Mental Well-Being

The sun blazed overhead as Huo Yuhao and the others sat in the shade, listening to the details of the exam.

"Good thing the examiners didn't give you a hard time. I was already getting ready to argue with them," Tang Ya said with a sigh of relief.

"Since you passed, don't worry about anything else. Just focus on preparing for the battle." His tone was calm, but the smile on his face showed how happy he was.

"Then let's celebrate with some grilled fish! Yuhao can make it. It's settled." Tang Ya grabbed the two of them and dragged them out of the city to catch fish. After the three of them worked together, they all ate their fill.

The fish in the river were in for a rough time. They couldn't hide from Spiritual Detection, and then the Thunder Web scooped them all up in one go, whole families neatly gathered together. If the fish could talk, they'd have reported the three of them for electrofishing and gotten them arrested. A few clever ones escaped the net, but were zapped until they floated up, twitching. They clearly weren't going to survive, so Tang Ya kindly scooped them all up too.

Tang Ya felt a little guilty about the small fish that had died. There might be fewer fish next time they came. Then she smelled the grilled fish and the sorrowful tears at the corners of her mouth began to flow.

After their meal, they said their goodbyes. Tang Ya and Bei Bei had to prepare for their entrance exams and couldn't keep Huo Yuhao company.

On the way back, Huo Yuhao practiced Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. Every little improvement gave him a better chance. He and Wang Yi discussed it and decided there was no need to learn every Tang Sect Secret Technique. Huo Yuhao wasn't especially talented in that area, and his progress was slow. They should choose a few techniques that suited him best and were most urgently needed. There was no point in learning too many skills.

In the end, they chose Purple Demon Eye and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. Mysterious Jade Hand, Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, and the Tang Sect Hidden Weapon Compendium, which was based on the first two, would have to wait. After all, if Huo Yuhao ever had to charge into battle as a support, he might as well give up and die. And if he couldn't bring down an enemy before they reached him, he might as well surrender. Keeping his distance and staying alive mattered most. You couldn't deal damage if you were dead.

Huo Yuhao returned to the dormitory drenched in sweat. Tests showed that his speed had indeed improved quite a bit. At his top speed, he could keep it up for a minute. Unless an Agility Attack Soul Master made no mistakes, there was no way they could catch him in that time. That was without Berserk, though, and Huo Yuhao didn't have the energy to test it. The exam was just around the corner, and every time he used Berserk, he was left weak for quite a while. To maintain his best physical condition, Huo Yuhao suppressed the urge to try it.

That evening, Huo Yuhao tidied up the dormitory, ate some filling rations, and began cultivating. But hunger continued to gnaw at him. The energyless rations could no longer satisfy his growing body. He needed high-energy food. Just as he hadn't been hungry in the Star Dou Great Forest, Spirit Beast Meat was what Huo Yuhao needed. But he couldn't spend every day in the forest, living off the land. He needed a proper education in cultivation.

That meant he could only buy it. Wang Yi considered what Huo Yuhao had told the examiners while calculating how much money they would need. He couldn't help frowning. They would have to get into Shrek Academy. Wang Yi thought that Shrek students wouldn't be short of money, but where that money came from was another matter. They could borrow some in the early stages and call it an investment, but resources would be harder to find later.

The thought made Wang Yi grimly resolve himself. Then he remembered that Huo Yuhao would never agree to doing anything bad, and his frown deepened. Suddenly, he thought of those two exam candidates who had fought and held a grudge against each other. The clouds in his mind parted. He searched his memories and found the history of the continent's great families. Once he understood how to proceed, Wang Yi burst out laughing. "This is an arithmetic sequence where each term is the sum of two equal parts!"

At dawn, Huo Yuhao had just finished cultivating Purple Demon Eye when Wang Yi began coaching him on how to answer questions during the exam, especially those about Soul Skills. When choosing between hiding his Soul Skills and making up a crazy explanation, Huo Yuhao chose the latter. Wang Yi had worked out how to describe the three Soul Skills as one: explain Soul Shock as an application of Purple Demon Eye. After all, Ancestor Tang San had transformed Blue Silver Cage into Blue Silver Thorn Array. As a Tang Sect disciple, Huo Yuhao had faithfully followed the ancestor's spirit, putting theory into practice and making a leap forward in the most mysterious field of the mind. What was wrong with that? Shouldn't he be praised? Huo Yuhao was so obedient to the ancestral teachings that the examiners were sure to be moved.

After explaining everything, Wang Yi stared blankly at Huo Yuhao. His expression was like someone who had found a treasure and couldn't wait to share his joy with someone else.

Huo Yuhao didn't let him down. He immediately asked what was wrong. Wang Yi beamed and waved his hands as he asked, "What did you notice when those two were fighting?"

