Douluo Continent: I Can Summon Heroic Spirits

Chapter 102 The Soul Guidance Department Exists in Name Only; Jiang Nannan's Decision

Sea God Pavilion.

The commotion at the outer courtyard square continued, but the deans and vice deans of Shrek Academy rushed back to the Sea God Pavilion without stopping.

"Teacher, please help me judge this!"

As soon as she entered the room, Xian Lin'er couldn't contain her anger and rushed to the large recliner.

"That little... Master Yu Xiaogang, he actually declared in front of the entire academy's faculty and students that he would completely ban the use of soul tools at Shrek Academy! What is he trying to do? Is he taking Shrek Academy back to ancient times?"

Xian Lin'er's chest heaved violently with anger, her voice trembling: "Those brats from the outer academy are all acting like they've been injected with chicken blood, frantically responding to his call! Elder Mu, if this continues, how will we, the students of the Soul Guidance Department, ever hold our heads high in the academy?"

Mu En, who was reclining on the chair, had his eyes slightly closed. Before he could answer, Yan Shaozhe walked over unhurriedly and said gloatingly.

"Lin'er, what you said is wrong."

"Since we all agreed at the Sea God Pavilion meeting to invite Master Yu Xiaogang to lead Shrek Academy into a new era, we, as his juniors, should strictly abide by his decision."

"Yan Shaozhe, stop pretending to be a big shot with me!" Xian Lin'er glared at him angrily.

With her teacher, Elder Mu, right there, Xian Lin'er swallowed back the profanities that were on the tip of her tongue. She forced herself not to insult the man with the crew cut, and gritted her teeth, saying, "That Yu Xiaogang—Master—was clearly just blundering on stage because of the amplified soul tool, and his words were just a fit of anger! What kind of brilliant decision is that?!"

Yan Shaozhe shook his head in disapproval, put his hands behind his back, and made a heartbroken expression.

"How could you and I so easily fathom the wisdom of a master?" Yan Shaozhe retorted. "Moreover, even if we concede that the master's original intention was, you can't deny that his words genuinely ignited a long-lost enthusiasm and cohesion among the students of the academy, can you?"

"Human hearts are at work, Lin'er. All I can say is that the master and our students have achieved some kind of spiritual resonance and consensus."

Upon hearing this sophistry and illogical argument, Xian Lin'er's face instantly darkened to the point of almost dripping water, but she couldn't find any words to refute it for a moment.

She knew all too well that in Shrek Academy, the Martial Soul system was the absolute authority, the pinnacle of power.

And what about the Soul Guidance Department? They're already grateful to be even allowed to sit at the table for a meal.

Shrek Academy, the world's number one academy, searched both its inner and outer courtyards but couldn't find a single level nine Soul Master, let alone a handful of level eight Soul Masters! But Title Douluos and Super Douluos? They were a dime a dozen!

Ironically, Xian Lin'er, as the legitimate dean of the Soul Guidance Department, possessed a martial soul cultivation at the Super Douluo level, which was her most impressive strength.

Even more critically, in Shrek Academy's conservative atmosphere, Soul Guidance Technology has always been firmly labeled with the negative tag of the Sun Moon Empire, the enemy.

Every year when the new students are recruited, the Soul Guidance Department has no right to actively select good candidates. They can only pick up the scraps that Yan Shaozhe and his Martial Soul Department have left over, those with insufficient talent.

In the original timeline, as soon as Ma Xiaotao suppressed her evil fire and returned to the team, the first thing she did was to kick out the only Soul Master in the Shrek Academy's regular team without any scruples.

In Shrek Academy, there is no such thing as "Martial Soul System" and "Soul Guidance System" being equally important.

To put it bluntly, the two are actually a martial soul system and someone who can't even enter the martial soul system.

Xian Lin'er bit her lower lip tightly. She knew she couldn't argue with Yan Shaozhe, that old fox, and she also knew that the Soul Guidance Department's status among students was far inferior to that of the Martial Soul Department, so she had no real confidence.

She took a deep breath and turned to look at the old man on the recliner.

"Teacher, you decide."

"How exactly should we appease the students in the Soul Guidance Department? And what attitude should we adopt when negotiating with the master?"

"Or rather—if we really listen to the Grandmaster and those students' ideas, is there any need for our Shrek Soul Guidance Department to continue existing?"

Inside the Sea God Pavilion, the atmosphere was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

On the large recliner, Moon was lost in deep thought, his cloudy eyes filled with weariness.

