. It turns out that Ye Lingling's family was destroyed thirteen years ago.
Thirteen years ago, something happened, and her parents disappeared.
"Thank you, Miss Ye."
Although no one asked for anything in return, it's always good to express gratitude.
"I see your Martial Soul, Nine-Heart Begonia, is water-attribute. I think this will be useful to you."
Ma Hongjun said, taking out the ten-thousand-year-old Water Milk Crystal he obtained from the Water Dragon Pool from his belt and handing it to Ye Lingling.
The Nine-Heart Begonia is originally a top-grade begonia flower, and flowers naturally need water to nourish them. It can be said that most healing-type Soul Masters have some water attribute.
"Water Milk Crystal! Look at the quality! This is a top-grade ten-thousand-year-old Water Milk Crystal! Where did you get it?"
Ye Lingling was very excited. As a healing-type Soul Master, she naturally knew how precious this item was to water-attribute Soul Masters like them.
Not only could it help with cultivation, but most importantly, it could improve the quality of one's Martial Soul.
Especially gentle treasures like the Ten-Thousand-Year Water-Milk Crystal are more suitable for healing-type Soul Masters.
"Having this Ten-Thousand-Year Water-Milk Crystal makes things much easier.
It's perfect for treating Uncle Ma's injuries."
Ye Lingling's face lit up with joy. She gestured for Ma Ming to lie down, then took the Water-Milk Crystal from Ma Hongjun's hand and summoned the Nine-Heart Begonia.
The begonia in her hand emitted a faint light, and wisps of soul power guided the Ten-Thousand-Year Water-Milk Crystal in her other hand.
Immediately, the Water-Milk Crystal transformed into a blue, glassy liquid, which, enveloped by her petals, merged back into Ma Ming's body.
"With this bone-strengthening plaster formed from the Ten-Thousand-Year Water-Milk Crystal, Uncle Ma can recover. Given the quality of this Water-Milk Crystal, if Uncle Ma doesn't use soul power in battle, it can maintain its activity for at least ten years under normal living conditions.
That means for now, for the next ten years, there's no need to worry about Uncle Ma's injuries."
This was undoubtedly a very unexpected piece of good news.
Fortunately, Ma Hongjun was a grateful person; if he hadn't been willing to part with this treasure, there wouldn't have been the subsequent treatment.
This also shows that Ye Lingling is a kind girl. Not only did she agree to help save people without hesitation, but just now, faced with a treasure that was extremely precious to her, she didn't hide it and used it to save people without a second thought.
Ma Hongjun only took out one; she had no idea how many such treasures she possessed.
This greatly increased Ma Hongjun's goodwill towards this girl; she was truly an angel.
However, perhaps because her parents weren't around when she was young, she became a melancholy angel.
Ma Hongjun also had over twenty pieces of crystal milk. This time, Ma Hongjun directly took out half and gave it to her.
"Miss Ye, these are for you!"
He kept half because he was worried that if he couldn't find a soul bone, he could use it to treat Ma Ming.
To celebrate Ma Ming's improved condition, Ma Hongjun's courtyard was festive today, with everyone having lunch there.
In the afternoon, the students and teachers from both academies sat down for a formal exchange meeting.
Grandmaster, as if he had planned this all along, proposed that the Shrek Academy students join the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
This was undoubtedly a pleasant surprise for the Heaven Dou side; the addition of so many talented students was a source of pride for the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
However, the Grandmaster's condition was a spot in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament a year later.
The Heaven Dou Royal Academy had two spots: one for the main team that would directly advance to the finals, and the other for the vice-team that would start from the preliminaries.
"Of course, there's no problem. With the strength of our junior brothers and sisters, participating in this tournament is no problem at all. I think even the elders of the academy's teaching committee would agree.
However, Shrek Academy is the culmination of the Dean's years of hard work. Now that it's joining Heaven Dou, wouldn't that be..."
"I have no problem. I'll leave this to Xiao Gang's arrangements." Flander still looked somewhat uncomfortable, but he resolutely said.
