Su Ming was stunned when Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong stepped forward. Both girls were stunning, but Zhu Zhuqing, in particular, had an impressive figure, just as the saying goes: "When you can't see your toes when you look down, you know you're a true beauty."
Ning Rongrong was also beautiful, but at her current age, her chest was still relatively flat, at best around the size of small apples. However, Su Ming knew that in five years, Ning Rongrong's figure would become perfectly proportioned.
Su Ming handed the crystal ball to Ning Rongrong, and she winked at him.
Strange, Su Ming thought. Ning Rongrong had a mischievous personality, but why would she wink at a stranger? Something's not right here!
Then, Ning Rongrong infused her spirit power into the crystal ball, and it glowed brightly. Another genius soul master with a power level of thirty-four!
Li Yusong and Tang San both looked shocked.
Li Yusong was astonished at how many prodigies had shown up today. It looks like Shrek Academy is really going to rise in prominence!
Tang San, on the other hand, was in disbelief. It was one thing for Xiao Wu and Su Ming to be stronger than him, but now this new girl had a higher spirit power level as well? His teacher had told him that having twin martial spirits meant he'd progress faster than most soul masters. Why was this girl an exception?
Furthermore, Li Yusong had confirmed that this girl was younger than him. Tang San felt his confidence faltering.
But the most shocked person was Su Ming. Ning Rongrong at thirty-four? How is that possible?
Ning Rongrong secretly observed Su Ming's reaction and saw the disbelief on his face. She felt satisfied—her goal had been achieved. As for whether her true strength might be exposed, well, that would be up to how the system explained things. It wasn't her concern, after all.
Xiao Wu, noticing Su Ming's expression, chuckled to herself. She exchanged a knowing glance with Ning Rongrong. Both could see the diary books floating in front of them.
Su Ming, despite his shock, tried to stay calm. He needed to see Zhu Zhuqing's spirit power level before jumping to conclusions.
Zhu Zhuqing took the crystal ball from Ning Rongrong and, with a nod, infused her own spirit power. The ball shone even brighter—thirty-five!
Now, Su Ming was certain something was wrong. Very wrong.
With Ning Rongrong's and Zhu Zhuqing's innate spirit power, there was no way they could reach such levels at this age, even with constant training.
Ning Rongrong was just as surprised. Her eyes widened, her lips parted slightly in disbelief as she looked at Zhu Zhuqing. How could Zhu Zhuqing's spirit power level be higher than mine?
Ning Rongrong's world was crumbling. Based on what she knew from Su Ming's past explanations, Zhu Zhuqing's innate spirit power was only seven in the original storyline. The system had likely boosted it to nine, maybe even ten. But Ning Rongrong had her Glazed Tile Pendant, which boosted her cultivation speed—how had she still lost?
She blushed as she recalled her previous "grand ambitions." She had thought for sure that this time her strength would surpass Zhu Zhuqing's.
Now, not only was Zhu Zhuqing's figure more impressive, but her strength was also greater. It felt like a double blow.
In response, Ning Rongrong gave Zhu Zhuqing a look of respect. If Zhu Zhuqing's spirit power was higher, it meant she had worked harder than Ning Rongrong. She had always thought she trained diligently, but it seemed her efforts were nothing compared to Zhu Zhuqing's.
Ning Rongrong reflected on how her father and two grandfathers had treated her with such care and concern. They'd even joked that she had awakened more than just her martial spirit—her brain, too, since she was so focused on training. In hindsight, it made her laugh.
At this moment, Su Ming's face grew serious. He called out to the system: "System, explain. Why are Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing's levels so different from what I know? It's too much of a difference! With their innate spirit power, there's no way they could cultivate this quickly."
The system responded: "Ding! This may be due to a butterfly effect caused by the host's presence!"
Su Ming: ...
He retorted, "Do you think I'm a fool? It makes sense that Xiao Wu and Tang San's strength would change since they've interacted with me, but Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing haven't even met me until now. How could I affect them?"
