Most of the Star Dou Great Forest is located within the borders of the Star Luo Empire, with only a small part in the Heaven Soul Empire. Shrek Academy, however, is located to the northwest of the Star Dou Great Forest, not too far away.
Heading straight west, Huo Yuhao followed the main road out of a jungle and finally, on the plains ahead, saw the location of Shrek City.
Shrek Academy was built upon the Rima Plains, occupying an extremely vast area. It was a city in itself, hence it was called Shrek City. Shrek Academy had sole administrative rights over this city and did not need to pay taxes to any country. It could also be understood as the continent's gangsters, an organization of outlaws.
Shrek Academy was not located in the center of Shrek City, but in its eastern part. This was because it faced the direction of the Star Dou Great Forest, making it convenient for the experts of Shrek Academy to lead students there to slaughter soul beasts and hunt for soul rings.
Shrek City had roads leading southeast, northwest, and south, making its transportation network accessible from all directions. It was not only the location of Shrek Academy but also the most important commercial city at the junction of the three great empires of the original Douluo Continent. Due to the intimidating power of Shrek Academy, no faction dared to cause trouble here, so the public security in Shrek City was excellent. Transactions here were not only fair but also more reassuring. Therefore, merchants from the three great empires mostly chose to trade in Shrek City when conducting cross-border commerce.
The south, west, and north gates of Shrek City were all open for free entry and exit. Only the east gate was exclusively for Shrek Academy.
This city gate was only for Shrek Academy's use, but at this moment, it was extremely lively. At least five thousand people were gathered outside the east gate, creating a bustling scene.
In the original novel, Huo Yuhao had arrived just in time for the academy to recruit new students and had successfully joined that year's new class. And these ordinary new students not only had to go through an assessment but also had to have a recommendation letter from at least a main city-level authority of the three great empires.
The predecessor of the current Shrek Academy, the Blue Tyrant Academy, was a name that not many people in the world remembered. It was once a rare advanced soul master academy that accepted commoner students. One wonders what its founder would think if they saw that current Shrek Academy students needed to prove their background to enroll.
The Huo Yuhao of this life did not have a so-called recommendation letter, nor did he have a test-exempt admission quota from the Tang Sect. If he wanted to pass Shrek Academy's entrance examination, he had to display an ability that could attract the attention of the examiners.
At the east gate, more than a dozen young students from Shrek Academy stood guard. Each of them wore a form-fitting, shit-green uniform with a green monster pattern on the chest.
Seeing that Huo Yuhao wanted to enter Shrek City, they immediately stopped him. Their words were still gentle and polite.
"Little brother, are you here to register for the entrance examination?" The leading male student walked up to Huo Yuhao and asked with a smile.
"Yes, I'll have to trouble you, senior, to help me register," Huo Yuhao also smiled and nodded, putting on a nervous look, no different from the other children of the same age who had come to register for the assessment.
These new students who came to register were all carrying the infinite hopes of their respective family clans, so how could they not be nervous?
"Little brother, there are requirements to register for Shrek Academy. The first is to be no older than twelve. The second requirement is that your soul power must not be lower than level fifteen. And you must also have a recommendation letter from at least a main city-level authority of the three great empires," the male student nodded and said with a smile. "Please show me your current cultivation level. What level are you?"
Huo Yuhao smiled faintly. His martial soul had already been activated at some point. He simulated it into bright silver pupils and met the male student's gaze, sending a chill down the latter's spine.
What kind of martial soul is this? Eyes? A Body Martial Soul?
Two purple soul rings rose from under Huo Yuhao's feet. The color of the soul rings had been turned purple through his simulation soul skill. Since the Tianmeng Ice Silkworm had not sealed too much of its own energy when it became Huo Yuhao's soul ring, his two soul rings were actually platinum-colored.
Platinum could easily be mistaken for a ten-year soul ring. After all, there was no precedent for strangely colored soul rings on the Douluo Continent, and with the aptitude of a white soul ring, it was obviously impossible to pass Shrek Academy's new student selection.
It couldn't be helped. Their ancestral school motto was: only accepts monsters, not ordinary people. But it had to be said that after ten thousand years of development, in terms of pure soul master teaching staff strength, Shrek was indeed number one on the continent.
Two thousand-year soul rings! The surrounding crowd immediately exclaimed in surprise. The absorption limit for the first soul ring of most ordinary soul masters was a few hundred years. Anyone who could attach a thousand-year or higher ring as their first was, without exception, an exceptionally talented individual.
