Entering the village, Xiao Yan followed Dai Mubai and the others to an open space where the candidates who had passed the initial test were gathered.
Dai Mubai pointed towards the queue of candidates ahead. "You two wait here for the second test. The teachers will explain what to do. I need to go and see to something else."
He paused, then continued with a determined tone, "If that girl's Martial Soul really is compatible with mine, I'll make sure to get her."
Watching Dai Mubai's retreating figure, Xiao Yan felt that the situation might be more complicated than it seemed.
Dai Mubai was a student at Shrek Academy, so his aptitude must be high.
Following the traditions of Soul Masters in Douluo Continent, Dai Mubai was likely from a prominent family.
It was too convenient for him to encounter a genius with a highly compatible Martial Soul. Unless there was another reason, Dai Mubai's luck was simply too good.
Xiao Yan turned his gaze away from Dai Mubai and towards a small cart nearby. He addressed Xiao Xue and Xiao Yi, "You two, wait here in line. I'll go check out the guy selling sausages."
Xiao Xue looked a little unhappy. "Xiao Yan, are you trying to hog all the good stuff? You didn't even call me when there's something delicious?"
"These sausages aren't just any food," Xiao Yan said with a mysterious smile as he walked over.
The sausage vendor behind the cart wore simple gray clothes and had neatly trimmed hair. He sported a full beard, but his large, flirtatious eyes were constantly scanning the female candidates in the group.
Seeing the uncle's drooling, perverted look, Xiao Xue immediately lost her appetite and pouted. "Why are all the people in this broken academy like this?"
Xiao Yan coughed lightly. "Two sausages, please."
"No problem, two sausages for ten copper soul coins," Oscar snapped back to attention. He picked up two bamboo skewers from his cart and skewered two sausages, each about ten centimeters long, for Xiao Yan.
The sausages had been roasting over a charcoal fire on the cart, emitting a rich aroma.
Xiao Yan took the sausages but pulled out two silver soul coins and handed them over. "Could you make two new ones?"
"Huh?" Oscar looked at Xiao Yan with a troubled expression. "This sausage is perfect when eaten hot, after being grilled."
Xiao Yan looked at the sausage in his hand and said, "I feel like it's been grilled a bit too long. Can you make two new ones? I can wait."
"This..."
Xiao Yan said, "You're being so hesitant. Is there something wrong with your sausages? If so, I won't eat them."
As soon as these words were spoken, the people around who had originally wanted to buy sausages instantly hesitated, and they all looked at the sausage seller with suspicious eyes.
"Oscar's sausages, no cheating, you just want new ones, right?"
Extending his right hand, Oscar, sounding a little perverted, called out in his soft voice, "Super Recovery Big Sausage!"
A ray of light suddenly condensed in his palm, and two yellow soul rings rose from beneath Oscar's feet. Following this, a sausage identical to the one in Xiao Yan's hand appeared in his palm.
Xiao Xue was stunned for a moment: "Xiao Yan-gege, did you know all along that this uncle was a Sausage Soul Master?"
Xiao Yan smiled. Through his observation of Dai Mubai's injury recovery just now, he did indeed know that there was a Sausage Soul Master in this academy.
Seeing that the customer's mood had become a bit off, Oscar momentarily forgot about his age and quickly explained, "I can't help it! When using a food-type Martial Soul, if you want the food to change, you must use different Soul Mantras. This sentence is a spell, not something I want to shout. And, the quality of my sausages is absolutely no problem."
Xiao Yan had only heard of "Soul Mantras." His teasing just now was to see what kind of "magic" these "Soul Mantras" possessed.
Carefully sensing it, Xiao Yan discovered that when this uncle recited the Soul Mantra, his Soul Power did indeed undergo a strange change.
Xiao Yan put the two important samples he had into his Storage Jade Belt, no longer wanting any more: "Thank you for the demonstration. You can keep these new sausages for yourself."
At this moment, Dai Mubai led the cold girl in and shouted in Xiao Yan's direction, "I'll take you through the test. You don't need to continue queuing."
Dai Mubai walked over to the teacher and whispered a few words in his ear, then pointed at Xiao Yan and the others.
