First steps into Shrek Academy

"So amazing~"

Huo Yuhao's eyes sparkled. After Qi Xuan gave him a brief introduction to Shrek Academy, he was already filled with longing for the place.

As long as he could graduate from the inner court, he would be able to bring his mother's remains out of the Duke's Mansion and bury her anew.

Huo Yuhao looked up with some concern. "Brother Qi, this is the continent's number one academy. With my aptitude, can I get in?"

Qi Xuan answered casually, "Shrek Academy's admission requirements are to be under twelve and above rank fourteen."

"Rank fourteen?" Huo Yuhao's face drained of color. "But I'm only rank eleven. I'm three ranks short..."

Seeing Qi Xuan's speechless expression, Huo Yuhao suddenly realized that he was already rank fourteen. He actually met the admission requirements.

And his current cultivation speed could no longer be mentioned in the same breath as before. He had plenty of confidence in how hard he worked.

"Have a little faith in yourself, Yuhao." Qi Xuan patted his shoulder. "I dare say no one else on the entire continent could jump three ranks overnight like you did. You're already a genius."

Qi Xuan hired a carriage for the journey, while Huo Yuhao sat inside and focused on cultivating, as though determined to make up for everything he had lost before.

Several hours later, Shrek Academy burst into view.

A magnificent city.

Shrek Academy stood on the Lima Plain and occupied an immense area. It was a city in its own right, known as Shrek City, with over two million inhabitants.

Although it lay within the Heaven Dou Empire, Shrek Academy held complete autonomy over the area and did not need to pay taxes.

Shrek Academy was not located in the center of Shrek City, but in its eastern section, facing the distant Star Dou Great Forest.

The city's southern, western, and northern gates were open to everyone. Only the eastern gate belonged exclusively to Shrek Academy.

Outside the eastern gate was also where Shrek Academy held its admissions.

At the moment, it was bustling and packed with people. Calls, hawkers' cries, and shouts rang out without end.

Qi Xuan and Huo Yuhao squeezed into the crowd of applicants. A dozen or so young men and women stood at the gate, dressed in fitted yellow outfits with green Shrek Academy badges on their chests. They kept calling to the sea of people, "Applicants, head inside! Family, friends, and relatives must stay outside!"

Soon, they reached a small temporary room, where several teachers were conducting the tests.

Huo Yuhao stepped forward first and bowed respectfully to the admissions teacher. "Hello, Teacher."

The testing teacher remained expressionless. "Hold out your hand."

He took Huo Yuhao's hand and paused. "Your age qualifies. Now release your martial soul and soul ring."

Huo Yuhao nodded, and a layer of purple light veiled his eyes. The instant he released his Spirit Eyes, a crystal-clear white soul ring rose around him.

"A ten-year soul ring?" This sent an uproar through the surrounding students. Many of those who came here were favored children of heaven, their soul rings arranged in the optimal configurations. When had they ever seen a ten-year soul ring?

Huo Yuhao's gaze was calm, and he ignored all the looks around him.

The admissions teacher remained unmoved. As long as Huo Yuhao met the age and soul power requirements, he qualified-given Shrek's stringent assessments, mediocre students would be eliminated sooner or later anyway.

"Go register over there, then pay your tuition."

As Huo Yuhao filled out his form at the back, he watched Qi Xuan's assessment.

Naturally, there was no problem with Qi Xuan's age.

"Release your martial soul." The admissions teacher continued his routine sequence.

Then a fierce blaze of lightning erupted from Qi Xuan, and two purple soul rings floated up around him. The pressure they radiated even forced some of the new students' martial souls back into their bodies.

If Huo Yuhao had surprised them, then what Qi Xuan brought was utter shock.

Quite a few people stopped their own tests and stared at Qi Xuan in astonishment.

Even the admissions teacher before him dropped his casual attitude, his expression turning serious. "How did you manage that?"

Although advances in martial soul theory and the overall physical fitness of soul masters had raised the maximum age of a first soul ring compared with the past, a child's physique still had its limits. A thousand-year ring as the first ring was something no one could achieve, even at Shrek Academy.

Qi Xuan withdrew his martial soul. "I have a strong body."

Qi Xuan and Huo Yuhao entered the academy, but the commotion they left behind did not die down. The gulf between ten years and a thousand years was simply too extraordinary, and word of the incident had already reached the academy's interior.

Shrek Academy's surroundings were quite pleasant, with lush vegetation and fresh air. Every breath seemed to clear the mind.

About two hundred meters ahead, ten granite statues stood before them.

They depicted the Golden Iron Triangle and the First Generation Shrek Seven Devils.

A third-year student nearby was introducing the statues, while the new students around him gazed up at them in admiration. Even Huo Yuhao listened intently-he had heard his mother tell these legends since he was little.

Qi Xuan, however, had rather mixed feelings.

The first statue was of Four-Eyed Cat Owl Flender, Shrek's founder and first headmaster.

The man and woman standing behind him were Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong.

The older student's introduction still echoed in his ears. "...If Headmaster Flender created Shrek Academy, then the Grandmaster was its true soul. He was also the one who single-handedly nurtured the Shrek Seven Devils behind them."

Looking at Gangzi's statue, Qi Xuan fought with all his might and finally held back his laughter, leaving his face twisted into something between forced composure and mockery.

"What's wrong, Brother Qi?" Huo Yuhao turned and asked curiously.

After all the deconstructions in later years, Qi Xuan found it hard to regard Gangzi with a level head anymore-the great authority on theory who had broken past fifty years of age at rank thirty.

"Nothing. I just thought of something funny." Qi Xuan waved a hand.

Farther behind them stood the statues of the first generation of the Seven Devils.

"Three whoremongers," Qi Xuan muttered, his feelings inevitably growing complicated.

His thoughts drifted back to his original world, to the day when he was ten and opened "Douluo Continent" for the first time.

It had been his first webnovel, and that bizarre, dazzling world had captivated him. He still remembered every one of those seven people vividly, as though he had shared those adventures with them.

Then he looked at the wreckage twenty years later.

How had it ended up like this?

Following the left side of Sea God Lake, the two smoothly completed their check-in and registration. After paying the steep tuition of twenty Gold Soul Coins, they received their uniforms, dormitory keys, and new-student badges.

Huo Yuhao looked at Qi Xuan with a glum face. "Brother Qi, why aren't we in the same dorm room? We're only one number apart."

Although Huo Yuhao was confident he could get along with his roommate, he still felt a little disappointed that he could not stay with Qi Xuan.

But Qi Xuan's expression was serious. The turning point of Huo Yuhao's entire life might well lie with his roommate, Wang Dong.

One wrong move, and he might have to face God-King Tang's mighty hand.

At last, he made up his mind.

"Then I'll come take a look at your roommate too."