"You little brats, aren't you going to introduce yourselves?"
As he fantasized about a bright future and tried to calm the excitement in his heart, Liu Erlong turned to look at Chu Chengzhou and the others.
"I'll go first! Director Erlong, I'm Ma Hongjun, Martial Spirit: Phoenix, Level 28 Assault System Soul Master."
Ma Hongjun stepped forward first and released his Martial Spirit and Soul Rings.
Liu Erlong: "…"
This chubby little hen can be called a Phoenix?Little fatty, do you have some misunderstanding about the Phoenix?
"I'm Oscar, Martial Spirit: Sausage, Level 32 Food System Soul Master."
Oscar followed closely behind.
Seeing Oscar's Sausage Martial Spirit and the three soul rings glowing with two yellow and one purple, Liu Erlong nodded slightly, satisfied.
Food system Soul Masters are relatively rare, and the cultivation difficulty is also higher. Looking at Oscar, whose face was clean-shaven and who looked young, Liu Erlong found that he fit the image of a talented student in her mind.
"Zhu Zhuqing, Martial Spirit: Hell Spirit Cat, Level 28 Agility System Soul Master."
"Ning Rongrong, Martial Spirit: Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, Level 27 Support System Soul Master."
Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong released their Martial Spirits and Soul Rings one after another.
'Hell Spirit Cat, Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda?'
Seeing the cat and pagoda Martial Spirits in front of her, Liu Erlong was momentarily stunned.
If she remembered correctly, the Hell Spirit Cat was a Martial Spirit unique to a powerful family in the Star Luo Empire, right? How did Zhu Zhuqing become Flanders' student? Could there be a White Tiger Soul Master in the team?
As for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, that was a familiar one, the number one Support System Martial Spirit in the world, and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan wasn't far from Heaven Dou City!
But Liu Erlong didn't directly ask and turned her gaze to the remaining three students.
"Dai Mubai, Martial Spirit: White Tiger, Level 38 Assault System Soul Sovereign."
The roar of a tiger echoed as Dai Mubai summoned his White Tiger Martial Spirit, with three Soul Rings blooming.
Seeing this, Liu Erlong secretly thought, as expected.
Since there was a Hell Spirit Cat, there must also be a White Tiger; otherwise, just a Hell Spirit Cat wouldn't appear within the Heaven Dou Empire.
But after seeing the five Shrek students, Liu Erlong couldn't help but feel a little confused. With this level of strength, they could take down the Royal Battle Team?
Although the Heaven Dou Royal Academy had been declining in recent years, it shouldn't be so easily beaten by a team of this level, right?
Could it be that Shrek defeated the Royal Battle Team by using a Martial Spirit Fusion Skill: Hell Spirit White Tiger?
But something didn't feel right! Liu Erlong could tell that Zhu Zhuqing and Dai Mubai didn't seem to have a good relationship. If they were close, why would one person stand at the far left while the other stood at the far right?
Just then, Chu Chengzhou and Xiao Wu stepped forward and released their Martial Spirits and Soul Rings.
"Chu Chengzhou, Martial Spirit: True Spirit Flag, Level 36 Support System Soul Sovereign."
"Xiao Wu, Martial Spirit: Soft Bone Rabbit, Level 44 Assault System Soul King."
There was no division for summoner-type Soul Masters on the continent. Chu Chengzhou considered his Heavenly Blue Tree spirit that summoned Little Qing for healing, the Light Lion that summoned Little Bai for support, and the Fire Phoenix that summoned Little Hong for assault. After considering everything, he categorized himself as a Support System Soul Master.
After all, flag-type Martial Spirits are generally considered Support System Soul Masters.
Looking at the Soul Rings on the two of them, especially the four Soul Rings blooming from Xiao Wu, Liu Erlong couldn't help but widen her eyes.
She thought to herself, so this is how Shrek defeated the Royal Battle Team—'One God and Six Pitfalls'!
With this preconceived notion, Liu Erlong concluded that Shrek defeated the Royal Battle Team because Xiao Wu was extraordinary. Under the assistance of Ning Rongrong, whose Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda could ignore level enhancement properties, Xiao Wu had turned the tide and taken down the Royal Battle Team.
After all, a 44th-level Soul King's strength could be equivalent to several 3-ring Soul Sovereigns. With Ning Rongrong's enhancement, which boosted two attributes by 30%, as long as the Royal Battle Team didn't have any 4-ring Soul Kings, Xiao Wu could at least match most of the Royal Battle Team's strength.
With that, how could the Royal Battle Team possibly win?
"Xiao Wu, can you tell me your age?"
