Sea God Pavilion.
The golden-wood house, at the very core of Shrek Academy.
Su Wen leaned by the window, breathing the fresh air, enjoying the unmatched view of the mountains.
As for where he would live—
Yan Shaozhe and Xian Lin'er had argued fiercely at the Sea God Pavilion meeting, since wherever Su Wen stayed, that department would have a huge advantage in getting close to him, and could build favor more easily.
But in the end, Elder Mu waved his hand: no more arguing, Su Wen would stay at Sea God Pavilion.
The current Sea God Pavilion headquarters was carved out of the ancient golden tree itself by generations of Pavilion elders. All the furniture—tables, windows—was made from its wood.
Other than a few elders, almost no one else could live there.
The climate was perfect, the atmosphere quiet.
A truly excellent place.
Su Wen glanced at Gale, who was looking at him eagerly, and nodded:
"Go ahead and play, but only on the island, don't run too far…"
"Roar!!"
Gale pounded its chest in excitement.
Su Wen opened Gale's panel, stroked his chin thoughtfully. Its base stat had reached 0.41—clearly a result of Su Wen's own soul power rising.
This meant he, Gale, and all future bonded pets would likely share cultivation levels. But if a soul beast he bonded with was much higher in level than him, it would be capped to his level.
Also, by his guess, Gale's wind attribute would improve with its next evolution. If it reached Ultimate Wind, that would be incredible…
Ultimate attributes gave huge boosts to martial souls.
Ling Luochen was just ordinary ice and was already a genius, but if she had Ultimate Ice, her power would double—she'd be almost as important as Zhang Lexuan!
Ma Xiaotao had the Evil Fire Phoenix, a top-tier martial soul, also Ultimate Fire. But she could barely control that ultimate power and often needed to vent, sometimes even losing control. Only after paying many costs could she possess that strength.
So you can see how rare ultimate attributes are.
But if all ten of his pets evolved to ultimate attributes…
He couldn't even imagine how awesome that would be.
He was getting carried away. Su Wen smacked his lips, still looking forward to what Gale's final form would be.
It should look pretty cool.
He sat cross-legged on the bed and started to cultivate.
Maybe thanks to the golden tree, cultivation here was at least 1.2 times faster than even the core of Star Dou Forest. The spiritual energy in the forest core was already dense, but it couldn't compare to the golden tree. Truly powerful…
The spiritual core in his body was only thumb-sized, but it sat at his abdomen's center, like a second heart, continuously supplying soul power to his whole body.
By evening, as the sun set—
Su Wen exhaled heavily and opened his eyes.
He nodded in satisfaction:
"Not bad. At this rate, I'll reach rank fifteen in two months."
Power. It's all about power...
Su Wen stretched and called for Gale.
The two of them headed for the Inner Court's exclusive dining hall.
There was no cafeteria on Sea God Island, nor any bridge or path to the Academy. But there were boats at the shore leading to the Inner Court. Su Wen hopped onto a boat, checked the direction, and rowed toward the Inner Court.
The Inner Court dining hall wasn't large. Because of the mission to hunt evil soul masters and the yearly graduation, there were rarely more than fifty students in the Inner Court. If this latest mission had gone wrong, a fifth of the Inner Court would have died—a terrible loss.
"Whose child is this?"
Lu Xiaoxiao peeked through the partition and nearly missed seeing this little shorty. At first, she thought he was just a short new Inner Court disciple, but on closer look, he was a six- or seven-year-old who had just awakened his martial soul. She asked, puzzled:
Could it be that some older Inner Court disciples just couldn't help themselves and had a kid?
Then again, in Douluo's precocious world, Inner Court members were already in their thirties, so it wasn't impossible.
"Auntie, I just joined Shrek Academy," Su Wen said, a bit embarrassed.
Once he got to the cafeteria, he realized he needed a meal card.
He muttered to himself—he should have found Sister Xiaotao first.
Without a guide, he really was lost.
"You're a Shrek student?"
Lu Xiaoxiao laughed, covering her mouth.
"Shrek doesn't recruit until age twelve. You can't be more than seven, right? Honestly, who are your parents?"
"Eh… Xiao Wen, what are you doing here?"
Just as Su Wen was feeling awkward, a familiar voice spoke up behind him.
Zhang Yi looked surprised as he checked Su Wen over:
"Since we got back, I wanted to visit you at the Sea God Pavilion, but wasn't allowed. Elder Mu said you were recovering. We were all worried, but you look fine now?"
"Yes, Senior Zhang Yi. My martial soul has recovered—it didn't break, so I was lucky." Su Wen nodded, secretly breathing a sigh of relief. A savior!
"Eh, you two know each other?"
Lu Xiaoxiao looked at them in surprise. Zhang Yi was considered one of the Academy's top talents; he reached Soul Sage at twenty-seven, and his family was prestigious. In the Academy, he was very proud.
No matter what, he shouldn't be so chummy with a six-year-old, right?
"Oh, right, I forgot to introduce you."
Zhang Yi smacked his forehead and grinned:
"Let me formally introduce you. This is junior brother Su Wen. In the Star Dou Forest, he bought us a whole minute against the Blood-Eating Demon Tiger. Without him, our team would have been wiped out."
"What?!!"
Lu Xiaoxiao's eyes widened as she stared at Su Wen in astonishment.
He just scratched his head, embarrassed.
...
Slurp~
Su Wen wolfed down his noodles, the stack of empty plates in front of him growing.
After a month without eating, even though the golden tree had kept his energy up, his hunger was very real.
Zhang Yi left early for other business.
Lu Xiaoxiao, around thirty years old, wearing a chef's hat and a white apron, sat beside him, watching him tenderly.
As Shrek's top nutritionist—
She was anything but weak herself, with soul power at peak Soul Douluo. So she could relate to what Zhang Yi had said. If she had to face the pressure of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, she'd be pale and shaking too.
"Want more?"
Lu Xiaoxiao gently took away his empty plates and asked softly.
Burp ~
"I'm full."
Su Wen shook his head.