A Ramshackle Operation

At that moment, everyone realized that, at some point, the old man who had been sitting at the table had already risen to his feet.

Six Soul Rings—one white, one yellow, three purple, and one black—slowly rose from beneath his feet. A long staff covered in countless fine patterns appeared in his right hand. That powerful Aura came from this old man, who looked like nothing more than an elderly farmer.

Under the pressure of the old man's Aura, Dai Mubai and Tang San both promptly backed down and behaved themselves.

Zhu Zhuqing was equally surprised.

To be honest, she had not thought much of Shrek Academy before this. Yet to her surprise, even this school's gatekeeper was a Six-Ring Soul Emperor.

A Soul Emperor above level sixty was no weakling in the world of Soul Masters. He could barely be considered a high-level Soul Master. Yet such an expert was merely a gatekeeper at Shrek Academy.

Could it be that Shrek Academy was not as simple as she had imagined?

At that thought, Zhu Zhuqing could not help calling out to Li Ang in her heart. Teacher, this Shrek Academy doesn't seem so simple after all. Even its gatekeeper is a Soul Emperor!

"They're just putting on a show." Li Ang sounded disdainful.

Seeing Zhu Zhuqing's confusion, he explained further, "I already scanned the surrounding area with my spiritual power."

"As for this Shrek Academy... how should I put it? It isn't exactly some completely worthless Soul Master Academy. Its top-tier faculty is roughly on par with that of an ordinary Advanced Soul Master Academy."

"However, this school is rather... unusual. I sensed the Auras of three Soul Sages within the academy. Besides them, there should be another two teachers with Soul Emperor cultivation."

"But the problem is, there are probably no other teachers in this school."

"So few?" Zhu Zhuqing asked in surprise. "With so few teachers, how do they even teach?"

"That isn't a concern." Li Ang's voice turned even stranger as he explained, "If my spiritual detection is correct, Shrek Academy has even fewer students than teachers!"

Zhu Zhuqing: ???

"So in the end, it's still some backwater Soul Master Academy," Zhu Zhuqing finally could not help commenting.

On Douluo Dalu, any normal Advanced Soul Master Academy had a Soul Sage in residence. Better schools might have several Soul Sages.

Advanced Soul Master Academies of an even higher grade could even have Soul Douluos in residence. For example, each of the Heaven Dou Empire's famous Five Element Academies had a Soul Douluo overseeing it.

As for royal academies like Heaven Dou Royal Academy and Star Luo Royal Academy, they had more than one Soul Douluo.

Of course, the strongest institution in the entire Soul Master world was still Spirit Hall Soul Master Academy. Titled Douluos even taught there, and those with sufficient talent might even be accepted as the personal disciples of a Titled Douluo.

Judging solely by its top-level strength, Shrek Academy had indeed reached the standard of an Advanced Soul Master Academy. It was even fairly decent among ordinary Advanced Soul Master Academies.

But the problem was that apart from a few Soul Sages and Soul Emperors, Shrek Academy had nothing else. Its facilities were worse than those of even a Primary Soul Master Academy, and it had more students than teachers.

Even Zhu Zhuqing did not know how to evaluate such a bizarre school. Calling it a backwater Soul Master Academy did not seem right, since it did have high-level Soul Masters stationed there.

But if it was not a backwater school, then its dilapidated, nearly bankrupt state was hardly convincing.

"There's nothing to worry about, my dear disciple. Doesn't this old one still have you? Just cultivate properly with this old one. I guarantee that within two years, you'll be able to fight seven opponents alone in the arena and beat every opponent you encounter into submission. Then you can change your name to Zhu Zhuqing Fights Seven. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

While Li Ang was comforting his disciple, Li Yusong, having given Dai Mubai a thorough scolding and finally restored silence to the scene, began the admissions process.

Li Yusong was quite skilled at putting on airs. Right from the start, he declared several students unqualified in succession, then put on an impatient expression amid the questioning from the students and parents.

He stated that Shrek Academy was a monster academy. It admitted only monsters, not ordinary people. Anyone over thirteen years old or whose Soul Power had not reached level twenty-one would be rejected.

Li Ang, watching the spectacle from the side, nearly burst out laughing like a pig.

Perhaps sensing Li Ang's disdain for Shrek Academy, Zhu Zhuqing spoke again. "Teacher, this Shrek Academy does not seem that bad. I think what that teacher just said makes some sense."

"Is that so?" Seeing that Zhu Zhuqing seemed to have been swayed by Li Yusong's rhetoric, Li Ang immediately realized this was a fine opportunity to instill proper values in his disciple. He asked, "Then let me ask you something. A young Soul Master who reaches level twenty-one before the age of thirteen—what will his future be like?"

"His future would naturally be limitless..." Zhu Zhuqing was not foolish, and she immediately understood Li Ang's meaning. A thoughtful expression appeared on her face.

"So then, would there really be much difference between such genius Soul Masters studying at other Advanced Soul Master Academies and studying at this Shrek Academy?"

"If Shrek Academy could cultivate ordinary Soul Masters into accomplished talents, then its teaching quality would indeed be beyond question. But any Advanced Soul Master Academy can cultivate genius Soul Masters into talents. What does that prove?" Li Ang asked in succession.

"Speaking of which, Shrek Academy's founder was quite clever. He wanted to take a shortcut: recruit the finest students and quickly make the school famous." Li Ang's voice was full of mockery. "Unfortunately, he was too clever—so clever that he treated everyone else as fools."

In Li Ang's view, Shrek Academy's founder, Flender, really was a self-proclaimed genius who had outsmarted himself.

Wanting to make Shrek Academy famous, he had come up with all sorts of attention-grabbing antics, claiming that they accepted only monsters and not ordinary people. He hoped to use that to attract truly gifted students to enroll. Once those students became successful, Shrek Academy could ride their coattails, reap the benefits, and become famous across Douluo Dalu.

Unfortunately, most people in this world were practical. Shrek Academy could boast to the heavens, but it could never change the fact that it was, at its core, merely a ramshackle operation.