"Can you please stop taking such long pauses when you speak? Just say it all at once!"
Everyone looked at Xiao Wu, speechless.
"Alright, Xiao Wu has also obtained her third spirit ring, which is a good thing. Ma Hongjun, Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, the three of you need to work harder and not fall behind the main group." Flander pushed up his glasses. Although he was admonishing them, his mouth was stretched into a wide grin. These students kept giving him, their dean, one surprise after another.
"This generation of yours is the best I've ever taught."
Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing's expressions remained relatively calm after hearing Flander's words. They just nodded solemnly. Among the Seven Devils, they were the youngest, and being level 27 and 28 respectively, they were doing quite well.
Only Ma Hongjun looked a bit dejected. He was about the same age as Tang San, yet he was only level 28, making him pretty much the laggard of the Seven Devils.
Ma Hongjun couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "Dean, it's not that we're not working hard; it's just that they're all so monstrously talented."
Just as everyone was preparing to return to the academy, Ye Zhiqiu chuckled and said, "I think flying back is less tiring than running back. Everyone, hold hands."
At Shrek Academy, the previously empty and deserted training ground saw thirteen figures suddenly appear silently after a gentle breeze swept through.
Looking at the familiar surroundings, Flander and the others, who had never experienced the Flying Thunder God's instantaneous movement ability, were all shocked and gasped sharply.
They all knew Ye Zhiqiu had a teleportation spirit ability, but to instantly move directly from the middle of the Star Dou Great Forest to Shrek Academy, more than 1,200 li away, crossing 700 kilometers of the outer region of the Star Dou Great Forest, and then another 500 li between the academy and the forest, and Ye Zhiqiu even brought so many people with him…
What kind of heaven-defying spirit ability was this?
If they hadn't experienced it themselves, they probably would have dismissed it as a joke if someone had told them.
It was the first time they realized just how deeply Ye Zhiqiu had hidden his abilities.
"A monstrous talent. Ten years from now, this child will surely have a place on the Douluo Continent. It's a pity the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan got to him first, sigh." Dragon Duke Meng Shu's expression was a little dazed as he muttered in shock.
Meng Shu looked at Ye Zhiqiu, shook his head with a hint of regret, and then turned to Flander, saying, "Dean Flander, we'll leave them to you. Don't worry about my feelings; just arrange the training as you see fit. We still have many family matters to attend to, so we'll take our leave."
Flander nodded and smiled, "Don't worry, Senior Dragon Duke. I can't promise to teach them perfectly, but there will absolutely be no issues with their safety."
"Mm." Meng Shu and Chao Tianxiang both nodded and slowly walked towards the academy exit.
Ye Zhiqiu watched the two leaving, his mind turning. He looked at everyone and said, "I'll go see the two seniors off."
Then, Ye Zhiqiu chased after their retreating figures.
The teachers and students of Shrek Academy were all puzzled. When did Ye Zhiqiu become so polite?
At the main gate of Shrek Academy, Ye Zhiqiu caught up with Dragon Duke and Snake Dowager.
"Seniors, please wait."
Meng Shu and Chao Tianxiang turned and smiled at the trotting Ye Zhiqiu, asking, "Is Vice Dean Qiu still busy?"
Ye Zhiqiu nodded, "It's nothing major. It's just about my spirit rings and my identity. I hope the two seniors won't spread it around. Just pretend you didn't see me at Shrek Academy."
Meng Shu and Chao Tianxiang exchanged a look, a little surprised.
How many people on the Douluo Continent longed for fame but couldn't achieve it? Spirit Masters who fought desperately in the Great Spirit Arena generally held this mentality: to become famous overnight, be valued by a major power, and then rise to prominence.
This young man, however, not only didn't want fame but wanted to hide? However, Meng Shu couldn't easily refuse Ye Zhiqiu's request, so he nodded and said, "Don't worry, my wife and I are not gossips. Since you've asked, we naturally won't speak carelessly."
"Then I thank the two seniors." Ye Zhiqiu smiled faintly and clasped his fists. After seeing them out of Shrek Academy's humble gate, he turned and returned the way he came.
He had specifically chased after them for this matter.
The people at Shrek Academy had been instructed by him, so they naturally wouldn't reveal anything, but Dragon Duke and Snake Dowager were outsiders, so he had to be extra careful.
Lest someone with ulterior motives overhear and cause trouble for him or his clone.