Teacher Zhao looked at Xiao Yan and the others with surprise. "Take them directly to the Fourth Test. If they pass, they'll be admitted."
A young man said, unconvinced, "Teacher, what's going on? Why do they get to skip the first few tests and go straight to the Fourth Test, while we have to go through them one by one?"
The older teacher said calmly, "If your Soul Power is also over twenty-five, then you can also go directly to the Fourth Test and not waste time here. But you've only tested at twenty-one, so you must pass each test."
"That's impossible! We're all twelve years old. How could anyone have Soul Power above twenty-five?" the young man questioned.
Dai Mubai thought, Now we'll see your strength. He tossed a crystal ball to Xiao Yan.
"Over twenty-five?" Xiao Yan looked at the white crystal ball in his hand and channeled a strand of Mysterious Heaven Skill inner strength.
In an instant, yellow light flashed. Upon closer inspection, it could be seen that it was Soul Power of twenty-six.
"Twenty-six?" Dai Mubai looked at Xiao Yan with confusion. That's too low, isn't it?
Based on the strength he displayed, he's at least a Soul Elder.
"Looks like you've both broken through a level recently," Xiao Yan said with a smile, handing the crystal ball to Xiao Xue and Xiao Yi.
Taking a deep breath, Xiao Xue channeled her inner strength. The white crystal immediately became as dazzling as a diamond, intense light filling every corner. This was clearly a sign of approaching Level 30.
Xiao Yi's test showed a similar level.
Seeing that the two girls beside Xiao Yan were even stronger than him, a young man, Dai Mubai felt increasingly certain that Xiao Yan was using some method to conceal his true strength.
Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing, who had witnessed Xiao Yan's actions, also looked at him with surprise, wondering why his Soul Power level was so low.
The Soul Power level measured by the crystal ball was extremely accurate. Controlling one's Soul Power to avoid detection and showing an incorrect value required extremely precise control, something that was not easily achievable!
Thinking about this, the three of them couldn't help but admire Xiao Yan even more.
After Xiao Yan and the others finished testing, the two gifted girls also tested their Soul Power levels. Their levels were exactly as Xiao Yan had predicted.
Seeing that the academy had welcomed five geniuses at once, the testing teacher smiled and said, "Mubai, you take them to the Fourth Test."
On the way, Xiao Yan asked, "Are there any other tests after the Fourth Test?"
Dai Mubai shook his head. "After passing the Fourth Test, you'll be considered students of the academy. The entire assessment is divided into four tests. The first is to test age and Soul Power level; the second is to evaluate Soul Power and identify Martial Souls, and the third is to test the candidates' application of their own Martial Soul; the fourth is a practical combat assessment."
"It's actually this troublesome." Half of his guess was confirmed, and Xiao Yan continued to ask, "Isn't there only you as a student in the entire academy?"
Dai Mubai forced a smile. "It's not that few. But in the twenty years since our Shrek Academy was founded, we've recruited a total of sixty-two students, an average of about three a year.
If the five of you are all accepted this year, it will be a record. Before this, the academy hadn't received any students for two years. Currently, there are a total of three students, including me, studying at the academy."
"Three?" Xiao Yan was a bit surprised. Were there other students? He thought Dai Mubai was the only "bait."
Ning Rongrong wondered, "Why doesn't the academy relax some of the admission requirements? I don't think there are few people who apply."
Dai Mubai's face showed a hint of respect. "The Dean said, 'Better to have nothing than to have something of poor quality.' No matter what, even if Shrek Academy were to close down, we would never accept useless people. Only monsters!"
"Do you know the graduation requirements of the academy?"
"We are neither a mid-level Soul Master Academy nor a high-level Soul Master Academy because our requirements are different from theirs."
"We only accept students under the age of thirteen, and they must be exceptionally gifted. The graduation requirement is to exceed level forty, and to reach the level of Soul Ancestor before the age of twenty."
"The academy has admitted a total of sixty-two students, but only fourteen have truly graduated. These fourteen people, after leaving the academy, have all become figures of global renown."
"The rest who didn't graduate either couldn't complete the level forty cultivation before the age of twenty or died while hunting Soul Beasts. The Dean said, 'If you're not over level forty-one, don't go out and embarrass me.'"
