In the end, Su Cheng returned to the academy alone.
Upon entering the school gate, he found Dugu Bo standing not far away, waiting for someone.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, somewhat surprised, and changed direction to walk over.
"Waiting for you." Dugu Bo seemed relieved to see Su Cheng. "If you hadn't said you'd be back at the academy today, I would have gone to Sunset Forest to find you."
"What's the rush?"
"A lot of people have come to the academy. I'm not a teacher, so I didn't pay much attention at first. But I overheard some people talking, and it seems they have something to do with the second team's spot. I think you'd better go check it out."
Su Cheng's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately realized that it was probably the Shrek Academy students.
He knew that Shrek Academy had a plan to "borrow a chicken to lay an egg" by using Heaven Dou Royal Academy's competition spot, but he didn't know the specific timing.
Moreover, many things had changed, and who knew if those people would still come, so he hadn't paid much attention.
He hadn't expected to run into them today.
Currently, the Fourth Prince, Xue Beng, is in the palace, being groomed as the Crown Prince by Emperor Xue Ye. Prince Xue Xing has also gained considerable power and is busy with many affairs, so it seems that no one can stop this matter.
But that's on the premise that he doesn't interfere.
Su Cheng's influence in the Royal Academy is not low now. With his multiple identities, even the members of the Teaching Committee cannot ignore his ideas and act arbitrarily.
After a moment's thought, he didn't take the matter too seriously and looked at Dugu Bo, saying, "Senior, don't be in a hurry. If you want a spot in the second team, you have to ask our opinion, right? Shall we go and take a look together?"
"Get this straight, what happens to the second team has nothing to do with me. My granddaughter is in the first team."
Dugu Bo snorted coldly, but still followed along.
Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Teaching Committee.
The three Soul Douluo powerhouses of the Teaching Committee sat in the main seats, and Qin Ming, the team leader of the Royal Dou First Team, also sat in the second seat.
Opposite them was the Shrek Academy group.
Six teachers, including Flander and Yu Xiaogang, sat in the guest seats.
In addition, seven students stood behind them.
Compared to before, besides Dai Mubai, Oscar, Tang San, Ma Hongjun, Xiao Wu, and Zhu Zhuqing, there's now an additional support-type Soul Master among the students.
While his talent isn't as high as the others, it's still quite impressive.
This is a student Flander specifically sought out to give them a chance to participate in this competition.
As a veteran Soul Saint, he still has some connections within the academy.
But even with seven students, it's still not enough.
Shrek Academy is considered a low-level academy, not recognized by the two great empires or various kingdoms, and therefore doesn't qualify for the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament. They need other ways to obtain a spot.
After their chance encounter with Qin Ming at the Soul Arena, these teachers conceived this idea—to leverage the resources and slots of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy to guarantee these students' participation.
According to Qin Ming, the Heaven Dou Royal Academy is currently weak, especially its second team.
Besides one offensive Soul Master and one support-type Soul Master, they have almost no other competitive strength.
Moreover, in Qin Ming's view, those two team members who had never trained with the team, while talented, lacked team spirit, contradicting the educational philosophy he had received at Shrek Academy. Their overall strength was inevitably inferior to these young juniors.
As long as they were willing to come to the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, they would surely gain the approval of the three committee members and obtain a spot in the competition.
At this moment, the three Soul Douluos on the committee were also hesitant.
The aptitude of these young people was indeed excellent, arguably surpassing more than 90% of the students in their academy.
But to be honest, even if these people joined the academy, it would only be icing on the cake.
They had already conducted a test.
Zhu Zhuqing and Tang San, whom Qin Ming had repeatedly praised, not only possessed qualities far exceeding their peers, but they had even managed to raise their cultivation level by one level under the pressure of Soul Douluo Zhilin's aura.
Furthermore, Tang San, the control-type Soul Master, also possessed an external Soul Bone.
But Su Cheng also had an external Soul Bone.
Qin Ming was in charge of Team One, and Su Cheng, being a recluse, naturally didn't know much about him, his impression of him still stuck on when he led Team One over a year ago.
But Qin Ming didn't know that these members of the Education Committee had a general understanding of his strength.
Moreover, not to mention Su Cheng,
even Ning Rongrong, who came from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, had already reached level thirty-eight, no weaker than Zhu Zhuqing, who had just broken through.
And in terms of importance in team battles, Ning Rongrong, a support-type Soul Master with the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul, undoubtedly had far greater strategic significance than Zhu Zhuqing.
But these weren't the key points.
The key point was that the control of the Royal Fighting Team Two was actually in Su Cheng's hands.
Even with their status, they didn't have the final say. No matter
how strong or high-ranking three Soul Douluos were, they couldn't compare to the prestige of a Title Douluo, especially since that Poison Douluo was the only guest elder of the Imperial Royal Family.
Not to mention that Su Cheng not only had a close personal relationship with that Poison Douluo, but that person also had the backing of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, as well as the powerful Prince Xue Xing and the Fourth Prince. Prince Xue Xing was even the head of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
Su Cheng did indeed usually keep to himself, but that was only because he didn't want to be distracted by trivial matters; it didn't mean he could be easily manipulated.
After thinking for a moment, the head of the teaching committee, Meng Shenji, looked at Flander and the others and said tactfully, "It is our honor that you have come to our academy. However, I'm sure Teacher Qin has mentioned to you that Team Two actually has two exceptionally talented members. We also need to consider the thoughts and feelings of the other students, and we cannot make a decision too early."
