Flender reached out and gave Lin Kong a light pat on the shoulder, his voice relaxed and cheerful. "Come on, introduce yourself to everyone."
As his words fell, he shifted his footing and moved three steps aside, naturally yielding the sole position at the center of attention to Lin Kong.
Lin Kong stepped forward, his calm gaze sweeping over the faces before him, some curious, some appraising, and some tinged with arrogance. His voice was neither loud nor soft, yet reached everyone's ears. "My name is Lin Kong. I'm twelve, my Martial Soul is Dark Blue Silver Grass, and my Soul Power is rank twenty-one."
His words were almost plain in their brevity, without unnecessary embellishment or the slightest hint of showing off, as ordinary as saying, "The weather's nice today."
Xiao Wu's eyes went perfectly round, her pupils filled with disbelief. Her heart pounded wildly, its thumping making her eardrums ring.
There was no mistaking it!
His name was Lin Kong, his Martial Soul was Dark Blue Silver Grass, and he was twelve years old. Though his voice and appearance had changed, every key feature matched her memories exactly!
This was clearly Lin Kong, who had been her classmate at Nuoding Academy for six years and shared the same cramped work-study dormitory.
But... but when they graduated, Lin Kong had clearly only had rank ten Soul Power. He hadn't even had time to absorb his first Soul Ring! Even if he had been lucky enough to obtain a Soul Ring, he could at most have become a rank eleven Soul Grandmaster. How could he have skyrocketed to rank twenty-one in just one month? And how could he have bypassed the strict entrance assessment to stand right here in this clearing at Shrek Academy, before her?
Xiao Wu clutched her skirt tightly, her mind a tangled mess, so shocked she could barely speak.
Beside her, Tang San's expression also shifted dramatically. Besides the same shock as Xiao Wu's, a barely perceptible hostility churned in his dark eyes.
Back at Nuoding Academy, he had already disliked Lin Kong. Despite his meager Soul Power, Lin Kong had a silver tongue and could always come up with strange, amusing jokes that made Xiao Wu's smile bloom like a flower-a smile Tang San could never win, no matter how much thought he put into it. Back then, he had buried that displeasure deep inside, outwardly looking down on and disdaining Lin Kong's innate rank one Soul Power. After all, he was a genius with innate full Soul Power. To him, looking down on a "good-for-nothing" with a "trash Martial Soul" was only right and proper.
Tang San had thought graduation would mark the fork between their lives. He would race down the path of a genius, while Lin Kong would vanish into the sea of people like countless other ordinary men, their paths never crossing again.
But who could have imagined they would reunite at Shrek Academy? And Lin Kong's Soul Power had actually reached rank twenty-one?
Didn't that mean this fellow would once again draw some of Xiao Wu's attention away from him, just as before? At that thought, Tang San quietly clenched the hand at his side, his knuckles whitening slightly as the hostility in his eyes deepened.
Dai Mubai's reaction was more direct. His strange, tigerlike eyes narrowed, and a faint oppressive presence radiated from him. His hostility was pure and intense, for a simple reason-Zhu Zhuqing's usually cold, indifferent eyes had, in a rare occurrence, given Lin Kong an extra glance.
It was only a glance, but that was enough to upset Dai Mubai.
She's my fiancée. How could she look at someone else like that?
Dai Mubai spoke in a deep voice, his tone somewhat deliberate as he announced to everyone, "How come I've never seen you at the academy before?"
The moment he said that, the clever ones understood.
Ning Rongrong's eyes shifted as she caught on. Dai Mubai was pointing out that Lin Kong was a new student this year, so she immediately followed his lead, asking with the lively shrewdness of someone enjoying a show, "Since you're a new student, why didn't you show up for yesterday's entrance assessment?"
"Exactly! We never saw anyone like him among the new students taking yesterday's assessment!"
"What's going on? You can get into Shrek without taking the assessment?"
"Doesn't Dean Flender care about rules more than anything? Isn't this taking an exception way too far?"
Comments rose one after another. Ma Hongjun could no longer hold back and turned toward Flender, who stood to one side, his face full of confusion and bewilderment. "Teacher! He didn't take the assessment or report in yesterday, so how did he just join the academy?"
For a moment, every gaze gathered on Lin Kong, curiosity, hostility, and scrutiny weaving into an invisible net.
Faced with everyone's overlapping questions, Flender merely tilted his head and curled his lips into a teasing smirk. He spread his hands at his sides, shrugged slightly, and simply pressed his lips shut, refusing to say even half a word.
His manner plainly declared, "That's what I did. Deal with it yourselves"-the stance of a shameless rogue that made their teeth itch with frustration, yet left them helpless.
Dai Mubai, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun exchanged glances and understood his meaning-he was determined to protect Lin Kong. Any remaining "rules" would have to be established by them.
Dai Mubai immediately stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "Lin Kong, do you know Shrek Academy's admission requirements? Which of them have you met?"
As he spoke, he lightly clenched his well-defined fist, the crisp cracking of his knuckles carrying clearly. It was an undisguised show of force, and his eyes held the pressure of "if you don't like it, fight me."
He glanced sideways at Oscar and Ma Hongjun, expecting their tacit support. Instead, Oscar lowered his eyelids, looking as detached as a monk with his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, while his mental abacus was already clattering away. Why should a food-type Soul Master like me get involved? There's nothing to gain if I win, and losing would be even more embarrassing. Staying quietly out of it is the best plan.
