Shrek Academy

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Shrek Academy (史莱克学院)
Alias(es)	“Number One Academy Under Heaven” (claimed); “Number One Pit Under Heaven” (Xu Yanli’s condemnation) 133
Affiliation	Sea God Pavilion; Shrek Inspectorate 108
Occupation/Role	Soul master academy with Outer Court and Inner Court divisions 80 210
Status	Destroyed; its teachers and students were stripped of their martial souls unless first-year students accepted transfer to the Sun Moon Empire Academy 211 212
First Appearance	11

Background / History

Shrek Academy was widely regarded as the continent’s foremost academy and maintained its headquarters around Sea God Island in Shrek City. Its Inner Court cultivated beneath the Golden Ancient Tree, while the Sea God Pavilion served as its highest authority. The academy also maintained an extensive library and a system that recruited outstanding students into its Inner Court. 29 30 80

Xu Yanli enrolled at Shrek under the identity of a student while intending to collect its library records, recruit its talent, and undermine it from within. He gained library access and recorded its books remotely through a monocle-shaped soul tool linked to Xiaoyao Pavilion. 15 30

While studying there, Xu Yanli openly criticized its teaching practices—particularly Zhou Yi’s collective running drills, uniform weight requirements, and expulsions for failing to meet standards. He considered the system damaging to weaker children and especially harmful to commoner students unable to afford body-strengthening resources. 16 59

The Golden Ancient Tree, Shrek’s central source of Life Force, secretly shifted its loyalty to Xu Yanli. It agreed to reduce the life-energy supply available to Inner Court students, creating a concealed weakness within the academy’s cultivation system. 29

Campus and Organization

• Sea God Island — The academy’s central grounds, containing the Golden Ancient Tree, cultivation platforms, Sea God Lake, and the Sea God Pavilion. 209
• Golden Ancient Tree — The academy’s spiritual core and principal source of Life Force for Inner Court cultivation. Its consciousness was known as Elder Jin. 29 80
• Sea God Pavilion — Shrek’s highest governing body, led by Pavilion Master Mu En during Xu Yanli’s enrollment. 80 108
• Inner Court — The academy’s advanced student division; its disciples could be recalled as tournament reinforcements. 108 109
• Outer Court — The regular student division, where freshmen attended classes and faced elimination under harsh instructors such as Zhou Yi. 20 54
• Shrek Inspectorate — An academy-associated force whose deputy commander was Xuan Zi. 108 127

Education and Student Treatment

Training Practices

Zhou Yi’s class used collective endurance drills rather than individualized training. Students who failed to complete required laps or physical standards could be expelled immediately, regardless of their background or physical condition. 16 59

Xu Yanli regarded the academy’s curriculum as inefficient, arguing that it relied heavily on running and standardized weight loads while failing to account for individual limits. 16

Treatment of Commoner Students

Shrek publicly promoted “education without discrimination” and claimed to “select the talents of the world to teach them,” but former students described a sharply different reality. 133

• Expulsions — Zhao Tiesheng was expelled on his third day for allegedly failing physical standards; his family had sold farmland to pay his tuition, and his subsequent circumstances led to debt, slavery in a mine, and eventual rescue by Xiaoyao Pavilion. 97 133
• Pensions and tuition debt — Shen Muqing’s family alleged that Shrek withheld her deceased sister’s pension over unpaid tuition and pursued back payments, resulting in the seizure of their home and the deaths of her parents from grief. 97
• Labor exploitation and discrimination — Shen Muqing and Zhao Tiesheng accused the academy of abandoning poor students, exploiting commoners for labor, and treating poverty or weak physical fitness as grounds for exclusion. 132 133
• Declining enrollment — After these accounts became public, commoner soul masters stopped viewing Shrek as an aspiration, while nobles also became reluctant to enroll their children. 159

Major Conflicts and Decline

Zhou Yi Scandal

After Zhou Yi’s death, Shrek Academy portrayed her as a hero who had sacrificed herself to protect students. Recordings circulated by Xu Yanli’s allies instead showed her insulting students, expelling commoners arbitrarily, and abusing her authority. 62

The disclosure prompted the Clear Sky Sect’s Da Ming and Er Ming to attack Shrek in retaliation for the mistreatment of Xiao Qi. They demanded Zhou Yi’s surrender, devastated much of the campus, injured teachers and students, and forced Mu En to defend the academy at the cost of his life. 80 81

Tournament Defeat and Public Exposure

At the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament, Shrek struggled even after urgently recalling Inner Court reinforcements because it “could no longer afford to lose.” 108 109

Shrek ultimately conceded the finals to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy after Xu Yanli revealed his Angel Martial Soul and seventh soul skill. 130 131

Wang Yan attempted to explain the loss by claiming Shrek’s primary team had been injured fighting Evil Soul Masters. Xu Yanli publicly challenged the account, questioning why Shrek’s powerful protectors had allowed such severe casualties and noting that the Sun Moon team was largely younger than Shrek’s competitors. 131

Shen Muqing and Zhao Tiesheng then exposed their experiences before the tournament audience. The accusations caused widespread outrage and permanently damaged Shrek’s public standing. 132 133 137

Final Collapse

Four years after the tournament, Shrek faced collapsing enrollment, financial strain, and the departure of several Sea God Pavilion elders. Its remaining hope rested largely on a small number of Inner Court geniuses. 159

During a later tournament, the Angel Legion confined Shrek’s delegation inside its courtyard. Xuan Zi, described as the academy’s final trump card, vanished and left the remaining members trapped. 175

After the war’s conclusion, Xu Yanli found Sea God Island abandoned and withered. The Golden Ancient Tree’s branches had largely died, cultivation platforms stood empty, and the academy had lost its former prosperity. 209

Xu Yanli, having become a God, seized control of the academy and had the Golden Ancient Tree restrain every remaining soul within its Inner Court, Outer Court, and Sea God Pavilion. He executed Xuan Zi, crippled Yan Shaozhe’s cultivation, ordered the abolition of the martial souls of Shrek’s teachers and students, and finally removed the Golden Ancient Tree from the academy grounds. 210 211 212

Relationships

• Mu En — Pavilion Master of the Sea God Pavilion; defended Shrek against the Clear Sky Sect and died protecting its students and academy. 80 81
• Yan Shaozhe — Dean of Shrek’s Martial Soul Department; granted Xu Yanli Inner Court library access, later had his cultivation crippled and was sent away by Xu Yanli. 29 211
• Xuan Zi — Supreme Elder and Shrek’s strongest remaining powerhouse; later captured and obliterated by Xu Yanli’s Chaos Divine Light. 175 210
• Golden Ancient Tree / Elder Jin — The academy’s heart and source of Life Force; secretly pledged loyalty to Xu Yanli before being taken away after Shrek’s destruction. 29 212
• Xu Yanli — Former student infiltrator, political adversary, and eventual conqueror who orchestrated Shrek’s reputational collapse and destruction. 15 133 210
• Clear Sky Sect — Da Ming and Er Ming attacked Shrek over Xiao Qi’s mistreatment, destroying roughly half the academy before withdrawing. 80 81
• Shen Muqing and Zhao Tiesheng — Former students or families affected by Shrek’s policies; their public testimony exposed its treatment of commoner students. 97 132 133

Notable Quotes

“What ‘Number One Academy Under Heaven,’ I say it’s the ‘Number One Pit Under Heaven.’” 133

“Shrek Academy was finished.” 134