If a beautiful young woman with bright eyes and pearly teeth pressed you against a wall, tears in her eyes as she begged you to give her a chance,
and if she would kiss you by force the moment you refused,
would you turn the tables on her?
Unfortunately, the person blocking Xuanyuan Sheng's way right now wasn't a beautiful young woman.
"Xuanyuan Sheng, I'll give you a chance."
The languid young man was walking along when an old woman with wrinkled skin and white hair blocked his path.
Xuanyuan Sheng raised his eyes beneath his tousled bangs. Seeing who it was, he couldn't help sighing. "Granny, I'm still a kid, you know. The oldest I'd go for is an older woman, younger man relationship. Someone like you... sigh."
He didn't want to put it any more harshly.
Ever since he'd been reincarnated into the world of Douluo Jueshi, getting cornered in the woods by people his age or older and confessed to had become commonplace.
But now an old woman who was clearly several decades older than him had stopped him in his tracks. His fragile little heart couldn't take it.
Black lines had already appeared on Zhou Yi's forehead, but her tone remained self-assured. "I'm Zhou Yi, a teacher in Class One. I know you're Zhang Lexuan's younger brother, and that your Martial Soul, the Xuanyuan Sword, is no ordinary one. But if you really join Class Nine, your future achievements will be nothing special."
When Zhou Yi revealed her identity, Xuanyuan Sheng visibly relaxed.
So it was Zhou Yi, the Shrek garrison's god of war. What was she going on about? Did she dare walk outside the city alone?
As long as she wasn't who he'd thought she was, that was fine.
Seeing Xuanyuan Sheng's mind wander, Zhou Yi's hoarse, unpleasant voice sounded by his ear again. "This concerns your future. Do you really not care?"
Xuanyuan Sheng waved a hand dismissively. "Auntie, students who get into Shrek will all reach at least Soul Emperor level. There's no need to worry too much about their future."
Hearing that, Zhou Yi's face darkened. She said sternly, "This is Shrek, a school exclusively for monsters. How can someone as unmotivated as you be worthy of this place?"
"Not worthy of this place?" A huge question mark appeared above Xuanyuan Sheng's head. "Auntie, you've known me for all of a few seconds, and you've already decided what kind of person I am. Don't you need to spend time getting to know someone first?"
Zhou Yi looked him over calmly. "The people I need to cultivate are true monsters. Getting to know them isn't my job. As for everyone else, I only need to send them home."
Looking at the old woman in front of him, who acted as though she were completely justified, Xuanyuan Sheng was speechless. Cultivating true monsters? Did she think she was a Limit Douluo?
He looked at Zhou Yi. "Are you a teacher in Class Nine?"
Zhou Yi replied coolly, "No."
"Then what are you even talking about?"
Xuanyuan Sheng turned and walked away. He'd thought the old woman had come to teach Class Nine because the story had changed.
That made more sense. There was no way a mere Soul Emperor, no matter how well-connected, could overstep her authority and transfer students from Class One to Class Nine. What a waste of time.
"You... I have the highest promotion rate of any teacher in all of Shrek. You'll regret this."
Zhou Yi couldn't believe a student would turn down such a direct path to success.
But the departing figure didn't look back. He simply walked away.
Hearing Zhou Yi's threat from behind him, Xuanyuan Sheng was full of disdain. Her trick of raising the odds by lowering the number of students was so blatant that Shrek was wasting her talents by not putting her in charge of the accounts.
If they only wanted monsters, what was the point of running Shrek at all? They might as well just take in the handful of students with the highest talent.
He'd been in this world for years, but this was the first time he'd met someone so shameless.
Martial Soul: Xuanyuan Sword. Soul Power Level: 47. Still young.
Even if a dog taught someone with that setup, they'd be guaranteed to become a Titled Douluo. Never mind this female version of Grandmaster.
Still, Zhou Yi had managed to find him within an hour of his entering the first year. She did have something going for her.
Xuanyuan Sheng spun a little sword in his hand.
Its golden blade was traced with bronze inscriptions, with the sun, moon, and stars on one side, and mountains, rivers, plants, and trees on the other. It radiated the solemn authority of a sword of the Sage's Way.
The light it gave off enveloped Xuanyuan Sheng completely. Without seeing him with their own eyes, no one could detect even a trace of information about him.
Humanity's Luck muddled the secrets of heaven. Even the Divine Kings couldn't probe it. That was why Xuanyuan Sheng thought it impressive that Zhou Yi had found him with just a few scraps of information.
As for lodging,
Xuanyuan Sheng put away his Martial Soul and took out the access token given to him by a certain dean. It only let him go to a specific place, but that was good enough.
The place he was headed to was the Inner Courtyard Senior Sister's private little loft. When it came to lodging, it was probably life's biggest trial. Anyone who'd ever lived in a dorm would understand.
Behind Xuanyuan Sheng,
Zhou Yi saw that he really had left. Her expression was no longer calm; instead, she looked horrified.
A voice rang in her mind.
[Bonding Mission Failed: Current Affection -30]
The number before her had changed from 0 straight to -30. Zhou Yi had a bad feeling about this.
[Penalty Received: Your appearance has aged by 30 years (Dear, that's by an ordinary person's standards (ಡωಡ))]
The voice's message filled her with terror. Just before this, when the voice had first appeared in her mind, it had given her a gift pack.
After opening it, she'd received the teaching knowledge of Yu Xiaogang, who had created Shrek's vocational education system ten thousand years ago.
At the time, Zhou Yi had eagerly accepted it. If the knowledge of one of Shrek's earliest founders could be handed out so casually, what couldn't this system do?
With Yu Xiaogang's expertise in hand, Zhou Yi had naturally looked forward to the moment she could apply that knowledge to her students.
But just then, the thing in her mind had issued a mission.
[Perfect Teacher System Mission Issued] [Find Xuanyuan Sheng and become his teacher. Rewards will be calculated according to the increase in his affection.] [Mission Failed: Rewards will be calculated according to his affection.] [Current Affection for Xuanyuan Sheng: 0]
After seeing the mission, Zhou Yi had thought the rewards it promised were practically a free gift. She'd obtained Grandmaster's teaching experience, after all—the very Grandmaster who had personally helped someone become a god.
What little monster wouldn't want her guidance and hope to become the next Sea God?
She'd also heard Xuanyuan Sheng's name from Zhang Lexuan. Surely that little fellow wouldn't refuse her request to transfer him to another class.
So she'd wandered around the first-year area until she finally found him.
She, Zhou Yi, had never once set aside her pride to invite a student like this. She'd gone out of her way to give him a chance.
Who could have expected the little fellow to be so rude? His affection for her had changed the moment he saw her.
[Affection: -30 (Disgust)]
By then, Zhou Yi had been frantic with worry. But she knew that if she lost the dignity of a teacher, she wouldn't deserve to be one.
Who could have imagined that fellow would show her no consideration at all and simply walk away?
She was a teacher who had combined the teaching knowledge of the past and present. Without her instruction, no matter how much he grew, he'd never reach the peak.
While Zhou Yi was still standing there, seething,
the Perfect Teacher System's penalty for failing the mission began to appear on her face.
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