Twin Martial Souls, coupled with such astonishing talent, yet after cultivating for so long, he had only barely reached the threshold of two rings.
Naturally, Yan Shaozhe had been doubtful at first.
But once he confirmed that Li Mu's attribute was indeed an ultimate attribute, all those doubts vanished like smoke.
Cultivation with an ultimate attribute was slow to begin with, even for someone with Twin Martial Souls.
So he could fully accept Li Mu's current cultivation level. In fact, he thought it was already quite impressive.
That was precisely why Yan Shaozhe had adopted such a courteous manner.
Though he was a notorious old fox, a smiling tiger, he reserved that manner for truly important figures, formidable experts, and those on equal footing with him.
Toward everyone else, he had always been stern and aloof.
As he watched Li Mu look utterly heartbroken, an almost imperceptible flicker passed through Yan Shaozhe's eyes.
Then he raised his hand and took two boxes from his storage ring. "Your name is Li Mu, correct? Student Li Mu, this is my compensation to you as dean."
"This incident with Zhou Yi has affected you considerably. This box contains a thousand-year spirit herb, a small token from the headmaster."
"The other box contains a Spirit Ascension Pill."
"This pill is fairly important for a Soul Master at your level. Take it once your Soul Power has risen a little further, and it can help you advance one level in Soul Power."
Yan Shaozhe smiled at Li Mu as he spoke.
At the sight of his warm, affable manner, the faintest trace of something peculiar flashed through Li Mu's eyes.
Then he smiled at Yan Shaozhe as well, putting on a show of tearful gratitude. "Thank you for your gifts, Dean! These things are far too precious. I truly wouldn't dare accept them."
As Li Mu spoke, he feigned timidity and restraint.
Inside the Silver Dragon Space, however, the Snow Empress wore a somewhat odd expression.
Those two items could certainly be considered precious, but together they were worth only a hundred-odd thousand Gold Soul Coins. They did not amount to all that much.
A thousand-year spirit herb was good, but ultimately, it could not compare to a ten-thousand-year spirit herb.
As for that Spirit Ascension Pill, it might be of some use to Li Mu, but its effect was limited as well.
The best time to take it was around three rings, and one could only take a single pill in a lifetime, gaining just one level of Soul Power.
That could certainly save some hard cultivation, but for ordinary people, advancing one level at the three-ring stage only took a month or two anyway.
Of course, the Snow Empress did not know what made Li Mu special.
Had she known that this boy could become a god outright upon reaching seven rings, she probably would not have thought that way.
Still, this pill was indeed insufficient to let Li Mu break through. The Soul Power he needed far exceeded that of ordinary people.
But using it to force his cultivation up by half a level was still possible.
So Li Mu truly was delighted at that moment.
He had already planned to look for a Spirit Ascension Pill, and had even begun considering refining one himself. Now that one had fallen into his hands for free, it naturally saved him a great deal of trouble.
With Li Mu voicing his boundless gratitude, an old fox and a young fox began exchanging insincere courtesies.
The two went back and forth, offering and declining for so long that Du Weilun stood beside them in a daze, before they finally finished their pleasantries.
"All right, Xiao Du, take Student Li back to his class. Teacher Mu Jin will be in charge of their class for now."
"Student Li Mu is outstanding in both talent and every aspect of his performance. Pay more attention to him from now on."
"If he needs anything, he can also come directly to me." As Yan Shaozhe spoke, he smiled at Li Mu again.
Li Mu returned his smile, and he and Du Weilun left together.
Watching until that departing figure had vanished completely, Yan Shaozhe sat there quietly, his eyes flickering slightly.
A trace of excitement flashed through his gaze, but more than that was an ecstasy he could scarcely conceal. "It's definitely an Ultimate Ice Martial Soul."
"Hahaha! To think our Shrek Academy would produce a Soul Master with an Ultimate Ice Martial Soul!"
"With this, there's hope for Xiaotao's illness." Yan Shaozhe's voice carried irrepressible excitement.
