Of course, this didn't mean Lu Tianyu couldn't escape his current predicament; it simply meant that opening the Eight Gates would take him out of the realm of mere sparring.
Thinking this, Lu Tianyu could only resort to techniques he hadn't used much before, channeling all his soul power into his body with a thought.
"Iron Block - Steel."
After Lu Tianyu unleashed one of the six techniques, Iron Block, Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing's attacks rained down on him.
Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu's attacks shattered the Blue Silver Grass vines binding Lu Tianyu, but they felt like they were attacking steel.
"Alright, you little brats, this sparring session ends here..."
Flander, who had been watching for a long time, finally spoke. He could clearly see that Lu Tianyu was intentionally restraining himself from using other, more powerful soul techniques.
Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing stopped their onslaught on Lu Tianyu. Zhu Zhuqing looked at Flander with a puzzled expression, then at Xiao Wu.
At this moment, Lu Tianyu also deactivated his Martial Soul Possession state. When Tang San withdrew his Martial Soul, the Blue Silver Grass vines that had remained on Lu Tianyu's body also disappeared.
Only then did Zhu Zhuqing get a clear look at Lu Tianyu's appearance, discovering that he was actually a young man about their age, with a gentle smile on his handsome face and his eyes narrowed, completely devoid of the chilling aura he had exuded earlier.
"You brat, let's see how I deal with you today..."
Lu Tianyu walked up to Xiao Wu and grabbed the rabbit earring on her head. When he used his Iron Body technique earlier, Xiao Wu had been attacking with great enthusiasm, and her attacks were all aimed at "vital points."
Xiao Wu's rabbit ears weren't just any ordinary rabbit ears. After Lu Tianyu caught them, she hurriedly begged for forgiveness, saying, "Brother Xiaoyu, it was my fault! Who told you to attack me without even asking what happened?" "
Besides, Brother Xiaoyu's newly acquired soul skill is so powerful! It can even defend against my and Zhu Qing's combined attack!"
Back at the Notting Junior Soul Master Academy, when Lu Tianyu caught her rabbit ears, Xiao Wu would act this way, flattering him while praising his strength to gain his forgiveness.
But Xiao Wu's coquettishness caused everyone present, except Tang San, to look at Lu Tianyu with utter astonishment, though for different reasons.
Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and Oscar were surprised that Lu Tianyu seemed to know Xiao Wu quite well.
Flander was surprised that Lu Tianyu could defend against Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing's soul skills; he had never seen Lu Tianyu use such a defensive soul skill before.
Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing were surprised that the usually lively and carefree Xiao Wu would actually fawn over a boy and say flattering things. As
Xiao Wu spoke, she kept glancing at Tang San, who was usually the one to bail her out.
"Xiao Yu, don't blame Xiao Wu, she knows she was wrong."
After hearing Tang San's words, Lu Tianyu smiled knowingly. Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and Oscar exclaimed in surprise.
"This humanoid spirit beast can actually smile so genuinely! I'm not seeing things, am I, Boss Dai? Little Oscar…?"
Ma Hongjun screamed, immediately attracting everyone's attention.
Ning Rongrong couldn't help but say, "He… he's the humanoid spirit beast you were talking about. He looks about the same as us."
Tang San and Xiao Wu knew that Lu Tianyu was also training at Shrek Academy, and when Dai Mubai and Oscar mentioned that one of the four students at the academy was a humanoid spirit beast, they had been speculating whether it was Lu Tianyu.
Lu Tianyu glanced at Ma Hongjun with some displeasure. He knew these guys called him a humanoid soul beast in private, but for Ma Hongjun to do it in front of him and so many people was too blatant.
More importantly, Xiao Wu knew about it, and he wondered what that mischievous girl would do to tease him in the future.
Thinking of this, Lu Tianyu immediately felt a desire for revenge. He turned to Flander with a smile and said, "Dean..."
"I feel my soul power is about to break through to level thirty-five. I request that Teacher Zhao's gravity training class be extended by one hour."
"Level thirty-five..."
Everyone present exclaimed in surprise upon hearing Lu Tianyu's words. Tang San and Xiao Wu knew that half a year ago, when Lu Tianyu wrote to Grandmaster and them, he said that his soul power had reached level thirty-three.
In the past six months, he had not only increased by one level, but had even touched the threshold of level thirty-five.
As for Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing, they were genuinely shocked, as Lu Tianyu was at most a year older than them.
