Xiao Yan and the others looked back to see a girl in tight black leather standing behind them.
The girl was a head shorter than Xiao Yan. Her face was somewhat youthful, and she seemed even younger than him and the others. Her long hair fell smoothly down her back.
Her head was slightly lowered, and her dark eyes were full of coldness. A faint trace of indifference drifted from her, as though shutting out everything around her. She seemed utterly devoid of life.
Her cold presence stood in stark contrast to her striking, voluptuous figure.
Xiao Yan could swear that even some mature women weren't as well-endowed as she was.
"Hiss!"
Beside him, Xiao Wu puffed out her cheeks and pinched Tang San's arm, a dangerous light in her eyes.
"Little San, like what you see?"
"Ahem, it's our turn."
Tang San pulled his arm back with a grimace, then pointed ahead.
Xiao Yan turned around as well. He couldn't help thinking that, in his previous life, this girl would truly have been the sort of legendary beauty who would bring ruin to kingdoms and their people once she grew up...
With their Soul Power levels, Xiao Yan and his two companions passed the old man's round with ease.
Three people in a row had Soul Power above rank twenty-one and met Shrek Academy's admission requirements. The old man was overjoyed.
"Xiao Yan, Tang San, congratulations on passing the first round of the test. Come on, shall I take you inside?"
Dai Mubai stepped forward and spoke to the three of them with a faint smile.
"No rush. Why don't we wait and watch for a bit?"
Xiao Yan smiled at Dai Mubai, then looked back at the girl in black. After all, one look at her bearing was enough to tell she was no ordinary person.
Since she dared come here, Xiao Yan felt she should have the strength to pass the test.
"Senior Brother, don't tell me you've taken a fancy to her?"
Tang San said nothing, but Xiao Wu spoke rather thoughtlessly, teasing Xiao Yan.
"What are you talking about?"
Xiao Yan reached out and knocked on Xiao Wu's head.
"I just feel there's something different about her presence. She should be able to pass the test."
"Whoosh!"
As soon as Xiao Yan finished speaking, two Soul Rings burst forth around the girl. Both were yellow, and both were Hundred-Year Soul Rings.
"Senior Brother was right after all," Tang San said in surprise. After passing the old man's test, the girl in black walked over to them.
Dai Mubai stared blankly at the girl. Xiao Wu waved a hand to interrupt him and said,
"You lecher, don't even think about preying on her!"
"I just felt that her Martial Soul was somewhat familiar to mine, that's all..."
An embarrassed look appeared on Dai Mubai's face as he defended himself to Xiao Wu, but no one believed Young Master Dai, who stayed at the Rose Hotel every night.
"Come on, I'll take you to check in."
Dai Mubai addressed the group. Seeing the girl approaching, Xiao Wu didn't deliberately make things awkward for him and said no more.
They followed Dai Mubai deeper into Shrek Academy. As he led them along, he said,
"Shrek Academy's entrance test has four rounds in total. You just passed the first."
"Four rounds!?"
Tang San looked at Dai Mubai in surprise and said,
"Didn't that first round just eliminate ninety percent of the applicants?"
Xiao Yan and the others found it hard to imagine as well. They had spent so long at the academy entrance, yet fewer than twenty applicants had passed the first round.
"Ninety percent?"
A strange smile appeared on Dai Mubai's face when he heard that. He said to them,
"Then you've underestimated how hard it is to get into the academy. You should know that the academy didn't recruit a single student in either of the past two years. Right now, there are only three students in the whole academy, including me."
"I'm afraid Shrek Academy is the only academy with more teachers than students..."
"So few!?"
Xiao Yan and the others looked stunned by Dai Mubai's words. Even the girl in black following beside them raised her head in astonishment and glanced over.
"With so few students, how does the academy keep itself going?"
Tang San's question struck straight to the heart of the matter. Without students, there was no source of income, so how did Shrek Academy cover its day-to-day expenses?
"That's why..." Dai Mubai spread his hands. "The academy is located in such a remote place to save money. In fact, if my family hadn't invested some funds, I'm afraid it would have closed its doors long ago."
"In that case, why doesn't the academy lower its standards?"
Tang San asked, puzzled. Dai Mubai continued,
"The dean said he would rather go without than settle for less. Even if the academy ultimately has to close its doors, it absolutely cannot lower its standards for admitting students.
"So if none of you can pass the entrance test this time, I'm afraid I'll be among the academy's last class of students."
Listening to Dai Mubai, Xiao Yan didn't entirely agree with the dean's approach.
There was nothing wrong with wanting to create the most elite academy on the continent, but when it couldn't even meet its basic needs, it had to learn to adapt.
Take the applicants who had just passed the test: the academy could also have admitted them. Their aptitude wasn't bad, and they could easily have helped keep the academy afloat while it continued to train top students.
Even so, Xiao Yan still quite admired the academy's dean.
"Your Soul Power should all be above rank twenty-five, right?" Dai Mubai turned to ask them, mainly directing the question at Xiao Wu and the girl in black beside her.
After all, he had experienced Xiao Yan and Tang San's strength firsthand.
"Mm."
The two girls nodded lightly, a trace of confusion on their faces.
"The academy has a rule: applicants whose Soul Power is above rank twenty-five can skip the second and third rounds and report directly to the fourth."
Dai Mubai explained this to them, then said, "Wait here for me a moment."
With that, Dai Mubai walked over to the teacher in charge of the second round and whispered a few words to him, then pointed at Xiao Yan and the others.
The teacher nodded lightly, and Dai Mubai walked back toward Xiao Yan and the others.
This time, however, the girl in the white dress who had passed the first round earlier followed behind Dai Mubai.
Dai Mubai stopped in front of them and said to Xiao Yan and the others,
"All right, I've spoken to the teacher. All of you can skip the tests and go straight to the fourth round."
With that, Dai Mubai stepped aside. The girl in the white dress nodded lightly to the group, allowing Xiao Yan and the others to get a clear look at her face.
She had short, ear-length hair and delicate features. She carried herself with an air of nobility, yet there was also a touch of gentleness about her that felt like a spring breeze.
Compared to the voluptuous girl in black, who was like an iceberg, the girl in white seemed easier to approach.
"Come on, I'll take you to the fourth-round testing ground."
There was a note of ease in Dai Mubai's voice as he said,
"In the twenty years since the academy was founded, it has only admitted around sixty students, an average of one or two a year. If all of you are accepted, this will be the largest class it has ever admitted."