He had initially still been somewhat uncertain, but the instant that blade of grass was placed in his hand...
He could conclude that the Martial Soul possessed by the boy named Li Mu was undoubtedly connected to Ultimate Ice.
As for that so-called Blue Silver Grass?
In Yan Shaozhe's eyes, it was nothing but a trick that could only fool ghosts.
What was Blue Silver Grass worth? It was a castoff scorned throughout the continent.
Even with the endorsement of that legendary forebear, Tang San, he knew better than anyone just how useless Blue Silver Grass was.
"There was something wrong with the Tang Sect back then, too. They just had to establish some rule that only someone with a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul could become sect master. That's how they ended up like this."
"That Blue Silver Grass is practically useless. Its wielder can hardly break past rank forty in an entire lifetime."
"How could such a trash Martial Soul possibly be mentioned in the same breath as an ultimate Martial Soul?" Yan Shaozhe snorted contemptuously, his figure not pausing.
He leaped up and sped straight toward the inner court, intending to find his disciple Ma Xiaotao and tell her about this.
With such a student around, he could suppress her Evil Fire in the future.
And once he confirmed that Li Mu truly possessed Ultimate Ice, he would not mind taking him as a disciple either.
At the thought of having both a disciple with a Phoenix Martial Soul and one with an ultimate Martial Soul under his wing, Yan Shaozhe could not help the surging excitement in his heart.
Meanwhile, in the classroom, Du Weilun's expression had visibly relaxed.
Throughout the journey, he had been exceedingly courteous toward Li Mu.
Li Mu did not care in the slightest about Du Weilun's ability to change faces as quickly as turning the pages of a book.
Yan Shaozhe was his immediate superior and the dean of the Martial Soul Academy. Naturally, he dared not offend him, so his change in attitude was only to be expected.
Li Mu simply acted as though he had not noticed and continued speaking amiably with Du Weilun.
After they returned to class, everyone saw Li Mu come back unscathed, then watched Du Weilun enter with a stern expression and announce Zhou Yi's expulsion from the academy.
The looks many students directed at Li Mu became particularly strange.
Mu Jin was standing there as well, looking quite surprised.
Zhou Yi had far more clout than she did. After all, her husband was a Soul Douluo, as well as the head of the Soul Tool Department.
Fan Yu held quite an exalted position. Even she sometimes had to be wary of him.
The reason she had kept playing dumb, pretending not to know that Fan Yu and Zhou Yi were already married, was that she feared Fan Yu would seize the opportunity to target her.
The enmity between her and Zhou Yi could not be resolved, and it would only be human nature for Fan Yu to retaliate on his wife's behalf.
So as long as she played the part of a woman who liked Fan Yu, she would instead refrain from making trouble for her.
After all, men were the way they were. No matter how great the conflict, they would usually be somewhat more forgiving toward a girl who liked them.
Precisely for that reason, she knew how much influence Fan Yu wielded.
Thus, she had not expected things to end so easily. Zhou Yi had been expelled just like that.
At that moment, her gaze also settled on Li Mu, a hint of curiosity entering her eyes.
Li Mu, however, acted as though he had not noticed. He ignored their stares completely and calmly sat down in his seat.
In his mind, he was running through his plan over and over.
During this meeting with Yan Shaozhe, there was no way the man could have failed to notice his Ultimate Ice.
Because he had deliberately let him discover it in the first place.
Li Mu also knew what Yan Shaozhe would do next.
As for helping Ma Xiaotao?
Absolutely not.
Ma Xiaotao's fall was inevitable. He could not be bothered with that madwoman.
But obtaining resources under the pretense of helping was something he was perfectly happy to do.
After all, there were many machines and devices he urgently needed at present, including forging equipment and instruments related to Soul Tools.
He needed all of them very much.
But he had already thoroughly offended the Soul Tool Department. Trying to get anything from them now would only be absurdly difficult.
So if he wanted to obtain them, he could only start with Yan Shaozhe.