiaotao came up to Dai Yaoheng, planted her hands on her hips, and began teasing him.
"All right, come sit over here! Tell me what you gained from your battle just now."
Xuan Zi pulled a chicken drumstick from who knew where and began gnawing on it, beckoning everyone in the soul-fighting arena over to the spectator stands.
The six gathered together and walked shoulder to shoulder toward Xuan Zi. From time to time, Ling Luochen cast curious glances in Mu Changqing's direction.
Na'er seemed to notice and immediately moved closer to Mu Changqing. With the two pressed close together, she firmly reached out and took his left hand.
Na'er's sudden gesture left Mu Changqing stunned. Stunned though he was, he also held tightly to her fair little hand.
The six arrived before Xuan Zi and each found a seat, while the usually lackadaisical Xuan Zi sat upright directly in front of them.
"Dai Yaoheng, what did you gain?"
Xuan Zi glanced at Dai Yaoheng and asked meaningfully. The five beside Dai Yaoheng were all waiting to hear what insights he had gained.
"Through this battle, I clearly felt my own shortcomings, so I need to work harder at cultivating."
"Today, I also learned that beyond one genius, there is always another. Junior Brother Mu is the best example!"
Dai Yaoheng sat up straight and spoke solemnly about his problems and insights, while the others listened attentively.
Dai Yaoheng voiced everything on his mind. Previously, apart from Ma Xiaotao, he could be said to have had no match in the outer court.
Dai Yaoheng's martial soul was also the Evil-Eyed White Tiger. He had always been exceedingly arrogant, considering himself a genius among geniuses.
Today, Dai Yaoheng had truly experienced the helplessness of being unrivaled beneath the heavens, only to encounter a mighty foe beyond them.
"It's good that you've gained some insight. I have high hopes for you. The road ahead is still long!"
Xuan Zi smiled at Dai Yaoheng, revealing both rows of teeth. Dai Yaoheng was one of Shrek's outer court's seeded talents and would surely become one of the Shrek Seven Monsters.
"Xiaotao, what about you? What insights did you gain?"
After Dai Yaoheng finished, Xuan Zi turned his gaze toward Ma Xiaotao, who seemed to be spacing out to one side.
"Ah! I... me?"
Ma Xiaotao failed to react for a moment. She scratched her head and began to think.
"Maybe... we won this match too quickly. I couldn't really gain any insights."
Looking embarrassed, Ma Xiaotao rubbed her hands together behind her back, her fiery-red eyes darting about.
Xuan Zi did not question her further. Asking would be pointless anyway. He continued questioning the others, and the afternoon quietly slipped by.
"Junior Brother Mu! Let's spar again next term when we have time!"
Dai Yaoheng stood at Shrek Academy's east gate, with a carriage beside him. He was about to return to the White Tiger Duke's Mansion.
"Definitely!"
Mu Changqing readily agreed. Dai Yaoheng had already boarded the carriage. As the sound of the moving carriage grew more distant, Mu Changqing did not linger either.
After interacting with Dai Yaoheng in person, Mu Changqing found that, aside from being a little arrogant, he was quite a decent person. One could say he had fully inherited the Evil-Eyed White Tiger's open and upright nature.
"Brother! Remember to meet us at the Soul Tool Department tomorrow. We're setting off for Gengxin City in the southwestern Star Luo Empire!"
"All right! See you later."
Holding Na'er's hand, Mu Changqing headed toward Sea God Island. The two soon returned to their residence, where there were only four bears in the courtyard.
The Darkgold Terrorclaw Bear cubs Mu Changqing had adopted two years earlier had grown several times larger, but compared to Da Huang, they were still little shamans in the presence of a great one.
Only Na'er and Mu Changqing lived in the spacious apartment. Because the evil fire within Ma Xiaotao was becoming increasingly difficult to control, he now mostly lived with Yan Shaozhe and his wife.
If the evil fire within Ma Xiaotao went out of control, it could be stopped immediately to prevent it from harming the inner court students.
Mu Changqing now sat on a wooden chair in the courtyard while Na'er went to play with the four bears, and he sank into thought.
Mu Changqing's most important objective on this trip to the Star Dou Empire was the Soul-Devouring Carving Knife at the Star Luo Auction House. With the two God Kings, the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life, with him now, he could easily open the Eye of Life.
Among the opportunities afterward was the Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Ice Marrow beneath that well in the Earth Dragon Sect. He could use the Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Ice Marrow to negotiate with the Ice Emperor and the Snow Emperor.
There was also the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well in Sunset Forest, and finally, Electrolux's divine consciousness five years later. Most importantly, he had to find Dragon Valley.
Dragon Valley was a small plane independent of Douluo Star. The Dragon God had created it with the last of his strength when he was near death, to house the remains of all the dragons who had fallen in the great war in the Divine Realm.
After entering Dragon Valley, Mu Changqing would be like a fish in water thanks to his Golden Dragon King bloodline. Not only could he enter Dragon Valley, but he could also gather a complete set of dragon-attribute soul bones, with even the worst starting at the hundred-thousand-year level.
What Mu Changqing wanted most were the Mountain Dragon King Torso Bone and the divine artifact, "Dragon God's Tears."
Mu Changqing intended to claim every opportunity he could obtain on the Douluo Continent. At this point, some people would ask:
If Mu Changqing claimed all the opportunities on the Douluo Continent, what would happen to Huo Yuhao, the Son of the Plane? You said it yourself: he was the Son of the Plane. With these major opportunities gone, there would surely still be smaller ones waiting for him.
Zhang Lexuan had already entered secluded cultivation during this period. There was one year left until the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Tournament, and she had to become a Soul Sage within that year.
"Brother, over here!"
Bei Bei raised his hand and waved at Mu Changqing and Na'er as they approached from Shrek Square. The two soon arrived in front of the carriages.
Two carriages were parked there, their decorations resplendent in gold. Even the horses were no ordinary horses, but soul beasts-fire horses.
Na'er and Mu Changqing slipped into Fan Yu's carriage, while Bei Bei climbed into Qian Duoduo's.
Apart from the three children, those heading to the Star Luo Empire this time were Qian Duoduo and Fan Yu, with Xuan Zi following closely behind in secret.
The two carriages bearing Shrek Academy's emblem immediately set off through the east gate. This journey was rather long, and it would take at least five days to arrive.
The Soul Tool Department was traveling to Gengxin City, the steel capital of the Star Dou Empire, to invite its experienced blacksmiths to teach in Shrek Academy's Forging Department, which would be managed by the Soul Tool Department.
A year earlier, the Sun Moon Empire had begun selling small quantities of high-grade materials to Shrek Academy's Soul Tool Department. The shortage of high-grade materials had left many high-grade soul tools impossible to produce.
When bored, Mu Changqing would visit the Soul Tool Department and share his ideas with Qian Duoduo. If low-grade materials could not be used to make high-grade soul tools, why not refine and forge the metals?
At first, Qian Duoduo could not understand. After Mu Changqing explained in detail, Qian Duoduo produced several pieces of high-grade material using Mu Changqing's forging method, but their purity was inadequate.
In the end, following a Sea God Pavilion meeting, the Soul Tool Department would open a new field of study called the Forging Department. Professional matters still needed professionals to handle them.
Qian Duoduo's current predicament was that, to break through and become a Class 9 soul engineer, he needed enough rare materials for trial and error.
Yet most rare metal materials were monopolized by the Sun Moon Empire...
Thus, they set out for Gengxin City to ask its smiths to forge high-grade materials, and to invite them to become teachers in the Forging Department while they were there.