After months in the academy, routine formed. Yet talk buzzed of strange place far away in Suotuo City—an academy called Shrek. Whispered with half contempt, half awe, they said it accepted only freaks, talents rejected by all, yet produced monsters unmatched. Students spoke mockingly, but some feared the rumor.
When Xue overheard, his heart jolted. "A home for outcasts, for monsters… is that not echo of Ancestor Tian's path?" Inwardly he felt tug—as if Tome whispered subtle guidance: There lies magnet of destiny. He did not tell Huan or Yan immediately, but he burned resolve that his journey southward would not stop in this small city. He would walk further, until frost crossed paths with monsters.
One evening, gazing over city walls, he whispered into night: "Tang San, born same day as me… If whispers true, you are there. Frost approaches fire." The Tome stirred faint, as if approving.
And so the seed was planted—that soon Leng Xue would leave again, stepping further south, toward unknown Shrek Academy, place where fate waited under guise of obscurity.