Lin Jiayi's gaze lingered on Lu Ren's face for three seconds, swept over the two purple and two black soul rings at his feet, and finally settled on Wang Shaojie, who was still bleeding.
"You've long admired me?" His voice was neither warm nor cold. "I've never heard of you. You injured one of my students at the academy gates and even dared to address me by name. Tell me, what matter was important enough to warrant my coming out here personally?"
Lu Ren looked at him and spoke evenly:
"My name is Lu Ren. I came here to join the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy."
"Join the academy?" Lin Jiayi froze for a moment, then laughed aloud. "Our academy has a strict admissions assessment process. You haven't applied, and you've injured someone at our gates, yet you still expect to enroll? Utterly absurd."
Lu Ren raised an eyebrow. "Procedures are nothing but window dressing for people with real value."
Lin Jiayi's expression grew serious.
A thousand-year first soul ring.
A ten-thousand-year third soul ring.
In his many years of teaching, Lin Jiayi had seen a thousand geniuses, or at least eight hundred.
But he had never even heard of such a soul ring configuration, let alone seen one.
He fell silent for a few seconds, then suddenly smiled.
"Not bad."
The tone of those two words was completely different from before, now thoroughly imbued with appreciation.
"On the Douluo Continent, in the world of soul masters, soul rings are the most direct way to demonstrate strength."
Lin Jiayi looked Lu Ren up and down, undisguised admiration in his eyes.
"You don't have a single hundred-year soul ring. You started with a thousand-year first soul ring. That makes you a genius among geniuses."
He paused, then added:
"Even Shrek Academy, hailed as the sacred ground of soul masters, has probably never produced a prodigy like you."
Lu Ren said nothing, merely waiting quietly for him to continue.
Lin Jiayi dispensed with the preamble and asked directly:
"What is your purpose in joining the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy?"
"The upcoming Continental Soul Master Tournament," Lu Ren said bluntly. "To help you defeat Shrek."
Lin Jiayi's eyes shifted.
"Oh? Do you have a grudge against Shrek?"
"I wouldn't call it a grudge." Lu Ren shook his head.
Lin Jiayi stared at him for a few seconds without pressing further.
"Very well." He nodded. "I approve your admission to the academy. But before that, you'll need to undergo testing. Is that acceptable?"
"No problem."
Lin Jiayi turned and instructed the students beside him:
"Go make the preparations. Take him to the physical testing room. I'll be there shortly."
"Yes, sir." Several students turned to Lu Ren. "Please come with us."
Lu Ren nodded and followed them into the academy.
As he passed Wang Shaojie, he paused and turned his head to glance at the man.
Faced with Lu Ren's imposing presence, Wang Shaojie instinctively stepped back, his head lowered as he clutched his still-bleeding nose, his eyes filled with resentment.
Lu Ren said nothing. He withdrew his gaze and continued walking.
Lin Jiayi watched Lu Ren's figure disappear into the depths of the academy, no longer able to suppress the smile on his face.
He turned and strode quickly in another direction.
His steps grew faster and faster until he was almost jogging.
If there truly was nothing wrong with him, then he had undoubtedly stumbled upon a treasure.
Although Lu Ren was no genius soul engineer, as a top-tier soul master, his talent far surpassed those monstrous geniuses at Shrek Academy. Of course their academy would take him in all the same.
This was a matter of great importance. He had to report it to the hall master at once.
Illustrious Virtue Hall.
Jing Hongchen's office.
The master of Illustrious Virtue Hall, the true authority behind the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, was sitting behind a broad desk, his head lowered as he worked with a blueprint for an intricate soul tool.
The door was suddenly pushed open.
"Hall Master!"
Lin Jiayi rushed in, gasping for breath.
Jing Hongchen's hand jerked. He set down the blueprint, raised his head, and snapped:
"Damn it! Why didn't you knock?"
Lin Jiayi dropped to one knee, not even stopping to wipe the sweat from his forehead, his voice trembling slightly with excitement:
"Hall Master, I have tremendous news to report!"
He then told Jing Hongchen everything that had happened earlier.
"A young man named Lu Ren came to the academy gates. He looked no more than fifteen or so, but judging by the presence of his soul power, he's already a rank forty-four Soul Ancestor!"
