Wang Dong

At last, Yan Shaozhe pondered for a long while before finally nodding.

"All right..."

“You can join First Year, but you must also sit in on the Soul Tool Department's classes.”

Qian Duoduo was about to object, but Yan Shaozhe silenced him with a glare. He could only give a disgruntled huff and accept it.

And so the matter was settled.

Just then, a small commotion broke out at the front of the assessment line.

"Make way!"

A lazy voice rang out, carrying undisguised arrogance.

The crowd parted on its own. A young student strolled through with both hands behind her head.

Wang Dong looked eleven or twelve, but she stood tall. Her short pink-and-blue hair was especially striking in the sunlight.

Her skin was fair and her features almost impossibly delicate, yet her gaze was cold and proud, as though no one there was worth her attention.

She walked straight up to the assessment table.

"Wang Dong, eleven years old. Martial Soul: Light Goddess Butterfly."

The examiner was visibly taken aback by her manner and spoke with a slight frown.

"Then release your Martial Soul."

Wang Dong gave a soft snort. A yellow Soul Ring and a purple one slowly rose around her, and a pair of dazzling Butterfly Wings unfurled behind her.

Blue-violet light shimmered along the edges of their pale golden surfaces. With a gentle flap, countless flecks of golden light drifted down.

They were too beautiful to seem of this world.

The Light Goddess Butterfly.

The examiner drew a sharp breath. Another student with two Soul Rings, and a top-tier Beast Martial Soul at that. What was going on with this year's newcomers?

Wang Dong withdrew her Martial Soul and swept an idle gaze across the crowd. At last, her eyes settled on Huo Yutong nearby.

Seeing that Huo Yutong had only one Soul Ring, she curled her lips in open disdain.

"Even someone with one Soul Ring can get into Shrek? I guess this Monster Academy isn't so impressive after all."

Before Huo Yutong could speak, Ye Tianming replied coolly.

"You won't know how impressive it is until you fight."

Wang Dong raised an eyebrow as if she had heard a joke.

He hadn't seen the Soul Rings beneath Ye Tianming's feet. He had arrived too late to witness what had happened earlier.

She took him for some newcomer who had appeared out of nowhere and didn't know his own limits.

But just as Wang Dong was about to make a move, the examiner spoke up.

"Fighting is forbidden here."

Wang Dong gave a cold snort and went onto the school grounds.

The enrollment formalities were completed quickly.

Shrek Outer Court had separate dormitory buildings for boys and girls, and every room housed two students.

In the boys' dormitory, Ye Tianming was assigned a room on the third floor.

When he pushed open the door, someone was already inside. With that short pink-and-blue hair, it was none other than Wang Dong.

Wang Dong froze when she saw that Ye Tianming was her roommate. Then she resumed her haughty manner, sat on the bed, and crossed her legs.

"You?"

"Fine. Since we're sharing a room, we need to get a few rules straight."

"First, don't bring people back to the dorm without asking."

"Second, don't walk around the room naked."

"Third, don't snore when you sleep."

"Fourth, don't bother me."

"Fifth, you're responsible for cleaning the room, but don't touch my bed."

At the rule about not being naked, the corners of Ye Tianming's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

Others might not know Wang Dong's secret, but he was a transmigrator who had read the original story.

Wang Dong was plainly Tang San's daughter, Tang Wutong, disguised as a boy after descending to the lower realm.

Sharing a room with this tomboy, Ye Tianming could only repeat four words to himself: Keep your distance.

Ye Tianming slowly set down his belongings and spoke evenly.

"I'll remember the rules. But we'll take turns cleaning, and you don't need to touch my bed either."

"You!"

Wang Dong had not expected a newcomer to bargain with her. She shot to her feet, arrogance flaring in her eyes.

"I couldn't stand you back outside. Want to step out and spar?"

"Sure."

Outside the dormitory building, the two faced each other.

Wang Dong wasted no time. Her Guang Ling Goddess Butterfly instantly possessed her, and golden Butterfly Wings spread wide.

In a flash, she appeared before Ye Tianming and struck at his shoulder with her palm.

Ye Tianming did not even release his Martial Soul. He shifted his foot slightly and slipped aside like a wisp of blue smoke.

Wang Dong's palm struck empty air. Her Butterfly Wings flashed again and again, sending golden streaks of light down like raindrops.

Yet Ye Tianming moved within that tiny space, evading each strike by a hair's breadth. She could not even graze the corner of his clothes.

"You..."

Startled and furious, Wang Dong was about to activate her Soul Rings and attack with all her strength.

A hand suddenly came to rest lightly on her wrist.

Ye Tianming had somehow reached her side. He placed just two fingers against the pulse in her wrist.

Half of Wang Dong's body went numb. She could not summon her Soul Power at all. Her Butterfly Wings folded, and she was pinned straight to the ground.

One move—no, it could hardly even be called a move. Ye Tianming had not lit up a single Soul Ring.

The two returned to their room. Wang Dong sat on her bed, replaying what had just happened.

Her face shifted between pale and flushed. Her pride lay shattered across the floor.

But after a long while, Wang Dong suddenly raised her head and stared hard at Ye Tianming.

The anger in her eyes gradually became a burning, unyielding light.

Gritting her teeth, Wang Dong spoke one word at a time.

"You're strong."

"Stronger than me. But one day, I'll catch up to you."

Ye Tianming looked at her. She had lost the fight, but not her spirit, and he smiled.

The Wang Dong from the original story—proud to the bone, yet open and honorable—was supposed to be exactly like this.

As for Tang Wutong later on...

Better not to mention it. Better not.

Ye Tianming held out his hand and said slowly.

"Fine. I'll wait for that day."

Wang Dong stared at his hand for a couple of breaths, then finally slapped her hand against it. Even so, she could not keep the corners of her mouth from lifting.

Over at the girls' dormitory, Huo Yutong also met her roommate.

She was a sweet-smiling girl named Xiao Xiao, and she had Twin Martial Souls: the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron and the Nine-Phoenix Auspicious Arrival Flute.

The two girls were close in age. After talking for only a little while, they were already as familiar as sisters.

Early the next morning, Ye Tianming and Huo Yutong went to their assigned class together.

The bell had just stopped ringing when the classroom door opened and an elderly woman walked in.

Her hair was graying and her face lined with wrinkles, but her eyes swept over the room like blades.

Every whisper in the classroom vanished at once.

She took her place behind the lectern without a word of preamble.

"My name is Zhou Yi. I'm your homeroom teacher."

"But let me make one thing clear: I intend to train monsters, not fools."

"In my class, you either become a monster or you're eliminated. There is no third choice."

Then six Soul Rings slowly rose from beneath her feet.

Two yellow, two purple, two black.

The moment the last two black Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings appeared, the entire class drew a sharp breath. Everyone sat bolt upright, scarcely daring to breathe.

A Six-Ring Soul Emperor!

Zhou Yi swept her gaze across the room and suddenly spoke.

"Anyone who got into a fight during registration these past few days, stand up!"

(Ahahaha, the author's book has crashed. There was no traffic at all during the recommendation period today, and the platform hasn't given it any exposure. I was ready to drop it, but then I thought that wouldn't be fair to the readers following this book. So I've decided to keep updating with 4,000 words a day, slowly, until the book is finished.)

(Sorry, waaaaaah. I really didn't expect this book to crash.)