Shrek Academy

A month later, Bai Ge picked up his luggage and prepared to head to Shrek Academy.

To him, where he studied did not matter much, but he had received a private letter from Old Master Chen Xin.

Simply put, Ning Rongrong had been somewhat neglected because Ning Fengzhi was busy with sect affairs.

The young girl had also just reached her rebellious phase, so she ran away from home.

But the little girl had never expected that every one of her plans had been anticipated by her old father, Ning Fengzhi.

Ning Fengzhi had even arranged for someone to notify Flander in advance.

And because Old Master Chen Xin was worried that his precious Little Princess would suffer, he had drafted Bai Ge into service.

In his letter, Old Master Chen Xin repeatedly reminded him to take good care of his precious Little Princess, terrified that Ning Rongrong might be wronged. Bai Ge could not help but laugh and cry at the same time.

Thus, Bai Ge set off as a matter of course.

As for Qian Renxue, she had now completely settled into Xue Qinghe's identity, burying herself in official duties and memorials all day.

Furthermore, the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace was filled with informants and spies from every faction. To ensure Bai Ge's identity remained secret—or rather, to conceal his relationship with Qian Renxue—leaving Heaven Dou for the time being was a good decision.

Besides, with Bai Ge's current Teleportation ability, traveling from Shrek to Qian Renxue's chambers took no more than the blink of an eye.

Shrek Academy was truly too remote. Worse still, Bai Ge's terrible sense of direction had not improved even after living two lives.

There was nothing to be done about it. In his previous life, Bai Ge had been a shut-in, an unsuccessful webnovel writer. On the rare one or two occasions each month that he went out, he could just call a taxi.

East, west, south, and north were the driver's problem.

So, Bai Ge walked while asking for directions, taking three days to finally find the place: a small village.

Quite a few people had gathered at the village entrance, most of them youths around his age, with many accompanied by their parents.

A table had been placed at the village entrance, behind which sat an elderly man in his sixties. Hanging from the wooden archway at the entrance was a somewhat shabby-looking plaque, carved with five simple words: Shrek Academy.

Before those five words was a portrait that looked like the head of some sort of green humanoid monster. It was rather cute.

The old man behind the table also wore a similar round green badge on his chest. It was probably Shrek Academy's school emblem.

Bai Ge's mouth twitched. This place is way too run-down, isn't it?

Although Douluo had become hugely popular because of the animation, prompting him to reread the original novel several times, six years had already passed since he transmigrated. He still remembered the important plot points, but some details had grown vague.

At the very least, Shrek Academy was far more dilapidated than he had imagined.

At this moment, there were roughly several dozen applicants ahead of him in line. Quite a few of them frowned, clearly sharing the same thoughts as him.

One youth in the line had both his parents with him. His mother said, "Is this some kind of joke? This is the Spirit Master Academy that supposedly lets you become an imperial Viscount upon graduation?"

The youth's father was also uncertain. "That's what the people from Spirit Hall said, so it should not be wrong, right? But this academy really is a bit too shabby."

The youth said, "Dad, I don't want to study here. It's too embarrassing.

Let's go to Soto Intermediate Spirit Master Academy instead.

After all, I was considered a genius back at Junior Academy."

The youth's father frowned and said, "Since we're already here, let's wait a little longer. Maybe this is some kind of test, and the real academy isn't here."

There was certainly no shortage of similar conversations among the people waiting in line. Deep disappointment showed on the faces of most of the youths and their parents.

The old man seated behind the table, responsible for registration, looked utterly listless. His clothes could generously be called plain, but less generously, one might wonder whether he could not afford new clothes.

At that moment, a youth stepped forward to register. The old man lazily said, "The registration fee is ten Gold Spirit Coins. Just put them in that box."

The youth's accompanying father hurriedly took out ten Gold Spirit Coins and placed them into a box nailed together from several wooden boards nearby.

"Hold out one hand."

The youth did as instructed and extended his hand before the old man. The old man squeezed it twice, then shook his head at him. "You don't meet the age requirement. You can leave."

The youth froze for a moment, then turned to look at his father.

His father hurriedly said with a placating smile, "Teacher, my son only just turned twelve. Could you make an exception?"

Somewhat impatiently, the old man said, "Don't hold up the people behind you. Don't you know the academy's rules?

We only accept children aged twelve and under.

Anyone over twelve will not be accepted. You may leave."

The youth's father said, "Then our registration fee..."

The old man replied without the slightest politeness, "Once you register, there are no refunds."

Even a clay figurine had some temper. The youth's father could not help raging, "You're clearly cheating people out of their money.

Return our registration fee, or we won't leave.

If we had known this so-called Shrek Academy was this run-down, we never would have come."

The old man glanced at him and said indifferently, "Mubai, someone wants their registration fee back. Handle it."

A figure suddenly sprang up from the ground nearby. "You want your registration fee back? Fine. Beat me, and you'll get every last coin back."

Dai Mubai did not waste words. He directly activated his Soul Power, releasing all three of his Spirit Rings—two hundred-year rings and one thousand-year ring.

The surging Soul Power created an invisible pressure in the air. Cold light flickered repeatedly in his evil eyes as he looked toward the father and son.

Then the other side chickened out.

Yes, in fact, the cultivation of the vast majority of people on the Douluo Continent was only around the three-ring level.

For their entire lives, they had no hope of reaching a higher realm.

The Grandmaster's theories were meant for people like them. If they followed his guidance, they might have a chance to break through their limits and advance to Soul Ancestor.

Unfortunately, they did not believe him.

As for scamming the registration fee, it was admittedly a bit of a rip-off, but it was only one month's allowance. For Spirit Masters, it was not much of a burden.

At Shrek Academy, Spirit Emperor- and Soul Saint-level teachers taught personally. Aside from Spirit Hall, no other institution had that capability—and the students they trained were incredibly good at fighting.

Combat instinct was not something just anyone could teach.

Just look at Davis and Dai Mubai. The one with the higher cultivation had still been defeated.

People said Shrek's admission requirements were high, as though the top universities in Bai Ge's previous life had not had high requirements too.

On the Douluo Continent, where people had rigidly followed convention for ten thousand years, Shrek was the only academy that demanded auxiliary-system Spirit Masters possess combat ability as well.

If he had not undergone that kind of training all along, then even if Oscar later became able to duplicate martial souls, he might not have been able to bring out their true power.