Rules and Conflict

After eating and drinking to his heart's content, Huo Yuhao had recovered quite well over the past few days, thanks to the Green Aura constantly repairing his body from within. This speed shocked Tang Ya and Bei Bei, yet they didn't ask any questions. Among these three, who didn't have secrets? Respecting others was respecting oneself.

Once Huo Yuhao had learned the basic applications of the Tang Sect Secret Techniques, they let him practice on his own; after all, martial arts ultimately relied on one's own efforts. Huo Yuhao was extremely grateful for this, as noble families might not have needed them to rely on their own ancestral martial arts. Huo Yuhao, however, had nothing left now, and the Mysterious Heaven Skill and Purple Demon Eye perfectly solved his current cultivation problems.

The significance of the Purple Demon Eye to Huo Yuhao, whose Martial Soul was the Spirit Eye, went without saying, and the benefits of the Mysterious Heaven Skill in improving his aptitude and cultivation speed solved his most pressing needs. What was the use of having powerful mental strength if he couldn't use it? His current mental strength could rival that of a weaker six-ring Spirit Emperor. If Electrolux and Tian Meng were in control, he could put up a fight, but Huo Yuhao himself couldn't. His Soul Power and mental strength were severely imbalanced, so the most urgent task was to increase his Soul Power.

That was why he was so excited when he learned that mental strength could stimulate the growth of Soul Power. Huo Yuhao silently kept his gratitude in his heart, intending to repay them in the future.

When they were half a day's journey from Shrek City, Bei Bei began to explain the examination rules to Huo Yuhao, noting that there was half a month left until the exams.

"Yuhao, the other rules aren't important. There is one major problem standing in front of you right now: Shrek Academy has never accepted a student below level 15, and no one wants to break the precedent and risk their reputation. Considering the name of the Tang Sect, this is the absolute bottom line."

Huo Yuhao thought there was no hope, but he still had a way—wasn't it just risking his life? With a determined gaze, he replied, "I have a way. Senior Brother, please tell me the specific process."

Bei Bei was stunned for a moment, a glimmer of hope igniting in his heart. Perhaps there really was a possibility of him being admitted? He then gathered his thoughts and began to explain.

"First, you must choose your own cultivation path. This is the most important question, as it determines your growth direction."

Huo Yuhao looked at Bei Bei in confusion, his eyes showing a sense of innocence. "I don't know. Senior Brother, which one do you think suits me best?"

Bei Bei sighed inwardly; the monopoly on knowledge made it harder for commoners to succeed. Even the only path that was slightly better—entering Shrek Academy—had extremely high restrictions.

Stopping his wandering thoughts and beginning to think seriously, Bei Bei offered his advice: "Looking at your Martial Soul and Soul Skills, there are two directions: Control System and Support System."

"Although the Control System has better prospects and is full of potential, the competition is also extremely fierce, and the opponents have powerful strength and backgrounds."

"The Support category is different. Aside from the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, there are almost no large organizations involved, so the competition and difficulty are minimal. Most powerful Martial Souls are also not suited for support."

"To sum up the status of support in one sentence: you can get by without a support-type in a team battle, but if the opponent has one, you will definitely be in a miserable state. Therefore, in a fight, you must always kill the support first."

"My point is, get into Shrek first, then think about other things."

"Senior Brother, I trust your judgment."

"Once the path is determined, the difficulty of the exam can be set. Although the exam is said to have three stages, it's really just one. The first stage is the age and Soul Power test, which is just a formality. The second stage is the Ideological and Political Examination to ensure there are no anti-human tendencies, and the third stage is the fighting."

Hearing this, Huo Yuhao had a question: "Is the Ideological and Political Examination useful? Can't you just fake your way through it?"

"Hahaha, little junior brother, you are still too young. This stage weeds out quite a few spoiled brats every year."

It was normal for Huo Yuhao not to understand these behaviors, just like someone asking why people don't eat meat porridge when they are starving; the difference in their living environments inevitably led to different moral concepts.

Huo Yuhao didn't have time to think too much, as Bei Bei seemed unwilling to dwell on this issue and began to explain the third stage. To prevent cheating as much as possible, the third stage was divided into team battles and individual battles, as well as tests for special abilities to fill in the gaps. Most support-types needed to have their special abilities checked because they weren't suited for combat, and they were often caught during this phase.

