Shrek Academy? The Body Sect... (Two-in-one)

In a corner of the Mixed Zone of the Star Dou Great Forest, the dense crowns of towering trees blocked the sunlight, shrouding the woods in shadow.

Branches and leaves rustled loudly as violent currents of air swept through the trees.

Boom!!

A white pillar of light blasted through more than a dozen ancient trees. Terrifying energy tore through the air, and a tremendous explosion thundered through the forest.

An Earth Dragon with draconic blood was struck by the white pillar of light and immediately let out an agonized shriek.

Most of its black scales shattered, and its chest was blown open, all the organs inside destroyed. Its six-meter-long body rolled and thrashed in pain, its protruding bone spikes plowing furrows through the earth.

After a few breaths, the Earth Dragon stopped struggling. Its golden eyes dimmed completely, still filled with unwillingness. A black soul ring condensed over its corpse, lighting up the gloomy surroundings.

Once the Earth Dragon soul beast died, beast after beast darted forward and quickly devoured its remains.

"Motherfucking hell, what's going on today? Did something set off the soul beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest? Why have they suddenly gone this crazy?"

A tall, muscular middle-aged man with a vicious look in his eyes stared at the powerful soul beasts and swore furiously.

Seven soul rings rose and circled around him: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black.

The middle-aged man's name was Zhang Feng. Though he cursed nonstop, he leaped and darted swiftly between the towering ancient trees, twisting and weaving to evade the attacks of numerous soul beasts.

Three companions accompanied Zhang Feng. Two were middle-aged men around his age, both powerful Soul Saints.

The remaining man had refined features and looked about thirty. He was a prospective Soul Saint whose cultivation had reached the level seventy bottleneck.

The four of them were gifted soul masters raised by the Heaven Dou Empire's imperial family from childhood. They had become sworn brothers and served the imperial family.

This time, they had come to the Star Dou Great Forest to visit the outskirts of its core region and hunt a soul beast for their youngest brother, Song Yu, helping him become a Soul Saint.

What they had never expected was to encounter a sudden soul beast uprising while passing through the Mixed Zone, throwing their plans into complete disarray.

Left with no choice, they could only retreat.

Three Soul Saints and one prospective Soul Saint made an extremely powerful group. Moreover, the four had grown up and advanced together, developing impeccable coordination.

Though the soul beasts in the Mixed Zone were not weak, most were hundred-year, thousand-year, or ten-thousand-year soul beasts. Most of the ten-thousand-year soul beasts were under twenty thousand years old, with those around ten thousand years old making up the majority. They could not compare at all to the soul beasts of the core region and the Great Ferocious Land.

Given the strength of Zhang Feng's group, breaking through the Mixed Zone soul beasts' pursuit and encirclement to carve out a path to survival was not difficult.

Most soul beasts could not even keep pace with the four. Even ranged attacks were largely evaded thanks to their formidable cultivation.

The few area attacks they could not evade were easily blocked.

Not far away, beast roars, bird cries, and insect calls mingled together.

The four looked ahead and saw dozens of soul beasts blocking their path.

Zhang Feng's expression turned savage. "You little beasts dare block your Grandpa Zhang's way? Die, all of you!! Seventh soul skill, Martial Soul Avatar!!"

A pitch-black soul ring instantly merged into Zhang Feng's body.

His eyes blazed, and he transformed into a gigantic white lion suspended in midair. His terrifying aura seemed to freeze even the air within dozens of meters.

Upon reaching the Soul Saint realm, soul power became liquid. Both the strength of soul skills and the total reserves of soul power far surpassed those of a Soul Emperor. With the seventh soul skill, Martial Soul Avatar, a Soul Saint could even double their combat strength.

That was why, in the soul master world, only soul masters at the Soul Saint level were called high-level soul masters and regarded as true powerhouses.

The white lion Zhang Feng had become let out a deafening roar.

Sixth soul skill! White Lion Roar!

The terrifying sound waves stirred ripple after ripple through the air, layering over one another like ocean tides.

The sound waves traveled at astonishing speed. The soul beasts blocking their path had no time to react before blood poured from all seven orifices. Some weaker beasts even had their heads burst apart under the sonic assault.

White brain matter mixed with hot, scarlet blood splattered across the forest floor.

It added another touch of bloodshed to the primeval wilderness of the Star Dou Great Forest.

