Shrek's New Student Enrollment, Leaping Straight to Quasi-Soul Emperor

Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui approached Yan Feng and circled around him, examining him from every angle.

Even with the eyesight of two Limit Douluo, neither of them could detect the slightest trace of Yan Feng being controlled.

"With this method of infiltrating Shrek, even Mu En won't be able to notice anything unusual."

Ye Xishui was extremely satisfied with the results.

Long Xiaoyao stood nearby with his hands behind his back, silent.

"The most crucial step has been completed, Great-Grandmother. Leave the rest to me."

Yan Jingchuan deliberately controlled Yan Feng as he spoke.

Ye Xishui glanced at Yan Feng, then turned to Yan Jingchuan and covered her mouth with a soft laugh.

"Good child, Grandmother will be watching."

"Now that we're done, let's go. We need to get a soul ring for Xiaochuan."

Long Xiaoyao, bitter at heart, truly did not want to keep watching his lover and descendant scheme against his best friend. He only wanted to leave as soon as possible, out of sight and out of mind.

The three vanished in a flash. Ignoring the still-unconscious Ning Tian and Wu Feng, Yan Feng sat cross-legged on the ground and began cultivating.

Yan Feng was the same age as Yan Jingchuan and was only a Soul Elder. If he wanted to infiltrate Shrek's core and better dismantle Shrek from within, he needed to attract as much attention as possible.

And if he wanted those people at Shrek to take him seriously, the most important thing was to display shocking talent.

Under normal circumstances, becoming a Soul Elder at thirteen was already the mark of a genius among geniuses. In the original story, Huo Yuhao had only just broken through Rank 30 at thirteen.

But Yan Jingchuan was a freak even among freaks. At thirteen, he was already a Rank 50 Soul King. After obtaining his fifth soul ring, there was even a high chance that he would approach the Rank 60 bottleneck.

By comparison, Yan Feng's talent was truly nothing remarkable. Accelerating his cultivation to draw attention and achieve rapid infiltration was still necessary.

Three days later, Shrek Academy.

Xu Jiujiu and Man Yi entered Shrek's Outer Court ahead of schedule.

A white-robed man with white hair and beard stood in the middle of the street, waiting for them.

He was the dean of Shrek's Outer Court, one of the Sea God Pavilion's elders, and Yan Jingchuan's father, Yan Shaozhe.

"Princess Jiujiu! Your Excellency Xingyun!"

"Dean Yan! Your Excellency Mingfeng!"

After the two sides exchanged greetings, Yan Shaozhe made an inviting gesture.

"My teacher asked me to welcome Princess Jiujiu to Shrek for her studies. May Shrek and the Star Luo Empire remain friends for all eternity."

Yan Shaozhe's teacher was naturally Mu En, the Dragon God Douluo and master of the Sea God Pavilion.

When news that a princess of the Star Luo Empire was coming to study at Shrek reached the Sea God Pavilion, it immediately drew Mu En's utmost attention.

It was an open secret among the major factions that the three great empires were wary of Shrek. Though they were not openly hostile, they guarded against it at every turn.

If they discovered a gifted genius, they would rather keep them firmly in their own hands than send them to Shrek to be brainwashed by its ten-thousand-year glory.

A genius who could have become a pillar of an empire turning into Shrek's loyal dog would be an enormous loss. Not to mention someone like Xu Jiujiu, a princess with exceptional talent.

For a thousand years, the three great empires had stopped sending royal family members to Shrek. Without Yan Jingchuan's interference, things should have developed normally like this:

Princess Xu Jiujiu of the Star Luo Empire would have entered Star Luo Imperial Academy and participated in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament about a year later.

Princess Vina of the Heavenly Soul Empire would have become Long Aotian of the Noumenon Sect's partner.

The weakest Douling Empire was an exception. There was no need for its royal family to come to Shrek. Even if those useless Swan Martial Souls came, Shrek would not want them.

Thus, Xu Jiujiu's arrival this year came as a tremendous surprise to Mu En, leaving him both puzzled and delighted.

What puzzled him was why Xu Jiawei of the Star Luo Empire had allowed Xu Jiujiu to come to Shrek. Was he not afraid that she would stay at Shrek?

What delighted him was that, while he was still alive, there seemed to be hope of repairing Shrek's relationship with the three great empires so that Shrek would not become isolated and helpless on the continent.

