CH 18: Returning

(Ali's image:)

Yuhao, who'd recovered his spiritual power, even activated his Spirit Spy again, creating another level of safety for their journey towards the exit of the Star Dou Great Forest, so much so that they even managed to evade a thousand year soul beast that wouldn't take the initiative to attack.

After rapidly hurrying along for two hours, they managed to finally return to the brook where they'd eaten the roasted fish.

This was already several tens of miles from the Great Star Dou Forest, which meant that they were, fundamentally, far away from any danger.

And of course, he was forced to become the chief once again under Tang Ya's fierce request for him to roast more fish.

However, he didn't need to catch the fish this time around. Beibei simply stretched his right hand into the water, then violet-blue lightning flashed in the water, causing ten unconscious mackerels to rise to the surface belly up.

After that, he used the Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon technique to quickly get them to the brookside, allowing them to nearly instantly be able to eat.

Ali and Tang Ya also took out some food that was stored within her storage soul tool. Ali was quite picky when it came to food, so he would cook his own favorite foods most of the time.

He didn't lie when he said that Xiaotao fell in love with his cooking as well. He wasn't a chief in his last life, but he had learned to cook a few dishes from his mother.

And with those, even though he didn't know if he was a top class chief or not, his cooking skills were still pretty good since he could also perfectly control the flames.

Ali wasn't Asian, meaning not from China, Japan and Korea, but he liked rice quite a bit since he was middle eastern.

But even though he was from middle east, he didn't actually look middle eastern. Him and his mom actually looked Russian because of their ancestors being from Russia.

Anyway, we got off topic. Ali took out rice and cooked it with his ultimate fire while Yuhao grilled the fishes.

He also cut some cucumbers, tomatoes and onions before mixing them together to make a small salad.

All of them enjoyed the delicious fish and rice together while chatting around the bonfire. Tang Ya was in extremely high spirits, which made her eat even more.

After finishing her meal, she directly slept on the large tree beside the bonfire. On the other hand, the person who'd actually obtained the most benefits, Yuhao, hadn't gone to sleep yet.

He resisted the doubled exhaustion caused by his tired body and mind, and asked for Bei Bei to give him some pointers so that he could begin to cultivate the Mysterious Heaven Technique for the first time.

Since Ali wasn't part of the Tang Sect, he also slept on an ice bed made by his ultimate ice. Of course, he wasn't uncomfortable at all.

He had used this method many times in the past. It was far better than sleeping on the ground with the bugs.

He wasn't going to just sleep on hard ice either. He took out a bedding and turned his ice bed into an actual bed.

Sleep and food were always the most important thing for him, so he wouldn't think twice before putting things that could make his sleep more comfortable inside his storage device.

Ali was not a morning person at all. Even though he hadn't slept late, he still slept till around 9 or 10 with his body splattered on the bed.

Normally, he wouldn't be so careless outside. He would at least have one of his lightborne soul beasts out to keep a look out.

But since he knew that Beibei was gonna take a long time to teach Yuhao their cultivation method and how they had to wake up early, he just slept like a log.

However, when he woke up, he saw that Yuhao was still cultivating. After asking Beibei, he found out that he had helped Yuhao in his first circulation all night and was exhausted.

So, while he rested to regain his stamina, he told Yuhao to practice so that he won't forget the method of their Mysterious Heaven Technique.

And because of that, they waited till he finished cultivating. Beibei also checked on him a few times, but he found nothing wrong.

It was at noon that he finally woke up. After eating some food, the four of them made their way to Shrek Academy.

The majority of the Star Dou Great Forest lay within the territory of the Star Luo Empire, only a small portion of it lay within the Tian Hun Empire.

On the other hand, Shrek Academy was located to the northeast of the Great Star Dou Forest, so the distance between the two wasn't considered too far.

The reason that Ali and the two had entered the Great Star Dou Forest from the south was because the surrounding area had a relatively low number of strong soul beasts.

