In fact, Jing Hongchen had always wanted to set up exchange programs with Shrek Academy, hoping to learn from their advanced soul master education.

After all, the Sun Moon Academy's soul master training lagged behind—they only excelled at training soul engineers, not soul masters.

Unfortunately, Shrek Academy had always rejected his proposals.

Now, the situation had changed.

St. Freya Academy had won two consecutive tournaments—their strength and teaching quality were clear.

Jing Hongchen hadn't considered sending Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen to St. Freya for exchange before, but after much thought, he decided it was time.

Even if they couldn't learn the core knowledge and skills, they would still benefit, and Meng Hongchen could get closer to Lu Jingming—the core of Haiyuan City.

If lucky, they might even meet the legendary Lady Herta and the mysterious developer of Stigmata.

So, he believed that an exchange was necessary.

Also, under the pretext of exchange, he wouldn't need to worry about their safety in Haiyuan City.

After all, St. Freya valued its reputation and would surely protect the visiting students.

"Grandpa, you mean send me and Brother to St. Freya Academy for exchange?" Meng Hongchen's eyes lit up with excitement.

She'd thought she'd have to wait until the next tournament to see Lu Jingming again, but now her grandpa was giving her a surprise.

"Is it necessary, Grandpa? St. Freya's strong, but I don't think their teaching is definitely better than ours," Xiao Hongchen frowned, unconvinced.

"Foolish!" Jing Hongchen, usually indulgent with Meng Hongchen, was very strict with Xiao Hongchen.

On hearing his shallow comment, he immediately scolded him.

"Losing isn't scary, but not understanding the gap between you and them is. Do you not see how big the difference is between you and the students of St. Freya?"

Even without watching in person, just from the recordings, Jing Hongchen could tell that St. Freya's students were overwhelmingly strong compared to their peers.

Even Shrek Academy's deep roots were barely enough to compete.

Where did Xiao Hongchen's confidence come from, thinking their academy could compare with St. Freya?

"I…" Xiao Hongchen blushed, unable to reply.

He knew deep down that, aside from Lu Jingming, he wasn't confident he could beat the other St. Freya students.

Of course, as a support-type soul master, Robin was an exception, and Xiao Hongchen didn't even care to compare himself to a support.

"It's settled. I'll immediately send someone to St. Freya to arrange the exchange."

Jing Hongchen made the decision quickly.

Shrek and Sun Moon Academies had always refused exchange, but St. Freya was different. Jing Hongchen didn't think they'd refuse.

Haiyuan City's soul engineering was impressive, but their technology mostly relied on the mysterious Lady Herta.

Given her style, she wouldn't spend much time teaching students.

In fact, though she was listed as a teacher, she'd never taught a class.

After all, geniuses are always busy with their own research, not teaching.

And to a genius, teaching ordinary people is of no use to their own research.

On the other hand, Lu Jingming was quite happy to hear Sun Moon Academy wanted to exchange.

"Exchange? Approved!"

When the official request arrived, Lu Jingming immediately agreed.

St. Freya was new, but not lacking in teaching quality: Jingliu brought Cloud Knights training, Changli brought Midnight Rangers Training, Keqing brought Liyue Army methods.

These, after localization, worked wonders.

Haiyuan City's Gold Guards and City Guards training was also based on those methods.

Lu Jingming believed that to train a good soul master, resources were fundamental.

Then, the age of soul rings and suitable skill combinations.

Finally, practical experience—only through battle can a soul master truly improve.

St. Freya had all these advantages.

Haiyuan City didn't lack resources; Honkai energy was top tier; for practice, there was full-dive simulation and simulated universes; and now, with Stigmata, soul rings and skills were no issue.

Shrek's dominance for millennia came largely from gathering the continent's most talented students.

Those monsters students weren't created by the academy, but were already incredibly talented.

The academy's real role was to provide a broad platform and higher starting point.

So, cultivating monsters was misleading—the real measure of an academy's teaching is the average level of its regular students.

St. Freya possessed advanced soul engineering theories left by Lady Herta, but these were hard to understand or use for most.

By sending some students to Sun Moon Academy, they could learn more practical skills and produce a new generation of mid- and low-tier soul engineers.

Once they had a solid foundation, they could then use Lady Herta's advanced theories to train high-tier soul engineers.

For all these reasons, St. Freya had no reason to refuse the exchange.

The details would be handled by appointed staff. Lu Jingming just had to agree and wait for results.

…

While St. Freya and Sun Moon were busy organizing the exchange, elsewhere, dark currents were stirring.

Within the Heavenly Soul Empire, at a natural barrier, the infamous Body Sect was located.

In a spacious council hall, a burly old man with dark green hair slammed his wine cup on the table with a bang.

"Stigmata—heh, damn, it's really a good thing!"

The old man's face was full of unwillingness and greed, but he sighed, "Too bad that Snow Moon Douluo isn't easy to mess with. With my skills, I'm not sure I could beat her!"

This was the Body Sect Master, Body Douluo Du Busi, a 98th-rank Super Douluo.

For a long time, the Body Sect had always been direct and forceful—if they wanted something, they just took it.

Even facing giants like Shrek Academy, they dared to rob.

But this time, things were different. Snow Moon Douluo's Limit Douluo power made them wary.

Plus, Haiyuan City had more than one Title Douluo guarding it, making its defenses formidable.

Furthermore, Heaveny Soul Empire and Star Luo Empire were allies; any trouble would have wide consequences.

Having secretly joined Heavenly Soul as a national protector sect, the Body Sect had to be cautious and couldn't stir up trouble lightly.

Moreover, Haiyuan City had already shared the profits of Stigmata with various powers, with Heavenly Soul getting a share.

In these circumstances, robbing Stigmata outright would be asking for trouble—a foolish move.

"Stigmata may be out of reach, but Huo Yuhao is mine for sure!" Du Busi suddenly roared.

"Jinpeng, gather the men. We're going to Shrek City to visit Xuan Zi. I heard he was injured by Snow Moon Douluo and hasn't recovered—let's see if that's true!"

With that, dozens of figures appeared instantly before him.

They came in all shapes and sizes, but each radiated powerful, restrained auras.

Careful observation revealed that each had a bodily feature different from normal, showing their unique Body Martial Souls.

"Let's go—bring back our Body Sect disciple!" Du Busi ordered.

He turned into a dark green beam of light and shot into the sky, followed by his men, heading straight for Shrek City.

To the Body Sect, anyone with a Body Martial Soul was naturally their disciple.

Moreover, Huo Yuhao had the rare Spirit Eye, which alone qualified him as a Body Sect member.

More than that, he was a twin martial soul holder, with the second being the powerful Ultimate Ice.

Such astounding talent—how could Du Busi not be tempted?

He'd also heard that Shrek's Xuan Zi was still injured from his conflict with Snow Moon Douluo, giving him the confidence to act.

None of the Body Sect's elders objected; their unity showed they firmly believed anyone with a Body Martial Soul belonged to them.