The Evil Soul Master is actually myself

"But he's my friend, and Tang Dong, don't be so temperamental. You always get along with him the moment you meet. Don't you know that A-Ming is being accommodating to you?" Huo Yuhao retorted loudly, a rare occurrence for him.

After a moment of silence, a resentful voice said, "Huo Yuhao, how dare you yell at me! We made a three-point agreement before, that you couldn't bring strangers in without my permission. Now what? My words don't count anymore, do they?"

"I... Brother Ming isn't an outsider, and besides, this isn't just your dorm." Huo Yuhao was speechless.

"I don't care, you guys go outside and talk!" Tang Wutong said, resorting to shameless behavior.

Su Ming, who had heard everything clearly outside the door, had a strange expression on his face. "Are you guys putting on a family ethics skit?"

Click!

The door opened, and Huo Yuhao walked out with a wry smile. He said helplessly to Su Ming, "Let's find somewhere outside to talk. There's nothing I can do; I can't win against him."

Hearing this, Su Ming said with exasperation, "This dormitory belongs to everyone. Why is he being unreasonable? Why not strike hard at someone who's so rude? Isn't the point of learning martial arts to teach people like him to reason with you in a calm and reasonable way?"

"Oh, well, I only listened to his reasoning because I couldn't beat him," Huo Yuhao said irritably, his expression strange. "Besides... I've seen you go easy on A-Ming all the time, so I always feel like something bad will happen if I bully him."

Su Ming was a little surprised. As expected of the chosen one, his sense of smell was indeed sharp.

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Brother Ming, what did you want to see me about?" Huo Yuhao changed the subject, as it was impolite to talk about others behind their backs.

"Aren't you a Soul Guidance Department student? Can you design something like this?" Su Ming handed his design drawings to Huo Yuhao. Fortunately, he studied mechanical design, so at least he could draw concept drawings.

I really can't understand how those time travelers can come up with an idea on a whim and have their subordinates immediately create a machine. The final product might be completely different from the original idea before it's even translated into a concept design.

Huo Yuhao took the drawing, opened it, and after a moment of silence, said awkwardly but politely, "I'm just a beginner, I can't figure out such a complicated structure."

"However, I know a senior brother who is already a fourth-level Soul Master. He should be able to create the function you requested," Huo Yuhao suggested.

Su Ming was surprised to hear this, then he seemed to remember who Huo Yuhao was talking about. If it was him, he should be able to figure it out.

Su Ming felt a pang of regret, realizing he had overlooked such a person.

It seems that Huo Yuhao can't be contacted too often right now. Tang San's daughter is by his side, and if he keeps running around here, he'll be coming into Tang San's sights, which isn't good for him. Who knows when that old silver coin will scheme against him.

However, Su Ming desperately needed a tool to realize his ideas about soul tools.

Fortunately, Huo Yuhao promptly recommended an excellent backup option to him.

"Junior brother, what do you need me for?" He Caitou, who was designing a soul tool in the laboratory, was called out by Huo Yuhao with a blank look on his face.

Su Ming carefully examined the dark-skinned "elder brother" in front of him. He was tall and had a mature and honest face. Anyone who didn't know him would think he was an adult. Who would have thought that he was only fourteen or fifteen years old?

Su Ming focused his gaze on He Caitou's striking bald head, his eyes revealing approval. This was truly a master of design!

"Senior Brother, it's like this, a friend of mine wants to design a soul tool." Huo Yuhao quickly explained Su Ming's request.

"I'll cover all the material and labor costs; you won't work for nothing," Su Ming added.

He Caitou took the concept drawing from him, examined it carefully, and said with a hint of surprise in his eyes, "Although it's not particularly innovative, it's still quite interesting. I'll take this order. Come and pick it up in three days."

“Okay, I’ll wait until you’ve sorted it out.” Su Ming nodded in agreement. He wasn’t in a hurry to build a relationship. He would start talking about it when the Shrek Seven Devils were being selected, and then the relationship would be different.

After dealing with this matter, Su Ming didn't chat with Huo Yuhao for long before taking his leave, as he still had a lot to do.

After all, in order to compete for talent and lay the foundation for his own power, he had to go to great lengths to poach talent from Shrek Academy.

Just like the Tang Clan in the original timeline, how did they manage to rise from decline to the point where only Tang Ya remained, and then rise again to become a behemoth in just one generation?

Shrek's vast talent pool played a crucial role in this success.

Unfortunately, the Su family is not the Tang Sect, so they cannot recruit talents on such a large scale. In a sense, Shrek Academy belongs to the three great empires, but even more so to Tang San!

Therefore, Su Ming could only sneak into Tang Sanwan's restaurant through roundabout means to steal some scraps.

