Omphalos Academy

Shrek Academy.

Tang San and Xiao Wu stared at the nearly deserted entrance,

both looking a little dazed.

"Brother, wasn't today the day Shrek was holding its entrance exams? Why is no one here...?"

Tang San shook his head.

Just then, a passerby hurried past.

Tang San quickly called out to him,

"Excuse me, brother, aren't you here to register at Shrek?"

The passerby glanced back at Shrek's sign and spat:

"Bah, a garbage academy like that doesn't deserve anyone! Isn't the Omphalos Academy next door much better?"

As he spoke, he wrenched himself free of Tang San's grip and walked away without looking back.

Tang San was stunned by his words.

Omphalos Academy?

Xiao Wu came over and wrapped both arms around Tang San's.

"Brother, what is this Omphalos Academy? Is it better than Shrek?"

"I'm not sure, but our teacher must have had his reasons for sending us to Shrek Academy. We should hurry to the registration desk up ahead."

Xiao Wu nodded.

"All right."

The two turned and headed toward Shrek's registration desk.

Behind them, a chestnut-haired young woman of exquisite beauty and otherworldly poise had overheard their conversation. Her eyes darted around.

"Omphalos Academy? Never heard of it. Is it better than Shrek?"

The young woman hesitated for a moment, then turned and followed the direction the passerby had gone.

The young woman was Ning Rongrong.

She walked through a grove of trees and soon spotted a long line of people.

At the end of the line stood an unremarkable building. A table and chairs had been set up outside, with a sign beside them that read:

"Omphalos Academy Admissions Office. Location: Suotuo City."

There was also a drawing of the academy's proposed design, elegant and imposing, grand beyond compare.

Ning Rongrong nodded as she looked at the picture.

The school was in Suotuo City? The facilities did look quite good.

Ning Rongrong had grown interested in this academy called Omphalos.

She glanced toward the registration desk. It was still empty, so clearly the teacher in charge of admissions hadn't arrived yet.

So Ning Rongrong turned and walked to the end of the line.

Just as she was about to join it, she heard two men ahead of her talking.

The man in front turned to look at the one behind him.

"Well, look who it is—you're here too..."

The man behind him waved a hand helplessly.

"That Shrek place treats people like dirt. I heard this academy wasn't charging a registration fee, so I came here instead."

The man in front glanced over the long line.

"Exactly. Just the fact that they don't charge a registration fee makes them better than Shrek next door. But I heard they're only taking one person."

"No way. Seriously?"

Hearing this, Ning Rongrong furrowed her delicate brows.

"Only one person? Then that means..."

Her eyes lit up.

"With my talent, surely that spot will be mine for the taking?"

At the thought, Ning Rongrong immediately joined the line and waited quietly.

Before long,

a commotion erupted at the front of the line.

Someone shouted:

"The door's open! The door's open!"

Ning Rongrong quickly looked ahead.

Sure enough, someone had opened the door of the unremarkable building.

The moment the crowd saw it open, they erupted.

They surged forward in a frenzy.

But in the next moment, four students in matching uniforms came out and blocked everyone.

Right after them,

a gray-haired man in a white robe walked slowly out of the building.

When Ning Rongrong got a clear look at his face,

she froze.

"Ye Qiong?"

The man called Ye Qiong hadn't noticed Ning Rongrong.

He looked at the excited crowd before him, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.

"Looks like the publicity worked."

The man walked up to the seat and greeted everyone with a smile:

"Good morning, parents and students. I'm Ye Qiong, the dean in charge of admissions."

The dean? He was so young?

The crowd looked at the four students blocking their way, then at him, all of them taken aback.

Was he really the dean? He looked only two or three years older than them.

Standing toward the back, Ning Rongrong looked at Ye Qiong in confusion too.

"Wasn't he at the sect? Why has he opened an academy?"

Ye Qiong was the most outstanding disciple of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. At just sixteen, he had already advanced to Soul Emperor.

A genius of such extraordinary talent was also the disciple most cherished by the sect's two Douluo.

When they were children, the two Douluo had doted on her most.

But ever since Ye Qiong appeared,

the two Douluo had seemed bewitched.

They cherished Ye Qiong even more than they cherished her.

And on top of that, her father, Ning Fengzhi, had even declared that he wanted Ye Qiong to become her fiancé.

That had made her deeply resentful.

Watching Ye Qiong, Ning Rongrong sneered inwardly:

"He could have stayed at the sect, but instead he's come to some backwater place to open a lousy academy and make a fool of himself. What a joke."

Suddenly, Ning Rongrong's eyes darted about. She came up with a clever plan to embarrass Ye Qiong.

She would pretend to apply, then, once selected, reject the offer in front of everyone.

So she seized her chance and slipped into the crowd.

Ye Qiong, standing at the front, didn't notice Ning Rongrong's little maneuver.

He motioned for everyone to line up, then sat down.

"For this round of admissions, Omphalos Academy will accept only one student. The best candidate will be admitted."

At those words, everyone present immediately gave their full attention.

They all wanted to show themselves at their best and improve their chances of getting into the academy.

Seeing how spirited everyone looked, Ye Qiong smiled. Then he beckoned to the only girl among the four students.

"Jiang Zhu, come help me take notes."

"Yes, teacher."

The girl called Jiang Zhu immediately trotted over and sat beside Ye Qiong, picking up a pen and paper.

After that, Ye Qiong didn't use the same face-to-face elimination method as Shrek Academy.

He carefully interviewed every student and had Jiang Zhu record their information.

When Ning Rongrong's turn came, Ye Qiong looked at her haughtily raised chin, and his heart gave a thump.

"Ning Rongrong? According to the story, shouldn't she have gone to Shrek?"

Ye Qiong kept his expression calm, but his mind raced.

He remembered the entire story,

from Tang San's previous life and his dramatic leap off the cliff all the way to what happened after he became a god.

That was because he wasn't from this world.

When he had transmigrated here ten years ago, Sword Douluo had found him and brought him back to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

At the time, he'd thought he was going to be the protagonist.

But when his Martial Soul awakened, all he got was an ordinary baseball bat.

At least he had Innate Full Soul Power.

So he stayed at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and cultivated, and kept at it for ten years.

After reaching Soul Emperor at sixteen,

he should have started taking part in the sect's affairs and become one of its mainstays.

But right then, he had to leave the mountain and pursue a path no one thought much of:

founding an academy.

It was all because of what had happened two months ago.

[System notification! Otherworldly Academy-Building System activated.]

Ye Qiong, who had been cultivating, froze.

"What the heck? An academy-building system? What am I supposed to do with that?"

[The host can grow stronger by building an academy, and may even transcend the Douluo Plane.]

At those words, Ye Qiong sprang to his feet.

The Douluo Continent was just a tiny, secluded little planet.

After transmigrating, his future should lie among the boundless stars.

"How does this transcending work? Give me the details."

[The stronger the students you cultivate, the greater the rewards the host receives, and the stronger the host can become.]

"I see. Can you explain more specifically what features you have?"

[System notification: The host must complete the beginner mission to unlock all basic features.]

Ye Qiong frowned at that.

Why did this system make him complete a mission just to unlock the basic features?

"What a hassle. Fine, what's the mission?"

[Establish the fledgling Omphalos Academy and recruit five students. Mission reward: Beginner's Gift Pack.]

"Omphalos?"