Today, Luo Yanglu was teaching history.
The academy naturally had history classes. After all, one of the primary purposes of establishing the academy was to supply talent to the nation, and history lessons served to foster the students' sense of belonging and identity with the Federation.
However, because the curriculum was dry, few students could stay engaged for long.
Yet where did Luo Yanglu hail from?
The Spirit Pagoda—an organization that had been passed down for ten thousand years by now. It was home to long-lived beings such as Soul Beasts and Soul Spirits; forget dry historical chronicles, even amusing anecdotes from the annals of time were compiled in the Spirit Pagoda's miscellaneous records for people to peruse when bored.
With two or three entertaining historical tales, Luo Yanglu piqued everyone's interest, smoothly transitioning into the history of ten thousand years ago. "Ten thousand years ago, the empire..."
Seated by the window in the back row, Huo Yuhao felt his eyelid twitch at the mention of events he had witnessed firsthand. Quietly activating Simulation, he produced a carving knife and a piece of spirit metal, then began inscribing a soul tool array, slacking off right there in class.
Though there was virtue in gaining new insights by reviewing the past, when it came to the history of ten thousand years ago—especially the parts concerning the Tang Sect and Shrek—surely no "person" in this era knew it better than he did.
For instance: how had Shrek grown into its current peak of prosperity?
First, one point had to be made clear: ten thousand years ago, the Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire—Mr. Xu Tianran—had lived longer than his original lifespan, and the continent-wide unification had occurred earlier.
And so, let us invite Emperor Xu Tianran to speak:
"I shall never destroy Shrek. Even though it has always opposed me, in my heart, it remains the supreme sanctuary for Soul Masters, and I too am a Soul Master.
"When we unify the continent, I will don the uniform of Shrek Academy and listen to their teachings in the academy's most sacred lecture hall, thereby fulfilling the greatest dream of my childhood.
"I shall also confer upon Shrek Academy the title of Sun Moon Imperial Academy, making it an eternal part of my Sun Moon Empire to aid our empire for ten thousand generations!"
At this point, the gist of what had happened became clear.
As everyone knew, the Sea God descended; Shrek's name was never changed, while the Sun Moon Empire was forced to rename itself the Heaven Dou Empire instead.
Yet whether Xu Tianran was paying for his dream or simply trying to win over Shrek Academy, even after unification, the emperor had put on the Shrek uniform and sat down in Shrek Academy to attend classes.
This was monumental. With the emperor personally promoting it, an enormous crowd was naturally drawn to join Shrek... and moreover, they were Soul Engineers from the former Sun Moon Empire. What followed could easily be imagined.
Still, Huo Yuhao felt this was tolerable enough—at least it carried some political calculation of winning them over, even if the investment and return seemed utterly disproportionate in retrospect. He had seen far more mind-boggling things!
"My grandfather was a member of Shrek. On his deathbed, he exhorted my father: 'Shrek's glory shall shine forever. No matter the era, no matter what transpires, our descendants must never make an enemy of Shrek!'
"'Shrek has never made a mistake. They have never made the wrong choice, and time and again, they turned the tide and saved the Federation. Without Shrek, our Federation would have ceased to exist long ago! When they stand on the opposing side, we must realize that it is our Federation that is in the wrong!'"
All of the above came from the statements of a certain Federation military officer ten thousand years later, in the era of Douluo Four, without the slightest exaggeration.
Reflecting on this, what could Huo Yuhao say?
He could only offer one remark: "Brilliant insights, sir!"
At the same time, he secretly rejoiced that the Spirit Pagoda had still made mistakes over the years—there were Soul Masters who had nearly fallen into Evil Soul Masters, ambitious figures who wished to turn the Spirit Pagoda into the Spirit Hall, and they had even allowed a divine Dragon King to infiltrate their ranks.
If the Spirit Pagoda were hailed as infallible, he, the first Pagoda Master, wouldn't even dare to stay here...
While Huo Yuhao had no desire to listen to history from ten thousand years ago, Gu Yuena was equally uninterested in this period.
She was far more curious about what Godking Huo was doing.
Shielding her face behind a book, Gu Yuena looked over at Huo Yuhao on her right, blinking gently.
She naturally sensed the spiritual and spatial fluctuations coming from his direction. (The principle of Simulation was to warp space through spiritual fluctuations, using oneself as the foundation to simulate various forms.)
Without a doubt, this venerable figure was using a Soul Skill to slack off!
