Donger Is Very Curious!

In the center of the arena, Jiang Ziming recalled the Xuanyuan Sword and turned to look at the examiner standing nearby. With a hint of apology on his face, he scratched his head.

"Teacher, sorry. I couldn't hold back my strength and killed it... That shouldn't cost me points, right?"

The examiner opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. After repeating this several times, he finally managed to squeeze out a sentence.

"You... you..."

He had served as an examiner for many years and seen countless gifted students, but he had never encountered a situation like this.

The previous students had chosen hundred-year and thousand-year soul beasts, yet not one of them had actually killed their opponent.

After all, these soul beasts were resources. The academy needed to recycle them.

But Jiang Ziming had chosen a ten-thousand-year soul beast and slaughtered it outright.

Just as the examiner had no idea how to score him, Yan Shaozhe's hearty laughter rang out from the stands.

"Hahahaha! Good! Good boy!"

Yan Shaozhe rose to his feet, his face glowing with excitement and his eyes filled with admiration.

"Crossing ranks to kill a ten-thousand-year soul beast—give him two hundred points!"

With that, his figure flashed, and he vanished from where he stood.

The examiner drew a deep breath, calmed himself, then announced loudly.

"Jiang Ziming, two hundred points!"

The stands erupted once more.

"Two hundred points?! Wasn't the full score one hundred and fifty?!"

"Dean Yan personally gave him extra points! Isn't that treatment way too outrageous?!"

"But then again, a first-year student instantly killing a ten-thousand-year soul beast... two hundred points doesn't seem excessive."

"Not excessive, my ass! They just couldn't come up with a higher score!"

Amid the cries of astonishment and discussion, Jiang Ziming slowly made his way up to the stands.

His gaze swept across the first-year section before landing on Dai Huabin.

Dai Huabin stood among the crowd, pale as paper. His lips trembled, and a layer of cold sweat covered his forehead.

His hands were clenched tightly into fists, his nails nearly digging into his palms, yet he could not feel the pain.

One hundred and forty-five points against two hundred points.

He had lost—lost completely and utterly.

He had originally believed that his hard training during this period had been enough to narrow the gap between himself and Jiang Ziming.

He had even foolishly thought that as long as he earned a high score in the assessment, he could wash away his past humiliation and make Jiang Ziming lose face before everyone.

But now, he finally understood that the gap between him and Jiang Ziming was not something effort could make up for!

Jiang Ziming walked up to him and stopped. He said nothing, merely looked at him quietly.

Dai Huabin's lips quivered a few times. Then he gritted his teeth and bent his knees.

With a thud.

The golden-haired youth dropped to his knees.

Before the thousands of teachers and students in the arena, he knelt before Jiang Ziming.

His head hung low, his voice hoarse and trembling.

"I... lost."

The entire stand fell silent once again.

Everyone watched this scene: the once proud and arrogant son of the White Tiger Duke kneeling before Jiang Ziming, bowing his head in defeat.

[Ding!]

[The moment Dai Huabin knelt, his mental defenses completely collapsed—Emotion Points +999!]

Jiang Ziming glanced down at him. He neither mocked nor ridiculed him, merely said indifferently.

"Get up. A man's knees are worth gold. Don't be so impulsive next time."

Then he turned and walked toward his seat.

Behind him, Dai Huabin remained kneeling where he was, unable to rise for a long time.

At the highest point of the stands, in an inconspicuous corner, an old man draped in a gray cloak leaned against the railing. He held a wine gourd in one hand and took occasional swigs from it.

This was Xuan Zi. He rarely appeared in public. Most of the time, he stayed in the Sea God Pavilion drinking and sleeping, only occasionally coming out for a stroll to see whether anything interesting was happening at the academy.

Today, he had only come to join in the fun and see how capable this year's freshmen were.

The earlier assessments had made him somewhat drowsy.

It was not until that youth named Jiang Ziming stepped onto the stage and said, "I want to try a ten-thousand-year soul beast," that his interest was slightly piqued.

Then Xuan Zi saw those three pitch-black ten-thousand-year soul rings.

"Pfft!!!"

He sprayed out a mouthful of wine, splashing half his cloak, but he did not notice in the slightest.

Xuan Zi's eyes widened as he stared fixedly at the youth in the arena. A glint of disbelief flashed through his cloudy old eyes.

The first three soul rings were all ten-thousand-year rings?

Who the hell was he trying to fool?!

He had lived for more than a hundred years, seen countless geniuses, and traveled across the continent in search of strange people and events, yet he had never heard of a soul master possessing three ten-thousand-year soul rings at the three-ring stage.

Forget seeing it—he had never even heard of it!

This completely defied the fundamental laws of the soul master system!

The human body simply could not withstand the berserk energy of ten-thousand-year soul rings at such a low level!

Unless...

Xuan Zi narrowed his eyes slightly, and his gaze sharpened.

Either he had used some bizarre cultivation technique to forcibly suppress the backlash of his soul rings.

Or... this kid was not human at all!

A soul beast reincarnated to cultivate again?!

The thought flashed through his mind and refused to leave.

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

Certain powerful soul beasts, upon reaching a bottleneck, would choose reincarnation and recultivation, taking human form and cultivating soul power anew.

Such beings were exceedingly rare, but there were precedents.

If Jiang Ziming truly was a reincarnated soul beast, how many secrets was he hiding?

And what was his purpose in coming to Shrek?

Xuan Zi took another swig of wine, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

Elder Mu had indeed warned him not to try investigating Jiang Ziming.

But what if?

What if this kid really had a problem? If they simply let him be, would that not be planting a ticking time bomb within Shrek?

He lowered the wine gourd, his figure flashed, and he disappeared from the spot.

This astonishing assessment came to an end amid waves of amazement and discussion.

Jiang Ziming did not linger in the Beast Arena. After greeting Xiao Xiao and Wang Donger, he turned and left.

He followed the tree-lined path back, mentally considering what he needed to do next.

His soul power had stabilized at Rank 36. There would not be much progress in the short term, so he needed to focus on becoming more proficient in using his soul skills.

Although the fusion with the Ice Emperor had gone smoothly, it had been too recent. They still needed more time to adjust to each other...

"Ziming! Wait for me!"

A hurried set of footsteps sounded behind him.

Jiang Ziming turned around and saw Wang Donger jogging toward him. Her short pink-blue hair bounced in the sunlight, while lingering excitement and curiosity remained on her face.

"Donger, what is it?"

He stopped walking.

Wang Donger ran up to him, caught her breath slightly, then raised her head. Her sparkling pink eyes fixed on him.

"Those three ten-thousand-year soul rings just now... what exactly was going on? I remember your soul rings used to be two-thousand-year purple ones. How did they all become ten-thousand-year rings after just one year apart? And when did that sword of yours awaken as a martial soul? Why have you never told me about it?"

She fired off a string of questions, clearly having held back a stomachful of doubts.

Seeing her anxious expression, Jiang Ziming could not help smiling. He reached out, pinched her soft cheek, and gave it a gentle tug.

"Why are you so interested in me?"