"Hatred?"

"Close, but not the most fundamental thing. I saw war."

"In my world, wars of aggression are a way to reinforce class divisions, monopolize the means of production, and save the ruling class from its own predicament."

"Here, there are a few more variables. If the total amount of resources stays the same while the ruling class keeps growing, what happens? The established families and the rising families are bound to fight over power. To cover up their domestic problems, they'll have to launch wars abroad. That's our opportunity."

"Your abilities are practically made for the era you belong to. You're the Child of Destiny!"

"I don't quite understand," Huo Yuhao said, sounding a little confused.

"Ah, you'll understand someday. I'm just a little worried about the variable of Soul Tools. I don't know whether the Soul Engineers are discontented enough yet. If they are, then it'll be like two bombs going off at once."

"Huh, maybe those two things are actually connected. I'll have to think about it some more."

"Anyway, hurry up and get to your exam. If things get tough, ask Tian Meng to help you."

"Wouldn't that be cheating?" Huo Yuhao asked as he ran.

"What cheating? That's the power of your Soul Ring. When else are you supposed to use it?" Wang Yi scolded him, frustrated by his lack of sense. "Besides, those great families are bound to use all sorts of dirty tricks. You won't be able to catch them, and even if you do, they won't have broken any rules. How can you compete with that?"

Huo Yuhao looked at Wang Yi with suspicion, doubting whether that was true. Shrek Academy had always had a good reputation. Seeing Huo Yuhao's expression, Wang Yi realized that, as an outsider, his words might not carry as much weight as the reputation of this thousand-year-old academy. But if it was really so good, why hadn't it helped when your mother died? Why hadn't you reported it to the authorities?

The matter involved Duke White Tiger's children, so the impact would certainly be significant. Shrek, the embodiment of justice, would surely help, wouldn't it? But Wang Yi had no intention of spelling that out. Huo Yuhao was still young, and there was time for him to start questioning things on his own. It was perfectly normal for a child without access to enough information to have his worldview shaped by public opinion. In the end, he would discover the gap between theory and reality. Then the question would be: was the theory wrong, or was reality?

Wang Yi ended their fruitless argument with a sense of anticipation and urged Huo Yuhao to hurry to the exam. He should see for himself. Wang Yi only needed to ask a few questions at critical moments to keep him from going astray.

Feeling a little uneasy, Huo Yuhao ran to the examination hall. After his identity was verified, he saw the candidates chatting excitedly. Listening closely, he learned that the special ability assessment had been moved ahead of the Individual Battle to prevent cheating.

Quite a few students in the hall were questioning the change. "These three tests have been handed down for thousands of years. Our ancestors' rules can't be changed! Besides, why change them in our year of all years?" Similar complaints rose one after another, making quite a racket.

Huo Yuhao thought it over and realized it didn't affect him at all. The change could effectively prevent cheating and stop people with connections from helping out. Given his own intelligence, he couldn't see what was wrong with it.

He had some questions he wanted to ask Wang Yi, but after their earlier argument, he found it hard to speak up. As Huo Yuhao struggled with his discomfort, Wang Yi spoke first and answered his question. He was an adult; there was no need to sulk at a child.

"Your thinking is right. The question you should be asking is why they're only doing this now. Take a good look around the hall. How many different kinds of people can you see?"

Using his Spirit Eye, Huo Yuhao memorized the appearances and expressions of the people in the hall and compared them. Most of the plainly dressed candidates didn't seem to care much. The wealthy and extravagantly dressed ones fell into two groups: worried and extremely worried. Those shouting the loudest belonged to the latter group. Most of the unconcerned candidates looked cold and aloof, watching the rabble with disdain. They seemed very confident.

He seemed to understand. Some people might no longer be able to get what they wanted, so they were furious. The special ability test involved fairly subjective scores. If they lost the Individual Battle, they could still make up for it here. But bribing Shrek's examiners came at a very high price. They would have to offer enough for Shrek Academy itself to benefit. Shrek was powerful enough to contend with a nation. Not many people could afford that price, and there weren't many such cases in history. Still, it was hard to say whether some of them had done it to build good relations with Shrek. This kind of price was usually ongoing. Once you accepted it, you were expected to take good care of things and make allowances so my descendants could get in too. That was how such connections lasted. Repeated bribes cost much less, but they were still beyond what an ordinary family could afford.

Just then, an examiner walked in. He frowned at the state of the examination hall and the many students who looked like commoners. "Stop arguing. Everyone be quiet. If you want to get into Shrek Academy, then show us what you can do. Don't think about taking crooked paths. We don't accept useless people."