At the end, Dai Mubai's emotions clearly became agitated; he obviously held the Dean of Shrek Academy in high regard.
After hearing this, Xiao Xue felt it was unbelievable. This wasn't an academy! It was practically a place that harmed people!
Xiao Yan quickly grabbed Xiao Xue's hand, signaling her to stay quiet.
He was truly shocked this time!
This Shrek Academy was far more than just a money-grabbing "diploma mill"; it was downright cult-like!
The academy was where students were taught to cultivate and where they obtained Soul Rings.
Notting Elementary Soul Master Academy had been established for a hundred years, and not a single person had died while obtaining a Soul Ring.
This Shrek Academy had admitted sixty-two students, yet only fourteen had left the academy. Of the remaining forty-eight, how many had died hunting Soul Beasts, he didn't know?
Based on the strength of the academy's two teachers, both were around the Soul Emperor level, making it not difficult at all to protect students while they obtained a thousand-year Soul Ring.
Moreover, according to Shrek Academy's admission standards, reaching level forty before the age of twenty was practically a sure thing, yet forty-eight people hadn't graduated!
The teaching quality could be described as extremely poor, and joining the academy was actually a matter of life and death.
Besides, according to what Dai Mubai said, the principal of this monster academy didn't show the slightest remorse for the students' deaths, instead saying they shouldn't embarrass him! It was truly outrageous!
Even more outrageous was that Dai Mubai showed a very respectful expression towards this point of view.
From this, it could be seen that he agreed with this concept.
Leaving aside the matter of how they taught their students, they had actually twisted a person's psychology.
No wonder they only accepted monsters?
If you weren't a monster, it would probably be very difficult to choose to join this academy, and even more difficult to survive in it.
Xiao Yan raised his hand and touched his nose. He had already confirmed that it was a trash academy. He would only need to meet all the teachers and the principal before he could wipe them all out.
And he stopped Xiao Xue to prevent any fish from escaping the net.
"We're here," Dai Mubai announced, stopping. "Teacher Zhao, I've brought people for the Fourth Test."
Xiao Yan looked at the middle-aged man sitting in the distance. After carefully sensing him, he realized that this person's Soul Power was much more potent than the old man at the entrance. He was likely a Soul Master above the Soul Saint rank.
Seeing another Soul Saint, Xiao Yan couldn't help but feel curious.
When he was six, the Blue Silver King had judged him to have the strength of a Soul Saint, but he only had one Soul Ring. He wondered how much of a gap there was between him and a real Soul Saint.
Zhao Wuji opened his hazy eyes, looking at the five young men and women in front of him with surprise, as if he had encountered something unbelievable.
"Someone has actually made it to the Fourth Test this year, and there are even five of them!"
Dai Mubai added, "Moreover, they are all exempt from the second and third tests."
Teacher Zhao's eyes lit up, and he stood up from his chair.
His build wasn't tall, and his appearance was quite ordinary, but he looked incredibly sturdy. His broad shoulders were like a city wall, and his coat couldn't conceal the robust muscles that seemed forged from steel. Although his expression was amiable, his imposing physique gave off an invisible sense of pressure.
"All five of you have surpassed level twenty-five. Not bad, not bad. Looks like there are quite a few little monsters this year."
"This is the final test. Passing my test means you'll officially become members of Shrek Academy."
"However, my test isn't easy to pass. Practical experience is essential for every Soul Master's strength. What I'm assessing is your ability in this area."
His smiling gaze swept over Xiao Yan and the other four, looking at them kindly.
"My name is Teacher Zhao. Since the five of you passed the second and third tests without assessment, I'll accompany you myself. You have the time of one incense stick to get to know each other and discuss your strategy."
"The test will begin after the time of one incense stick. The test's content is for the five of you to work together to withstand my attacks for one incense stick's worth of time. As long as one of you can hold out until the end, you pass."
"I hope you understand, don't try to be clever. No one can escape this area through speed. Also, I can remind you that relying on individual strength alone is impossible to block my attacks. Coordinating and cooperating with each other is your only chance of success."
"A stick of incense's time doesn't seem too difficult," Ning Rongrong said, glancing at Xiao Yan.
.......
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(End of Chapter)