Morning Run

The instructors' office building was located behind the Outer Court's teaching buildings and dormitory area.

Earlier, when the referee had brought Lin Yan and the other two to the office building, they had already passed through this place. Thus, the three of them easily found their way back without getting lost.

Teaching area.

Teaching buildings stood in neat rows.

Each teaching building was marked with a different color to distinguish the grades.

After passing between two teaching buildings of different colors, the Outer Court dormitory building came into view.

Although the entire Outer Court had only one dormitory building, it covered an enormous area. It was also divided into four colors—white, yellow, purple, and black—to represent the floors where students of different grades lived.

After passing through a small path lined with lush vegetation, the three finally arrived at the entrance beneath the dormitory building.

Lin Yan swept his gaze around and spotted a small structure resembling a guardhouse in front of the dormitory entrance.

On the reclining chair outside the guardhouse, Lin Yan saw Mu En basking comfortably in the sun.

"Cousin, isn't that old man your great-grandfather?"

Lin Yan asked quietly, feigning surprise.

"Mm. Great-grandfather has a very special status in the academy, so we have to pretend we don't know him. Don't disturb him, understand?" Bei Bei replied in a low voice.

"Mm, I understand." Lin Yan nodded.

Lin Yan and Bei Bei's dormitory was Room 203, located on the second floor.

The three parted ways at the stairwell landing on the second floor.

Although the female and male students of the Outer Court lived in the same dormitory building, they were separated by floors. The fourth floor and above were for female students, while the floors below the fourth were for male students.

"Bei Bei, Lin Yan, we can be considered friends now, right?"

Before they parted, Tang Ya blinked her beautiful eyes and asked seriously.

"Of course. We fought side by side as teammates, so naturally we're friends." Bei Bei answered with a smile.

Lin Yan, meanwhile, did not say much. He merely nodded slightly.

Whenever he saw Tang Ya, he felt an inexplicable sense of aversion and resistance.

The feeling was faint, but it truly existed.

He could not understand why he felt that way toward someone he had met for the first time.

Tang Ya was not ugly either, so it could not be that he rejected her because of her looks...

"Then see you tomorrow!"

Tang Ya smiled cheerfully and skipped toward the fourth floor, where the female dormitories were located.

Watching Tang Ya disappear around the stairwell corner, Lin Yan glanced at Bei Bei and said with a smile, "Cousin, you're very nice to Tang Ya. Do you like her?"

"Of course not. Don't talk nonsense!" Bei Bei's cheeks reddened almost imperceptibly. Then he quickly left the stairwell and entered the second-floor corridor.

Watching Bei Bei's retreating back, Lin Yan wore a meaningful smile.

Although Shrek Academy was known as the continent's number one Soul Master academy, the Outer Court's accommodations were not particularly impressive. They were even quite ordinary.

However, it did a good job of treating everyone equally.

No matter what family one came from or how noble one's status was, once one entered Shrek Academy, one could only live in these two-person dormitories. No one could receive special treatment here; everyone had to follow the academy's rules.

Following the room number on their key, the two found their dormitory. Then they worked together to thoroughly clean it from top to bottom.

By the time they finished everything, half an hour had passed.

After cleaning up, Lin Yan declined Bei Bei's suggestion to take a walk outside. Instead, he flopped directly onto his bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Physical exhaustion could be replenished through food.

Mental power, however, could only recover quickly and effectively through deep sleep. As a result, Lin Yan slept for a long time, only waking when the sky had just begun to brighten the next day.

Lin Yan sat up and stretched. He immediately noticed that the heavy feeling in his mind after using Thunderous Bagua yesterday had completely vanished.

Clearly, his depleted mental power had fully recovered.

After getting up and looking at the sky outside the window, Lin Yan immediately realized just how long he had slept.

Shrek Academy's enrollment season lasted a total of seven days. During those seven days, new students had free time to move about as they pleased. Only after the enrollment season ended would the new students begin their regular classes.

