6 The Number One Academy on the Douluo Continent

“Oh.” Huo Yuhao had originally planned to ponder the few capturing techniques that Bei Bei had taught him yesterday, but he immediately turned blank after hearing what Tang Ya had said.

The three continued their journey. While they were walking, Tang Ya explained the situation within Shrek Academy to Huo Yuhao.

Shrek Academy had been established ten thousand years ago, and the word ‘Shrek’ meant ‘monster’ in the ancient language. This also meant that, the people who’d founded Shrek Academy at the start had wanted to establish an academy of monsters.

Shrek Academy’s oldest motto was “To breed only monsters, not ordinary people.”, but the word ‘monster’ actually referred to geniuses.

Even the person who’d founded the Douluo Continent’s number one Tang Sect had graduated from Shrek Academy, and it was also that student who brought about the first glorious moment for Shrek Academy. At that time, Shrek Academy had only had their founding students, who were referred to as the Shrek’s Seven Monsters within the Shrek Academy’s history.

The story of Shrek’s Seven Monsters had already spread for a long time, and the most famous of them was still the husband and wife couple that included the sect master of the Tang Sect. Afterwards, although the Tang Sect declined, Shrek Academy still stood high. Furthermore, following the developments that came with the passage of time, it gradually became the number one academy on the Douluo Continent.

Nowadays, Shrek Academy held a position of power within the continent, the root of the cause of being the continental war that had occurred during the collision of the Douluo Continent and the Sun Moon Continent four thousand years ago.

When the war had only just started, the three empires of the Douluo Continent had been divided in their opinions, causing the Douluo Continent to be at a disadvantageous position during the start of the war, so much so that the army of the Sun Moon Continent had been able to make their way to the inner parts of the Douluo Continent.

At this crucial moment, Shrek Academy’s dean from that year had made a rallying cry. This had an unexpectedly large response, causing nearly sixty Titled Douluo super-experts to temporarily become the commanders of the three armies. After taking command of their armies, they swiftly destroyed the Sun Moon Empire’s army, obtaining the final victory in the war, and unifying the continents into one called the Douluo Continent. The Sun Moon Empire only managed to continue existing afterwards by giving up its lands, and by paying war reparations. However, their military strength had been weakened by an extremely large amount, which led to them being unable to contend with the three combined armies of the Douluo Continent anymore. Its military strength was equivalent to that of a single empire, at most.

The war also caused the reputation of Shrek’s Academy to soar. It wasn’t just because Shrek Academy had gathered sixty Titled Douluos, but was also because that year’s dean had become the commander of the three empires’ unified army. Under his rallying cry, the royal families from the three great empires discovered, to their great surprise, that practically all of the generals of the unified army had come from Shrek Academy. Under the unified allocation of resources by Shrek Academy’s dean, the combined army of the three great empires no longer had any discord between them. It was also because of this unification that they were able to achieve victory.

From then on, Shrek Academy no longer belonged to any single country; it had become a standalone existence.

Shrek Academy had successively raised extremely wise deans. Although the academy held a majestic position on the continent, they weren’t arrogant in the least. The academy’s attitude towards all countries was the same. Furthermore, they didn’t possess any private armies, and the number of teachers that they kept was even kept at a certain limit. Because of this, Shrek Academy didn’t cause any of the countries to feel a sense of danger. After all, Shrek Academy was an academy. Thus, not only did it continue to exist, but its lofty position within the continent was also one that couldn’t be easily shaken by any country.

Shrek Academy was located within the southeastern portion of the Tian Hun Empire, with the Great Star Dou Forest located directly southwest from it. The Dou Ling Empire was east of it, and the Star Luo Empire was located northwards. It could be said that Shrek Academy was located at the intersection point of the three empires.

