"Stay here with you?"
Hearing that Xian Lin'er wanted to keep Xue Chen in the Soul Tool Department, Ling Luochen could not hold back before Xue Chen himself even had time to react.
"Dean Lin'er, Xue Chen is an orphan, and I brought him back. Why not let him stay by my side so I can look after him?"
Xue Chen glanced at Ling Luochen, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
Sis, you call that looking after me?
You're just lusting after my body. I can't even be bothered to call you out!
"Luochen, if I remember correctly, you're preparing to represent the academy in this year's Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament, aren't you?"
Xian Lin'er looked Ling Luochen up and down, then suddenly smiled.
"There's nothing more for you to do here. You can return to the Inner Court and focus on cultivating now!"
"Huh?"
Ling Luochen's eyes immediately widened at those words.
Tearing down the bridge after crossing the river. Those words flashed through her mind almost instantly.
"What do you mean, huh?"
The smile on Xian Lin'er's face did not fade, but her tone grew a little sterner.
"If you don't cultivate diligently, how will you win glory for our Shrek Academy at the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament?"
"I..."
Ling Luochen opened her mouth, but for a moment, she had no idea what to say.
Xian Lin'er was both the dean of the Soul Tool Department and an elder of the Sea God Pavilion. She was merely an ordinary Inner Court disciple. How could she defy Xian Lin'er?
Pressing her lips together, Ling Luochen glanced again at Xue Chen, whose hands Xian Lin'er held tightly. He looked helpless, pitiful, and helpless.
No matter what, she was the one who had brought Xue Chen to Shrek Academy.
More importantly, she had brought him to Xian Lin'er's office. She had to take responsibility for him!
She could not stand by and watch Xue Chen be forced by Xian Lin'er into becoming this old woman's disciple!
"Luochen, what are you still waiting for?"
Seeing Ling Luochen merely staring blankly at Xue Chen, Xian Lin'er could not help frowning.
"Yes, Dean Lin'er."
Biting her lip, Ling Luochen bowed to Xian Lin'er and took one last look at Xue Chen before slowly leaving the room.
Wait, sis, you're really leaving?
Although Xue Chen had considerable complaints about Ling Luochen's insatiable desires, seeing her leave made him panic a little.
A sense of having just escaped a wolf's den only to enter a tiger's jaws immediately rose in his heart.
"Good child, may I call you Chen'er?"
A trace of fear seemed to flash through Xue Chen's eyes before her, and Xian Lin'er could not resist reaching out to pinch his androgynous face.
Feeling the cool yet soft skin of Xue Chen's face, Xian Lin'er inexplicably felt a little tender affection rise in her heart.
"Don't be afraid. Once you become my disciple, no one in all of Shrek Academy will be able to bully you!"
Right now, I'm afraid you'll bully me!
Xue Chen said nothing, merely dodging slightly, as though trying to avoid Xian Lin'er's hand kneading his face.
What an adorable child!
The thought flashed through Xian Lin'er's mind, but she still withdrew the hand that wanted to keep kneading Xue Chen's face.
Xian Lin'er bore the title War God, and her forceful personality was well known throughout Shrek Academy.
Combined with her unhappy love life, the discord between her and her husband, and the lack of even a single devoted disciple by her side, this left her extremely repressed in certain respects.
The appearance of someone like Xue Chen was like opening the door to a new world for her.
As long as she could take Xue Chen as her disciple, not only would she have a successor, but she could also thoroughly sicken that bastard Yan Shaozhe.
Helping resolve the Evil Fire problem in Ma Xiaotao's body required the assistance of the Ultimate Ice attribute.
When the time came, that bastard Yan Shaozhe would have no choice but to kneel before her and lick her shoes as he begged!
Merely imagining that scene brought an involuntary flush to Xian Lin'er's face, and even her body trembled slightly!
Terrifying!
Watching Xian Lin'er's strange appearance, Xue Chen could not help shrinking back a little more.
Come to think of it, was the original Douluo Continent I read before a fake?
Why is everyone at Shrek Academy a little abnormal?!
Ling Luochen walked out of the Soul Tool Department's teaching building, her expression slowly darkening.
In her view, she had discovered Xue Chen and brought him to Shrek Academy. Surely she ought to have some say in how he was to be settled.
Yet Xian Lin'er had intercepted Xue Chen halfway, and she had been "gently" driven out of the Soul Tool Department.
"Luochen, why are you at the Soul Tool Department?"
Just as Ling Luochen was pondering how to rescue Xue Chen, a somewhat gentle voice suddenly sounded behind her.
Hearing that voice, Ling Luochen, whose expression had been uncertain, suddenly brightened and hurriedly turned around.
A woman with waist-length black hair and a delicate, fair face stood a short distance behind her.
The woman looked slightly older than Ling Luochen, and her gentle, serene bearing made her unforgettable at first sight.
For some reason, however, an indescribable sorrow seemed to linger faintly between her brows.
"Eldest Senior Sister!"
As though she had spotted her savior, Ling Luochen hurriedly called out.
Eldest Senior Sister!
The only person Ling Luochen would address that way was Zhang Lexuan of Shrek Academy's Inner Court.
Zhang Lexuan looked Ling Luochen up and down, as though checking whether she had been injured in the Far North, before asking with some puzzlement:
"I heard you went to the Far North a while ago. Why did you come to the Soul Tool Department instead of returning to the Inner Court after getting back?"
Under the influence of so-called tradition, most Inner Court disciples looked down on Soul Tools and disdained using any other than Storage Soul Tools.
Thus, finding Ling Luochen at the entrance to the Soul Tool Department's teaching building was quite a novelty to Zhang Lexuan.
"I..."
Ling Luochen opened her mouth, intending to explain the whole affair to Zhang Lexuan, but after hesitating, she asked a question of her own first.
"What about you, Eldest Senior Sister?"
"Why have you come to the Soul Tool Department?"
"With the new students enrolling, we have to make arrangements for where all these students will go."
Zhang Lexuan smiled, hiding nothing.
"Some of the third-year students chose the Soul Tool Department when selecting their departments."
"I came to notify Dean Xian Lin'er and Vice Dean Qian Duoduo to attend a meeting at the Sea God Pavilion."
Shrek Academy's Outer Court followed a six-year curriculum. In their third year, Outer Court students had to choose between the Martial Soul Department and the Soul Tool Department to continue their studies.
The difference in the number of students choosing the Martial Soul Department and the Soul Tool Department would also determine their respective shares of Shrek Academy's resources.
"That's wonderful!"
Hearing that Zhang Lexuan had come to notify Xian Lin'er and Qian Duoduo to attend a meeting at the Sea God Pavilion, a look of delight immediately flashed across Ling Luochen's face.
"Eldest Senior Sister, here's what happened..."
Under Zhang Lexuan's increasingly puzzled gaze, Ling Luochen finally gave a detailed account of what had happened to her over the past several days.
(Zhang Lexuan, comic version)