Jing Hongchen frowned and set down the blueprint in his hand, a trace of impatience in his voice:
"Average. He doesn't even match our academy's average rank. Only a Soul Ancestor at fourteen or fifteen-that's nothing more than ordinary. You wasted my time over this?"
"This is no ordinary genius." Lin Jiayi's voice rose. "His soul ring configuration is two purple and two black. His first soul ring is a thousand-year ring, and his third is a ten-thousand-year ring."
At those words, Jing Hongchen's expression froze.
His gaze instantly sharpened like an eagle's, fixing intently on Lin Jiayi:
"What did you say?"
"I saw it with my own eyes!" Lin Jiayi nodded emphatically. "Those soul ring colors couldn't be faked. Dozens of students nearby saw them too, and the whole place erupted on the spot!"
Jing Hongchen fell silent.
Three seconds later, he shot to his feet, nearly knocking over the chair behind him:
"A thousand-year first soul ring and a ten-thousand-year third soul ring? Lin Jiayi, are you so bored that you've come here to amuse this old man?"
"Not a single word is false!" Lin Jiayi hurriedly said. "The young man is in the physical testing room right now, waiting to be tested!"
Jing Hongchen's eyelid twitched.
In his decades of teaching, he had seen a thousand geniuses, or at least eight hundred.
He had also seen plenty of those Shrek students hailed as monsters.
But a thousand-year first soul ring?
That had already gone beyond the realm of genius.
He was simply a monster who defied all reason!
With that, Jing Hongchen cast aside such shortcomings as being only a Soul Ancestor at fourteen or fifteen.
What a genius needed was uniqueness, and the soul ring configuration Lin Jiayi had described was precisely the uniqueness of a monstrous genius!
"Absurd. Utterly absurd," Jing Hongchen murmured to himself. "Even Tang San ten thousand years ago had only an ordinary hundred-year first soul ring, and his third soul ring barely reached a thousand years. What sort of fortuitous opportunity did this young man encounter to obtain such a heaven-defying soul ring configuration?"
"I find it inconceivable as well!" Lin Jiayi agreed. "And this young man's strength is unfathomable."
"That brat Wang Shaojie is a Five-Ring Soul King. He demanded a payoff before he would introduce him, only to have his nose broken by a casual punch. Wang Shaojie had no chance to fight back!"
"Oh?" Jing Hongchen's eyes shifted. "Wang Shaojie? The one from a collateral branch of the imperial family?"
"Precisely."
Jing Hongchen's brow furrowed even more deeply.
He sat back down and mused:
"His origins are unknown, and his background is unclear. With such heaven-defying talent, why would he choose our academy? Could he be a spy sent by Shrek or the Three Great Empires?"
"I have the same concern," Lin Jiayi hurriedly said. "That's why I've already arranged for people to take him to the physical testing room for a comprehensive examination. His soul power, bone age, and martial soul will all be checked individually."
"If there really is something wrong with him, he definitely won't be able to hide it."
"Well done."
Jing Hongchen nodded, his tone softening somewhat.
Lin Jiayi paused, then continued:
"It's just that this young man is far too mysterious. Both his soul ring configuration and his martial soul seem strange."
"I'm slow-witted. When I met his eyes earlier, I could only feel how fathomless his gaze was. I couldn't gauge his depth at all, nor could I determine his true purpose."
Jing Hongchen fell silent for a moment.
He stood, walked to the window, and looked toward the academy.
"What did he say he wanted to join the academy for?"
Lin Jiayi answered honestly, "To help us defeat Shrek in the Continental Soul Master Tournament."
An amused smile curled the corners of Jing Hongchen's mouth.
"He certainly talks big."
He turned and strode toward the door:
"Come. I'll take a look at him myself. I hope you haven't deceived me."
Delighted, Lin Jiayi hurriedly rose and followed:
"Yes! I'll lead the way!"
As Jing Hongchen walked, he murmured to himself:
"A thousand-year first soul ring, a ten-thousand-year third soul ring... If those old fellows at Shrek knew we'd taken in someone like that, they'd probably be too consumed with envy to sleep, wouldn't they?"
His voice held both shock and a faint trace of anticipation.
If this Lu Ren truly could crush Shrek as he claimed...
Then perhaps the Sun Moon Empire's dream of dominating the continent really could be realized ahead of time.
Before you continue