To be fair, Moon is definitely a qualified guardian of Shrek Academy and a kind old man deeply respected by his juniors.

But he is definitely not a qualified leader.

Although he is often praised as wise and intelligent, deep down he is an extremely indecisive person.

The Martial Soul Department suppresses the Soul Guidance Department at every turn. How could he, as the highest authority of the Sea God Pavilion and the teacher of both Yan Shaozhe and Xian Lin'er, not see this kind of infighting and injustice? He was naturally well aware of it.

However, Shrek Academy's ancestral principle of prioritizing martial spirits cannot be changed. The factional focus and entanglements of interests accumulated over thousands of years cannot be reversed by a single, casual remark from Mu En.

In the original timeline, he personally went to the Sun Moon Empire and witnessed firsthand the super-large linked soul tool that was powerful enough to threaten the lives of Limit Douluo and even directly change the course of a war. Only then was he truly awakened.

Even so, he kept putting it off until Huo Yuhao revealed his unparalleled talent. Only then did he seize the opportunity to start truly balancing the gap between the two systems.

However, now—the situation has changed.

A year ago, Ye Chenxing's heinous act of breaking into Shrek Academy and stealing their home planted a seed in Moon's heart.

He knew very well that if that mysterious white-haired boy wanted to, the six-winged angel who appeared out of nowhere alone would be enough to sweep away most of Shrek Academy! Although he was also a level 99 Limit Douluo, the suppression of his martial soul quality, coupled with his own crippled body, made him no match for the other party at all.

If it really comes to a fight to the death, even if he sacrifices his life to self-destruct, at most he can only force the opponent back. Meanwhile, Shrek Academy's high-level combat power will be reduced by at least half!

What's more, standing beside that young man is the strongest soul beast from the Star Dou Great Forest! If these two powerful figures join forces, Shrek Academy might be completely wiped off the map of the continent tomorrow.

Little did Mu En know that Qian Renxue's conditions for taking action were extremely harsh. Faced with this enormous crisis of survival, he had no choice but to guard the Sea God Pavilion like a frightened bird, not daring to leave even for a moment.

This directly led to the fact that he did not personally go to the Sun Moon Empire as he did in the original story.

Having never witnessed the Sun Moon Empire's rapidly evolving soul-guided technology firsthand, Mu En's current level of understanding of soul-guided devices is far less than that of his original timeline.

In his eyes, soul tools were useful, but not that important.

"well----"

On the recliner, Moon slowly opened his eyes and let out a sigh.

"Lin'er————"

Xianlin'er's heart skipped a beat; she already understood her teacher's decision.

"Since our ancestor Yu Xiaogang made this request, then naturally—he had his reasons."

"Not long ago, Shrek Academy suffered a near-collapse." Moon seemed oblivious to the despair in Xianlin'er's eyes and continued, "Now, as the academy is in turmoil, our ancestor Yu Xiaogang has just happened to descend at this time. This is very likely the greatest opportunity that Heaven, or the Sea God, has given us at Shrek Academy to overcome this crisis."

"We—perhaps should follow his guidance."

"Teacher! How could you do this?!"

Xian Lin'er became completely anxious: "Master Yu Xiaogang himself said! He's not some divine messenger sent down by the Sea God at all!"

Mu En suddenly raised his cloudy eyes and stared straight at Xian Lin'er.

Are you sure?

"this----"

Xian Lin'er's voice abruptly stopped. She opened her mouth, her face as pale as paper, but she could no longer utter a single word in rebuttal.

Yes, is she sure? Does she dare to gamble with Shrek's millennia-old faith and the name of the Sea God? Faced with this fanatical blind obedience, all reason and truth seem so pale and powerless.

Seeing that his views were supported by his teacher, Yan Shaozhe immediately beamed with joy.

"Stop struggling, Lin'er. Who is Master Yu Xiaogang? He's the wise man who personally trained the original Shrek Seven Devils and nurtured seven gods! Listening to his guidance is always the right thing to do."

"No matter how powerful a soul tool is, it's still just an external object, a strange and ingenious trick. Could a pile of scrap metal possibly be more powerful than a god?"

Xian Lin'er trembled all over. Even though she had a million reasons to be dissatisfied, she could only grit her teeth and swallow her anger in the face of the title of God. She lowered her head deeply, her face full of resentment.

Seeing this, Qian Duoduo quickly stepped forward, put his arm around his wife's shoulder, and whispered words of comfort with a bitter expression on his face.

Mu En sighed, "However, while the master's words make sense, we can't take a blanket approach. Completely banning it would be too cruel for those students who have already chosen the Soul Guidance Department."