Liu Erlong asked eagerly.
At level 44 Soul King, even in a competition full of genius Soul Masters, that was one of the highest-ranked students.
Although there was an age limit for the Soul Master competition, it was set at 25 years old or younger.
Xiao Wu still looked quite young, so her age must be quite low.
"Director Erlong, I just turned 18."
After glancing at Chu Chengzhou, Xiao Wu blinked and said her age.
18? That's just her outward age; she was actually only 13.
Hmm, wait—wasn't that wrong? Sister Xiao Wu has lived for quite a long time!Even if all the people from Blue Tyrant Academy's age were added together, it wouldn't exceed mine!
"18? Not bad, not bad!"
Liu Erlong looked at Xiao Wu with joy.
At 18 years old, Xiao Wu could still participate in two Soul Master competitions, including this one. Although she likely wouldn't reach level 50 Soul King within a year, in six years, she would definitely make it.
At level 50, even if her teammates were weak, the championship would most likely be secured.
Liu Erlong looked gratefully at Flanders.
After all, Flanders brought three 7-ring Soul Saints, two 6-ring Soul Emperors, and seven talented students to Blue Tyrant Academy. Among them, there was even a 44-level Soul King who had just turned 18! What a huge gain!
Afterward, Liu Erlong introduced the full details of Blue Tyrant Academy to everyone.
Although Blue Tyrant Academy wasn't the best in the Heaven Dou Empire, it had over 200 students, which was far better than Shrek, who had nothing except for good teachers. In the Heaven Dou Empire's Soul Master community, Blue Tyrant Academy had a great reputation.
Even noble-born Soul Masters had to admit the contributions Blue Tyrant Academy made to the Soul Master world.
This academy was known as the cradle for commoner Soul Masters. Though it had only been established for ten years, it had already created many talented commoner Soul Masters.
Liu Erlong's personality was open and cheerful, and after lunch, she patiently answered everyone's questions. She then took them on a tour around the academy and finally arranged for them to stay in the teacher's dormitory.
Yes, Chu Chengzhou and the others were also staying in the teacher's dormitory.
Blue Tyrant Academy had a rule: talented students who performed excellently didn't need to stay in the dormitories with the rest of the students but could stay in single rooms, which were only available in the teacher's dormitory.
Moreover, Liu Erlong directly appointed Zhao Wuji as the vice principal, Shao Xin, the Food System Soul Saint, as the logistics minister, and Li Yusong and Lu Qibin, both at the 6-ring level, as special-grade teachers.
As for Flanders? Like Zhao Wuji, he was also a vice principal.
However, whether Flanders would become the official principal in the future depended on his efforts.
In the original story, Liu Erlong directly gave Blue Tyrant Academy to Flanders because she had teamed up with Yu Xiaogang and felt she owed Flanders a lot, so she wanted to compensate him.
But now that Yu Xiaogang was still living off the academy at Notting Academy, naturally, the academy wouldn't be handed over for free.
Chu Chengzhou even wondered whether Liu Erlong giving Blue Tyrant Academy to Flanders in the original work had anything to do with some unspeakable deal between them?
For example, Flanders brought Yu Xiaogang to Blue Tyrant Academy, and after Liu Erlong got the man she was infatuated with, she handed the academy to Flanders as a "matchmaking fee"?
In the evening, the six former Shrek students, except for Dai Mubai, gathered in the second-floor private room of Blue Tyrant Academy's cafeteria for dinner.
Aside from the teachers' strength, Blue Tyrant Academy was better than Shrek in every aspect. Even the food served in the cafeteria was a step above what the regular villagers hired by Flanders could manage.
However, Chu Chengzhou couldn't focus on the delicious food.
In the afternoon, the six of them had checked out the academy's simulated training environments, and except for Chu Chengzhou, everyone else had already found a suitable environment for their training.
Xiao Wu's Martial Spirit was a rabbit, and Zhu Zhuqing's was a cat, both suited for a forest training environment.
There was a grove planted with fire-attributed plants and Fire Phoenix Soul Beasts, which was perfect for Ma Hongjun's Fire Phoenix Martial Spirit.
Oscar, a Food System Soul Master, chose the cafeteria as his environment.
Ning Rongrong, with her Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, chose a room filled with crystal gems, which, while not as effective as her personal environment at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, was still good.
But Chu Chengzhou didn't find a suitable simulated training environment for his True Spirit Flag Martial Spirit.
Ideally, an armament Martial Spirit's environment should be a weapons storage room, but his flag Martial Spirit didn't fit that.
He even visited the academy's banner room and flagpole area but found no significant effects, not even a minor gain.
