Douluo Continent: I, an evil soul master, work nine-to-five in the Tang Sect.

Chapter 74 Is it because I was born not to smile?

"By whom?!"

Upon hearing Du Weilun's words, Yan Shaozhe was utterly shocked, to the point that even his usually calm and composed mind was now in turmoil.

"Yes, Dean, you heard me right. It's Luo Chen, whom I led to the Star Dou Great Forest today to obtain a spirit ring, who has been... taken as a disciple by Elder Mu..."

Seeing the rare look of surprise on Yan Shaozhe's face, Du Weilun felt the same way. After all, as a high-ranking member of Shrek Academy, no one was unaware of Elder Mu, who was the true core pillar of Shrek Academy!

But he just couldn't understand how Luo Chen, who was only a three-ring Soul Master, could be accepted as a disciple by Elder Mu. After all, Elder Mu's first disciple was none other than Yan Shaozhe, the current dean of the Martial Soul Department of Shrek Academy!

At this moment, Luo Chen, who is only a first-year student, has become Mu En's disciple. Doesn't this mean that he and Yan Shaozhe can even be called fellow disciples?

It was precisely because they understood this that Du Weilun and Yan Shaozhe were so surprised. Yan Shaozhe, who was valued by Mu En and taken as a disciple, is now the dean of Shrek Academy. So, as Mu En's second disciple, wouldn't Luo Chen at least become a member of the Sea God Pavilion in the future?

"I really underestimated him. I thought I thought highly of him, but I was wrong after all..."

At this moment, Yan Shaozhe was extremely grateful that his act of granting Luo Chen the status of a core disciple of the Martial Soul Department was valued by Mu En. In that case, Luo Chen would at least become a super strong person whose achievements were no less than his own in the future. Moreover, he might even be able to pass on his skills to Mu En. At that time, even he, the dean, might not be able to compare with Luo Chen.

"Dean, since Elder Mu values ​​Luo Chen so much, should we elevate his authority level further? After all, he is..."

Du Weilin was about to say something when Yan Shaozhe raised his hand to interrupt him:

"There's no need for that. Elder Mu's judgment is definitely not wrong. Since Elder Mu hasn't publicized this matter, he probably wants Luo Chen to undergo more training. Transferring Luo Chen to the inner courtyard so early is not a good thing for him."

"Furthermore, the All-Continent Elite Soul Master Tournament is next year. At this critical juncture, everything needs to be carefully considered. Although Luo Chen has now been promoted to a core disciple, in the end, it still depends on his own performance."

"If he can truly excel in the outer academy, then it wouldn't be unreasonable to transfer him to the inner academy. For now, let him focus on building a solid foundation in the outer academy. It's best to avoid forcing him to grow too quickly."

Yan Shaozhe is very experienced in training students. He uses a gentle approach to overcome strong personalities and motivates lazy students to improve under pressure.

The same applies to Luo Chen now. Although he is already Elder Mu's disciple and junior brother, it doesn't mean anything. After all, Shrek Academy usually lets strength speak for itself.

He was able to grant him the status of a core disciple before the freshman assessment, which was already quite extraordinary for a first-year student.

"Yes, Dean."

Du Weilun always listened to Yan Shaozhe's words without question and never had any objections. He knew in his heart that his own thoughts and views were still too one-sided compared to Yan Shaozhe's.

"Let's put Luo Chen's matter aside for now. Since even Elder Xuan is personally helping him hunt for soul rings, it means that Elder Mu cares about him a lot. So we don't need to disrupt Elder Mu's plans. We just need to give him some help as appropriate."

"By the way, Velen, how's that Huo Yuhao I asked you to keep an eye on? Have you figured anything out?"

Yan Shaozhe then changed the subject and asked Du Weilun a question.

However, Duvelen shook his head and replied:

"I didn't see anything special about him. His first spirit ring is just a white ten-year spirit ring, and his spirit power cultivation is also at an average level. I've been watching him for a long time, and he doesn't seem to have any outstanding qualities."

