Coercion, Swindling, and Deception

Similar conversations were by no means rare among the people waiting in line. Most of the teenagers and their parents wore deeply disappointed expressions.

Yun Feng did not linger over the applicants for long. His gaze was fixed on the front of the line, where registration was taking place. Yun Feng and the others were no ordinary people, so they could naturally hear the conversation there.

The old man seated behind the table, responsible for accepting registrations, looked utterly lazy. Calling his clothes simple would have been putting it kindly; no matter how one looked at him, he resembled an old villager, and he did not even appear as spirited as Jack from Holy Soul Village.

At that moment, a teenager stepped up to the table to register. The old man said lazily,

"Ten Gold Soul Coins for the registration fee. Just put them in that box."

The boy's accompanying father hurriedly took out ten Gold Soul Coins and placed them in the box beside them, crudely nailed together from several wooden boards.

"Hold out one hand."

The boy did as instructed and extended his hand before the old man. The old man squeezed it twice, then shook his head and said,

"Your age does not meet the requirements. You can leave."

The boy froze for a moment and turned to look at his father. A child in their teens still depended on their parents to some extent.

The moment he heard those words, he was completely at a loss.

His father hurriedly forced a smile and said,

"Teacher, my son only just turned thirteen. Could you perhaps make an exception?"

The old man said somewhat impatiently,

"Don't hold up the people behind you. Don't you know the academy's rules? We only accept children under thirteen. Anyone over thirteen will not be accepted. You can leave."

The boy's father said,

"Then our registration fee..."

The old man replied without the slightest courtesy,

"Once you register, there are no refunds."

Even a clay figure had some temper. The boy's father could not help snapping angrily,

"You're clearly scamming people out of money! Return our registration fee, or we won't leave! If we'd known this so-called Shrek Academy was such a dump, we never would have come!"

The old man glanced at him and said blandly,

"Mubai, someone wants their registration fee back. Handle it."

A figure suddenly sprang out from the ground nearby, clutching his groin.

"You can have your registration fee back if you want. Beat me, and you'll get every last coin returned."

That person was Dai Mubai. Since he had been sitting off to the side and was blocked by the crowd, Yun Feng and the others had not seen him earlier.

When Yun Feng and the others saw Dai Mubai, they could not help marveling at how strange this world was. His injury had been so severe that it could be said his chickens had flown and his eggs had been smashed.

Yet after only a day of recuperation, he looked as though nothing had happened.

It was not hard to guess that he had probably hired a healing-type Spirit Master to restore his injuries.

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

His surging Soul Power created an invisible pressure in the air. Cold light flickered repeatedly in his evil eyes as he stared at the father and son.

Among Spirit Masters, Spirit Rings were always the strongest form of authority. Seeing the three Spirit Rings around Dai Mubai, including a thousand-year ring, the boy's father's expression changed drastically. Muttering that they were simply unlucky, he grabbed his son and hurried away.

Dai Mubai returned to his seat at the side, his evil eyes coldly sweeping over the teenagers and parents waiting to register behind them. The threat was obvious.

The oppressive force brought by three Spirit Rings was not something ordinary people could withstand.

At that moment, he no longer resembled a spoiled young master. Instead, he looked more like a thug.

He had already been quite angry, and now someone had come looking for trouble. He had immediately wanted to make a move, but the cough from behind him reminded Dai Mubai of the dean's words, and he forcibly held himself back.

Once that scene ended, a third of the people waiting in line immediately left. No one wanted to waste money, especially when the appearance of Shrek Academy before them was truly hard to praise.

Another teenage applicant stepped up before the old man. Both of his parents had come with him. His mother confidently placed ten Gold Soul Coins into the wooden box, and the boy obediently held out his hand.

The old man squeezed the boy's hand, then looked at him with his murky yellow eyes and said,

"Exactly twelve years old. Release your Martial Soul and let me have a look."

The boy nodded. Pale green Soul Power emerged from his body, and a yellow hundred-year Spirit Ring rose and fell around him.

The aura of the hundred-year Spirit Ring was clearly not weak. As his Martial Soul appeared, a thick, long vine coiled around his body.

Ghost Vine.

The old man merely glanced at the boy's Martial Soul before directly shaking his head.

"Unqualified. Go back."

When Yun Feng and the others saw this, their hearts were far from calm.

They were confident that they would certainly pass the assessment.

But was this old man not openly scamming people?

Without explaining anything, he was merely trying to cheat ordinary civilians out of a little money. To be honest, Yun Feng did not have the slightest favorable impression of Shrek Academy.

Without talent or virtue, how good could the students they educated possibly be?

In other words, Tang San's baffling actions later on were actually inseparable from Shrek Academy as well.

The boy's parents had initially looked full of confidence, but when they heard the old man say their child was unqualified, their expressions instantly stiffened. His mother could not help asking,

"Why? My son is one of the best students at his junior academy. Didn't you see that his Spirit Ring is a hundred-year ring? Spirit Masters with hundred-year Spirit Rings are not common."

The old man said blandly,

"It is naturally good for the first Spirit Ring to be a hundred-year ring, but he is only an ordinary person."

The boy's father frowned.

"I don't understand what you mean."

The old man impatiently stood from behind the table and said bluntly,

"My rules are the rules!"

As he spoke, an incomparably powerful aura suddenly erupted from him. Dense red light burst forth from the old man's body, and a long staff covered in countless fine patterns appeared in his right hand. Most terrifying of all, six Spirit Rings rose from beneath his feet, their dazzling light instantly becoming the focus of the entire scene.

The six Spirit Rings were, respectively, one white, one yellow, three purple, and one black.

That was one ten-year Spirit Ring, one hundred-year Spirit Ring, three thousand-year Spirit Rings, and one ten-thousand-year Spirit Ring.

This old man, who looked like an ordinary farmer, was actually a Spirit Emperor-level super expert above level sixty.

Level sixty—he was level sixty! Even in the entire Balak Kingdom, Spirit Masters of that level were absolutely few and far between.

The old man's long staff struck the ground, and a low, muffled boom spread outward. Nearly everyone staggered on their feet.

He waved a hand at the family of three before him, who had already been frightened limp onto the ground.

"Next."

The glow of the Spirit Rings faded, and all Soul Power vanished in an instant. The old man returned to his previous lazy appearance, as if the Spirit Emperor's aura had not been released by him at all.

If some parents had still felt indignant over the old man's words before, now everyone was silent as cicadas in winter. Who would dare offend a Spirit Emperor-level expert?

Especially a Spirit Emperor with a ten-thousand-year Spirit Ring.