As for whether Dragon Duke and Snake Dowager would forget their promise and spread the news everywhere the next day, Ye Zhiqiu felt that the possibility was quite small.
They were so old; they should have some dignity, right?
After returning to Shrek Academy, Ye Zhiqiu went straight to the cafeteria. It was morning, and during their time in the Star Dou Great Forest, they had been eating dry rations every day and hadn't had time for any wild game. His mouth had long since become bland.
Ye Zhiqiu paused when he arrived at the cafeteria. Everyone, no one was missing, they were all there.
And there was one more person.
"Oh, Grandmaster, when did you arrive?" Ye Zhiqiu quickly walked over.
Sitting next to Flander was a man with a somewhat expressionless face. His expression seemed to never change; it was Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang.
Seeing Ye Zhiqiu, Yu Xiaogang's mouth twitched, and he gave a stiff, dry laugh, "I arrived yesterday. You all went to the Star Dou Great Forest, so we didn't meet. Xiao Qiu, I just heard everything from Flander about you. You are exceptionally gifted, and your future is limitless. Given time, becoming a Titled Douluo is almost a certainty."
"Emmm, Grandmaster, I think your insight is particularly unique, your eyes are like torches, but the description might be just a tiny bit understated." Ye Zhiqiu gave a thumbs-up, not modest at all. Instead, he chuckled and sat down next to Ning Rongrong, grabbing a chicken leg and biting into it.
Everyone: …
"Damn, how shameless! Titled Douluo is still understated? Are you going to reach for the sky and stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun?"
Even Yu Xiaogang's stiff face twitched after hearing Ye Zhiqiu's words.
He realized that this Qiu kid seemed to have an extra quality compared to before.
Was it mischievousness? Was it flirtatiousness? Neither!
He was both mischievous and flirtatious.
But a grandmaster was a grandmaster after all. His temperament was still very steady, and he quickly adjusted his mindset.
Yu Xiaogang slowly said, "You all went to the Star Dou Great Forest these past few days, so you might not have received some news yet. On my way to the academy, I heard some news. The Spirit Hall has appointed a Saint Son!"
Everyone's movements paused, and even Ye Zhiqiu was momentarily stunned. Spirit Hall appointed a Saint Son?
Was this in the original novel? It didn't seem so, did it?
Oh my goodness, could it be that besides himself and Tang San, another transmigrator had arrived on the Douluo Continent?
As Yu Xiaogang spoke, his eyes suddenly turned to Ye Zhiqiu, and he slowly and solemnly said, "You might not believe it, but when I first heard this news myself, I was shocked for a long time. The Saint Son's name is Ye ~ Zhi ~ Qiu!"
Everyone: ???
Ye Zhiqiu: ???
After Yu Xiaogang finished speaking, everyone present looked at Ye Zhiqiu with strange eyes, a group of people with various expressions.
"Boss Qiu, when did you go to Spirit Hall to become a Saint Son?" Ma Hongjun's face was exaggerated as he couldn't help but ask.
The others also looked at Ye Zhiqiu in a daze, waiting for his reply.
Ning Rongrong, sitting next to Ye Zhiqiu, glared at him angrily, her cheeks puffed out. "When did you become the Spirit Hall's Saint Son? Aren't you supposed to be a member of my Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan?"
"Cough, cough." Ye Zhiqiu coughed lightly and said helplessly, "Can you all stop looking at me like that first? I'm confused myself, okay? I've been with you all this time; when have I ever left?"
"Let alone being the Spirit Hall's Saint Son. Perhaps it's just someone with the same name, like that old tortoise from Canghui Academy?"
Ye Zhiqiu spread his hands, somewhat helplessly.
Everyone paused slightly. It seemed…
Ye Zhiqiu really hadn't left? Could it really just be a case of the same name?
Yu Xiaogang, however, shook his head at this point and slowly said, "The first thing I did when I heard the news was to verify it at the Soto City Spirit Branch Hall. It's probably already announced to the world by now. The Spirit Hall's Saint Son, Ye Zhiqiu, is twelve years old, from Holy Spirit Village in Notting City. He was recommended by Notting City's deacon Su Yuntao to join the Spirit Hall Academy. On his first day at the academy, he defeated a team of seven of Spirit Hall's youngest genius students. He was later valued by the Spirit Hall Pope, who took him as a disciple and immediately bestowed upon him the title of Saint Son."