"Senior, I don't have any recommendation letter. This is my personal file. Could I trouble you to make an exception?" As he spoke, Huo Yuhao handed over his identity file.
Regarding Huo Yuhao's background, the Duchess had already tampered with it long ago. This way, he could also feel completely at ease revealing the personal identity information officially recorded by the empire.
"Wait a moment," the leading male student gave his companion a look and trotted off to ask the academy's leadership for instructions.
For these outer court students responsible for recruitment, every monster-level new student they recruited could give them a huge bonus on their academic evaluations. This was also the reason why every student in charge of recruitment had a good attitude towards the children who came to register for the entrance examination. After all, one misstep could very likely cause the academy to miss out on a genius and also make them lose the opportunity to improve their graduation scores.
His companion diligently brought Huo Yuhao drinks and snacks, just short of worshipping him like an ancestor. This made the other new students participating in the assessment unable to help but cast envious glances at Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao leisurely found a place to sit down and enjoy the top-tier treatment of the Shrek admissions office. Although the food he ate in the Holy Ghost Cult for a year was all highly nutritious soul beast flesh, the taste was truly not that great.
Before long, the male student returned, and with him was a young and beautiful woman.
"Hello, little friend. My name is Mu Jin. I am an ordinary teacher at the academy. May I see your martial soul?"
Coming before Huo Yuhao, the woman showed a professional smile and introduced herself.
Mu Jin, is it that female teacher? Huo Yuhao's heart skipped a beat. Through his memory of the original plot, this woman was more or less a "green tea" character, a scheming woman who always wanted to insert herself between a married couple. In terms of age, she should be a bit older than Zhongli Yu.
It couldn't be said that she was inferior to Zhou Yi. From the perspective of actual appearance and theoretical research, although she had no advantage, in terms of student cultivation, she was undoubtedly much better than that woman Zhou Yi, who, like Grandmaster, only knew how to make students run in circles.
After all, considering the original novel, Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu, who were thrown into the second class by Zhou Yi, still became students of Shrek's inner court under her guidance. One must know that before this, due to the matter of assassinating Huo Yuhao, Dai Huabin had already been blacklisted by the inner court.
This was no longer just a matter of Dai Huabin's own talent. As a teacher, Mu Jin's teaching methods were also crucial.
Don't believe me? Look at the original novel. Whenever Huo Yuhao and the few members of the protagonist group were away competing and hadn't returned, the class led by Zhou Yi would always be suppressed by Mu Jin's class.
Objectively speaking, scheming was scheming, but her teaching philosophy undoubtedly crushed Zhou Yi's. Otherwise, on what basis did Dai Huabin, Zhu Lu, and the others, who had already been officially declared to have no chance with the inner court, break through the prejudice of the academy's high-ranking officials and regain the opportunity to enter the inner court?
"Hello, Teacher Mu," Huo Yuhao returned a polite smile. Then, two purple soul rings rose from under his feet, and his deep blue pupils instantly turned bright silver.
"It really is a Body Martial Soul! And a level twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster!" Mu Jin's beautiful eyes lit up. Judging from Huo Yuhao's identity file, for a child from a poor servant's family to reach such an achievement before the age of twelve had already far exceeded the standard of a genius defined by Shrek. He could only be described as a monster.
Of course, Huo Yuhao's true strength was far beyond what could be seen on the surface. Only he himself knew. The reason he hadn't reached level thirty or above was because Bibi Dong was still rushing to produce the god-bestowed soul rings he wanted.
"Very good. The recommendation letter is waived for you. I will take you to participate in the new student entrance examination," Mu Jin said, grabbing Huo Yuhao's small hand and about to walk inside. She immediately noticed something was wrong and couldn't help but glance at Huo Yuhao's hand out of the corner of her eye.
Compared to his peers, after being tempered by the blood pool, Huo Yuhao's muscle tissue and bone density had already far surpassed most humans, so his hand was very heavy and as hard as refined steel.
"Little friend, after you pass the entrance examination in a while, remember to come to teacher's class," Mu Jin thought to herself that she had found a treasure. The joy on her face could no longer be concealed. She moved closer to Huo Yuhao and said, her breath like orchids.
Little boys of this age group all liked gentle and beautiful older sisters. Moreover, Mu Jin felt that Huo Yuhao had very likely never even been in contact with a beautiful woman, so she was confident she could pull this genius into her class.