"You thought that after coming to Shrek Academy, you could become a powerful Soul Master through your own efforts."
"But..."
The Heavenly Curtain's tone suddenly grew somber.
At the same time, that lowered voice made the people watching the Heavenly Curtain feel inexplicably sad.
The Heavenly Curtain slowly began to play:
"But on the first day of classes, something happened that destroyed you and your entire family."
"Just after entering the classroom, you saw a teacher who looked extremely difficult to get along with."
"She was called Zhou Yi. You'd heard that she trained students brutally and even expelled them on a whim."
At that, you panicked.
Although you'd been among the best in your hometown, after arriving at Shrek Academy, you discovered that your classmates were all geniuses—and even more talented than you.
Besides, you'd never received any systematic training as a child, so you were at the bottom of the class.
You were worried you wouldn't be able to keep up—and that this teacher named Zhou Yi might expel you because of it.
As the saying went, the very thing you feared most was the very thing that came to pass.
"Your teacher seemed to have gone mad. The moment she walked in, she started yelling at you all."
After berating you, she immediately laid down an ultimatum: if you couldn't run a hundred laps within an hour, you'd be expelled.
At that, your vision went black.
Your Martial Soul was a control-type one that could control the corpses of inanimate objects. Over the years, you'd trained your mental strength, but hadn't done much physical training.
It would've been fine if Zhou Yi hadn't demanded that you finish within an hour—but she had!
The Heavenly Curtain's speech grew faster and faster, and a tremor crept into its voice.
"Unable to do anything about it, you didn't dare complain, given Zhou Yi's harshness. You could only follow the other students in your class to the square."
"When you got there, you ran with all your might. Sweat or tears soaked your entire body."
"You panted heavily, your heart pounding as if it would leap out of your chest at any moment, but you didn't dare slack off."
"After all, studying at Shrek was your family's only hope of turning your fortunes around. And if you were expelled, how could you face your parents, who had given everything for you?"
"You kept running, your consciousness growing hazy, but you forced yourself to keep going. You'd started out too fast, and now you had almost no strength left."
"You were second from last, and the hour was nearly up."
"Just then, you noticed that some of your classmates hadn't finished their hundred laps, but had stopped anyway."
You were shocked, but because your parents had taught you from childhood to be honest, you only hesitated.
You gritted your teeth and kept running. As time ticked by, there were less than three minutes left in the hour, but you still had five laps to go.
You were already wondering whether you should hide the fact that you hadn't finished those five laps when—
The student behind you, who was in last place, was carried into the air by his roommate, who had activated his Martial Soul, and quickly finished the remaining laps.
At the sight, you were stunned. You hadn't known that was allowed. But you didn't hesitate any longer and chose to skip those five laps.
After all, someone had openly been carried through the air. Surely it wouldn't be a big deal if you took a risk and skipped five laps.
But...
Zhou Yi called you out of the line and announced that you were expelled.
When Zhou Yi announced your expulsion, you froze.
You truly didn't understand why the person carried through the air by his roommate was fine, while you were being expelled.
You weren't the only one who thought it unfair. The other students protested, asking Zhou Yi why she was expelling them but not the one named Huo Yuhao.
Zhou Yi's reason was that he had a roommate to carry him, so why hadn't you found someone else to carry you?
But... it was only the first day of school!
You and the others who'd been expelled weren't convinced by Zhou Yi's explanation. Just as you were about to say more, she coldly tossed out that if you wanted to report her, you could go to the Academic Affairs Office—but if you dared bother her again, she'd cripple your Martial Souls.
Her threat left you completely at a loss. With vacant eyes, you could only walk to the Academic Affairs Office with the other expelled students.
At the Academic Affairs Office, you'd thought you might be able to get your enrollment restored. If not, you could at least change classes.
But there, you heard a name: Fan Yu.
He was the husband of the teacher who'd expelled you, and he had powerful connections. He was one of Shrek's leading figures.
And so, you were expelled, with no chance of ever returning to Shrek to study.
The Heavenly Curtain's somber tone suddenly turned sorrowful, filling people with a sense of desolation.
At the same time, the cloudless, sunny skies across the Douluo Continent suddenly filled with rolling dark clouds, lightning flashing and thunder rumbling.
Even the Divine Realm above the Douluo Continent was the same.
But those watching the Heavenly Curtain didn't notice the sudden change in weather at all, as though they'd been placed under an illusion.
Their eyes were fixed on the Heavenly Curtain, their emotions swayed by the scenes it showed.
Whether they were lofty Titled Douluo or ordinary people at the bottom of society—
Whether they were Evil Soul Masters with countless innocent lives on their hands or the self-proclaimed righteous Shrek Inspection Team—
Under the gaze of the entire Douluo Continent and even the Divine Realm, the Heavenly Curtain began to scroll again.
"You were expelled and thrown out of your dormitory."
"Shrek Academy really hasn't forgotten its roots."
"For some reason, your tuition wasn't refunded, and the money your parents had worked so hard to earn went down the drain!"
"You were just an ordinary child from a small town, with no connections or support in Shrek City and hardly any money."
"That day, you huddled by the city gate. You didn't know how you got through the night; you only knew it was dark and cold."
At those words, Flender's expression changed drastically at Shrek Academy ten thousand years ago.
"Flender, you... how could you..."
"Ah..."
The teachers and students around him looked at him with complicated expressions, wanting to speak but stopping themselves. In the end, all they could do was sigh.
Flender gave an extremely strained smile and called out helplessly:
"I... I didn't refund the tuition because the academy really couldn't keep operating."
"Besides, if an eleven- or twelve-year-old student had come alone, I definitely would've refunded his travel expenses!"
Flender argued loudly, but everyone around him looked at him with complicated expressions.
Yu Xiaogang, especially, wanted to get back at Flender for mocking him earlier. He put on a look of righteous indignation.
"Flender, you've really disappointed me!"
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