Qian Duoduo Came Calling

Hearing the voice blazing with towering fury, Yan Shaozhe involuntarily froze for a moment.

After all, he couldn't have been more familiar with its owner. Wasn't that Qian Duoduo, the vice dean of the Soul Tool Department, his old friend, classmate, colleague, and romantic rival all rolled into one?

But why had Qian Duoduo come looking for him now?

He couldn't remember their Martial Soul Department ever stealing a student from the Soul Tool Department.

To put it bluntly, the Shrek students who entered the Soul Tool Department were basically the ones the Martial Soul Department didn't want.

As a result, incidents of students being snatched from other departments rarely occurred. At least this time, it shouldn't have had anything to do with him, right?

While Yan Shaozhe was still puzzling over why Qian Duoduo had suddenly come calling, someone kicked the tightly shut door open.

It was Qian Duoduo!

Qian Duoduo's face was full of resentment as he walked toward Yan Shaozhe, one step at a time.

Yan Shaozhe still wanted to explain that this was a misunderstanding. At least this time, he definitely hadn't stolen any students from the Soul Tool Department.

But just as Qian Duoduo was about to unleash a torrent of curses, he noticed Xu Xingyu standing nearby. He immediately put on a smile, grabbed his shoulder, and said, "Hey, Xingyu, it's been a few days. How have you been?"

Xu Xingyu, who still hadn't quite caught up, could only respond, "Uh, I'm fine, Vice Dean."

Hearing that, Qian Duoduo patted Xu Xingyu on the shoulder and said, "Good, good. And if you're finished here, how about I take you off Sea God Island? With your current cultivation, it would be rather difficult for you to get back to the Outer Court from here."

With that, Qian Duoduo began pulling Xu Xingyu toward the door of Ma Xiaotao's private quarters. But a second before they could leave, Yan Shaozhe finally reacted. He grabbed Qian Duoduo and shouted, "Wait, wait! Since when did Xu Xingyu belong to your Soul Tool Department!? As I recall, students only start choosing Soul Tool Department courses in their third year. Xu Xingyu is only a first-year student!!!"

Yan Shaozhe had tens of thousands of words he wanted to say, but it all came down to this: his teacher had determined that Xu Xingyu was a person undergoing divine trials. How could he waste his time on external objects like Soul Tools?

That was right! Yan Shaozhe had set aside his prejudice against Soul Spirits because of the extraordinary talent Xu Xingyu had displayed and because he needed Xu Xingyu to treat the Evil Fire afflicting his disciple.

But he hadn't abandoned his prejudice against external objects like Soul Tools. In his view, Soul Masters should spend their time cultivating properly. Who had the leisure to make these so-called Soul Tools?

With Yan Shaozhe gripping him tightly, Qian Duoduo knew his original plan to take Xu Xingyu away while Yan Shaozhe was stunned had completely gone up in smoke. Now he could only explain.

After all, it was completely unrealistic to fool the old fox before him with a lie. Yan Shaozhe, who had made lying second nature, had long since learned to tell truth from falsehood.

Most of the time, he simply didn't expose such things, unless they involved his own interests or those of Shrek Academy.

And as far as Yan Shaozhe was concerned, this was a situation that involved his own interests.

After a full ten thousand years, they had finally found someone undergoing divine trials studying at Shrek Academy. Under these circumstances, Xu Xingyu shouldn't spend his time on external objects.

Instead, while nurturing him, they should also teach him about Shrek's glory. Only then could they ensure that Xu Xingyu would walk the righteous path and not become an enemy of the Douluo Continent, right?

Seeing that he couldn't bluff his way through, Qian Duoduo had no choice but to explain how Xu Xingyu had sought out the Soul Tool Department of his own accord and passed its assessment to take its courses early.

Yan Shaozhe was somewhat surprised to hear that Xu Xingyu's skill with Soul Tools was already so outstanding at his age, but that couldn't change his attitude.

Yan Shaozhe laughed and scolded him, "Then, by your account, Xu Xingyu is only studying in the Soul Tool Department right now. That doesn't make him a member of your department at all, does it? Under those circumstances, what's wrong with me inviting him to join our Martial Soul Department?"

"You know that our Shrek Academy is the number one academy under heaven. In theory, that means the number one Martial Soul Department academy under heaven, while the number one Soul Tool Department academy is the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Tool Department Academy."

"But the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy has never beaten us at Shrek in the Soul Master Tournament all these years. That also shows, indirectly, that no matter how powerful Soul Tools are, one's own strength is still the most important thing."

"So a child Xu Xingyu's age should cultivate step by step, then join our Martial Soul Department in the future! Only then might a genius like him truly shine in the future."

Qian Duoduo, who had been listening to Yan Shaozhe's incessant prattling, grew angry and roared impatiently:

"Bullshit, Yan!"

"Maybe our Shrek Soul Tool Department is behind the Sun Moon Empire's right now, but as soon as our Ultimate Soldier Plan succeeds, those Sun Moon bastards can get out of the way!"

Yan Shaozhe couldn't help laughing at that. "The Ultimate Soldier Plan? You mean the one that only exists in theory-"

Clearly, just as Yan Shaozhe was about to continue, he realized what Qian Duoduo was planning.

Yan Shaozhe said in a grave voice, "You're not thinking of having Xu Xingyu carry out the Ultimate Soldier Plan, are you? You do realize he's only spent two or three days studying in the Soul Tool Department. Are you that certain he's up to the task?"

Qian Duoduo answered confidently, "Of course! You haven't seen how outstanding his talent for making Soul Tools is, or how terrifying his ingenious new creations are."

"I can guarantee that if our Shrek Inspection Team were equipped with the Soul Tools Xu Xingyu made, their survival rate could rise by at least thirty or forty percent!"

"In my view, his brain was born to make Soul Tools!"

The Ultimate Soldier Plan was Shrek Academy's first extremely important plan at its present stage. Although the Soul Tool Department was in charge of it, successfully carrying it out would bring enormous benefits to Shrek Academy.

To describe the so-called Ultimate Soldier in the original story's words, it was someone who could single-handedly change the outcome of a war.

To accomplish that required not only formidable personal strength, but also proficiency in using and making all kinds of Soul Tools, concealment, infiltration, sabotage, the ability to keenly identify the crucial points in a war and disrupt or support them, and various other skills.

But in Xu Xingyu's opinion, this was really just a slightly more sophisticated assassin.

Shrek was indeed a force passed down from Tang San. Its way of doing things still leaned toward assassination, like the Bashu Tang Sect's. At most, it had been given a more glamorous name.

In an actual war, the right approach was still to rely on a commander to gather everyone's strength and counter the enemy's various strategies in the best possible way.

And in the original story, the only two commanders who met that requirement were Ju Zi, the Sun Moon Empire's crown princess, and Dai Hao, the Star Luo Empire's White Tiger Duke.

As for the others, sorry, but Xu Xingyu really couldn't see anyone else suited to leading troops into battle.