After finishing the meal, Xu Yuan paid the bill.
"Teacher Wu, Elder Cai, where shall we gather?" Xu Yuan asked.
"Tianhai Grand Hotel."
The delegation from the Star Luo Continent would gradually arrive at the Tianhai Grand Hotel for assembly.
The so-called exchange delegation wasn't meant to travel together as a group.
After arriving on the continent, members were free to explore independently, seeking their own opportunities and observing the differences of the continent.
For example, Chang Gongyan and Lin Yuhan could act separately and visit the Forge Master Association to challenge its members.
Similarly, when Xu Yuan and the others arrived at the Star Luo Continent, they would conduct their exchange activities in this manner.
In the following days, they waited for a few more days.
Xu Yuan spent most of his time relaxing.
Once out at sea, he would undergo the second-stage awakening of his martial soul, so he was making sure to relax as much as possible.
The breakthrough in spiritual power had been an unexpected gain during his relaxed state.
---
Three days passed.
Finally, all members of the Star Luo delegation had arrived.
This time, the delegation from the Star Luo Continent numbered over a thousand people, and the return delegation from the Douluo Continent was also sizable. The lobby of the Tianhai Grand Hotel was packed with people.
The Shrek group quietly waited in a corner of the hotel lobby, avoiding drawing attention.
Xu Yuan scanned the entire hall and spotted a familiar figure.
Lin Yuhan.
It seemed Lin Yuhan sensed something, as she turned her gaze towards Xu Yuan and met his eyes.
She smiled at him and waved.
Xu Yuan nodded in acknowledgment.
"Look, there's a beautiful girl waving at me. This truly is a world where looks matter—being handsome is just unbeatable!" Le Zhengyu flicked his long golden hair, flashing a charming smile on his handsome face.
Yuanen Yehui rolled her eyes.
"Didn't you see clearly? She was greeting Xu Yuan."
She didn't hesitate to expose him.
Le Zhengyu's face turned awkward.
Because of his cultivation, he hadn't attended the academy during his first year and only returned in his second year. At that time, he had accused Yuanen Yehui of being an evil soul master and even attacked her multiple times.
This had created bad blood between them.
Even though the misunderstanding had been cleared up later, and they had even studied combination techniques due to their complementary martial souls, Yuanen Yehui still took every opportunity to humiliate him without hesitation.
"Xu Yuan, do you know that beauty?"
Wu Siduo pricked up her ears, eavesdropping intently on their conversation.
"Yes, she's a blacksmith—a rare forging prodigy. I once competed with her in Tiandou City."
Tang Wulin also turned his head.
"You definitely won, right, Class President?"
"I won, but she truly has remarkable talent. She's only three years older than us, yet she's already reached the level of a fifth-rank blacksmith. Her Spirit Forging skills are quite advanced, with a stable success rate, and she can successfully Spirit Forge Blue Pregnant Copper."
Tang Wulin's eyes flashed, and he looked at Lin Yuhan with surprise.
This girl was such a skilled blacksmith?
Tang Wulin licked his lips, wanting to challenge her as well.
Lin Yuhan came over to greet Xu Yuan and the others.
The number of people in the hall increased, but under the organization of the officials, everything remained orderly.
At this moment, a loud voice echoed through the hall via a soul-guided amplifier.
"Hello everyone, I'm Pan Wen, Secretary-General of the Federation. I will be leading this exchange trip to the Star Luo Continent. Shortly, please allow the Star Luo delegation to count their numbers and board first onto buses numbered one to twenty-five. Then, our side from the Douluo Continent will board buses twenty-six to fifty-two. Please have each department confirm their numbers now."
Managing a large group was always troublesome, especially since almost everyone present was a soul master and an elite in their respective fields, each with their own way of doing things. Organizing them was extremely challenging.
However, Pan Wen's organizing team was highly capable, and they quickly led the delegation of over two thousand people out of the hotel and onto the buses.
The soul-guided buses headed straight for the dock. After the buses arrived at the destination, Pan Wen once again organized personnel to maintain order at the dock.
Two giant ships were moored at the edge of the dock. Each ship had at least five visible decks, their metallic surfaces gleaming. There were obvious soul-guided weapon turrets installed on them.
The sea was never a peaceful place. Deep-sea soul beasts were numerous, and traveling from the Douluo Continent to the Star Luo Continent required facing several waves of soul beast attacks. Without some form of military deterrence, accidents were bound to happen.
Sea soul beasts were inherently stronger than land soul beasts. Over the past twenty thousand years of soul master development, land soul beasts had been gradually exterminated, and even the Great Star Dou Forest had been largely destroyed, leaving only its core area as a human-restricted zone. However, sea soul beasts had not suffered significant harm.
Retreating into the deep sea, they continued to thrive.
The two ships weren't divided by delegations; instead, both sides were mixed onboard. Each ship carried people from both delegations, and the boarding order had already been arranged.
This was all part of the exchange.
"Hello, Elder Cai."
When boarding, Secretary-General Pan Wen personally approached Elder Cai to greet her.
"Elder Cai, your Shrek Academy has been assigned to the Star Luo Ocean Liner, which belongs to the Star Luo Empire. You'll be boarding alongside members of the Star Luo Royal Family, who have also come to the continent for exchanges. They hope to interact with you during the voyage."
"Oh? Is this the academy that wanted to exchange with us but was rejected?" Elder Cai's words made Pan Wen slightly awkward.
However, true to his politician nature, Pan Wen quickly recovered, laughing heartily. "Perhaps your academy wasn't ready at the time, and the exchange didn't succeed. Isn't this the perfect opportunity to interact on the ship?"
Elder Cai said nothing further.
Her earlier comment wasn't aimed at anyone or meant to highlight anything.
It was simply a casual remark about the relationship between Shrek and the Federation.
A clear sense of distance had been conveyed.
Xu Yuan noticed a group of neatly dressed individuals not far ahead. They wore white uniforms and appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years old. They were likely the students of the Star Luo Royal Academy mentioned by Pan Wen.
However, he wasn't particularly interested in them.
What truly intrigued him were the members of the Monster Academy.
"Class President, are those the people from the Star Luo Royal Academy?" Wu Siduo asked.
Xu Yuan nodded.
"Hmm, they don't look like much. No wonder our academy rejected them." Le Zhengyu struck a flashy pose, shaking his golden hair.
Xu Yuan glanced at him.
"There's no need to go around causing trouble to assert your presence. If you have that much energy, it'd be better spent crafting another piece of battle armor."
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