Chapter 29: Upgrade
Douluo Continent.
Shrek Academy.
After leaving the lecture theater, Fan Lin as usual, went to cultivate in the Boundless training area.
He was nearly on the verge of becoming a Rank 40 Soul Ancestor and he planned to do it before evening so he could use his contribution points to get a ten thousand year old spirit soul from the Shrek.
The Spirit rings were the medium for the transfer of the Petrosapien gift.
So the stronger the spirit ring, the more the portion of his gift he will get.
That's what he thought but Fan Lin didn't know about the disappointment that he was going to face in a few hours.
He was indeed right that the stronger the spirit ring, the more portion of his Petrosapien gift he would get but he had already gotten the full gift.
Fan Lin didn't know the exact abilities of Petrosapien (DAIMONDHEAD) and thought that something more better was lying in wait for him.
It wasn't. There was nothing waiting for him. He had already been granted the full extent of his gift and the rest depended on him.
What he would get from now on would be random. He didn't know this as well.
Soon he will realise this the hard way.
Five hours later.
With his new green coloured soul ring with yellow and purplish stripes, and the aided meditation speed improvement of the Boundless training area, he was on the brink of reaching the Rank 40. A single step more and he will be Rank 40.
He stopped his cultivation at this point or he would passively use the Ice tulip variant Spirit soul to gain the next ring.
He didn't want that.
Fan Lin looked at the time.
It was still afternoon as he didn't spent that much time in the Boundless training area.
He went to find his Lecturer since he didn't know the way of acquiring the Shrek's spirit souls.
....
Outer Courtyard Headmaster's house.
The Lecturer hurriedly came to the Headmaster and entered the house after he got the permission.
"Headmaster..."
"I know, the people watching over him told me already."
The Headmaster interrupted the Lecturer.
'If you knew then you could have just called me on the soul communicator to say whatever you wanted.'
The Lecturer thought while maintaining a straight poker face.
"He came to me for a Spirit Soul using the contribution points of Shrek."
The Lecturer politely spoke.
"Seems like no one told him about the Tower attack, well he doesn't have any friends and I also haven't seen him talk to anyone on the topic of Spirit Souls. Good for us, take me to him."
!!!
"I will use this chance to check his body personally. That would also provide me with a better understanding of him."
'!!!'
The Lecturer nodded and took the Headmaster to the place that was near the inner court and easily reachable by the others.
The Headmaster just internally shook his head at the actions of the Lecturer and quietly followed him.
After a while, they saw Fan Lin in sight as he was looking at the Spirit Tree.
"Student Fan, this is the person in charge of allocating the tower attack chances."
The Lecturer created a fake position for the Headmaster of the Outer Court and introduced him to Fan Lin. Fan Lin gave a small nod to the Headmaster as he recalled the Headmaster as one of the few people who assessed him in the final examinations of Shrek.
"We need to check your body's limit and Spirit Power before deciding if you are worthy of the ten thousand year old spirit soul."
The Headmaster said and gestured for Fan Lin's hand.
Fan Lin obliged and the Headmaster checked his body.
15 minutes later.
The Headmaster looked at Fan Lin. Fan Lin stared at both of them.
"Your body is a little weird, Student Fan. If I were to explain in simple terms. Think of a gold bar and a cup as your physique. Now which one will hold more water. The answer is obviously the cup due to its property as a storage container."
"Your physique is the same. It's weak and generally, the limit of the spirit soul that you can absorb is 21000 years but due to this container like physique of yours that can contain energy, you can potentially absorb a hundred thousand year old spirit soul at ease."
The Headmaster slowly said. Fan Lin nodded at his statement, he had realised that as well, except his energy implosion from the food is a little bit different because that is uncontrolled soul power that he got from his food.
Unlike the controlled soul power that one generally has when absorbing spirit souls.
The Lecturer was in shock at this statement though.
"You knew about this?"