With Shrek's future in mind, Mu En specifically instructed Yan Shaozhe to take good care of this princess of the Star Luo Empire and not use any schemes to trick her into staying at Shrek.

Yan Shaozhe readily agreed at the time, but he did not take it seriously at all. He had long begun considering how to bind Xu Jiujiu to Shrek forever. He treated Mu En's words like farting and did not listen to a single sentence.

He did not even stop to think about what kind of dangerous signal such actions would send to the three great empires.

When that time came, the three great empires would not merely be wary of Shrek.

"Dean Yan, you are too courteous. Shrek is the continent's number one academy, renowned throughout the world. It is my honor to study here."

Born into royalty, Xu Jiujiu was no ordinary shrewd person. Empty pleasantries came easily to her lips; she spoke human words to humans and ghost words to Shrek people.

Yan Shaozhe was petty, obsessed with gains and losses, and yet severely lacking in brains. Xu Jiujiu flattered him in countless ways until she practically coaxed him back into an embryo.

Delighted with himself, Yan Shaozhe took Xu Jiujiu on a tour of Shrek. Then there was nothing more. He casually assigned her an ordinary dormitory.

Xu Jiujiu stood at the door and took in the cramped, dilapidated dormitory. Her lips twitched, while Man Yi nearly lost her temper and demanded to know what Yan Shaozhe meant.

Fortunately, Xu Jiujiu stopped her and said with a smile, "It's quite good."

Feeling extremely pleased with himself, Yan Shaozhe called it tempering a student's willpower. He claimed that students came here to study, not to enjoy themselves.

Mu En's instruction to take care of her had gone completely off course in Yan Shaozhe's understanding.

As the dean of the continent's number one academy, he merely put on a superficial display of concern and ignored everything else.

"As expected of Shrek Academy. The teachers have truly gone to great lengths, and even the environment is uniquely distinctive!"

She watched helplessly as a palm-sized ten-year cockroach brazenly crawled onto the bed, yet she had no choice but to speak blatant lies as she suppressed the nausea in her heart and praised the place.

"Of course! Of course! Our Shrek Academy is absolutely the best!"

Completely oblivious, Yan Shaozhe gazed up at the peeling ceiling at a forty-five-degree angle, his posture brimming with confidence and satisfaction.

Man Yi had never been so speechless in her life. Yan Shaozhe disgusted her so much that she wanted to vomit.

She seriously doubted whether Yan Jingchuan was truly the son of this idiot before her.

His son was so outstanding and intelligent. How could someone like Yan Shaozhe have produced him? The children must have been switched at birth!

"Grandmother Man Yi, you should head back first. Tell my imperial brother that I will study diligently at Shrek."

Xu Jiujiu, whose face alternated between green and white, hurriedly sent Man Yi away. She feared that if anything even more outrageous happened, Man Yi truly would not be able to endure it.

Forcibly recovering her normal expression, Man Yi looked at Xu Jiujiu with pity and nodded vigorously.

For her princess to suffer humiliation in a place worse than a latrine was truly unfair to her.

"Safe travels, Your Excellency Xingyun. Princess Jiujiu will certainly gain greatly at Shrek and will not suffer the slightest grievance."

As Yan Shaozhe patted his chest in assurance, his eyes were filled with Xu Jiujiu and her Star Crown Martial Soul. He had coveted that versatile Martial Soul for a long time.

If not for the fact that only the Star Luo imperial family could inherit that Martial Soul, he would have long since abducted dozens of them to serve Shrek like oxen and horses.

Hearing Yan Shaozhe's words, Man Yi stumbled and nearly fell. She desperately suppressed the urge to risk her life against Shrek, then quickened her pace and left without looking back.

Star Dou Great Forest, deep within the core region.

Beside the corpse of a massive black dragon-shaped soul beast, Yan Jingchuan's absorption of the soul ring had reached its final stage. Five soul rings—yellow, purple, black, black, and red—pulsed around him.

Before long, Yan Jingchuan exhaled a breath of turbid air and opened his eyes.

A powerful wave of soul power spread out as his soul power rank surged uncontrollably upward.

Fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine—until it finally stopped at Rank 60.

After absorbing the soul power of two Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings, along with the soul power he had accumulated after breaking through Rank 50 without obtaining a soul ring, Yan Jingchuan had reached Rank 60 in one leap and could absorb his next soul ring.