"It's so hard to be reborn into this era. Shrek Academy belongs to Tang San, the Yin-Yang Ice and Fire Spring belongs to Tang San, and the Child of Destiny also belongs to Tang San! Everything belongs to him," Su Ming muttered to himself.

Looking around, he realized that almost every opportunity with any benefit had been claimed by Tang San. No wonder so few fanfiction writers in his previous life wrote well about the "Peerless" series. As his cultivation level increased and he came into contact with higher and higher levels, he deeply felt an invisible constraint.

For several days in a row, Su Ming was busy, and the day of the freshman elimination competition was getting closer and closer.

The students were all in an uproar when they learned that the assessment format had changed drastically.

Some were brimming with confidence, feeling fearless. Others were full of tricks, preparing to find a powerful ally to compete for the championship.

Some people are still worried, since a large number of commoners make up Shrek Academy. According to past data, most commoners are eliminated in the freshman elimination round. This time, the difficulty has increased dramatically, and the commoners' enrollment rate may decline further.

The most fatal flaw is the team-based format, which severely polarizes participants. Most unqualified ordinary players struggle to find teams and may not even qualify to participate.

“Shrek Academy is really going downhill. Without our annual sponsorship, how can it be the world’s number one academy?” These were the complaints of some incompetent sons of businessmen.

"Alas, my parents sent me to Shrek Academy, only to find myself destined for elimination. How can I face them when I go home? Ten gold coins have gone down the drain." These were the sighs of ordinary people from humble backgrounds.

Protests quickly arose among the students, who even went to the dean to complain. They said they could accept a seven-person team selection process, but did not want to participate in the competition as a team.

"So, you're still hoping the academy will assign you to strong teams to balance the power? That's incredibly unfair to those powerful teams, and what contribution would you even make? A seven-person team is all you want to do, you think!"

Shrek reacted quickly and responded forcefully; the person who spoke was Zhou Yi.

These words not only caused an uproar among the students, but their influence even spread to parents outside the college, with people coming and going from the college every day demanding an explanation.

Chapter Seventy-Seven Hype

Annoyed by the parents, Shrek Academy simply shut down the school completely, citing that it had "disrupted the normal order of teaching"!

However, to avoid misunderstandings, Shrek Academy announced that this year's "Freshman Elimination Tournament" will be open to the public. Anyone with objections is welcome to come and observe.

Finally, as the topic intensified, the Shrek Academy freshman elimination tournament gained immense influence in the outside world. At this moment, public complaints turned into strong interest, and the tournament made the participants famous.

"Wow, Ming, you're really something." Having witnessed Su Ming's hype tactics over this period, Zhang Lexuan exclaimed in admiration. She suddenly realized that she couldn't treat Su Ming like a child anymore.

What she admired most was that even when the protests from students and the outside world reached their peak, and even when political figures from various empires came forward to pay attention, Su Ming remained unmoved.

During that period, even Shrek Academy couldn't withstand the pressure and held a meeting overnight with the student council leaders to repeatedly discuss the rationality of the plan.

Despite strong opposition, Su Ming persisted, even sending Zhou Yi, a teacher with abnormal demands, as his spokesperson. Thus, the Shrek Bible appeared, and Zhou Yi, unrestrained and witty, delivered a series of sharp retorts.

Phrases like, "This person's martial spirit is clearly very ordinary, yet he is exceptionally confident," etc.

They only acted after the topic had been hyped up to the point of being widely known, thus turning public opinion around and leveraging Shrek's reputation to bring the freshman elimination tournament to its peak.

"Let's not talk about that anymore. Sister Lexuan, have you finished setting up the venue here?" Su Ming said casually.

“Everything is ready. All the soul tools have been installed as you requested,” Zhang Lexuan nodded.

"Alright, I'm going to go prepare my team now," Su Ming said with a sigh of relief.

"Remember Elder Mu's requirements: the average soul power of team members must not exceed level 25," Zhang Lexuan specifically reminded him.

"Okay, I know." The boy pouted. The teacher was really going to extremes to make the test more difficult.

So he waited until the freshman elimination round before starting to prepare his team. By then, most of the talent had already been poached, leaving only a handful of people.

But it doesn't matter, Su Ming is confident that he can lead a group of CBA teammates to the finals.

It is more than enough to teach a lesson to certain arrogant groups.

He'd heard about it recently; Gu Yuena had started jumping around again. As for the White Tiger? Who was that?

Outside the Shrek Academy, after the rules of the competition were announced, some clever people took action, using their strength and connections to build up various space fleets.

The most eye-catching team was the All-Soul Venerable team led by Dai Huabin, the eldest son of the White Tiger Duke.

With Ning Tian possessing the strongest support Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, and Xie Huanyue possessing the strongest defense Pipi Elephant, along with several genius Soul Masters from hidden sects, they are practically invincible.

