If it weren't for the necessity of entering the academy to find his future wife, Huo Yuhao would have definitely turned and left right now without staying for a single second. His patience was wearing thin, and the arrogance of this place reminded him far too much of the shackles he had only recently broken.
Seeing that Huo Yuhao had not left but was instead staring intently at him, the student behind the desk was about to drive away this undiscerning kid again. He opened his mouth to deliver another sharp rebuke.
However, before the words could leave his mouth, his pupils suddenly contracted! He felt a sudden, crushing weight descend upon the immediate area.
A thick Aura rose from this seemingly ordinary youth without any warning! It was cold, sharp, and carried the weight of an ancient predator.
Following that, a scene appeared that made the student's heart almost stop beating. He gasped, his hands trembling against the wooden desk.
Purple, purple, black, black!
Four shimmering spirit rings rose one by one from beneath the youth's feet, rhythmically moving! The deep colors pulsed with a power that felt far too vast for such a young body to contain.
Huo Yuhao didn't reveal his true spirit ring colors, but a configuration like two purple and two black was already shocking enough. He knew that showing ten-thousand-year rings as a fourth ring was already breaking every common sense of this era.
He had originally thought of showing his talent and strength so that he could be specially recruited into Shrek Academy without a recommendation letter. He expected a teacher to be summoned in awe.
But he didn't expect the student in front of him to be so shocked that he didn't immediately contact the teachers to say he had found a super Genius; his reaction was completely outside Huo Yuhao's expectations. Instead of admiration, the student showed only fear and hostility.
The shock on his face only lasted for a moment before he stood up from his chair with a thud, pointing at Huo Yuhao and shouting, "You... what are you trying to do?! Do you dare to cause trouble in front of Shrek Academy?!"
This bizarre train of thought left even Huo Yuhao stunned for a moment. He couldn't help but wonder if the pride of Shrek had truly blinded its students to the point of idiocy.
Just as he was about to explain, a swift whistling sound rang out, and a figure shot over like an arrow from not far away, instantly landing between Huo Yuhao and that yellow-clothed student. The air crackled with the newcomer's spirit power.
The newcomer was a youth who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing a purple school uniform, clearly a student from a higher grade. He carried himself with the confidence of an established elite.
This purple-clothed student's gaze immediately fell upon the two purple and two black spirit rings beneath Huo Yuhao's feet; his heart skipped a beat, and an undisguisable look of horror flashed through his eyes. He recognized the impossible configuration immediately.
But horror aside, he bore the responsibility of maintaining order, and his primary task was to control the situation. He couldn't allow a random youth to display such power at the front gates.
Forcing himself to remain calm, he looked at Huo Yuhao with a serious expression, his voice deliberately low and powerful, carrying a warning. "Who are you? You must not be presumptuous outside Shrek Academy. Retreat at once!"
With his appearance and sharp shout, many surrounding students also reacted quickly, faintly closing in from all directions. They moved like a pack, relying on their numbers to bolster their courage.
Huo Yuhao had been Cultivating the Body Sect's secret methods since childhood; although he was only eleven years old, he was tall and upright, looking even more robust than an ordinary thirteen or fourteen-year-old youth. His physical presence was as imposing as his spirit power.
Perhaps it was because of this that these confused students all thought he was there to cause trouble. They saw a threat where they should have seen a peer.
Looking at the young faces around him filled with vigilance and even hostility, Huo Yuhao was first taken aback, and then a sense of absurdity welled up in his heart. The irony of being treated as a villain was not lost on him.
He laughed out of sheer anger, barely suppressing the urge to give each of them a Mental Shock, and said, "I'm here to register."
The purple-clothed student leading the group opposite him was named Duan Lang, a fourth-year student of the Outer Court. He was one of the rising stars of his class.
Hearing Huo Yuhao's words, Duan Lang was just about to offer some comfort before making a decision. He hesitated, sensing that something was not quite right.
However, at that moment, a voice rang out directly in his mind without warning: "Attack, give him a test."
Duan Lang's whole body shook; he was all too familiar with this voice—it was the dean of students of the Outer Court, Du Weilun! He knew he had no choice but to obey.
Two yellow and two purple, four standard best-configuration spirit rings suddenly rose from beneath his feet. The air around him grew heavy with killing intent.
Then, a blood-red longsword Spirit that radiated a sharp, murderous Aura instantly condensed in his hand! The weapon looked as if it had been dipped in a fresh kill.
