Flender stared in astonishment. His eyes widened as he fixed them on the medal-shaped Soul Tool in Jun Yi's hand, his breathing growing rapid.
"There's actually a Soul Tool like this?"
Flender had never seen a Soul Tool that could form a defensive barrier, and a trace of greed immediately appeared in his eyes.
"Kid, that thing of yours is pretty good. Give me that and another twenty Gold Soul Coins, and the crystal is yours."
Flender spoke as though he were taking a loss.
"Rongrong, let's just go register at Shrek Academy. We don't need this thing."
With that, Jun Yi casually put the crystal back on the table and began pulling Ning Rongrong toward the door.
Although Ning Rongrong felt something was amiss, she said nothing more and followed Jun Yi outside.
"Wait, did you just say you were going to register at Shrek Academy?"
"What about it?" Jun Yi stopped and turned to look at Flender.
"Nothing. How about this, young brother? I'll take a little loss. Give me the Soul Tool, and I'll give you that crystal."
Flender spoke as though he were losing a fortune.
Jun Yi took out the badge and tossed it to Flender, then pocketed the crystal on the table.
Looking at the exquisite Soul Tool badge, Flender secretly rejoiced, but he still put on a pained expression. "Sigh... fine. Since you're sincere about this trade, I'll let you have a bargain. By the way, how do you use this Soul Tool?"
"Just pour Soul Power into it."
With that, Jun Yi, Ning Rongrong, and Zhu Zhuqing left Flender's shop and headed toward Shrek Academy.
"Jun Yi, what's so special about that crystal? You actually traded a level-one defensive Soul Tool for it?"
From the very beginning, Ning Rongrong had seen from Jun Yi's expression that the crystal was no ordinary object. She had only called it a worthless crystal earlier to help him haggle down the price.
"Of course it's special. What's inside this crystal is worth at least ten thousand Gold Soul Coins, and it's a first-rate forging material." Jun Yi smiled as he spoke.
"Ah! Ten thousand Gold Soul Coins? Isn't that a bit ridiculous?" Ning Rongrong exclaimed in surprise.
"What exactly is worth that much?" Zhu Zhuqing was equally shocked.
"This is the finest grade of hair crystal, called plate crystal. As for what plate crystal does, how should I explain it to you? It's an extremely rare metal, the kind you might not encounter in a thousand years, so it's very valuable."
Jun Yi's explanation was very general. After all, explaining its uses to them at length would be far too troublesome and would waste his breath.
"So that's how it is." Both girls nodded thoughtfully.
"Come on, let's go register at Shrek Academy," Jun Yi called.
They traveled south, left Suotuo City, and arrived in front of a small village.
"Jun Yi, are you sure you haven't taken us the wrong way? Isn't this a little village? Where's Shrek Academy?" Ning Rongrong frowned, while Zhu Zhuqing beside her also looked puzzled.
"We're not going the wrong way. Don't worry, we're almost there."
Jun Yi led the two girls to the village entrance, where a table stood, but there was no one there. A somewhat dilapidated sign hung from the wooden arch over the entrance, carved with five simple characters: Shrek Academy. Before those five characters was a green face that looked like the head of some humanoid monster.
"No way. This is the Shrek Academy Dad talked about, where experts gather like clouds?"
Ning Rongrong stared at the sign in astonishment, then looked at Zhu Zhuqing and found that she was equally stunned, her expression somewhat unnatural.
"See? I told you I hadn't taken the wrong way." Jun Yi smiled.
"Is this some kind of joke? What academy is this run-down? Even a junior Soul Master Academy is much better than this," Ning Rongrong complained.
"If it's an academy, why aren't they accepting students?"
Zhu Zhuqing looked around curiously. Not only was the place small, there were very few buildings. This really did not look the way an advanced Soul Master Academy should.
"Let's go inside and have a look."
Jun Yi was curious too. Normally, there should have been a teacher handling admissions here, so why wasn't there anyone?
"Hey, is anyone here?" Ning Rongrong clearly did not particularly want to go inside, so she called out, her voice clear and pleasant.
"Who are you, and what brings you to Shrek Academy?"
An old man approached from a distance, looking utterly languid. To put it nicely, his clothes were plain. No matter how one looked at him, he resembled an old villager.
"Why isn't Shrek Academy accepting students?" Ning Rongrong asked curiously.
"Shrek Academy doesn't begin admissions until tomorrow. You're early," the old man replied.
"Tomorrow? I saw that the other academies have already started accepting students. Why hasn't Shrek Academy started yet? Aren't you afraid they'll steal all your prospective students?"
Zhu Zhuqing asked curiously. On their way here, they had passed many academies and seen them all accepting students. Why was Shrek Academy alone a day later than everyone else?
"Hmph, because they're all trash."
The old man snorted, his tone filled with contempt.
"Huh?"
Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing both froze for a moment, then shook their heads. This old man's words were far too arrogant. He actually dared to call all the other academies trash.
"If you want to register, come back tomorrow. We're not accepting students today."
With that, the old man waved a hand and returned to the village, leaving the three of them dumbfounded.
"Then shall we come back tomorrow?" Jun Yi spread his hands helplessly.
"Are we really going to join Shrek Academy?"
After a long while, Ning Rongrong finally could not help asking. She felt that Shrek Academy was a hundred million little bits different from what she had imagined, rather at odds with the powerful academy her father had described.
"Uncle Ning said this place was extraordinary, so it must be extraordinary. Let's come back tomorrow and take another look."
"All right. What about you, Zhu Zhuqing? Are you joining Shrek Academy too?"
"Yes." Zhu Zhuqing nodded earnestly.
"Then let's come back tomorrow and have a look. If it's really bad, we'll discuss it then."
Ning Rongrong muttered this, then said nothing more.
"Let's head back to Suotuo City first and come again tomorrow," Jun Yi said.
"Then let's hurry back and see whether the hotel still has any rooms," Zhu Zhuqing suggested.
Hearing this, Ning Rongrong grew interested. She took both of them by the hand and said excitedly:
"Let's go back to the Rose Hotel first and see whether they have any other rooms. I really love the atmosphere there!"
With that, Ning Rongrong pulled the two of them toward Suotuo City.
If I go by the timeline, with admissions tomorrow, heading back to the Rose Hotel now should mean running into Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Dai Mubai, along with the two twins at his side.
Jun Yi inwardly brightened, thinking that there would be another good show to watch...
(End of chapter)