He asked Fan Lin. He knew that Fan Lin's physique was off the charts since he has two three word Battle Armor pieces on him, so in theory Fan Lin could absorb a ten thousand year old spirit soul with ease but this wasn't what he expected.
"Sort of. My Energy Physique is the reason for this."
Fan Lin said in his usual manner.
The Headmaster telepathically silenced the Lecturer and began to speak.
"The second is the matter of your Spirit Power. It's on the boundary of 1900-2000. Your Spirit Power in still in the Spirit Sea Realm, so unfortunately you can not absorb a ten thousand year old spirit soul, or your mind space might be destroyed and you could become deranged."
"Here, go to the Spirit Pagoda and show them this token. This will allow you for tower attack chances. Your Martial Soul doesn't have any requirements on the typing of the spirit souls.
"How high of a spirit soul that you can gain will depend solely on you though."
The Headmaster produced a token from the sleeve and gave it to Fan Lin. He was astonished by his physique and with this, his fear of the uncertain rose even more.
And yet he could not stop himself from helping him a little.
"Tower attack?"
Fan Lin asked, he didn't like those words and the fact that it was connected to the Spirit Pagoda.
"You must have not known."
"The soul skills granted through the Spirit souls are far weaker in comparison with the actual spirit rings but they have the advantage of growth."
"But there are spirit souls that were made with high purity of the soul beasts essence and are stronger than normal spirit souls in the respective ranks by 2-3 times."
"Those high quality spirit souls can be gained in the tower attack."
"Tower attack is simple, you just face a group of virtual soul beasts on every floor, with their ages increasing the more you defeat. The higher you reach, the stronger the soul beasts in their respective floors and the stronger the Spirit Soul that you will gain from them."
The Headmaster patiently explained to Fan Lin in easy to understand words.
Fan Lin looked at him and politely returned the token into his hands.
"I will use my current thousand year old spirit soul since it can provide me with three spirit rings. Thanks for your grace."
He left after saying this, leaving a speechless Lecturer, a concerned Headmaster and two spies who had trouble controlling their laughter seeing how the Headmaster of the outer court got rejected by a kid.
....
Shrek Academy.
"Why did he suddenly leave at the mention of the tower attack?"
"Does he have some way of hiding his actual self?"
"That can't be, I have observed him throughout a year and I know every action that he took in that time. He is a normal human."
"Then why does he only show emotions or act unnaturally when it comes to soul beasts?"
"Maybe his parents or something?"
"Huh?"
"I mean maybe his parents, or relatives or someone he knows is or belongs to soul beasts."
"We have sent someone to check his past from the Tang Sect and he is an orphan from the Glorybound Town. The same town as the child killer, although the child killer is already caught and executed while the whole Wargod Temple underwent a purge for the Evil Soul Master."
"The craze and reverence of the Child killer in the Glorybound Town is really high. One of the possible deductions on the child killer was said to be an outsider who worships the forest and its residents."
"And what are you trying to say?"
"Well, I am not saying that he is the child killer since the evil soul master behind that moniker had died already but I think he was heavily inspired by the various stories of it. You know, the protection of the Forest and its environment that is also a debate of the many smaller factions of the Parliament."
"Maybe that's why. He was still a little kid when it all happened and an orphan at that, I think there is a high chance that he had been delusioned into thinking that hurting the soul beasts is bad or something."
"Maybe he developed a love for their well-being. Children are quite innocent and stupid, believing anything and everything that they feel believable."
"That could also explain his apathy towards others, he childish mindset might have thought that every human is the same for hurting the animals or something along these lines of 'humans are the reason for the decline of soul beasts, humans hateable."
"It can also be that he must have suffered a lot in the orphanage and now doesn't trust humans that much. Maybe the child killer had somehow aided in easing his suffering by either killing the people who had a hand in the poor conditioning of the orphanage."
"Maybe that's why he was influenced by the words of the child killer. Or it could be anything."
"For now, further observation is needed to determine his thoughts. Ask the Lecturer to act as usual and inform all the patrolling students and teachers to increase their vigilance."
