Target: Shrek Monster Academy

On the hillside outside the city, the terrain was open and covered in knee-high green grass.

A gentle breeze blew from the distant plains, sweeping across the highland and causing the grass to ripple like waves.

The wind carried the freshness of soil and the fragrance of wildflowers.

Su Yu stopped in his tracks and turned to face the vast expanse of the world.

He reached out and lightly brushed the storage Soul Tool at his waist; with a flicker of light, a massive map smelling faintly of parchment appeared in his hands.

This was a detailed map of the entire Douluo Continent, an internal version Su Yu had conveniently swiped from a Martial Soul Hall office.

It not only marked the territories of the major empires and kingdoms but also recorded the precise locations of all high-level Soul Master Academy institutions, sect forces, and Soul Beast forests.

Su Yu bent down and spread the massive map, which was over a meter in both length and width, flat onto the soft grass.

He weighed down the four corners with several heavy stones to keep it from being blown away by the wind.

"Come over and take a look." Su Yu beckoned to the two girls behind him.

Tang Wu and Xiao Wu immediately crowded around.

The two girls crouched beside Su Yu, one on the left and one on the right, in a very natural manner.

Tang Wu was wearing a form-fitting blue skirt, and as she crouched, her fair, straight legs were fully exposed.

She wrapped both arms around Su Yu's left arm, pressing her surprisingly well-developed, full chest tightly against his arm.

Her deep blue hair draped onto the grass, and her large eyes blinked as she stared at the map; although she couldn't understand the dense markings, she felt incredibly at ease as long as she could cling to Su Yu.

Xiao Wu crouched on the right, her long, supple legs revealed beneath a pink skirt.

She didn't cling to Su Yu like Tang Wu; instead, she rested her chin on one hand, her rabbit ears twitching gently with the breeze, and her ruby-like eyes scanned the map curiously.

"Brother Yu, where are we going next? This map is drawn so complexly, it's making my head spin." Tang Wu raised her delicate little face and asked in a soft, sweet voice.

Su Yu extended his right index finger and tapped several spots on the map heavily circled in red cinnabar.

"We have already graduated from Nuoding Academy, and according to standard procedure, the next step is to choose a high-level Soul Master Academy for further study." Su Yu's voice was steady, carrying the composure of someone in total control. "What is marked here are the top-tier academies currently on the continent."

His finger pointed to a large city icon in the north of the map.

"This is the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, and the Heaven Dou Royal Academy is located here." Su Yu analyzed in a flat tone. "This is the best academy in the Heaven Dou Empire, with strong faculty and top-tier simulated cultivation environments on the continent."

"Then shall we go there?" Xiao Wu blinked and interjected.

Su Yu shook his head, rejecting the option without hesitation. "No. The Heaven Dou Royal Academy has a rigid rule: they only recruit children of the nobility. While we could force our way in with strength, it's full of pampered, power-abusing, good-for-nothing second-generation heirs. Being there would mean dealing with all sorts of tedious aristocratic etiquette and political posturing; it's a waste of time and offers no substantial help to our growth."

Su Yu's finger slid south along the map, stopping on the territory of another massive empire.

"This is the Star Luo Royal Academy. Unlike the Heaven Dou side, the Star Luo Empire prizes extreme martial power, and the internal competition within the academy is brutal—it's a complete 'survival of the fittest' elimination mechanism."

"That sounds interesting, perfect for fighting!" Xiao Wu clenched her small fists, her eyes lighting up.

"But the rules there are too strict, and the hierarchy is rigid." Su Yu shook his head again, directly ruling out the Star Luo Royal Academy as well. "Furthermore, the resource allocation there has long been firmly controlled by a few major families. Those conventional high-level academies, whether in Heaven Dou or Star Luo, or even the elemental academies, all follow a fixed teaching model."

Su Yu paused, swept his gaze over the two girls, and deepened his tone. "This greenhouse environment of daily classes, meditation, and scheduled assessments can no longer satisfy our developmental needs. With our current strength and foundation, going there would be a pure waste of life."