"I won't go into the rest. From the time he awakened his spirit at six years old, Spirit Hall has detailed records of all his background and deeds. His identity and background are all verifiable, and you can find them on the bulletin boards of almost every city's Spirit Branch Hall."
After hearing Grandmaster's words, Ye Zhiqiu almost spat out the chicken leg in his mouth.
Damn it, speaking of being recommended by Su Yuntao, Ye Zhiqiu remembered his clone that Su Yuntao had taken away back then.
He seemed to have given his clone the instruction to just mess around in the Spirit Hall?
Just mess around? I didn't expect you to mess around so much that you became the Saint Son of Spirit Hall? That's way too much messing around!
How are you even more impressive than my main body?
"Uh... I think I need to explain something!" Ye Zhiqiu helplessly activated his martial soul, and four spirit rings—purple, black, red, and red—instantly appeared.
The second black ten-thousand-year spirit ring shimmered slightly, and next to Ye Zhiqiu, with a "bang" and a puff of smoke, another Ye Zhiqiu suddenly emerged. From his appearance alone, he was no different from Ye Zhiqiu's main body, even dressed the same.
After letting everyone observe for a moment, Ye Zhiqiu had this clone dispel itself.
Ye Zhiqiu said with a wry smile, "Rongrong, you should still remember when we left Holy Spirit Village, I was stopped by that guy Su Yuntao who wanted me to join Spirit Hall, right? Didn't I say I was going to 'relieve myself' and then secretly sent a clone to him? Then you should be able to guess the rest."
Ning Rongrong suddenly understood after hearing Ye Zhiqiu's explanation.
Her slightly dejected expression, for some reason, suddenly turned into a mischievous smile.
The others, however, stared blankly at the other Ye Zhiqiu who had just disappeared. They finally knew what other spirit skill Ye Zhiqiu had never used—it was a clone.
Only Ning Rongrong and Sword Douluo knew a little about the second spirit skill, Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, but not much. They only knew that Ye Zhiqiu could create ten clones. In reality, Ye Zhiqiu could probably create thousands at a minimum, and that's a conservative estimate.
As for Tang San and Xiao Wu, although they had spent six years with Ye Zhiqiu at Nuoding Academy, Ye Zhiqiu had never shown them this spirit skill, so neither of them knew about it.
Even when they left Holy Spirit Village, Ye Zhiqiu only said he would take Ning Rongrong ahead, and Tang San and the others had no idea about Su Yuntao taking Ye Zhiqiu's clone.
Yu Xiaogang frowned, somewhat worried, "Xiao Qiu, do you mean that the new Saint Son established by Spirit Hall is just your clone? If that's true, then you might be in trouble. If they find out about this, Spirit Hall will lose all face, which is equivalent to directly poking the tiger's whiskers."
Ye Zhiqiu rubbed his head, feeling a headache. "I didn't expect something like this to happen. I'll figure out a way to resolve it myself later. Oh, right, Master, you're quite knowledgeable. Help me identify which part of the body this spirit bone belongs to."
Ye Zhiqiu reached out his right hand and retrieved the hundred-thousand-year spirit bone that had dropped from the One-horned Evil Dragon from his dark jade bracelet, handing it to Yu Xiaogang.
He had studied this spirit bone when he first got it but hadn't figured out which part of the body it belonged to. So, he thought of having Yu Xiaogang, the knowledgeable scholar of the spirit master world, examine it.
"Spirit bone?" Yu Xiaogang casually took the black crystal-like, elongated spirit bone from Ye Zhiqiu's hand, holding it in both hands and examining it carefully for a moment. The next moment, his expression froze.
"Xiao Qiu, if I'm not mistaken, this spirit bone of yours should be from a high-level spirit beast, right?" Yu Xiaogang looked at Ye Zhiqiu and said in a deep voice.
Ye Zhiqiu nodded, "That's right, it's from the hundred-thousand-year One-horned Evil Dragon I hunted before. Master, can you tell which part of the body this spirit bone belongs to?"
"One hundred thousand years!" Everyone exclaimed in surprise, their faces burning with excitement as they looked at the elongated spirit bone.
In Douluo Continent, those who had seen a hundred-thousand-year spirit bone could be counted on one hand. They actually saw a hundred-thousand-year spirit bone today, and they couldn't help but stare intently.
After Yu Xiaogang realized that what he held was a hundred-thousand-year spirit bone, his hands trembled slightly.
