The Survival of the Fittest

Gangzi was stunned. He stared at the mark of the Fart God's Nine Examinations on his forehead, glowing a vivid yellow, and froze in place.

Why?

Why had he inherited the Fart God's position?

Gangzi's voice trembled. He was the great master Yu Xiaogang, the wisest mind in the world of soul masters, a man whose theories surpassed everyone else's.

If he was going to become a god, he should have become the God of Wisdom. At the very least, he should have become the God of Theory or the God of Knowledge. But the Fart God?

How could Yu Xiaogang ever show his face again if word got out?

If someone asked him, "Master, what god are you?"

Was he supposed to say, "I'm the Fart God"? That was too humiliating!

The more Gangzi thought about it, the worse he felt. He looked up, intending to find Tang San and make him take back this divine inheritance. Tang San had brought it upon him, so Tang San had to take responsibility.

He still had no idea that his own extraordinary talent had drawn the Fart God's inheritance to him. Thanks to him, the entire Divine Realm now reeked to high heaven. Who there had time to worry about him?

By then, the beam of divine light had vanished without a trace. Calm had returned to the Sea God Pavilion, and Tang San was nowhere to be seen.

Gangzi despaired. Apparently, that was the extent to which Tang San could interfere with the lower realm.

After thinking it over for a long time, Gangzi sighed and accepted reality.

With an innate Soul Power of just half a level, he was lucky to receive any divine inheritance at all.

If he lost this one, he would be finished.

Fine. Fart God it is, as long as I can become a god.

But when he read the conditions for unlocking the Fart God's Nine Examinations, his face turned green.

The examinee had to fart one hundred times while his Martial Soul was summoned. Only then could he begin the first examination.

A hundred farts would be easy for Luo Sanpao. Sanpao's skill was farting, after all. He could get it done in no time.

But how was Gangzi supposed to fart on command?

Farts did not come whenever he wanted them to. And a hundred of them? He was a distinguished master. He would never do something so indecent.

That was what Gangzi said, anyway. He had already quietly taken out a carrot and begun to eat.

Crunch, crunch!

One carrot, then two, then three. He kept eating frantically.

Soon, a series of farts rang out.

Pfft, pfft, pfft.

After a while, Gangzi found it rather satisfying.

He had no idea the Fart God's Divine Examination was already influencing him.

Meanwhile, at Myriad Realms Shrek Academy, Lin Yuan sat in the courtyard when Baby Dragon suddenly appeared in his sea of consciousness.

"Boss! Boss! Something's happened!"

Lin Yuan did not even lift his eyelids. He merely looked at him calmly.

"What are you panicking about?

"Has the sky fallen?"

Baby Dragon ran up to Lin Yuan, caught his breath, and said, "Boss, Tang San has interfered with the lower realm again."

"He can still come down?"

An amused look crossed Lin Yuan's face.

"He can't come down, but he can send a projection. He's already contacted Gangzi."

"He contacted Gangzi? So what?"

"He bestowed a Divine Examination on Gangzi. Gangzi can't take part in the Dragon God's Ten Trials, but Tang San made an exception and gave him a chance to earn a divine position. That could change things."

"He sensed Gangzi in this world, saw him at Shrek Academy, and assumed they were on the same side. So he gave Gangzi a divine inheritance and told him to protect Shrek Academy, right?"

"Interesting. Let him.

"Gangzi got what he wanted. He won't need to destroy the Divine Realm anymore. He can become a god directly. Good for him."

Lin Yuan had no strong feelings about Gangzi receiving a divine position. Gangzi could not betray him anyway.

Let Gangzi become a god. Now that Lin Yuan had become the Golden Dragon King, ordinary gods no longer interested him. He was playing for the position of Supreme God.

"Boss, guess what divine position Tang San gave Gangzi."

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow.

"What position?"

He was a little curious himself.

Baby Dragon held it in for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"Hahahaha! The Fart God!

"He got the Fart God's position!

"Tang San gave Gangzi the Fart God's position.

"His farts knocked out the entire Shrek City! It's absurd! And now the Divine Realm reeks.

"There's no way the Fart God should only hold a Third-Level God Position. That's a top-tier First-Class God if I've ever seen one!

"With a poison gas attack like that, how could it possibly be only a Third-Level God Position?"

"What?

"The Fart God?"

Lin Yuan's mouth twitched. Gangzi had become the Fart God.

He had thought Tang San would give Gangzi a normal divine position. The Fart God's position was ridiculous.

He could not even laugh.

The bond between master and disciple was truly something else. Giving Gangzi the Fart God's position showed a rather twisted sense of humor.

But Lin Yuan soon settled down. He controlled the entire Dragon God's Ten Trials and had far more to consider. He did not take this little incident to heart.

Still, Tang San's move proved that the Divine Realm had begun interfering with the Divine Examinations in the lower realms. That was interesting.

But with their limited brains, what difference would their involvement make?

He would run circles around them until they were finished.

Lin Yuan lightly tapped the Panel with a fingertip, and the Divine Examination records from every world began to reorganize at a furious pace.

Apart from the world of Ultimate Douluo, which had yet to be connected, the other worlds were already caught up in the fighting:

Soul Land I, Soul Land II, Soul Land III, and this main world. Everyone was killing one another for Divine Examination Quotas.

More and more familiar names appeared on the Divine Examination rankings.

The bloody first round of eliminations had begun. People died at Shrek Academy every day.

Across the worlds, countless Shrek members died each day. Members of other factions also fell when Shrek fought back.

Once the Divine Examinations became available, everyone rushed up the Dragon Ascension Ladder in a frenzy, linking all the worlds together.

The struggle for survival had officially begun.

Lin Yuan watched the numbers change and the death records accumulate on the Panel, his face expressionless.

This was the Dragon God's Ten Trials: brutal, with the weak falling to the strong. The first round should end soon. The formal examination three months later would be the real event.

After that, he would open the Divine Examination passages and release missions to plunder resources from other worlds.

Before any of that, though, he needed to get his own side in order.

Lin Yuan murmured to himself, then closed the Panel after his routine review.

By his own side, he meant this academy.

In truth, things had not started especially well.

Apart from him, only Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Qian Renxue could put up a real fight. The others were not much good, and two of them were even support-type soul masters.

His arena was particularly unforgiving to support-type soul masters because he had not arranged separate matches for them.

Why should he make allowances for them?

This was a fair arena. In a real fight, no one would find you a suitable opponent just because you had a support-type Martial Soul.

The world was not that kind.

Support-type soul masters taking part in the Dragon God's Ten Trials would therefore be at an overwhelming disadvantage in individual matches.

They might be fine if matched against another support-type soul master. Against an assault-type soul master, they would certainly lose.

Their only option was to make up the difference in team matches, but everyone else could earn points in team matches too.

In other words, support-type examinees were effectively marked for elimination from the start. Talent would not save them.