Star Luo City, Imperial Palace.
After hearing the Netherworld Duke's words, the Star Luo Emperor's eyes flickered slightly, but his majestic face showed no extra emotion.
"I am already aware of this matter. You need not interfere with what follows. The younger generation must walk their own paths, just as we did in our day," the Star Luo Emperor said in a calm voice.
The Netherworld Duke nodded. "Your subject understands. Everything shall be done according to Your Majesty's wishes."
Afterward, the emperor waved his hand. Watching the Netherworld Duke leave unhurriedly, the emperor gestured to the darkness.
A middle-aged man in black tight-fitting clothing emerged from the shadows and knelt before the emperor.
"Your Majesty."
The emperor glanced in the direction where Dai Mubai had once stayed in the palace, then spoke calmly. "Go to that Shrek Academy again. Although Mubai has left, he is still a member of the royal family. Do not bring disgrace to the royal house."
"Your subject understands." The middle-aged man replied, then once again melted into the darkness.
...
Unknown forest, by a small stream.
Although Oscar's cooking skills couldn't compare to Teacher Shao Xin's, the grilled fish he prepared was colorful, aromatic, and delicious, leaving Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing with greasy mouths.
As he ate the grilled fish, Oscar said to Zhu Zhuqing, "This sudden departure from Star Luo City may have been abrupt for you, but this is the imperial capital after all. When circumstances are urgent, one must adapt to the situation. If you need anything in the future, feel free to let me know."
Zhu Zhuqing nodded upon hearing this. "Thank you, Senior Brother. I am already very grateful to have escaped from that place."
It was clear that Zhu Zhuqing had already wanted to leave the imperial capital. Now that Dai Mubai had returned to take her away, it was undoubtedly the greatest surprise for her.
Dai Mubai gently patted Zhu Zhuqing's small hand. "Zhuqing, from now on, I will never leave you alone. No matter what difficulties we face in the future, I will stand before you without hesitation."
Hearing Dai Mubai speak so suddenly with a touch of genuine emotion on his handsome face, Zhu Zhuqing was deeply moved.
Zhu Zhuqing turned her hand and gripped Dai Mubai's large hand. "Mm, no matter what dangers we face in the future, I will face them with you."
Seeing the couple suddenly become so affectionate, Oscar's expression changed slightly. "Cough, cough... Although... you two are a couple, but there are still two other people here. If you want to be so affectionate, wait until there's no one around."
Hearing this, Zhao Wuji chuckled and said it didn't matter, after all, he was already around fifty years old.
Meanwhile, Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing quickly let go of each other's hands, their faces instantly flushing red as they each nibbled on their own grilled fish...
Oscar smiled at this sight. Young people's skin was still too thin. If it were him and Dugu Yan, if anyone dared to say something like that, they would have kissed right then and there...
...
Since the Star Luo Emperor had spoken, no one came to pursue Zhao Wuji and the others afterward. Half a month later, Zhao Wuji brought Oscar and the other two back to Shrek Academy successfully.
Before that, five days prior, someone had come looking for Shrek Academy. However, at that time, Flender, Zhao Wuji, and Gai Yue, several powerful figures, were not there. It was Lu Qibin and Li Yusong who received them.
The visitor was a Soul Douluo expert from the Star Luo Empire. They stated their purpose directly, then funded the academy with a sum of money, inquired about Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing, and then left.
It could be said that the person acted decisively. Lu Qibin looked helplessly at the Gold Soul Card in his hand containing one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins.
Shrek Academy no longer lacked money now. With Shao Xin as this money-making machine, these one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins were practically unnecessary.
However, since the other party was willing to fund Shrek Academy, presumably when Dean Flender returned and learned of this matter, he would not refuse it.
After all, they had not been stingy with Dai Mubai's training, even giving him the precious whale glue for free.
When Zhao Wuji returned and heard about this, he also gained more appreciation for the forces behind Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing.
Although he had previously heard Dai Mubai describe the cruelty of family struggles and it didn't sound very humane, the actions of their elders were not without fairness. They gave the children opportunities to grow and let them have a chance to grasp their own destiny.
Back at the academy, Dai Mubai introduced Zhu Zhuqing to Dugu Yan and Ma Hongjun. Although Zhu Zhuqing now had some of the temperament of a cool and aloof older sister, her mood became much more relaxed when she saw Dugu Yan.