"The Tang Sect will also use our best spies to dig out his information."
"Now the meeting is dismissed. I can't believe we are holding a meeting in Seagod pavillion because we can't understand what is going on in the head of an 11 year old."
The Handsome person in the main seat said and disappeared. So did the rest of the Elders of the Seagod Pavillion.
They didn't know just how close they were to the truth of their meeting. Neither did Fan Lin knew that his unorthodox actions has invited some major attraction towards him.
Because being a monster and being abnormal were two different things.
Even if Fan Lin knew, he wouldn't have cared because if they tried to find him, Shi Yun would betray him without any thoughts.
But Fan Lin didn't care that much about it. Everyone has to die one day. More so when they betray him.
....
Fan Lin returned to the Boundless training area and meditated like nothing happened.
His mind was full of murderous thoughts that he used his all to hide from the Headmaster and the Lecturer.
He suppressed his emotions, cleansed his mind and entered the dead calm state to avoid wasting his time and emotions on the situation.
Even though he proclaimed that he would change, some things were hard to forget and change didn't happen in a day.
After knowing his sprit power, he had decided against buying another spirit soul since it was a waste in the long run.
His low spirit power made him unable to absorb a strong spirit soul.
A soul master could only absorb a limited number of Spirit Souls to begin with. He already had two and adding another one, that too a weaker one at that, wasn't worth it for now.
He would just make do with the current Spirit soul of his and planned to get the hundred thousand year old spirit soul when he is Rank 50 Soul King.
'I hope my Spirit Power could be enough to accommodate a hundred thousand year old spirit soul by then.'
A hundred thousand year old red spirit soul could get him around 5 red spirit rings which would be enough for him till the Titled Douluo Rank.
The various ranks of Spirit Souls can bestow a Spirit Master with one or more Spirit Rings:
• +10 years Spirit Soul: Can bestow maximum one White Spirit Ring.
• +100 years Spirit Soul: Can bestow maximum two Yellow Spirit Rings.
• +1000 years Spirit Soul: Can bestow maximum three Purple Spirit Rings.
• +10,000 years Spirit Soul: Can bestow maximum four Black Spirit Rings.
• +100,000 years Spirit Soul: Can bestow maximum four to five Red Spirit Rings.
According to this simple list that he saw on the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters, Fan Lin paved his new plan.
'If only I have my full memories of my creations, I wouldn't have this much problem in getting rid of the world.'
'Maybe that's why I don't have them.'
'But I can just learn it again.'
'For the moment, I should not bring up anything related to toxin with me. My healing toxins should be able able to combine to form a Psuedo DS at the least.'
'See, I have memories of using my healing toxins and DS's yet I don't have my 99% of my healing knowledge.'
'I have recreated some of the healers but I feel like I am being played.'
"..."
Fan Lin thought while looking up at the newly floating purple soul ring in front of him.
He was on the brink of breaking through and just required a moment of cultivation to reach the Rank 40.
He wouldn't have normally thought about using any of his past life stuff at Shrek more so after he said he wanted to restart his life, he even purposefully left them before coming to Shrek but after learning about his new soul skill, he realised that he really needed some extra help.
He also realised that he might be becoming to reliant on the God when he waited for the transparent panel to show his changed skill for half and hour.
The God must have been playing with him.
[I did no such thing.]
Fan Lin now looked back at the past year's worth of cultivation practice all for the sake of rest of the Petrosapien gift and realised that he might have been a little greedy and too hasty after tasting a bit of the power ups that he got.
And he might have already gotten the gift completely.
Maybe the God had planned this from the beginning and lured him into the trap of thinking that he hadn't, just so that he would get all excited and meditate hard like a puppet.
[Like I said, I didn't.]
So all in all, he decided to, once again, not trust that God and live his life with his own efforts.
[I said I didn't do anything!]