Flander and the others already knew a thing or two about what Meng Shenji was saying, but they weren't too concerned.
In Qin Ming's words, those two were indeed quite talented, one of them even being the current successor of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School.
But they were probably just ordinary geniuses, certainly not comparable to the monster students at Shrek Academy.
Moreover, the Royal Fighting Team One, which trained under Qin Ming, was only this strong, let alone the Royal Fighting Team Two.
He immediately asked, "What level of strength do these two people you mentioned possess?"
Meng Shenji thought for a moment and simply said, "The support-type Soul Master from the second team is not yet fourteen years old, but his Soul Power cultivation has already reached level thirty-eight."
He only mentioned Ning Rongrong's situation and did not mention Su Cheng.
Mainly, he was afraid that even if he told Su Cheng, the other party might not believe him and might think that he looked down on them and was deliberately exaggerating.
That was not the result Meng Shenji hoped for.
Even if the two sides could not cooperate in the end, he did not want to make enemies with the other party.
However, even if it was just Ning Rongrong, it would be enough to make the other party look at him with new eyes.
Seeing that the other party only mentioned one of them, Flander assumed that the other person's talent was a notch below.
But even so, he was extremely surprised.
At the same time, he felt secretly excited. He did not expect that there would really be such a genius in the Heaven Dou Academy.
If he really stayed here in the future, wouldn't there be a chance to recruit him to his academy and make up for the current predicament of the Shrek team's weak support-type Soul Masters?
He had complete faith in Yu Xiaogang's teaching abilities and was certain he would have a chance to defeat his opponent.
Although Yu Xiaogang had ultimately lost to Zhu Zhuqing in their bet a year ago,
it wasn't that he lacked skill; it was simply that Zhu Zhuqing's talent was too astonishing.
Today, after breaking through to level 38 in soul power cultivation, she had even surpassed Dai Mubai, the highest-ranking member of the team.
This bizarre speed of advancement even made him, a Soul Saint, feel secretly astonished.
On the other hand, Dai Mubai's soul power hadn't improved much in the past two years, remaining at level 37.
Just as Flander was lost in thought, Yu Xiaogang, sitting beside him, suddenly spoke calmly: "Three instructors, sometimes level doesn't fully prove strength. I'm not bragging, but all the students in our academy possess the ability to fight beyond their level." Upon hearing this, Meng Shenji
and the others exchanged glances, all thinking of the scene where Su Cheng became famous in a single battle when he first entered the academy.
"How about this, let my students have a match with members of your school's second team?"
"A match? With whom?"
Just then, a voice suddenly entered the Education Committee meeting room.
Su Cheng calmly walked into the room, showing no restraint despite being a student, and simply bowed slightly to the three Education Committee members.
The Shrek Academy members, who had their backs to the door, turned around at the same time upon hearing the voice, and saw a young man slowly walking in.
He didn't look very old, but his profound and composed aura surprised both Flander and Zhao Wuji, the two Soul Saints.
In addition, the dark golden twisted vertical line on his forehead was particularly eye-catching.
"An external soul bone...?"
A realization dawned on them simultaneously.
Tang San, a student from Shrek Academy, also possessed an external soul bone, so they naturally knew quite a bit about it.
Besides Su Cheng, a middle-aged man followed him silently like a phantom.
The man, clad in a grey robe, was tall and slender, with jet-black hair and beard, and cold, ruthless dark eyes.
The current Dugu Bo was different from before.
Due to the effects of the Snow Swan Kiss, his poison skills were more concentrated, and his appearance no longer betrayed any trace of poison.
His strength had also advanced further, breaking through to the peak Douluo realm of level ninety-five.
His power had returned to its original simplicity, appearing increasingly restrained, and even his appearance had become several years younger.
"Your Majesty Dugu,"
the three faculty members, seeing Dugu Bo arrive, dared not be presumptuous and rose to pay their respects.
After greeting the faculty members, Su Cheng turned to look at the Shrek Academy students before him.
His gaze first fell on Tang San, but did not linger, only fleetingly, finally settling on Zhu Zhuqing.
Upon seeing Su Cheng, the Shrek Academy students were equally unsettled.
Aside from the academy teachers who were shocked by his strength,
Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Zhu Zhuqing were the most shaken.
"How is this possible?!" Tang San found it hard to believe that he would encounter Su Cheng again here, and the latter's aura was far stronger than his own.
The latter's dismissive attitude, showing no regard for him whatsoever, only fueled his anger.
"It's him..." Xiao Wu trembled, the fear of her childhood seemingly resurfacing. She quietly gripped Tang San's broad hand beside her.
The cool touch of his fingers stung Tang San's heart.
He immediately understood that the inner demons Xiao Wu had once harbored had never truly disappeared; they had only been temporarily concealed with the other's vanishing presence.
"It's you!" Zhu Zhuqing was dazed.
Looking at Su Cheng's familiar face, voice, expression, and movements, she
was momentarily stunned.
Su Cheng's gaze swept over the Shrek Seven Devils.
"Student Su Cheng, unworthy of the position of captain of the Royal Fighting Team Two, who was it that said they wanted to spar with me?"
As he spoke, his martial soul, the Longevity Sword, appeared in his right hand, four spirit rings—yellow, purple, black, and purple—floating and swirling beneath his feet.
At the same time, a sword intent enveloped the seven Shrek Academy students.
====================
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(End of Chapter)