Tang Ya told Huo Yuhao that Shrek Academy was currently divided into two parts: the inner courtyard and the outer courtyard. Every year, the number of new students they’d recruit was around a thousand or so, yet the total number of students within the academy had never surpassed five thousand. It would take twelve years for one to complete their studies and graduate after entering Shrek Academy. This also meant that Shrek Academy’s elimination rate was extremely high every year. If one wasn’t able to pass the academy’s assessments, he’d be mercilessly kicked out of the academy.

However, every single person that managed to successfully graduate from Shrek Academy was a once-in-a-generation genius.

It could be said that Shrek Academy was truly a cradle filled with experts, so much so that even political issues would occur between the Tian Hun Empire, Dou Ling Empire, and Star Luo Empire due to the number of students that Shrek Academy would admit each year. The fame of the number one academy in the world could clearly be seen from this.

The Sun Moon Empire, on the other hand—possibly due to their enmity with Shrek Academy—had never asked to send people to study at Shrek Academy. There were also a few high-level academies within the Sun Moon Empire that had already reached a fairly high standard after experiencing a few thousand years of development. Only, the Sun Moon Empire’s military strength had always been limited due to the pact they’d made after the war, which prevented them from expanding too much. Thus, the Sun Moon Empire was still keeping a low profile, at least on the surface.

“Yuhao, once you enter the academy, you’ll cultivate in the outer courtyard. The outer courtyard is split into many faculties, so you should temporarily cultivate inside the control faculty. At the same time, you should simultaneously study inside of the Soul Engineering Institution. How about it?” Tang Ya asked Huo Yuhao after giving him a simple introduction to the Shrek Academy’s internal situation.

“Teacher Xiao Ya, what’s this ‘Soul Engineering Institution’?” Huo Yuhao asked.

Tang Ya replied, “The so-called Soul Engineering Institution is a place created for the sake of studying soul weapons.” She unexpectedly clenched her teeth in anger as she said the words ‘soul weapons’.

“Soul weapons?” Huo Yuhao was still slightly puzzled. However, you couldn’t blame him. Shrek Academy was currently the number one academy on the continent, yet he’d grown up in a closed environment since he was young. Thus, he naturally had little knowledge and experience of such matters.

Seeing Tang Ya’s slightly unhappy expression, Bei Bei took her place explaining things to Huo Yuhao. “Soul tools actually have a very large relationship with our Tang Sect. In a sense, soul tools are weapons that we use soulforce to activate. Higher quality soul tools will possess greater might. This also means that, even if you’re only a tool soul master, you’d still be able to possess considerably high attack power if you had a strong soul tool. However, the development of soul tools was one of the main reasons for our Tang Sect’s decline.”

“Our Tang Sect was still flourishing four thousand years ago. However, the collision with the Sun Moon Continent was the root cause for our Tang Sect’s decline.” Tang Ya spoke with a hateful tone, “Our Tang Sect was famous for hidden weapons, and our main source of income was obtained by selling hidden weapons. In the past, almost every single country would purchase a certain amount of hidden weapons from us—even some sects would do the same.”

“Over four thousand years ago, war quickly broke out when the Sun Moon Continent collided with our Douluo Continent. The three empires’ armies, supported by the hidden weapons of our Tang Sect, collided with the army of the Sun Moon Empire. In the end, although the Sun Moon Empire wasn’t strong in the aspect of soul masters, they possessed unique insights in the aspects of soul tools. These soul tools were activated with soulforce, and surpassed our Tang Sect’s hidden weapons in strength as a whole, as well as in attack range. In the end, it caused the three empires of our Douluo Continent to suffer disastrous losses during the initial phase of the war.”

“Although we won the war in the end, the effectiveness of our Tang Sect’s hidden weapons was called into question. From then on, various countries started a large-scale reduction in purchasing our hidden weapons. Even though our income was still high, a large portion of it was donated out, as per the will of the first sect master. The donated money was used to improve the lifestyle of the ordinary folk who lived in impoverished areas, as well as to build schools and other public facilities. Thus, we didn’t have a lot of extra cash.”