After all, although Shrek Academy didn't have many students and teachers combined, they were all male. Now that there was a girl here, Zhu Zhuqing was naturally happy.
When Zhu Zhuqing learned that Dugu Yan was Oscar's girlfriend and had great talent, she felt even more motivated. After all, the pressure she and Dai Mubai now faced was not something ordinary people could understand.
Meanwhile, Dugu Yan had previously heard from Dai Mubai about him and Zhu Zhuqing, so she was also very friendly to Zhu Zhuqing. The two even moved into the same room.
Because Dugu Yan hadn't really had friends before meeting Oscar, she was also very happy to have Zhu Zhuqing now.
Although Zhu Zhuqing was still a bit shy, she agreed to live with Dugu Yan. After all, this way the two girls could look after each other.
However, this made Oscar and Dai Mubai a bit miserable, because if Dugu Yan and Zhu Zhuqing lived together, if they two wanted to be alone with their respective girlfriends, they would have to consider the other's girlfriend.
After the Zhu Zhuqing incident, Oscar returned to his original training state, leading them in cultivation and studies every day.
After learning about Oscar's schedule and effort, Zhu Zhuqing also gained a deep understanding of Oscar and understood why Dai Mubai admired him so much.
But this suited her just fine. After all, Zhu Zhuqing was a hardworking person herself. Now that she was at Shrek Academy, not only could she progress together with Dai Mubai, but she also had a good big brother leading her. She felt that if she had come here earlier, her improvement might have been even greater.
Oscar did not hold back with Zhu Zhuqing either, training her seriously and helping her progress along with Dai Mubai. Dai Mubai was also more grateful to Oscar for this.
Moreover, because Oscar knew that the martial souls of Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing had extremely high compatibility, as long as their mutual understanding was sufficient, cultivating a martial soul fusion skill was a certainty. Therefore, Oscar intentionally trained the two of them to cultivate their martial soul fusion skill.
Although Oscar had no experience cultivating martial soul fusion skills himself, it wasn't some secret. Oscar had previously studied books on how to cultivate martial soul fusion skills, so teaching the two of them was not a problem.
Not to mention, Oscar was at least not much worse than that so-called Master. In fact, because Oscar was a transmigrator, he had a deeper understanding of these cultivation methods, and many of his teaching methods were more avant-garde and advanced.
Zhu Zhuqing was now at level 22. Her first two soul skills were the enhancement skill "Netherworld Thrust" and the attack skill "Netherworld Hundred Claws." Zhu Zhuqing's speed was quite outstanding among agility-type fighters, and although her attack power couldn't compare to power-type Soul Masters, as an agility-type, her assassination abilities were sufficient.
And one thing also made Oscar speechless: the positioning and role of agility-type Soul Masters on the competition stage.
If it were on a real battlefield, agility-type Soul Masters would definitely be very troublesome opponents, because you wouldn't know where they were hiding, where they would attack from, or when they would attack.
However, agility-type Soul Masters seemed a bit awkward on the competition stage. Their attack power wasn't as good as power-type, and their defense was only slightly better than support-type, although they had an absolute advantage in speed.
But battles on the competition stage involved at least seven people, making it basically impossible to launch a surprise attack. Therefore, agility-types were meant for assassination and intelligence gathering, a positioning that was somewhat useless on the competition stage.
After all, the competition stage had only so much space, and it was basically impossible to hide without being discovered and then launch a surprise attack.
However, although this was the case, Zhu Zhuqing and Dai Mubai still had a martial soul fusion skill. In the future, as long as they could cultivate it well, they could achieve a result of one plus one being greater than two, which would compensate for Zhu Zhuqing's disadvantage on the competition stage.
Therefore, Oscar was not too worried about this. He just needed to focus on teaching them cultivation.
After another two months, Oscar's soul power level officially broke through to level 39, only one level away from level 40. And at his current cultivation speed, within four months he could break through to level 40 and then go obtain a fourth soul ring to become a Soul Ancestor.
Dugu Yan, Ma Hongjun, Dai Mubai, and Zhu Zhuqing had each advanced one level in soul power. Now Dugu Yan and Ma Hongjun were both at level 37, but Dugu Yan had reached the peak of level 37, while Ma Hongjun was only in the middle of level 37.
Dai Mubai was at level 33, and Zhu Zhuqing at level 23, exactly ten levels apart in soul power.
And now, with only a year and a half left until the arrival of the original Tang San and the others, this time was enough for them to make huge improvements.
