A One-Track Mind Turns Into a Dead End on Both Sides

Soon, after another night of meditation, Chen Ping's cultivation remained at the peak of the Soul Scholar realm—the consummate Level Ten.

From there onward, although his Soul Power would continue to accumulate, his cultivation level would not rise any further before he obtained a Soul Ring.

Opening the window, Chen Ping took a deep breath of fresh air and gazed far into the west—the direction of the Star Dou Forest and Shrek Academy.

Even before obtaining the system, Chen Ping had never skipped his nightly meditation. In such a damnable world, having no cultivation to rely on was extremely dangerous.

Especially after Tang San had blown up the Slaughter City and smashed Spirit Hall to pieces, the world had grown even more dangerous.

Even a power like Shrek, which stood at the hegemonic level across the entire Douluo Continent, had killed Evil Soul Masters for ten thousand years, yet they still had not managed to wipe them out.

His Innate Soul Power was ultimately still Level Two, and his Soul Power increased by a little over two levels each year. By now, he had accumulated quite a few Soul Power Levels in reserve, just waiting to cash them in after hunting Soul Beasts.

Shrek's admission requirements had fallen considerably compared to when Flender had managed it ten thousand years ago.

At first, applicants had to be twelve years old and Level Twenty, and still had to take an assessment. Those over Level Twenty-Five at age twelve could skip the first three tests. Now, as long as they exceeded Level Fifteen before turning twelve, they could enroll.

Perhaps Shrek's people had lowered the standards after merging with Blue Tyrant Academy.

Or perhaps the requirement of being over Level Twenty at twelve and then undergoing a review was simply too unreasonable for anyone to have come up with. They could hardly recruit any New Students.

In any case, Shrek's current admission requirement was not especially harsh.

Among them, the most troublesome admission condition was actually the recommendation letter from a City Lord of a major city.

This left Chen Ping rather troubled.

If his family were still around, obtaining a recommendation letter from the City Lord of a major city probably would not have been difficult. After all, nobody had stipulated that a City Lord could write only one recommendation letter.

For a City Lord, giving a little support to his own family's juniors and the children of the city's Great Families was simply a casual favor.

If a genius from an ordinary family in the city qualified to join Shrek, sending over a recommendation letter would be an act of recommendation and support enough for the recipient to remember him for life.

But according to what the people from the later Shrek Inspection Team had said, the destruction of his former Sect was inseparable from the Evil Soul Masters.

And the reason those Evil Soul Masters had done this was likely connected to the inherited Martial Soul of the Coiling Dragon Sect.

As for Chen Ping's own Martial Soul, it was merely a Willow Staff.

Now, he had neither the connections of his family to rely on

Nor the kind of talent that would make people recognize at a glance that he could be recommended to Shrek City.

His one-track mind had turned into a dead end on both sides.

But, just like the Coiling Dragon Staff Martial Soul of the Qian Gu Family that appeared in Douluo's third and fourth installments, a Great Family would never have only one surname carrying on its lineage.

The Qian Gu Family's inherited Martial Soul was the Coiling Dragon Staff, and the Martial Soul of Chen Ping's family was also the Coiling Dragon Staff. If Chen Ping remembered correctly, Teacher Wang Yan of Shrek Academy currently had the Coiling Dragon Staff as his Martial Soul as well.

Therefore, for the sake of enrolling smoothly, Chen Ping had decided that Wang Yan, this distant maternal uncle, was his. No one could ruin the affection between the two of them—not even Wang Yan himself.

However, before acknowledging this relative, Chen Ping first had to find a way to solve the problem of his First Soul Ring.

Even if he reached Shrek City and Wang Yan was willing to acknowledge him as a distant nephew related by eight degrees of separation and put in a word for him, the prerequisite was still that Chen Ping's Soul Power cultivation had to reach Level Fifteen.

If Huo Yuhao had not possessed the heaven-defying skill Spiritual Detection, and had not had the recommendation qualification of the Tang Sect and Tang Ya's guarantee, Huo Yuhao would not have been able to enter Shrek either.

Chen Ping did not know how much authority Wang Yan, Xuan Zi's appointed secretary, truly held in Shrek, but he did not want to make things too difficult for Wang Yan.

Level Fifteen at age twelve was as difficult as ascending to heaven for Soul Masters like Chen Ping and Huo Yuhao, who had only one or two levels of Innate Soul Power.

But just as Huo Yuhao had activated a cheat the moment he enrolled and sent his level soaring, who said Chen Ping could not activate one too?

With the help of the Invigorating Tonic and Body Tempering Soup, Chen Ping had awakened his potential, and his current cultivation speed was not slow. With three months remaining before Shrek's enrollment, Chen Ping felt he could still give it a try.

After packing his luggage, he left the room and carefully pulled the door shut.

Chen Ping went downstairs. Without rushing, he first ate seven or eight bowls of noodles, replenishing his carbohydrates thoroughly, then swallowed several chicken eggs whole. Only then did he feel considerably more comfortable.

"Check, please. Use this Gold Soul Coin to pay. Keep the rest as your tip."

Chen Ping casually tossed a Gold Soul Coin onto the table, hoisted his basket onto his back, and left.

The shop attendant was overjoyed when he heard this. Chen Ping's meal had not even cost a Silver Coin, so he would be making a pure profit of nine Silver Coins from this deal!

But given Chen Ping's miserly nature—one that would have loved to split even a single copper coin in half before spending it—how could the world possibly offer such a good thing?

The shop attendant first bit the Gold Soul Coin. Seeing the obvious tooth marks, he was delighted. He diligently cleared Chen Ping's bowls, then went upstairs to check him out.

But the moment he opened the door, an intense stench burst out of the room and nearly knocked him flat.

After inhaling only a single breath of the room's air, the shop attendant already felt an immense surge of strength throughout his body. Every muscle seemed to be swelling rapidly, giving him the illusion that he had become infinitely strong.

"If this place doesn't get aired out for three days, will the smell ever go away?"

Feeling the thick, strange odor in the room, the shop attendant immediately put on a mournful expression. No wonder Chen Ping had left behind a Gold Soul Coin.

The best room here cost three Silver Coins a day. Adding in Chen Ping's meal, he had only tipped the attendant a few copper coins.

By this time, Chen Ping had already set out on the road to the Star Dou Forest. It was not that he had never coveted Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and Electrolux.

Obtaining either of these two would be enough to rule the world. But if he got both together... how had they ended up becoming dogs?

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Chen Ping sighed.

There was naturally no need to say much about Sky Dream Ice Silkworm. He was looking for a Spirit Type Soul Master, so he and Sky Dream Ice Silkworm were destined to miss each other.

As for Electrolux, he was even more extraordinary—an unmistakably foreign soul who had been intensely monitored by Tang Buddha from the moment he arrived.

If Electrolux had not gone offline so early, burning himself up to suppress Snow Empress after her power had run wild, Huo Yuhao would not have been trained so thoroughly.

With Electrolux around, Huo Yuhao would at least have had a path toward becoming the Undead Saint Mage. As for that damn God Realm, he could simply rebel against it. Then he could open a Heaven on Earth and a Kingdom of the Dead. Would that not be wonderful?

And then Electrolux died, without even leaving behind a chance to be resurrected.