Zhang Lexuan was held tightly in her mother's arms, feeling the long-lost warmth, and her eyes involuntarily welled up with tears.
She gently patted her mother's back and said softly, "Mom, I'm fine. Life at the academy is going well, so you don't need to worry."
Father Zhang stood to the side, his face still serious, but a hint of relief in his eyes.
He stepped forward, gently patted Zhang Lexuan's shoulder, and said in a steady tone, "It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back. I see that your cultivation level is already at level thirty-two. It seems that Shrek Academy really teaches well; at least it has made you, a child, willing to cultivate diligently."
"I took her to the Star Dou Great Forest to Soul Hunting beasts and obtain her Third Soul Ring, so it was a few days late." Toji stood aside, his face still expressionless, but he still gave an explanation.
"... You brat, just how much do you want us to owe you?" Father Zhang asked, his face showing helplessness.
Toji said, "You're the one who should be thanking me for helping me manage such a large business."
Father Zhang nodded and solemnly said to Toji, "If needed in the future, the Zhang Family will do everything in its power."
Toji nodded slightly, saying nothing more. He glanced at the sky:
"It's getting late. Lexuan must be tired from her journey; she should rest. I'll take my leave now and visit again another day."
Hearing that Toji was leaving, Zhang Lexuan suddenly felt a pang of reluctance and quickly said, " Toji, won't you... won't you come in and sit for a while?"
Toji glanced at her, his tone still indifferent. "No, I have things to take care of. You get some rest."
Although Zhang Lexuan was a little disappointed, she still obediently said, "Okay, then be careful on the road."
Toji turned and left, his figure quickly disappearing into the night.
On a desolate wilderness, Liang Wu waited early.
Not far away, a figure quietly appeared; it was Toji.
He slowly emerged from the darkness and looked at Liang Wu.
"They've arrived."
Upon seeing Toji's figure, Liang Wu quickly went to greet him.
"The lab has been encrypted as you requested."
"Hmm, I've already had Li Xuanfeng leak some information. How have the nobles reacted?"
"That's good. They see hope of earning more money, so they've become even more diligent." Liang Wu began his report. "We've started training the children in Soul Tool, and after a year, the first batch of children have all become Level 1 Soul Engineer. The results are quite good."
"With a few more years of development, we will be able to invest heavily to build an industrialized Soul Tool manufacturing plant and achieve our mass production plan."
"Yes, let's start with some ordinary Soul Tool market business. The Heaven Dou Empire will pay a lot of attention to Soul Tool in the future, and the profits in this area are huge, so we must get started as soon as possible."
Toji moment of contemplation, he continued:
"The Soul Engineer Competition also needs to be held as soon as possible. We are still short of funds. There are many tricks involved, and you know how much profit there is. Once we can monopolize the entire Heaven Dou Empire market, we should start expanding outwards."
"With the Body Sect as our backing, there's nothing to fear."
"That's right. Last time, when the City Lord of Heaven Dou City saw that it was someone from the Body Sect, he was so scared that he turned around and left." Liang Wu said proudly, "After all, I'm someone who has exchanged a few words with the Body Sect Master, His Majesty Du Busi!"
"... Don't brag about that. You're only at level 65 right now." Toji raised his hand to his forehead; Liang Wu's poor combat power was a problem.
In a direct confrontation, he is no match for him at all.
"Haha." Liang Wu awkwardly raised his hand and scratched his head.
"Speaking of which, we're preparing to expand outwards... Are you so obsessed with business expansion because you want revenge against the inner court disciple who sold you to me back then?"
Faced with Liang Wu's question, Toji shook his head:
"I need to go to the Sun Moon Empire first to see if the two Evil Soul Master ate my parents alive are still around."
"I want to see him alive or dead."
"As for the other two... are you able to contact them? What is their current strength, and what is their situation?"
"It's hard to say. Luo Tian is a bit easier to deal with, since he has a lower status, but I've lost contact with the other two. In fact, they cut off contact with me a few years ago."
"You're not even asking for dividends anymore?" Toji was surprised. The annual dividends were quite substantial, tens or even hundreds of thousands of Gold Soul Coin. Accumulated over time, they would amount to at least tens of millions of Gold Soul Coin.
This enormous sum of money is an invaluable source of income for inner court disciples; how could it be cut off so easily?
"They must be going through a very important moment, so they must cut off all sources of impurity."
Liang Wu was a sensible man.
"Isn't a person who's not clean always eager to clear their name?"
"That's exactly right," Toji said calmly. "They sold me to you just to make their resumes look cleaner, didn't they?"
" The Shrek Inner Court court assessments and punishments are very severe. Back then, I don't know what they did to allow Evil Soul Master to wipe out an entire village."
Everyone else died; I was the only one who survived.
"For them, this was a serious dereliction of duty; only by having everyone die could they conveniently cover up their failure."
"But if a child survived and escaped from that village, then they not only have to consider how to handle the aftermath of that child's employment..."
"The dead understand silence better than the living. Your existence represents the failure of those three disciples. Because of their dereliction of duty, an entire village has died. Their worst fate will certainly be failing to graduate from the inner academy and losing their bright future," Liang Wu continued.
Toji calmly said:
"Reality is cruel; the majority must sacrifice for the success of the minority."
"They must be doing quite well now, right? Perhaps they've successfully graduated from the inner courtyard?"
"It's hard to say, but investigating the whereabouts of those Evil Soul Master over the past year has indeed been extremely difficult," Liang Wu said in a deep voice. "I only learned later that the annihilation of that village was actually covered up, and no one knows the truth. You can imagine what kind of fabricated stories they made up after they went back to avoid being expelled from the academy."
"Perhaps they arrived just in time after the Evil Soul Master wreaked havoc on the entire village, and killed the Evil Soul Master in revenge?"
Liang Wu shrugged and chuckled.
"Who knows? Just say whatever's in your best interest."
"Ten thousand years ago, the concept of Evil Soul Master didn't exist." Toji turned to look at Liang Wu, his tone becoming serious.
"And in this era, Evil Soul Master Evil Soul Master emerged, and the main force against them was the Shrek Inspection Corps."
"Ironically, instead of being eradicated, the Evil Soul Master have become even more rampant and have formed a massive organization."
"This organization, composed of Evil Soul Master, is called the ' Holy Spirit Cult '."
Toji calmly uttered words that terrified Liang Wu from the bottom of his heart.
"Evil... Evil Soul Master... have formed an organization?!"
"What are those Shrek students even doing?!"
Who knows?
Toji looked into the distance, his face darkening.
"Tomorrow, I will return to the Body Sect to continue my cultivation. Once you have made initial progress, I will emerge again and begin expanding towards the Sun Moon Empire, seeking connections with the Illustrious Virtue Hall."
"With the help of the Illustrious Virtue Hall, and by finding more allies and killing the two remaining Evil Soul Master from six years ago, I will be qualified to go find the other two inner court disciples."
"Their good life is built on the premise of my sacrifice, and perhaps their actions have also cost many others their lives."
Would you be willing to be sacrificed so easily?
Liang Wu shook his head repeatedly.
Just kidding, who would want to sacrifice themselves to help someone else succeed?
"That's fine then."
Toji said softly.
"I will drag them down from their Godhood of success and make them accompany me through those five years of hellish days."
"Keep the Soul Beast cells in the Soul Fighting Arena for me. I'm going to drag them here and feed them to the Soul Beast."
"I can't let the losses I've suffered go unpunished."