"Little junior brother, your special abilities will definitely pass, but you must have a certain score from the first two stages. Your role in the team battle will definitely be very significant, but it's hard for the grading teachers to see it and give you a high score, so they will likely give you a mediocre score at their discretion."

"The score is out of 100: 40 for team performance, 30 for individual battles, and 30 for special abilities."

"Let's calculate: team performance is about 20, special abilities are a conservative 25, so to be safe, you must get 15 in the individual battles, which is half the points."

At this point, everyone frowned. You want a Spirit System Soul Master who is extremely weak in the early stages to fight against Power Attack System Battle Soul Masters in the ring? A one-ring fighting a two-ring? That was a bit difficult.

This left no room for low-level special Soul Masters. It was expected, though; the teachers and students were all part of a complex web of connections.

If they gave you a high score, what would happen to their own family members? There were always disparities in quality. As for reporting corruption, that was a joke. They didn't even need to communicate in secret; once they revealed their Martial Soul and mentioned their surname, everyone would give them some face.

Special abilities were a different system, so there was no need to worry too much. Since there was no way to guarantee a good score from the teachers in the team battle, Huo Yuhao's only chance for a comeback was the individual battle. According to projections, a minimum of one win and one draw was required to pass. There were three matches in total, decided by drawing lots. A win was worth 10 points, and a draw was worth 5 points for each side.

The other scores were too subjective and unstable, but one-on-one was concrete. Only winning all matches would be safe.

However, that was impossible; his Soul Power couldn't support more than three matches. After this analysis, the hope was very slim, but everyone tacitly chose not to mention it.

During the rest of the journey, Huo Yuhao practiced the Mysterious Heaven Skill and Tang Sect Secret Techniques incessantly, striving to improve his strength within these fifteen days.

Huo Yuhao knew clearly that if he used all his power, he could easily take first place. But he couldn't explain how he did it; just the Silkworm Slough alone would kill many people. He had never fought against his peers, and he couldn't guarantee safety if he fought Bei Bei or Tang Ya. He could only rely on imagination to try and solve the problem. He was quite experienced in killing with a single strike, but he couldn't kill or use weapons in the competition.

Now that things had come to this, he could only leave it to fate; worrying was useless.

During their conversation, they slowly arrived at Shrek City. Walking out of the Star Dou Great Forest, they faced this magnificent city. Everywhere he looked, there were carriages and merchants, showing the prosperity of the enrollment period.

After Bei Bei explained the situation, the Shrek student let them in; currently, only examinees and some family members were allowed to enter. The student looked at Huo Yuhao with some surprise as he entered as a recommended student of the Tang Sect.

As soon as Tang Ya returned to the city, she became lively, taking Huo Yuhao left and right to introduce the new member to Shrek Academy, trying her best to be a good Sect Master.

Finally, she brought Huo Yuhao to a dormitory building surrounded by trees, quiet and elegant. "This is a building specifically designated for outside examinees. It's very safe. Bei Bei and I have to go report in. I'll find you when I get back. You behave yourself."

Huo Yuhao nodded and entered the dormitory building to find his room. The room was a single occupancy. Having learned from painful lessons in history, students were now all in single rooms. In the past, there had been many incidents where conflicts led to bloodshed. Therefore, they lowered the dormitory conditions to single-occupancy. This was very beneficial for Huo Yuhao to hide his secrets; after all, it was hard not to make people think someone who often talked to himself was mentally ill.

Huo Yuhao didn't have any luggage to unpack, so he moved in and started the most important thing: cultivation.

"Are you really going to do it again? The damage to your body is too great." Wang Yi tried to stop him. "There's no need to be so anxious. With our aptitude, we don't need to be so desperate. No matter how difficult it is to have aptitude as a Soul Master, it's not like there won't be a school to attend. Why hang yourself on one tree?"

"My mother said I would definitely be able to get into Shrek."

This sentence silenced Wang Yi. Fine, then I'll struggle along with you. Having made up his mind, Wang Yi said, "Since that's the case, stop cultivating for now and go outside to prepare the necessary items. Have you forgotten how miserable you were last time?"

Huo Yuhao, who had been ready to face death, came to his senses and realized he had forgotten to prepare. He ran out in shame to get the items.

When Huo Yuhao, having spent his last remaining savings, hurried back from the market with bags in his hands, he was busy building up his mental resolve. Some things, if not done immediately, would create a huge psychological barrier, especially things that would significantly hinder his life if left undone.

