Mu Jin and Zhou Yi's Past

With his Soul Emperor-level cultivation, Mu Jin soon arrived at the Soul Tool Department's teaching building.

Once there, Xu Yanxue began looking around curiously, observing Shrek Academy's Soul Tool Department building.

After a look around, however, Xu Yanxue was a little disappointed.

She had thought that Shrek, as the number one academy under heaven, would have highly advanced Soul Guidance Technology. But judging solely by the inside of this teaching building, it was only a little more advanced than that of the three great empires in the original story.

Unless there was more hidden here than met the eye, Xu Yanxue could say for certain that the technology in this place was inferior to what she had in her Spirit Contract Pagoda workshop.

It seemed Xu Xingyu really hadn't been wrong. The Soul Guidance Technology of the three great empires in the original story was far too backward.

Still, it would be fine to spend some time laying a foundation in Shrek Academy's Soul Tool Department.

What would the Sun Moon Empire, a country centered on Soul Tools, be like?

Going by what Xu Xingyu had told her before, the Spirit Contract Pagoda's Soul Tool Technology should surpass the Sun Moon Empire's.

The latter simply had more resources at its disposal, so it had a somewhat larger stockpile of high-grade military weapons than the Spirit Contract Pagoda.

Just then, a gray-haired old woman appeared before the group, with a blue-haired boy following close behind her.

Xu Xingyu quickly recognized the boy as Huo Yuhao, whom he had met before.

Recalling the original plot, Xu Xingyu was somewhat speechless. Although he had long known that Old Madam Zhou would recommend Huo Yuhao to the Soul Tool Department around this time, he truly hadn't expected to run into them right here.

At that moment, Xu Xingyu remembered that his homeroom teacher, Mu Jin, didn't seem to get along very well with Zhou Yi.

Curious, Xu Xingyu looked at his homeroom teacher's face. The gentle, lovely female teacher was gone, replaced by a face full of resentment.

"It really has been a long time, Zhou Yi. Have you been well lately?"

"Mu Jin? What are you doing here?"

"I brought students to apply to the Soul Tool Department. What, are you the only one allowed to do that? I can't?" Mu Jin replied arrogantly. "Speaking of which, is that student behind you the one you're recommending to the Soul Tool Department? Only level fifteen Soul Power? Isn't that far too weak?"

Hearing Mu Jin mock her student, Zhou Yi could barely hold herself back, but in the end she restrained herself. After all, Mu Jin wasn't wrong.

She had brought Huo Yuhao here purely because he was a spiritual-type Soul Master, just what her husband had always wanted, and because his Soul Skills were also very special.

Otherwise, when she had asked about Huo Yuhao's Martial Soul and Soul Skills earlier, she would already have started looking for every possible way to expel this backdoor entrant, so he wouldn't drag her class down.

"That's for me to consider, Teacher Mu. It has nothing to do with you!" Zhou Yi replied with an extremely cold expression. "You'd better hurry and take your students to register, and hope they won't be kicked out on their first test like the ones before."

"You!!"

Sparks were already shooting from Mu Jin's eyes. Clearly, Zhou Yi's words had reminded him of a painful memory.

Once, Zhou Yi and Mu Jin had both been disciples of Shrek Academy's outer court. They had been classmates and even roommates. For a time, the two had been very close friends.

But back then, that man, Fan Yu, appeared. The first time they saw the tall, powerfully built man, their maiden hearts couldn't help but flutter. That was what people called love at first sight.

From that day on, they were no longer good friends, but rivals in love. Both used every means they could to attract Fan Yu's attention, hoping to win his favor.

In the end, Zhou Yi was the one who won. She succeeded in capturing Fan Yu's heart and married him.

It was a heavy blow to Mu Jin, but after thinking it over calmly, she felt she should give the couple her blessing.

Yet a few days later, both applied to enter the inner court and took its assessment together. What happened then made her utterly disgusted with Zhou Yi.

For the assessment, the two had to follow an inner-court senior to hunt down an Evil Soul Master. Zhou Yi, however, was far too headstrong and rushed into battle without listening to the senior's instructions at all.

Although they ultimately succeeded in killing the Evil Soul Master, the senior supervising their assessment died protecting them. Thus, because Zhou Yi had stubbornly gone her own way, they failed the assessment.

Zhou Yi, however, refused to admit she had done anything wrong. Instead, she accused Mu Jin of not listening to her and slacking off terribly.

Their relationship dropped to freezing point. Later, after graduating from the outer court, both applied to become teachers at Shrek Academy's outer court, hoping to teach more students who could enter the inner court.

But it was another incident that truly made their relationship irreparable.

A few years ago, while Mu Jin was teaching another freshman class, she had recommended a student to the Soul Tool Department.

That student was gifted in cultivation and had extensive knowledge of Soul Tools. He was like a fish in water in the Soul Tool Department.

After the freshman assessment, the student was assigned to Zhou Yi's class, but Zhou Yi expelled him outright for being late to class.

At the time, the student was only an ordinary Soul Tool Department disciple, not a core disciple, so he had no special privileges and could only be forced to accept the decision.

It wasn't that he hadn't considered asking someone in the teaching office to speak up for him, but the competition between the Martial Soul Department and the Soul Tool Department had been too fierce at the time. The people in the teaching office were all from the Martial Soul Department, so it wasn't realistic to expect them to speak up for him.

That student was Mu Jin's younger brother, Mu Rong. He had originally been the most talented member of the Mu family, even though, because he belonged to the Soul Tool Department, he had not received a core disciple or prospective core disciple spot in the freshman assessment.

After that examination, however, his Soul Tool Department teacher thought he was exceptionally talented in the field and planned to give him the Soul Tool Department assessment a few days later.

As long as he passed, he could officially become a core disciple of the Soul Tool Department and become that teacher's disciple.

To prepare for the examination, he studied in his dormitory. The next day, however, he overslept, giving Zhou Yi a handle to use against him and resulting in his expulsion.

At the time, Mu Jin had put aside his dignity and begged Zhou Yi not to expel his younger brother because of the prejudice between them.

But what kind of person was Zhou Yi? Once she expelled someone, they were expelled! She would never go back on her word!

Moreover, the teacher who wanted to give Mu Rong a Soul Tool Department core disciple spot was also a professional rival of her husband, Fan Yu, so she had even less reason to make excuses for Mu Rong.

And so, in the end, Mu Rong could only leave Shrek Academy in dejection, his steps heavy.

From that day on, Mu Jin competed with Zhou Yi in everything and sought to prove to her that she was unfit to be a teacher! He was determined to outdo her and drive her out of Shrek Academy!

This was Mu Jin's final struggle, his last act of stubborn defiance! She had lost in love, been forced to give up her chance to enter the inner court, and failed to protect her younger brother's dream of entering Shrek Academy's inner court!

But what she could do now was use her own teaching methods to prove that Zhou Yi's methods were wrong!

To that end, Mu Jin also began taking his duties as a Shrek Academy instructor seriously, asking many seniors how to deal with different kinds of students.

In the end, he became the only teacher of his cohort who could rival Zhou Yi in teaching results, and thus their competition began anew.