Shrek's Everyday Training 2

Studying at Shrek Outer Court was pretty easy.

At least, it was for him.

Sunlight pierced the clouds and fell upon the little chrysanthemum swaying gently.

It was a sign that dawn had come, and the start of a new day.

Yue Ling hauled the still-sleepy Gongyang Mo out of bed. They washed up, ate, and, at the old class teacher's insistence, waited for everyone to gather before going for a run.

Wu Ya's strict teaching style showed itself at times like this.

As he put it: "The more talented you are, the less you can afford to slack off. Jade must be carved before it can become perfect."

Of course, that made perfect sense. After all, the morning was the most important part of the day.

But this routine was torture for the lazy Gongyang Mo. While running, he felt as though both his legs were about to snap, and afterward they trembled like chopsticks.

Ma Xiaotao didn't like running. Put another way, she didn't like the feeling of sweating buckets.

That left Yue Ling feeling rather helpless, since he loved exercising and building up his physique.

If only there were a way to run together without sweating. Running alone felt a little lonely.

Of course, that was impossible.

Fortunately, the old class teacher was fairly humane. He allowed anyone who truly couldn't run anymore to use their Martial Soul.

If you couldn't run when you needed to flee for your life, there was only one possible outcome: death.

Yue Ling nodded in agreement.

That made sense.

In a way, it was actually a good thing.

Ever since the day she finished her dessert, Ma Xiaotao had been attending classes in Freshman Class One alongside him and Gongyang Mo.

As the saying went, share your blessings and bear your hardships together.

After the run came class.

The theory classes were rather dry and dull. They covered Soul Beasts, the mainland's customs and history, the basics of soul tools, Soul Skill combinations, mental discipline... all sorts of miscellaneous things.

Yue Ling hated theory classes. Other than learning about Soul Beasts and a few basics he was interested in, he didn't listen to anything else.

He knew it was good to study and learn more, but he just couldn't pay attention. It always felt like a waste of time, and secretly cultivating seemed like a much better use of it.

But that was more or less disrespectful to the teacher, so he could only watch Ma Xiaotao while trying to find something else to do.

Every time, though, she'd glare him back into submission with a look that said, "What are you looking at?"

Even though they were real friends now, Yue Ling still managed to make her angry. There was nothing he could do about it; in a certain sense, the two of them were a lot alike.

Actually, Ma Xiaotao couldn't focus in class either.

Hehe.

Gongyang Mo was the exact opposite. He loved theoretical knowledge so much that he even snuck reads of his books back in the dormitory. But why did he have to sneak around? That was a question for Lord Yue Ling.

"Let's go out and have some fun?"

"No, I want to read."

"Hmph! Even you have defected...!"

"I haven't... all right, let's play for a little while..."

Looking at those innocent, wide eyes, Yue Ling sighed and gave in.

Fine, read if you want. I'll go play by myself.

I'm such a considerate, caring guy. With a roommate like me, you ought to be counting your blessings!

Of course, they didn't have theory classes all the time. Every other day was a practical class.

Yue Ling loved practical classes.

Getting familiar with individual fighting styles, laying the groundwork for teamwork, and gaining combat experience—all of it helped prepare them for the assessments.

Ma Xiaotao liked practical classes too. Put another way, she simply liked fighting, and especially liked dragging Yue Ling into a fight.

Practical class meant practical class. What was the point if they didn't fight?

The reason she always picked him was probably that his Soul Power was high and his Soul Skills were versatile. But Evil Fire always got in the way, and they could never fight to their heart's content. It was a real shame.

The two of them often couldn't enjoy their sparring properly because of the Evil Fire.

Yue Ling's Soul Power was high, and his Soul Skills were hard to evade. Apart from someone like Ma Xiaotao, who countered him, almost nobody else could keep him in check.

Almost, that was.

The truly astonishing one was Xixi. She was remarkably capable, despite keeping such a low profile. The Lightning Leopard really lived up to its name—she was incredibly fast. Once, even Yue Ling, caught off guard, hadn't reacted in time.

