Yan Shaozhe led the three back to Shrek City overnight.
Early morning.
The massive Shrek City was already bustling with activity, vendors pushing carts lined the streets from south to north, and all sorts of shops lined the main streets.
In a small courtyard in the south of the city.
Old Zhuang looked at Jiang's mother on the sickbed, glancing at Yan Shaozhe with surprise, and at Jiang Nannan's expectant face.
"Shaozhe, you need me to treat such a simple illness?"
"Old Zhuang, this is a bit special."
Yan Shaozhe's lips moved slightly, his voice sharp and clear, as he briefly explained.
Jiang Nannan was actually Shrek Academy's new face – a commoner.
As an academy, not a royal one, what it should be recruiting and cultivating most were "commoners," including small families without resources and true geniuses like Jiang Nannan and Su Wen.
The latter was even more important.
In reality, many elders of the Sea God Pavilion were of commoner origin, but as they rose to high positions and lived a life of luxury, few knew this.
Therefore, he used Jiang Nannan as a figurehead to attract many talented commoners to apply to Shrek Academy.
However, there were also several long-standing problems.
For example, very few commoners on the entire continent could awaken their martial souls, because unlike ten thousand years ago when the Spirit Hall provided free awakening services, even if they did awaken, commoners prioritized the sects that would provide them with the awakening, not Shrek Academy.
Local sects acted like powerful clans, tightly controlling commoner resources. Even with Shrek Academy's prestige, they dared not easily disrupt this delicate balance.
Secondly, he also wanted the Martial Soul Department to go to various places to awaken martial souls for commoners, but every time he proposed it, it was met with strong opposition from the elders.
Their reasoning was that this was something the Spirit Hall had done, and doing so would only allow the Spirit Hall to rise again.
He wanted to cancel the city lord's letter, but the elders said the ancestral laws couldn't be changed.
Only at the very end did he understand.
The elders only wanted him to be a "qualified" dean of the Martial Soul Department, not a "saint." But
I digress.
As Yan Shaozhe explained, Elder Zhuang suddenly understood, his expression becoming more serious.
He stretched out his palm, and a surge of green energy emerged, sprouting a lush green seedling, which quickly grew into a flower stamen.
The petals visibly enlarged, and Elder Zhuang tore off three delicate pink petals, handing them to Jiang Nannan.
"Take one petal daily, and the illness will be cured in three days."
"Thank you, thank you."
Jiang Nannan's beautiful eyes were filled with excitement.
"If you want to thank someone, thank that little guy. If it weren't for him, the academy wouldn't have known your mother was seriously ill."
Elder Zhuang shook his head.
"Sister Nannan, give it to Auntie."
Seeing Jiang Nannan's grateful expression again, Su Wen changed the subject and urged her.
"Okay."
As Jiang's mother swallowed it, her face visibly regained its radiance.
Her previously haggard and sallow face, due to illness, became even more radiant and beautiful.
But thinking about it, it's obvious that Jiang Nannan is one of the top three beauties in the original novel, so her mother's genes must be pretty good too.
Days passed.
Besides his daily cultivation, Su Wen would occasionally visit Jiang's mother, practice the Ice and Fire Dual Heaven technique with Ma Xiaotao in the bathtub, and discuss the true meaning of ice magic with Ling Luochen.
Half a month had passed in the blink of an eye.
Inside the Golden Tree House,Su Wen let out a long breath.
His face was filled with joy: "Finally broke through to level thirty-two.
A level increase in just over a month, not bad, right..."
With the spiritual energy of the Golden Tree, the three pet beasts increasing their strength by consuming the flesh and blood of soul beasts, and the support of elixirs and various rare and precious herbs, his cultivation speed was accelerating.
When he was around level ten, it took him one or two months to increase his soul power by one level; now, at the Soul Venerable realm, the time required to increase it by one level was almost the same.
Although Little Gold, Ice Emperor, and Hurricane were soul beasts, their cultivation progress was far slower than a human's, but by consuming the flesh and blood of soul beasts, they were equivalent to a human consuming rare and precious herbs, and their size had increased considerably in half a year.
However, today marked the end of winter break, and a batch of freshmen were advancing to the second year.
Su Wen stood up, dressed, and headed towards the outer courtyard.
The Beast Fighting Area.
Gray, fortress-like walls separated the soul beasts from the academy.
The usually sparsely populated Beast Fighting Area was now packed with first-year students.
They were about to face their second assessment—a direct confrontation with Soul Beasts.
Compared to the brutal first assessment (a three-on-three elimination tournament), this one was much milder.
As long as they weren't too bad, choosing a hundred-year-old Soul Beast or performing extremely poorly wouldn't be too difficult; they would pass normally.
"Elder Gong, it's their competition today, why did you call me over?" Su Wen saw the white-haired old man from afar, greeted him, and then asked curiously.
"I called you over to take a look."
Elder Gong glanced at Su Wen sideways.
"How much do your Soul Beasts eat?!"
Su Wen:
"…"
Seriously? They couldn't even last half a month?
Your Great Beast Fighting Arena eats a third of the academy's income, at least tens of millions of gold Soul Coins a year, and you can't even feed my three little guys? So stingy."
Su Wen pouted.
"Hey, don't be so unconvinced." Elder Gong exploded.
He pulled Su Wen to a rockery.
Little Jin lay leisurely on the ground, surrounded by a small mountain of meat.
He picked up a piece with his paw and stuffed it into his mouth.
Old Gong's eyes nearly spit blood.
"That's all flesh and blood of ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts! Your soul beast is very picky; it won't eat anything from anything less than ten thousand years old! It even prefers the best quality raw meat from ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts.
Its appetite alone is comparable to that of several thousand-year-old soul beasts! In just half a month, I've spent at least 100,000 gold soul coins! And that doesn't even include the Wind Baboon and the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion!"
Su Wen:
"..."
His lips twitched.
No wonder his cultivation improved so quickly; it turned out this guy was carrying a heavy burden.
Looking at it this way, Old Gong's words weren't unreasonable.
The annual expenses for three soul beasts were probably over a million gold soul coins.
This was no small expense.
The purchasing power of gold soul coins was now greater than ten thousand years ago; a million gold soul coins was enough to arm a thousand-strong heavy cavalry regiment to the teeth.
Although the Grand Arena is managed by Elder Gong, there are too many expenses involved, and even the old man has to contribute his own money.
There's no way around it; that's how it is with artificial breeding.
If they were kept in the Star Dou Great Forest, it wouldn't cost a penny, but it might attract the attention of Bear King, Emperor Tian, and even the Silver Dragon King. Before his strength rises, it's better to keep a low profile.
However, just eating the flesh and blood of soul beasts isn't a long-term solution.
I wonder if there are any treasures like the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, which stores enormous energy, that could provide these pets with some, at least for a while.
"Alright, Elder Gong, I'll take it with me then."
Su Wen waved his hand.
"Hey, wait a minute, what's the rush? Help me finish this match and teach those arrogant little brats a lesson."
Elder Gong grinned .
"You were just complaining that my Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear eats too much."
Su Wen raised an eyebrow.
"I'll cover its food for another half month!" Elder Gong gritted his teeth.
"Deal~" Su Wen grinned.
Even a mosquito bite is still meat; every little bit helps.
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