Shrek's Bizarre Romantic Climate

I'm his nephew just like that? Could things really have moved so fast between Aunt Mu Jin and Fan Yu?

Something's not right. I'll ask Aunt what's going on when it's daytime...

Even if the Douluo Continent is also known as the Love-Brained Continent, isn't this moving way too fast?

Although Bai Jingtian understood that Fan Yu was doing this to wring more benefits out of the iron rooster Yan Shaozhe, this was practically a spatial leap in their relationship.

Could it be that Fan Yu had always kept Mu Jin as a backup in case things didn't work out with Zhou Yi? That didn't quite match the character he had shown in the original story.

Granted, considering that Mu En also had a side to him as the Well-Fed Douluo, it hardly seemed surprising that Fan Yu might keep one or two backups. But Mu Jin had shown Bai Jingtian genuine kindness and familial affection, so he felt he should find a way to warn her.

For now, though, judging by Yan Shaozhe's bitter-gourd face, he was clearly in a difficult position.

If an ordinary student had been hurt by Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire, even someone like Wang Dong, the young master of the Clear Sky Sect, could have received at most a single Soul Ascension Pill in compensation.

Although the pill, which could raise a person from level thirty to level thirty-one, looked valuable, its actual worth wasn't all that high. Its price was largely controlled by the factions capable of refining it, which had monopolized the market.

But if this happened to the nephew of Fan Yu, the director of the Soul Tool Department, a single Soul Ascension Pill would look far too stingy.

Besides, Bai Jingtian appeared to be among the victims. Remembering that he had only just tried to recruit Bai Jingtian, only for Ma Xiaotao to nearly kill him today, Yan Shaozhe immediately felt a little guilty.

Wait, Bai Jingtian? He was Fan Yu's nephew?

Then why had Bai Jingtian fought Zhou Yi, even leaving her utterly disgraced, her Martial Soul crippled and herself driven out of Shrek City, her fate unknown?

Something wasn't right! Very much not right!

"Director Fan, you can't be serious. Since when was Bai Jingtian your nephew?"

"Bai Jingtian is a distant nephew of Teacher Mu Jin from your Martial Soul Department's outer court, and Mu Jin and I are dating now. Round it up, and what's wrong with calling him my nephew?"

Faced with Yan Shaozhe's question, Fan Yu simply laid his cards on the table.

With anyone else, Fan Yu might have had to worry about being accused of pulling out and leaving without a shred of feeling, but Yan Shaozhe's amorous history was famous. Even the two deans of the Soul Tool Department had been caught up in it.

Even though decades had passed since that storm, Yan Shaozhe's romantic debts continued to make themselves felt, constantly asserting their presence in the conflict between the Martial Soul Department and the Soul Tool Department.

Compared with Yan Shaozhe's old habit of currying favor on all sides, walking through a field of flowers and coming away with petals clinging to him, Fan Yu was a god of pure love!

At the very least, his two relationships hadn't overlapped at all!

"...Tch, so that's how it is."

Bai Jingtian muttered in displeasure. He, Xiao Huo and Xiao Xiao, who stood behind him, all gave them looks of contempt. No one but the three of them could say whether those looks were directed at Fan Yu or Yan Shaozhe.

Yan Shaozhe, however, had no way to argue. He could only hand Ma Xiaotao over to the healing-type Soul Saint beside him to take her back to the inner court for treatment, then offer Fan Yu and Bai Jingtian a substantial sum in compensation in one go.

Bai Jingtian paid no attention to the details of the compensation, however. He had no intention of using it himself; he could give it to his father, his aunt, or his younger female cousin, who should be back in the next few days.

He only wanted to bring this farce to an end and return to cultivating in peace.

He had run into the same bottleneck while cultivating the Sea Tiger Five Extremes and comprehending the Complete Realm: the limitations of his Soul Power cultivation.

Level twenty-nine Soul Power was by no means weak among the freshmen, and it was barely enough to use Thunder, Electric Movement, Extreme Speed Bullet Fist and Sea Tiger Blast Fist. But it was still somewhat stretched when it came to Gale, Extreme Fire and Ice and Snow, whose properties changed drastically, as well as advancing his Complete Realm.

Once Bai Jingtian's Soul Power reached level thirty and he broke through the first great threshold in a Soul Master's cultivation—the one a certain Grandmaster could never have crossed in his entire life without outside help—the situation would improve significantly.

Then, the next time he faced Ma Xiaotao, Bai Jingtian could try freezing her outright with Ice and Snow, instead of barely being able to use it to keep himself from being burned.

In the end, Yan Shaozhe painfully handed over a large pile of Gold Soul Coins, materials and pills. After reimbursing Fan Yu for the "loss" of his Soul Tool, the rest was split equally among Bai Jingtian, Huo Yutong and Xiao Xiao.

Bai Jingtian put away his share, paid no attention to Xiao Huo and Xiao Xiao marveling at their newfound wealth, and headed straight to the cafeteria for breakfast. Then he went directly to Mu Jin's office at the academy.

"Aunt Mu Jin, I ran into Director Fan of the Soul Tool Department this morning. I heard you two are almost ready to talk marriage?"

Mu Jin clearly hadn't expected Bai Jingtian to ask such a question. Her face reddened considerably, and she began to fidget.

"Not quite that soon, but..."

"...Aunt Mu Jin, I wish you happiness."

Seeing Mu Jin look like a bashful young girl, Bai Jingtian sighed and told her everything that had happened that morning.

"Ma Xiaotao from the inner court? Are you all right? Her Evil Fire has burned more than a dozen outer-court disciples to death! Let Aunt see if you're hurt..."

As soon as she heard that Bai Jingtian had encountered Ma Xiaotao while she was raging out of control, Mu Jin's face filled with alarm. She crouched down in front of him and tried to roll up his trouser legs to check whether his legs and feet had been burned by the Evil Fire.

"Don't worry, Aunt, I'm fine. Director Fan arrived just in time to save me, and he also helped me get quite a bit of compensation..."

"I'm just glad you're all right. If anything had happened to you too, I would have destroyed that bitch Ma Xiaotao no matter the cost!"

Only after Mu Jin had checked for herself that Bai Jingtian's legs and feet hadn't been burned did she breathe a sigh of relief and sit back down. Then she spoke through gritted teeth.

As for Fan Yu coming to his rescue and the compensation, she hadn't taken in a single word.

...It looks like Aunt isn't that love-brained, so perhaps I can stop worrying.

But I still have to tell Dad about this. Even with both my lives combined, I might not have more experience with love than Senior Hell. I'd better see what Dad thinks about it.

Bai Jingtian looked gratefully at Mu Jin, who was genuinely worried about him, as these thoughts ran through his mind.

"Aunt, there's no need to get so worked up. Once my cultivation improves, a mere Ma Xiaotao won't be a threat at all..."

After chatting with Mu Jin a while longer about everyday family matters, Bai Jingtian left the office and went to the classroom of Freshman Class Nine.