Just as Huo Yuhao was moving quickly through the crowded street like a fish, a huge human wall suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking his path. The noisy crowd seemed to have unified to watch the spectacle. Huo Yuhao, whose body hadn't fully developed yet, had his view blocked; no matter how far his Spirit Eye could see, it couldn't penetrate the human wall.

Hearing the constant cheering, Huo Yuhao felt a bit curious and quietly activated his Martial Soul and Soul Skill. His field of vision instantly opened up, passing through the human wall and presenting itself in his mind in a three-dimensional way.

He discovered that two people of the same age were fighting. Seeing two teenagers, both with yellow Soul Rings, fighting was something that could only be seen during Shrek's enrollment; the probability of it happening elsewhere was too small. Only by listening to the gossip of the onlookers did he slowly piece together the situation.

It turned out that people from the Heaven Spirit Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire were fighting. Even though the two had split up, the nobles didn't have any major grudges. After all these years, who wasn't related by blood or marriage? Why fight? But this child from the Heaven Dou Empire came from a newly emerged noble family, and "newly emerged" meant military exploits and deaths. The ones who died were people from the Heaven Spirit Empire—the child's relatives. The original nobles of the Heaven Dou Empire had naturally gained many benefits and wouldn't say anything; business was business, and relatives were relatives.

The hatred naturally passed from the previous generation to this one, and when enemies met, their eyes turned red, so they started fighting. The family crests on their carriages already revealed their identities.

The farce ended with the arrival of the Shrek Enforcement Team, but Huo Yuhao's contemplation did not. Both individuals possessed powerful Martial Souls and strength; if he went all out with Soul Shock and Berserk, he could defeat one, but he would have no strength left for a second round. These two abilities had to be used to defeat enemies one by one. This put his control to the test.

Wang Yi popped out holding a newspaper and asked, "What are your thoughts after seeing that?"

"Their Martial Souls and physical fitness are far superior to mine. If it weren't for the buffs provided by Brother Tian Meng, I wouldn't have had a chance to beat them. If this is the average standard, I'm in for a tough time."

"No need to be so hard on yourself. If it really comes down to it, I'll wake up Tian Meng to help you. If he can't do it, I'll go find Electrolux. Just do your best; you don't need to carry too much. We've got your back."

"Do one thing for me before we head back to the dorm."

"Where to?"

"To the Library."

In the end, relying on Spiritual Detection and Photographic Memory, Huo Yuhao memorized the contents of all the books, which left him so exhausted that he had another nosebleed. This was a massive undertaking; the sheer volume of knowledge from thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of books, nearly overwhelmed him. In the end, it was Tian Meng who stepped in to stabilize the situation. He started cursing immediately, and this time, it made the First Seal unstable.

This time, Wang Yi retorted sharply: "Can I get by without reading? Should I rely on you, Electrolux, or Huo Yuhao, who doesn't have enough time for cultivation?"

"If I don't find a way to understand the world situation and the underlying conditions, how are we supposed to make money? Should I wait for it to fall from the sky?"

"Who is going to tell us about future cultivation resources and development paths? Those noble clans? Waiting for the charity of kind-hearted people is worse than preparing for yourself. Fairy tales are just fairy tales. Huo Yuhao is destined not to be a vassal, no matter what kind of person he wants to become."

"The most immediate problem is, haven't you noticed Huo Yuhao's appetite has increased? This means he needs to consume high-energy food. Where is that money coming from? I bet you can't even do basic math."

"And how do you explain your Spiritual Detection and Sharing and Soul Shock? You don't really think everyone else is a fool, do you?"

For a moment, Tian Meng was speechless. This was indeed a problem a bug like him couldn't have anticipated.

"I'm not arguing with you anymore. I have to hurry up and flip through these books to think things over. You should also prepare to find a way to escape if Shrek decides to take action. Don't have any bottom-line expectations for any major power. Even a power with good intentions is composed of people; if they strike from the shadows, you won't even have a place to seek justice." After saying this, he pulled a book from his memory and began to read. After all, there is a huge gap between memorizing something and understanding it. Just like how math textbooks tell you the principles, why are you still unable to solve the problems?

The groggy Huo Yuhao didn't hear their argument; he went to bed as soon as he reached the dorm and fell asleep. Tian Meng went to sleep as well, leaving only Wang Yi to read the History of Soul Guidance Device Development in the Sun Moon Empire.

From this book, he saw both immense danger and opportunity. This was the best era for Huo Yuhao.

