Almost Struck by Lightning

Rumble...

Rumble...

A thunderous boom resounded through the sky—

Thunderclouds suddenly gathered above Shrek Academy.

Countless powerful figures within Shrek Academy soared into the air. They knew perfectly well what these thunderclouds signified.

"Holy shit? A hundred-thousand-year lightning tribulation?!"

Xia Liang came to his senses as well. He had been so focused on experimenting that he had forgotten a hundred-thousand-year soul beast on the Douluo Continent still had to go through the proper procedure.

A hundred-thousand-year soul ring might not need to, but a hundred-thousand-year soul beast definitely had to go through the process.

"What do we do? What do we do?!"

Tianmeng could only panic helplessly now. This was no longer something he could solve. He had never experienced a lightning tribulation before!

"It's fine."

Xia Liang raised a hand and pushed. The zombie with a hundred thousand years of cultivation vanished instantly, along with the lightning tribulation containing a hundred thousand years of power.

"Phew..."

The group finally relaxed. Huo Yuhao collapsed onto the ground as well. He had just faced the pressure of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast head-on. If the others had not shielded him, he would probably have already crumpled to the ground.

"Brother Xia Liang, where's that soul beast?"

"I teleported it away."

Xia Liang wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Earlier, he had thrown several Ender Pearls into the Star Dou Forest. Just now, he had teleported the hundred-thousand-year zombie to the spatial coordinates of one of them. It should be undergoing its lightning tribulation in the Star Dou Forest now.

They probably would not run into that zombie again later.

Xia Liang could sense that it had little intelligence. The Star Dou Forest was fraught with danger, and a hundred-thousand-year soul beast alone could not stir up much trouble. It might even be hunted by humans. He just did not know whether it would drop a soul bone.

"Rest well and cultivate steadily. Once you reach Rank 20, there will be a lot more we can do."

"Okay."

Over the next few days, after Bei Bei delivered the medicinal herbs, Huo Yuhao began cultivating diligently. Wang Dong had originally wanted to ask something, but ultimately held it back.

At last, the day school began arrived.

The doors of the white teaching building stood open as the freshmen entered in white uniforms, each with the emblem of Shrek Academy on the left side of their chest.

At that moment, inside Freshman Class One.

"You are the worst class I've ever seen!"

An elderly woman stood before them, her skin wrinkled and her hair white. Her graying hair was coiled atop her head, while an unsettling pressure burst from her eyes. Zhou Yi's gaze calmly swept from left to right, and everyone immediately felt as if they were being watched by her. An immense invisible pressure rose in their hearts.

"Those of you who have fought since registering, stand up!"

The students looked at one another. What kind of idiot would admit to fighting?

Yet there really were two.

Huo Yuhao stood up calmly, while Wang Dong rose to his feet indignantly.

"Only two?"

Zhou Yi raised an eyebrow. Her gaze swept over the entire class, and after confirming that no one else would stand, she ordered everyone to run.

Once her lecture ended, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong joined the running group.

With Huo Yuhao's current physical condition, he did not need anyone's help to finish the hundred laps. He barely even used any stamina and had not even summoned his martial soul.

After some time, all the students completed the hundred laps within the allotted time and stood scattered across Shrek Square.

Zhou Yi stepped forward and turned toward the students expressionlessly. "Those whose names I call, step forward: Cheng Cheng, Qiu Jianrao, Tang Dao, Shangguan Chentian, Lin Zeyu, Zhuge Yun, Tai Long, Tang Ling, Yun Xiaopiao."

Nine students were sacrificed, while the rest remained.

Everyone else was gloating, but Huo Yuhao, who had once held deep and beautiful expectations for Shrek, felt that something was wrong.

Wasn't a teacher's duty to guide people toward goodness? Punishment was one thing, but why expel them outright? Why not give them even a chance to change? Was that right?

No one cared about that. They were merely glad that they had stayed.

What Xia Liang found strange was that Zhou Yi had not come to inspect Huo Yuhao's martial soul or taken him to the Soul Guidance Department. He did not know which part of the process had gone wrong.

