Handsome Is a Lifelong Affair!

The spring breeze of February was like scissors; even after a haircut, he was still flamboyant.

On the uneven official road, two big yellow horses pulled the carriage along at a carefree gallop. Minghui, whose hair had been trimmed for the New Year, sat inside with his parents.

He opened the carriage window and gazed at the distant scenery. The white hair parted over his forehead fluttered in the wind, while the ponytail tied behind his head swayed along with it.

Many gun-wielding characters in the Chinese animated series from his previous life had worn this hairstyle. It really brought out a young man's spirit and dashing bearing.

Being handsome was a lifelong affair!

So, he had asked his mother to give him one too, and the result was indeed quite good.

"Shrek Academy, the True Monarch of Manifestation Before Others at Guanjiangkou has arrived!" Minghui gazed toward the southeast and thought to himself. Then he silently added, "Whether I go to school or get to see the beauties from the original novel is secondary..."

"The important thing is that certain treasures are fated to belong to this Daoist!"

"Hui'er, we'll reach Shrek City tomorrow." His mother Qingyi's voice suddenly came from beside him. "Since we have the time, let me tell you about Shrek Academy."

"And the Tang Sect founded by Sea God Tang San and the first generation of Shrek Seven Devils."

"Okay, Mom!" Minghui withdrew his gaze, sat upright inside the carriage, and assumed an attentive posture.

"The history of Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect can be traced back ten thousand years," Qingyi began.

"Until four thousand years ago, when the Sun Moon Continent collided with the Douluo Continent. At the time, the armies of the Three Great Empires, armed with Tang Sect hidden weapons, fought the Sun Moon Empire."

"They were utterly defeated."

So Tang San's words at the end of Douluo I—that hidden weapons were too overbearing, that using them in war would harm the natural order, and that he would never produce hidden weapons for anyone again—were complete bullshit.

In reality, the Tang Sect continued selling hidden weapons everywhere afterward. They were nothing but arms dealers. Minghui thought to himself.

As for donating most of their income to improve the lives of civilians in impoverished regions and build schools and other public facilities, he thought that was merely a superficial performance. If they did not disclose their specific income and expenditures, who knew whether they had padded the numbers?

Doing charity meant they were good people, a fine enterprise serving the country and its people? That routine was ancient history!

If they truly wanted to do something, they should have taken over all the public-benefit projects Spirit Hall had once run, awakened martial souls for civilians free of charge, and properly dealt with Evil Soul Masters!

As for the claims online in his previous life that Shrek Academy should replace Spirit Hall in fulfilling those duties, he truly felt they were blaming the wrong target. Shrek Academy had always been positioned as a school. Tang San and the other Shrek Seven Devils had merely been students from one particular class. How could they pin that blame on the academy?

In his view, the one who should have taken on that responsibility was Tang San—the Tang Sect Tang San had founded with his own hands.

After all, Tang San had led the destruction of Spirit Hall. He had become a god himself, and he was a god who claimed to stand for justice and love peace. Tang San was fully capable of turning the force he had created into another Spirit Hall—a better Spirit Hall, at that.

He made the mess himself but did not clean it up, instead pushing it onto the academy that had taught him for a few years. That was hardly appropriate, was it?

Of course, Shrek Academy was no prize either!

"At that critical moment, the dean of Shrek Academy from that generation raised his arms and called out, gathering nearly sixty Titled Douluo from across the continent and temporarily serving as commander-in-chief of the three armies," Qingyi continued. "In the end, they helped the original Three Great Empires achieve victory."

"It was also from that time onward that Shrek Academy no longer belonged to any nation and became an independent entity."

"The academy also began distinguishing between the Inner Court and Outer Court."

"And the Outer Court was actually established at the invitation of the imperial families of the Three Great Empires, to help them cultivate talent."

"For a long time afterward, Shrek Academy successively produced many wise and capable deans. Those deans did not take credit for the contributions made back then, did not establish a private army for Shrek City, and even kept the number of instructors within certain limits. They always upheld the principle that Shrek Academy was merely an academy and kept an extremely low profile. As a result, they never gave any nation a sense of crisis."

Even Mom says that. It seemed Shrek Academy had genuinely focused on teaching and nurturing people for a time, Minghui thought.