Ma Hongjun shook his head like a rattle drum, his gaze darting away, not daring to meet Dai Mubai's eyes as he muttered inwardly, Teacher personally opened the back door for him. As his disciple, how could I dare jump out and undermine him? If I upset Teacher, wouldn't I be in for bad luck later?
Looking at his two companions "deserting before battle," Dai Mubai was speechless. So by sticking my neck out, I've ended up all alone?
He took a deep breath, forced down his pent-up frustration, and fixed his gaze on Lin Kong again, his voice growing heavier. "Why aren't you saying anything? Are you conceding that you're unqualified?"
As though he hadn't heard him, Lin Kong looked toward Flender, who stood to one side pretending to be deaf and mute, a hint of inquiry in his eyes.
Seeing this, Flender immediately tilted his head even farther, rolled his eyes skyward, and let his gaze drift far away, plainly taking the stance of "I'm staying out of this. Settle it yourselves."
Lin Kong shook his head helplessly and turned back to Dai Mubai, his tone calm. "Entrance assessment? What is it?"
Dai Mubai sneered. "The entrance assessment normally has four parts. Out of respect for the dean, I won't put you through all that trouble today. We'll go straight to the fourth part: assessing your practical combat ability. Do you dare?"
"All right," Lin Kong answered simply, without the slightest hesitation.
Delighted, Dai Mubai immediately pointed at Ma Hongjun. "Hongjun, you're up! His Martial Soul is Dark Blue Silver Grass. Your Evil Fire Phoenix is the perfect counter to plant types. Make it quick!"
He had worked out a fine scheme, intending to use Ma Hongjun's Martial Soul advantage to make Lin Kong lose face in public and take this brat down a peg.
But Ma Hongjun was so alarmed that he waved his hands repeatedly, his face turning a little pale. "Th-this... forget it, forget it! I can't!"
He knew all too well how brutally the Evil Fire Phoenix countered plant Martial Souls. If he stepped into the ring, Lin Kong would suffer an ugly defeat-but Lin Kong had been brought in personally by the dean. If he beat him so badly that he had no way to save face, wouldn't that be disrespecting the dean?
Only an idiot would do something so thankless!
Looking at Ma Hongjun's cowardly display, Dai Mubai was swept by waves of speechlessness. He had meant to kill with a borrowed blade, only for the blade to snap on its own first!
There was no helping it. It seemed he would have to take the field himself.
Just as he rubbed his fists and flexed his hands, preparing to speak, a calm voice suddenly rang out. "Lin Kong, is it really you?"
Everyone looked toward the voice and saw Tang San step forward, his expression peaceful, his eyes betraying not the slightest ripple. Clearly, he had already suppressed his earlier shock and hostility extremely well.
Lin Kong looked at him, a faint smile curling his lips, his tone familiar. "Yes, Tang San. And Xiao Wu, too. I really didn't expect us to be classmates again."
At those words, everyone who had been watching the show immediately perked up. So the three of them knew one another? Were they old acquaintances?
Tang San nodded, then changed the subject, a barely perceptible probing note in his voice. "After graduation, how did you suddenly go from..."
From rank ten Soul Power straight to rank twenty-one?
The rest of the question caught in his throat, on the verge of spilling out.
"Tang San!" Flender's voice suddenly rang out, interrupting him. "Since you know each other, perfect-you and Lin Kong can have a match. We'll count it as his entrance assessment. Your Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass, and his is Dark Blue Silver Grass. Let's see them clash!"
Flender knew perfectly well that he absolutely could not let Tang San finish.
The secret behind Lin Kong's soaring Soul Power absolutely could not be exposed too early.
Xiao Wu and Tang San might not guess the deeper reason, but children from extraordinary backgrounds like Dai Mubai and Ning Rongrong would most likely think of a "Soul Bone" once they heard "jumped from rank ten to rank twenty-one." Once greed and covetousness took root in someone's heart, it would be very, very bad. It could well lead to a split, or even something more excessive.
What Shrek valued most was unity among its members.
This was something he would never allow to happen.
Because when Flender first learned that Lin Kong had skyrocketed from rank ten to rank twenty-one within a month, his first thought had been a Soul Bone, and his second had been greed. Fortunately, several days had already passed by then, and Lin Kong had won many consecutive Soul Fighting matches in Suotuo City, earning him a great many Gold Soul Coins. Because of those connections, Flender had shaken off that greed and covetousness in an instant.
He had believed Lin Kong's account: he had been very lucky and consumed a heavenly treasure, which was why his Soul Power had risen so quickly!
Tang San and Xiao Wu exchanged a glance, each seeing confusion in the other's eyes. They did not understand why the dean had suddenly interrupted, or why he had specifically chosen Tang San to fight Lin Kong.
Tang San did not ask further and merely stood silently in place, inwardly speechless. I only stepped forward to say hello, and I hadn't even finished speaking. How did it suddenly turn into a fight? Dai Mubai was clearly the one who started this. How did it end up falling on me?
Lin Kong had no particular objection. He simply looked at Tang San and said frankly, "Sure, Tang San. Let's exchange a few moves, then. We'll stop short of hurting each other."