After asking around, Lin Mo soon arrived at the east gate reserved exclusively for Shrek Academy. With the recommendation letter in his hand, he actually skipped the entire assessment process.
When he emerged from the teaching building with his school badge, uniform, and dormitory key, he was still a little dazed.
Was joining Shrek really that simple?
Arriving before the white freshman dormitory building, Lin Mo immediately spotted an elderly man nearly a hundred years old sunning himself in a reclining chair beneath the large tree by the entrance. He was probably the dorm supervisor.
Lin Mo paused.
Going by the tropes of novels and online games on Blue Star...
The more ordinary someone like an old sweeper or dorm supervisor looked, the less ordinary he really was.
This old man might well be the master of the Sea God Pavilion or the academy dean playing the fool to test the freshmen.
With that in mind, Lin Mo decisively approached and struck up a conversation with easy familiarity. "Sir, enjoying the sun? I'm a new student. Could you tell me which floor boys' dormitory 108 is on?"
The old man's drooping eyelids did not move. Only his somewhat hoarse, low voice sounded:
"Room 108 is the third room on the left on the first floor. The girls' dormitories start on the fourth floor. You mustn't go up there. If you're caught, you'll be expelled."
"Thanks, sir."
Successfully made an impression!
After bowing to the old man, Lin Mo happily entered the dormitory building.
Only after his figure had completely disappeared into the corridor did the old man slowly open his eyes. Those eyes were dark and deep, without a trace of the cloudiness one would expect at his age. Instead, they revealed a hint of surprise he could not conceal.
"This rich energy of heaven and earth... it really is the Mystic Bird."
"When the Mystic Bird is born, the Human Sovereign emerges."
"No wonder the Dou Ling Imperial Family chose this critical moment to act." The old man's tone grew slightly grave as he murmured, "But now that he's entered our Shrek, he's a student of our Shrek."
"Shaozhe, come here."
With those words, the old man flicked a fingertip, and a wisp of golden light shot into the depths of the academy with a whoosh.
Another breeze swept past. When one looked again, the reclining chair was empty. The old man had vanished at some unknown moment.
"105, 106, 107..."
"108! Found it!"
Lin Mo inserted the key, turned it, and reached out to push open the dormitory door.
The dormitory door slowly opened.
White light blossomed before his eyes. Lin Mo seemed to see a peaceful, wonderful future unfolding before him-
"My name's Huo Yuhao. I'm in dormitory 108 too."
The dormitory door opened fully. Inside, a blue-haired boy who called himself "Huo Yuhao" was sitting on the wooden bed on the left.
Lin Mo: "..."
When he remained silent for a long time, Huo Yuhao tentatively waved a hand before his eyes.
"Hello?"
The next second, a piercing explosive cry rang out from dormitory 108:
"I want to change rooms! I want to change rooms!! I want to change rooms!!!"
"I want to change roo-aaah, fuck!!!!"
Sun Moon Empire, the crown prince's bedchamber.
The bedchamber's windows were covered tightly, leaving only a few strands of sunlight seeping through the gaps.
On the large bed, Xu Yuwan, who had been half reclining, suddenly opened her eyes.
Her slightly disheveled purple hair lay spread over the pillow, cascading down to her waist like a waterfall. Her phoenix eyes were also deep purple, their corners tilting slightly upward, paired with an almost pallid face.
At that moment, she wore only a loose sleeping robe, its neckline slightly open.
At first glance, she gave a sickly impression, like a lamp the wind might extinguish at any moment.
Xu Yuwan raised a hand to her forehead. Her usually sinister eyes now held a measure of bewilderment.
She had dreamed.
A very, very long dream.
She could no longer remember most of what had happened in it. Only one person's name remained nailed firmly into her mind.
Lin Mo.
The Lin Mo in her dream had a Martial Soul suspected to be the legendary Auspicious Mystic Bird. His talent could not be called earth-shaking, but it was certainly not poor.
So she had kept him by her side, supporting him as a subordinate.
He had originally been no more than a dispensable, idle piece on the board. Yet as the days passed, her legs, which had been crippled for who knew how many years, had actually begun to regain sensation, little by little.
