While the Sea God Pavilion was reaching its decision, Lin Xi was wearing himself out dealing with Wang Dong.
"Lin Xi, how exactly did your family's trading company manage to mass-produce Mystic Water Pills?"
"Are you really just a new trading company without any backing? I don't believe it. How could you do all this without backing?"
"Do you have any other benefits? If you do, could you save me a spot?"
"...Could you shut up?"
Faced with Wang Dong's chatterbox offensive, Lin Xi rubbed his brow with a headache.
Ever since seeing the first draft of their recruitment notice last night, Wang Dong had gone completely wild, pestering him with endless questions.
Although it was good that she was no longer anxious about the threat of expulsion, Lin Xi found this unbearably annoying.
Huo Yutong also gave her a disgruntled shove.
"Wang Dong, stop pestering Brother Lin Xi. His time is precious."
It was all Wang Dong's fault that she had less time to talk to Lin Xi!
Wang Dong was not annoyed in the slightest. She grinned cheekily and said:
"Don't say that, Yutong. If I can join Unlimited Blade Works, we'll be one family."
Yet those words only made Huo Yutong bristle even more.
"Who's family with you?!"
At a glance, she felt that this girl with the mixed-breed hair color had bad intentions and lusted after her Brother Lin Xi's body.
That would never do. Having Melusine as a rival was enough; with another one, her position would no longer be secure.
Watching Huo Yutong and Wang Dong bicker, Lin Xi sighed in exhaustion.
Forget it, forget it. At least Huo Yutong doesn't think much of Wang Dong.
She probably won't be attracted to her again.
He gazed idly out the window, then suddenly sharpened his gaze.
Huo Yutong, who constantly paid attention to his emotional fluctuations, immediately noticed something was wrong.
"Brother Lin Xi, what's wrong?"
She followed Lin Xi's gaze outside and saw only a middle-aged man walking briskly toward them.
Lin Xi muttered softly:
"Here he comes. Faster than I expected."
"What? What happened?" Wang Dong immediately leaned over and looked out the window. "Who's that? Someone you know?"
"No, I don't know him." Lin Xi shook his head. "But I'm certain he's here for me."
He could sense that this man was strong.
Even as he was now, he would have difficulty defeating him.
In other words, he was at least a Soul Douluo.
And what would an expert like that be doing visiting the insignificant Freshman Class One at a time like this...? There was no need even to think about it.
Sure enough, less than half a minute later, the middle-aged man entered the classroom through the front door, looked around, and asked:
"Which of you is Lin Xi?"
Lin Xi raised his hand.
"That's me, Teacher."
The middle-aged man nodded.
"Hello, I'm Du Weilun, the director of studies. Could you come with me?"
Lin Xi nodded and pointed at Huo Yutong.
"May I bring her along?"
Du Weilun glanced at Huo Yutong and smiled.
"Of course. Let's go."
Yan Shaozhe had told him to do everything he could to satisfy Lin Xi's requests.
He had never seen Yan Shaozhe take such an interest in a mere student. Even with Ma Xiaotao, he had never indulged her this much.
And so they left Wang Dong behind, frantically blinking hints at them, and walked out of the classroom to the outer court's Martial Soul Department office building.
After bringing the two of them to a room, Du Weilun smiled.
"The person who asked me to bring you here is inside. Go on in."
Lin Xi nodded, opened the door, and led Huo Yutong inside.
He had already guessed who was behind the door.
The moment she entered, Huo Yutong shuddered involuntarily.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, who usually spent his time sleeping in her mind, jolted awake and exclaimed:
"What a powerful human!"
The person in the Martial Soul Department who could elicit such an assessment from Tian Meng was undoubtedly its dean, Yan Shaozhe.
He paid no attention to Huo Yutong's loss of composure, instead studying Lin Xi's expression with interest.
"Student Lin Xi, judging by your expression, you have some understanding of your current situation."
"Yes." Neither servile nor overbearing, Lin Xi said, "I can guess who you are. Not only that, I can roughly guess why you called me here, and what decision you've made."
"Oh?" Yan Shaozhe stroked his chin and smiled. "Let's hear it."
He was very interested in this young man.
He very much wanted to know just what sort of person this child who had defeated his proudest pupil was.
Lin Xi raised a finger and said:
"This should have started with my defeating that inner court senior this morning. Through that incident, my true strength was exposed to the academy. Once the Martial Soul Department learned of my existence, it couldn't possibly sit by and do nothing. It would certainly dig through every last detail of my background."
"After discovering that I was merely an orphan and confirming that I really possessed enough strength to defeat Ma Xiaotao, the Martial Soul Department would presumably look for a way to win me over."
"But at that point, the Martial Soul Department would discover that the Soul Tool Department had already reserved me."
"The Soul Tool Department would never let me go, so to snatch me from them, the Martial Soul Department could only choose to convene a Sea God Pavilion Meeting."
"And judging by how the Martial Soul Department has now come to see me while the Soul Tool Department shows no anxiety whatsoever, you must have already reached an agreement at the meeting."
"As for your identity, is there any need to say it, Dean?"
"No need." Yan Shaozhe chuckled and shook his head. "Impressive. To think you could see that far. At your age, I was nowhere near your level."
What Lin Xi had said was so accurate that he even somewhat suspected Lin Xi had read the script.
Yan Shaozhe was delighted by this. The better Lin Xi performed, the more secure Shrek's future would be.
He cleared his throat.
"Then you should also be able to guess what I called you here for, shouldn't you?"
"Yes." Lin Xi leaned against the wall. "Nothing more than telling me about the arrangements going forward, while taking the opportunity to become a familiar face so that, if I really have to choose between the two in the future, I won't completely disregard the Martial Soul Department."
"Exactly." Yan Shaozhe smiled in satisfaction. "After discussion, the academy has decided to grant you the unprecedented status of a dual core disciple of both the Martial Soul Department and the Soul Tool Department. Starting today, you may enjoy the benefits of a core disciple, with resources equal to those of inner court disciples."
He believed that hearing this decision would surely fill Lin Xi with gratitude.
After all, a dual core disciple was something unprecedented in Shrek's history. In his view, their sincerity had already been amply demonstrated.
Yet in response to all that Yan Shaozhe had said, Lin Xi merely curled his lip inwardly.
How petty...
In Lin Xi's eyes, this so-called sincerity they offered was worthless.
Not because these arrangements offered him no benefits, but because they had failed to understand where the two sides stood.
For a genius of Lin Xi's caliber, even if he had gone to the Body Sect or the Sun Moon Empire rather than Shrek, they would have offered benefits no less generous than these.
Shrek should have offered more for him to see its sincerity.
Leaving everything else aside, the inner court disciples' resources and dual core disciple status Yan Shaozhe had just mentioned merely sounded impressive, without actually holding any tangible value.
Could someone with Lin Xi's talent possibly fail to enter the inner court in the future? Impossible.
This had the same flavor as the promise in the original story to guarantee Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao admission to the inner court.
All one could say was that this was Yan Shaozhe, all right. Mu En's assessment that he was "not magnanimous enough" had truly not missed the mark.
Still, Lin Xi did not show any of this.
Although he certainly looked down on Yan Shaozhe's pettiness, he had to admit that he was somewhat grateful for it now.
Thanks to this fellow's personality, Lin Xi would have even less weighing on his conscience when he left Shrek in the future.
And so he smiled faintly, hiding his true feelings behind that smile.
"Thank you, Dean Yan."