Shrek Academy

The Bronze Coffin could strengthen his body, while the Golden Coffin could enhance his intelligence.

Jiang Hai grew increasingly curious about his martial soul, even though its development was looking more and more like that of an Evil Soul Master, refining the soul power, strength, and intelligence within corpses.

The stronger his martial soul became, the more cautious Jiang Hai grew!

If he lacked the strength of character to restrain his suddenly increased power, it would pose a danger even to himself.

The boost to his intelligence from the Golden Coffin also gave Jiang Hai a deeper understanding of his circumstances, helping him avoid straying down the wrong path.

After a night of cultivation, Jiang Hai emerged from the Bronze Coffin at dawn. With a thought, he made his Bronze Coffin martial soul vanish from beside him.

Zhang Lexuan frowned. "Unless it's necessary, you should spend more time talking to people. A boy spending every day in a gloomy coffin-it's making you withdrawn!"

Jiang Hai gave a wry smile. "Sister Xuan, surely it's not that serious? Besides, cultivating inside my martial soul makes my cultivation a little faster. I want to see if I can reach rank fifteen before enrollment at Shrek Academy. That way, I might be able to get in on my own merits!"

Since Jiang Hai had decided to take a look at Shrek Academy first, he would naturally work toward that goal.

Besides, Jiang Hai had never liked troubling others. Zhang Lexuan had already done more than enough by helping him so many times. Given that, the best outcome would be for him to enter Shrek Academy through his own abilities.

Shrek Academy was indeed the undisputed number-one academy on the continent, and he was still far too weak. Cultivating there for a while before heading to the Sun Moon Empire would work just as well.

At worst, he could simply avoid entering the Inner Court. Six years later, he would be exactly eighteen, which would have made him an adult in his previous life. It would not be too late to go to the Sun Moon Empire then.

As for Lin Youtian's corpse, Jiang Hai could only hope that the Bronze Coffin and Golden Coffin would conceal it from Shrek Academy's most powerful figures.

Even Zhang Lexuan, who was already approaching the Titled Douluo realm, had failed to see through the Bronze Coffin. The people at Shrek Academy might not be able to see through it either.

Still, Jiang Hai had already decided that, while at Shrek Academy, he would never reveal his Golden Coffin before anyone unless he had absolutely no other choice, and he would never open it.

Hearing Jiang Hai's words, Zhang Lexuan felt rather relieved. This little fellow had finally stopped fixating on running off to the Sun Moon Empire. With talent like his, wouldn't going there just let the Sun Moon Empire ruin him?

Shrek Academy was his best choice. His strange Bronze Coffin martial soul possessed all sorts of mysteries she could not understand. With his innate divine strength, a martial soul that could absorb soul rings beyond the usual limits, and his unyielding resolve, Jiang Hai was bound to achieve great things.

Zhang Lexuan had seen Jiang Hai carry the coffin containing his father's body all by himself, walking step by step from Dujing City back to Pinghai City.

Although Dujing City neighbored Pinghai City, they were still over a hundred li apart, and the road was rugged. A boy of only eight had carried a coffin weighing over a hundred jin all that way without a single complaint.

Zhang Lexuan's tone softened. "Cultivation requires both tension and release. Shrek Academy opens in just a few days. No matter how hard you work, you can't reach rank fifteen in such a short time. Don't worry. I am, after all, the senior sister of the Inner Court and the youngest elder of the Sea God Pavilion. Trust me. I'll get you into Shrek Academy!"

Jiang Hai nodded, but he would not ease up on cultivating his soul power.

The group spent a full four days traveling from the southern part of the Star Dou Great Forest to Shrek Academy.

Four days later, after passing through a forest, Shrek Academy-or rather, Shrek City-rose into view before the five of them on the Lima Plain.

"Over ten thousand years, the families of Shrek Academy's teachers and students, its staff, merchants from the three great empires, and the original local residents gathered together and built this magnificent city around Shrek Academy. Today, Shrek City has more than two million residents. It's one of the largest cities on the continent!" Zhang Lexuan explained with a smile. She had spent her entire life in Shrek City, and her introduction brimmed with pride.

A city with over a million inhabitants might have been commonplace in the era of his previous life, but in this era, it was like a legend.

Bei Bei added, "Shrek City is very prosperous. Since it lies where the three countries meet, plenty of merchants pass through, and public security is excellent. You could say merchants from all three countries gather here, so you can buy anything you want. Still, the academy has no shortage of ordinary resources. Once you enter, you'll generally be able to meet most of your needs there, though you can occasionally come out and explore Shrek City!"

Shrek City had four gates. The south, north, and west gates were open to everyone, while the east gate belonged exclusively to Shrek Academy.

The group arrived at the east gate.

That day happened to be an enrollment day for Shrek Academy. Quite a few people were coming and going, all of them young applicants. Several young people were also stationed at the gate; they were students of Shrek Academy.