Besides the improvements among this group of students, Flender had also successfully obtained his eighth soul ring, becoming the second Soul Douluo powerhouse in Shrek Academy.
The returning Flender was beaming with joy. After all, becoming a Soul Douluo represented that he had officially entered the top echelon of the continent.
Although titled Soul Douluos were the pinnacle of Soul Masters, their numbers were too few. Soul Douluos were the main powerhouses on the continent today.
After all, titled Soul Douluos of this level rarely appeared on the continent. They were either in seclusion trying to break through to higher levels or had already joined some major force to live out their days.
Only Soul Douluos of this level were the most active on the continent, becoming the main high-level power.
After Gai Yue returned, the first thing he did was test Oscar. However, Oscar would not disappoint his teacher. Even without Gai Yue's supervision, Oscar would always remind himself not to stop and would always maintain progress.
With the addition of Zhu Zhuqing, Shrek Academy had also become more prosperous. Although the number of students still did not exceed the number of teachers, this was a good beginning.
Moreover, when Flender learned that Dai Mubai's family had also sent one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, he was even happier. Just after obtaining his eighth soul ring and becoming a Soul Douluo, someone came to deliver money—and a full one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins at that. This was like double happiness for Flender.
If he relied on that small Soul Master shop of his, he might never be able to earn one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins in his lifetime...
Speaking of Flender's small Soul Master shop, Oscar would go "treasure hunting" there from time to time. After all, in the original story, Tang San had used just two hundred Gold Soul Coins to buy a Dragon's Needle from Flender, a treasure worth tens of thousands or even one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins.
However, Oscar's luck didn't seem to be very good. He never found any valuable treasures in Flender's shop, let alone a Dragon's Needle that could penetrate soul power defenses.
Of course, although the Dragon's Needle was powerful, it wasn't that powerful. In the original story, it was able to penetrate Zhao Wuji's defense because Zhao Wuji hadn't used his full strength.
Otherwise, with just level 29 Tang San, it wouldn't have been possible to break Zhao Wuji's defense with just one Dragon's Needle, or a Soul Saint would have been too weak.
However, regardless, Oscar never encountered the Dragon's Needle treasure in Flender's small shop. Of course, it might also be because he had changed some of the economic situation in the original Shrek story, causing Flender to not have much time to manage his small shop, which could also be part of the reason.
After obtaining his eighth soul ring, Zhao Wuji also trained even harder. After all, if the boss had broken through to Soul Douluo, he, Old Zhao, couldn't fall behind either.
As the teachers and students of Shrek Academy trained hard, after several months of effort and cultivating their coordination, Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing finally cultivated their martial soul fusion skill—Netherworld White Tiger.
With the Netherworld White Tiger, a junior Soul Venerable and a junior Soul Grandmaster could actually erupt with combat power comparable to a Soul Ancestor.
Now, if Dai Mubai were to face Oscar again, and if he could use the Netherworld White Tiger with Zhu Zhuqing, Oscar wouldn't be able to knock him unconscious with a single punch.
At least he could last for a few minutes, allowing Oscar to consume some soul power.
And not to mention Oscar, even level 37 Ma Hongjun could defeat Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing's Netherworld White Tiger head-on.
Because although their martial soul fusion skill was powerful, it had just been cultivated, and their coordination still had considerable flaws.
Moreover, neither of their soul power levels was high. Dai Mubai might be okay since he was already level 33, but Zhu Zhuqing's soul power level was still too low at only level 23, completely unable to truly unleash the power of the Netherworld White Tiger.
And Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing themselves knew that to truly unleash the power of the Netherworld White Tiger, they would need to be at least level 70 and have achieved their true martial soul form.
If two Soul Masters above level 70 used the Netherworld White Tiger, then as long as they reached the Soul Douluo level, their Netherworld White Tiger could be comparable to a titled Soul Douluo.
If it were a titled Soul Douluo-level Netherworld White Tiger, then it might be possible for an ordinary titled Soul Douluo to fight against a Super Douluo.
And precisely because of this, the Star Luo Empire's style was so iron-blooded—they had the strength and ability to manage the entire empire well.
In fact, if it weren't for the existence of Spirit Hall, the Star Luo Empire's strength could have already wiped out the Heaven Dou Empire. It was just that Spirit Hall was sandwiched between the two great empires, forming a natural buffer, which prevented the two empires from engaging in major warfare.
(End of Chapter)