Few people knew of Zhang Lexuan's departure.
After simply going to bid farewell to Elder Mu, she headed straight for the Spirit Transmission Pagoda.
Standing before the Spirit Transmission Pagoda, Zhang Lexuan paused slightly. Looking at the towering black pagoda, a sense of unnaturalness involuntarily arose in her heart.
It was the unnaturalness that comes with a change in identity.
Once, she was a member of Shrek; now, she had come to the Spirit Transmission Pagoda.
The sense of displacement brought by this shift in status was stronger than she had imagined.
"Eldest Senior Sister!?"
Suddenly, a surprised and joyful voice rang out.
Zhang Lexuan looked over and saw a figure walking quickly toward her.
"Lin Le?"
"Mhm, long time no see, Eldest Senior Sister!" Lin Le replied with a smile.
Zhang Lexuan hesitated for a moment, but then she suddenly noticed something and asked tentatively:
"Your arm..."
"My arm?" Lin Le blinked, following Zhang Lexuan's gaze to his hand, which was covered by a black glove.
"Oh, this. This is a custom soul tool arm the Pagoda Master made for me. It can connect to soul power and even mimic the circulation of my own meridians, so my cultivation speed is no different than before.
"Aside from not being flesh and blood, it's almost identical to my old arm."
Lin Le removed the glove, revealing a silver-gray arm with a metallic luster.
For him, having his arm crippled was almost equivalent to his path of cultivation being severed. However, after joining the Spirit Transmission Pagoda, that loss had been compensated for.
One could say it was a blessing in disguise.
Zhang Lexuan looked at Lin Le, feeling a strange silence as she sensed the genuine, unfeigned joy radiating from him.
"But, Eldest Senior Sister, why have you come to the Spirit Transmission Pagoda?"
Lin Le returned to the main topic.
Zhang Lexuan fell silent again. After a pause, she spoke: "I am here to join the Spirit Transmission Pagoda."
"Join the Spirit Transmission Pagoda!?" Lin Le's tone became visibly more excited. Simultaneously, a faint, lingering trace of wariness he had been holding was eased.
"Yes." Zhang Lexuan nodded.
"That's great, Eldest Senior Sister! Sister Min Yue misses you a lot too! Maybe we can all get together then."
Lin Le gestured with his eyes toward some staff members wearing the Spirit Transmission Pagoda Security Department uniforms nearby, then looked back at Zhang Lexuan:
"Let's go, Eldest Senior Sister. I'll take you straight to the Pagoda Master's office. The Pagoda Master gave word beforehand."
Lin Le led the way as the two entered the Spirit Transmission Pagoda together. As they walked, Lin Le familiarly explained some matters needing attention within the pagoda, his tone carrying an indefinable quality.
"...Sister Min Yue can stand up now too. She's currently the head of the third team in the Spirit Transmission Pagoda Medical Department.
"Lately, she's been assisting with research related to life energy. They say it's about limb regeneration. Maybe in a while, this hand of mine can turn back into its original form..."
Lin Le chattered on. He had been a chatterbox in the Inner Court, and he was the same now. However, Zhang Lexuan heard emotions in Lin Le's words that she had never heard back at Shrek Inner Court.
That sense of pride and belonging was slightly different from the feeling when he used to shout "For the Glory of Shrek." This pride and belonging were purer, more real.
"Lin Le..."
Zhang Lexuan spoke hesitantly.
"What is it, Eldest Senior Sister?"
Lin Le smiled and turned back to look at Zhang Lexuan.
"Do you really think the Spirit Transmission Pagoda is better than Shrek Academy?"
Lin Le's expression froze for a moment. Then, his smile slowly vanished completely. He let out a soft sigh and spoke with a calm gaze:
"Eldest Senior Sister... although I wouldn't call myself a civilian soul master, my parents were only Soul Elders. If not for my good luck—a mutated Martial Soul and Rank 8 innate soul power—I wouldn't have made it into Shrek Academy.
"Similarly, if not for the Academy, my soul ring configuration could never have been optimal, nor would I have obtained soul skills so perfectly suited to me. After all, I didn't have the money to hire people to hunt soul rings for me.
"I am very grateful for Shrek's nurturing. That's why after joining the Inner Court, I actively completed missions, wanting to repay the Academy in that way.
"Regarding the Academy, I have a clear conscience!"
Lin Le's voice rose slightly, but he quickly realized his loss of composure. After calming down a bit, he continued:
"However, what did the Academy do for me?
"My arm being destroyed was the end of the road for me. I originally had full confidence in the Academy, thinking they would give us a good arrangement—at least some compensation so I wouldn't have worries for the rest of my life.
"But the reality was... the teacher sent to handle the matter threatened us with expulsion. They wanted us to kneel in public at the Sea God Pavilion meeting and apologize to Elder Xuan, so as to persuade him to stay, and to admit the mistake was ours, not Elder Xuan's..."
"What... how could..." Zhang Lexuan's pupils trembled. She wanted to question him, but looking at Lin Le's expression, she couldn't say a word.
"Heh... it seems Eldest Senior Sister didn't know."
"Did you agree?"
"What choice did I have?" Lin Le asked in return. "Eldest Senior Sister, I have parents, and a little sister at home who just turned six.
"Sister Min Yue could refuse directly, she could even scream and curse at that teacher. That's because her grandfather is Elder Zhuang, another elder of the Sea God Pavilion. Because of that, she has the right to decide her own life.
"But I can't. I don't have a so-called background. All I have is myself. My so-called dignity isn't as important as my parents and sister. I couldn't let them be affected.
"Eldest Senior Sister... as someone adopted by Elder Mu, you were different from us from the very beginning. And at Shrek, I couldn't see the hope I wanted."
Lin Le spoke sentence after sentence, each one destroying the beautiful perception of Shrek in Zhang Lexuan's heart.
If the incident with Elder Xuan and the subsequent handling of him had caused a crack in the beautiful fantasy Zhang Lexuan held for Shrek, then Lin Le's words were now making that crack expand frantically, revealing the filthy reality beneath the beautiful illusion.
His steps stopped. Lin Le brought Zhang Lexuan to a door. He turned around, took a deep breath, and slowly calmed his emotions:
"Eldest Senior Sister, consider this an answer to your first question. The Spirit Transmission Pagoda is indeed better than the Academy. As for the reason..."
Lin Le raised his soul tool prosthetic limb and spoke calmly: "At least the Spirit Transmission Pagoda has let me truly feel what 'hope' is."
Zhang Lexuan's heart jolted; she was suddenly speechless.
Lin Le sighed and shook his head slightly, then looked at Zhang Lexuan: "This is the Pagoda Master's office. You can go right in. I hope... I can be colleagues with you again."
Lin Le smiled, then turned and left.
Zhang Lexuan remained where she was, looking at Lin Le's receding figure and the door before her, falling into a deep state of confusion.