Hearing Mu En's words, Mu Yueye couldn't help stopping in his tracks. He turned around, looking somewhat bewildered, and said,
"Great-great-grandfather, at my age, isn't it a little too early for me to enter the inner courtyard?"
Mu Yueye scratched his head. Mu En smiled, then said,
"You'll only be studying with the inner courtyard for now. The inspection missions can wait. The main thing is that you need the experience of being an inner courtyard disciple for a while."
Mu Yueye looked at Mu En with some doubt. Mu En nodded at him and said,
"It's settled, then. Get yourself ready."
After an initial silence, Mu Yueye accepted the suggestion. Mu En's reasoning was sound enough; he would have to enter the inner courtyard someday anyway.
The sooner he entered, the sooner he could meet the requirements for graduation. Besides, because of his twin Ultimate Martial Souls, his Soul Power cultivation had already slowed somewhat.
He was also gradually approaching the point where he would have more cultivation time than he could use, so he could easily set aside some of it for inspection missions.
Besides, Mu En had said he wouldn't assign him too many tasks, so there weren't many drawbacks to joining the inner courtyard.
The next morning, a wisp of hazy purple Qi entered Mu Yueye's eyes, and he blinked as though someone had put eye drops in them.
It felt warm, a little like gently warming his eyes.
No matter how the technique turned out once mastered, at least it felt good to practice. His cultivation routine was regular and wouldn't fluctuate too much.
It didn't make his heart burn either. It was quite comfortable.
Mu Yueye gazed at the rising sun gradually becoming clearer on the horizon, then stood up and stretched his body after sitting cross-legged for half the night.
It was time to meet his inner courtyard classmates. In a sense, they were also part of the core group Mu En was preparing for him.
Shrek Academy was no worse at brainwashing Douluo natives than a religion. Only transmigrators, who had seen something close to the whole picture of Shrek and were used to thinking for themselves, could avoid being fooled.
The vast majority of these inner courtyard disciples would one day become the backbone of Shrek Academy.
That was also the foundation on which Shrek had remained undefeated for a thousand years.
What struck Mu Yueye as novel, however, was that the inner courtyard actually had proper classes and academic lessons, though most people had no intention of attending them.
Mu Yueye had thought the inner courtyard was purely like a guild, with each day spent cycling through cultivation, missions, and recuperation.
Mu Yueye entered the inner courtyard classroom and looked at the handful of students inside.
The students in this class had only come up from the outer courtyard that year. Mu Yueye looked them over. Though they looked different, there was something similar in their eyes.
They all had the same arrogant air of "I'm number one under heaven."
As Mu Yueye studied them, the students who had fought their way out of the outer courtyard were studying him too.
Mu Yueye could even hear the girls in the neighboring seats talking.
They were two girls who looked to be about the same age. One had a cool, aloof bearing, proud as a plum blossom. She spoke softly to a short-haired girl beside her.
"Xi Xi, look at the newcomer. I don't recognize him. Did we ever see him in the outer courtyard?"
The short-haired girl followed the finger of the girl beside her, who was noticeably prettier than she was, and looked at Mu Yueye's face. Then she said calmly,
"I don't remember him. He wasn't in any of the past few intakes."
The short-haired girl called Xi Xi had an unremarkable voice, the sort that was hard to remember.
Mu Yueye analyzed what he heard and matched it against what he knew. Then the corners of his mouth curved up slightly, and he turned his gaze to the scenery outside the window.
From this angle, the Golden Ancient Tree had a charm all its own.
Mu Yueye thought this to himself. As for the lesson, he only paid attention to the useful parts.
The teacher filled time with tales of his supposedly legendary experiences before he became a teacher, but Mu Yueye treated them as nothing more than birdsong.
When class finally ended, Mu Yueye stood up to leave, but the two girls blocked his path.
Mu Yueye raised an eyebrow and looked at them curiously. "Can I help you?"
Xi Xi said,
"I don't think I saw you in the outer courtyard before. What's your story? You look a lot younger than us."
Mu Yueye smiled, making no attempt to hide it. He said to the two girls,
"It's only natural you don't recognize me. I never studied in the outer courtyard at all."
At those words, the classmates watching from the sidelines all turned to look at Mu Yueye.
Xi Xi wasn't the only one wondering. Plenty of people with broad social circles in the outer courtyard had the same question.
These students had, after all, cultivated their brains into a somewhat simpler state, and they hadn't yet sharpened their wits again on the inner courtyard's official missions.
Xi Xi nodded at Mu Yueye's words, then said to him,
"That sounds interesting. You never studied in the outer courtyard... We can spar sometime when we're free."
Mu Yueye glanced around at the other students, then said to Xi Xi and the girl beside her,
"No need to wait until we're free someday. I don't have the time to indulge you one by one, with you coming to play with me today and him wanting to practice with me tomorrow.
"I have other things to do. This afternoon, anyone who isn't convinced can come with me to the Soul Fighting platform... You two can come at me together."
Mu Yueye pointed specifically at Xi Xi and the girl beside her. The other girl frowned and said to him,
"Don't think too highly of yourself, and don't look down on others."
Mu Yueye merely raised an eyebrow and stepped forward. A dragon's roar rang out in the now-silent classroom.
A golden dragon's phantom burst into view behind him. At the same time, four Soul Rings-one yellow, two purple, and one black-slowly emerged beneath his feet and circled there silently.
At the sight of the black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring in the fourth position, the onlookers in the classroom were stunned, along with Xi Xi and the other girl.
Though the inner courtyard hid crouching tigers and lurking dragons, there truly wasn't anyone to be found whose fourth Soul Ring was a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring.
"You've misunderstood me on quite a few points. I'm not thinking too highly of myself or looking down on you. I simply have a clear understanding of my own strength... Incidentally, anyone even a little smart wouldn't rush forward like you did without knowing anything about their opponent."
Mu Yueye spoke calmly to the two girls. Xi Xi stepped forward and said,
"Your criticism is right, but Soul Ring Configuration isn't everything. Since you've invited us, there's no reason for us to refuse the challenge."
With that, Xi Xi led the way out of the classroom. Mu Yueye shrugged and said nonchalantly...