"However, his own martial soul is quite interesting. His main martial soul is the Spirit Eye, a pure spiritual attribute martial soul. We rarely see such an unconventional spiritual martial soul in our outer academy, let alone a rare main martial soul..."

"Physical Martial Soul?"

Upon hearing Du Weilun's words, Yan Shaozhe was taken aback at first, but when he realized that his first spirit ring was only at the tenth level, the look of surprise on his face disappeared again.

"Forget it, he's just a kid with a ten-year spirit ring, so there's no need to pay him any attention."

After hearing Du Weilun's words, Yan Shaozhe thought for a moment before speaking.

"Dean, why did you ask me to keep an eye on that guy? He only defeated a three-ring Soul Master along with Luo Chen."

Seeing Yan Shaozhe deep in thought, Du Weilun couldn't help but ask.

In his view, although the original spirit is rare, it is too difficult for a pure spirit attribute spirit master to improve his strength and become a powerful spirit master. Not to mention the difficulty of cultivating a spirit attribute spirit, just obtaining spirit rings is a major challenge!

Among all types of Soul Masters, the Soul Rings of Spirit-attribute Soul Masters are the most difficult to obtain because the Soul Rings they need are of the same Spirit attribute as their own Martial Soul. However, in the Soul Beast Forest, Spirit-attribute Soul Beasts are extremely rare...

This has led to many spirit-type soul masters with decent martial souls, who, despite seemingly having a bright future and endless glory, find it too difficult to acquire soul rings, thus gradually falling from outstanding to mediocre.

"It's all because of that little guy Luo Chen's words. Since that guy was willing to choose Huo Yuhao as his teammate and fight alongside him, then Huo Yuhao must have some extraordinary abilities, it's just that we haven't discovered them yet..."

"But since even you think Huo Yuhao has no value in training, then there's no need to pay attention to him anymore. Just assign him to that guy Qian Duoduo. Anyway, that guy came to me for people not long ago."

As Yan Shaozhe spoke, Du Weilun silently took notes, but he still felt something was off, as if he had overlooked something very important...

Meanwhile, in the freshman class nine, all the students were equally shocked.

Although they all regarded Luo Chen as the strongest in Class 9 of the new students, in essence, Luo Chen was only a two-ring Great Soul Master, while Ning Tian was a three-ring Soul Venerable. In terms of cultivation, Ning Tian was still superior.

But no one expected that in just one night, Luo Chen's cultivation level would soar like a train, and he has now broken through to level 30, becoming one of the few Soul Venerable level experts in the entire outer academy!

Although none of the students in Class 9 present wanted to believe it, the fact was already in front of them: Tai'an, who had absorbed the spirit ring and returned to the class, had now become a two-ring Great Spirit Master.

Moreover, in terms of soul power level, he is not inferior to Wu Feng and others who have the strongest soul power in the class besides Ning Tian and Luo Chen. He has now reached level 24 soul power cultivation, and his strength is even more terrifying than before!

"Hahaha, how about it, Wu Feng? The reason I couldn't suppress you before was only because of your second spirit ring and Ning Tian's assistance. Now let's have another go, and I'm sure the result will be different, right?"

Having just absorbed his second soul ring and broken through to become a two-ring Great Soul Master, Tai'an immediately sought out Wu Feng, who was also a level 24 Battle Soul Master and whom he had previously sparred with.

He had long disliked the other party. If it weren't for Ning Tian, ​​who possessed the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul, he would have been able to easily defeat him when he was only at the first Soul Ring level. But now it's different. He has successfully broken through to the second Soul Ring level and even possesses a thousand-year Soul Ring!

Now that things have come to this point, even if Wu Feng and Ning Tian were to attack together, Tai An is absolutely confident that he can defeat both of them!

"The sky has cleared and the rain has stopped, and you think you're all that anymore? Do you think you're that freak Luo Chen? You've only broken through to the second ring, yet you dare to spout such arrogant words. I think you've gone mad from absorbing spirit rings!"

Having already suffered quite a bit at Luo Chen's hands, Wu Feng, even when faced with Tai An's provocation, did not immediately lash out as before, but instead responded with words.

