Douluo Continent, Shrek City, Shrek Academy, Inner Academy.
Night deepened.
Yet the shores of Sea God Lake remained brightly lit.
The entire Shrek Academy seemed exceptionally lively tonight.
Because tonight was the ceremony announcing the new generation of Shrek Seven Devils' reserve team.
Students from both the Outer Academy and Inner Academy had long gathered around the lake.
Even quite a few teachers had arrived early.
The Shrek Seven Devils.
That name was incomparably sacred within the academy.
It was not merely an honor; it also meant becoming Shrek's true core in the future.
One would also be held in high esteem across the continent.
By Sea God Lake.
A black-clad young man slowly exhaled a breath of stale air and withdrew from cultivation.
His Soul Power receded as he opened his eyes.
His gaze was calm and steady.
Yet anyone perceptive could see that his body was taut, as though he was in an extremely nervous state.
"Senior Ye, you can get nervous too?"
A student in the distance could not help but laugh.
Ye Luochen looked up at him and smiled as well.
"A little, at least."
"Haha, Senior, you're worrying for nothing."
Someone beside him immediately chimed in.
"Anyone could fail to make it, but you definitely won't."
"Exactly."
"I heard that during the inspection mission a few months ago, three evil soul masters surrounded and attacked them. Senior Ye held them off by himself, or that team might have been wiped out."
"And in the arena match not long ago, Senior Ye faced an Inner Academy Soul Ancestor-level expert and was not at a disadvantage in the slightest."
"With your current strength, Senior Ye, among the very best of the new generation of students, you'll definitely be on this generation's Seven Devils reserve team list."
Many students around them nodded in agreement.
Their gazes toward Ye Luochen were filled with admiration.
Because Ye Luochen had become quite famous in Shrek.
At only fifteen years old, his Soul Power Level was already close to forty.
His strength was indisputably among the best of his generation's new students.
Yet faced with the admiration and praise of the students around him, Ye Luochen felt somewhat wistful.
Because no one knew how much he had sacrificed for all this.
Relentless bitter cultivation day and night.
Countless drops of sweat.
Repeated trials of life and death.
For his current strength, he had put in several times more effort than anyone else!
As his thoughts stirred, Ye Luochen unconsciously lowered his head to look at his right hand.
Faint Soul Power circulated.
A small, pitch-black short blade slowly appeared.
It looked utterly ordinary.
This was his martial soul.
The Dark Iron Blade.
An ordinary weapon martial soul with merely Rank Four Innate Soul Power.
When he had first enrolled, some had even mocked him, saying that such a martial soul did not even qualify him to enter the Outer Academy.
But now, that once most ordinary person had step by step risen to the forefront of his peers.
He was even widely acknowledged by the students as the least controversial candidate for the new generation's Shrek Seven Devils reserve team.
Thinking of this, Ye Luochen slowly exhaled.
His gaze turned toward the distant Sea God Pavilion.
"After tonight, once I join the Seven Devils reserve team, I should have access to better resources..."
Just then, a bell rang in the distance.
Dong—
The deep chime slowly echoed across the entirety of Sea God Lake.
The previously noisy crowd immediately fell silent.
Everyone looked up at once.
At the center of Sea God Lake, figures slowly appeared one after another.
At their head was the dean of the Martial Soul Department.
A Super Douluo-level powerhouse, Yan Shaozhe.
"It has begun!"
Someone muttered softly.
The atmosphere around the lake instantly turned fervent.
Ye Luochen rose to his feet as well and slowly stepped forward.
Quite a few gazes immediately fell upon him.
Some were envious, while others were admiring.
There were even many female students whose eyes held affection.
Because in nearly everyone's eyes.
One of tonight's Seven Devils reserve team positions.
Would surely belong to Ye Luochen.
At the center of Sea God Lake.
Yan Shaozhe's gaze swept across the crowd.
Then he slowly spoke, his calm and powerful voice spreading outward.
"Today."
"We announce the new generation of Shrek Seven Devils reserve team, to be cultivated as the next generation of official Shrek Seven Devils!"
The entire lakeside fell completely silent.
"The first."
"Bei Bei."
"The second."
"Xu Sanshi."
One name after another rang out.
Each time a name was called.
Bursts of cheers erupted from the crowd.
Ye Luochen remained standing there calmly.
Because everyone believed that as a powerhouse, his name would surely come later, a pillar steadying the seas.
At last, the sixth name was announced.
Ye Luochen's eyes narrowed slightly.
The next moment, Yan Shaozhe spoke again.
"The seventh."
Ye Luochen could not help clenching his fists, and countless gazes fell upon him at that moment.
"Huo Yuhao."
As the voice fell, the entire venue suddenly went silent for a moment.
Then, countless people froze.
Ye Luochen stood rooted to the spot as well.
...That was it?
By Sea God Lake.
The air had originally been filled with cheers, yet now the silence was strangely eerie.
Even Huo Yuhao himself, the seventh selection, was visibly stunned.
At last, someone in the crowd could not help speaking up.
"Dean... did you leave someone out?"
That single sentence seemed to completely awaken everyone.
"Yeah! Where's Senior Ye?"
"How could Senior Ye possibly not make the Seven Devils?"
"Did they get the list wrong?"
Discussion instantly erupted, growing louder and louder.
Not only the students, but even quite a few teachers frowned.
Nearly every gaze fell upon Ye Luochen at once.
Ye Luochen stood there.
He said nothing, merely gazing quietly toward Sea God Pavilion.
Only after a long while did Yan Shaozhe slowly speak.
"No one was omitted."
Those four short words silenced all of Sea God Lake once more.
Yan Shaozhe looked at Ye Luochen and said blandly:
"The academy recognizes Ye Luochen's strength."
"The academy has also seen his efforts over these years."
"However."
His voice paused slightly.
The next moment, his calm words fell like blades.
"The Shrek Seven Devils have always been positions for true monsters, representing the academy's future."
"Ye Luochen's martial soul is too ordinary. An ordinary martial soul..."
Yan Shaozhe paused again.
"In the end, is only an ordinary martial soul."
"A martial soul so ordinary has no right to become the face of Shrek."
Boom!
At that instant, Ye Luochen felt as though his mind had begun to buzz.
The surrounding discussions vanished entirely.
Not only him—everyone else was stunned as well.
No one had expected the reason to be this.
Because his martial soul was too ordinary, even if he gave everything, he was still unworthy of becoming one of the Shrek Seven Devils.
Ye Luochen stood there silently.
For a long, long time.
Ye Luochen only found it utterly ridiculous.
All his desperate efforts over the years had ultimately been outweighed by a single phrase: "ordinary martial soul"!
A single phrase, "ordinary martial soul," was enough to erase all his efforts and erase the strength that made him one of the finest among his peers?
Thinking of this, Ye Luochen slowly raised his hand.
He removed the Shrek badge from his chest.
Then, before countless eyes, he placed the badge upon the stone steps at his feet.
By Sea God Lake, there was dead silence.
Ye Luochen raised his head and took one more deep look at Sea God Pavilion.
The light in his eyes slowly faded.
"I have learned my lesson."
"So this is all Shrek amounts to."
"I, Ye Luochen, withdraw from Shrek from this moment onward."
With that said.
Under the gaze of countless people, Ye Luochen turned and left.
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