As the strongest Dragon King undercover in the human realm, Gu Yuena felt it necessary to give this Godking a heads-up.
"Um, You..." Pausing, Gu Yuena altered her form of address. "Yuhao, can you count me in? I don't want to listen either."
The Godking didn't want to listen to the lecture, and neither did the Dragon King!
Hearing the sound transmission, Huo Yuhao gave Gu Yuena an odd look.
After considering it, he expanded the range of Simulation, enveloping Gu Yuena inside.
Gu Yuena then saw that Huo Yuhao was inscribing a soul tool array.
"..."
Fine, even slacking off had to be so unconventional. As expected of Yuhao.
Feeling an inexplicable sense that she alone was genuinely loafing around, Gu Yuena pursed her lips.
Meanwhile, up on the podium, Luo Yanglu looked down at Huo Yuhao and Gu Yuena, who appeared to be listening with rapt attention, and a vein of annoyance throbbed on his temple.
He knew what Huo Yuhao was doing; the boy had already told him in advance, using Simulation solely to avoid disrupting classroom order.
So then, Student Gu Yuena, what are you doing?
Don't think I didn't notice you getting wrapped into the range of his Simulation—your movements completely changed!
While continuing his lecture on history, Luo Yanglu activated a secret technique—Sound Transmission into Secret.
"Yuhao is intimately familiar with the history from ten thousand years ago, down to the exact day, month, and year a major event occurred. Student Gu Yuena, do you possess such capability? Tell me, on what year, month, and day was the continent unified? When did it transition to a federal system? When was the first Federal Congress convened?"
Gu Yuena froze slightly. "I'm sorry, I don't know."
Though she had also lived through that era, Godking Huo had been walking the world, whereas she had been dormant in the Lake of Life. Where would she have found the opportunity to learn about major historical events... and besides, she normally wouldn't bother learning such useless trivia.
"If you don't know, then listen."
Luo Yanglu sounded rather helpless. "The Spirit Pagoda is part of the Federation. We aren't the Spirit Hall from twenty thousand years ago. We should consider ourselves citizens of the Federation and understand its historical development, not remain utterly clueless when asked.
"The Spirit Pagoda is powerful, but precisely because we are powerful, our stance must be made all the clearer. That is also why the Spirit Pagoda's headquarters was established in Mingdou and has remained there unchanged for ten thousand years—it represents our support for the Federation.
"You and Yuhao will be pillars of the Spirit Pagoda in the future, but you cannot be reckless."
Already possessing great strength, if one didn't keep a low profile, were they waiting to be targeted by the Federation and besieged by all the major factions?
When it was time to keep a low profile, one had to keep a low profile!
Look at the first Pagoda Master: he had been a reclusive Douluo who only stepped into the world after becoming an Ultimate Douluo. Even their forefather acted that way, proving there was no shame in lying low.
The Continent Wind and Cloud Ranking had been created specifically to divert attention and prevent the Spirit Pagoda from appearing too conspicuous.
The Spirit Pagoda would rank internal personnel on the Junior Genius Ranking, giving them high placements or even the top spot to demonstrate they hadn't declined, but the Continent Wind and Cloud Ranking was different.
After all, geniuses and powerhouses carried entirely different implications.
For example, the Spirit Pagoda had seized the opportunity to toss first place on the Wind and Cloud Ranking directly to the Skyreaching Douluo.
The foremost figure on the continent is the Skyreaching Douluo of Shrek Academy, and no one is his match—that is what our Spirit Pagoda declared, take it or leave it!
As for whether he truly was, they honestly didn't know either. After all, their strongest quasi-god had never clashed with him in his prime. But it mattered little: they said "person," which didn't count Soul Beasts, and Pagoda Master Di Tian had acquiesced anyway...
That ranking had existed for so many years that everyone placed considerable trust in it. As long as the people of the Federation believed it, nothing else mattered!
Having listened to this lecture on grand principles, Gu Yuena nodded, only to remember that she was concealed by Simulation and he couldn't see her. She simply continued via sound transmission, "Understood, Teacher Luo."
She then adjusted her posture and began listening to the class attentively.
Luo Yanglu nodded to himself. Fortunately, this young miss wasn't arrogant and could take advice.
Then, it suddenly hit him—wasn't something off?
Gu Yuena hadn't spoken aloud. How had the two of them just communicated?
A mere two-ring Great Spirit Master had already mastered Sound Transmission into Secret?
Luo Yanglu's expression grew complex.
Truly... a monster.
Chapter 42