Admission? A Cauldron So Big, One Little Girl Couldn't Fill It!

Tang Ya's eyes reddened and her nose stung. "Thank you, Yutong."

Then she looked at Tang Qi solemnly and murmured, a little bashful, "Tang Qi, I think... I owe you quite a lot. How can I repay you?"

Tang Qi waved it off. "You'll owe me plenty more in the future."

With that, he turned toward the registration line snaking like a long dragon before Shrek Academy's gates.

Huo Yutong waved to Tang Ya, then hurried after him at a jog.

She came up beside Tang Qi, her expression earnest and her voice soft. "Brother Tang Qi, I'll remember how good you've been to me, too."

Tang Qi glanced at her with a frown, utterly baffled. What was going on today? Why were they both lining up to pledge their loyalty?

"Then you two had better repay me properly someday."

Inside the Sea of Consciousness, Tian Meng clamped her two plump legs around Huo Yutong's neck and vigorously rubbed the girl's cheeks.

"That's the spirit! Haki Tong, stick close to him! For my dream of becoming a god, win Tang Qi over!"

"Tian Meng, stop messing around..."

Huo Yutong protested through squished cheeks, her face bright red.

The two reached the end of the line and stopped.

Huo Yutong thought they would wait their turn, but Tang Qi walked straight ahead. She froze in confusion for a moment, then jogged after him.

"Brother Tang Qi, aren't we going to queue?" Huo Yutong whispered, glancing around like a thief.

Tang Qi did not answer. He led her toward the front of the line and stopped before a young man who looked a little older than the others. With a flick of his finger, he dropped two Gold Soul Coins into the man's palm.

"This is..."

The man caught on at once. Tugging his companion along, he left the line without a word. Tang Qi and Huo Yutong stepped naturally into the space they had vacated.

The people nearby cast them puzzled looks, but the number of people ahead of them had not changed, so they let it be.

Huo Yutong looked back curiously. The two men had taken the Gold Soul Coins and gone around to queue again at the very end.

"That's how they make their money."

Tang Qi spoke evenly. "There are always wealthy people who don't want to wait in line."

Huo Yutong nodded, as though a door to a new world had opened before her.

The line inched forward. Before long, Tang Qi and Huo Yutong could see the examiner up ahead.

"Xiao Xiao, eleven years old, rank twenty-one. Martial Soul: Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron."

A clear, airy voice rang out. Tang Qi followed it and saw a petite girl with a single ponytail.

The next moment, she flicked her slender fingers, and an ancient round cauldron with three legs and two handles appeared beside her out of thin air. It was so enormous it could almost hold the little girl whole.

Xiao Xiao.

Tang Qi's gaze shifted.

A few more applicants passed, and at last it was his and Huo Yutong's turn.

"Letter of recommendation!"

The examiner did not look up.

Tang Qi immediately laid the special admission letter bearing the Tang Sect's seal on the table.

The examiner glanced at it, then instinctively looked up at the boy and girl before him.

"Names and Martial Souls."

"I..."

Huo Yutong was clearly nervous. Her pink lips parted, but no words came out. Admitting to her rank-fifteen Soul Power before all these gifted youths was mortifying.

Inside the Sea of Consciousness, Tian Meng offered a rare word of gentle encouragement. "Little Yutong, don't be afraid! I'm here!"

Then a warm, steady hand came to rest on her shoulder. Tang Qi leaned toward her ear. "Just say it normally. The world isn't full of people watching you."

Huo Yutong's cheeks flushed, and her head swam. She took a deep breath and spoke in a clear voice.

"Huo Yutong, eleven years old, rank fifteen. Martial Soul: Spiritual Eyes."

Without looking up, the examiner swiftly marked the register and waved her through.

She hurried into the academy, then turned to watch Tang Qi undergo his assessment.

Having passed her own assessment, Xiao Xiao was still a stranger here. When she spotted Huo Yutong standing alone, looking adorably dazed, she came over at once.

"Hi, I'm Xiao Xiao. You're Huo Yutong, right?"

It was the little girl with the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron. She blinked her large, sparkling eyes, smiling with such harmless innocence.

Huo Yutong let down her guard and gently shook her hand. "Hi, I'm Huo Yutong."

"Are you waiting for someone?" Xiao Xiao tilted her head.

Huo Yutong nodded and pointed toward Tang Qi, who was being assessed.

Xiao Xiao followed her finger.

A boy with pinkish-blue hair stood before the examiner's desk, straight-backed and cool-eyed, with an air of pure, unblemished elegance.

What a handsome boy~

An unfamiliar feeling stirred in Xiao Xiao. People were drawn to beauty by nature, especially girls in their early teens.

Before she could stop herself, she asked, "Is he your boyfriend?"

Huo Yutong waved her hands in a panic. "N-no! He... he's the master of my sect!"

"Sect master?" Xiao Xiao blinked. "A sect master that young? That's amazing..."

"Tang Qi, eleven years old, rank thirty-seven. Martial Soul: Blue Silver Emperor."

Blue Silver Emperor?

Surprise flashed across the examiner's expressionless face. He was about to speak when three Soul Rings rose beneath Tang Qi's feet.

Purple, purple, purple.

"What?!"

Not just Tang Qi's line—boys and girls in the neighboring lines turned to look as well. Discussion surged like a tide.

"A Thousand-Year Soul Ring for his first ring? Is this guy even human?"

"Why was he born when I already existed? He's better-looking than me and absurdly strong, too. Is there any room left in this world for me?"

"What's that boy's name? I want all his information, right now!"

If Princess Tang is useless, what does that have to do with Crown Prince Tang?!

Tang Qi's expression remained unchanged. The chatter around him was nothing more than a touch of wind and frost.

He looked at the examiner, who was standing there like a wooden chicken. "Sir, did I pass?"

Only then did the examiner come to his senses. He scrambled to his feet and personally watched Tang Qi enter the academy.

With that child's talent, joining Shrek meant he would surely become a Titled Douluo one day.

As for whether he might die young? What a joke. Could the mighty, renowned Shrek Academy fail to protect one child?

"Oh my god! Yutong, look! Three Thousand-Year Soul Rings! Three of them!"

Xiao Xiao shook Huo Yutong's arm vigorously, her little face flushed with excitement and her eyes wide with disbelief.

Huo Yutong looked dazed.

She had known Tang Qi was strong, of course, but she had never imagined he was this ridiculous.

Watching Tang Qi walk calmly toward them under everyone's gaze, with Xiao Xiao's astonished cries in her ears, Huo Yutong found herself puffing out her little chest with pride.

As Tang Qi approached, the first thing he noticed was the petite figure beside Huo Yutong.

"H-hello, my idol. I'm Xiao Xiao. Could we get to know each other?"

Summoning her courage, Xiao Xiao held out a soft little hand to Tang Qi, her large eyes almost sparkling with stars.

Tang Qi saw this, and the corner of his mouth lifted into the same "gentle" smile Tang San wore.

"Hello, I'm Tang Qi."

He reached out and gently shook Xiao Xiao's hand.

A tingling current seemed to shoot from the back of Xiao Xiao's hand through her whole body. She did not even notice when Tang Qi let go.

"Let's go."

He led the two of them into Shrek Academy.

Beyond the gates stretched a broad, straight, tree-lined avenue. They had not gone two hundred meters before he was disgusted.

Who the hell put Gangzi's statue here?