“At that time, the Tang Sect had several thousand people in it. However, the speed of our decline was simply too quick. After only a mere two hundred years, our Tang Sect had rapidly declined. The former number one sect in the continent never saw its former glory again. When the Tang Sect reached my generation, the only three people left were my father, my mother, and me. And when we were hunting some soul beasts, my mother and father died. Thus, the Tang Sect only had a lone child like me left.”

When she got to this point, tears flowed down Tang Ya’s smooth and exquisite face, and she couldn’t help but clench her fists tightly.

Huo Yuhao murmured, “Teacher Xiao Ya, are our Tang Sect’s hidden weapons truly incomparable to these soul tools?”

Tang Ya sighed and said, “In certain aspects, what you say is indeed true. What the Sun Moon Continent brought to us wasn’t just soul tools, but also a plentiful amount of minerals. These rare minerals are all extremely good conductors for soulforce, which makes them especially suitable for manufacturing soul tools. This caused the high-speed development of soul tools to happen during the few thousand years after the war had ended, which resulted in an even smaller market for our Tang Sect’s hidden weapons. However, in the field of degree of meticulousness, as well as design ingenuity, our Tang Sect’s hidden weapons absolutely surpass soul tools; this is especially true of a few sharp hidden weapons, which are even superior to soul weapons. However, the manufacturing requirements for those hidden weapons are also extremely complicated.”

Bei Bei rubbed Tang Ya’s head and said, “ The development of soul tools has truly dealt a harsh blow to our Tang Sect and its hidden weapons. When I’d just met Tang Ya, she stubbornly believed that hidden weapons were stronger than soul tools. However, the facts have proven that soul tools are capable of replacing our Tang Sect’s hidden weapons in becoming weapons that are accepted by all parties, which indeed makes sense. Firstly, it’s because they’ve simply been easily accepted by the masses, especially those tool soul masters who don’t actually have any attacking capabilities. After possessing a soul tool, they turned into battle soul masters in practically an instant, with the only cost they had to pay being soulforce. Thus, after Xiao Ya and I discussed it, we decided that out Tang Sect absolutely could not continue following our old ways, locking ourselves in our own world, if we wanted the sect to flourish once again. If we want to make the glory of the Tang Sect reappear, then not only do we have to understand soul tools, but we also need to merge them with the manufacturing techniques of our current hidden weapons to create even stronger soul tools. This is the only way our Tang Sect will have the opportunity to grow. Because of this, each and every one of our Tang Sect’s disciples must simultaneously study soul tools while cultivating their martial souls.”

Huo Yuhao replied, “Teacher Xiao Ya, eldest senior brother, since soul weapons are so strong, why did the Sun Moon Empire lose to the allied army of our three empires during the war?”

Bei Bei smiled calmly and said, “That’s because, although the soul weapons they possessed back then were strong, even the strongest soul tool wasn’t able to compare to the fighting power of a Titled Douluo. However, after a few thousand years of development, a few especially strong soul tools have begun to appear, whose strength can even threaten Titled Douluos. However, soul tools have a major issue, which is the fact that stronger soul tools require stronger soul masters to use them to their fullest extent. If you don’t have enough soulforce to support their usage, their power will be extremely limited. Thus, an interesting phenomena has occurred after our two continents merged together. The people over here are doing their utmost to study the methods needed to manufacture soul tools, while the people over at the Sun Moon Empire are doing their best to cultivate strong soul masters. After these past few thousand years, our two continents seem to actually be somewhat balanced.”

Huo Yuhao finally had an initial understanding of Shrek Academy with Bei Bei and Tang Ya’s introductions.