As the core of this team, Dai Huabin was clearly arrogant, making a series of remarks:

"The champion of this year's freshman elimination tournament is destined to be mine. Even if Poseidon came, he couldn't stop me. I said it!"

"Gu Yuena? The strongest among the new generation, how laughable."

As for Su Ming, Dai Huabin simply ignored him. In his opinion, a Soul Master with an Agility-type Martial Soul was insignificant in a team competition. He knew too well that the Dark Nether Cat and the Zhu family had similar Martial Soul styles. Agility-type Soul Masters had their limits!

Moreover, there hasn't been much news about Su Ming forming a team recently, so he's probably just an ordinary person.

He, however, valued Gu Yuena highly. As the owner of a magical martial soul capable of manipulating seven elements, Dai Huabin felt that she was more than equal to him. The outcome depended on whether Gu Yuena could defeat him before he could get close.

Dai Huabin was confident that once Gu Yuena got close to him, she would undoubtedly lose.

His only regret was that the individual strength of the team was too limited in this seven-person team competition. After learning about Gu Yuena's team, he no longer felt that Gu Yuena was a threat.

"Hmph, what an ungrateful woman. When you invited her to team up and win the championship, she didn't take you seriously and refused. Now you're embarrassed, aren't you? It's not even certain that that team can make it to the finals."

Zhu Lu, standing to the side, said with a hint of jealousy.

She was given a soul bone that was thousands of years old by the Zhu family, and finally managed to reach the Soul Venerable level before the freshman elimination competition.

This year's freshmen are different from those of the past. In addition to the emergence of various prodigies, some reclusive families also seem to have sent their successors to study at the academy.

Shrek Academy released a major announcement: in addition to being core disciples, the winning team will also receive three soul bones as a reward, which are said to be top-tier soul bones of the ten-thousand-year level.

The Zhu family had a well-thought-out plan. For such a powerful force, thousand-year-old soul bones were common, but ten-thousand-year-old soul bones were rare. This was a very profitable deal.

It doesn't matter if we don't win the championship. Consider it an investment in Dai Huabin. The Martial Soul Fusion Skill between the two undergoes a qualitative change when it reaches the Soul Master level, with its duration and power greatly increasing.

With the formation of numerous renowned teams, the emergence of a talented individual who chooses to join that team always attracts intense public attention.

Even the older students came over, seemingly out of curiosity, to watch the drama unfold.

So people inexplicably found that even without paying special attention to this information, they were forced to learn about it from an unknown source.

"My lords, have you prepared everything the young master instructed? We are about to unleash a blood-pumping frenzy that will sweep across all levels of society!" The person in charge, sitting high up at the Shrek Mingxuan Chamber of Commerce headquarters, roared.

"Everything is ready. Every milk tea shop and every fried chicken shop is a promotional unit for us. We've dispatched countless people to discuss the matter in all sorts of places, ensuring that information about the freshman elimination tournament is thoroughly disseminated around Shrek City," the person below said excitedly.

Guiding this new form of public opinion warfare gives every participant an extraordinary sense of pleasure, as if a mastermind is manipulating people's hearts. This is a brand new version that Douluo people have never experienced before.

"Hmm, not bad, keep it up. Also, try to acquire the surrounding casinos. For those that can't be acquired, cooperate with them. For those that refuse to cooperate, just call the Chamber of Commerce's guards to take action!" The person in charge nodded in satisfaction and then gave the order.

"I want to see all the casinos open betting on this match within three days."

The world's attention is always focused on the protagonists, while the little people in the shadows are often ignored.

“Matthew, are you... really leaving? Can’t you wait a little longer?” At the entrance of Shrek Academy, several ordinary students in worn-out clothes were trying to dissuade a tall, resolute “big brother” with a full beard.

"I'm not going to wait any longer. It's all a fait accompli anyway. Haven't you seen the true colors of those noble children yet?" The mature-looking young student shook his head and replied.

"Are you still planning to wait? Why don't you prepare a backup plan as soon as possible?" the boy named Matthew asked rhetorically.

"I...we don't know either," the boys said, exchanging bewildered glances.

“Unlike you, whose family still has a blacksmith shop to inherit, this skill will never be lost no matter how long it goes on. We, on the other hand, can only fight for it. Only by studying at Shrek Academy can we have a chance to become a Soul Master or Soul Grandmaster. Besides, our family has already gambled everything,” one of the boys said.

Matthew sneered, "So you accept those nobles' harsh conditions? Where is your backbone?" Realizing he had made a mistake, he shook his head and strode away.

Wandering aimlessly down the street, he felt a sense of sorrow. His commoner classmates, faced with the relentless pressure from the aristocratic group, were simply waiting silently, hoping the academy would step in, while gradually lowering their standards in the face of the aristocracy's excessive demands.