Shrek Academy, New Student Registration Area.
It was enrollment season, and the New Student Teaching Building was packed with people.
The freshmen who had just passed the assessment stood in line, waiting to complete their enrollment procedures.
The students handling registration sat behind long tables, checking information while handing out dormitory keys.
For third- and fourth-year students, this was an easy way to earn credits.
For the academy, it was free labor. A win-win.
Lu Ren strolled into the teaching building with one hand in his pocket, as leisurely as if he were walking through a quiet courtyard.
His black school uniform was particularly eye-catching. The surrounding freshmen and lower-year students turned to look and voluntarily cleared a path.
This was a sixth-year senior. They couldn't afford to cross him.
Lu Ren made himself right at home and walked straight over to the freshman registration line, pretending to inspect the registration process while actually scanning the crowd.
Then he saw that person.
In the middle of the line, an exceptionally good-looking boy stood waiting.
Neat, short, powder-blue hair, fair skin, a pair of large eyes of the same powder blue, and features so exquisite they were almost unreal.
He wore a simple, close-fitting outfit. Though he tried hard to keep a stern face, he couldn't hide that haughty air.
Wang Dong.
Or rather, Wang Dong'er.
The corners of Lu Ren's mouth lifted slightly.
Better to arrive at the right moment than to arrive early.
"Name?"
The senior handling registration didn't even look up, his pen scratching across the register.
"Wang Dong."
At the sound of that clear voice, the senior handling registration instinctively looked up.
Then he froze.
Wasn't this boy a little too good-looking?
A boy could look like this?
He couldn't help asking:
"What's a boy like you doing looking so pretty?"
Wang Dong frowned, her tone openly impatient:
"That doesn't seem to be any of your business, senior."
The senior gave an awkward smile, lowered his head to flip through the register, and found the corresponding key.
"This is the key to dorm room 108."
Before he could finish, a hand reached over from the side and plucked the key away.
The senior paused, then looked up.
A boy in a black school uniform stood before the table, idly twirling the key between his fingertips.
His face was very handsome, but his eyes were particularly clear, and at that moment, he was looking at the senior with the hint of a smile.
A black school uniform... a sixth-year?
Wang Dong froze.
The student handling registration immediately stood up, his tone becoming considerably more respectful:
"S-senior!"
Lu Ren ignored him, his gaze falling on Wang Dong as he looked her up and down.
"Say, junior," he drawled, "are you really this careless? Putting a girl in the boys' dormitory?"
"If I remember correctly, the girls' dormitories start on the fourth floor of the freshman building. Why are you putting her on the first?"
The moment he said that, everything around them fell silent.
The color visibly drained from Wang Dong's face. A flicker of panic flashed through those powder-blue eyes, but she quickly suppressed it.
How was this possible?
He'd seen through her?
The senior handling registration was equally dumbfounded and stammered:
"S-senior, but isn't he a bo-"
Lu Ren rolled his eyes and cut him off, his tone openly disdainful:
"Could you please have some common sense? And you call yourself a Shrek student? You don't even know the most basic facts about Martial Souls?"
He pointed at Wang Dong. His voice wasn't loud, but it was enough for everyone nearby to hear:
"The Light Goddess Butterfly Martial Soul has never had a male bearer in the continent's recorded history."
"It's called the Goddess Butterfly, and you're telling me it's a Martial Soul a man would have?"
The senior's mouth formed an O.
Lu Ren kept going, publicly shredding Wang Dong's disguise in the process:
"And her Soul Power fluctuations. Sense them yourself. They're delicate and gentle, without the rigid patterns unique to male Soul Masters. Instead, they have the suppleness of a female Soul Master's."
"If you still can't tell, have you handed everything you've learned all these years back to your teachers?"
Murmurs gradually rose around them.
"So she's a girl? No wonder she's so pretty..."
"Is the Light Goddess Butterfly really exclusive to women? I think I read that in a book..."
Wang Dong's face flushed scarlet, half from embarrassment and half from anger.
She stared daggers at Lu Ren, her voice beginning to tremble:
"You're talking nonsense! I'm clearly a boy! What right do you have to slander me?"
"Slander?"
Lu Ren scoffed, deliberately letting his gaze fall on Wang Dong's tightly bound chest as he drew out his words:
"Isn't that binding a little too obvious? You've squeezed yourself into a flat board just to pretend to be a boy. Doesn't that get tiring?"
Wang Dong's body went rigid.
She instinctively wanted to cover her chest, but forced herself to hold back. Instead, she gripped the hem of her clothes tightly with both hands, her knuckles turning white.
In all her life, no one had ever dared speak to her like this!
She was the young sect master of the Clear Sky Sect. Her eldest dad and second dad doted on her, and the entire Clear Sky Sect cherished her like a pearl in their palms.
Now, on her very first trip away from home, she was suffering this kind of humiliation for the first time...
The senior handling registration was thoroughly panicked now, looking from Wang Dong to Lu Ren:
"S-senior, if this is true, she's broken the school rules! Enrolling under a false identity..."
"Exactly." Lu Ren tossed the key back onto the table and folded his arms. "The first rule of Shrek: falsification and deception are strictly prohibited."
"Student Wang Dong-or rather, Student Wang Dong'er-wouldn't it be a shame if you received a disciplinary demerit, or even got expelled?"
Wang Dong'er bit her lower lip, the rims of her eyes reddening slightly as she wondered just how he knew her name and true identity.