Not like he had any other choice after he understood his fourth soul skill, he had to revert back to some of the methods of his Gloomy Forest self.
[Hymns of Aurora : The song of the frost sirens will cease away your loneliness.
Increases cultivation speed by 35% in snowy areas.
Active skill. ]
His fourth soul skill was a simple skill that raised his cultivation speed in the chilly area filled with ice and snow.
In cultivation terms, areas rich in ice elements.
It was an active skill and needed to be activated before use.
And it wasn't a bad skill considering it's a thousand year old purple soul skill.
But...
"It's okay. I will get a really good soul skill from my hundred thousand year old spirit soul next time. I will."
He consoled himself and begin to check the drop rate in his cultivation speed after his rank upgrade.
Once again, his cultivation speed had lowered by around 49%.
This was good compared to his last 58% cultivation drop. At least this time, the cultivation speed was close to half.
'I need to quickly raise the age of my first Spirit Soul to thousand year old spirit beasts.'
But all this ultimately wasn't beneficial to him in anyway. His low cultivation speed had already dropped by half and his cultivation requirements has increased due to his higher ranks.
Fan Lin silently got up and left for his dorm since it was going to be night-time in a few hours.
The current scenario was out of his hands and the only thing he can do was to get ready if something like this were to repeat itself.
He had learnt his lesson this time and he needed to plan for outcomes like this, outcomes where he would get unneeded soul skills.
He was a Spirit Ancestor by cultivation and he only had one single attack type soul skill.
'Hmm.'
'Now that I think about, what about the passive optimizations to my Blue Silver Grass.'
Fan Lin had a sudden thought while returning towards his working students dormitory.
He knew that every added spirit ring added a passive bonus to his martial soul evolving it into a better form.
He has just never checked his Blue Silver Grass after he got his second soul skill, the reasons being obvious. He got too dependent on it and only used it.
His Crystallokinesis was a part of him, so much that it felt like second nature when he used it. Just like his poisons.
Adding to the fact that Crystallokinesis was too op of a skill, he never had the need to his other strengths like his physique or martial soul.
But Crystallokinesis had a major weakness, it was a completed skill, it was already at its peak and it won't become stronger with Fan Lin.
It didn't even reply on soul power to begin with and hence shared no soul power enhancements.
The durability of his crystals will never change, the only thing will improve was the range and amount of how much crystals he could produce.
Fan Lin knew that it was strong now but what about later. This is a cultivation world and he won't be shocked if someone had ways to shatter space much less his crystals.
Due to all this, he hoped to get another attack or defence or any useful soul ability but the results were disappointing.
Just like his endeavours to Shrek where he thought that Shrek was the safest place for him to grow and decide his future development.
Now he knew that Shrek was doomed someday and it feels like the same situation has happened with his fourth soul skill.
Now onto his martial soul Blue Silver Grass, depending on how he was to use it, his martial soul was a weapon to be used in battle.
He turned his hands and a small Blue Silver Grass without any single changes to it appeared in front of his eyes.
There were no changes.
'Did it revert?'
'Maybe they are not visible.'
Fan Lin thought while pinching his martial soul and it was smooth, stretchy and weak. If he used just a tiny bit more force, it would snap and he wasn't even using a 1000th of his strength.
'I am pretty sure that there were changes in it before. Did my third or fourth skill acquisition revert it?'
'Or something else?'
Fan Lin came to his dormitory and began cleaning. He was calm.
He would have gotten disappointed with his soul skills and other things but he knew about the Blue Silver Grass and what it was known as.
He also understood his situation and how his life actually revolved around the whims of a God who may or may not have done something to him already.
[...]
Being disappointed in that now would just be stupid of him as his martial soul doesn't have anything to do with his conditions.
Because when Fan Lin thought deeper, he realised that his first three soul skills were the gifts of God and had actually replaced the spirit soul abilities that he acquired.
He actually never got a proper soul skill of the Douluo world and hence it must have something to do with it as well. Maybe the complete Petrosapien gift did something.