After Tang Ya rubbed the tears off of her face, she grabbed Huo Yuhao’s sleeve and said, “Little Yuhao, the most important thing for you to do right now is to stay within Shrek Academy. Bei Bei and I are already third year students, and it shouldn’t be a problem for us to rise to the rank of fourth year students since I’ve obtained my thousand-year soul ring. After becoming fourth year students, the elimination rate isn’t that high. After a few more years, we’ll have the chance to enter the inner courtyard and study there. However, you’re different. After entering the academy as a first year student, the competition you’ll face will be the most intense. The academy will have an assessment for new students every three months, and only students who are able to pass the assessment can stay. Although our Tang Sect has the privilege of admitting a single student into Shrek Academy, whether you can continue to stay will all depend on you. This is something that no one can help you with, do you understand?”

Huo Yuhao nodded his head seriously as he said, “Teacher Xiao Ya, I will definitely do my best. However, with your and eldest senior brother’s power, have you actually not become students of the inner courtyard?”

Tang Ya replied, “Wanting to enter the inner courtyard of Shrek Academy is easier said than done. The rules for Shrek Academy have never been changed. The outer courtyard was only created later on, due to the three empires requests so that they could cultivate even more talented people. However, only students who have entered the inner courtyard are considered true students of Shrek Academy. Every single student in the inner courtyard is a genius or a monstrous genius, and some of them can only be described as monsters. Students in the outer courtyard will have a test after staying there for six years, and can graduate after passing that test. Only the most outstanding people that take the test, which number extremely few, will have the chance to take the entrance exam for the inner courtyard. Only after passing that test will they have permission to enter the inner courtyard. The time taken to complete their studies within the inner courtyard is also six years. Supposedly, every single person that has graduated from the inner courtyard is at least an expert of the Soul Emperor rank! Furthermore, they’ll receive the best treatment from all countries, including the Sun Moon Empire.”

“It’s that amazing!” When Huo Yuhao heard this, he couldn’t help a feeling of infatuation rising in his heart. He secretly thought to himself that, if he could one day become a graduating student from Shrek Academy’s inner courtyard, he could return to the Duke’s Mansion to ask for his mother’s remains. Then, his mother could be at peace. After he thought of this, he couldn’t help but clench his fists tightly.

Bei Bei was serious as he said, “It’s far more amazing. I once saw an upperclassman from the inner courtyard. He entered the Great Star Dou Forest by himself, and defeated three ten-thousand-year soul beasts with his bare hands, without killing them! He then took them back to the academy. Supposedly, that was the mission he’d received for his tenth year assessment.”

Tang Ya said, “I’ve even heard that there was once a twelfth-year upperclassmen who’d already reached the Soul Sage level by the time he graduated. Furthermore, he even possessed a hundred thousand year soul ring! That upperclassman later stayed in the academy to be raised as the next dean of the academy.”

After hearing their explanations, Huo Yuhao had begun to have an impatient feeling. His interactions with Bei Bei and Tang Ya these past few days had made him deeply understand the enormous benefits he received towards his cultivation when he had a good teacher. Shrek Academy was undoubtedly the best choice! He secretly made a vow to himself that, no matter how hard he had to work, he’d ensure that he remained in the outer courtyard, and that he would strive to enter the inner courtyard in the future.

With this feeling in his heart, Huo Yuhao couldn’t help but begin to ponder the secret techniques of the Tang Sect while they walked. Bei Bei and Tang Ya’s introduction to Shrek Academy had already ignited a flame in his heart.

Tang Ya and Bei Bei couldn’t help but smile at each other when they saw Huo Yuhao’s appearance. When they’d entered Shrek Academy in the beginning, weren’t they just like Huo Yuhao?

After a few hours, Huo Yuhao finally saw Shrek Academy.

Rather than calling it an academy, it’d be more suitable to call it a city. As they walked out of the forest near the main road, they were able to see the tall walls of the city beginning to extend upwards from the distant fields.

Shrek Academy had been established on a wide field, thus the area that it covered was extremely vast. It was a city in and of itself, and the city’s name was ‘Shrek City’. Shrek City was one of the biggest cities on the Douluo Continent, and the number of people who lived in it surpassed two million. Furthermore, Shrek Academy was the sole governor of the city, and didn’t need to pay any taxes to any country. This single point just by itself was something that every single other academy, including those in the Sun Moon Continent, were unable to say.