The system: ...
"Ding! I mentioned one possibility. Another is that this world may be a parallel version of the one you know. The characters are the same, but their abilities might differ."
Su Ming was skeptical. "Really? You're not just making this up, are you? How could you not know if this is a parallel world?"
"That is for the host to discover. You currently do not have the necessary permissions."
Su Ming: ...
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that the system was trying to deceive him. But without more evidence, he couldn't pinpoint where things had gone wrong.
With the system being vague, Su Ming decided he'd have to find a way to subtly question Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing later. But that would require getting closer to them first.
While Su Ming was lost in thought, Xiao Wu had secretly added Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing as friends using the diary system.
Meanwhile, Dai Mubai was stunned by Zhu Zhuqing's strength. How had she progressed so quickly in just a few years? Even with her innate spirit power being a little higher than his, it shouldn't have made this much difference. He was thirty-seven, and Zhu Zhuqing was already thirty-five, despite being three years younger!
Dai Mubai decided he needed to speak with her later. Surely, she had come all this way to find him. Otherwise, it couldn't be a coincidence that they were both here.
But as he reflected on his behavior over the past three years, Dai Mubai felt ashamed. Even though he and Zhu Zhuqing didn't have much of an emotional connection and had only met a few times, she was still his fiancée. She had crossed the distance between the Star Luo and Heaven Dou Empires, likely enduring many hardships to find him.
Dai Mubai began to feel guilty. He couldn't continue living like this. And now that Zhu Zhuqing had grown into such a stunning and beautiful woman, he needed to be better.
Zhu Zhuqing, however, was done with him. After secretly observing Dai Mubai's behavior over the past few days, she had given up on him. She would rather align herself with Su Ming. With his system and strength, he could help her change her fate.
Plus, Dai Mubai, with his "hungry ghost" personality, would never change for her. Even if he did change, it would likely be for selfish reasons, like his attraction to her body, just like Su Ming had suspected.
As Dai Mubai noticed no one else stepping forward, he led Su Ming and the others toward the fourth test.
Inside, Dai Mubai was incredibly nervous. The fourth test involved the candidates teaming up to hold out against him for the duration of one incense stick. But this year's crop of geniuses was beyond his expectations.
Not one of them was below level thirty! How was he supposed to fight them? It seemed more likely that they would gang up on him, and he'd be the one struggling to last even a few minutes.
Reflecting on the past two days, Dai Mubai sighed. Yesterday, he was beaten by Su Ming. Today, Xiao Wu had defeated him. And now, they would gang up on him.
To make matters worse, the judge for the fourth test would be Vice Principal Zhao Wuji, so there was no way he could just let them pass without a fight. It was going to be a disaster.
Dai Mubai leaned over to Su Ming and whispered, "Su Ming, please go easy on me during the fourth test. I'm supposed to be the examiner, but there's no way I can handle all of you at once. You and Xiao Wu alone are enough to beat me, so..."
Su Ming smirked. "We'll see. I'm just a 'control-type' soul master, so it'll depend on what the others think."
Dai Mubai: ...
Just a control-type soul master? Yeah, right. You're more like a tank or a powerhouse.
Oh, and didn't Su Ming just use a healing ability on him?
Dai Mubai's eyes widened. What the... Su Ming can even heal? He's practically a jack-of-all-trades!
Ignoring Dai Mubai, Su Ming pulled out his diary to jot down the events of the day. He was still reeling from the surprises, and the system's cryptic responses weren't helping.
"Today, Xiao Wu, Tang San, and I arrived at Shrek Academy. It's as rundown as ever, and yes, they really do refuse to refund the registration fees, just like in the original story."
"When people asked for their money back, the old man at the gate, Li Yusong, told Dai Mubai to deal with the 'troublemakers.' If Li Yusong, a Soul Emperor, had stepped in, I wouldn't have been able to do much. After all, even though I'm pretty sure I could beat him, it would be way too suspicious."
