Shrek Academy

"!? You're Zhu Zhuqing?" Yang Yunhai immediately looked surprised and blurted out, his gaze unconsciously sweeping over the girl before him once more. Her black hair cascaded down to her waist, not tied into cat-ear shapes like in the animation.

No wonder her muscles were so exaggerated!

To think I'd run into her in the Star Dou Great Forest—and in such a particular way, too. What luck.

He was secretly astonished.

His mindset shifted as well. If she was Zhu Zhuqing, then he could not treat her like an ordinary girl. Setting aside her special identity, according to the original storyline, Zhu Zhuqing was supposed to join Shrek Academy. Meanwhile, he had already joined Spirit Hall.

He was destined to be at odds with Tang San in the future.

If Zhu Zhuqing went to Shrek Academy as she had in the original story, she would inevitably become Tang San's teammate. In that case, she would almost certainly become his enemy in the near future.

His eyes flickered slightly.

She knows me? Zhu Zhuqing's expression instinctively turned wary, and her lovely body tensed.

Yang Yunhai quickly calmed his expression, shook his head, and smiled. "No need to be so vigilant. Don't worry, I'm not going to take you to the Zhu Family of the Star Luo Empire to claim a reward."

"Besides." His gaze shifted to Zhu Zhuqing's fair, delicate face as he continued, "I'm from the Heaven Dou Empire, and I'm not under the Star Luo Empire's jurisdiction. So that Marriage Contract those people in power arranged for you is nothing but a worthless scrap of paper to me."

"In my eyes, you're still free. My stance won't change. Everything depends on what you want."

Since he had been the one to electrocute her, and he had looked at her and even laid hands on her, he would not shirk responsibility if it was required of him.

However, since he had already joined Spirit Hall, Shrek would be his enemy in the future. If he had the chance to cause them trouble—or even weaken them—he would not let it slip by.

He was heading to Suotuo City anyway.

He could use this opportunity to say a few things about Shrek... As long as his next plan went smoothly and he secured the Immortal Herbs, Zhu Zhuqing without the Immortal Herbs would not pose much of a threat.

For now, he could lay a little trap.

With that thought, he turned around. "Let's go! We'll leave this place first and talk later. If I'm not mistaken, you escaped this time because you were looking for Dai Mubai."

"Perfect. I know where he is, and I know a little about how he's been lately. I can tell you about it later."

It was only a few words; it was not like he would lose a chunk of flesh. Whether she believed him or not was unimportant. It did not matter if he was being blunt or abrupt. What mattered was that she heard it. Honest people's words could sometimes be more lethal—especially when every word was true.

"..." Zhu Zhuqing still said nothing, only lowering her head even further. She bit her lip and followed in small steps.

Before long, noon arrived, and the two came to an open patch of ground far from the stream.

"Here's fine." Yang Yunhai stopped. "Let's have lunch here first. We'll rest a while after eating, then set off again."

As he spoke, he set his bundle and the rabbit meat wrapped in leaves on the grass, then ran off to gather firewood nearby.

Though Zhu Zhuqing did not say a word, her actions were quite polite. She walked to the other side and helped collect firewood.

Not long after, following a series of movements from Yang Yunhai, a campfire was lit and the rabbit meat was set over it.

Soon, the meat was cooked. Yang Yunhai placed it on leaves, separated out a portion, and put it beside Zhu Zhuqing. Smiling, he said, "Eat up."

After saying that, he picked up a skewer from his own portion and started eating, speaking casually as he did.

"Dai Mubai is currently at Shrek Academy, south of Suotuo City in the Heaven Dou Empire. The academy's teaching staff is pretty good. Including the headmaster, they have three Soul Saints and two Soul Emperors. But the teaching environment, honestly, leaves much to be desired."

"I heard it's been established for twenty years, yet it still hasn't registered as an official academy. It lacks funding, and the living conditions are terrible—like some small mountain village. There's no Simulated Environment, and they can't even guarantee food for their students. Honestly, with their teaching staff, they shouldn't possibly be this poor. Yet somehow they are. I really don't know how those five instructors managed it."

"As for students, there are only three. One is Dai Mubai, while the other two are named Ma Hongjun and Oscar."

"Their talent is pretty good, but as people..." Yang Yunhai shook his head slightly and continued, "Let's start with Ma Hongjun."

"His Martial Soul is called the Evil Fire Phoenix, a mutated fire-attribute Beast Martial Soul. Its quality is quite good, but it has a flaw. I don't know the exact cause, but according to the information I received, it has something to do with the evil fire. The result is that, ever since his Martial Soul awakened, he has needed to sleep with women at regular intervals to release the evil fire within him. Usually, he also displays an extremely intense desire toward women."

"I heard he's a frequent visitor to brothels. Whenever he sees a woman, young or old, he stares at certain parts of her body. The key is that the headmaster, who is also his teacher, has never disciplined him. So he's always been completely unchecked, with no restraint in those matters either."

"..." Zhu Zhuqing did not interrupt him, but a clear chill appeared in her beautiful eyes.

"Next is Oscar. He was a student the Shrek Academy headmaster discovered and recruited long ago. His Martial Soul is sausage, and his talent is practically unparalleled. He should be the only food-type support Soul Master on the continent with Innate Full Soul Power." Yang Yunhai continued.

Innate Full Soul Power. A hint of surprise flashed through Zhu Zhuqing's eyes.

Yang Yunhai nodded slightly. "There's nothing particularly strange about him. I heard he's quite handsome and has had several girlfriends. Also, the chant he uses to activate his soul skills is supposedly very lewd! But it's just a chant. I don't think it's a problem."

At that, he glanced at Zhu Zhuqing from the corner of his eye and continued, "Lastly, there's Dai Mubai."