He could only guess. He wasn't an expert in the soul master field.
As for his fourth ring, it was trash, his disappointment was immense and he was sure that it wasn't the fault of his martial soul or spirit soul, something else was responsible here.
"And I just realised, even the all purpose Crystallokinesis can't help me in cleaning this room."
'On that note, I need to keep my emotions in check. I would rather have others know me as a apathetic cold blooded stupid kid than a mass genocider.'
'My future plans could get inhibited by my actions in the present.'
'My actions might have been weird to them but it's not like I could hide it forever. Someday, someone will know it but I have to delay it as far away in the future as I could.'
'I also can't change my behaviour now as that would be suspicious instead.'
'Plus even if they know, it won't matter that much... if I am strong enough to escape without turning everything dead around me, that is.'
'And for that, I need to increase my cultivation base.'
'It all comes down to cultivation. It's a world of cultivation afterall.'
"Let's combine all four of my spirit rings and see what I get. A new soul skill or just an increment in my usual abilities. Or maybe both."
One yellow, one green, two purple; four rings rose from Fan Lin's body as he was cleaning under the bed.
They seamlessly combined to create a new Translucent green spirit ring with a variety of flora on it.
(Picture in the comments)
Fan Lin felt the increment in his spirit soul abilities as his first and fourth abilities were enhanced by three times.
I lost half my cultivation speed but now it has increased by 1.5 of the previous speed.
"... It indeed is 'when there's a will, there's a way."
"Now I just need to clean the windows and check my newly improved floral Green Spirit ring with varieties of flora on the Boundless training area."
[He actually says this.]
In an hour, Fan Lin cleaned his room properly and went into the forest to bath.
Bath in his blood that is.
Now that he has a way to stop his energy implosions, he wanted to further increase the cultivation speed of his.
The protagonist was coming to Shrek two years later and with the protagonist will come the protagonist trials and also the downfall of Shrek so that the protagonist can revive it later on.
'This should be how the prestige and story of the protagonist should go on.'
'When did I start calling him the protagonist?'
Fan Lin wondered.
'If I became strong, I don't have to use my poisons.'
'I should also leave the Shrek when the protagonist comes but before then, I should reap everything that I can.'
'Currently, Shrek is the best place to cultivate in the whole Douluo Continent that I can use without any form of restrictions or compromise.'
'But before that...'
Fan Lin went outside the Shrek Academy.
He brought 50 kgs of fruits and returned to the Shrek Academy.
'To hell with fines!'
He went to the forest, splashed water on his body to get rid of the dust and dirt that he got when cleaning his room, ate all the food and began his Energy combustion method.
5 hours later.
'That's not fair. How can my problems upgrade as well?'
Fan Lin was once again lying in the pool of his blood while nearly two thirds of his body was torn apart due to the sudden energy burst that he experienced followed by smaller one.
"Where did it go wrong?"
He asked himself while looking at his hands which had lost most of its flesh and tendons. His remaining intact body was still shivering a little as thousands of smaller energy bursts were happening inside his body even now.
He had prepared and calculated everything to the last detail. He even included his increased cultivation and soul power, his enhanced Green and the amount of food that he was going along with the nutrition and soul power that he would get.
He had planned everything and everything was going really smoothly in the beginning as well. With the energy from food and his enhanced Green ring, his cultivation speed skyrocketed and surpassed his previous speed by more than 10 times.
It was all going along perfectly, emphasis on 'was' because after a certain point, it all happened in a flash.
He was calmly relishing in the new cultivation speed and the next moment, his body had burst into explosion. An explosion so severe that it nearly vaporised a third of his Enhanced Energy body that also has the passive enhancement of the Petrosapien physique.
"Just where did it go wrong?"
Fan Lin whispered again while flapping his legs to check their condition.
His Energy implosions had upgraded themselves and became Energy bursts which were basically energy bombs, capable of directly vaporising his body. There was no blood, no flesh, no bones and no tendons. All vaporized into nothingness leaving behind some smoke hues.