"Charge!! Only fifty kilometers to the outer region! Once we reach it, we'll be safe!"

The white lion Zhang Feng had become led the charge, clearing a path ahead. His three companions were an support-type, a defense-type, and an agility-attack-type soul master, respectively.

Song Yu, the youngest and the support-type soul master, was responsible for applying enhancements to Zhang Feng and the others.

The defense-type soul master used a gravity skill to greatly reduce the speed of the surrounding soul beasts.

The agility-attack-type soul master, Sun Menghan, had legs far longer than normal proportions and astonishing speed. He worked with Zhang Feng to kill soul beasts whose troublesome skills might threaten their team.

Their seamless coordination made them unstoppable. They barreled forward, inflicting considerable casualties on their pursuers. Eventually, even the soul beasts of the Mixed Zone gradually stopped chasing them.

Clearly, while most soul beasts had limited intelligence and were not particularly clever, seeking advantage and avoiding harm was instinctive. The stronger a soul beast's cultivation, the greater its intelligence. Ten-thousand-year soul beasts already possessed intelligence comparable to human children.

Faced with death, most soul beasts would still weigh the gains against the losses. As for the weak, mindless ones, they plainly could not stop the four.

A quarter of an hour later, they reached a patch of flat ground in the latter half of the Mixed Zone.

Seeing fewer and fewer soul beasts pursuing them, all four relaxed.

The prolonged, bitter fighting had consumed a considerable amount of their soul power. Zhang Feng in particular had entered a weakened state after using his Martial Soul Avatar.

Clutching a vicious, three-inch wound on his chest that was still bleeding, Zhang Feng cursed, "That Lightning Bird's teleportation skill is disgusting. One slip, and the beast got a peck in."

"Brother Feng, let me heal you."

A purple soul ring lit up around Song Yu, the youngest. A jade-green beam brimming with vitality flowed into Zhang Feng's body.

Within a few breaths, the wound on Zhang Feng's chest stopped bleeding and began to scab over.

Sun Menghan, the agility-attack-type soul master with unusually long legs, said, "Second Brother, stop complaining for now. While the soul beasts are driven back, let's get out of the Mixed Zone. If beasts from another part of the zone set their sights on us, we'll be in trouble."

The defense-type soul master was a burly man built like a door plank, with honest, well-formed features. He rumbled, "Big Brother's right."

Zhang Feng curled his lip. "I know, I know."

Just as they were about to continue toward the outer region of the Star Dou Great Forest—

They spotted three soul masters, one adult and two children, surrounded by a pack of soul beasts in a dense stretch of woods nearby. Their situation was dire.

Without help, the three would likely perish beneath the soul beasts' attacks before long.

The four took a closer look, and Zhang Lexuan's dark-green uniform caught their eyes.

Zhang Feng snorted. "I was wondering who it was. Turns out they're from Shrek Academy's Inspection Corps."

The other three said nothing, but their expressions were equally cold.

Shrek Academy's Inspection Corps was widely renowned across the Douluo Continent. Yet the imperial families of the Douluo Three Kingdoms, along with their nobles and powerful soul masters, had never looked kindly on Shrek Academy.

There was no other reason: Shrek Academy's Inspection Corps meddled in far too much.

From evil soul masters steeped in countless crimes to the nobles and officials of the Douluo Three Kingdoms, anyone who violated the Inspection Corps' rules faced execution.

If Shrek Academy only killed evil soul masters, the imperial families would naturally applaud. The problem was that it killed nobles and officials too.

How could that not anger the imperial families? After all, nobles and officials were part of the ruling class, extensions of imperial authority—the imperial families' dogs.

As the saying went, even when beating a dog, one had to consider its master. If nobles and officials truly committed offenses, their masters, the imperial families, should deal with them. Where did that leave the dignity of the Douluo Three Kingdoms when Shrek Academy enforced its laws across other powers' territories?

To put it more severely, the actions of Shrek Academy's Inspection Corps amounted to seizing the imperial families' authority to enforce the law.

Were it not for the Sun Moon Empire watching like a tiger ready to pounce, and Shrek Academy's powerhouses gathering like clouds and experts falling like rain, the Douluo Three Kingdoms would have joined forces to suppress the academy long ago.