Shrek Academy wasn’t located in the middle of Shrek City, but the eastern part. This was because the distant Great Star Dou Forest was located towards the east.

Shrek Academy was surrounded by land in all directions, and could also be said to be accessible from all directions. It wasn’t only the location of Shrek Academy, but was also the most important trade city for the Douluo Continent’s original three empires. Because of Shrek Academy, the peacekeeping within Shrek City was extremely good. Transactions made within the city weren’t just fair, but also made people feel at ease. Because of this, most of the merchants from the three empires would choose to do their business within Shrek City when conducting transnational trade.

The southern, western, and northern city gates of Shrek City could be entered and exited through at will. Only the eastern gate was exclusive to Shrek Academy.

Under Bei Bei and Tang Ya’s lead, Huo Yuhao arrived outside the eastern city gate.

This city gate was only usable by Shrek Academy, but it was currently extremely busy. There were at least five thousand people gathered outside the eastern gate, and it was unusually lively. A large number of traders had already moved here due to the rumours, as this gate was even livelier than the other gates by a large margin.

“Junior brother, you’re just in time for the academy’s recruitment of new students. You should be able join this year’s batch of new students without any problems, which’ll make you our junior by three years. These ordinary new students don’t just have to pass the assessment, but also have to have a recommendation letter from one of the three empires’ capital cities at the very minimum. This time of year is always the busiest period of time for Shrek City.”

Huo Yuhao quietly asked, “Eldest senior brother, is the assessment very difficult?”

Bei Bei hesitated, and subconsciously looked towards Huo Yuhao.

Tang Ya, on the other hand, was straightforward as she said, “He’ll find out sooner or later. This will also become the driving force behind his future hard work, so it’s better to tell him now. Little Yuhao, the entrance exam for Shrek Academy’s outer courtyard has two requirements: One, you cannot be older than twenty, and two, your soulforce cannot be lower than the fifteenth rank. If you look at it purely from the standpoint of the examination’s standards, you don’t meet the qualifications to enter.”

She didn’t say anything that would make Huo Yuhao work harder, because she knew that he already worked hard enough.

Huo Yuhao asked seriously, “Then, will the first assessment after three months also test my soulforce?” With his physique, wanting to increase his soulforce from the eleventh rank to the fifteenth rank within three months was an entirely impossible task.

Bei Bei shook his head and replied, “No. The assessments of our Shrek Academy always consist of live combat. As a teacher once said, ‘any amount of numerical data pales in the face of live combat’.”

Huo Yuhao forcefully nodded his head. “Teacher Xiao Ya, eldest senior brother, perhaps I currently can’t compare to the overwhelming majority of the new students, but I will definitely exceed them in the future.” His words had a calmness that surpassed his peers, and an a firmness that did the same was also present within his Spirit Eyes.

Bei Bei, who was a head taller than Huo Yuhao, extended his arms out to grab his shoulders as he said, “Let’s go. If you can get through the following three months, eldest senior brother will be optimistic about your chances to get to the end.”

Bei Bei and Tang Ya took Huo Yuhao with them as they skirted the crowd, and arrived at the eastern city gate.

There were ten male and female youths standing outside the eastern city gate, protecting it. They were roughly the same age as Tang Ya and Bei Bei, and all of them were wearing yellow warrior robes with a green pattern inscribed on the chests. This was the uniform for second and third year students of Shrek Academy’s outer courtyard.

When they saw Bei Bei, they immediately became respectful. “Eldest senior brother Bei, you’ve returned.”

Bei Bei smiled and greeted every one of his junior and senior brothers. Afterwards, he spoke a few words to the leader of the group. That student glanced at Huo Yuhao, then immediately nodded his head. “There’s nothing to doubt about our senior brother’s words. Go take this junior brother inside to register.”

