Hong Jiang spoke with a grin on his face. His words seemed quite sincere, but his expression and demeanor didn’t show any sincerity at all. Principal Qu saw this and was utterly infuriated.

"Old Hong, have I, Old Qu, done anything that bothers you?"

Hong Jiang shook his head: "Listen to you, what’s bothering me? You... you’re just too confident in yourself. That shriveled, skinny, haggard little squirt, even if it’s used to wedge the table leg, wouldn’t bother me even if it stood on tiptoe."

Principal Qu: "..."

In an instant, Principal Qu’s face turned dark.

Old Hong’s mouth was unsurprisingly full of crap; quarreling with someone like him is a loss of dignity.

Old Qu thought to himself, took several deep breaths, and finally swallowed his anger.

Then.

Hong Jiang didn’t stoke the fires or shout aimlessly, but his words were like dropping a stone into a pond, stirring up waves of commotion...

Principal Yang Zhi from Alliance First Military Academy, Tutor Niu Houdao, representatives from the Third Army, Fourth Army... all the school delegates stopped their gaze at the base of Principal Qu’s neck.

Principal Qu: "..."

Principal Qu immediately covered his collar and said to the others: "There’s nothing to it, don’t listen to Old Hong babbling. You know what his mouth is like."

The scene was silent, but everyone still kept their eyes on Principal Qu’s neck.

Principal Qu suddenly felt his head grow a circle bigger: "Stop staring, the necklace I’m wearing is a token of love made by my wife, not some natural high-level soul device. If I truly had something like that, would I casually wear it around my neck?"

What is a natural soul device?

It’s literally priceless, astronomically rare to see one, even less likely than winning the lottery.

Moreover, it being a natural high-level soul device...

Even a low-level natural soul device is a rare occurrence, let alone a high-level one...

Old Qu’s face turned stern, and he frustratedly said: "Do you really want to see what’s hanging around my neck?"

At this moment, Yang Zhi, who was always serious and solemn, spoke: "Old Qu, how about you show it to us for a moment, just to broaden our horizons?"

"Exactly, Old Qu, let everyone have a look for novelty."

"Just one glance."

"A natural high-level soul device, I’ve only heard of it in rumors my whole life."

"Old Qu... we’re not thieves, we’re all just old friends here, don’t be stingy now."

...

At this critical moment, the elite representatives from various schools were no better than inexperienced students, each staring hard as if they could pierce through Principal Qu’s neck.

Principal Qu’s mouth twitched, saying: "I truly don’t have it."

Nobody believed him.

Principal Qu couldn’t help but glare at Hong Jiang again. That damn scoundrel for stirring things up, otherwise the soul device he had worn for a hundred years wouldn’t have been exposed.

Indeed, the greatest characteristic of a natural soul device is its stability. Unlike artificial soul devices, which are limited by artifact makers and mostly one-time consumables. Some can be used for a year or two, and a few artificial soul devices can last decades, but that’s highly difficult. Even top Soul Artifact Masters like Kong Zhe and Deng Mingguang would need years, decades, or even scores of years to craft such long-lasting devices...

Difficult.

But!

Natural soul devices inherently surpass artificial ones in this aspect. The lowest-level natural soul devices have naturally-formed stable array diagrams, allowing them to be used for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years... 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

With high-level ones, the starting point is over 100 years.

Furthermore, natural soul devices don’t pick users; no need to concern with matching, anyone can use them.

Hence, acquiring a high-level soul device means never needing other soul devices for life, just one is enough.

...

Thinking about this point, everyone cast envious and spiteful looks at Principal Qu.

Take it out for everyone to see?

Not in a million years.

Wearing a natural soul device for long can be very nurturing, constantly nourishing the wearer’s spiritual power and clearing chaotic spiritual silk over time... among these beneficial effects, one aspect is crucial: it shouldn’t contact too many diverse spiritual powers, or it’ll lessen its effectiveness.

With so many people here watching, imagine the amount of spiritual power it would be exposed to?

No way will it be brought out.

Principal Qu cleared his throat: "I really don’t have it, stop staring." Seeing nobody believed him and caught a glimpse of Hong Jiang’s obvious scheming expression, Principal Qu gritted his teeth and suddenly said: "Old Hong, I don’t know what your motive is for falsely claiming I have a natural high-level soul device, but I know what you want Heart Flower for."

Hmm?

The crowd’s ears slightly twitched.

Hong Jiang suddenly reacted as if he provoked a wasp’s nest, quickly retorting to Principal Qu: "Old Qu, you seem honest and fair but are actually sly. What am I doing with Heart Flower? Isn’t it clear? To enhance my spiritual silk’s cleaning rate, of course. Unlike you, blessed with a natural high-level soul device your first time entering a Space Rift."

Hong Jiang quickly kicked the ball back to Principal Qu.

Space rift?

More than a few felt a stir, especially those well-acquainted with Principal Qu, as they recalled the Space Rift a century ago where Old Qu was indeed one of the supervising teachers.

And after Old Qu returned, his spiritual power, previously mediocre, suddenly began to soar.

These years, the extent of Old Qu’s spiritual power advancement is unknown.

Aligning the timeline, everyone suddenly understood.

That explains it.

Seeing everyone’s expressions, Principal Qu knew his secret couldn’t be hidden, but he wouldn’t let Hong Jiang have the last laugh, so he continued: "I remember when Ye Lin’s funeral was handled by you, right?"

Principal Hong instantly wiped the frivolous grin from his face.

Principal Qu said: "You want Heart Flower to repair Heavenly Dog?"

The word ’Heavenly Dog’ made everyone’s faces in the tea room turn pale.

All present were prominent figures; a thousand schools participated in the competition, but invitations to this tea room were offered to merely a few dozen schools.

The term ’Heavenly Dog’ isn’t a secret among the upper circle; though unseen, it’s widely heard about.

Only—

Heavenly Dog was rumored to have been completely destroyed 50 years ago, how was it still present?

Repair?

In an instant, the crowd’s focus shifted swiftly to Hong Jiang, whose frivolous face now bore a cold smile.