At thirteen years old, Lu Tianyu had already raised his soul power to level thirty-five—that was a true monster.
Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and Oscar all knew that Lu Tianyu's soul power had only broken through to level thirty-four three months ago, and now he was about to break through again. Was this even fair?
Flander was initially startled by Lu Tianyu's words, then laughed heartily, "Good, good! I agree to this on behalf of Bear Bear."
After hearing Flander's words, Lu Tianyu stood contentedly beside Oscar, awaiting Flander's reprimand.
Dai Mubai suddenly remembered how Zhao Wuji had trained him three months ago, and his face instantly turned pale.
Turning his head, Oscar glared fiercely at Ma Hongjun, gritting his teeth and saying, "Fatty, this isn't over."
Oscar also reacted and turned to Lu Tianyu with great urgency, saying, "Xiaoyu, you're kidding, right? Hahaha, you just broke through to level 34 three months ago, how could you break through to level 35 so quickly?"
Lu Tianyu shrugged and said, "I don't know either. This morning when I was cultivating my soul power, I felt some kind of constraint. Maybe I'm just perceiving it wrong."
Everyone present understood what Lu Tianyu meant by the feeling of constraint on soul power circulation. For any soul master, the most desirable feeling was the one
that indicated their soul power was about to break through, but they were also very afraid of encountering this feeling.
If they couldn't break through this constraint on soul power circulation, then the soul master's soul power would be stuck at this point for life, unable to progress any further.
Flander's hawk-like eyes were fixed on Ma Hongjun. From the month before Lu Tianyu entered Shrek Academy last year until now, this little fat boy's soul power had only increased by two levels.
Lu Tianyu increased his soul power by nearly five levels in just one year. Although two of those levels were gained from absorbing and refining soul rings, every soul master experiences some increase in soul power after absorbing a soul ring. Ma Hongjun
trembled with fear under Flander's oppressive gaze.
"My name is Flander, the dean of Shrek Academy. On behalf of Shrek Academy, I welcome you."
Flander withdrew his gaze and announced loudly, "Later, go to Teacher Li, who is in charge of finances, to pay your tuition of one hundred gold soul coins. Now, let's begin class."
"On the battlefield, support-type Soul Masters are the most vulnerable targets, so they must have exceptional escape skills. Oscar, Ning Rongrong, step forward."
Oscar and Ning Rongrong had guessed it was related to them when Flander mentioned support-type Soul Masters, so they weren't surprised to hear Flander call their names and took the first step.
Flander looked at Oscar and said, "Oscar, lead the way. If you can't finish twenty laps, you don't need to eat dinner."
Oscar sighed helplessly in his heart, gave Lu Tianyu a somewhat resentful look, and then said to Ning Rongrong, "Come with me."
With that, he led Ning Rongrong out of the academy, and Ning Rongrong followed closely behind Oscar as they left the academy.
Flander continued, "Your classes begin tonight. If you have any questions, you can ask Dai Mubai. Dismissed."
"Brother Xiaoyu, have you really reached level thirty-five? I remember you wrote to me half a year ago saying your soul power was level thirty-three!"
Xiaowu rushed to Lu Tianyu's side to ask as soon as Flander finished speaking. Lu Tianyu shrugged and smiled, "Half a year has passed. Isn't it natural for my soul power to have improved?"
Zhu Zhuqing had originally intended to leave, but stopped after hearing Xiaowu and Lu Tianyu's conversation.
Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun were basically immune to Lu Tianyu's outrageous words and didn't see anything wrong with it.
Flander looked at Tang San and said, "Your name is Tang San, right? Come with me alone for a moment."
Tang San glanced at Flander before looking at Lu Tianyu and said, "Xiaoyu, please look after Xiaowu for me. I'll be right back."
"Go ahead, go ahead. With me here, Xiaowu won't get lost,"
Lu Tianyu waved his hand and replied with a smile to Tang San.
After hearing Lu Tianyu's words, Xiao Wu blushed and said, "Pah, pah, pah, Brother Xiaoyu, what nonsense are you talking about? I'm not from a mistress's family."
Lu Tianyu chuckled and didn't argue with Xiao Wu anymore. Instead, he focused his attention on Zhu Zhuqing, who had a cold face, and said, "Xiao Wu, you didn't even tell me you were ending things with your new friend."
Xiao Wu then reacted and said, "Her name is Zhu Zhuqing, and we only met yesterday."