"Yuhao, little brother Jiang Hai, as I told you before, these two days are Shrek Academy's enrollment period, so it's pretty crowded. Barring any surprises, you two should both be able to enter Shrek Academy and become this year's freshmen, putting you exactly three years below Xiaoya and me. Ordinary applicants like these not only have to pass the entrance assessment, but also need a recommendation letter from at least one major city in the three great empires," Bei Bei said.

"Senior brother, is Shrek's assessment difficult?" Huo Yuhao asked curiously.

Bei Bei hesitated and looked at Tang Ya.

Tang Ya said frankly, "He'll find out sooner or later, so there's no harm in telling him. Besides, Jiang Hai might take the assessment too. Shrek Academy's first requirements are that you must be under twelve, your soul power must be above rank fifteen, and your first soul ring must be a hundred-year one. Based on that alone, Yuhao, you don't actually qualify. Your first soul skill is certainly powerful, but it's still only a ten-year soul ring."

Tang Ya paused before continuing, "Those are just the basic requirements. After that, there are assessments of martial soul and soul power cultivation, actual combat, and so on. The first few are manageable. With martial soul development having reached its current level, hardly anyone doesn't know the direction their martial soul should take. I heard that ten thousand years ago, many Soul Masters lacked systematic instruction, so they couldn't develop their martial souls properly and lost their chance to become powerful Soul Masters."

"Shrek Academy's final assessment, actual combat, is the harshest. Seventy percent of those eliminated fall at this hurdle. And even after you get into Shrek Academy, there's an assessment every three months, also based on actual combat. If you fail, Yuhao, you'll be kicked out of Shrek Academy even if you're a specially invited student!"

"One teacher once said that, at Shrek Academy, all statistics on paper are pale and empty. Only actual combat matters most!"

Huo Yuhao nodded and said firmly, "Teacher Xiaoya, senior brother, I might not measure up to most of the applicants right now, but in the future, I'll definitely surpass most of them."

"That's the spirit! Yuhao, I believe you can do it. The same goes for you, little brother Jiang Hai. Although you started two years later than everyone else, a Soul Master's life is quite long. Two years is insignificant compared to an entire lifetime. If you could catch up to most people in three years, then sooner or later, you can catch up to the others too," Bei Bei said admiringly, encouraging Jiang Hai as well.

He had taken note of Jiang Hai's hard work over the past few days. Although Jiang Hai did not constantly study the Tang Sect's secret techniques as Huo Yuhao did, he never slacked off when it was time to cultivate.

"Thank you, Brother Bei Bei. I will." Although there might not have been a single freshman present who could best him in a fight, Bei Bei's words still made sense. Besides, he had not slacked off three years ago, so what reason did he have to slack off now?

Zhang Lexuan also knew Jiang Hai's combat ability. When it came to actual fighting, even many second-year students might not be his match.

After all, second-year students were, at most, Soul Grandmasters.

A Soul Master in the Soul Grandmaster realm would not necessarily be able to defeat an eight-hundred-year-old Diamond Tiger soul beast with a royal bloodline.

"Bei Bei, Tang Ya, please look after Jiang Hai. I'll go find the teacher in charge of this assessment and see whether they can make an exception and let him take it. If not, I'll go to the dean!" Zhang Lexuan said.

She had previously described the difficulties, but that had only been the worst-case scenario. After all, if Jiang Hai truly possessed the strength and talent, there was still hope of obtaining an exception to take the assessment with her intervention.

"Of course, senior sister. Go ahead. I was just about to take my junior brother to register, so I can show little brother Jiang Hai around Shrek Academy too!" Bei Bei said.

Zhang Lexuan nodded and vanished from where she stood.

"Let's go too!" Bei Bei said.

Shrek's admissions office.

A handsome middle-aged man reclined leisurely in a wicker chair, his eyes closed in a light doze. It was clear that he must have been exceptionally handsome in his youth.

"Teacher Yan, are you in charge of this year's freshman assessment?" Zhang Lexuan asked, letting out a small breath of relief when she saw the middle-aged man.

The man before her was none other than Yan Shaozhe, dean of the Shrek Academy Martial Soul Department, a rank-ninety-seven Super Douluo, and the Bright Phoenix Douluo.

Teacher Yan was gentle in his conduct, a graceful gentleman as warm and smooth as jade, and one of Shrek's more approachable teachers. Seeing that Yan Shaozhe was overseeing this assessment, Zhang Lexuan felt slightly surprised, but also relieved.

"Oh, Lexuan. What brings you here?" Yan Shaozhe opened his eyes and asked with a genial smile.

He was Mu En's disciple, so Zhang Lexuan could also be considered his junior sister. Mu En was getting on in years, and it could be said that Yan Shaozhe had raised Zhang Lexuan.

A sweet smile appeared on Zhang Lexuan's face. "Senior brother, can't I come to see you even if I don't need anything?"

Yan Shaozhe smiled helplessly. "You little rascal. You didn't even know beforehand that I was in charge of this freshman assessment. Tell me, what is it? If you don't say, I really will assume you missed me and came to keep me company!"

"All right. I knew I couldn't hide anything from you!" Zhang Lexuan smiled. "Senior brother, while I was out this time, I discovered a genius for our academy!"