"Brother Xia Liang, are you very interested in soul tools?"

Huo Yuhao asked Xia Liang. From the way he looked, he seemed extremely interested in soul tools.

"Soul tools are very important. You can learn about them when you have time."

After all, Huo Yuhao had the potential to become a god-tier soul engineer. Naturally, Xia Liang would not let that talent go to waste.

"Then I'll buy some books on soul tools to read later."

Hearing Xia Liang say that, Huo Yuhao became interested in soul tools as well.

"Mm, wait. Do you still have money?"

Xia Liang nodded in agreement, but quickly realized something was off. Did Huo Yuhao still have money? He recalled that Bei Bei had not seemed to give him any last time.

Huo Yuhao: "..."

He touched his empty pockets. It seemed he really had run out of money.

Afterward, Huo Yuhao took out the piece of gold from before, intending to exchange it for gold soul coins.

The Treasure Gathering Pavilion from the original story operated a buyback business in Shrek City. The other option was the Nine Treasures Chamber of Commerce of the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect.

"Brother Xia, why are we going to the Nine Treasures Chamber of Commerce?"

With a backpack on his back, Huo Yuhao asked in confusion. Wasn't the Treasure Gathering Pavilion closer to them than the Nine Treasures Pavilion?

"Can't I make you walk a little farther so I can enjoy the scenery?"

"Oh, okay."

Huo Yuhao nodded, but Xia Liang's purpose was naturally not so simple.

As everyone knew, the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda martial soul could identify treasures. Xia Liang wanted to see how items from the world he had brought would be treated here and whether there was anything special about them.

In the appraisal section of the Nine Treasures Pavilion, Appraiser No. 35 held the palm-sized gold nugget in his hand, turning it over twice before lightly tapping its edge with a fingernail. It gave off a clear metallic ring.

"Sir, this is very pure gold. Its defining feature is simply its purity; there isn't much difference between it and ordinary gold."

This gold was no different from regular gold. No matter how pure it was, it was still ordinary gold. Its price would be somewhat higher, but not by much.

He placed the gold nugget back on the counter and pushed up his glasses. He was rather puzzled. They could have simply exchanged it for gold soul coins at market price downstairs. Why pay an appraisal fee to come all the way to the second floor and give away money?

That was right. In Appraiser No. 35's eyes, this Shrek freshman had come here purely to give away money. The appraisal fee was ten percent of an item's base value, with additional fees if the item turned out to be unknown.

In other words, after having it appraised here, Huo Yuhao would directly lose ten percent of the gold soul coins he could have received.

At first, Appraiser No. 35 had suspected there might be something unusual about the gold. He seriously used the treasure-appraising ability of his Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda martial soul, but its appraisal attribute showed no reaction at all.

Even the soul power he infused into the gold produced no response. Appraiser No. 35 found that a little strange, but he did not know what exactly was strange about it, so he merely assumed he was overthinking things.

Since the treasure-appraising attribute had not reacted, there could not be any problem. It was merely ordinary gold.

Within his spiritual sea, after learning that the gold nugget had no other issues, Xia Liang conjured some more gold in Huo Yuhao's backpack.

"Alright, could you see how much these are worth?"

Huo Yuhao then took another pile of gold out of the backpack behind him.

"Sure. Please wait a moment, classmate."

Although he was an appraiser, he also handled buyback transactions.

He quickly weighed the gold and arrived at a price for the pile.

"This is a card worth ten thousand gold soul coins, along with a Silver Membership Card. Please keep them safe, classmate."

Generally speaking

Huo Yuhao accepted the two cards, his heart floating with excitement. He suddenly had assets worth ten thousand gold soul coins? Why did it feel like a dream?

"Classmate, you must be lacking cultivation resources right now, correct? With this Silver Membership Card, you can receive a two-percent discount at our Nine Treasures Pavilion."

Appraiser No. 35 said this because cultivation resources were the most important thing for students at this stage. It was the perfect opportunity to promote the medicinal herbs sold in the Nine Treasures Pavilion.

However, Huo Yuhao was not short on medicinal herbs for the time being. Mu En had been exceedingly generous.