"No, you can't do this."
"I'm the Grandmaster! I'm the creator of the ten great theories of Soul Masters!"
Outside Shrek Academy's gates, Yu Xiaogang shouted at the guards.
The guards remained expressionless, merely holding their weapons to bar Yu Xiaogang's way.
"Yu Xiaogang, leave." Flender strolled out with his hands behind his back.
"Flender, are you really going to let a student turn your academy upside down?" Yu Xiaogang demanded.
Flender's ambition was to establish an academy that could nurture monsters and become the continent's number one Soul Master Academy.
Yet now he was allowing Chu Feng to do as he pleased.
He was even telling him to go back.
He was a Soul Master grandmaster. Without him, could the academy become the number one Soul Master Academy?
He was indispensable talent.
Whoever gained Yu Xiaogang gained the world.
"Feng can take the academy to greater heights."
"You'd better stay out of it," Flender said with a troubled expression.
After all, he and Yu Xiaogang had shared a long friendship.
He didn't want to say anything too harsh.
But for the sake of his own dream, he wouldn't give Yu Xiaogang a chance to ruin the academy either.
Chu Feng could turn the academy into the continent's number one Soul Master Academy.
Flender glanced at the guards.
In the past, their academy hadn't even had the money to hire guards.
"I think you've gone senile. You can't even work out which deal benefits you," Yu Xiaogang said with an angry laugh.
He strode up to Flender and seized his collar.
"How could a little brat compare to a grandmaster of Soul Master theory like me?"
To think he couldn't even measure up to Chu Feng in Flender's eyes.
This was nothing short of an insult to him.
Flender was a Soul Saint, after all. He easily pulled Yu Xiaogang's hands away, his expression turning angry. "I know perfectly well whether he measures up."
"I've said all I have to say. Leave. Don't make a scene here. You're only disgracing yourself."
With that, Flender turned and left.
He could see that Yu Xiaogang had become somewhat deranged and couldn't understand plain speech.
Alas, how had the once-confident, gentle Yu Xiaogang become like this?
He understood even less how someone like this had kept Liu Erlong and Bibi Dong thinking about him.
He, Flender, was a Soul Saint, at least. He wasn't bad either.
On the training grounds, without Yu Xiaogang pestering them, everyone continued cultivating the Martial Dao under Chu Feng's guidance.
Chu Feng, meanwhile, called Tang San over.
"Thanks for earlier, Boss Chu," Tang San said gratefully to Chu Feng.
If Chu Feng hadn't forced him to stay, he would have found himself in a very awkward position.
"It's nothing. I didn't want you following Yu Xiaogang down the wrong path either."
As Chu Feng spoke, he took a bag of Gold Soul Coins from his storage space.
"Here are a hundred Gold Soul Coins. Take them."
"Don't refuse. This is the academy's allowance for every student from a disadvantaged family."
"Once a month."
Tang San stared at the Gold Soul Coins in his hands, momentarily stunned.
As the saying went, even a single penny could bring a hero to his knees.
Almost all the money he currently had came from years of working odd jobs and subsidies from Spirit Hall.
After paying his tuition, he had very little left.
Lately, he had even been worrying about how to earn money.
After all, he had used up nearly all his Hidden Weapons during the entrance test and needed to replenish them.
That would require a large sum of money to buy materials.
These hundred Gold Soul Coins could free him from his financial straits in one stroke.
Seeing Tang San remain silent, Chu Feng thought he was still hesitating and continued, "Keep it. The academy wants you to focus on cultivating instead of worrying about money."
Tang San's heart trembled slightly, and he bowed to Chu Feng.
"Thank you!"
Tang San spoke those two words with particular weight.
Joining Shrek Academy had indeed been the best choice.
From what he had learned about the academy over the past few days, he also knew that nearly all its policies had come from Chu Feng.
This allowance of a hundred Gold Soul Coins must have been Chu Feng's proposal too.
Chu Feng patted Tang San's shoulder and smiled. "I have high hopes for you. Cultivate hard."
"The academy will also hold a strength assessment once a month."
"If you perform well, you can receive another thousand Gold Soul Coins."
Over the years, the system had rewarded him with no shortage of money.
Money left unused was nothing but scrap metal.
He might as well spend it all on developing the academy and its students.
The stronger Dai Mubai and the others became, the stronger he would become.
"I understand, Boss Chu."
Tang San nodded earnestly, utterly won over by Chu Feng's money-giving ways.
Inwardly, he spurred himself on to cultivate even harder.
Seeing Tang San's earnest expression, Chu Feng nodded in satisfaction.
That's right. Just like that.
Go cultivate hard.
With the determination that he had to grow stronger, Tang San returned to the training grounds to cultivate.
Chu Feng then called Ning Rongrong over.
"What did you call me over for?" Ning Rongrong asked with a pout.
After Yu Xiaogang's earlier disturbance, most of her anger had dissipated.
But she still felt somewhat uncomfortable when she saw Chu Feng.
In all her life, Chu Feng was the first boy to treat her like this.
"Still angry?" Chu Feng asked gently.
He didn't find Ning Rongrong's mood surprising.
"Hmph!" Ning Rongrong turned sideways, unwilling to face Chu Feng.
This scoundrel. Why ask when he already knew?
She was already making her anger so obvious.
"Alas..." Chu Feng sighed softly and turned his back as well.
"Do you know why I was so harsh with you?"
Ning Rongrong remained silent, clutching her skirt.
"You're the young miss of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. You've been sheltered since childhood."
"Perhaps you've been protected too well to understand many things."
"But do you really think the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is very powerful?"
"Of course it's powerful!" Ning Rongrong shouted immediately.
The powerful sect behind her was what gave her the confidence to act so arrogantly.
"The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is one of the Upper Three Sects, and it's the continent's number one support sect."
"It's one of the wealthiest forces on the continent."
"My Grandpa Bone and Grandpa Sword are both Super Douluos."
"We also have lots of Soul Saints and Soul Douluos."
With her chin raised, Ning Rongrong spoke confidently and at length, laying out the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's foundations.
With such a powerful sect, how could she not be proud?
A little more arrogance entered Ning Rongrong's gaze as she looked at Chu Feng, thinking, Hmph, now that you know how formidable my sect is, let's see if you still dare talk to me like that.
"But your Martial Soul has a flaw!" Chu Feng remained calm, unintimidated by Ning Rongrong.
Chu Feng casually inserted Ning Rongrong's badge and used her Martial Soul.
A Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda appeared in Chu Feng's hand.
"The hereditary Martial Soul of your Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's direct line, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda."
"Its support abilities are indeed powerful. Those abilities are also what made your sect one of the Upper Three Sects."
"But its flaw is enormous too."
"Even the strongest remain trapped at Soul Saint for life."
Through Ning Rongrong's badge, Chu Feng could clearly sense just how absurdly powerful the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's support abilities were.
But he could also sense this Martial Soul's flaw.
To be trapped at the Soul Saint realm for an entire lifetime was truly despair-inducing for a Soul Master standing at the pinnacle of the continent.
Ning Rongrong stared at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda in Chu Feng's hand.
At first, she was shocked and was just about to cry out, but then she heard what Chu Feng said next and fell silent.