Lu Shiyuan wanted to roar.
"What manner of demon are you? Get out of Ning Rongrong's body!"
The Ning Rongrong before him was nothing like the one he remembered.
Ning Rongrong blinked playfully. "What happened to me is quite unusual. If you're interested, I can tell you everything after we register. But we need to do that first, or we'll all be crying when registration closes."
Lu Shiyuan fell silent for a moment, then nodded.
She was right. Some things were more urgent than others. Getting into Shrek Academy concerned his fifth Soul Ring, so it had to come first.
The four of them approached the Registration Desk. Li Yusong's half-closed eyes suddenly opened a little wider as he looked at them against the light.
"Are all of you registering?"
"Yes." Lu Shiyuan took out thirty Gold Soul Coins first, paying the registration fees for himself, Xiao Wu, and Zhu Zhuqing.
Not to be outdone, Ning Rongrong tossed ten Gold Soul Coins into the box. To the young lady of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, that sum hardly counted as pocket money.
Li Yusong saw nothing strange about it. After the commotion just now, anyone still willing to pay the fee so readily had to have a trick or two up their sleeve.
He checked their Bone Ages one by one. Once he confirmed they met the age requirement, he said lazily, "Summon your Martial Souls in order."
Ning Rongrong went first. With a turn of her wrist, the radiance of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda instantly filled the Registration Desk.
Lu Shiyuan's pupils contracted.
A three-ring Soul Elder?
That couldn't be right. Wasn't Ning Rongrong supposed to be only level twenty-six at this point? How could she be a three-ring Soul Elder?
He quickly looked at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda. When he confirmed it had only seven levels, his confusion deepened.
In truth, given Ning Rongrong's talent, reaching Soul Elder was hardly surprising.
She was the most talented person the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had seen in centuries. If she hadn't been so restless and fond of playing around, she never would have been only level twenty-six in the original story.
But why was her Soul Power Level so high?
Lu Shiyuan was certain he had never met Ning Rongrong. He couldn't have influenced the course of her life, so what had changed her?
Judging by her behavior just now, the Ning Rongrong before him no longer seemed to be the Little Demoness of a young lady he remembered.
Shock covered Li Yusong's face. Only after a long pause did he ask, "Does your family know you're here?"
"Of course. My father agreed to let me leave home to study, and he knows I plan to apply to Shrek."
Lu Shiyuan grew even more puzzled. That was different too.
So Ning Rongrong hadn't run away from home?
Li Yusong nodded. "All right, you've passed. Go on in."
Ning Rongrong smiled politely and shook her head. "Teacher, we came together. May I wait for them here? Don't worry, I won't interfere with your work."
Polite children always made a good impression. Li Yusong had assumed that, coming from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Rongrong would be spoiled and willful. He hadn't expected her to be so courteous.
He nodded at once. "No problem. You can stand right there."
Zhu Zhuqing was next. She, too, was a three-ring Soul Elder, giving Li Yusong another shock.
What kind of day was this? Two twelve-year-old three-ring Soul Elders in a row?
Could today be Shrek Academy's lucky day?
If Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing had stunned Li Yusong, then when Xiao Wu and Lu Shiyuan released their Martial Souls, he was left utterly speechless.
Li Yusong even grabbed Lu Shiyuan's wrist again and carefully checked his age a second time.
He really was twelve.
A twelve-year-old Soul Ancestor?
And a four-ring Soul Ancestor with yellow, purple, purple, and black Soul Rings?
Wasn't the most anyone could absorb for a Second Soul Ring a century-old Yellow Soul Ring? And wasn't the limit for a fourth Soul Ring a thousand-year purple one?
What was going on with these two?
You can damn well graduate at twelve! Why the hell are you still applying?
When Li Yusong spoke again, even he noticed the tremor in his voice.
"You... are sure you want to join Shrek Academy?"
"Do we not meet the requirements?"
"You do! You absolutely do!" Li Yusong nodded so rapidly that he looked like a chick pecking at grain.
They met the age requirement and the level requirement. These were monsters among monsters.
Shrek Academy specified a minimum level for admission, but it had never set a maximum.
Even if a Titled Douluo applied, as long as they met the age requirement, the academy couldn't find fault with them.
Just then, Dai Mubai returned to the Registration Desk after taking Tang San to the Fourth Trial.
The moment he saw Lu Shiyuan, his face twisted uncontrollably.
When he saw Zhu Zhuqing, his body began to ache.
After returning to the academy badly injured a few days earlier, he had eaten a huge pile of sausages from Oscar and even paid for a Healing Soul Master himself. Only then had his injuries mostly healed.
Whenever he remembered how Zhu Zhuqing had beaten him senseless that day, he felt stifled.
When had Zhu Zhuqing gotten so strong?
And now they were here to register. Did that mean the next few years of his life would be dark as a moonless night?
"Mubai, good timing. These are all new students. Take them straight to the Fourth Trial," Li Yusong instructed. In his heart, he was already certain Lu Shiyuan and the others would be admitted.
A twelve-year-old Soul Ancestor? Unless Flender was blind, he would never turn one away.
Calling it the Fourth Trial was merely a formality.
Dai Mubai nodded glumly and walked ahead alone, not daring to say a word.
He really was afraid. If he angered Zhu Zhuqing and got beaten senseless here, he would lose every last scrap of face.
Granted, he had little face left after their last fight. But holding on to one more scrap was better than losing it all.
Perhaps because Tang San had set a precedent, no one raised any objections when the four of them passed through the second and third trial sites.
Soon, they reached the site of the final trial.
Tang San stood there all alone. Not far away lay a burly middle-aged man.
Meanwhile, outside Shrek Academy.
"Your Excellencies, I'm entrusting our Rongrong to your care." Sword Douluo cupped his hands politely toward Xiao Feiyu and the other two.
"You're too kind, Sword Douluo. As long as Miss Ning doesn't give us trouble, we won't treat her harshly."
One did not strike a smiling face, so Xiao Feiyu was courteous as well.
But she knew what Ning Rongrong had been like in her previous life. Calling her a Little Demoness was no exaggeration, so Xiao Feiyu felt she had to give a warning first.
"You can all rest assured on that point. Rongrong isn't spoiled or willful. She knows what matters."
Xiao Feiyu exchanged glances with the other two.
Judging by Sword Douluo's certainty and faint air of pride, something seemed to have changed, if only slightly.
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