Under the stunned gazes of the three, Qian Renxue walked straight up to Kong and pulled him into a hug.
"???"
"Don't talk. Kiss me!"
"???"
Kong was completely bewildered—he had just been eating.
Faced with such a passionate invitation, Kong ultimately didn't refuse, though he had no idea what was going on.
Scene shift. In Sunset Forest, after months of effort, Tang San was finally on the verge of breaking through to the Soul Douluo level.
And just like the last two times, Ghost Douluo appeared again!
Tang San: "..."
He had a curse on the tip of his tongue but didn't know if he should say it.
But Ghost Douluo wasn't the end—Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan also showed up!
Time passed. When Tang San returned once more to Sunset Forest, he had already become a white-ringed Soul Douluo.
At this moment, his eyes were lifeless, his face pale.
"Could it be… am I really going to become the first white-ring Titled Douluo in history?"
He had thought the yellow hundred-year soul ring was the lowest starting point. Never did he expect that now, even acquiring a hundred-year soul ring felt like a luxury.
"Bibi Dong, Gui Mei, Yue Guan… I, Tang San, will definitely flay you alive!"
The pain was too much!
He had worked so hard, yet all his efforts were being denied because of a single soul ring.
"Kill!"
Tang San once again charged into the depths of Sunset Forest. The number of high-level soul beasts here was still quite abundant.
With his strength, he could at most take on beasts around twenty to thirty thousand years old. When it came to forty-thousand-year or fifty-thousand-year beast kings, he usually turned and ran the moment he saw them.
Previously, he had encountered a very peculiar bear. It was only just over ten thousand years in age, yet it was one of the most terrifying soul beasts he had ever faced.
Excluding the Sky Blue Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape, this bear was the most frightening beast Tang San had encountered.
The most shocking part was—it was only at the ten-thousand-year level!
Barely over ten thousand years old…
"It looks like a Darkgold Bear, with dark golden fur, but the Darkgold Bear has short claws—it can't possibly be this powerful."
"In terms of defense, strength, and offense, this creature exceeds the limits of its tier."
"It's absolutely monstrous."
"And those claws… they resemble what my teacher described as the Dreadclaw Bear…"
"If my second martial spirit could absorb its soul ring, I'd definitely undergo a qualitative leap."
"Even if it's only ten thousand years old!"
If Kong knew about this, he'd be shocked.
Because his first soul ring also came from this type of soul beast!
The Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear!
A supreme overlord among soul beasts!
Among beasts of the same level, it feared nothing except true dragons. Even when facing true dragons, it would dare to fight.
The Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear had inherited traces of bloodline from the Golden Behemoth—it was only natural that it was so powerful.
You should know, the Behemoths were a terrifying race that preyed on dragons.
It was only because the Dragon God's cultivation was higher that he led the dragon clan to annihilate the "evil" Behemoth race. Of course, some pure-blooded Behemoths still existed in the world—just not in this era.
The Golden Behemoths were the absolute royalty of the Behemoth clan. One could imagine how terrifying their bloodline was!
That's also why even partial descendants of the Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear—like the Darkgold Bear, Dreadclaw Bear, and Crystal Bear—were all considered top-tier soul beasts.
Just inheriting a portion of the Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear's bloodline was already enough to reach the top tier...
Even though this Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear was only slightly over ten thousand years old, its soul ring would provide a terrifying enhancement to the Clear Sky Hammer.
Even the thousand-jun ant, a pure power-type beast, couldn't offer a soul ring more suitable for the Clear Sky Hammer than that of the Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear.
Attack, strength, and defense—these three combined in one. This was something the thousand-jun ant couldn't achieve, nor could it compare to.
"The ninth soul ring... it has to be this one."
Tang San gritted his teeth and made his decision in silence.
On the other side—Heaven Dou Academy. Yes, Heaven Dou Academy, not the Royal Heaven Dou Academy.
Now that the Heaven Dou Empire had fallen, there was no longer any royal family, and the former Royal Academy had been renamed to simply Heaven Dou Academy.
Today was not like yesterday. Although Heaven Dou Academy didn't seem all that different on the surface, there were barely any students left.
Most of them had died in the great war.
That included the teachers, the board...
Those who survived were either absent from the battle—or weren't nobles.
Not all teachers at Heaven Dou Academy had been nobles. Qin Ming, for instance, wasn't a noble, yet still taught at the academy.
"Uh..."
"Flender, now that we've 'grown big and strong,' it seems Heaven Dou Royal—no, Heaven Dou Academy—only has the two of us left…"
Zhao Wuji spoke awkwardly.
They weren't nobles. They had wanted to go to the battlefield, but were turned away by "Xue Qinghe."
No one had expected that the only ones who would survive in the end were them—this group from Shrek Academy—along with a few new students and Teacher Wu Mei.
Flender, who used to be the fourth member of the board, was now the first.
Zhao Wuji, once the fifth, was now the second.
After the fall of the Heaven Dou Empire, they naturally became the new headmaster and deputy headmaster of the academy.
Flender's eye twitched. He had become the headmaster of Heaven Dou Academy for no clear reason, while Zhao Wuji was still his deputy.
Other than a change in location, it didn't seem all that different from Shrek…
"Let's start recruiting. From now on, the academy will operate according to the regulations of the Douluo Federation Republic."
"Student aptitude isn't the biggest issue—it's their character that matters most. Poor aptitude just means slower cultivation."
"But if they have poor character, the issue isn't speed—it's whether they can survive a tribulation at all."
"Mm, let's do that."
Zhao Wuji nodded in agreement, then seemed to remember something.
"Should we hire some new teachers too? You know how it is with our old brothers... If we ruin someone's future, that'd really be a sin."
"Hire them!"
"But… what about gold soul coins…"
It came down to money.
The Royal Heaven Dou Academy had always had the empire behind it—so they never lacked funding. But now, things were different.
The Douluo Federation Republic offered subsidies, but they were minimal.
Flender fell into thought after hearing that. After a while, he finally said, "Wuji, there aren't many people left in the academy anyway. Maybe we should talk to the others—see if we just shut it down and find somewhere to live in seclusion."
Zhao Wuji didn't even hesitate. He nodded and said, "I've got no problem with that. I just couldn't bear to leave our old brothers behind—otherwise I would've gone out to explore long ago."
"Alright then, let's talk to the others first."
Flender didn't want to return to the old days of deceiving students. If the Douluo Federation found out, they'd definitely be in serious trouble.
There might even be a Saint who'd come knocking to "reason" with him…
The group gathered, and after a brief discussion—surprisingly, no one objected to leaving?!
The next day, as Flender and the others packed up with large bags on their backs, Xiao Wu stared in confusion.
What was going on?
"Teacher Wu Mei, from today on, you are Heaven Dou Academy's…"
(End of Chapter)
Want More Chapters? Get Early Access Now!
Join my Patreon and unlock 20 chapters instantly—plus, you'll gain access to 60+ chapters weekly across 8 fics! Your support helps me continue creating and keeps the stories coming.
📖 Patreon: patreon.com/anish_44 ☕ Support via Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/anish_44