Opposing Shrek head-on

Ji Juechen stood rooted to the spot, covered in dust, his hair disheveled and his uniform filthy. He looked thoroughly bedraggled.

Yet his eyes were exceptionally bright, like torches kindled in the dark, burning with an almost obsessive light.

"I lost." He bowed deeply to Lu Ren, bending his back in a reverent arc. "You are a formidable opponent. I'll come back again."

With that, he straightened up, gripped the wreckage of his sword-now nothing but a hilt-and turned to leave the platform.

His steps remained slow, but they held something indefinable that had not been there when he arrived.

With Ji Juechen's defeat, the competition finally came to an end.

Deafening cheers filled the trial arena. The cries of over ten thousand people converged into a single name, echoing beneath the dome.

"Lu Ren! Lu Ren! Lu Ren!"

The shouts of over ten thousand people made the dome's soul tool windows buzz. Their numbed astonishment had transformed completely into frenzied admiration. Students throughout the stands rose to their feet and waved their arms, their eyes fixed on the boy at the center of the arena, still tinged with a faint bloody haze.

Over the course of a single day, he had won seventy-eight consecutive victories. Even the Soul Emperor Ji Juechen had fallen to his fists.

He had not activated his Martial Soul throughout, only revealing his heaven-defying Soul Rings-two purple, two black-at the very end, then shattering Ji Juechen's sword with a single punch using an unknown Soul Skill.

This was no longer an entrance test for a new student, but a legend born out of nowhere.

Lu Ren stood in the center of the arena. The bloody haze lingering at his fingertips slowly receded with his breathing, and the crimson markings around his right eye ebbed like the tide, revealing its original clear color.

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the students waving their arms and the spectators shouting feverishly.

Jing Hongchen stood and raised a hand to call for silence. The cheers gradually subsided, and every gaze settled on him.

"The competition ends here." His voice reached every corner through the Amplifying Soul Tool. "Unfortunately, no one managed to defeat Lu Ren. The admission qualification for the Illustrious Virtue Hall and the rare metal rewards will therefore not be awarded."

A wave of regretful sighs rose from the stands, but no one objected.

Their skills had fallen short; having agreed to the wager, they accepted defeat.

"You may all leave."

Jing Hongchen turned and left the officials' platform.

The students also rose and streamed toward the exits in small groups, still discussing the utterly one-sided battle.

After watching matches all day, everyone was thoroughly tired, but their excitement had yet to fade. They had also witnessed the absolute crushing power of a formidable Soul Master.

It was little wonder Shrek Academy had the strength to hold firmly to its successive championships in every tournament.

Lin Jiayi was about to leave when a middle-aged man hurried over and whispered a few words into his ear.

His expression instantly turned exceedingly grim.

"Hall Master!" He hurried to catch up with Jing Hongchen and lowered his voice. "The investigation has yielded results."

Jing Hongchen stopped and turned his head.

"What did you find?"

He knew the rank of the person Lin Jiayi had sent out.

A Level 8 Soul Engineer equipped with a Flying Soul Tool had more than enough time to travel between the Sun Moon Empire and the Star Dou Great Forest and back within two days.

Still, getting results this quickly had exceeded his expectations.

"What Lu Ren said was essentially true." Lin Jiayi kept his voice very low. "Shrek is in complete disarray right now. They've mobilized a large number of people to search for him."

Jing Hongchen frowned slightly.

"Our investigator clashed with Shrek during the investigation." Lin Jiayi paused. "Shrek unilaterally declared that Lu Ren was their disciple and demanded that we cooperate in searching for and capturing him."

"Lu Ren is their disciple?" Jing Hongchen snorted coldly. "What a load of dogshit. If he really were a Shrek disciple, why would he come running to us? They're clearly lying."

"Exactly." Lin Jiayi nodded. "Our investigator verified that there is no record of Lu Ren ever enrolling at Shrek."

"What's more, it's also true that he robbed Shrek Outer Court students in the Star Dou Great Forest. The students he robbed hate him to the bone."

Jing Hongchen fell silent for a moment.