Bei Bei smiled as he gave him a thumbs up. “Thanks. I’ll treat you junior brothers to a meal next time.”

The other person wasn’t polite either as he laughed. “Then that’s that. We won’t give up the chance to have a feast.”

Bei Bei raised his hand and gave him a high five. “I won’t disappoint everyone.” When he’d finished speaking, he and Tang Ya took Huo Yuhao into the eastern city gate, which was also the symbol for Shrek Academy’s door.

Not far away, a new student, who’d just finished enrolling for his assessment, asked the older student who was in charge of his assessment, “Senior classmate, who was that senior classmate?”

“That was senior brother Bei. His name is Bei Bei, but everyone calls him Thunderbolt Bei Bei. He possesses the number one beast soul, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. Furthermore, he’s exceptionally talented. At the age of thirteen, he broke through to the thirtieth rank, and his cultivation has supposedly approached the fortieth rank, which means that he could breakthrough and become a Soul Ancestor in one or two years. He’s one of the outstanding experts of our outer courtyard. With senior brother Bei’s strength, and if it weren’t for that junior classmate called Tang Ya who’s accompanying him, he could’ve already started the fifth-year assessment for the outer courtyard. If he breaks through to the fortieth rank, I predict that even the sixth-year assessments won’t stop him. Eldest senior brother Bei isn’t just strong, he’s always been kind to people. If you were to ask who the most popular person in the outer courtyard was, it would definitely be him. Senior brother Bei is the Prince Charming of many female students in the outer courtyard, but he’s single-mindedly focused on who he loves. For the sake of junior classmate Tang Ya, he’s rejected the confessions of an uncountable number of junior and senior female classmates. Reportedly, even some of the female senior classmates from the inner courtyard have fallen for him. Everyone says that senior brother Bei will definitely enter the inner courtyard in two years at most.”

When Bei Bei and Tang Ya took Huo Yuhao into Shrek Academy, it was different from the vast and solemn scene that he’d imagined. Shrek Academy had an elegant environment, and there were various types of abundant and lush flora within. As he walked along the wide main path, he was able to see at least ten plants in every direction he looked. These plants had clearly been meticulously pruned.

After he’d walked for two hundred or so metres, several enormous sculptures appeared in front of him, covering his line of sight. There were a total of ten sculptures, and they were all ten metres tall. They had all been carved from extremely tough granite.

There were three sculptures in the front, with the middle sculpture resembling an old man. He had a set of spectacles and a beaming look on his face. His figure was average, but he was slightly plump, and he looked like a yes-man.

Bei Bei said to Huo Yuhao, “The person in the middle is the founder of Shrek Academy, and also the first dean of the academy, Flender. The person to his left is an ancestor of my clan. He created the teaching foundations that are currently used by various martial soul systems within Shrek Academy. He’s also one of the martial soul world’s ten core role models, and has the title of Grandmaster. His name is Yu Xiaogang. My mother was a direct descendant of his bloodline. The woman to the right is also another ancestor of mine, Liu Erlong. She’s Grandmaster’s wife. The three of them were able to merge together and form the Golden Iron Triangle. If Dean Flender could be said to have founded Shrek Academy, then Grandmaster would be the true spirit behind it. He was also the person who single-handedly raised Shrek’s Seven Monsters, whose sculptures are behind them.

The sculpture of Grandmaster looked like a middle-aged man who’d wasted away a bit, while Liu Erlong was a charming middle-aged woman.

There were seven sculptures lined up horizontally behind them. When Huo Yuhao’s gaze fell upon the sculpture in the middle, who stood at the forefront of the others, his body couldn’t help but tremble.

It was a statue of a tall man who had a handsome appearance, but the most peculiar thing about him, were his eyes. There was a pattern on his forehead with the word “King”, and although it was only a sculpture, it had a sort of imposing and strong pressure.