He had seen spirit bones before, but a hundred-thousand-year spirit bone was his first. Although this thing looked a bit strange, it was absolutely priceless.
Yu Xiaogang couldn't help but examine it even more carefully. To have a hundred-thousand-year spirit bone to research and observe, he already felt that even if he were to kick the bucket right now, he would die without regrets.
This was probably the obsession of the first scientist of Douluo Continent.
After observing for a long time, Yu Xiaogang reluctantly handed the spirit bone back to Ye Zhiqiu, sighing, "A hundred-thousand-year spirit bone, something I've only seen once in my life. There's too little verifiable information. But this definitely isn't a limb or head spirit bone. Even as a torso bone, it's too thick and too long. If I absolutely had to give a conclusion, I think it should be an external spirit bone, similar to the Eight Spider Lances that Xiao San just showed me. Its specific function will require you to research it yourself. You absorbed the spirit ring of that hundred-thousand-year spirit beast, so you should be able to resonate with this spirit bone."
Ye Zhiqiu's face darkened. Resonate my ass.
For a spirit ring to resonate with a spirit bone, there should still be a trace of the spirit beast's consciousness remaining in the spirit ring.
But his spirit ring, what consciousness did it have? It was probably either converted into negative emotional value or devoured by the Tailed Beast's origin.
However, what Yu Xiaogang said about it being an external spirit bone, Ye Zhiqiu found quite reasonable. But this thing... where would it attach externally?
After finishing breakfast, everyone returned to their dorms to rest. After all, the trip to the Star Dou Great Forest had been very tiring for them.
Moreover, starting tomorrow, Master Yu Xiaogang said that Shrek's training courses would be arranged by him.
Ye Zhiqiu couldn't help but silently mourn for the Shrek Seven Devils and Meng Yiran's group for a second in advance. As for himself, he definitely wouldn't waste time on such trivial matters as weighted long-distance running, as it wouldn't help him much.
Instead of accompanying Ning Rongrong to the dorm to rest, Ye Zhiqiu used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport directly to the dome of a tall building in Soto City. This place had a Flying Thunder God seal that he had specially engraved. Every time he came to Soto City, Ye Zhiqiu would appear here, simply because the place was secluded and uninhabited.
He came to Soto City because he wanted to see what kind of deeds his clone had accomplished.
Upon arriving at the entrance of the Soto City Spirit Hall branch, Ye Zhiqiu was stunned. There were too many people in front of the bulletin board, three layers deep and three layers out, making it impossible to squeeze through.
"What's the background of this new Spirit Hall Saint Son? A twelve-year-old three-ring Spirit Elder?"
"Are you blind? Didn't you see the latest information just engraved below today? A three-ring Spirit Elder ventured alone into the Sunset Forest, hunted a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast. When he came out, he was already a Spirit Ancestor, with spirit rings purple, black, red, and red! Holy crap."
Ye Zhiqiu rubbed his forehead with a hint of speechlessness, then casually found a tea house nearby, sat down, and ordered the most expensive tea to slowly savor.
Afterward, he released his divine sense.
The Spirit Hall branch bulletin board instantly became clear.
There were detachable engraved boards on it, and the most conspicuous one detailed his clone's deeds.
It was similar to what Master said, but more detailed. Ye Zhiqiu's deeds from childhood were basically all recorded.
From his martial soul awakening, his first year at Nuoding Junior Academy, five years at Nuoding Intermediate Academy, then being recommended into the Spirit Hall Academy by Su Yuntao, the deacon of the Nuoding City Spirit Hall branch, and so on.
Ye Zhiqiu even saw the names of his parents, and some names he had never heard of.
Was Spirit Hall recording the names of his ancestors for eighteen generations?
At the bottom of the engraved board, the latest intelligence was about his solo venture into the Sunset Forest to slay a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast and his return.
Besides his own deeds board, Ye Zhiqiu also saw the wanted posters issued by Spirit Hall.
Akatsuki's Star Picker - Si, bounty 50 million gold spirit coins. Crime: Theft from Spirit Hall, the Upper Three Sects, the Lower Four Sects, the treasure vaults of the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires, 8 kingdoms, and over 20 duchies within the empires.
Akatsuki's Big Dipper - Du, bounty 10 million gold spirit coins. Crime: Gambling at various casinos, leaving after winning, flipping tables and robbing money after losing, countless victims.