"He's fairly well-known in Suotuo City." Yang Yunhai nodded slightly. "I heard he's a dashing playboy who spends lavishly. Over the years, he's gone through quite a few girlfriends—breaking up with them once he gets bored, with a different one every day. Even now, he manages to date several women at once and rush through three dates in a single day. He has a permanent luxury private room at the Rose Hotel, and lately, he's often been seen coming and going with a pair of twin sisters."

A true role model for our generation. Having never tamed a female demon himself, he admitted that he did not understand the world of such a master player.

Everyone hated a master player, yet everyone wanted to become one. Honestly, after reading the original story, he had never thought Dai Mubai's behavior as a master player was all that hateful.

The girls were all willing, and it was not against the law. Outsiders really had no grounds to condemn him.

Of course, he deeply despised the kind who played around and then discarded women afterward.

As he thought this, Zhu Zhuqing's face had already turned frosty, her eyes filled with disappointment.

Yang Yunhai had no reason to lie to her.

"Of course, that's all just what I heard from others." Yang Yunhai turned back and continued, "The reason I know these things is because I'd just graduated from a junior Soul Master Academy and wanted to learn about the higher-level Soul Master Academies in nearby towns and cities, so I could choose which one to join later. During that process, I happened to hear about Shrek Academy, which only accepts monsters, and looked into it."

"Honestly, I was quite interested when I first heard about it."

"Shrek Academy's enrollment standard is to reach Rank 20 soul power by the age of twelve, while its graduation requirement is to break through Rank 40 before turning twenty. At the time, I thought that with such high enrollment and graduation standards, the academy's teaching quality had to be excellent."

As he spoke, he shrugged. "But after looking into it more closely, I stopped paying attention to it."

"The academy's poor environment was only a secondary concern. After all, my martial soul is plant-based; for a Simulated Environment, I could just find any mountain around the academy. What truly made me abandon the idea was this academy's excessively hands-off teaching philosophy." Yang Yunhai frowned.

"As junior Soul Masters, didn't we choose to join Soul Master Academies in hopes that the academy instructors would urge us to cultivate diligently, teach us more knowledge about Soul Masters, and share more experience in dealing with people and the world? Someone like Dai Mubai, indulging himself among women to the obvious detriment of his cultivation—yet the instructors simply let him be. Honestly, I completely fail to understand it."

"Most ridiculous of all, as far as I know, Shrek Academy admitted a total of sixty-two students over the past twenty years, but only fourteen actually graduated. Of those who failed to graduate, some simply didn't reach Rank 40 before turning twenty."

"Others actually died while hunting soul beasts."

"Sixty-two students in twenty years—an average of three a year. There were already few students to begin with, so naturally even fewer would break through at the same time. With Shrek Academy's faculty, and with its headmaster being an old-school Soul Sage, was helping students obtain Spirit Rings really such a waste of effort? Was it really that difficult?"

"Even if they took the students into the soul beast forest to hunt cooperatively for training, then stepped in at the right time to ensure their safety—couldn't they even manage that?"

"Yet students actually died, and not just once or twice. Honestly, it's simply unbelievable."

"And that wasn't even what puzzled me most." Yang Yunhai shook his head and continued, "According to the information I received, some students within Shrek Academy claimed that among all the students who had successfully graduated, the most outstanding one was now Spirit Hall's youngest elder, with authority second only to the Pope."

"But as far as I know, doesn't one need to break through to Titled Douluo in order to serve as a Spirit Hall elder?"

"Shrek Academy's admission standard is reaching Rank 20 by the age of twelve. It has only existed for twenty years, making thirty-two years in total. In other words, even the earliest batch of graduates would only be thirty-two years old now, if any of them had truly become Titled Douluo."

"A thirty-two-year-old Titled Douluo? At any rate, I've never heard of one."

"Besides, if someone from Shrek Academy had truly broken through to Titled Douluo, would Shrek Academy still be this destitute? Would it still not even be a proper academy?"

"With the influence of a Spirit Hall Titled Elder, a casual word would be enough to make Shrek Academy rise to prominence, wouldn't it?"

"Besides, there's one more thing I find impossible to understand." Yang Yunhai bit off a mouthful of rabbit meat and mumbled, "Shrek Academy's headmaster, Flender, has a famous saying that is revered as the academy's motto:

"Those who dare not cause trouble are mediocre."

"Is it really appropriate to say something like that to a group of students who haven't even left the academy yet? What if they deliberately provoke a Soul Master far stronger than themselves outside? Wouldn't that be no different from sending them to their deaths? Personally, I think that statement is extremely irresponsible."

"So, I definitely wouldn't choose to join an academy like that."

After saying that, he turned to Zhu Zhuqing and said calmly, "I said so much about Shrek Academy not only because I wanted to complain, but also to give you a warning."

And dig a pit for Shrek while I'm at it.

"If you choose to join Shrek Academy later, I hope you'll try to look at things from different angles when you encounter problems. Shrek Academy's conditions are so poor, yet it can still recruit students. I get the feeling that their headmaster must be a profiteer who's very good at sweet-talking people. You'd better keep your guard up, lest you get led around by the nose and brainwashed by that headmaster."

"All right, that's all." He gave a slight nod, said no more, turned back, and began focusing on his food.

He had already given her the necessary warning. If Zhu Zhuqing still chose to join Shrek Academy, and after joining was successfully brainwashed by Yu Xiaogang, Flender, and the others, even returning to Dai Mubai's arms—

Then all he could say was that he had done his best. Liking someone was one thing, taking responsibility was another; there was no need to grovel and desperately pursue her.

"..." Zhu Zhuqing remained silent.

After a long while, a soft murmur finally sounded.

"Thank you!"