"However..." Lin Jiayi hesitated. "Shrek really is looking for Lu Ren. According to the information we gathered, Lu Ren once appeared inside Shrek Academy."

"Hmm?" Jing Hongchen whipped his head around, his gaze sharp as a blade.

"The information is reliable." Lin Jiayi sighed helplessly. "He even displayed his Soul Rings in public in the Outer Court. It caused quite a stir, and many new students saw it firsthand."

"That was what brought Lu Ren to Shrek's attention."

Jing Hongchen's brows drew into a tight knot.

Taking Lu Ren in meant taking on this mess.

Facing Shrek head-on would come at no small cost.

"It doesn't matter." He waved a hand, his tone returning to calm. "It's only opposing Shrek. That amounts to nothing."

"Being able to take in a genius like this is a tremendous blessing for us."

He paused, then added:

"Handle this matter. Keep Shrek's people occupied. Under no circumstances can you let them discover that Lu Ren is at our academy."

"Yes, Hall Master." Lin Jiayi bowed to acknowledge the order, then turned and hurried away.

Jing Hongchen stood pondering for a moment before heading out of the trial arena.

Lu Ren was walking back along the corridor as though he had just finished an ordinary training session rather than seventy-seven rounds of consecutive challenges.

His breathing was steady and his complexion normal. There was no sign at all that he had just defeated seventy-eight opponents in succession.

"Lu Ren."

A low voice came from behind him.

Lu Ren stopped and turned around.

Jing Hongchen was walking toward him, his expression dark, a smoldering fire lurking in his eyes.

"What is it, Hall Master?"

Seeing his expression, Lu Ren already had a few guesses.

"Have you displayed your Soul Rings at Shrek Academy before?"

Jing Hongchen wasted no words and went straight to the point.

"That's right." Lu Ren nodded frankly.

"You little bastard!" Jing Hongchen snapped coldly. "You showed your Soul Rings there. Those old fellows must have discovered your existence by now!"

"Our people have already clashed with them over you. Did you know that?"

Lu Ren's expression barely changed. "No one died, did they?"

"Of course not. It's only a minor matter for now. After all, they don't know you're here." Jing Hongchen stared at him, his gaze blazing. "But we have verified that everything you told us was true."

"Still, I'm very curious. How could a place like Shrek, which values geniuses as much as its own life, actually refuse to take you in?"

"And how were you able to slip into their academy at will, escape their pursuit unharmed, and come running here?"

He stepped forward, an oppressive presence bearing down on Lu Ren.

"Boy, just how many secrets are you hiding?"

Lu Ren neither retreated nor panicked.

"You could say it's because my Martial Soul is rather unusual." His tone was even. "Besides, I only moved around the Outer Court at the time. I didn't venture deep inside. It's perfectly normal that Shrek's strongest experts didn't notice me immediately."

He did not spell everything out, but he understood it clearly himself.

What had truly allowed him to walk out unscathed was not luck, but Mu En's choice.

That rank ninety-nine Limit Douluo had been sitting right outside the entrance to the new students' dormitory. With his spiritual power, how could he possibly have failed to notice him?

If he had noticed yet refrained from acting, even allowing Lu Ren to leave Shrek, then either he had disdained to act or he had some other design.

Either way, Mu En counted as one of the more normal people among Shrek's bunch of obsessives.

Even if Mu En had forcibly kept him there at the time, Lu Ren would not have minded too much. At worst, he could simply have agreed to join Shrek Academy.

The Douluo Continent was not a place like Jujutsu Kaisen, where discovering a genius meant wanting to snuff them out. Exceptionally gifted young people were sought after by every faction, so Lu Ren had no need to worry about his life.

If he stayed at Shrek, he could still obtain cultivation resources and still grow stronger.

What a lone wolf lacked most was resources.

Whether it was Shrek or the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, where he went did not matter. What mattered was how much they could put on the table for him.

Jing Hongchen studied him meaningfully, his gaze lingering on his face for a long time.

"I find you harder and harder to see through," he said in a low voice. "You're clearly just a fourteen-year-old boy, yet you're shrewd beyond reason."

He paused, his gaze sharpening.

"You deliberately displayed your Soul Rings at Shrek, didn't you?"