Almost Struck by Lightning

Rumble...

Rumble...

A thunderous boom echoed through the sky—

Thunderclouds suddenly gathered above Shrek Academy.

Countless powerful figures within Shrek Academy soared into the air. They knew exactly what those thunderclouds signified.

"Holy shit? A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast tribulation!?"

Xia Liang came to his senses as well. He had been so focused on the experiment that he had forgotten Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts still had to go through the proper process on Douluo Continent.

A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring might not have needed to, but a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast certainly had to follow the procedure.

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

Tian Meng could only panic helplessly now. This was no longer something he could solve. He had never experienced Tribulation Lightning before!

"It's fine."

Xia Liang pushed out a hand. The zombie with a cultivation of one hundred thousand years vanished instantly, along with the Tribulation Lightning containing the power of one hundred thousand years.

"Whew..."

The group finally relaxed. Huo Yuhao also lay on the ground. He had just faced the pressure of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast head-on. If the others had not protected him, he would probably have collapsed by now.

"Brother Xia Liang, where did that Soul Beast go?"

"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 tribulation in the Star Dou Forest now.

They probably would not run into that zombie again in the future.

Xia Liang could sense that it possessed little intelligence. The Star Dou Forest was fraught with danger, and a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast could not stir up much trouble there. 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 level twenty, there will be much 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 wanted to ask something, but ultimately said nothing.

At last, the first day of school arrived.

The doors of the white teaching building stood open as freshmen in white uniforms entered. Every one of them bore 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 have ever seen!"

An elderly woman stood before them, her skin wrinkled and her hair white, piled atop her head. Her eyes radiated an oppressive aura that made people uncomfortable. Zhou Yi's calm gaze swept from left to right, and everyone immediately felt as though she were staring directly at them. An enormous invisible pressure rose in their hearts.

"Anyone who has fought since enrollment, stand up!"

Upon hearing that, the students looked at one another. What kind of idiot would admit to getting into a fight?

Yet there really were two.

Huo Yuhao stood up calmly, while Wang Dong rose to her feet unwillingly.

"Only two?"

Zhou Yi raised an eyebrow and swept her gaze across the classroom. After confirming that no one else was standing, she ordered the entire class to run.

After 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 complete the hundred laps. He did not even expend much stamina, and he had not used his martial soul at all.

After some time, all the students completed the hundred laps within the allotted time and stood loosely gathered in Shrek Square.

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

Nine students had been sacrificed, while the rest were allowed to stay.

Everyone else was gloating, but Huo Yuhao, who had once held deep and beautiful fantasies about 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? Not even giving them 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 take 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. Judging by his behavior, he seemed very interested in Soul Tools.

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

After all, Huo Yuhao had the potential to become a god-level Soul Engineer. Xia Liang naturally would not give up on that talent.

"Then I'll go buy some books on Soul Tools to read later."

After 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 wrong. Did Huo Yuhao still have money? He seemed to remember that Bei Bei had not given him any money during his last visit.

Huo Yuhao: "..."

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

Afterward, Huo Yuhao took out the gold he had obtained earlier, planning to exchange it for Gold Soul Coins.

The Treasure Gathering Pavilion from the original story operated a recycling 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 bag on his back, Huo Yuhao asked in confusion. Wasn't the Treasure Gathering Pavilion closer to them than the Nine Treasures Pavilion?

"You can't walk a little farther so I can enjoy the scenery?"

"Oh, okay."

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

As everyone knew, the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda martial soul could identify treasures. Xia Liang wanted to see how items brought from his world would be perceived here and whether they possessed anything special.

At the appraisal department of the Nine Treasures Pavilion, Appraiser Number Thirty-Five held the palm-sized gold block in his hand, turning it over twice before lightly tapping its edge with a fingernail. It gave off a clear metallic ring.

"Customer, this is extremely pure gold. Its defining characteristic is simply its purity. It is not particularly different from ordinary gold."

This gold was no different from normal 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 block back on the counter and pushed up his glasses. In truth, he found it somewhat puzzling. The student could simply exchange it for Gold Soul Coins at market price downstairs. Why pay an appraisal fee to come up to the second floor and throw money away?

That was right. In Appraiser Number Thirty-Five'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 unknown items charged separately.

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 Number Thirty-Five had wondered whether something was hidden within the gold. He had carefully used the treasure-identifying ability of his Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda martial soul, but its treasure-identifying attribute showed no reaction whatsoever.

Even the Soul Power he injected into the gold produced no response. Appraiser Number Thirty-Five found that a little strange, but he could not say what exactly was strange about it, so he assumed he was overthinking things.

Since the treasure-identifying attribute had not reacted, there could not possibly be a problem. It was merely ordinary gold.

Within the sea of consciousness, after Xia Liang learned that the gold block had no other issues, he conjured more gold inside Huo Yuhao's bag.

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

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

"Certainly. Student, please wait a moment."

Although he was an appraiser, he also handled recycling work.

He weighed the gold briefly and quickly calculated the value of the pile.

"This is a card worth ten thousand Gold Soul Coins, along with a Silver Membership Card. Student, please keep them safe."

Generally speaking—

Huo Yuhao accepted the two cards, feeling as though he were floating. He suddenly possessed assets worth ten thousand Gold Soul Coins? Why did this feel like a dream?

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

Appraiser Number Thirty-Five spoke as he tried to promote the medicinal herbs sold at the Nine Treasures Pavilion. Cultivation resources were the most important thing for students like these.

However, Huo Yuhao did not lack medicinal herbs for the time being. Mu En had been exceptionally generous.