A Cross-Age Kill: Your Goal is to Enter the Inner Academy
A stunned silence gripped the Class Zero seats for a long moment after the Shrek team exited the stage. The roar of the crowd felt distant, muffled by the sheer weight of the display they had just witnessed.
"Hey, everyone… am I seeing things?" Xie Xie finally blurted, his voice uncharacteristically thin. "Those two… they're really from Shrek?"
Tang Wulin slowly shook his head, his eyes still fixed on the empty platform where lightning had so recently raged. "No mistake. What are the odds? We just… shared snacks with them." His tone held a dazed kind of awe.
Xu Xiaoyan hugged her arms, a slight shiver running through her. "They're our age… more or less. How can the gap feel like a chasm?" she whispered, her usual brightness dimmed by a sobering glimpse of a higher mountain.
On the stage, the match had been less a competition and more a demonstration. It was surgical, brutal, and awe-inspiring. The moment the signal flashed, Shrek's team moved as a single, terrifying organism. Xu Lizhi's swift, almost comical bun-toss was the first cog in a devastating machine. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's tri-beam enhancement shone with legendary brilliance. And then, the centerpiece: the captain, his body expanding with the roar of primeval thunder, a black ten-thousand-year soul ring burning like a hole into reality behind him.
Yao Xuan's [Eye of Observation] had calmly fed him data—Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus Rex, ancestral pact, optimized soul ring synergy—but even his analytical mind was forced to acknowledge the breathtaking efficiency. The Tianhai team, champions in their own right, had been swept away like leaves in a tempest. Their defenses shattered, their spirit skills snuffed out before fully forming, their bodies laid low in under thirty seconds. It wasn't a fight; it was a statement.
A cross-age kill. A total, humiliating annihilation.
The stadium's initial roar of excitement had died into a profound, ringing silence, followed by a wave of applause that sounded as much like shock as admiration.
"This… this is Shrek's power?" Xie Xie stammered again, his earlier bravado utterly dissolved. "Are they even human?"
"They're human," Tang Wulin said, his voice heavy. "But their coordination, their explosive force… it's like they share one mind. I could barely track their movements." A flicker of frustration crossed his face, the frustration of a craftsman seeing a masterpiece he couldn't yet comprehend.
Xu Xiaoyan nodded grimly. "Like human-shaped spirit beasts." She turned her large eyes, now wide with trepidation, toward Yao Xuan and Gu Yue. "Class Monitor, Sister Gu Yue… could you follow it? All of it?"
Gu Yue's gaze was still fixed on the retreating green uniforms. Her expression was unreadable, but her eyes held a fierce, calculating light. "Yes," she stated simply. Every movement, every soul power fluctuation, had been cataloged. The Silver Dragon King within recognized disciplined power, and the girl who loved Yao Xuan measured it as a future obstacle on their path.
Yao Xuan gave a single, slow nod. "I could." His voice was calm, but internally, the display had stirred both respect and a sharper, more focused ambition. 'This is the standard. This is the baseline of the world we aim for.'
"Boss is just built different," Xie Xie muttered, then a spark of curiosity returned. "Hey, Boss, if you went up against that captain… what are your odds?"
Yao Xuan didn't answer immediately. He ran a quick, internal simulation—factoring in the Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus's savage power, the ten-thousand-year ring's boost, the team support. Then he factored in the Ancestral Dragon' sovereignty over all dragon-kind, the chaos shield, the spatial step. "Fifty-fifty," he concluded aloud. Without the bloodline's innate pressure, it would be a clash of titans. With it… the odds shifted decisively in his favor. But that was a card to keep close.
"Wow! Brother Xuan is incredible!" Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and Xu Xiaoyan chorused, their spirits lifting slightly at this anchor of confidence.
It was then that Wu Changkong's voice cut through their huddle, cool and level. "Now you see. This is Shrek Academy."
They turned to find their teacher standing nearby, his arms crossed, his gaze inscrutable. "Yes, Teacher," they replied, their voices more subdued.
"And I can tell you this," Wu Changkong continued, his words dropping like stones into a still pond. "Those students are only from the Shrek Outer Academy. The gap between them and the true elites of the Inner Academy is even wider."
"Only the Outer Academy?" The question burst from Xie Xie, his earlier shock redoubled. Even Gu Yue's eyebrows lifted a fraction. Tang Wulin's jaw tightened. Xu Xiaoyan simply looked faint.
"Yes. Only the Outer Academy," Wu Changkong affirmed, his eyes hardening. "And they represent the caliber of competitor you will face if you wish to walk the path I'm setting for you." He paused, letting the implication sink into their bones. "The goal of my training—for all of you—is not merely to become strong. It is for you to enter the Shrek Inner Academy. To fulfill a wish I… left uncompleted."
A heavy silence fell. Tang Wulin dared to voice the question they all thought. "Teacher Wu… you didn't graduate from the Inner Academy?"
A shadow, deep and old, passed behind Wu Changkong's eyes. His fist, hanging at his side, clenched minutely before relaxing. "I stepped within its gates. I did not walk back out with what I sought." The bitterness there was a tangible, aching thing. He quickly masked it, his voice regaining its steely edge. "But you are different. You have a foundation I did not. Trust in yourselves, and train until every fiber of your being screams. Then train more. The chance will be there."
He looked at each of them—Yao Xuan's steady resolve, Gu Yue's silent intensity, Tang Wulin's burning determination, Xie Xie's rekindling spark, Xu Xiaoyan's quiet tenacity. "It is too early to dwell on this. Your immediate task is the tournament before you. Prepare. Focus. Those who wish to register for the individual competition, do so this afternoon."
With a final, weighted glance, he turned and left them amid the echoing cheers of the stadium.
For a moment, no one spoke. The scale of the world had just expanded violently around them.
Yao Xuan felt a hand slip into his. Gu Yue's fingers were cool, but her grip was firm, an anchor in the sudden, vast sea of their future. He looked down at her. She met his gaze, and in her violet eyes, he saw no fear, only a reflection of his own unwavering resolve, and a promise to climb that mountain together.
"Let's go," Yao Xuan said, his voice cutting through the daze. "Time to register."
The group moved as one, a tighter unit than before. Tang Wulin instinctively placed himself near Xu Xiaoyan, a silent protective gesture. Xie Xie bounced on his toes, anxiety transforming into nervous energy. Yao Xuan and Gu Yue walked shoulder-to-shoulder, her presence a steadying force against the daunting vista their teacher had unveiled.
The path was clearer now, and infinitely steeper. The first formal step began not on a glorious stage, but at a registration desk.