Three days passed in a flash.
Aside from one of the strongest freshmen, Dai Huabin, being taken out by a level 17 Soul Master (he got kidney-shotted, basically), which caused him to perform below his full strength in the later matches and lose to Xie Huanyue's team—ending up with a regretful third place—there wasn't much else to regret.
Huo Yuhao, the dark horse, also began to stand out.
Although he remained in the background within his team, after Xiao Xiao left, Fan Yu did his best to assign them a level-25 Soul Grandmaster. This new member had missed the admissions registration due to an accident but happened to meet Fan Yu by chance (thanks to the power of plot luck).
Since Skydream Iceworm helped him defeat Dai Huabin, he hadn't taken any further action, claiming there were too many strong opponents in Shrek, and his last intervention had already attracted some attention...
Huo Yuhao was fighting so hard because he desperately needed the identity of a core disciple. Right now, avenging his mother was his top priority, so he followed Skydream's advice: absorb as many Shrek resources as possible, become stronger, and only then take revenge for his mother.
As for Su Wen, he was definitely not someone he could provoke at present.
So, Huo Yuhao chose to endure.
Even when he was transferred to Teacher Zhou Yi's rival, Mu Jin's class, he kept silent.
Even Dai Huabin, who desperately wanted to kill him, didn't realize for a while that this little bastard had infiltrated his class.
Wang Dong requested a ten-thousand-year soul bone from the Clear Sky Sect and gifted it to Xiao Xiao as an apology. Xiao Xiao refused several times, but under Wang Dong's insistence, she accepted this token of friendship.
"Students, congratulations on passing the first round of assessments."
In the plaza, Du Weilun spoke with a smile.
"Next, I'll announce the rewards."
"First place: Su Wen's team!"
Clap, clap, clap, clap~
The whole field erupted into enthusiastic applause.
Su Wen, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng walked up together, attracting envious gazes. Their first-place victory was so convincing that even Dai Huabin, who disliked Su Wen, had no complaints.
After all, Su Wen had just gone head-to-head with Zhou Yi and even crippled a Soul Emperor. His talent was so monstrous it was almost terrifying—hard to find a match even in the history books. He was almost certain to become an Ultimate Douluo in the future, a true treasure of Shrek Academy.
No one even considered competing with him; they just wondered how to get on his good side.
From the very first day of the elimination rounds, every team Su Wen's group encountered surrendered without a fight—the only difference was their excuses: stomachaches, period cramps, and so on...
"Second place: Xie Huanyue's team!"
"Third place: Dai Huabin's team!"
"Step forward!"
Du Weilun quickly announced the rewards.
Besides first place, which got a soul bone, the top four teams would all get the chance for a Shrek expert to help them acquire a soul ring.
Next came the core disciple selection.
"Su Wen!"
"Ning Tian!"
"Wu Feng!"
"..."
"Chen Yanjin!"
Finally, it came to Huo Yuhao's team.
Huo Yuhao's face was full of excitement—he had reached the fourth place among new teams through his own efforts.
He eagerly awaited Du Weilun to call his name.
But...
Du Weilun glanced at Huo Yuhao, then skipped him and called another team member: "Wang Tao!" "Lan Susu, Lan Luoluo!"
"That makes eleven people in total. I hope you all achieve even better results in the future..."
Huo Yuhao stood dazed, the joy and excitement on his face slowly freezing, as if he had sunk into another world. In this moment, all sound seemed to drift away, fading as though he were drowning underwater.
He had worked so hard and finally achieved something.
But now, it all felt like a joke.
"Next is the list of alternate core disciples."
"Long Xiangyue, Cui Yajie, Nanmen Yuner, Huang Chutian... That concludes the list."
Amidst a round of warm applause, Huo Yuhao's heart sank to rock bottom.
His name was still not on the list…
He seemed tough on the outside, but deep down, he harbored a darkness few could imagine. Childhood wounds are not easily healed. In the original story, the care of many teachers and the companionship of a lover gave him a sense of family at Shrek, which suppressed this darkness. But it still threatened to erupt later—like during the Mingdu explosion, where he showed no reverence for life.
How many people does an ordinary evil soul master kill in a lifetime?
Even reaching ten thousand is unlikely.
But just in his trip to Mingdu, Huo Yuhao slaughtered at least hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. And later, unable to defeat the Sun-Moon Empire head-on, he used the pretext of assassinating Xu Tiannan to massacre defenseless citizens in Mingdu.
He didn't fall into evil soul mastery or get taken by Zhongli Wu to become a Holy Son purely because Electrolux kept him in check. Otherwise, the first time he met a Soul King in the Mingdou Mountains, he might have opened the door to a new world right then.
But this time—
His darkness wasn't held back.
Skydream was silent in the sea of consciousness, watching quietly as the boy bowed his head, letting shadows cover his face, his fists clenched so tightly they almost dug into his flesh.
What Skydream needed was a boy who could walk the path to godhood.
Not a weakling whose only goal was revenge for his mother.
Even if that path to godhood is a little twisted, as long as he can gain power—wasn't the Rakshasa God a god too? Killing isn't all bad.
To truly transform and grow, the first step is hardship.
So Skydream didn't offer any comfort.
Instead, it let the seed of hatred take root in Huo Yuhao's heart, to sprout and grow.
After a long while, the awards ceremony ended.
As everyone dispersed,
Skydream finally spoke softly: "Yuhao, your efforts weren't wasted. Even though you didn't get core disciple status, you still get Shrek's experts to help you hunt for a soul ring. That's pretty good. Train hard these next two days, reach level 20, and get ready to go..."
"Okay, Brother Skydream..."
Huo Yuhao replied softly.
...
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