This matter had already been discussed before,
and Ma Hongjun was also present at the time. Although Shrek Academy had been established for many years, it had always been isolated and independent. Shrek Academy had never registered with any kingdom or empire because it lacked the necessary infrastructure. Although Shrek Academy had a reputation in the soul master world, that didn't translate into qualification for the tournament.
So the Grandmaster devised a plan: join an academy with qualifying spots and use their quota to compete.
However, to ensure the team's integrity, joining the Heaven Dou Royal Academy was the best option, as it had two slots.
It was essentially a case of "borrowing a hen to lay eggs"—the people remained the same, but Shrek Academy's name was no longer there.
Therefore, Flander was still quite saddened, as this was the academy he had built and upheld for so many years.
The decision to join was thus made amicably.
He arranged to meet Qin Ming at the Heaven Dou Royal Academy two months later, after which he would take the Royal Fighting Team on a tour.
The Royal Fighting Team members stayed for another seven days, exchanging skills and learning from the Shrek Academy members.
Before parting, Ye Lingling approached Ma Hongjun alone.
"I want to ask you for a favor.
Over the years, I've gathered some clues; my parents' disappearance is very likely related to the Spirit Hall."
"But the Spirit Hall is too strict and powerful, I can't investigate it thoroughly, and as a support spirit master, my strength is too weak.
I hope that within your capabilities, you can help me find my parents.
My mother's name is Tong Xinyan, and my father's name is Ye Wu."
Ye Lingling then gave a brief account of her parents' situation, but she herself couldn't remember clearly; it had been thirteen years, and she was so young at the time.
It was because she witnessed Ma Hongjun's extraordinary strength and talent that Ye Lingling felt the urge to ask for help.
With Ma Hongjun's growth rate, he was estimated to have a place in the spirit master world in less than ten years. With his help then, finding her parents would be much easier.
Ma Hongjun readily agreed.
After the Royal Fighting Team left, Shrek Academy resumed its cultivation life.
The first batch of parts in the blacksmith shop had been produced. Because they required refined iron, the material manufacturing process was time-consuming. Even with everyone in the blacksmith shop working, their abilities were limited, so they only managed to manufacture ten sets of each of the following mechanical hidden weapons: the Zhuge Divine Crossbow, the Silent Sleeve Arrow, the Sand-Spitting Shadow Arrow, and the Tight-Backed Flower-Patterned Crossbow.
After equipping all eight members of Shrek Academy, the rest were left for Ning Rongrong to keep.
For the next two months, they entered study mode again.
Ma Hongjun continued practicing the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear, and also began practicing the Dark Gold Terror Claw.
Tang San was the busiest, forced to improve his strength because of Xiao Wu.
Besides training, he also had to assemble hidden weapons, and he even opened a small blacksmith shop in his room. Some special hidden weapons could only be operated by him.
This wasn't just because he was afraid of exposing his secret, but also because of those... Ordinary blacksmiths' skills weren't enough to create his intricate creations.
Two months later, Tang San forged something new: the Flying Claw.
This hidden weapon was more like a tool, its offensive power not very strong.
In short, it was an essential tool for scaling walls, sneaking through doors, and picking locks.
Two months had passed, and it was time to set off for the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
After some consideration, Ma Hongjun's parents chose to stay in Shrek Village and not go with them. They
would decide whether to go after Ma Hongjun was settled. Actually, Ma Ming and Li Hui were quite enjoying their life; Ma Hongjun's presence was rather of a hindrance. Now that he's grown up, he should go out and explore. As long as we can see each other every now and then and know what's going on, that 's enough.
In these past two months, everyone has improved.
But the biggest improvements have undoubtedly been seen in Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong.
Besides the daily supply of hot dogs for their cultivation, it's
also thanks to Ma Hongjun's tireless energy input every night. Now that Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing live together, Ma Hongjun can manage on his own.
There's plenty of energy, so they don't have to share it all.
They can eat as much as they want, until they're full.
With this double help, they both successfully advanced, breaking through level 30.
Now, Ma Hongjun's reputation as the "Golden Spear" is deeply ingrained in the hearts of the two women.