"This is the third time already. Do I need to need to upgrade my Energy Body to thousand year old spirit ability or maybe to ten thousand years?"
"I am once again crippled for several months at the least. I haven't even healed from the last time as well. I never learn."
"... Let's put this method in hold for now. I have already confirmed all my current abilities and it's still not possible to directly derive the soul power from everything that I eat."
'How much of my lifespan did I lose now?'
"I should just use the Energy body skill for now to cultivate for a few years and try this method once I am stronger."
"Although I don't think that I would need to use this when I am strong. There would be no reason to."
'Although I think I would die from old age of I used it a few more times.'
Fan Lin self talked to keep his mind together.
"I shouldn't eat for now as well. Cultivation alone should be enough to provide me with enough energy."
Fan Lin stayed in the pool of his blood for a few more hours as new blood kept regenerating and gushing out of his body for hours while his body kept healing despite the constant damages due to the remaining energy bursts.
"At least it's an upgrade from the energy implosions. From small explosions to implosions and now energy bursts. What's next? Fission? Nope right?... right?"
He laughed a little as he got out of the blood pool, his body devoid of any injuries.
"And weirdly enough, this blood doesn't thicken even after a few hours."
He took out a bucket from his storage rings and scooped out a bucket full of blood. He then splashed it to the nearby area.
He repeated that again and again till the surroundings area was soaked in his blood.
"It's quite far away from the dormitory so no students should come here. Didn't I think the same way previously?"
He said while changing into a fresh set of clothes as going outside the forest without clothes might give some unnecessary misunderstandings thus leading to complaint from the others.
He glanced the area for one last time before slowly walking towards his dorm with his calm green eyes.
Unbeknownst to himself, his eyes had changed its colour.
(The same green eyes as the DAIMONDHEAD's in Alien force.)
"Why does my blood not smell like actual blood. It actually has a sweet and savory smell to it. I wanna taste it. Am I awakening to something while doing this nearly masochistic act?"
*Chuckle*
He chuckled at his thinking while a smile formed on his face as he remembered a certain memory of his past life.
"At least I have some of my memories to reminiscent about."
Meanwhile two people were watching his actions with horrified expression and just above the two, two more people were watching him with thousands of thoughts flowing into their heads.
The first two were the students who were tasked to watch over Fan Lin.
The people above the two, also hiding themselves from the two, were the Headmaster of the Outer Court and Another Elder from the Inner Court who went by the name of Elder Shi.
...
The Headmaster of the outer court was having a chat with the inner court Elder Zhuo Shi when the students who were spying on Fan Lin messaged him that Fan Lin exploded.
The Headmaster couldn't comprehend the situation and immediately came to see the situation himself. Elder Shi followed behind him.
What they saw after reaching the forest shocked them to the bone.
Fan Lin was practicing some deadly method!
They were sure that they saw Fan Lin broken down like a doll and lying weakly on the ground while his body was disintegrating into multiple places.
They thought that Fan Lin was a goner but they experienced the horror with their own eyes as Fan Lin didn't die but kept healing despite the disintegration.
He should have been dead. Heck even two thirds of his body was entirely missing!
And yet there he was!
Comfortably lying in his pool of blood, alive and well enough to giggle and laugh while talking in an unknown language.
As time passed, they saw him simply get up and leave the area after splashing his blood to his surroundings and changing into a new pair of clothing.
There wasn't even a single scratch of his body. It was completely healed to the point that it felt full of vitality and life.
It was like he was born just a few moments ago.
They turned to look at each other and the horror in their eyes could be easily felt.
"He isn't an Evil Soul Master." [Headmaster]
"I know." [Elder Shi]
"... That... what happened? How did he do it? How can he even be so calm?" [Headmaster]
The Headmaster of the outer court muttered, shock still visible in his eyes.
