In the dean's office at Shrek Academy.
The registration teacher finally arrived at a gallop.
"Dean, good news! Dean!"
"Hm? What promising talent did we recruit today?"
Yan Shaozhe's hair was completely white, and his eyes held a smile.
"Dean, your foresight is uncanny!" The registration teacher offered a little flattery, then handed Huo Yuhao's information to Yan Shaozhe.
Yan Shaozhe looked it over with great interest.
"Eyes as a Body Martial Soul, Soul Power at rank eighteen, and an ultimate holy attribute!"
"No ties to any faction!"
"Excellent! A promising talent indeed!"
Yan Shaozhe clapped his hands and laughed.
The registration teacher smiled. "It's all thanks to your capable leadership, Dean, that our Martial Soul Department is flourishing and the finest talents under heaven are flocking to the academy. Dean, how should we go about winning Huo Yuhao over?"
Yan Shaozhe considered for a moment, then chuckled and asked, "Win him over? Why should we?"
The registration teacher was taken aback.
"We are Shrek Academy, the foremost academy on the continent. We're his first choice. There's no need to win him over; he'll become a loyal member of Shrek. We only need to keep a close eye on the Soul Tool Department and make sure they don't snatch him away."
Yan Shaozhe was confident. "Besides, jade must be carved before it can become a useful vessel. If we don't let a young man suffer a few setbacks at Shrek Academy, wouldn't he look down on us? Once he grows stronger, he might even think Shrek can't do without him."
Yan Shaozhe had always believed in education through suppression. His favorite tactic was to invite someone to a feast, behead them, and then take them in as a dog.
The teachers below played the villains while the higher-ups played the good guys, one singing the red face and the other the white face. In all these years, they had never failed. What talent entered Shrek Academy without becoming utterly obedient and turning into a loyal member of Shrek?
The registration teacher was thoroughly convinced. "A brilliant insight, Dean!"
Meanwhile, after Qian Renxue defeated Wang Dong, that silly goose from the Clear Sky Sect, she paid her no further attention.
She happened to be hungry, so she asked for directions along the way and arrived at Shrek Academy's dining hall.
As it turned out, Shrek Academy's dining hall left her marveling as well.
There weren't even any tables or chairs provided; the students all ate standing up!
Everyone said the nobles of the Heaven Dou Empire were evil, but Qian Renxue felt they fell far short of Shrek Academy.
At the very least, the servants in the crown prince's residence could sit comfortably in a small room and enjoy their meals.
The students at Shrek Academy were treated as utterly lowly. Shrek Academy was training dogs.
Qian Renxue took another look at the food prices and fell silent again.
Even the cheapest rice mixed with greens cost two Copper Soul Coins. Her own Soul Master allowance was only one Gold Soul Coin, barely enough to feed her for half a month at three meals a day.
Qian Renxue felt it firsthand: without Spirit Hall, not only did commoners have nothing to look forward to, but even low-level Soul Masters had a harder life.
When she returned to the dormitory, Wang Dong saw her enter, snorted, and turned her head away, chin raised.
Qian Renxue merely glanced at her before climbing onto her bed and beginning to cultivate.
Not long after entering a meditative state, she opened her eyes again, which were full of pleasant surprise.
She had discovered that she had brought part of her cultivation talent with her. Combined with this body's original talent, her current innate Soul Power might not be at rank twenty, but she had Innate Full Soul Power at the very least.
Qian Renxue became even more absorbed in cultivation.
She truly hadn't had much time while working undercover before. Now that she had become someone else, she had to seize every moment to improve herself.
The lesson of her own past failure told her that her personal cultivation was the foundation of everything. Her decision to go undercover in the Heaven Dou Empire had been downright stupid.
Soon, evening arrived.
The night was quiet. Wang Dong was fast asleep under her blanket, while Qian Renxue remained immersed in cultivation.
Just then, a faint blue light glimmered between Wang Dong's brows. A trident mark flickered in and out of sight on her forehead, and an illusory figure flashed out of the mark and slipped between Qian Renxue's brows.
Tang San's Divine Sense arrived in Qian Renxue's Sea of Consciousness, his gaze unfathomable.
"Under my main body's arrangements, the child of destiny should have joined the Tang Sect by now, and his mother should have died as well. But neither has happened. Let me see what went wrong."
Then he sensed a familiar presence.
That presence awakened distant memories-memories of Qian Renxue from ten thousand years ago.
Tang San's Divine Sense was stunned for a moment. "This holy presence, and the signature of this soul-is it Qian Renxue? How did Qian Renxue become the child of destiny?"
Tang San's Divine Sense was deeply puzzled. After thinking for a moment, inspiration struck him, and understanding dawned.
"It seems the plane's will of the Douluo Continent detected my plan and had Qian Renxue's remnant soul reincarnate as the child of destiny of this era, in a vain attempt to oppose me."
Tang San's Divine Sense sneered. "If I could win once, I can win a second time. The plane's will is indulging in wild fantasies, trying to use a loser against me?"
Even so, this unexpected change had caught him off guard.
He was considering whether to follow the original plan, using his daughter to tame the child of destiny and complete his ten-thousand-year grand plan.
A moment later, Tang San's Divine Sense sighed, his tone becoming full of compassion.
"So be it, Qian Renxue. The grudges of ten thousand years ago have ultimately faded with time. Now that you have reincarnated, all our past karma has been erased. If you can truly treat my daughter well, I, Tang San, might yet accept you, my former enemy, and let you become my son-in-law."
"However, before that, I must seal away the memories of your past life, so you can never awaken them!"
Tang San's Divine Sense gazed deeply and extended his divine sense toward Qian Renxue's soul.
Just then, a vast power of space and time suddenly surged from the depths of Qian Renxue's soul and swept toward Tang San's Divine Sense to suppress it.
"What is this?"
Tang San's Divine Sense was stunned. Before he could react, he was completely suppressed by that power of space and time.
Another sea-blue ball of light had appeared in the Sea of Consciousness.
In the Divine Realm, amid swirling clouds and mist, Tang San's main body sat in the center of a grand hall in a blue-and-gold palace.
"Once this plan succeeds, Father will be able to completely replace the plane's will of Douluo Star. The Douluo Continent will become my private territory."
Tang San looked as though victory were firmly in his grasp.
Suddenly, he sprang to his feet, his brows tightly furrowed.
"Why did I suddenly lose contact with that strand of divine sense in Xiao Qi's Sea of Consciousness? What happened?"
Tang San's face darkened. "Could the God of Destruction have discovered my divine sense? Only he could suppress it before it had time to send a message."
"Damn that God of Destruction! He actually interfered in the lower realm and ruined my plan! You already have a way to die!"
In the dormitory, the enormous upheaval finally jolted Qian Renxue awake. Her consciousness entered her Sea of Consciousness, and she gazed curiously at the strange sight within.
Ten golden balls of light stood at the center of the Sea of Consciousness, and a gray bead floated in the sky above. Now there was another sea-blue ball of light.
Why is there a bit of everything in Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness?
Qian Renxue felt strange. Then she fell into a daze, and the memories of what had just happened surfaced in her mind.
Qian Renxue's long eyelashes trembled and her pupils widened as she looked at the blue ball of light.
"That's Tang San's Divine Sense?"
Qian Renxue's expression slowly grew grave. She stared at the blue ball of light for a while without acting rashly.
Only after some time had passed did she confirm that Tang San's Divine Sense had been completely suppressed by an unknown power. Only then did she let out a long breath of relief.
Although she did not know who had helped her, Qian Renxue nevertheless bowed toward the Sea of Consciousness.