"Until three thousand years ago."

Qingyi paused, then said meaningfully, "Shrek Academy established the Sea God Pavilion and gained its Elders."

The Azure Family had been passed down for ten thousand years, so naturally, they knew certain secrets that few others knew.

In her view, the Body Sect's hunt for a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, which had triggered the Beast Tide, had merely been a catalyst.

Shrek Academy had accumulated too great a foundation by then. It had land and people, and it controlled a super-sized main city with a population of nearly two million. With such a foundation, it was inevitable that some people would develop ambitions they should not have had.

And at that time, they had happened to encounter the Body Sect, which displayed tremendous strength from the very moment it emerged.

That gave someone a sense of crisis, along with a feeling of unwillingness to accept things as they were. They wanted to push the academy a step further.

So, under the pretext that the academy should cultivate a force of its own to deal with possible future crises—

They directly set a bad precedent for later generations.

"Times change, and people change. Some people simply cannot bear to remain obscure," Ming Chen sighed.

Minghui understood instantly. If any organization was controlled for a long time by a tiny clique—especially a clique capable of living for over a hundred years—that clung together and monopolized power, with authority highly centralized, problems were bound to arise sooner or later.

That was true of Shrek Academy, and it would also be true of the Spirit Pagoda later on.

People were selfish. That one sentence explained far too many rises and falls.

Clearly, Shrek Academy had begun to change in nature and increasingly resemble a sectarian force from the moment the Sea God Pavilion was established.

By Mu En's generation, even someone with the will to change things would find it difficult to reverse the trend.

"Of course, it also has a lot to do with Mu En not having the heart to be ruthless," Minghui thought.

"Hui'er, that's also what I need to tell you next." Qingyi picked up the conversation. "Once you enter the academy, if the Elders ever come looking to speak with you, make sure to put yourself in their shoes and think more carefully. Don't believe everything they say."

"Remember, you are a descendant of the Azure Family. The family's interests must always come before the academy's honor."

It seemed Mom had been heavily brainwashed by Shrek Academy's old bastards in her youth. Minghui nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, Mom!"

"Also, your father and I will take you to meet the academy's Elders tomorrow. If you hear anything unpleasant during that time, just treat it as farting. Your father and I will handle everything," Qingyi added. "Don't worry. They won't do anything to you in the future."

"At most, they'll just indulge their mouths and criticize you a little!"

Like that Old Fellow Yan Shaozhe.

Minghui nodded repeatedly and quietly listened as his mother continued explaining Shrek Academy's situation and the various things he needed to watch out for after enrolling.

The next day, outside Shrek City's eastern gate.

Minghui got out of the carriage with his parents and looked up ahead. The city walls were tall, thick, and imposing.

Before the gates below the walls, a vast crowd had gathered.

According to his mother, Shrek Academy admitted around one thousand students each year, while the academy's total number of students had never exceeded five thousand. Its elimination rate was extremely high. Yet from what he could see outside the city now, there were no fewer than five thousand people. There really were a lot of them.

And that was only the number gathered in the morning. They had actually arrived early.

"These are all ordinary new students who have come from throughout the Three Great Empires to register," Qingyi said, taking her son's hand. Her gaze swept across the crowd, and the corner of her mouth twitched unconsciously. "Not only do they need to pass the assessment, they also need a letter of recommendation from at least a main city."

Either rich or noble, or attached to some noble family themselves, Minghui understood.

After all, without Spirit Hall helping awaken martial souls free of charge, commoners could only seek out the local city lord or nobility if they wanted their martial souls awakened. As for recommendation letters, did they think they could get one without attaching themselves to someone?

What the hell were they dreaming?

If he had not been born into the Qing Luan Family, even awakening his martial soul would have been troublesome.

So how had Jiang Nannan, who came from a poor family in the original novel, awakened her martial soul and entered Shrek Academy?

He was truly puzzled.

"Come on, Mom will take you to register." Qingyi spoke again. As former Inner Court students, she and her husband both had recommendation slots. Bringing their son to register did not require waiting in line; they could go straight in, test his Soul Power, and register him.

Minghui nodded and followed his parents around the crowd toward the eastern gate.