Seeing Flender's old face flush with embarrassment, Lu Feng didn't call him out. He just waved it off casually. "Don't worry about it. I've made a little more money in business these past two years."
Zhu Zhuqing's delicate face twitched with an odd expression. A little money? More like a fortune. Carrying around a dozen spirit bones, casually pulling out two Eight Treasures Soft Armors, owning shares in the continent-wide Rose Hotel chain…
Flender finally noticed the stunning girl behind Lu Feng. "And this is…?"
"My fiancée," Lu Feng introduced. "The second daughter of the Zhu family from the Star Luo Empire—Zhu Zhuqing."
"The Zhu family… You mean the Nether Moon Spirit Cat Clan?"
From Zhu Zhuqing's appearance, aura, and attire, Flender could immediately tell she was a powerful Agility Attack-Type Battle Spirit Master.
Lu Feng grinned. "Exactly. As sharp-eyed as ever, Flender."
"Xiao Feng, you're full of surprises!" Flender lowered his voice, half-impressed, half-baffled. "To think you, a commoner with no spirit power, managed to win over a duke's daughter. As far as I know, the Zhu family's women are always married off to the Star Luo imperial family."
"Ahem. First, let me correct you—I'm not a live-in son-in-law. Second, I've awakened spirit power now. I'm a spirit master, and we're here to enroll in Shrek Academy. As for how Zhu Zhuqing and I got together… we'll save that story for later."
"You two… want to enroll?"
Flender's eyebrows shot up. He exchanged uneasy glances with Zhao Wuji and the others.
So it's come to this.
After two years of keeping his word, Lu Feng was finally pulling the investor card.
From Flender and Li Yusong's perspective, Lu Feng had no spirit power two years ago. Even if he'd awakened it since then, it was too late unless he was some kind of prodigy, he wouldn't even come close to Shrek's admission standards.
Their assumption? Lu Feng had come tonight to force his way in using his status as the academy's majority shareholder and drag his fiancée along with him.
That would shatter Flender's hard-set rules.
And once rules broke, discipline would crumble. His entire teaching philosophy would collapse.
But Lu Feng was their benefactor—the 60% shareholder, the landlord, the man who'd saved Shrek Academy from ruin. Flender wanted to refuse, but the words stuck in his throat.
Lu Feng read their hesitation instantly. No need for long explanations. With a confident laugh, he released his martial soul.
"Relax. I won't put you in a tough spot."
"Lu Feng. Twelve years old. Martial Soul: Starry Sky Tree. Rank 34 Battle Spirit Master." He locked eyes with Zhao Wuji. "Instructor Zhao, I'd appreciate your guidance."
Beside him, Zhu Zhuqing stepped forward, her aura flaring.
"Zhu Zhuqing. Thirteen years old. Martial Soul: Nether Moon Spirit Cat. Rank 30 Battle Spirit Master. Please advise."
They'd agreed on the way here, challenge Zhao Wuji the moment they arrived.
Their ages? Qualified.
Martial souls and spirit power? Self-explanatory once released.
That meant they could skip straight to the final admission test: fighting Zhao Wuji.
In the two months since awakening his god-level martial soul, Lu Feng had trained relentlessly. After his daytime duel with Dai Mubai, he'd even broken through another level.
But the moment Lu Feng and Zhu Zhuqing revealed their spirits and spirit rings—
Flender, Zhao Wuji, Li Yusong—their eyes bulged, their jaws hit the floor.
A towering, emerald-gold tree shimmered into existence, its branches wreathed in swirling starlight.
And the spirit rings—
The first, a deep violet thousand-year ring.
The third, a pitch-black ten-thousand-year ring.
The teachers stood frozen, their minds blank from sheer disbelief.
Li Yusong rubbed his eyes, wondering if his old vision was failing him.
Finally, after a long silence—
"A… a god-level martial soul…" Flender's voice trembled. As an academy dean, his judgment was rarely wrong.
It was almost impossible to believe. Two years ago, Lu Feng had been a wealthy commoner with no spirit power. Now? He'd awakened a god-level martial soul, reached rank 34, and somehow obtained spirit rings with unthinkable age limits.
There was only one explanation:
A genius among geniuses.
A monster among monsters.
No, a freak among monsters.
In Shrek Academy's twenty-year history, they'd accepted forty-two such "freaks", each a top-tier prodigy. One female graduate had even become the youngest elder in the Spirit Hall.
But none had ever possessed a god-level martial soul.
And now, here it was their own investor, Lu Feng, who was asking to enroll.
This wasn't just keeping the money. This was gaining the ultimate student!
In the entire continent, who could compete with this kind of luck?
Any academy would beg, grovel, or even fight to recruit a student like Lu Feng.
Yet he'd delivered himself to their doorstep.
Flender's lips twisted into a grin so wide it threatened to split his face.
He wanted to laugh at the sky, sing at the top of his lungs, dance like a madman.
In twenty years, he'd never felt this exhilarated.
But as the dean, he had to maintain some dignity.
Taking a deep breath, Flender forced his voice steady—though his smile still leaked through. "That martial soul… the Starry Sky Tree from ancient legends. Xiao Feng, if I'm not mistaken, your innate full spirit power must have reached twenty levels."
"The testing crystal actually exploded. They said it was 'beyond twenty.'" Lu Feng replied matter-of-factly.
"It exploded? Beyond twenty? Then… then it might be… a transcendent god-level martial soul!" Flender's voice shook again.
"Transcendent god-level? I've never heard of that in the Star Luo Empire."
"It's recorded in the Spirit Hall's secret archives—never made public. Almost no one knows."
"Then how do you know, Old Flender?"
"Ah… haha, an old friend told me."
"You mean Yu Xiaogang? I heard he stole those archives and passed them off as his own theories. So it's true."
"How do you— No! Don't speak of Xiaogang that way! He just couldn't stand the Spirit Hall hoarding knowledge. He shared parts of those archives to* benefit all spirit masters—a righteous act!"
"Ah, 'righteous.' Then why, in twenty years, has this paragon of virtue never come to Shrek Academy to share your hardships and teach?"
Lu Feng didn't press further. His gaze shifted to Zhao Wuji.
"Let's proceed with the challenge, Instructor Zhao. We'll follow the rules—pass the final admission test."
Flender, ever the soft-hearted optimist, had always believed Yu Xiaogang's intentions were noble—even if his methods were extreme. But Lu Feng's words planted a seed of doubt in his mind, leaving him deep in thought.
"Xiao Feng, with a martial soul and spirit rings like that, if I dared to fail you, Flender would skin me alive. So let's keep this simple. Use your spirit skills to attack me freely for three moves. After that, I'll counter. If you can last one incense stick's worth of time, you pass."
Zhao Wuji flexed his bulging arms, a teasing grin spreading across his face.
This was his chance to bully a transcendent god-level martial soul—and he was going to enjoy it. Once Lu Feng grew stronger, he'd never get another opportunity like this.
"Still 'one incense stick'? Not that simple, then," Lu Feng muttered with a chuckle. "But if you're giving us three free moves… Zhuqing, you might not even need to lift a finger."
One incense stick later.
"O-okay… time's up… Xiao Feng, could you please let me go now…?"
Bound like a dumpling in emerald-gold vines, his face tinged an unhealthy shade of green, Zhao Wuji wheezed out his surrender.