Lu Tianyu looked at Zhu Zhuqing with a warm smile on his face, slightly opened his narrowed eyes, and said, "Hello, Zhu Zhuqing, my name is Lu Tianyu, a level 34 Power Attack type Battle Soul Master."
"Hello, Zhu Zhuqing, Martial Soul Nether Cat, level 28 Agility Attack type Battle Soul Master."
Lu Tianyu nodded slightly and said, "You are the fastest Agility Attack type Soul Master I have ever met. Even a level 32 Agility Attack type Soul Master isn't as fast as you."
Zhu Zhuqing was really not good at communicating with people, and after hearing Lu Tianyu's words, she just nodded awkwardly.
Just as the atmosphere was about to become awkward, Xiao Wu said excitedly, "Brother Xiao Yu, how about we go shopping in Soto City? Xiao San and I have been shopping for three days and there are still so many places we haven't been to."
"Shopping is nowhere near as worthwhile as cultivation, and tonight we're going to the Soto Grand Arena, which is much more interesting than shopping."
Ever since Lu Tianyu went shopping with Xiao Wu at her request, he never dared to readily agree to this girl's temptations again.
Fortunately, Tang San returned to the training ground at this moment. Lu Tianyu said to Tang San, "I'm going to do physical training now. You guys can wander around the academy on your own."
Xiao Wu asked with some doubt after hearing Lu Tianyu's words, "Physical training is so tiring, what's the point? Why not take us to Soto City for fun?"
Lu Tianyu looked at Xiao Wu and said, "There's no other way. My innate talent is not as good as yours. I can only make up for the gap between us through hard work."
"Xiao Yu, doesn't your conscience hurt when you say that? You're a genius with innate level nine soul power!"
Xiao Wu argued after hearing Lu Tianyu's words. Zhu Zhuqing, who was silently watching Lu Tianyu, Tang San, and Xiao Wu, looked at Lu Tianyu with great surprise.
She thought that Lu Tianyu's soul power was just over level five when he awakened his martial soul, but she didn't expect that Lu Tianyu's innate soul power was level nine, one level higher than her soul power when she awakened her martial soul.
Lu Tianyu pursed his lips after hearing Xiao Wu's words and said, "Easy for you to say. You all have innate full soul power. I need to work hard for a year to reach the level you had when your soul power was awakened."
"Not to mention future cultivation, I have no choice but to spend more time and put in more effort. I'm not going to chat with you anymore, bye-bye."
After saying that, Lu Tianyu turned around and left the playground, heading towards Li Yusong's residence. As soon as Lu Tianyu entered Li Yusong's residence, Li Yusong said with great joy, "Xiaoyu, you said you sensed the shackles of soul power, right?"
Lu Tianyu looked at Li Yusong's beard, which was almost flying up, and nodded gently, "Yeah, I feel like I can break through within a week."
"Great, great, hahaha. Keep it up, you must surpass Xiong Xiazi's disciple."
This year was the happiest year for Li Yusong in all his years of teaching at Shrek Academy. He could stand up straight and speak in front of Flander and Zhao Wuji.
Next, when Li Yusong was feeding Lu Tianyu sparring at his request, he felt as happy as if he himself had broken through to the Soul Saint realm.
Because he had to attend class at the Soto Grand Arena that evening, Lu Tianyu trained with Li Yusong until 3 PM before returning to his dormitory to rest.
He didn't arrive at the training ground until evening assembly, where Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, Oscar, Tang San, Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ning Rongrong were already there.
Soon, Flander also arrived. He first made an example of Oscar, making him run twenty laps around the village.
Then he said that Ning Rongrong hadn't trained according to his instructions that day. As the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, how could Ning Rongrong possibly listen to Flander?
She immediately started arguing with Flander. Lu Tianyu felt like he was watching a live broadcast, only lacking a small stool and some melon seeds.
Finally, Ning Rongrong, angered by Flander, ran out of Shrek Academy crying, and then Flander led everyone towards Soto City.
On the way, Flander had Dai Mubai explain the situation of the Soto Grand Arena to Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Zhu Zhuqing. The group walked slowly, arriving in Soto City just as the arena was opening.
Dai Mubai was handling everything from leading the younger students to register for Iron Soul Badges to introducing the different types of Souls, while Lu Tianyu went to register for one-on-one duels.
Seeing Dai Mubai encouraging Tang San and Xiao Wu to register for two-on-two duels, Lu Tianyu couldn't help but say, "Mubai, should we also sign up for a two-on-two to help you rank up?"