A few days later, Zhu Ziyang found Cai Meier. After Yan Shaozhe entered seclusion, all affairs of the Outer Courtyard Martial Soul Department were handled by Cai Meier.
"Junior Brother, why are you here?" Cai Meier asked, surprised.
"Hehe, Junior Sister, I'm sorry to disturb your work," Zhu Ziyang said with a smile. "I'd like to see the new students' profiles for this year, if I may."
"Ah?" Cai Meier was stunned upon hearing this, then asked, "Why? Why are you suddenly interested in this year's new students? Could it be that there's someone you know among them?"
"Something like that," Zhu Ziyang thought of Huo Yuhao, but then shook his head and said, "I heard there are three Spirit Elders among this year's new students, so I'm very interested and wanted to take a look."
"Oh, I see." Hearing Zhu Ziyang's words, a smile appeared on Cai Meier's face. She said, "I also didn't expect three Spirit Elders to appear all at once this year. It's normal for Junior Brother to be curious. Here, I'll satisfy your curiosity."
Cai Meier said, taking out a stack of documents from the cabinet behind her and placing them in front of Zhu Ziyang. She said, "Originally, this kind of academy information and intelligence is top-secret and cannot be easily shown to others. But Junior Brother, you are different. You will have to deal with these matters sooner or later, so familiarizing yourself with them in advance is also good."
"Mm-hmm! Thank you, Junior Sister." Zhu Ziyang looked at the thick stack of documents in front of him and nodded at Cai Meier.
"This year's new students exceed a thousand, which is the largest number of recruits in the past decade," Cai Meier said with a relieved smile. "Moreover, over 30% of the students come from commoner backgrounds. If this development trend can be maintained, what a grand occasion it would be!"
"Over a thousand! That's quite a lot!" Zhu Ziyang was slightly surprised.
"These files contain background investigations and relationship networks of all new students and absolutely must not be leaked. Junior Brother, you can read them here; please do not take them out," Cai Meier instructed. "I still have things to handle and need to go out for a bit. Junior Brother, you can wait for me here, or after you finish reading, leave these files here and you can leave immediately."
"I understand." Zhu Ziyang nodded, indicating he understood.
Cai Meier left, and Zhu Ziyang began to examine the stack of new student files.
The topmost file first caught Zhu Ziyang's eye. He picked it up, scanned it, and read softly: "Ning Tian, eleven years old, thirty-first rank, Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Spirit, innate full spirit power, no twin spirits, no Spirit Bone, Young Sect Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Father: Ning Baicheng, seventy-ninth rank Spirit Saint, Sect Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Legal Mother: Chen Xue, Seven Kill Sword Spirit, eighty-seventh rank Spirit Douluo, Elder of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Birth Mother: Ning Qiang, Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Spirit, deceased ten years ago..."
Zhu Ziyang was slightly surprised. Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, the continent's number one support system Spirit. With such a background, an eleven-year-old Spirit Elder was not surprising. However, he also realized why Cai Meier had instructed him that these files could not be easily leaked, because the matters involved were too secret and too alarming.
He couldn't help but narrow his eyes. If the academy's intelligence network could infiltrate a Sect like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to such an extent, could it also do the same for the Sun Moon Empire? He thought of the numerous but mostly unproducible spirit tool blueprints in the Soul Tool Department, suspecting they might have been acquired in this manner.
He continued to look down. The second file was still of a Spirit Elder student.
"Dai Huabin, twelve years old, thirty-first rank, White Tiger Spirit, innate full spirit power, no twin spirits, no Spirit Bone, youngest son of the Duke White Tiger. Father: Dai Hao, Duke White Tiger, eighty-seventh rank Spirit Douluo. Mother: Xu Qiqi, Starlight Spirit, fifty-fifth rank Spirit King, princess of the Star Luo Empire..."
"Dai Huabin?" Zhu Ziyang was stunned, then thought of someone. "This guy couldn't be Brother Yue Heng's younger brother, could he? Uh, it seems he really is. Brother Yue Heng's talent is already very strong, I didn't expect his younger brother to be even stronger. This is going to be interesting; the rules of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion are quite cruel!"
"Xie Huanyue, twelve years old, thirty-first rank, Pipi Elephant Spirit, innate full spirit power, no twin spirits, no Spirit Bone, Young Sect Master of the Elephant Armored Academy. Father: Xie Zheng, Heavenly Elephant Douluo, ninety-third rank Titled Douluo, Sect Master of the Elephant Armored Academy..."
"Pipi Elephant? What kind of Spirit is this? A mutated Spirit?" Zhu Ziyang scratched his head and muttered to himself, "I remember, isn't the Elephant Armored Academy's Spirit the Diamond Mammoth? That's quite outrageous!"