Just as Zhang Feng, Sun Menghan, and the others were about to turn away coldly—

Sun Menghan suddenly noticed the martial soul phantom of the boy beside that Inspection Corps member. He actually possessed a body martial soul.

And it was the finest body martial soul of all: True Self!!

Sun Menghan could not help swallowing.

The Heaven Dou Empire's imperial family had extremely close ties with the Body Sect. Even the empire's princess had secretly joined it.

Although those ties had not been announced to the world, the empire's high-ranking powerhouses all knew about them.

Sun Menghan himself had been discovered and raised by the imperial family from childhood, but he had later joined the Body Sect as well, becoming one of its disciples.

The Body Sect's guiding principle was that all body martial soul masters under heaven were one family. It even considered all body martial soul masters its disciples by default!

Sun Menghan's eyes widened, disbelief filling his face. "How is this possible? It's actually a true self martial soul.

"This child should be in the Body Sect! Why is he beside a member of Shrek Academy's Inspection Corps?"

His words startled Zhang Feng and the others.

They also knew about the ties between the Body Sect and the Heaven Dou Empire's imperial family, and understood how much the sect valued and fiercely protected body martial soul masters.

Sun Menghan stared intently at Chen An, surrounded by soul beasts nearby, his heart burning with excitement.

The Body Sect was immensely powerful, its powerhouses gathering like clouds and its experts falling like rain. It had as many as ten Titled Douluos alone.

Its sect master, Du Busi, was an even more formidable powerhouse at the peak of level 98, with few rivals anywhere on the continent.

Yet apart from Du Busi himself, no one in the sect had ever achieved a gold-ranked second awakening of their body martial soul. No one could inherit the sect master's mantle.

This weighed on everyone in the Body Sect.

But now, he had found him—the genius who could inherit Du Busi's mantle and lead the Body Sect onward.

If he could bring this genius back to the Body Sect, it was easy to imagine how delighted the sect master would be. He would surely receive abundant rewards: Soul bones, cultivation resources, medicinal herbs...

Then he would at least be able to advance another rank and break through to the Soul Douluo realm.

Sun Menghan said solemnly, "Brothers, I'm asking you a favor. Come with me and save that child.

"All body martial soul masters are one family. That child possesses a body martial soul, so he's a disciple of the Body Sect!

"With his talent, he might even become the Body Sect's master. As a disciple myself, I can't stand by and watch him die in the jaws of soul beasts!

"If you're willing to help me save him, I guarantee the Body Sect will reward you generously! Even ten thousand year soul bones aren't out of the question."

At those words, Zhang Feng and the others could not help swallowing.

Ten thousand year soul bones were priceless treasures. They provided tremendous enhancements to soul masters and could even improve their talent, allowing those trapped at a bottleneck to advance further.

Zhang Feng looked incredulously at Chen An nearby. "Is that child really so extraordinary? Is his talent really that great?"

Sun Menghan needed only one sentence to convince him completely.

"That child's martial soul is True Self. And in the entire Body Sect, only the sect master possesses a true self martial soul!"

"Hiss!!"

Zhang Feng and the others sucked in a breath of cold air.

The same martial soul as the Body Sect's master, one of the continent's greatest powerhouses—this child was terrifying indeed!!

Song Yu, the youngest, spoke eagerly, his eyes burning. "Brothers, what are we waiting for? Could there really be soul beasts in the Mixed Zone capable of stopping us?

"Kill those soul beasts and save that child!"

The four exchanged glances, and soul rings rose and lit up around them.

They all strode toward Chen An!

Not far away.

Surrounded by soul beasts, Zhang Lexuan was pale. After fighting for so long, she had only thirty percent of her soul power left.

Yet the academy's rescue had still not arrived. If no help came within another ten minutes, she feared she would have no choice but to abandon Chen An and Ren Xue and escape alone.

Sheltering behind Zhang Lexuan, Chen An's gaze sharpened. Razor-sharp dark-gold claws extended from the five fingers of his right hand with lightning speed.

Dark Gold Dreadclaw!!!

His fingers were like blades. With a single swipe, he tore apart a thousand-year Black Tiger soul beast that had launched a sneak attack from behind.

Chen An took a deep breath. He understood the situation clearly.

He knew that without outside intervention, they had no way to escape the soul beasts' encirclement.

Just as Chen An was preparing to wait for the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm to teleport them away—

Four muscular men descended from the sky!!