“The seven sculptures that stand behind the Golden Iron Triangle are Shrek’s Seven Monsters, who previously created their own glory. The person who’s standing in front is the White Tiger Douluo, Dai Mubai, while the second person is the Sausage Douluo, Oscar. The third person is our Tang Sect’s ancestor, the Asura Douluo, Tang San.

Tang San was the most handsome amongst the seven. His blue hair was draped across his shoulders, and he wore a simple set of warriors robes. Blue vines that were clearly his Bluesilver Grass martial soul had coiled around the sculpture. There was also a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, but his lifelike gaze was fixed on a woman who was fifth in the row, who had braided hair.

“The fourth person is the Evil Phoenix Douluo, Ma Hongjun, while the fifth person is Tang San’s wife, the Soft Bone Douluo, Xiao Wu. According to the stories, she was a hundred thousand year soul beast who chose to cultivate as a human. The person even further back is the Nine Treasure Douluo, Ning Rongrong, who holds the title of the world’s strongest auxiliary soul master; she was also the Sausage Douluo’s wife. The last person is the Netherworld Douluo, Zhu Zhuqing. She was the wife of the White Tiger Douluo.”

The first generation of Shrek’s Seven Monsters sculptures all had different shapes, but the fact that they were all Titled Douluos attested to how strong they’d been in the past.

Tang Ya’s gaze was fixed on the sculpture of the Asura Douluo, Tang San. The Golden Iron Triangle and the first generation of Shrek’s Seven Monsters had laid the foundation for Shrek Academy. Even though ten thousand years had gone by, and even though Shrek Academy had raised an uncountable number of outstanding geniuses and experts, the number of sculptures had never increased, and had remained at ten.

Bei Bei explained to Huo Yuhao, “We’ll have to separate here. If you walk to the left, you’ll arrive at the Martial Soul Institution. If you walk to the right, you’ll arrive at the Soul Engineering Institution. These are the two largest branches of Shrek Academy, and they both belong to the outer courtyard. If you were to compare them, the Martial Soul Institution is larger, while the Soul Engineering Institution is smaller. Furthermore, the Martial Soul Institution is also divided into many departments. We’ll go to the Martial Soul Institution to get you registered first. The basic requirement for you to enroll in the Soul Engineering Institution is for you to pass the first assessment for new students.”

Huo Yuhao’s gaze was still stuck on the ten sculptures. When he thought about the legends that his mother had told him about, he occasionally felt a shocked feeling rise in his heart.

The road to the left of the sculptures was still very wide, and could fit four or five carriages side-by-side. There was a signboard next to the road with the words ‘Lakeside Path’ written on it.

You could faintly see a large body of water hidden within the shady green trees to the right. This also meant that there was an enormous lake behind the ten sculptures of the Golden Iron Triangle and Shrek’s Seven Monsters.

Tang Ya noticed Huo Yuhao’s gaze, and couldn’t help but speak with a slightly proud voice, “That’s an artificial lake made for the sake of commemorating our Tang Sect’s ancestor, Tang San. It’s called Sea God’s Lake, because according to the legends, our ancestor Tang San inherited the Sea God’s legacy. The Sea God’s Lake has an extremely large surface area, and is filled entirely with groundwater. Our Shrek Academy’s inner courtyard is located on an island in the middle of the Sea God’s Lake. Every single disciple from the outer courtyard feels honored if they’re able to reach the centre island of Sea God’s Lake.

Bei Bei looked toward the Sea God’s Lake with a deep gaze, and a determined and stubborn light flashed through his eyes.

The Sea God’s Lake was indeed very large. As they followed the lakeside path to head southward, they only needed to turn westwards after a full fifteen minutes had passed. Only after they’d walked another fifteen minutes or so did the path finally begin to recede, causing a vast, rectangular plaza to appear in their line of sight. A signboard with the words ‘Shrek Plaza’ also stood beside the plaza.

