Only after the two girls had gone far away did Chen Ping let out an almost imperceptible sigh.
The next moment, soul power surged through Chen Ping's body. As though it had reached some threshold, it abruptly shuddered, sending a ripple of soul power outward.
Level fifteen.
Although he had not erupted with power and leveled up in the middle of a fight, leveling up right afterward should, in theory, have felt pretty damn good too.
Yet there was a hint of resignation on Chen Ping's face. Of course he knew reaching level fifteen was something to celebrate.
If nothing else, he would at least be able to go through Shrek's official registration process tomorrow and enroll.
But the gap between him and Shrek Academy's most outstanding, most gifted students his age had now been laid bare before him.
Even though he had never slacked off in his cultivation before his system activated, even though he had used plenty of potions to stimulate his potential and improve, all his cultivation so far had brought him to was level fifteen.
Low innate soul power really did put you a cut below everyone else.
If Chen Ping remembered correctly, the average entry level for Shrek Academy's freshmen was seventeen.
But just as there were people like him dragging the others down, there were also people up front hauling the entire year along at a flying pace.
Ning Tian and Wu Feng were prime examples.
From the aura of soul power Wu Feng had revealed just now, Chen Ping could clearly tell that she had to be at least a level twenty-four Soul Grandmaster. Level twenty-five was not out of the question either.
Ning Tian was even more outrageous. She had definitely already reached level twenty-nine, and was probably only a step away from level thirty.
Now he was sweating buckets.
Chen Ping scratched his head. Against someone with two rings, his one ring, a little ingenuity, and a few tricks might still win the fight.
But a three-ring Soul Elder was not someone he could beat with a few little tricks and clever ideas alone. He would have to bring out the heavy punches.
But... weren't Soul Tools banned in the Freshman Competition?
If he could not use those either, Chen Ping felt that placing in the Freshman Competition would be no small challenge.
For now, though, his most pressing task was delivering Mu En's takeout.
Hurrying along the path that led straight to the dormitories, Chen Ping soon reached Shrek's student dormitory building.
Although this was not his first visit, the sight of Shrek's student dormitory made him lose his composure every single time.
As everyone knew, Shrek's teaching buildings were color-coded by year. That was perfectly reasonable.
But the dormitory building where the students lived actually sported four colors too: white, yellow, purple, and black.
These marked the residential areas for students of the different years in the four teaching buildings, and the dormitory stood a full six stories tall.
Honestly, this was the first dormitory Chen Ping had ever seen that managed to be so innovatively ugly.
The crucial thing was that Chen Ping could tell whoever had built this dormitory and those teaching buildings had not deliberately made them ugly. They simply had no sense of aesthetics.
In the eyes of the person who built the dormitory and teaching buildings, the way their color schemes echoed one another was probably something to be proud of. They might even have been positively smug about it.
And so this rainbow dormitory had come into being, its four enormous blocks of color forcibly cobbled together.
As for who this legendary designer actually was-probably some Soul Master surnamed Zhang?
Chen Ping reached the building's entrance, where a very elderly-looking man sat.
The old man wore gray cloth robes. The wrinkles on his face could have crushed flies by the dozen all at once, and his eyes were cloudy and yellow beneath drooping lids. He looked like a candle guttering in the wind.
The light between the buildings fell right over him, and the chair in which he half reclined looked rather comfortable.
Chen Ping stepped forward and said respectfully, "Sir, I've brought the takeout Xuan Zi ordered for you."
The old man-or rather, Mu En-felt rather amused. Lifting his eyelids, he glanced at Chen Ping. "Is that really what Xuan Zi said?"
"Absolutely."
Chen Ping hurriedly smiled and took out the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. "Xuan Zi said sitting out in the evening breeze exposes you to too much dampness. Healing Soul Masters call it letting pathogenic wind enter the body, so you ought to have something hot and nourishing."
"Not only does this taste good, it replenishes your vitality, nourishes your blood, and supports your spleen. He had it specially prepared for you and told me to bring it over."
Naturally, Chen Ping could not repeat Xuan Zi's actual explanation. Even if Xuan Zi had told him Mu En had forcibly snatched it away, those words could never come out of Chen Ping's mouth.
"Heh heh heh. What a slippery little rascal. Of all the children enrolling this year, I think you're the least honest."
Mu En gave Chen Ping an amused look. He had not forgotten how this boy had earlier egged Ning Tian and Wu Feng on to beat him up, or how he had bad-mouthed him.
Chen Ping was startled. Oh no. I underestimated a Limit Douluo's perception far too much.
Judging by this, Mu En not only knew that he had intercepted the scraps Xuan Zi sent over and used them to make Buddha Jumps Over the Wall for profit, but had also heard everything he had said earlier.
So this was what they meant by "the tongue is a field of slaughter, and gossip a treacherous sea"!
Fortunately, Chen Ping currently benefited from the last of the four great excuses that inspired leniency: "it's the New Year," "we're already here," "everyone has it hard," and "he's still a child."
He immediately put on an innocent grin and played dumb, hoping to charm his way through.
"Hehe, surely not. Make sure you eat this Buddha Jumps Over the Wall while it's hot, sir. That's when it works best."
"Guaranteed to strengthen men and beautify women. Eat it by day and you'll feel refreshed; eat it at night and you'll sleep soundly."
After hearing that, even the wrinkles on Mu En's face relaxed a little, and he accepted the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall Chen Ping handed him.
"Mm, now I know what it does for men and women, and what it does by day and night. What does it do for old people and children?"
Seeing that Mu En had nothing else to say, Chen Ping inwardly thanked his lucky stars. Apparently, Mu En did not intend to hold it against him.
So, almost without thinking, he dredged up one of the advertising slogans he used while peddling his wares outside. "Kids eat it and come first in their exams; old men eat it and their feet fly!"
The instant those words left his mouth, Chen Ping realized something was wrong. Was that really something he could say so carelessly?
He had only just suffered for running his mouth, and now he had done it again. Had he learned absolutely nothing?
"Good!"
Mu En's eyes lit up with the sly gleam of a mischievous old child. "I won't dispute the part about an old man's feet flying. Your Buddha Jumps Over the Wall really is quite good."
"But as for children coming first in their exams, I'll have to test whether that's true. If you don't take first place, boy... then this old man will have to have a proper chat with you about how you were bad-mouthing him earlier."
Mu En gave Chen Ping a meaningful look, instantly making him groan inwardly.
"All right, off you go. Once classes begin, I'll be here at the dormitory entrance watching you children come and go."
"From now on, just bring the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall straight to me when you've made it."
Mu En waved a hand and sent Chen Ping away, looking thoroughly satisfied to have added another bit of entertainment to his day.
Before you continue