As soon as Huo Yuhao woke up, he began to adjust his state. He had originally been preparing for a forced breakthrough, but his rhythm had been slightly disrupted. He locked the door, ate his fill, and placed his dry rations within easy reach. He began to mobilize his spiritual power to impact his body. The intense pain caused Huo Yuhao's body to curl up like a shrimp in a boiling pot; he turned bright red all over and broke out in a constant sweat.

His hands gripped the bedsheets tightly, his muscles tense, yet he refused—and was unable—to let out a roar, producing only low, wheezing sounds. The exhaustion of drowsiness and the piercing sensation of pain clashed, battering Huo Yuhao's soul. In the end, a sense of despair, as if his soul were ascending, filled his mind. His will and reason seemed to have dissipated like flying sand, settling into yellow dust.

Yet, even now, one area persisted; amidst the yellow dust, an oasis stood firm.

Finally, rain fell from the sky, and the oasis began its counterattack. Who knows how much time passed before the world was filled with lush green grass and the fragrance of flowers.

Why did this take longer than the first time? Because the unbreakable seal was already tottering, and Tian Meng, for the sake of increasing combat power, simply opened the seal. Huo Yuhao could only absorb a portion of such vast spiritual power; the rest, Tian Meng reluctantly gave to the other two. Wang Yi was stuffed after absorbing only a small portion, and the rest could only be given to Electrolux. At this moment, a Green Aura suddenly surged out, swallowing everything like a whale drinking water. Before Tian Meng could react, it split into four parts: one large and three small. The large one went to Electrolux, and the small ones were distributed to Huo Yuhao, Tian Meng, and Wang Yi. The portion given to Huo Yuhao first coursed through his body to put out the fire before helping Huo Yuhao's spirit.

"Oh? The quality of this power is very high. It is very helpful for my recovery and also grants me the strength for one strike. If there is trouble, I can intervene." Electrolux was somewhat surprised.

Huo Yuhao did not hear the voices in the Sea of Spirit and fell into a deep sleep once again. In the foreseeable future, there would likely be many more times like this.

At noon the next day, a very uncomfortable Huo Yuhao struggled to open his eyes. Something had glued his eyelids shut, and it stung when he opened them. A pool of blood appeared before his eyes, the winding traces of bloodstains etched onto the floor like the veins of growing tree branches. When he tried to move, he felt an endless sense of hunger and weakness in his body.

Feeling foreign objects in his face and nose, he struggled to muster a bit of strength to lift his hand and wipe his face. It was covered in blood scabs, but it didn't matter; he was already used to it. Only then did he check his body. This shocked him—his entire body was covered in blood, which was terrifying.

However, aside from being weak and hungry, when he circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill, he felt surprisingly light? His soul power circulated with incredible ease; it was an unprecedented feeling of comfort. But he couldn't dwell on the sensation; he had to eat immediately. His stomach was so hungry it had stopped growling to remind him to eat.

As soon as the dry rations hit his mouth, they tasted of blood, but eventually, his hunger overcame his nausea, and he managed to swallow them. Huo Yuhao hurriedly sought out clean water to rinse his nasal cavity, and finally, a clotted mass of blood came out, clearing his airway. Only then did he eat and fill his stomach.

Huo Yuhao thought to himself that he must wash up, but how could he go out looking like this? Unable to think of a solution, Huo Yuhao began to check his gains.

What was certain was that his suffering had not been in vain; his soul power had successfully reached level fifteen. A portion of the resistance had been reduced, and at the same time, his body had undergone a tremendous change. Most excitingly, his meridians were no longer as narrow and blocked as before. He certainly wasn't a genius like Bei Bei, but for Huo Yuhao, this was a massive improvement. His cultivation speed would no longer be as slow as it once was. The increase in soul power could be considered a minor benefit; the increase in potential was the best part.

What exactly had happened? He decided to ask Tian Meng and the others. He shouted in the Sea of Spirit, but no one responded.

After waiting a while, Wang Yi finally replied: "What is it? I was sleeping just now; I was really exhausted." Then Huo Yuhao posed his questions. "Ah, oh, oh, right, that's how it is. Tian Meng's spiritual power, or rather his innate soul power, is just too nourishing, so he fell into a deep sleep. Tian Meng is also sleeping because he was too tired."

"By the way, because Electrolux absorbed the largest portion, he can make one move. You don't have to worry about having someone to back you up for the next few days. I still have to find time to read."

Huo Yuhao wanted to ask more about the situation, but at that moment, the sound of the door opening rang out.