Because Shrek Academy frequently had students who'd enter the Great Star Dou Forest to kill soul beasts, they were utterly hated by the expert soul beasts within.

So much so, that a large number of soul beasts had charged out of the forest, creating a major event known as a "beast wave", which had gone towards Shrek Academy.

Because of this, every single person within the academy below the Soul King rank was prohibited from entering the Great Star Dou Forest from the entrance closest to the academy. Even if one were a Soul King expert, he'd still need a teacher guiding him to be able to enter.

The four of them hurried towards Shrek Academy, but the speed of their advance wasn't considered quick, since they had to circle around the Great Star Dou Forest. Thus, they had to travel nearly a thousand miles.

During their long journey, Tang Ya and Beibei taught Yuhao the other techniques of the Tang Sect.

Again, Ali of course didn't listen to any of them. He honestly wasn't interested in them at all.

Techniques and shit don't matter in front of absolute strength. Of course, that's for normal techniques and martial arts.

Tang San's techniques weren't really impressive, so Ali didn't bother to learn them at all. Why dodge when you can't even get hit?

But even though Ali didn't care about these techniques, Yuhao was very diligent and serious about getting stronger.

He was honestly surprised by how diligent Yuhao was in cultivating. When Beibei told him that he could slightly increase his soulforce by continuously using his soul skills, Yuhao unceasingly used his Spirit Spy as long as he could.

And the second that he started to rest, he'd immediately start cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Technique.

As they continued on with their journey, he even split his attention, releasing his soul skills while simultaneously pondering the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Tracks, Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, and Mysterious Jade Hands.

Ali actually admired Yuhao a little for his hard work. After all, he wasn't that desperate. He wanted to enjoy world and his life, so he does anything he wants anytime he wants.

But even though he wasn't as hard working as Yuhao, he wasn't a slacker either. He would spend most of his time fighting to get experience, or train with his ultimate fire and ice to get better control over them.

Because Yuhao took a long time to cultivate the Mysterious Heaven Technique, their speed towards Shrek Academy was slowed down. However, nobody rushed him; they even increased their cultivation time under his impetus.

Also, Ali found out something interesting about his Majestic Snake martial soul's copying ability.

It seems that whenever a martial soul that Ali had copied in the past got stronger, Ali would notice it.

And he could copy it once again so that his copied version would also get stronger! It seems like when Yuhao absorbed the purple cloud, his Spirit Eyes had gotten stronger, so Ali benefited as well.

Finally, after four days, they were about to reach Shrek Academy. While on the way, Tang Ya turned to Yuhao with a serious face :"Little Yuhao, you can't always be working so hard. You should take a rest when you need to. If not, won't you become a blockhead after a while?"

And Yuhao being the obedient student that he was, nodded :"Yes, Teacher Xiao Ya." But Tang Ya giggled :"Don't be so honest and obedient, okay?

It's really boring. Alright, let's go, we've almost reached the academy. You've been immersed in cultivation the past few days, so I didn't get the chance to tell you about some things that you need to pay attention to inside of the academy. You've taken a break at just the right time, so relax your mind for a bit and listen."

While walking, Tang Ya began to explain Shrek Academy's history to Yuhao, along with its legends and achievements.

Like how it was the reason for the victory against the Sun Moon Empire 4,000 years ago and how it doesn't belong to any empire, but has become somewhat of an independent 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 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.

After Tang Ya and Beibei explained to Yuhao the reason for why Tang Sect declined like this, the soul tools, they also said that he must study in the Soul Engineering Institution.

<I'm not gonna bother you with bullshit that isn't even connected to Ali, so don't worry>

Tang Ya grabbed Yuhao's sleeve and explained :"Little Yuhao, the most important thing for you to do right now is to stay within Shrek Academy.

Beibei 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?"

But of course, Ali could keep him in the academy if he wanted. After all, he is the most valued genius in Shrek. Not just because of being Mu En's son, but also because of his talent and martial souls.