"Ma Hongjun, you say this is a Fire Phoenix, but to me, it looks more like a scrubby chicken, haha."
"It is a Fire Phoenix! The dean himself said so! It'll become incredibly powerful someday!"
"The dean's just fooling you."
"No way! The dean wouldn't lie to me."
"..."
After spending some time together, Ma Hongjun had grown familiar with Oscar and Xu Yunhan.
Once they got comfortable, Ma Hongjun loved to show off his so-called "Fire Phoenix" martial spirit that looked more like a turkey. But Oscar wasn't buying it and teased him, sparking a quarrel between the two.
Ma Hongjun's martial spirit was a mutated type. In his village, turkeys were common martial spirits. His mutation gave his spirit some phoenix traits, but it wasn't quite a true phoenix.
It was more like a turkey that looked a little like a Fire Phoenix—clearly not a full mutation, which came with side effects.
Still, it was obvious that the mutation significantly improved the quality of Ma Hongjun's martial spirit. His fire attribute rose sharply, and so did its power.
"Enough, both of you! Focus on your training."
Xu Yunhan shot a stern look at the bickering pair, and they immediately fell silent.
Oscar respected Xu Yunhan as their leader, so he obeyed without hesitation.
Ma Hongjun was a bit intimidated by Xu Yunhan's new leadership and didn't dare to disobey.
Having already learned some cultivation knowledge, Ma Hongjun knew that both Xu Yunhan and Oscar were prodigies born with full soul power.
But Ma Hongjun thought he wasn't inferior to Oscar, because Oscar's martial spirit was supportive and couldn't fight much.
Xu Yunhan was different—gifted and with an aggressive combat-type martial spirit. His strength commanded both respect and admiration from Ma Hongjun.
The three of them trained together peacefully. After all, Shrek Academy only had a few people anyway.
Having fewer people had its advantages—it made it easier to focus on cultivation.
Time passed little by little.
"Almost four years now."
Xu Yunhan finished his morning training and looked up at the sky, feeling a wave of emotion.
Time really flew.
This year, Xu Yunhan was eleven, Oscar was ten, and Ma Hongjun was nine.
Though close in age, their soul power levels had started to diverge.
Xu Yunhan was currently at level 28, Oscar at 22, and Ma Hongjun at 18.
The three headed to the dining hall together.
Though only between nine and eleven years old, they were all over 1.5 meters tall.
Ma Hongjun was just over 1.5 meters, Oscar about 1.6, and Xu Yunhan over 1.7 meters tall.
When they arrived, Zhao Wuji, Shao Xin, Li Yusong, and Lu Qibin were already there.
Fland wasn't often at Shrek Academy, instead running a shop in Soto City to earn some income.
Shao Xin was a chubby kid whose martial spirit was Sugar Bean—a food-type spirit—and he had already reached Soul Master rank. Within the academy, only Fland and Zhao Wuji ranked above him in soul power, making him third.
Shao Xin usually cooked the academy's meals.
Because the academy was very poor, the food was simple and sparse. Still, they did their best to meet the nutritional needs of Xu Yunhan and his friends.
"Yunhan, Little Ao, Hongjun, tomorrow's the academy's enrollment day. You'll stand guard and help out."
During the meal, Zhao Wuji said.
Xu Yunhan nodded silently.
"Teacher Zhao, every year you recruit new students, but none have come these past few years. I was hoping for some fresh faces," Oscar said with a smile.
Ma Hongjun chimed in, "Maybe it's because there aren't any students as outstanding as us? Hah, guess we're just too good."
"Show off!" Li Yusong playfully tapped Ma Hongjun's head. "Still, it's rare to find students as talented as you three."
Ma Hongjun grinned. "We're geniuses among geniuses—how could anyone compare?"
Oscar added, "If you can't find new students, why not lower the enrollment requirements a bit?"
Shrek Academy's enrollment bar was very high—they only accepted geniuses among geniuses, prodigies among prodigies.
"Sigh..." Shao Xin and the others all sighed in unison.
It wasn't that Shrek Academy was unwilling to lower standards—it simply couldn't.
Because they were poor!
No money, no resources to train ordinary geniuses.
They could only accept the crème de la crème, prodigies with extraordinary talent who could cultivate successfully even in such a resource-starved environment.
Oscar and Ma Hongjun didn't quite understand this yet, but Xu Yunhan did—though he didn't really care. He was only using Shrek Academy; he had no intention of truly dedicating himself to it.
Besides, putting aside Tang San's story, Shrek Academy itself was a strong rival to the empire Xu Yunhan came from, even thousands of years later.
The next day.
Though Shrek Academy's enrollment requirements were outrageous, it still had some reputation, and people came to try out every year.
This year was no exception; a few people showed up.
Three testing points had been set up.
Outside the academy gate, Li Yusong was in charge of the first test—checking the applicants' bone age and their martial spirit conditions.
Then, Lu Qibin tested the applicants' soul power levels on the academy's plaza.
The final test, a practical combat assessment, was overseen by Zhao Wuji.
Applicants had to have a bone age no older than twelve, a soul power level no lower than twenty, and be great soul masters possessing two soul rings—both hundred-year yellow soul rings.
Meeting these conditions meant the candidate was already a genius, someone who would receive focused training at any advanced soul master academy.
But even so, they still had to pass Zhao Wuji's practical test, which was by no means easy.
This strictness was precisely why it was so difficult to recruit new students.
"Bone age over twelve, disqualified!"
"If they're disqualified, shouldn't they get a refund?"
"Hmph! It was clearly stated beforehand—no refunds after registration. It's been like this every year."
...
Every year, similar scenes played out.
The enrollment fee for Shrek Academy's testing wasn't cheap, and the academy relied on this income. There was no way they would return money.
Fortunately, the teachers at Shrek Academy were formidable—none below the rank of Soul Emperor—and they had yet to encounter any applicants' guardians stronger than that.
The first day ended as usual, with no qualified students—a wasted effort.
Two days remained.
If no suitable candidates appeared on the first day, the chances on the following days looked even slimmer. Still, the process had to continue—three full days were allotted for enrollment.
The next day, afternoon.
Outside the academy gate, at Li Yusong's testing station.
"Name, age, martial spirit, show your soul rings."
"Dai Mubai, twelve years old, martial spirit: Evil-Eyed White Tiger."
The tall man standing before Li Yusong was none other than Dai Mubai. He had escaped from the Xingluo Empire and had been in Soto City for some time.
He came to Shrek Academy seeking a place to settle and some degree of protection.
"Evil-Eyed White Tiger?"
Li Yusong looked closely at Dai Mubai, strongly suspecting he was a direct member of the Dai family from the Xingluo Empire, but he didn't dwell on it. He seriously examined the man's bone age: "Bone age is suitable. Show your soul rings."
Dai Mubai was nearly thirteen but still within the age limit for enrollment.
"Alright."
Two yellow soul rings appeared on Dai Mubai's body.
"Good. You may proceed to the soul power test."
Li Yusong nodded with satisfaction, already thinking Dai Mubai would probably be the only qualified new student in recent years.
...