The bewilderment in Xu Yuwan's eyes faded strand by strand, replaced by a gloom that spread and deepened.
Ordinarily, once someone's cultivation reached the level of a Titled Douluo, they rarely dreamed. Besides, this dream had been so real that even she felt somewhat dazed.
Whether this thread was a revelation of heaven's secrets or a demonic delusion, she had to find this person named Lin Mo first.
Xu Yuwan retrieved a communication soul tool from beneath her pillow. Her slender fingers brushed its cold surface, and a strand of Soul Power entered it, sending a message to Xue Chen. He excelled at handling secret matters that could not be brought into the open.
"Find this person's whereabouts within three days."
"Lin Mo, Martial Soul: Azure Flame Mystic Crow. Report immediately if you learn anything. Capture him alive. Do not harm him."
The reply came swiftly, four crisp, decisive words:
"Your subordinate accepts orders."
She casually set the soul tool back beside her pillow, lowered her eyes, and slowly laid her hands over her utterly insensate legs through the bedding.
No matter how much force she used, she could not stir the slightest sensation in those legs.
Xu Yuwan sat like that, utterly motionless.
After a long time, her thin lips parted slightly, and she murmured in a breathy voice even she could barely hear:
"Lin... Mo..."
Shrek Academy, dormitory 108.
Lin Mo lay on his bed with nothing left to live for, his eyes vacant.
I dare not open my eyes; I hope it's all an illusion~
He had just returned from the academic affairs office. The result was that all the rooms were full, and he could not change rooms without a special reason.
As for a special reason...
Did being assigned to the same room as the chief culprit who had killed him in his previous life count? Lin Mo had said just that, earning himself a look of tender concern for the mentally challenged from the dean of students.
Lin Mo sprang up from the bed and clawed at his hair, on the verge of breaking down.
He had joined Shrek Academy precisely to stay away from that bunch of lunatics and live safely on the continent.
And the result? Heh.
Luck had come knocking the moment he opened the door-the chosen one's luck.
"Um, are you okay?" Huo Yuhao asked timidly from beside him.
Lin Mo took several deep breaths, but as he looked at Huo Yuhao's face, his right eyelid still twitched uncontrollably.
"I'm fine, fine..."
Fine, my ass!
Fuck, should I just kill him right here?
The instant that thought surfaced, a flicker of killing intent flashed through Lin Mo's eyes.
No. The chosen one definitely comes with a cheat or an old grandpa. Never mind whether I could kill him-even if I actually did, Shrek Academy would definitely apprehend me.
Completely out of options, Lin Mo chose to escape reality.
In any case, according to the tropes, the chosen one would start out with either a trash Martial Soul or weak Soul Power. He posed no threat for the time being.
He decided to get something to eat first, then buy some daily necessities.
When Lin Mo returned laden with bags of all sizes, Huo Yuhao was meditating cross-legged on the wooden bed. Lin Mo swiftly made his own bed, then climbed onto it and began meditating too.
On the Douluo Continent, might made right. Improving his strength remained the most important thing right now.
He was currently a rank-25 Soul Grandmaster with two yellow Soul Rings. His Martial Soul was the Azure Flame Mystic Crow, with dual fire and space attributes. Though he could not be considered a top-tier genius, he was still outstanding among the many students.
As Lin Mo began cultivating, the energy of heaven and earth began to be drawn to him involuntarily, forming an invisible vortex around him and pouring continuously into his body.
"What rich spiritual energy of heaven and earth!"
This disturbance instantly alerted the Skydream Iceworm within Huo Yuhao, who began investigating the situation around him.
"Holy shit, th-this, this... the Mystic Bird?!"
(PS: Lin Mo's Martial Soul is the Auspicious Mystic Bird. It did not fully awaken in his previous life, so it was mistaken for the Azure Flame Mystic Crow.
In this life, because he doesn't know the Mystic Bird exists, he still believes his Martial Soul is the Azure Flame Mystic Crow.
As for why Lin Mo was reborn, Ake will explain later.)