After the three Spirit Elder students, Wang Dong was surprisingly next. Zhu Ziyang couldn't help but show a peculiar expression. He remembered that Wang Dong's cultivation should be twenty-first rank, right? For someone of this level to be ranked fourth, could it be that the quality of this year's new students was so uneven?
With curiosity, he began to examine his file. To his surprise, Wang Dong's file format was very different from the previous three.
"Wang Dong, eleven years old, innate full spirit power, twin spirits, Goddess of Light Butterfly, Clear Sky Hammer, twenty-first rank, Clear Sky Sect successor. Father: Unknown. Mother: Unknown..."
Zhu Ziyang finally understood why Wang Dong, with only twenty-first rank, could be ranked after three Spirit Elders, and why his file was different from the previous three. He actually had twin spirits; no wonder. Clear Sky Hammer, Clear Sky Sect successor, this was quite rare, after all, the Clear Sky Sect had been hidden for thousands of years, and this was the first time they sent a successor to study at Shrek Academy. It's just, why is his surname Wang? Shouldn't it be Tang?
Also, the Goddess of Light Butterfly Spirit... Zhu Ziyang's eyes widened slightly, completely baffled. He remembered that this Spirit had very severe gender discrimination, didn't it? It was one of the rare Spirits that was only passed down to females and not males. How did it appear on this Wang Dong? Could it be that this Wang Dong was a girl disguised as a boy?
Uh, it's really possible! Zhu Ziyang thought of the girlish demeanor Wang Dong inadvertently showed towards Huo Yuhao during their last meal, and instantly felt that there was no problem at all. A girl disguised as a boy, a roommate, and a successor of a reclusive Sect with twin spirits—isn't this the standard female lead character setup in novels? It's just that this trope is too old-fashioned!
This Clear Sky Sect is really interesting. They haven't appeared for thousands of years, and when they do, they send a female successor disguised as a male, which makes people bewildered.
Also, the academy's intelligence work isn't thorough enough. Why are Wang Dong's parents both unknown?
"Speaking of which, when will Huo Yuhao discover that his good roommate is actually a girl?" Zhu Ziyang thought with full curiosity.
The format of the fifth file was the same as Wang Dong's, surprisingly also belonging to a twin spirits possessor.
"Xiao Xiao, eleven years old, innate full spirit power, twin spirits, Phoenix Arrival Flute, Three Lives Soul Suppressing Cauldron, twenty-third rank. Father: Xiao Ding, Phoenix Arrival Flute Spirit, eighty-second rank Spirit Douluo, former disciple of the Lingxiao Sect. Mother: Xiao Chuchu, Soul Suppressing Cauldron Spirit, seventy-seventh rank Spirit Saint, former disciple of the Xuanding Sect..."
"Phoenix Arrival Flute? Three Lives Soul Suppressing Cauldron?" Zhu Ziyang again showed a strange expression and mused, "I remember, aren't these two Sects sworn enemies? Uh-huh, no wonder they're former disciples."
Zhu Ziyang continued to look down. There was nothing outstanding about the subsequent student files. He only glanced at them, and after looking at about a few dozen, he more or less understood the rules of the file arrangement. Therefore, he immediately took out the bottom few files, preparing to directly look at Huo Yuhao's file.
Huo Yuhao's file was undoubtedly the last one, because his spirit power was indeed the worst among this year's new students, so bad that he couldn't have entered Shrek Academy through normal channels.
"Huo Yuhao, eleven years old, eleventh rank spirit power, Spiritual Eye Spirit, innate spirit power rank one, Tang Sect disciple, suspected household son of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion. Father: Unknown. Mother: Huo Yun'er, Moth Spirit, no spirit power, deceased."
Huo Yuhao's file was a typical commoner's file, only recording the easiest information to find. Other information was not easy to find, and Shrek Academy's intelligence department didn't want to investigate it. In their view, commoners' information was nothing more than that; what was worth special attention?
"Ah, this! Huo Yuhao is actually related to the Duke White Tiger?" Zhu Ziyang was very surprised, not expecting Huo Yuhao to be a household son of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion. A household son refers to a child born to a noble's servant within the master's household. If the parents are servants, the children generally also become servants. Could "Unrivaled Tang Sect" actually be an inspirational novel about a servant rising up and overthrowing the master?
Why would a child born with a Moth Spirit have an eye Spirit? Was it a Spirit mutation? Or did his father possess an eye Spirit? Or, was Huo Yuhao actually the Duke White Tiger's illegitimate son? This was very possible, after all, there were many such messy affairs in noble households, Zhu Ziyang speculated in his heart.
Innate rank one spirit power? spirit power of eleventh rank upon admission? This is probably the worst student Shrek Academy has recruited in the past few hundred years, right? However, this had nothing to do with Zhu Ziyang. On the contrary, it made Zhu Ziyang even more curious about him!
He was very much looking forward to how Huo Yuhao would amaze Shrek Academy's high-ranking officials in the future.