But her pride remained:
"You have no proof! A Martial Soul and Soul Power fluctuations alone can't prove I'm a girl!"
"You want proof?" Lu Ren raised an eyebrow.
He took a step forward.
The distance between them instantly shrank to less than half a meter.
Lu Ren bent down slightly, leaned toward Wang Dong'er's ear, and lowered his voice so that only the two of them could hear:
"How about I verify your identity right now? Say, by tearing these clothes straight off and letting everyone see whether you're a boy or a girl?"
"I believe the masses have sharp eyes. That would save us a lot of effort too, wouldn't you say?"
"My little junior brother... no, little junior sister, you wouldn't want things to go that far, would you?"
Wang Dong'er's pupils contracted sharply.
She abruptly stepped back, her powder-blue eyes filled with humiliation, anger, and murderous intent:
"Don't you dare!"
"Why wouldn't I?" Lu Ren straightened up and slipped both hands into his pockets, his tone turning casual again. "I'm a sixth-year senior responsible for overseeing order during freshman enrollment. If I encounter a student with a suspicious identity, it's perfectly reasonable to verify it, isn't it?"
"This is all for Shrek Academy!"
Lu Ren put on a fanatical expression, while inwardly feeling pleased with his acting and also a little like throwing up.
But he still turned to the senior handling registration, his tone instantly turning cold:
"What are you standing around for? Hurry up and give her a key to the girls' dormitory, then report this to the Academic Affairs Office and have a teacher handle it. If something actually goes wrong, can you take responsibility?"
The senior jolted and nodded repeatedly:
"Yes, yes! I'll change it right away!"
He scrambled to find a new key and held it out to Wang Dong:
"S-student Wang Dong, this is the key to room 402 in the girls' dormitory, on the fourth floor."
He paused, then muttered quietly:
"Come to think of it, if something had gone wrong with this stunt of yours, wouldn't I have been in trouble too..."
Wang Dong'er didn't take the key.
She simply stared fixedly at Lu Ren, her voice trembling slightly but still stubborn:
"What's your name? I'll remember you!"
Lu Ren smiled.
He met her gaze, his eyes brimming with provocation:
"My name isn't important. What matters is..."
He leaned forward slightly and enunciated every word:
"From now on, keep these little tricks to a minimum at Shrek. If I catch you pretending to be a boy and deceiving people again, it won't be as simple as changing dorm rooms."
Hearing him say that, Wang Dong'er burned with anger and couldn't help shouting:
"Cut the crap! Tell me your name!"
"What can you do to me if I don't?" Lu Ren couldn't help laughing. Then four Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet, and Soul Power fluctuations belonging to a Soul Ancestor burst forth. "Hit me? Do you have what it takes?"
Purple, purple, black, black!
A Four-Ring Soul Ancestor!
Everyone involuntarily sucked in a breath of cold air when they saw Lu Ren's Soul Rings, which surpassed the optimal Soul Ring Configuration.
Wang Dong'er was also deeply shocked by the sight. Realizing she couldn't possibly be his match, she took a deep breath and glared fixedly at Lu Ren, seemingly committing his appearance to memory. Then, forcibly holding back her tears, she snatched the key and turned to leave.
Her back was ramrod straight, but she couldn't hide that trace of discomposure.
The murmurs around them gradually died down, and the freshmen's gazes were filled with awe as they looked at Lu Ren.
This sixth-year senior wasn't just powerful. Wasn't his eye far too sharp as well?
The senior handling registration also breathed a sigh of relief and looked gratefully at Lu Ren:
"Thank you for pointing that out, senior! That was far too close. If we'd actually let her move into the boys' dormitory, there would've been huge trouble afterward!"
"A small matter."
Lu Ren withdrew his Soul Power, waved a hand, and turned to leave, contentedly absorbing the negative energy Wang Dong'er had produced-in other words, Cursed Energy.
With a little more, he should be close to gaining another level of Soul Power.
Walking out of the New Student Teaching Building, Lu Ren clasped his hands behind his head, unable to suppress the smile at the corners of his mouth.
He had publicly exposed Wang Dong'er as a girl. Now there was no way she could approach Huo Yuhao as a close male friend.
There had already been a gulf between their identities and status. One was the Clear Sky Sect's little princess, and the other a wandering orphan. Without sharing a dorm room and spending every day together, what connection could they possibly have?
That classic storyline of brotherhood mixed with romantic ambiguity from the original work was thoroughly gone.
Lu Ren was eager to see how the story at Shrek would develop next.
Even more, he looked forward to seeing how Sea God Tang San, up in the Divine Realm, would react when he discovered that his daughter hadn't come into contact with Huo Yuhao.
Force things back on course?
Or force his daughter to establish a connection with Huo Yuhao?
Lu Ren looked up at the sky. It was clear for miles, with nothing unusual.
But who knew?
"What a shame." He withdrew his gaze and murmured, "I won't be able to witness what happens next. There's no time to stay here and watch the show."
He had already secured Electrolux, and the mines he needed to plant at Shrek had been planted.
Next, it was time to head to the Sun Moon Empire.
The Divine Realm.
Inside a palace wreathed in clouds and mist, a blue-haired young man suddenly opened his eyes.
He frowned, his gaze seeming to pierce the endless void and fall upon somewhere in the lower realm.
"Strange. It feels as though something has changed."
He murmured to himself, then immediately began making calculations with hand seals, a trace of confusion in his tone.
"What unexpected change has occurred on Wu Tong's end?"
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