Reversing Cause and Effect, Shrek's Calculations

Two days later.

On a road leading to Nuoto City, Mo Hui walked along with Pidgey, a backpack slung over his shoulders.

Mo Hui had now left Fasinuo Province and entered the Balak Kingdom. His first destination was Heaven Dou City, and Suotuo City happened to lie along the way.

"Ah... if only I had a storage-type Soul Tool."

Mo Hui glanced at the backpack on his back and could not help thinking about it.

But for now, he could only think about it. Soul Tools were expensive, and storage Soul Tools cost at least tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins—not something Mo Hui could afford.

By evening, Mo Hui and Pidgey finally arrived at Suotuo City.

"As expected of one of the two wealthiest cities in the Balak Kingdom. Its prosperity is nowhere near comparable to Nuoding City's."

After entering Suotuo City, Mo Hui could not help sighing.

Compared to Nuoding City, Suotuo City was clearly much larger and far more prosperous. Both the number of shops and the crowds filling the streets proved it.

Moreover, since Suotuo City was not located on the border, it had no such thing as a curfew. At night, it was even more bustling than during the day.

"I should go collect my subsidy from Suotuo City's Spirit Hall first."

After taking in some of Suotuo City's prosperity, Mo Hui asked a passerby for the location of Spirit Hall and headed toward it.

When he arrived at Spirit Hall, the guards had just been about to stop the ten-year-old child when they noticed the Soul Master badge on Mo Hui's chest.

He was actually a two-ringed Soul Grandmaster!

The two guards immediately grew solemn. One of them even crouched down and asked gently, "Soul Grandmaster, are you here to collect your subsidy, or do you have other business?"

"I'm here to collect my subsidy," Mo Hui replied.

"In that case, please go that way. But this beside you..."

At that point, the guard looked at Pidgey on Mo Hui's shoulder, uncertain whether it was a soul beast, and revealed an awkward expression.

Spirit Hall was a sacred place. If he allowed a soul beast inside, the consequences would be severe.

"Pidgey is my martial soul."

Mo Hui naturally knew what troubled the guard, so he summoned and dismissed Pidgey on the spot.

Seeing this, the guard inwardly breathed a sigh of relief and said to Mo Hui, "In that case, please enter."

Mo Hui then entered Spirit Hall.

After Mo Hui had gone far enough away, the two guards immediately began talking.

"I never expected that this lord would already be a Soul Grandmaster at such a young age."

"Exactly. It's my first time seeing a Soul Grandmaster this young. He's even more impressive than those monsters from Shrek."

Mo Hui could not hear their conversation. By then, he had already reached the place where subsidies were collected. Two yellow, hundred-year soul rings appeared, and the Soul Power testing crystal revealed his identity as a level 22 Soul Grandmaster.

"What a monster. Are you here to register for Shrek this year as well?"

Seeing this, the Soul Master in charge of testing sighed in amazement. As he handed Mo Hui a subsidy of ten Gold Soul Coins, he asked the question.

"Shrek?"

The Soul Master's words caught Mo Hui slightly off guard. Come to think of it, Shrek seemed to be located in a small village near Suotuo City.

"You don't know Shrek? Their dean is a Soul Sage, and once you graduate from Shrek, you can directly obtain a viscount title from the Balak Kingdom. Every year, quite a few talented youths specifically travel to Suotuo City to take Shrek's entrance examination."

Seeing Mo Hui's expression, the Soul Master realized that he did not know about Shrek and hurriedly explained.

Hearing this, Mo Hui rubbed his chin. He seemed to understand why, despite Shrek being such trash in his eyes, so many people still applied every year.

On Douluo Continent, noble titles ranked from highest to lowest as duke, marquis, count, viscount, and baron.

And because Soul Masters, especially high-level Soul Masters, were scarce.

Generally speaking, in kingdoms and duchies other than the two great empires of Heaven Dou and Star Luo, a level 30 Soul Elder could obtain a baron title, while a level 40 Soul Ancestor could obtain a viscount title.

Shrek's graduation requirement was to reach level 40 before the age of twenty. In other words, as long as one graduated from Shrek and was willing to accept recruitment, they would inevitably be able to obtain a viscount title in kingdoms and duchies like the Balak Kingdom.

"Reversing cause and effect. Shrek's calculations are truly clever."

Having figured this out, Mo Hui could not help admiring Flender's methods. It was no easy feat to turn an unaccredited, worthless academy into what it was now and occasionally recruit peerless geniuses.

Still, Shrek was not entirely without advantages.

Because of Shrek's absurd admission requirements, it had very few students. As a result, any Shrek student who wished to could receive one-on-one guidance from at least a Soul Emperor or even a Soul Sage, something other academies could not offer.

Of course, even so, Shrek was still trash compared to other Advanced Soul Master Academies.

Whoever could meet Shrek's outrageous admission requirements was a top-tier genius. Would such people really need to worry about finding teachers if they went to other Advanced Soul Master Academies?

Not to mention that Shrek had neither a Mimicry Cultivation Ground nor decent food for its students, which would inevitably affect their cultivation speed.

In Mo Hui's opinion, if those students who joined Shrek had instead entered other Advanced Soul Master Academies, even the most ordinary ones, their future achievements would not have been worse than at Shrek. They would only have been better.

And that was without mentioning the serious incidents where Shrek students had died while hunting soul beasts.

After accepting the Gold Soul Coins handed over by the Soul Master, Mo Hui left Spirit Hall.

After leaving Spirit Hall, Mo Hui began looking for an inn where he could stay, intending to find somewhere safe to begin that day's meditation.

However, Mo Hui had still underestimated Suotuo City's prosperity—or perhaps it was because the academy enrollment period was approaching. He visited many inns and hotels, but every one of them was fully booked.

With no other choice, Mo Hui could only come to the most expensive hotel in all of Suotuo City, the Rose Hotel, hoping it still had rooms available.

Although he knew the prices here would be high, Mo Hui had no choice. He could not exactly meditate in the street with a backpack on his back, could he?

"You've come at just the right time, sir. Our hotel only has one room left. If you had come any later, there wouldn't have been one."

At the Rose Hotel's counter, the attendant said to Mo Hui with a smile.

Hearing this, the corner of Mo Hui's mouth twitched slightly. Only one room again?

"How much is this room per night?"

Mo Hui did not care whether there was truly only one room left. Right now, he only wanted to quickly find somewhere safe and begin cultivating.

"It's not expensive, only five Silver Spirit Coins."

The attendant said with a smile.

Five Silver Spirit Coins isn't expensive? That's half a Soul Master's monthly subsidy, all right? Mo Hui could not help complaining inwardly.

Of course, despite feeling extremely speechless inside, his expression remained unchanged. He nodded to the attendant and said, "Fine, then give this room to—"

However, just as the attendant was about to process the arrangements for Mo Hui, a voice rang out, leaving both of them stunned.

"Hold it. I'll take the last room!"