"It must not be his first time. He even seemed prepared for it. He might have used this method to raise his cultivation before. Maybe that's the reason for his higher cultivation." [Elder Shi]
"That just makes him more dangerous then." [Headmaster]
"He had strong physique, fast cultivation speed and now this level of fortitude. He indeed will be strong later on." [Elder Shi]
"Do we really have to isolate him? His nature is too unknown and every single bit of help that we are providing could later come to haunt us in the future." [Headmaster]
"You are too bipolar and paranoid lately. Not everyone introverted and bloodthirsty is going to be the next Yun Tianheng or Ha Luosa. He is still a kid, even though he doesn't show that much emotions for others but that could be because of various things, pinpointing his reasoning might be hard. But you can't use this as a justification for isolating him." [Elder Shi]
"It must be just that he doesn't care about the others. He is an orphan and something must have happened to make him wary of the others. It's quite common." [Elder Shi]
"And it isn't like he doesn't possess emotions. He was giggling and laughing by himself while bathing in the blood. So it's not like he doesn't have emotions, he just doesn't have someone he can share them with, or maybe show his true self to." [Elder Shi]
"He is a little child, he just needs to find someone who can break the shell that he had created around him and at that time I don't think most of your fears will remain." [Elder Shi]
"You know quite a lot? I have observed him for the past year and he isn't as simple to change his mind over something easily." [Headmaster]
"I just said what I saw tonight and that's enough. What he needs is not isolation or distrust but the assurance that he isn't alone in this world." [Elder Shi]
"You sound like you know what you are talking about? I know that kid, he has no one in his eyes. Everyone around him feels beneath him. That's what his eyes tell." [Elder Shi]
"Hmph! I do have experience in this kind of things. Don't forget that I raised an introverted Ice Prince before. I also have lots of disciples and my disciples have disciples of their own. So considering this, I am superior than you." [Elder Shi]
"... Your disciple left though... sorry, I didn't mean to." [Headmaster]
"He didn't leave me. He left this place, due to this place." [Elder Shi]
Elder Shi said that and become silent. The Headmaster of the Outer Court also remained silent.
"And to your question of ' If us aiding him in his cultivation is going to bite us?' I thought I already stated before and you know it as well. That kid has a strong physique, excellent cultivation speed and fortitude enough that even I don't have the guts to do that." [Elder Shi]
"He doesn't need Shrek to become dangerous. He requires no one but his own self from this point on."
"And if you are really worried that he might turn dark later on, then teach him not to. Don't forget, we are teachers and instructors, our job should be to educate students to not choose the wrong path, not complain about it day and night." [Elder Shi]
"Or does wasting your time observing that kid had made you so afraid of him that you have forgotten about it already?" [Elder Shi]
"Regardless of whatever it is, buckle up and act like your position. If you think he is bad, educate him. If you think he is going to turn into something worst, then eradicate the darkness in his heart and trust him to choose the right path." [Elder Shi]
"No one is born perfect and no one had decided their final goals in their mother's womb! Things change and that change is life. How you about? Can you say you didn't do anything wrong when you were young? Can you say you are spotless and had never thought about bad things? Can you say that you have never made any mistakes in your youth?" [Elder Shi]
"Give him time, he looks like a smart lad, once he founds something or someone that he didn't want to lose, he will change." [Elder Shi]
"As for the rest of the "I don't know about the future crap, shut it under your... and use your brains on good things like thinking about the various problems of the outer court facilities instead of stalking little children." [Elder Shi]
After some silence, Elder Shi seemed to have limitless energy as he rained down insults after insults on the Headmaster of the outer court who could do nothing but listen silently.
After some time.
"So you are angry that I mentioned your disciple." [Headmaster]
"You!..." [Elder Shi]
And then Elder Shi embarrassed Headmaster of the outer court till the morning.
No one cared about the two students who were tasked to spy Fan Lin. They have seen one of the most horrifying sights in their life and might require therapy.
Except no one seemed to care about them.
.....
Chapter 60.