He regretted it deeply afterward and resolved never to underestimate any Spirit Master again.

Sure enough, one lesson from experience beat a hundred lectures from other people.

Isn't that right, Dean Yan?

At Shrek Academy,

every day was packed. If they weren't in class, they were training; if they weren't training, they were in class.

During that time, Dai Yueheng had tried to recruit him, but Yue Ling had declined on the grounds that he wanted to grow stronger first.

Meanwhile, his good teacher, Xuan Zi, had practically vanished. He hadn't even come to check on him.

Hmph. Next time they met, Yue Ling would pluck out that big bushy beard of his.

Aside from that,

during his time as a freshman, Yue Ling often went to the Soul Fighting District. Whenever he felt like it, he'd compete, and he had earned some pretty good results.

As a result, he'd gained a title: "Dancer of Chrysanthemums."

Uh... he'd been protesting it for ages, ever since the title first spread.

The reason was that whenever he released the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum to attack in a duel, he inevitably had to make a few movements.

Combined with his ethereal good looks, he looked like he was dancing to everyone else in the Spirit Duel Arena. And so the title had caught on.

But no, he really didn't like it.

He'd even been teased by Ma Xiaotao and earned a doubtful look from Gongyang Mo.

"Are you not...?"

"...I'm not!!!"

"Oh, good..."

"What's that supposed to mean, 'good'?!"

Furious, Yue Ling was about to use his Martial Soul to shred Gongyang Mo's pajamas, but gave up when he saw his pitiful expression.

Damn it, how can someone have me wrapped around his finger like this?

In a fit of annoyance, he decided to steal Gongyang Mo's favorite chicken leg at dinner.

Mm, it's settled.

When the time came the next day, Gongyang Mo unexpectedly gave him an extra-large chicken leg.

Sigh, fine. I'll let it go.

Over those three months, Yue Ling had done nothing but study and cultivate, and play and cultivate.

After the medicinal power of that Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum had fully erupted, his Soul Power Level had reached thirty-six. He was on the verge of becoming a Soul Ancestor!

Once he returned to Sea God Island, he could keep cultivating among the sea of flowers, feeling the life force unique to the Golden Ancient Tree. He was confident that his strength would improve even further.

In his spare time, Yue Ling also read the Hundred Flowers Record to prepare for obtaining Immortal Herbs.

Curiously, just after he broke through to level thirty-six, the Hundred Flowers Record suddenly flickered. If Yue Ling hadn't had sharp eyes, he would never have noticed.

This thing isn't simple. Hmm...

To test whether this ancestral heirloom had any special abilities, Yue Ling gently probed it with his Soul Power... but nothing happened. The Hundred Flowers Record seemed like an ordinary object. Unwilling to give up, he tried his spiritual power, and even brought his Martial Soul close to it, but still nothing worked.

Yue Ling was helpless. He could only set it aside for now and experiment again when he got the chance.

Next came the freshman assessment.

Three days before the assessment, Gongyang Mo, Yue Ling, and Ma Xiaotao went to register with Wu Ya.

They took the opportunity to ask him about the details.

What they hadn't expected was that they might end up fighting someone from their own class.

Well... that could be tricky.

But Gongyang Mo told him not to worry, without a care in the world. Soul Elders were still a small minority.

Besides, their team had three Soul Elders. What could the other side possibly do, fight them with their heads?

That's right, three Soul Elders! Gongyang Mo had gritted his teeth and taken a Soul Ascension Pill. Combined with his own cultivation, it had pushed him straight through level thirty. With the teacher's help, he had also obtained his third Spirit Ring!

At this point, they were already among the strongest teams.

Gongyang Mo was a level-thirty-one Soul Elder, Ma Xiaotao was level thirty-three, and Yue Ling was level thirty-six.

Their advantage looked huge, but it was best not to uncork the champagne at halftime, in case anything went wrong.

Better safe than sorry.

He would treat every battle with the utmost care!