In her opinion, although Tai'an was indeed very strong, he was still quite far behind her when she was supported by Ning Tian. Apart from Luo Chen, which second-ring Great Soul Master could fight and defeat a fellow second-ring Great Soul Master and a third-ring support-type Soul Master on his own?

So when faced with Tai'an's words, Wu Feng didn't show any anger at all. Instead, she sneered and curled up the corners of her mouth. But the next moment, she couldn't laugh anymore.

Because at this moment, Tai'an in front of her had already released his own martial soul and soul rings. Normally, a great soul master who has just broken through to the second ring only has two hundred-year soul rings, and she is no exception.

However, the Tai'an before them was not like that. Beside his greatly expanded body, there was a purple soul ring, which was a thousand-year soul ring!

"Purple... a thousand-year soul ring?"

Looking at the crystalline purple soul ring floating beside Tai'an, Wu Feng couldn't help but swallow hard, muttering with a slight stutter, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Seeing this scene, not only she, but also Ning Tian and Nanmen Yun'er, who were sitting next to her watching the show, were stunned. The smiles on their faces gradually froze, and then they showed surprise and doubt.

"Huh? Why aren't you laughing? Are you just naturally averse to smiling?"

Looking at Wu Feng and the other two who were stunned after he released his martial spirit, as well as the group of students from Class 9 who were watching the drama unfold, Tai An's expression was extremely unrestrained.

Although he didn't care about his fame, he had been questioned by others because he was only a one-ring Soul Master. But now, he had truly silenced everyone with his own strength!

"Wu Feng, do you still think I was joking when I said that? If you do, we can go straight to the Soul Arena and have a match. That way, you can see the difference between two second-ring Souls!"

Tai'an didn't give Wu Feng time to think, but instead smiled and spoke to him.

However, despite Wu Feng's rapid breathing and clenched hands in response to Tai An's insulting words, he did not lose his composure.

After being "tortured" by Luo Chen, her temperament has changed a lot. She is no longer as impulsive as before, and she has learned to think things through in advance. Therefore, even though Tai An is provoking her like this, she still holds back.

Because she knew that if she agreed to the other party's request in a fit of anger, she would really fall into their trap, and like a fool, she would rush headlong into it!

Although she didn't understand why Tai'an was able to absorb a thousand-year soul ring when he was only at the second level, she was certain of one thing: at the same level, she, with only two hundred-year soul rings, would absolutely not be able to defeat her opponent who possessed a thousand-year soul ring. This was an absolute difference in soul rings!

Now it was Tai'an's turn to be surprised. He hadn't expected that the other party, who should have gone berserk after his repeated provocations, would be able to hold back. This made Tai'an look at Wu Feng with new respect.

However, at this moment, Ning Tian snapped out of his daze and asked:

"Tai'an, can you tell me how you absorbed a thousand-year-old spirit ring when you were only at the second ring level? That seems to defy the basic common sense of martial spirits, doesn't it?"

She had seen people absorb knowledge beyond their level before, but those only crossed by a hundred years, unlike Tai'an who directly jumped to the thousand-year level!

There is a fundamental difference between a hundred-year soul ring and a thousand-year soul ring. Even though she was regarded as the apple of the eye of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School since childhood and nurtured with the resources of the entire school, she was still unable to absorb a thousand-year soul ring as her second soul ring.

This is really illogical!

Ning Tian's question was also something that all the freshmen in Class 9 wanted to ask, but Tai An responded with an air of matter-of-fact compliment:

"Absorbing a thousand-year soul ring beyond one's level—isn't that something that can be done simply by having sufficient physical strength and mental power? If we're talking about something that truly defies the norms of the soul master world, it has to be this guy."

As he spoke, Tai'an seemed to sense something and turned around to look at Luo Chen, who had appeared at the classroom door at some point and was silently watching the scene unfold...

As everyone turned to look at him, Luo Chen smiled and echoed:

"Yes, is absorbing knowledge beyond one's level difficult at all?"

(End of this chapter)