Arrival in Shrek City

Yellow, purple, purple, black.

His first Soul Ring was a hundred-year ring, his second and third were thousand-year rings, and his fourth was a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring.

For a twelve-year-old Soul Elder, this set of Soul Ring configurations truly deserved to be called out of specs.

Ordinary Soul Masters at this age could consider themselves quite talented if they managed to gather four purple rings; a black ring was something they wouldn't even dare to dream of.

However, Nan Qiuqiu had a two hundred thousand-year Rouge Dragon torso bone as a foundation, and her physical strength far surpassed those of her peers. The risk of absorbing a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring was compressed to the absolute minimum.

The three of them boarded the carriage and headed north all the way.

Shrek City was located in the northern border of the Heaven Dou Empire, about half a month's journey from Dragon City.

The carriage did not travel particularly fast. Zhang Lan held the Star of Eden across his knees along the way and closed his eyes to cultivate.

Nan Qiuqiu sat opposite him, occasionally lifting the carriage curtain to look at the scenery outside, occasionally lowering her head to flip through a portable Soul Beast compendium she brought with her, and more often than not, sitting quietly just like Zhang Lan to cultivate.

Nan Shuishui watched these two children, the corners of her mouth curving slightly as she refrained from disturbing them.

Half a month later, the silhouette of Shrek City appeared in her field of vision.

The city walls were tall and grand, and the city bricks were carved full of defensive inscriptions left behind by successive generations of Soul Masters. The flag of Shrek Academy fluttered atop the city gates-a green background with golden patterns, featuring a spreading-winged phoenix.

There was a constant stream of people at the city gates, mostly Soul Master parents bringing their children. During every enrollment season, Shrek City presented this exact scene.

The carriage stopped outside the city gates.

Nan Shuishui did not get out of the carriage. She merely lifted the curtain to take a look at that city, then turned back to say to Zhang Lan:

"There are still matters over at the Earth Dragon Sect, so I'll drop you off here."

"Qiuqiu..."

She paused for a moment, looking toward her daughter.

Nan Qiuqiu stood up, hoisted her own pack, and stepped to Zhang Lan's side.

"Qiuqiu is going in with you."

Nan Shuishui's voice paused for a moment.

"She is also going to enroll."

Zhang Lan glanced at Nan Qiuqiu.

The young girl stood quietly beside him, her gaze calm, showing neither nervousness nor excitement.

Her hand rested on the strap of her pack, her fingers slender with knuckles that faintly paled.

"Let's go."

Zhang Lan jumped down from the carriage.

The eastern gate of Shrek City was completely different from the other three.

The southern, western, and northern gates were all places of bustling carriages and horses crowded with merchants, but outside the eastern gate lay a sprawling, open square paved with bluestone. It was impeccably clean, and not even a single fallen leaf could be seen.

At the far end of the square, a tall gate tower stood squarely in place. A flag with green background and golden patterns hung right in the middle of the gate tower, and the embroidered spreading-winged phoenix emblem upon it was a circle larger than the one on the city gate.

This was the main entrance of Shrek Academy.

No one set up stalls in the square, no carriages were parked there, and there were no passing pedestrians.

It was as quiet as another world, and even the sound of footsteps appeared exceptionally clear.

There were over a dozen young men and women standing guard at the city gates.

Each of them wore a set of yellow athletic garb with a green pattern on the chest-the school uniforms of outer court second- and third-year students.

Their postures were upright, and their gazes swept over everyone who approached. They carried a sense of earnestness unique to students-not fierce, but by no means casual either.

When Zhang Lan and Nan Qiuqiu walked up to the gates, a male student walked up to meet them.

He looked to be seventeen or eighteen years old, a head taller than Zhang Lan with ordinary facial features, but his eyes were very bright. He looked Zhang Lan up and down, then glanced at Nan Qiuqiu beside him, and spoke up:

"The city lord's recommendation letter."

"I am a resident of Shrek City."

Zhang Lan took the Residence Registration Document out from his bosom and handed it over.

"This is my Residence Permit."

The male student took it, flipped it open, and looked it over.

The Residence Registration Document was stamped with the official seal of the Shrek City administration, and the date was twelve years ago.

The children of local residents in Shrek City could enroll while being exempt from the city lord's recommendation letter; this was a longstanding rule of the academy.

He handed the document back to Zhang Lan, nodded, and looked toward Nan Qiuqiu.

Nan Qiuqiu took a letter out from her pack and handed it over.

The envelope was stamped with the large official seal of the Dragon City lord, and the red wax seal was completely intact.

The male student unsealed it and took a quick look. After confirming that everything was correct, he put the letter away properly.

"There is no problem, you two."

He stepped aside to clear the entrance, extended a hand to point at the straight road inside the gate, and said:

"Follow this road in, and go all the way to the end to reach the freshman teaching building."