It was now the second day. Including today, there were still six days left.

Time was precious, and naturally, he had no intention of wasting those six days.

After getting up and washing, he prepared to begin his usual morning exercise routine.

The sounds of him washing up woke Bei Bei, as expected.

"Cousin, you're awake?"

Bei Bei rubbed his eyes and looked at Lin Yan sleepily.

"Mm. I'm going for morning training. Are you coming, Cousin?"

After changing into his shoes, Lin Yan looked at him and asked.

"No. I meditated until very late yesterday, so I'm a little tired. I want to sleep a bit longer. You go ahead."

After saying that, Bei Bei turned over and continued sleeping.

After leaving the dormitory building alone, Lin Yan wandered aimlessly through the academy.

The sky had only just begun to brighten, with a faint golden glow peeking over the horizon. Since it was still early, the academy was very quiet, and there was hardly anyone in sight.

"No one around. Perfect, that saves me the trouble of hiding it!"

Lin Yan smiled in satisfaction.

His training differed from that of ordinary people. Normal exercise had almost no effect on his current physical strength.

His special constitution meant that he had to challenge his body's limits for his physique to slowly improve.

And if he wanted to challenge his limits, he had to activate his domain and borrow the power of the Gravity Domain.

It would naturally be inconvenient for others to see such a precious Spirit Bone skill. Therefore, he preferred training in an environment where no one would disturb him.

Lin Yan activated the Gravity Domain and imposed six times gravity on himself. Heavy black rays of light immediately flickered in and out around his body.

At the same time, he felt as though a mountain were pressing down upon him, leaving him with an overwhelming sense of exhaustion before he had even begun.

"This is the feeling!"

Lin Yan took a deep breath. In this state, it was easier for him to challenge his limits.

Then, he began jogging along a secluded path.

Lin Yan did not notice that just as he started running, a hunched figure in the distance was silently watching him.

The figure stood there without making any movement, yet everything about him, even his aura, seemed to have completely merged with the surrounding environment, becoming part of heaven and earth.

Even if a weaker person swept their eyes over him, they would subconsciously overlook his existence, treating him as part of nature itself and utterly unable to discover him.

"With talent this outstanding and such diligence as well, he is truly teachable!"

After that sigh of admiration, his figure slowly faded from where he stood like an afterimage scattered by the wind.

Meanwhile, the oblivious Lin Yan ran on and accidentally arrived at the shore of Sea God Lake.

"The air is better here. I'll run here."

After making that discovery, Lin Yan began running around Sea God Lake.

Sea God Lake was enormous.

After running one lap around Sea God Lake, Lin Yan was panting heavily, his clothes completely soaked with sweat.

Only when he could no longer exert even a shred of strength did he sit down to rest. He took out preserved soul beast meat from his storage soul tool to replenish his energy.

After swallowing the dried meat, Lin Yan casually drank several mouthfuls of water from Sea God Lake. As expected, his strength began recovering rapidly.

In less than five minutes, he was fully revived.

At the same time, through this process of exertion and replenishment, his physique had faintly grown a little stronger. Though the results were not obvious, the key was steady accumulation over time.

If not for this ability, he would not have been able to challenge a Millennium Spirit Ring for his second Spirit Ring, or challenge a Five-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring for his third.

Once fully revived, Lin Yan stood up and continued running around Sea God Lake.

Halfway through his run, he suddenly noticed that a vague figure had appeared at some point on the lakeside path not far from the shore, walking toward him from the opposite direction.

Upon noticing this, Lin Yan immediately dismissed the Gravity Control Domain. Then, he continued moving without stopping, pretending to be engaged in an ordinary morning run.

One was by the lake, while the other was on the lakeside path, with less than three meters between them.

Just as the two were about to pass each other, Lin Yan casually glanced at the other person.

At the same time, the other person happened to look at him as well.

At that glance, both of them froze!