However, when he meditated in the forest environment with Xiao Wu, he noticed a small increase in training efficiency—about 4-5%.
Chu Chengzhou figured that this increase wasn't because the forest environment suited his Martial Spirit but because the concentration of natural energy in the forest was slightly higher.
"Big Brother, are you okay?"
Xiao Wu asked with concern.
She knew why Chu Chengzhou felt down. After all, having the right training environment was important for Soul Masters, and a suitable environment could increase training speed by a small amount.
Not having the right environment would naturally make Chu Chengzhou feel frustrated.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. It's just that I don't have a training environment. You know my cultivation talent, Xiao Wu, compared to the difficulties I faced back then, this is nothing."
Waving his hand, Chu Chengzhou casually said.
With half-level innate soul power, he managed to reach Level 36 Soul Sovereign at 14 years old. Would he really care about a small increase in training efficiency?
Hmph, I'll go find some immortal herbs soon! You'll see what real genius looks like!
Upon hearing this, Xiao Wu nodded in agreement.
She was right—Chu Chengzhou had overcome the problem of his poor innate soul power with his wisdom and determination (or rather, with some external help). So compared to that, finding a suitable simulated training environment didn't matter much.
After dinner, the six of them left Blue Tyrant Academy.
Of course, they all had different paths and goals.
Heaven Dou City was the most prosperous city on the continent, far better than Soto City. Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong decided to go shopping with their good friend Zhu Zhuqing, and they dragged Chu Chengzhou along as their protector.
Meanwhile, Ma Hongjun and Oscar discussed whether the ladies at the high-end clubs in Heaven Dou City were better than those at the Black Horse club in Soto City.
Well, Chu Chengzhou sincerely hoped that Flanders wouldn't have to go to any clubs tomorrow.
After all, Heaven Dou City was the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, and the prices at high-end entertainment venues there were definitely not comparable to those in smaller cities.
As they strolled through the bustling streets, Chu Chengzhou suddenly spotted the Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce at a street intersection.
He thought for a moment and turned to Ning Rongrong.
"Rongrong, could you do me a favor?"
"Help you? What kind of help?"
Ning Rongrong blinked, curious.
"Could you have someone deliver an invitation to Bi Lin Douluo, telling him that I, along with you, will visit him at his home in three days?"
Bi Lin Douluo was none other than Dugu Bo. His official title wasn't "Poison," but "Bi Lin." However, the title "Poison" was more fitting for his abilities and methods, so it had become widely used.
"Senior Chu, are you going to visit Poison Douluo?"
"Yes, and you should come along, or else I won't have enough standing."
Chu Chengzhou nodded.
He planned to make a deal with Dugu Bo. Using the method from the original story, where poison was transferred through a soul bone, and promising that he could detoxify Dugu Yan in the future, he intended to pick a few flowers and herbs from Dugu Bo's medicinal garden as payment.
For Dugu Bo, completing this transaction would cost him only a few herbs he wouldn't use, but in return, his granddaughter, Dugu Yan, would no longer need to worry about the poison inside her body backfiring. Moreover, as a Title Douluo, he would have a more effective method of detoxification, so he should be willing to make this deal.
However, Chu Chengzhou knew well his own position. As a mere third-ring Soul Master, he had no qualifications to make a deal with a Title Douluo.
In fact, if Dugu Yan hadn't passed on the information about him being able to detoxify her, he wouldn't even have the right to step through the gates of the Dugu residence.
But if Ning Rongrong came along, it would be a different story. She was the young lady of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and the sect's influence was strongest around Tiandou City, which was right nearby.
With Ning Rongrong, many problems could be solved.
Although he planned to obtain the immortal herbs through a transaction, and afterward, he would detoxify Dugu Yan, making it clear that Dugu Bo would owe him no favors, Chu Chengzhou thought that as long as he could get the herbs, it would still be worth it.
"Alright, leave it to me!" Ning Rongrong said confidently, patting her chest, which was a little bigger than the last time they met. She immediately headed towards the Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce.
Send an invitation? Perfect, the Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce ahead had plenty of tools she could use.
"Big Brother, what are you planning?" After Ning Rongrong left, Xiao Wu looked at Chu Chengzhou suspiciously.
Going to visit a Title Douluo after having a full meal and doing nothing? Did Little Chu have an interest in the Douluo's granddaughter?
It seemed Xiao Wu would need to keep an eye on this, making sure Little Chu didn't get bewitched by a fox spirit.
"Something good, you'll know in a few days!" Chu Chengzhou smiled and didn't explain further.