"Then where are we actually going?" Xiao Wu was becoming impatient, her rabbit ears flicking irritably. "We aren't going here, we aren't going there—we can't just sleep on the ground in the wilderness every day, can we?"

Su Yu chuckled, his eyes turning profound.

"My true goal is to find places where 'geniuses gather'." Su Yu looked at the map, his tone revealing undisguised ambition.

"Geniuses gather?" Tang Wu tilted her head, looking puzzled.

"Exactly." Su Yu explained patiently. "Think about it: how many guys with strange systems have we encountered in Nuoding City over the past six years? That butcher who got stronger by killing pigs, that blacksmith who wanted to be a city lord by forging, and that Yu Xiaogang whom I threw into the women's bathhouse."

Hearing the name Yu Xiaogang, both Xiao Wu and Tang Wu couldn't help but shudder.

They still remembered the fate of that soul-snatcher vividly.

"Nuoding City is just a remote border town; such backwater places can only attract low-level system hosts. The system essence they possess is pitifully small, not even enough to whet my appetite." Su Yu snorted coldly. "But those self-important high-level system hosts—those real cheaters carrying 'Invincible', 'Check-in', or 'Plunder' hacks—they would never be content staying in a small place."

A hunter's gleam flashed in Su Yu's eyes. "The more geniuses there are, the more intense the destiny becomes. Those hidden cheaters and high-level system hosts are like sharks smelling blood; they will definitely flock there in droves. Only by going to such a place can I harvest high-level system essence in bulk and allow my strength to experience a true explosion."

Hearing this, Xiao Wu became instantly excited.

She stood up abruptly, clenched her hands into fists, and swung them forcefully through the air, creating a whistling sound.

"Great! I've had enough of those weaklings in Nuoding City!" Xiao Wu shouted excitedly, her face full of a militant expression. "I don't care about geniuses or cheaters; as long as I can fight and beat people up every day, and get to stretch my limbs, I'll go anywhere with you! Whoever dares to provoke us, I'll use the Eight-Stage Throw to crush their bones inch by inch!"

As a hundred-thousand-year-old Hooligan Rabbit, the violent streak in Xiao Wu's bones had long been restless.

For the past six years, she had been cooped up in Nuoding Academy to hide her identity, and she had long felt bored to death.

Tang Wu looked at Xiao Wu's violent display and curled her lips in disdain.

She hugged Su Yu's arm even tighter, pressing most of her body weight onto him.

She looked up, her deep blue eyes fixed on Su Yu with a gaze so firm it lacked even a trace of impurity.

"Wherever Brother Yu goes, Xiao San goes." Tang Wu's voice was soft and sweet, but her words carried a chilling, yandere-like aura. "I don't care what systems those people have, and I don't care how powerful they are. Whoever dares to block our path, whoever dares to show the slightest hostility toward Brother Yu, I will use the toxins of my Mutated Blue Silver Grass to melt them all into a puddle of pus, leaving not even a bone fragment behind."

As she spoke, Tang Wu opened her fair, delicate right hand.

A crystal-clear vine of Mutated Blue Silver Grass, covered in purple-black venomous patterns, emerged from her palm, twisting in the air like a venomous snake and emitting a deadly, cloying scent.

Su Yu looked at the two highly motivated girls and nodded with satisfaction.

"Since none of you have any objections, we shall set our final destination."

Su Yu crouched back down, his finger moving slowly across the expansive map.

His fingertip passed over the grand emblem of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, crossed the territory of the Star Luo Royal Academy, and bypassed the famous elemental academies such as Thunder Academy, Divine Wind Academy, and Heavenly Water Academy.

His finger traveled all the way south, sweeping across vast plains and mountain ranges.

Finally, Su Yu's finger came to a halt in a very remote corner.

There wasn't even a proper city icon there, only a tiny village marker located outside of Suotuo City.

If Su Yu's map hadn't been so detailed, an ordinary person would never have noticed this black dot, whose name was barely legible.

Su Yu pointed at the spot on the map, the corners of his mouth curling into a signature sly smile: "We are going here, Shrek Monster Academy."