[Oscar and Ma Hongjun]

"Mubai, kid, wasn't your Soul Power Level only 27 before yesterday, if I remember right?"

"Even if your Soul Power broke through, you should have only reached level 28. How did you jump three levels at once and reach the level 30 Soul Elder realm?"

"Don't tell me you were under too much pressure and took some medicine that overdrew your potential and damaged your foundation, or went astray and used some Evil Soul Master methods."

Zhao Wuji looked at Dai Mubai with concern and worry written all over his face. His tone was no longer as light and relaxed as before; instead, it was grave and serious.

Hearing his teacher Zhao Wuji's words, Dai Mubai didn't know whether to laugh or cry-

Looking at what had happened to him with normal reasoning, it was perfectly natural to have such thoughts.

But seeing how grave and serious Zhao Wuji looked, Dai Mubai also understood that this was Zhao Wuji's concern for him as a teacher at the academy.

So Dai Mubai used the reason he had prepared and gave a brief explanation. "Don't worry, Teacher Zhao. I haven't taken any pills that overdraw my potential, nor have I gone astray and used any Evil Soul Master methods."

"Something happened to my Martial Soul, and that's why my Soul Power suddenly shot up three levels, breaking through to the level 30 Soul Elder realm."

(Although the Evil Eye White Tiger is pretty wicked, and my Second Martial Soul, the Demonic Weapon Tiger Soul, which has the ability to devour, is even more evil.)

That was what Dai Mubai thought, but he had not spoken those secrets aloud, nor would he.

As for evil Martial Souls and Evil Soul Masters,

there was that saying Yu Xiaogang often had on his lips: "There are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters."

Likewise, in Dai Mubai's view, "There are no evil Martial Souls, only evil Soul Masters."

As long as he held kindness and justice in his heart, even if his Martial Souls were the [Evil Eye White Tiger] and the [Demonic Weapon Tiger Soul], he could still be so righteous it was wicked.

And if there was no justice or kindness in his heart, then even if his Martial Soul was the bright and sacred Six-Winged Angel, he could still fall and become an Evil Soul Master.

"Something happened to your Martial Soul?" Yet when he heard Dai Mubai's explanation, Zhao Wuji's expression did not ease in the slightest. Instead, it grew even graver and more serious.

A Martial Soul was the foundation of a Soul Master, so anything concerning one's own Martial Soul was a matter of enormous importance to a Soul Master.

Zhao Wuji greatly valued Dai Mubai's talent and held him in high regard. Hearing Dai Mubai say something had happened to his Martial Soul, it was no wonder he was so serious and worried.

"Don't worry, Teacher Zhao. What happened to my Martial Soul isn't a bad thing. Otherwise, my Soul Power wouldn't have shot up three levels; my Soul Power cultivation would have fallen instead."

"As for exactly what happened, it would be rather troublesome to explain in a short time. Once Dean Flender gets back, I'll explain it to you both in detail."

"As it happens, there's also something I need to trouble you and Dean Flender with, Teacher Zhao," Dai Mubai said.

"Well, well, Mubai, kid, keeping old Zhao in suspense again."

"All right. Since you want to wait until that old fellow Flender gets back, then tell us when he returns."

"But judging by the time, that old fellow Flender should be back soon."

"Although that old fellow Flender often takes Ma Hongjun to brothels to vent his Evil Fire, Ma Hongjun is Flender's disciple, his precious treasure."

"Brothels aside, Flender never lets Ma Hongjun fall behind in his usual studies of Martial Soul knowledge or his Soul Master cultivation..."

"At this hour, that old fellow Flender should be bringing Ma Hongjun back to the academy soon."

After breakfast, the two walked out of the academy dining hall side by side, and Zhao Wuji spoke to Dai Mubai as they went.

Just as Dai Mubai followed Zhao Wuji out of the academy dining hall, a voice suddenly came from the distant sky, drawing closer and closer.

"Well, well, Zhao Wuji, talking about me behind my back and saying bad things about me again."

As the voice reached Dai Mubai's ears, a strong wind also swept toward him from ahead.

Then he saw a man with short black hair, three patches of white hair extending backward from the top of his forehead and both temples, and gray-white hexagonal half-frame glasses. A straight lock of gray-and-white hair hung down over his left eye.

He also wore a brown robe, gray-black trousers, and black leather gloves, with a golden ring on the index finger of his left hand.

Compared with Zhao Wuji's steadiness, toughness, and ferocity, the Soul Power emanating from this man was even more formidable, while his whole bearing gave off an air of shrewdness and competence.

He was the one who had just spoken.

A fierce wind whipped across their faces as the eagle wings on the man's back, formed entirely from Soul Power, flapped. Carrying a little fatty in his hand, he slowly landed in the open space ahead.

The shrewd-looking man in glasses was none other than Flender, the dean of Shrek Academy, a Soul Saint with a Soul Power Level as high as 78, known to the outside world by the nickname [Four-Eyed Cat Owl]~

And the little fatty he was carrying was Ma Hongjun, one of the only three students currently at Shrek Academy and Dean Flender's personal disciple.

It was hard to say whether Flender had dragged him straight out of a brothel bed first thing in the morning, or whether the wind had done it on the flight back to the academy.

In Dai Mubai's memory, Ma Hongjun had always been quite a show-off, his dark red hair neatly groomed and styled into a mohawk.

But right now, his hair was as messy as a chicken's nest, his eyes were vacant, and his face wore an expression of utter hopelessness.

Clearly, being taken to a brothel in Suotuo City by his teacher to vent his fire, only to be dragged out of bed early in the morning and flown back to Shrek Academy through the cold wind,

was not a first for Ma Hongjun. He was even used to it.

But in the past, Dai Mubai had either been indulging in the pleasures of the flesh and chasing women, or sleeping off a hangover.

He rarely got up this early, so this was the first time he had seen the little fatty Ma Hongjun looking like this.

"Did the sun rise in the west today? Mubai, kid, you're up so early, and I just saw you coming out of the dining hall with that old rascal Zhao Wuji."

"Aren't you terribly picky about food? Don't you normally refuse to eat in the academy dining hall? And when you came back to the academy yesterday, weren't you dead drunk? Didn't Oscar have to drag you back?"

"How come today..." Flender turned his gaze to Dai Mubai, who stood beside Zhao Wuji, and smacked his lips, his face full of suspicion and disbelief.

"Exactly, Boss Dai. This isn't your style. What's the matter? Did you run out of money like Teacher?"

"You're up so early today. Was the wine no good yesterday, or were the girls no good?"

When Flender looked at Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, who had been listless, also opened his mouth wide in surprise upon seeing him.

"Fatty, is your skin itching? How about I accompany you for practical combat class this morning, and we brothers have a good spar?"

Dai Mubai glared at the little fatty Ma Hongjun, but before he could explain,

Oscar, the academy's other student, and the academy's other three teachers, who were on their way to breakfast, heard the group talking and came over, gathering around curiously.

"Boss Dai, weren't you drunk last night? Shouldn't you be asleep right now? Why are you up so early today?"

Oscar, who hadn't shaved for several days and now looked like a man of the same age as the three teachers standing with him, asked in a tone full of surprise.