Rejecting Zhu Zhuqing? Exposing Shrek, the Scam Academy!

"You too?"

Zhu Zhuqing keenly caught that word. She froze slightly, confusion appearing on her face.

Gu Ling smiled and explained,

"It was nothing. Two people I knew went to Shrek Academy after graduating."

Zhu Zhuqing immediately thought of something and pressed,

"Are you talking about Tang San?"

"Yes." Gu Ling stood up and stretched lazily before nodding naturally with a smile. "The person whose name I borrowed just now."

Hearing that, the corner of Zhu Zhuqing's mouth seemed to twitch imperceptibly. "Does he know you're using his name outside?"

"No."

Gu Ling answered with complete righteousness.

Zhu Zhuqing: "..."

After that, the two chatted idly for a while longer.

Zhu Zhuqing had nearly finished the rabbit meat in her hands. Perhaps because she had replenished some food and rested for so long, the pallor on her face had noticeably faded.

Glancing at the bandages on her shoulder and then at Gu Ling sitting opposite her, Zhu Zhuqing suddenly asked, "Where are you going next?"

"The Star Dou Great Forest." Gu Ling did not hide it. "My soul power has reached level thirty. I came out this time to hunt a soul beast suitable for me and obtain my third Soul Ring."

"Level thirty?"

Zhu Zhuqing was instantly stunned. She instinctively looked Gu Ling over again. When he had acted earlier, he had only released two Soul Rings, so she naturally knew he was a Great Soul Master.

But she had not expected Gu Ling to have already cultivated to level thirty! That meant that with just a third Soul Ring, he would officially become a Soul Elder!

A level-thirty Soul Master at around twelve years old...

And on top of that, that absurd Thousand-Year Second Soul Ring.

Zhu Zhuqing suddenly felt that the person before her seemed even more extraordinary than she had imagined.

After a moment of silence, Zhu Zhuqing seemed to think of something and suddenly asked,

"What about after you obtain your third Soul Ring?"

"I haven't decided yet." Gu Ling casually tossed another piece of firewood into the flames and said seriously, "I'll probably find an advanced soul master academy to continue cultivating at, but I haven't decided which one yet."

Zhu Zhuqing's eyes flickered slightly at that. She lowered her head and thought for a moment, then looked back up at Gu Ling and invited,

"Since you haven't decided yet... would you like to go to Shrek Academy with me?"

Hearing that, Gu Ling did not even need to think before shaking his head directly.

"No."

Zhu Zhuqing froze slightly. She clearly had not expected Gu Ling to refuse so decisively.

"Why?"

"Didn't you say you haven't decided which advanced soul master academy to attend yet?"

Gu Ling added another piece of firewood to the campfire before saying blandly,

"I haven't decided which academy to go to, but I ruled out Shrek Academy long ago. As far as I'm concerned, that place is a scam academy."

"A scam academy?"

Zhu Zhuqing's brows immediately furrowed. She had asked around for some information about Shrek Academy along the way, but she clearly did not know much about it.

Gu Ling glanced at her, looking speechless.

"You didn't know?"

Zhu Zhuqing froze slightly, then shook her head.

Seeing that, Gu Ling did not keep her in suspense and explained,

"Then let me tell you about it."

"Shrek Academy's admission requirements are extremely harsh. They only accept geniuses under twelve whose soul power has reached a certain level. There is nothing wrong with that in itself."

"An academy is free to set whatever admission standards it wants. But the problem is that they do not clearly tell applicants all the requirements before enrollment."

"They make you pay the registration fee first, then test you. If they find out in the end that you do not meet their requirements, they still do not refund the fee."

Zhu Zhuqing frowned slightly in surprise.

"They don't refund it even if you fail?"

"That's right."

Gu Ling spread his hands helplessly, sounding thoroughly annoyed.

"If they clearly listed the admission requirements from the beginning—no one over twelve, no one below a certain soul power level, no one with an unsuitable martial soul or insufficient talent—"

"Then people would naturally not make the trip for nothing after seeing the requirements. But instead, they wait until people have paid before screening them one by one. In the end, if you fail, your money is gone too."

At that point, Gu Ling could not help laughing.

"Isn't that just scamming people out of registration fees?"

"There is nothing wrong with an academy charging a registration fee. After all, admissions and testing take time. But if you have a pile of hard requirements, you should make them clear beforehand."

"They know perfectly well that many people do not meet the requirements from the start, yet they still take the money first, tell them afterward that they failed, and refuse to refund it. What kind of logic is that?"

Zhu Zhuqing fell silent. That point alone did sound rather disgraceful.

Gu Ling continued,

"Of course, if Shrek Academy only had problems with its admissions process, I would not have ruled it out outright. The real problem is that it simply does not deserve its own admission requirements."

"Geniuses who reach level twenty or even higher soul power before the age of twelve."

"Outside, which of those students would not be eagerly sought after by every major advanced soul master academy? Since its admission standards are so high, shouldn't the academy's educational resources far surpass those of ordinary academies?"

Zhu Zhuqing nodded. That was reasonable. The reason geniuses chose an academy was naturally because it could provide them with better cultivation conditions.

"But Shrek has nothing. No mimicry training environment, an academy that looks like a little village, and utterly terrible food, clothing, lodging, and transportation."

"Sometimes, students even have to participate in spirit battles to earn money for a living!"

"It's like a restaurant with no kitchen, no cooks, and barely enough tables and chairs, yet it hangs up a sign outside saying it only serves royalty and nobility."

"Then after customers enter, they have to bring their own food."

By this point, Zhu Zhuqing's expression had clearly turned strange. Especially at that final comparison, she did not know how to refute him for a moment.

But Gu Ling was not finished.

"The most ridiculous part isn't even that. It's that Shrek Academy likes to flatter itself to attract students."

"They publicly claim that Shrek Academy has produced many outstanding soul masters. The most impressive one has even become Spirit Hall's youngest elder."

The moment those words fell.

Zhu Zhuqing's gaze tightened slightly. Though she was still young, she came from the Zhu Family of the Star Luo Empire, so she could not possibly know nothing about a top continental power like Spirit Hall.

"What does it mean to be an elder of Spirit Hall?"

"That is not a position a Soul Ancestor or Soul King can hold. Anyone who enters Spirit Hall's Elder Hall must at least be a Titled Douluo-level powerhouse."

"In other words, according to Shrek Academy's own claims, that so-called graduate has already become a Titled Douluo."

"But Shrek Academy has only existed for around twenty years. Even if its earliest students enrolled at twelve, how old could they be now? Only in their thirties."

At that point, Gu Ling could not help laughing aloud.

"As far as I know, the most widely recognized record for the youngest Titled Douluo on the continent belongs to Clear Sky Sect's Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao. He broke through level ninety and became a Titled Douluo at forty-four."

"Yet Shrek Academy claims that one of its early graduates casually became a Titled Douluo in their thirties? Then why have I never heard that person's name?"

Hearing this, Zhu Zhuqing fell silent.

She came from the Zhu Family. If a Titled Douluo in their thirties had truly appeared on the continent and even become an elder of Spirit Hall, it would absolutely have been major news enough to alarm the upper ranks of the Star Luo Empire.

It was impossible for the Zhu Family to have heard nothing at all.

Thinking of this, the resolve in Zhu Zhuqing's expression finally began to waver. If everything Gu Ling said was true... then this so-called Shrek Academy did not seem like a genuine advanced soul master academy at all.

Instead, it seemed more like a place... dedicated to cheating and swindling people.