Book 1: Skydream Iceworm
Chapter 6.3: The Number One Academy on the Douluo Continent
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.