Spending less than an hour, Wang Lin simply tidied up the room. Just as he was preparing to go out and check on Zhang Jian, a knock on the door happened to ring out at this moment.
Bang bang!
He immediately got up to open the door. What surprised Wang Lin was that when the door opened, the person who came into view was not Zhang Jian, but his cheap master, Long Xiaoyao.
"Master?"
"Mn, Little Linzi, this old man needs to ask you something."
Long Xiaoyao nodded and said in a deep voice.
Having been flown around by Long Xiaoyao for a day, this pair of master and disciple in name had gradually become familiar with each other.
Little Linzi was Wang Lin's childhood nickname. After Long Xiaoyao learned of it, his address for Wang Lin naturally changed from his name to Little Linzi.
"Okay."
Wang Lin stepped sideways to make way for Long Xiaoyao. Long Xiaoyao walked into the room, sat directly at the desk, and turned to look at Wang Lin.
Click!
Wang Lin closed the door casually, and Long Xiaoyao spoke.
"Little Linzi, you are twelve years old today?"
"Mn." Wang Lin nodded.
"I gave you a carving knife before, and your age is just right. How about sending you to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy to learn soul tools?"
After speaking, seemingly afraid of Wang Lin's resistance, he added.
"Soul tools are the future of humanity. Du Busi's message should have mentioned this point. Learning soul tools will do you no harm."
"Go to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy?" Wang Lin was stunned for a moment. "Uh, the enrollment season for the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy should be over, right?"
"You don't need to worry about this." Long Xiaoyao waved his hand, indicating this was a small matter.
"If you want to go, there is naturally a way to get in."
"What if I don't go?" Wang Lin did not answer immediately but asked instead.
"Then I will send you to Shrek Academy."
Long Xiaoyao said seriously, not joking.
"Then let's go to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy."
Hearing the name Shrek Academy, Wang Lin made a prompt decision and chose the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy.
Although he knew the plot of the original work, he really didn't want to go to Shrek Academy to participate in Huo Yuhao's messy affairs. Otherwise, he would have followed Beibei and the others to Shrek Academy back then and wouldn't have run to Heaven Dou City alone.
In Wang Lin's opinion, Shrek Academy was truly somewhat outrageous.
There was Zhou Yi, who expelled students directly for being lazy in running, claiming it was to establish authority, but Zhou Yi's identity was a teacher, not a triad boss.
There was also the issue of Huo Yuhao's core disciple status, as well as Shrek Academy's hypocrisy.
In the original work, they held a Sea God Pavilion meeting to fight over Huo Yuhao, who possessed an Ultimate Martial Soul.
Immediately after, Dai Huabin found someone to assassinate Huo Yuhao. Although it didn't succeed, the matter itself was extremely vile.
No matter what, Dai Huabin should have been expelled.
But Shrek Academy's outrageousness lay here; not expelling him was one thing, but they should have at least given some substantial punishment.
The result was that his punishment for Dai Huabin was blacklisting him so he couldn't enter the Shrek Inner Court.
The most critical point was that Dai Huabin still joined the Inner Court later. Fortunately, Huo Yuhao was good at self-manipulation. If it were another protagonist, they would have long since shouted "don't bully a youth for being poor".
The bad habit of nobles judging people based on their background was firmly embedded in Shrek Academy's bones. What normal academy requires recommendation letters of at least the main city level from the three great empires for enrollment?
"Then go to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy." Long Xiaoyao nodded, noticing that Wang Lin had already put his luggage into the room.
"You can put the luggage away for now. The Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy is a boarding school. This room will be kept for you."
"Ah?" Wang Lin was a bit confused upon hearing this, completely failing to understand Long Xiaoyao's meaning. Aren't we master and disciple? This means he's chasing me away.
Is the master-disciple affection so weak? The old black dragon is really not afraid of a "fatherly kindness and filial piety" event occurring.
Long Xiaoyao did not explain. After instructing Wang Lin to rest well, he left Wang Lin's room.
...
A moment later, Zhang Peng walked into Long Xiaoyao's room.
"Elder Long."
As soon as he entered the room, a black token carved with a dragon head was thrown by Long Xiaoyao and landed in Zhang Peng's hand.
"This is?" Zhang Peng took the token, a confused look appearing on his face, not understanding why Long Xiaoyao would give him his identity token.
"Go have a chat with Jing Hongchen. Wang Lin is going to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy!"
As Long Xiaoyao spoke, he took out a strip-shaped jade box again. Zhang Peng stepped forward to take the jade box.
A chill drilled into his hand along the jade box. Zhang Peng raised his head, his uneven eyebrows furrowing.
"Elder Long, go now? Jing Hongchen is cautious by nature. Even with the thing in the jade box, he might not agree!"
"Go now. It's unsafe for Wang Lin to stay by my side. If that kid had chosen to go to Shrek Academy, there wouldn't be so much trouble."
Long Xiaoyao nodded, somewhat helpless.
"Whether some things have a result or not isn't important. The key is that someone has to do it. Once done, naturally someone will want to help achieve the desired result."
"Yes, Elder Long." Zhang Peng nodded, put away the jade box and the token, and put on the black robe again.
"I'm going."
"Wait a moment. Help this old man pass a message to Jing Hongchen!" Saying this, Long Xiaoyao whispered a sentence into Zhang Peng's ear.
After listening, Zhang Peng nodded, jumped out of the window directly, and disappeared into the darkness.
Long Xiaoyao stared in the direction Zhang Peng left and murmured: "What a phrase, 'staying true to one's heart'..."
...
Soon, at the gate of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy, Zhang Peng, dressed in a black robe, did not conceal the evil aura on his body. As soon as he appeared at the gate, two black-robed men dressed similarly to him walked out of the darkness.
They looked extremely cautiously at Zhang Peng, who was shrouded in the black robe. Their respectful tone carried a trace of imperceptible disgust.
"Your Excellency is early. It is not yet time for the transaction."
"This old man is not here for the transaction. This old man is here to find Jing Hongchen."
Zhang Peng said in a deep voice. A gray wooden token representing an Enshriner of the Holy Spirit Cult was taken out by him and thrown directly to the two black-robed men.
One of them took the token, inspected it carefully, and exchanged a glance with his companion.
"Please wait a moment, Your Excellency. I will go invite the Hall Master immediately."
The black-robed man holding the token said in a deep voice and then walked into the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy with the token.
The other black-robed man made a gesture of invitation and said respectfully: "Please follow me first, Your Excellency."
Zhang Peng nodded and followed behind the black-robed man. The black-robed man did not take him through the main gate but led him around the wall of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy, walking toward the academy's backyard.
A moment later, under the guidance of the black-robed man, Zhang Peng entered through a side door in the wall. Inside the door stood a short, very obese middle-aged man.
The man was wearing a gorgeous black robe embroidered with gold patterns, holding a gray wooden token in his hand, which was precisely the one Zhang Peng had given earlier.
This person was none other than the Hall Master of the Illustrious Virtue Hall, Jing Hongchen. Jing Hongchen looked at Zhang Peng with an insincere smile on his round face.
"I wonder what business the Sixth Enshriner of the Holy Spirit Cult has with my Illustrious Virtue Hall?"
"This isn't the way to treat a guest, Hall Master Hongchen." Zhang Peng did not answer Jing Hongchen but spoke up instead.
At this time, the black-robed man who had led the way for Zhang Peng also turned and left, leaving only Jing Hongchen and Zhang Peng alone.