Awooo~"
The Flame Lion cowered in the shadows, staring resentfully outward.
It let out a long, mournful howl—like an abandoned husky.
Suddenly, the howl cut off.
A dark shadow loomed overhead.
A large chunk of raw meat—fresh and still dripping blood—was tossed in front of it.
Xiao Jin looked at it indifferently.
Unable to resist the temptation, the Flame Lion took a bite.
Noticing that Xiao Jin hadn't left and was watching it eat, it instinctively let out a low growl.
Xiao Jin: "..."
Food possession?
"Awooo——!!!"
A heart-wrenching howl echoed throughout the Beast Fighting Area.
Yan Shaozhe led the three of them back to Shrek City overnight.
Early morning.
The massive Shrek City was already bustling with life. Vendors pushing carts filled the streets from south to north, while all kinds of shops lined the main roads, creating a lively and prosperous scene.
Inside a small courtyard in the southern part of the city,
Old Zhuang stood beside Jiang Nannan's mother's sickbed. He glanced at her, then at Yan Shaozhe with mild surprise, and finally at Jiang Nannan's hopeful expression.
"Shaozhe, you called me over just to treat such a minor illness?" Old Zhuang asked.
"Old Zhuang, this situation is a little special…" Yan Shaozhe replied. His lips moved slightly as he spoke in a clear, sharp voice, briefly explaining the matter.
Jiang Nannan was actually one of Shrek Academy's newly promoted symbols—a commoner.
As an academy rather than a royal institution, Shrek Academy should be recruiting and cultivating commoners the most. This included small families without resources, as well as true geniuses like Jiang Nannan and Su Wen.
The latter was even more important.
In truth, many of the elders in the Sea God Pavilion were originally commoners themselves. However, after climbing to high positions and living in luxury for many years, very few people still remembered that fact.
Thus, Yan Shaozhe intended to use Jiang Nannan as a banner, attracting more talented commoners across the continent to apply to Shrek Academy.
But this also came with long-standing problems.
For example, very few commoners could awaken their martial souls across the entire continent. Unlike ten thousand years ago—when Spirit Hall provided free awakening services—even if commoners did awaken their martial souls, they would usually prioritize the sects that offered them resources, not Shrek Academy.
Local sects behaved like powerful clans, tightly controlling commoner resources. Even with Shrek Academy's reputation, it dared not easily disrupt this delicate balance.
Secondly, Yan Shaozhe had proposed that the Martial Soul Department travel around to help commoners awaken their martial souls. However, every time he brought this up, the elders strongly opposed it. Their reasoning was that this had once been Spirit Hall's responsibility, and doing so would only allow Spirit Hall to rise again.
He also wanted to abolish the city lord's recommendation letter system, but the elders insisted that ancestral rules could not be changed.
Only at the very end did Yan Shaozhe finally understand—
The elders wanted him to be a "qualified" dean of the Martial Soul Department, not a "saint."
But that was beside the point.
As Yan Shaozhe finished explaining, Elder Zhuang suddenly understood. His expression turned serious.
He raised his palm, and a surge of green energy gathered within it. A tender green sprout emerged, rapidly growing into a flower bud. The petals bloomed visibly before his eyes.
Elder Zhuang plucked three delicate pink petals and handed them to Jiang Nannan.
"Take one petal per day. The illness will be completely cured in three days."
"Thank you… thank you so much…" Jiang Nannan's beautiful eyes shimmered with excitement.
"If you want to thank someone, thank that little fellow," Elder Zhuang said, shaking his head. "If not for him, the academy wouldn't have known that your mother was seriously ill."
"Sister Nannan, give it to Auntie," Su Wen said calmly, seeing Jiang Nannan about to thank him again and quickly changing the topic.
"Alright."
As Jiang's mother swallowed the petal, her complexion visibly improved. The pale and sickly look caused by her illness vanished, and her face regained a healthy, radiant glow.
Thinking about it, this was only natural. Jiang Nannan was ranked among the top three beauties in the original novel—her mother's looks and genes were obviously excellent as well.
Days passed quietly.
Aside from daily cultivation, Su Wen would occasionally visit Jiang's mother.
He practiced the Ice and Fire Dual Heaven technique with Ma Xiaotao in the bathtub and discussed the true meaning of ice-attribute soul power with Ling Luochen.
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