There were many tall teaching areas behind Shrek Plaza. The colours of these teaching areas were all different, and were separated into four main colours—white, yellow, purple, and black. If one gazed into the far south of Shrek Plaza, they’d even be able to see a grey teaching area.

Bei Bei pointed towards the teaching areas next to the plaza as he said, “The different coloured teaching areas represent the different years of students, which are differentiated according to the colours of soul rings. The white teaching areas are for new students, just like the lowest level ten year soul rings. Accordingly, the yellow teaching areas are for the outer courtyard’s second and third year students, and the purple teaching areas are for the fourth and fifth year students. The black teaching areas are for the sixth year students. If you’re able to leave the black teaching areas, you’ll be able to obtain a graduation certificate from the academy’s outer courtyard.

“Those grey teaching areas in the distance belong to the Soul Engineering Institution. If you compare were to compare their size here, the Soul Engineering Institution takes up roughly a third of the teaching area, while the Martial Soul Department takes up a full two-thirds. Besides these teaching areas at the front, there are also many special teaching grounds located in the back, such as the Soul Dueling Arena, the assessment areas, the dormitories, the teacher’s offices, and so on.”

The new students’ white teaching areas were located to the far south, and were also the closest to the lakeside path. The three of them walked southwards from Shrek Plaza, arriving at the teaching area.

Because it was currently the period that new students were admitted in, the new student’s teaching area was especially lively. A few new students who’d already passed their assessments were currently there to enroll.

With Bei Bei and Tang Ya’s guidance, Huo Yuhao was able to report for his registration extremely smoothly. The school’s fees were paid by Bei Bei, with the fee for a new student unexpectedly being ten gold soul coins. Furthermore, this didn’t include his food expenses. If one had to quit school due to failing an assessment, their school fees wouldn’t be refunded.

After collecting his dorm key and two sets of school uniforms, as well as a white freshman badge, Huo Yuhao followed Tang Ya and Bei Bei towards the new student’s teaching area.

Tang Ya said, “Little Yuhao, the dormitory’s behind the teaching areas; it’s the largest building in the entire academy. You can go there by yourself later. New students will formally start their classes in three days, so you can familiarize yourself with the environment during the next few days. We’ve paid for your first year’s school fees, but you’ll have to rely on yourself for next year. The academy has various types of competitions, all of which have prize money for winning them. Also, you’re already a soul master, so once you finish registering, you can collect a salary that the three empires give out once a month. You should save some of it, but it should be enough for food.”

Huo Yuhao made sure he remembered everything that Tang Ya said. When he was about to bid his farewells to Teacher Xiao Ya and Bei Bei, Bei Bei looked at the nearby bulletin board and furrowed his brows slightly when he saw the announcement pasted on it.

Huo Yuhao didn’t need to walk up to it; He merely circulated his soulforce a bit, and the strong visual abilities of his Spirit Eyes exhibited their use, allowing him to see the words on the announcement clearly.

Huo Yuhao’s mother had taught him how to read since he was young, so although he’d never formally attended school, his education level wasn’t bad at all.

He saw the words that were written on the announcement: “Teacher in charge of the class one: Zhou Yi. Teacher in charge of class two…”

Zhou Yi? I think that I’m in class one! Because he’d registered early, Huo Yuhao had been directly assigned to the first class of new students, class one.

Tang Ya had also noticed. She let out a low cry of surprise. “Ah? Why is it that perverted old grandma, Zhou Yi? Doesn’t she teach year three? Why would she be assigned to teach new students?”

Bei Bei smiled bitterly, “I heard that Teacher Zhou was overly strict when she taught the third year students, which resulted in only ten percent of her students being promoted to fourth year students. Furthermore, she was reported by the students to the academy many times, which led to her being demoted to teaching new students. Junior brother, you must be careful. There aren’t many monstrous students within the outer courtyard of our Shrek Academy, but there are many monstrous teachers. Of them, the worst is this Teacher Zhou.