"Go register first, and they will arrange the assessment over there."

Zhang Lan put away the Residence Registration Document, nodded, and stepped through the gates.

Nan Qiuqiu followed half a step behind him, walking inside quietly.

The landscaping inside Shrek Academy was executed exceptionally well.

Various types of vegetation were rich and lush, filling the field of vision with verdant greenery.

Walking along the wide avenue, regardless of which direction one cast their gaze, one could see upwards of ten varieties of plants.

Every single plant had been meticulously pruned, arranged in a staggered and orderly fashion with alternating heights and distinct layers.

Some tree crowns resembled umbrellas, spreading out to form a dense canopy; other vines crept and spread along the ground, embedding a green border along the edge of the flagstone path.

The fragrance of grass and trees floated in the air. Taking a deep breath made even one's chest feel a fraction more refreshed.

Advancing for about two hundred meters, several huge statues blocked their line of sight.

There were a total of ten statues, each ten meters tall and carved from the hardest granite. Their bases were thick and heavy, and the outlines of the figures cast massive shadows under the sunlight.

The three statues in the front row were Flender, Yu Xiaogang, and Liu Erlong respectively.

The seven statues in the back row were the Shrek Seven Devils.

The faces of the statues were carved with extreme detail, and the expressions between their brows all differed. Some had a smile on their lips, some had a deep and concentrated gaze, and some held their heads high as they looked into the distance.

Sunlight shone down from behind the statues, plating a layer of golden halo over the outline of every stone figure, making them look sacred and solemn.

Passing students walked by in front of the statues.

A few lower-grade students stopped in front of Tang San's statue, looked up for a moment, and then earnestly bowed in respect. The expressions on their faces were serious and devout.

Their companions nearby followed suit and bowed as well, whispering something softly before the two of them quickly walked away again.

Zhang Lan stopped in his tracks, looking up at that statue of Tang San.

The facial features of the stone figure were youthful and calm, its gaze looking toward the distance with its right hand slightly raised, as if supporting something.

He did not bow, merely watching for a few seconds before retracting his gaze and continuing forward.

Proceeding to the left from the statues led to a wide tree-lined path broad enough to accommodate four or five carriages driving abreast.

The trees on both sides were even taller than the ones just moments ago, their ages likely exceeding a hundred years. Their branches intersected in the air, screening the sunlight into a ground full of shattered gold.

A wooden sign stood by the roadside with the four characters "Lakeside Path" written upon it in graceful handwriting, though it was unknown which batch of students had left it behind.

To the right hand side were shaded, green trees.

Through the gaps between the branches and leaves, one could faintly see a vast expanse of water shimmering in the sunlight.

That body of water was immensely large, and looking across it through the tree gaps, one couldn't see the opposite shore at all.

The water color was deep blue, and fine ripples gently undulated across the surface of the lake.

Sea God Lake.

There was also a building in the center of the lake. It was too far away to see clearly, and one could only vaguely see a patch of gray rooftops floating on the water surface like some sort of pavilion.

That was the Sea God Pavilion, the sacred cultivation ground of inner court students.

Zhang Lan's gravitational perception probed toward the center of the lake, only to be gently rebuffed by a thick and heavy aura that was mild yet lacked nothing in firmness.

He retracted his perception and did not forcefully push deeper.

Walking south along the Lakeside Path for about half an hour, a wide, rectangular square appeared within his field of vision.

A stone monument stood at the entrance of the square, inscribed with the four large characters "Shrek Square". There were traces of the passage of time eroding the surface of the monument, but the handwriting remained clear.

Behind the square stood tall teaching buildings, one after another.

The colors of these teaching buildings varied. White, yellow, purple, and black corresponded respectively to different grades.

White was for the first grade, yellow for the second and third grades, purple for the fourth and fifth grades, and black for the sixth grade.

Every single color was pure and eye-catching. Viewed from afar, the colorful clusters of buildings arranged themselves behind the square like a rainbow laid horizontally across the ground.

More buildings could be seen behind the teaching buildings. The Soul Fighting Arena, the assessment area, the dormitory area, and the teacher office area were layered one upon another, stretching out endlessly to the point where they couldn't be taken in at a glance.

Some of those buildings were archaic and heavy, while others featured clean lines. New and old intertwined, showing that the academy had continuously been expanding over the years.

Occasionally, students passed through between the buildings, with yellow, purple, and black figures crisscrossing. The fluctuations of Soul Power on everyone were by no means weak.

Zhang Lan and Nan Qiuqiu walked straight toward that white teaching building.

There were quite a few students entering and exiting the front doors of the building. Most of them were freshmen around the same age as them, and the vast majority were accompanied by their parents.

There were also a few slightly older senior students sitting on the steps in front of the building, idly sizing up the coming and going new faces, occasionally whispering to each other and emitting low chuckles.