Without consuming immortal herbs, Xiao Wu's innate talent was already far above that of an average Soul Master with full soul power. What would happen if she took the herbs?
Of course, Chu Chengzhou knew that the effects of immortal herbs were limited and couldn't indefinitely improve one's talent.
After Xiao Wu consumed the immortal herbs, her cultivation talent would definitely improve, but a drastic change was unlikely.
On the other hand, for him, taking the immortal herbs would likely yield a much greater improvement in his own talent.
Meanwhile, in the Blue Tyrant Academy's headmaster's office, Flanders and Liu Erlong were chatting.
During their conversation, when Liu Erlong learned the ages of Oscar and the others, she was surprised and couldn't help but remark that Flanders had really lucked out to have so many talented soul masters at Shrek Academy.
But while Flanders was lucky, Liu Erlong was even luckier. The fact that Shrek Academy was now closed meant all those talented students had followed Flanders to her Blue Tyrant Academy in Tiandou City!
It was like a lottery-winning fiancée with no parents or siblings getting all the inheritance at once.
"Erlong, you're now the headmistress of these little monsters. There's something I need to tell you, but you must not reveal it."
Suddenly, Flanders spoke seriously.
"Oh?" Liu Erlong narrowed her eyes, becoming curious.
"Forget about the other little monsters. Talented soul masters appear all the time, and there are certainly others stronger than them. But Oscar, Chu Chengzhou, and Xiao Wu—those three, you need to pay special attention to, especially Xiao Wu.
Oscar is an unprecedented food-type soul master with full innate soul power. If there were to be a food-type Title Douluo in this continent, it would definitely be Oscar.
As for Chu Chengzhou and Xiao Wu, their real ages are much younger than what you know."
Flanders adjusted his glasses and said.
Upon hearing this, Liu Erlong raised an eyebrow. Xiao Wu's age was actually younger than the 18 years she had heard? As for Oscar's full innate soul power, she had a slight expectation of it.
After all, food-type soul masters had slower cultivation speeds, so for Oscar to reach the third-ring Soul Master at the age of 15, he couldn't possibly be without full innate soul power, or he wouldn't have progressed so quickly.
"Erlong, actually, Chu Chengzhou and Xiao Wu are not 18 years old. They are 14 and 13!
At the time of their enrollment, they asked me to keep their ages a secret and raised them by four or five years."
Flanders hadn't told anyone else, including Zhao Wujie, about Chu Chengzhou and Xiao Wu's true ages.
But Liu Erlong was different. Since she would be their future headmistress and Flanders knew she would never harm them, he decided to reveal this secret to her.
"It's to help you pay more attention to them."
"What? Xiao Wu is only 13 years old?" Liu Erlong immediately stood up, shocked.
"Yes! But remember, Erlong, you can't tell anyone about this."
"Wow~ What a treasure!" Liu Erlong muttered.
She had originally thought Xiao Wu only had the potential to become a Title Douluo, but now it seemed that calling her a Title Douluo wasn't enough. She might have the potential to become a peerless expert, a 99th-level Douluo! Or maybe even have the potential to become a god!
As a Soul Saint with seven rings, and with ties to the ancient Blue Electric Tyrannosaurus family, Liu Erlong knew that the concept of gods wasn't just a fantasy. It was real, like the Angel God worshipped by the Spirit Hall.
The Six-Winged Angel Spirit was so powerful because it was a divine heritage passed down from the Angel God after ascension. That's why the Angel family could all achieve Title Douluo, provided they didn't fall midway.
"Flanders, don't worry. I'll keep this secret!"
Liu Erlong, overjoyed, immediately patted her chest and made a promise.
At this moment, Flanders' attention was entirely captured by the big "treasure" under Liu Erlong's robe.
Noticing Flanders' gaze, Liu Erlong's face flushed. To avoid an awkward situation, she quickly turned and sat back down.
Liu Erlong had known for twenty years that Flanders had feelings for her, and he had even confessed once.
But unfortunately, her heart wasn't with him. It belonged to the learned but weak Yu Xiaogang.
She and Flanders were like siblings, not lovers.
What Liu Erlong didn't know was that her feelings for Yu Xiaogang had long ceased to be mere love. They had turned into a deep obsession.
Twenty years without deep communication—how could her love remain the same?
Moreover, when a woman doesn't dislike a man and that man truly loves her, the foundation for love can be laid.
When a woman of a certain age feels empty inside and has a man pursuing her who she doesn't hate and who truly loves her, this foundation can turn into the possibility of love, amplifying it infinitely.
Once this love fills her heart, her obsession will fade, and she may let go entirely.