At the entrance to the Star Dou Great Forest.
Gu Yunxiao walked out of the forest, still looking perfectly at ease. Clearly, what had just happened had done nothing to spoil his mood.
"It's settled. I'll go to Shrek."
"For all its faults, that academy is absolutely first-rate at groveling before monstrous geniuses. I can go there and live like a crown prince."
After careful consideration, Gu Yunxiao had decided to go to Shrek Academy after all.
First, he knew Shrek better. Plenty of things would be within his control, allowing him to make the most of his "God's-eye view."
Second, he had no interest in making soul tools, only in using them, so Shrek Academy would serve just as well.
Finally, the Star Dou Great Forest was not on the Sun Moon Continent. If anything urgent came up, distant water would certainly be unable to quench a nearby fire.
Of course, there was also the most important point: Gu Yunxiao disliked the Sun Moon Empire's nobles, who judged people's worth by their skin color.
"I'll stop by Shrek Academy along the way and become a 'crown prince,' then head to the Heaven Dou Empire to claim the ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow and the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well."
To Gu Yunxiao, joining Shrek was secondary-merely a stop along the way.
His main objectives were still the two treasure grounds within the Heaven Dou Empire.
Once he secured both, his cultivation would surely rise another level. Breaking through to become a rank-forty Soul Ancestor would be just around the corner.
Then he could return to the Far North and obtain his fourth soul ring.
The entire sequence happened to follow the same route.
As the foremost soul master academy on the Douluo Continent, Shrek Academy occupied a crucial geographical position at the heart of the junction between the three great empires.
With Shrek City at the center, the Heaven Dou Empire lay to the northwest, the Douluo Empire to the northeast, and the Star Luo Empire to the south.
The Star Dou Great Forest lay southeast of Shrek City, not very far away.
At Gu Yunxiao's speed, he arrived in less than a few hours.
Shrek City had four gates-east, west, south, and north. Apart from the eastern gate, which was reserved for Shrek students, anyone could enter and leave through the other three.
These past few days, however, the eastern gate had been opened to the public.
The reason was simple: Shrek Academy's annual enrollment had begun again.
Although enrollment was nearing its end, quite a few soul masters still gathered at the eastern gate. Most were at least Two-Ring Soul Grandmasters, their faces young and immature.
"Everyone, line up! One at a time!"
Beneath a red banner reading "Shrek Academy Enrollment Entrance," a group of uniformed students maintained order.
These students were slightly older, both male and female, with cultivation around the Soul Elder and Soul Ancestor levels.
"The quality of Shrek Academy's students really is much higher than that of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy."
Gu Yunxiao stood in line, studying the people around him.
During his travels across the continent, he had also visited Mingdu in the Sun Moon Empire and witnessed the enrollment of new students at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
The new students at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy generally had higher cultivation than Shrek Academy's new students.
However, the soul masters at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy relied on pills for their daily soul power cultivation. Their foundations were unstable-showy, but lacking substance.
Compared with Shrek Academy's students, their combat strength was bound to be far weaker.
"Hm?"
Just as Gu Yunxiao was pondering this, he suddenly sensed an unusually intense gaze from behind him.
He instinctively turned around and looked down.
A petite girl with a single ponytail was staring at him, her dark green hair gleaming in the sunlight.
Her features were delicate. Though her beauty was not enough to stun the world, she was still very pretty, with a face that grew more appealing the longer one looked.
She also had a lovely air about her, youthful and lively. Hints of cunning and playfulness occasionally flashed through her emerald eyes, giving her a mischievous charm.
Seeing the girl staring at him, Gu Yunxiao smiled faintly and nodded in greeting.
The girl instinctively reminded him of the Ice Empress, far away in the Far North.
Both girls were petite, and their dispositions were much alike.
Gu Yunxiao's response brought a faint blush to the petite girl's pretty face, leaving her shy.
Still, she gathered her courage, a sweet smile lifting her lips. "Hello, my name is Xiao Xiao. I'm planning to join Shrek Academy too!"
"Gu Yunxiao."
Gu Yunxiao's smile was gentle, without any sense of distance.
"Gu Yunxiao..."
Xiao Xiao murmured his name. Seeing that Gu Yunxiao seemed easy to get along with, she immediately gave a playful smile. "Our names both have a 'xiao' in them."
"Even if they're different characters with the same sound, that's still quite a coincidence."
"What if I gave you a fake name?" Gu Yunxiao suddenly asked.
Xiao Xiao paused, but her smile remained. "That's fine. My name has two 'Xiao' characters. I can lend you one."
This time, it was Gu Yunxiao's turn to be surprised.
Xiao Xiao... was actually pretty cute.
"It's not fake. It's my real name."
Gu Yunxiao smiled and offered his hand. "Xiao Xiao, it's nice to meet you."
Delighted, Xiao Xiao immediately reached out to shake his hand, her face wreathed in smiles. "Gu Yunxiao, it's nice to meet you too."
As they chatted, it soon became their turn to have their bone age and soul power tested.
The female student administering the test brightened at the sight of Gu Yunxiao, her smile deepening. "Junior, don't be nervous. Place your hand on the crystal ball."
"All right."
Gu Yunxiao replied, raised his right hand, and placed it on the crystal ball.
With a ripple of soul power, the crystal ball shone with an unusually dazzling light, making the people lined up behind him instinctively crane their necks to see.
Even the Shrek students in front looked shocked.
"Bone age: eleven years."
"Soul power: th... thirty-seven!!!"
The female student sprang to her feet, staring at the crystal ball in disbelief.
As her words rang out, the entire crowd erupted.
"Holy shit! Rank thirty-seven? That's so high!"
"He must've been taking pills. How else could someone his age have such high cultivation?"
"Pills? Then tell me what miraculous elixir could raise his cultivation that quickly!"
"I actually got to see a monster!"
"..."
Shrek students and prospective new students alike were stunned.
"J... junior, where are you from? Let me see your recommendation letter from the city lord's office."
The female student swallowed. Even now, she had yet to fully recover from her shock.
"I don't have a recommendation letter."
Gu Yunxiao shook his head, his tone calm. "If those formalities are required, then forget it. I'll look at another academy."
With that, Gu Yunxiao turned and left without the slightest hesitation.
The sight left everyone dumbfounded.
Even the female student froze in place, at something of a loss.
With talent like yours, you don't have a recommendation letter from the city lord's office? Does that really make sense?
"Hey, junior, wait..."
Coming to her senses, the female student instinctively chased after him.
"Wait!"
Suddenly, another voice rang out.
Everyone turned toward the voice and saw a man emerge, dressed in white robes, wearing glasses, and sporting center-parted hair.
In the blink of an eye, he stood before Gu Yunxiao.
That alone offered a glimpse of his strength.
"Director Du!"
At the sight of the man, all the Shrek students immediately stood straight, their expressions solemn.
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