"Alright, let's make the Soul Tool course an elective. As for the Soul Tool Department—effective immediately, it will be dissolved as an independent entity, and the entire department will be..."

Let's merge them into the Martial Soul System and put them under Shao Zhe's management.

In just a few words, Shrek Academy's Soul Guidance Department was rendered defunct in name only.

Watching her mother lie peacefully inside the high-tech testing chamber, Jiang Nannan's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down.

Although she hadn't received a clear treatment plan yet, she had a gut feeling that once she arrived at the Star Tower, her mother's illness could be cured.

"Excuse me, are you Ms. Jiang Nannan?"

A clear, crisp female voice came from behind.

Jiang Nannan turned around at the sound and saw a pretty girl with short orange hair.

"Yes, that's me. And who are you?"

When Ju Zi saw Jiang Nannan's face, she was slightly taken aback. She really didn't expect that she would encounter another stunning beauty in less than two days.

In terms of looks and figure alone, she is in no way inferior to the girls around Ye Chenxing.

However, Orange has a strong mental fortitude; the surprise in her eyes vanished in an instant, and she quickly regained her composure.

"Miss Jiang Nannan, I've seen your internal file. You're a member of the Star Tower's Tiandou City branch," Orange said with a professional smile and gentle tone. "You came to our Sun Moon Empire headquarters for treatment specifically through Nana's recommendation, right?"

"Yes." Jiang Nannan nodded gently.

Orange's smile deepened: "That's quite a coincidence. When I joined Star Tower, I went for the interview in the same batch as Nana."

"Really?" Jiang Nannan's tense expression relaxed a little, and her eyes lit up immediately.

Arriving alone in a foreign land with her seriously ill mother, especially in the Sun Moon Empire where soul-guided technology is extremely advanced, one can imagine her anxiety.

Although the orange-haired girl in front of her was a complete stranger, Jiang Nannan felt much more at ease with the shared acquaintance "Nana" as a bond.

Seeing Jiang Nannan lower her guard, Ju Zi's lips curled up slightly, secretly pleased.

Sure enough, my social skills in winning people over haven't diminished at all! It's just that Ye Chenxing and the monsters around him are too overpowered and too abnormal that I feel completely useless.

Thinking of the cold-hearted Qian Gu Dong Feng, the unapproachable Gu Yue, and the completely unpredictable Gu Ye Qiu, she couldn't help but feel a wave of weariness.

"Please follow me. I will guide you through the entire process from now on."

"Thank you for your help."

The test was completed in no time.

Orange received a detailed medical examination report from the headquarters technicians. Her eyes swept over the dense data, and her brows furrowed more and more unconsciously.

She sighed and handed the report to Jiang Nannan.

Jiang Nannan quickly reached out and took it. The paper was filled with a dense array of physical indicators, its complexity almost five times that of the report from the Tiandou City branch tower.

Just as Jiang Nannan was carefully reading through the document, Ju Zi explained in a deep voice, "Your mother's condition is a severe case of congenital heart disease."

This disease might not be a big deal if it occurred to a high-level Soul Master with strong cultivation. But your mother is just an ordinary person, and with years of overwork, her body is extremely weak.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Nannan's beautiful eyes instantly welled up with tears, and her fingers holding the report trembled slightly: "Then—can it still be treated?"

"It can definitely be cured," Orange reassured her, but then looked troubled. "However, this treatment will probably take a long time. Conservatively speaking, it will require continuous treatment with the headquarters' equipment every day, and the entire cycle will last up to six months."

"Six months?" Jiang Nannan was taken aback.

She brought her mother out this time during the academy's holiday. Shrek Academy's outer courtyard holiday is only a month long, and half of it is already over!

Shrek's school rules have always been outrageously strict.

Even though she is now a core disciple of the outer academy, she cannot be considered Shrek Academy's truly irreplaceable genius. There are at least ten students in the outer academy with similar aptitude to her.

In other words, she wasn't that important in Shrek.

She had never heard of Shrek Academy allowing students to take a leave of absence midway through their studies! If she did not return on time, she would surely be ruthlessly expelled from the academy.

Perhaps a person with twin martial souls—one main martial soul and one ultimate martial soul—could make Shrek Academy give them a break, but that's definitely not Jiang Nannan. However, Jiang Nannan didn't even hesitate for a fraction of a second.

Between being a core disciple of Shrek Academy and having a mother to depend on for survival, the answer is obvious.

She made up her mind; she would stay.