"Let me add one more thing. Some people here have no idea what they're capable of. Take a look in the mirror and go home. This place isn't for you."

Huo Yuhao followed the teacher's instructions and entered the examination hall with a large group of candidates. After the rules were explained, the proctor handed out the answer sheets. The questions didn't look difficult at a glance. They were all based on recent events, with candidates asked to answer questions about them. There were multiple-choice questions and long-form questions—in other words, essay questions. They weren't obscure philosophical puzzles. Anyone with common sense and a proper moral compass would have little trouble. Shrek Academy was confident it could discipline those with bad character. Whether you were a dragon or a tiger, you'd have to bow your head. If anyone refused to behave, they could simply be kicked out.

The exam proved very effective. Those who couldn't be disciplined were kicked out at this stage, while most students with poor character learned how to behave during their studies. Shrek couldn't do anything about how they threw their weight around at home. Huo Yuhao wrote rapidly, answering questions where the right and wrong answers were obvious at a glance. One question caught his eye: Two children taking our academy's entrance exam got into a fight before the exam began, seriously disrupting public order. Our academy has imposed a strict punishment to warn the public that Shrek is not above the law. Choose what you would do below...

An event this recent had already made it onto the exam. Had the test paper only just been written? Impressed by Shrek's efficiency, he felt even more respect for the academy.

He soon reached the last question. The others had been easy because all he had to do was give his plainest opinion. He didn't have to identify key ideas in the source material, write them down, and then explain how they related to it. The last question was different from the earlier morality questions. It was an essay about his own life, with no word limit. What kind of person did he want to become?

Not many people took this question seriously, but being a person was central to every stage of a person's development. Though people lived in society and were the sum of their social relationships, they still had subjective agency and could change those relationships.

Right now, the most important question was what kind of person their Child of Destiny, Huo Yuhao, wanted to become and what he wanted to do. Huo Yuhao sank into his memories. For the past few months, he had tried hard to forget what had happened before and make himself happy. Now he was all alone, and the thought made him unable to hold back his grief. Back when he had sought revenge, that grief had turned into anger. Now he couldn't find an outlet for his sorrow.

What about Duke White Tiger? Huo Yuhao couldn't say he didn't hate him, but he couldn't form any specific hatred toward him. He hadn't done anything bad to Huo Yuhao and his mother, at most he had been negligent, failed to notice what was happening, or allowed it to happen. Huo Yuhao had no impression of his father at all.

You couldn't form a specific hatred toward something you had never had. If he got the chance someday, Huo Yuhao would see whether his father deserved to die. He'd decide then.

Huo Yuhao thought about the humiliation and persecution he and his mother had suffered, and about the lessons his mother had taught him. Gradually, his thoughts grew clear: I want to be a good person.

Once he had settled on his theme, he began writing. To be honest, Huo Yuhao didn't have much learning stored up, so it was understandable that his essay was short. He had plenty of room to improve once he studied harder.

After finishing the exam, Huo Yuhao felt much more at ease. "Brother Wang Yi, how did I do? Do you think there's anything wrong with it?"

"Good foundations. You have a bright future." He answered with just those eight words and said no more. For a child, simply having the idea of becoming a good person was enough. The concept of a good person was too vague; it wasn't specific to anyone. For example, did you want to be a good person to the masters, or to the beasts of burden? Their approaches could be very similar, making it easy to confuse the two. Maybe you couldn't tell the difference when discussing vague ideas, but once you got into the concrete distribution of benefits, you'd see that the two groups had irreconcilable conflicts.

For example: labor is the source of value. That was absolutely true; nobody could say otherwise, since it was written in political textbooks. And in reality, when people worked effectively, society's total wealth increased.

But how did that saying go? "The bourgeoisie does everything in its power to instill one idea in the public: the wealth of the capitalists is the wealth of the entire nation. Even the poorest patriot in London's East End can't help but puff out his chest at the thought of Britain's wealth and industry."

After all, private property was sacred and inviolable. What did someone else's wealth have to do with you?

Of course, Huo Yuhao couldn't understand these ideas yet, and that wasn't a problem. Who hadn't been naive once?

When perception clashed with reality, there might be a painful period of adjustment. But once he got through it, combined with his fortune, he would emerge from his cocoon and soar like a dragon against the wind. Even the best theory had to be combined with practice. By the time he reached adulthood, he would probably start questioning things. For now, he was at an age when he should be happy. Little Yuhao's childhood hadn't been very happy, but, "We cannot change the past, but we can still pursue what lies ahead." Most of his hatred had already been resolved, and the rest wasn't too important, as long as they didn't get in his face.

Once he finished the exam and enrolled, sunny days would lie ahead.

Having passed the mental assessment, Huo Yuhao thought so.