Two students he had taught for a semester had just left. Wu Zhangkong's mood was easy to imagine.
Wang Jinxi's and Zhang Yangzi's Martial Souls were by no means weak, and they even had a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. On top of that, they had already joined the Tang Sect. In Wu Zhangkong's eyes, students like them had a very good chance of entering Shrek Academy.
They might not have had distinctive traits, but sometimes, sheer numbers were simply pleasing to look at.
After two students he acknowledged had withdrawn, someone else had come through the back door to join Class Zero midway through the year. Wu Zhangkong's mood was easy to imagine.
Fortunately, Xu Xiaoyan was timid by nature and had stayed behind him without saying a word.
Otherwise, Wu Zhangkong really might have found fault with her, deliberately made things difficult, and refused to let her join Class Zero.
Along the way, Wu Zhangkong had more or less adjusted his mindset.
He took a deep breath and told Xu Xiaoyan, "Class Zero doesn't accept trash. If you have talent, Class Zero can accept you, whether or not you're joining midway through the year. But if your talent isn't outstanding enough, I won't take you in, no matter what the director says."
Xu Xiaoyan was deeply uneasy.
She had no idea what level Wu Zhangkong meant by sufficiently outstanding talent.
"Go on. Discuss your tactics. You'll be fighting me in a practical combat session shortly. I want to test this new student's abilities myself."
Wu Zhangkong sent Xu Xiaoyan to speak with Jiang Xia, Tang Wulin, and the others.
At that moment, Class Zero's Jiang Xia, Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, and Xie Xie were all staring at Xu Xiaoyan.
A new classmate?
She looked a little... weak.
Those with better memories vaguely felt they had seen her before.
Those with worse memories had no recollection at all.
It was only because Jiang Xia knew the original story that he knew Xu Xiaoyan's background and understood that his group had killed her and her older brother during last semester's riot-period Spirit Ascension Platform test.
The others could hardly be blamed. The siblings, Xu Xiaoyu and Xu Xiaoyan, had simply been too weak. Killing the two of them had taken no effort at all; the group had practically thought they were speed bumps.
The members of Class Zero had no recollection, but Xu Xiaoyan remembered them vividly.
She still remembered the oppressive presence of this group of demon kings back then.
Her brother, weak as he was, had been crushed by them.
The Ice Staff's Soul Skill had instead fallen under their control, combined with a fire-attribute Soul Skill, and landed beside both siblings at once.
With a boom, the two of them had been eliminated.
Still, since Wu Zhangkong had asked them to get acquainted and discuss tactics, Xu Xiaoyan worked up her courage and went over to greet everyone.
She openly recounted everything that had happened during the Spirit Ascension Platform's riot period.
Upon hearing that they had crossed paths before, the atmosphere between the two sides grew a little warmer.
"Um, what are your abilities? When we fight Teacher Wu later, try to show them off," Xie Xie reminded her.
As the least gifted member of Class Zero, Xie Xie knew very well what Wu Zhangkong wanted.
During the previous semester, Xie Xie had often reflected on himself and felt that his aptitude was the worst in Class Zero.
It was not that he had an inferiority complex. That was simply the truth.
His twin Martial Souls, to put it bluntly, were merely borrowing a tiger's skin to bluff. They only counted as pseudo-twin Martial Souls.
There was no way to add new Soul Rings to the two Martial Souls separately. Whenever he fused with a Soul Ring, both Martial Souls fused with it simultaneously, which meant his Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger Martial Souls restricted him further.
If he could not make good use of their mechanics, pseudo-twin Martial Souls like these were actually worse than a single Martial Soul.
It was precisely because he understood this that Xie Xie had analyzed Wu Zhangkong's preferences.
He felt that Wu Zhangkong liked distinctive traits.
Geniuses with distinctive traits all fell within the category Wu Zhangkong liked.
Of course, overwhelming numbers also fell within the range of what he acknowledged.
As for someone like Tang Wulin, although the Golden Dragon King's powerful numbers had elevated him into the ranks of geniuses, his situation actually counted as a distinctive trait.
With Xu Xiaoyan's strength being so weak, she would need her Martial Soul's mechanics to win Wu Zhangkong's acknowledgment.
At Xie Xie's reminder, Xu Xiaoyan murmured in acknowledgment a couple of times, then began introducing her Martial Soul.
"My Martial Soul is the Starwheel Ice Staff. I'm a control-type Soul Master. Under normal circumstances, I control opponents with ice-attribute Soul Skills. At night, my Martial Soul changes into the Star Staff, and my Soul Skills change a little. Their control effects have absolute certainty."
Listening to Xu Xiaoyan's introduction, Jiang Xia narrowed his eyes, a gleam flashing through them, even though he had known in advance.
To be fair, this ability really was very powerful.
If it could evolve into the Star Staff and stabilize in that state, allowing her Martial Soul to possess control effects with absolute certainty even under normal circumstances, then Xu Xiaoyan's control capabilities would absolutely be maxed out.
Such a powerful control-type Soul Master... I wonder if I can keep her in the Spirit Pagoda...
Jiang Xia pondered inwardly.
First were Xu Xiaoyan's Soul Skills. He could also try to imitate them. Even Jiang Xia coveted control-type Soul Skills with absolute certainty.
Second, if Xu Xiaoyan joined Shrek Academy, she would inevitably end up on the opposing side from him in the future.
When that time came, she would be a headache of an opponent.
Absolute certainty was far too nasty.
Lastly, he was also thinking of building up his own core team. After all, since he had already joined the Spirit Pagoda, Jiang Xia would definitely take control of it himself in the future.
How could a true man, born between heaven and earth, remain beneath others for long?
Whichever major power he joined, he would become the person who truly wielded authority within it.
He would reach that pinnacle.
The Spirit Pagoda was rife with factions. At present, the Qiangu faction had immense influence, enough even to sway the selection of the next Pagoda Master.
The previous Pagoda Master had been Qiangu Dieting of the Qiangu Clan, and after him came Qiangu Dongfeng.
Now, Qiangu Dongfeng had even designated his grandson, Qiangu Zhangting, as the next Pagoda Master!
In a few years, he would also pave the way for Qiangu Zhangting and cultivate connections for him.
The Spirit Pagoda was almost becoming the Qiangu Clan's private property.
If Jiang Xia wanted the position of Spirit Pagoda Master, he would need a sufficiently substantial core team no matter what.
Upon learning about the absolute certainty of Xu Xiaoyan's Soul Skills, Tang Wulin was utterly shocked.
"A Martial Soul like that can actually exist!"
This was already beyond his imagination.
Thus, the group next negotiated with Wu Zhangkong and delayed the battle until nighttime.
That night, Wu Zhangkong stood alone on one side, twenty meters away from Jiang Xia and the others.
He extended his right hand, and the Skyfrost Sword condensed into being. His Soul Power had already been suppressed to the Soul Elder realm.
He had not suppressed it to Jiang Xia's level, but to rank 39.
Jiang Xia's Soul Power had now reached rank 37.
There was a two-rank difference, but Wu Zhangkong had not been so exacting as to actually suppress himself to rank 37.
He had deliberately overlooked that point.
There was no helping it. Last time had truly been embarrassing, and he was afraid something unexpected might happen again.
Still-
Without Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi, and without the Dark Eagle Dragon's continuous suppression, I shouldn't end up unable to fight back like last time.
More importantly, I already understand almost all of Gu Yue's and Jiang Xia's abilities.
Without an information gap, I could defeat them reliably even at rank 37.
Of course, to be safe, I'll keep it at rank 39.
I'm fighting them in the Soul Elder realm, and I do have to take on five by myself, after all.