"I mean, who's ever heard of a forty-three-level soul master defeating a sixty-two-level Soul Emperor? If I really did that, someone would definitely try to cut me open for research. While I'm not afraid, it would be a massive hassle."
The girls reading Su Ming's diary were stunned. Did he just say he could take on a Soul Emperor? That's insane! No one crosses levels like that!
Even if Li Yusong's first soul ring was white and not the best configuration, he was still a Soul Emperor!
The girls reading Su Ming's diary were floored. He actually claimed he could take on a Soul Emperor? That's insane! It's one thing to fight across levels, but this?
Sure, Li Yusong's first soul ring was white, and his ring configuration wasn't optimal, but he was still a Soul Emperor!
The girls began to wonder if Wood Release was really that powerful, or if Su Ming had other tricks up his sleeve they didn't know about.
Xiao Wu, Ning Rongrong, and Zhu Zhuqing all glanced at Su Ming, then started discussing it through their diary system.
Ning Rongrong: "Do you think Su Ming is serious about being able to fight a Soul Emperor?"
Zhu Zhuqing: "I'm not sure. I haven't seen him use many other Wood Release techniques. Based on what he's shown so far, there's no way he could beat Li Yusong."
After speaking, they both turned to look at Xiao Wu, who was closest to Su Ming and might have seen him use more of his abilities.
Xiao Wu: "Don't look at me. He hasn't shown me any other moves either. Even the 'Wooden Wall' mentioned in the diary was something I saw for the first time a few days ago."
Xiao Wu: "But Su Ming told me that the Wooden Wall is only his second-to-last defensive move. There's got to be something stronger. As for his attacks, he's only shown me the 'Piercing Wood Technique' so far. Maybe we'll see something even more powerful soon!"
Ning Rongrong/Zhu Zhuqing: "Makes sense!"
Xiao Wu added: "And don't forget, Su Ming also has the Sharingan! It's been six years since he first got it, so who knows if it's evolved? I'm guessing it has."
Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing exchanged a glance. Right! They had almost forgotten about the Sharingan.
The reason it was easy to forget was that Su Ming rarely used it, so its presence was almost negligible.
"Just like in the original, Li Yusong had Dai Mubai handle the situation with the troublemakers. After all, it wouldn't look good for a Soul Emperor to deal with such small matters."
"And Dai Mubai, overconfident as always, bragged that anyone who could beat him would get their registration fee refunded. Naturally, I couldn't let that slide. Not returning the registration fee in the first place is already wrong."
"You have to understand, Shrek's registration fee is a hefty ten gold spirit coins. The Spirit Hall only gives Grandmasters a monthly stipend of ten gold spirit coins. Their entrance requirement is to be under thirteen years old and have a spirit power of at least level twenty—a pretty clever setup!"
"Those who meet the requirement naturally get in. For them, it's only one month's stipend, which they can handle. But what about those who don't qualify?"
"In reality, not many people are geniuses. Most thirteen-year-olds can't reach the Grandmaster level; they're still spirit masters at best. Spirit Masters only get a stipend of one gold coin a month from Spirit Hall. So, they'd have to save for ten months just to pay the registration fee, which Shrek Academy just takes without any refunds."
"So, most of these ten gold coins were saved up through hard work. There's no way I could let Shrek get away with keeping those people's registration fees."
"And obviously, this scheme was cooked up by that greedy miser, Flender. He's all about getting money by any means necessary!"
"With his level of seventy-eight, it would be easy for him to make money, but no, he has to resort to these shady methods. Just look at the shop he runs in Soto City—the stuff he sells is either too expensive for commoners or not good enough for spirit masters. When Tang San found a rare crystalline slab, Flender still tried to rip him off, as if he'd never seen money before!"
"In the end, he didn't charge Tang San only because of Grandmaster's influence. Who'd want to shop there after that?"