Without any unnecessary words, Duan Lang moved, the blood-colored longsword in his hand like a venomous snake emerging from its hole, creating a shrill whistling sound as it stabbed directly towards Huo Yuhao's chest! The strike was meant to maim, if not kill.
Although this strike wasn't at full strength, its speed was extremely fast and its angle was tricky; he was clearly playing for real, intending to force out the opponent's true reactions and strength. He showed the ruthlessness Shrek was known for.
Duan Lang's sudden violent attack caused a chorus of low exclamations from the surroundings. The crowd pulled back, fearing the collateral damage of a Spirit Ancestor's clash.
However... not even a ripple appeared in Huo Yuhao's eyes. He stood his ground, his gaze as cold and deep as an abyss.
With a wave of his right hand, a silver-bright fifth-level melee Soul tool longsword was already in his hand! The blade caught the morning sun, gleaming with an artificial brilliance.
Facing the rapidly stabbing blood-colored sword tip, Huo Yuhao didn't retreat but advanced, casually thrusting the Soul tool longsword forward. His movements were minimalist and efficient.
"Clang!"
A crisp sound of clashing metal exploded! Sparks flew as the two blades met in a shower of light.
The silver-bright blade blocked the blood-red longsword's point of force with incomparable precision; with a clever pull, he easily parried the sharp thrust. He used the opponent's momentum against him.
And that wasn't all! He wasn't content with just defending; he wanted to end this farce quickly.
Huo Yuhao's wrist flicked, and the parried longsword followed the momentum to trace a strange arc. It looked like a silver ribbon cutting through the air.
The sword moved with his body, and he advanced with the sword; the silver-bright sword tip was like a maggot on a bone, using the force of the parry to change Moves like lightning, turning into a cold flash of light that wiped straight toward Duan Lang's defenseless throat! The counter was so fast it was almost invisible.
The transition of Moves was as smooth as flowing water, and the counterattack was ruthless and precise; his swordplay over the past year or so hadn't been practiced in vain. He was a master of the blade as much as he was a spirit master.
Duan Lang turned pale with fright; he never expected the opponent to not only have such incredible reactions and clever parries but also such a sharp and lethal counterattack! He felt the icy kiss of death on his skin.
In his haste, he could even feel the bone-chilling coldness brought by the sword tip aimed at his throat, scaring him until his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering as he hurriedly exerted force with his feet and retreated violently! He scrambled back, his dignity forgotten.
Seeing this, the other Shrek students were all horrified. Their leader had been nearly decapitated in a single exchange.
For a moment, the light of Spirit possession lit up one after another; it looked like they were about to launch an unregulated group attack on the youth standing with his sword! They were acting on instinct, fueled by fear.
"Hmph!"
Facing the Shrek students who were about to surround and attack him, Huo Yuhao let out a cold snort from his nose. His expression was one of pure disdain for their cowardice.
Even a clay man has three parts of anger, let alone him? He had been patient enough with these children.
Since the other party attacked without distinguishing right from wrong, he would let them witness what a true gap in strength was! He would show them the difference between a student and a survivor.
With a slight thought, his vast and majestic mental force was like a dormant deep sea suddenly whipping up a wild storm, erupting with a bang! The invisible wave of energy rippled outward, distorting the air.
Under his control, that vast mental force instantly split into dozens or even hundreds of needles as fine as ox hair, "stabbing" into the spiritual sea of these surrounding Shrek students with incomparable precision! It was a surgical strike of the mind.
"Ah!"
"Ugh, ah!"
...Screams rang out almost simultaneously, one after another! The sound was a discordant chorus of agony.
The students who were preparing to attack Huo Yuhao felt as if red-hot steel needles had been violently driven into their minds, and their Spirit possession states were instantly interrupted. Their powers flickered and died like candles in a gale.
One by one, they clutched their heads, staggering back with pale faces; some even crouched on the ground in pain, completely losing their combat effectiveness. They were broken before the fight had even truly begun.
"Who is it? How dare you be so presumptuous in front of Shrek Academy?!"
A cold female voice filled with shock and anger suddenly came from not far behind him. It was a voice that commanded authority, cutting through the cries of the fallen.
Huo Yuhao turned to look and saw a young woman of about seventeen or eighteen years old walking quickly from behind. She moved with a grace that was both elegant and dangerous.
She wore a water-blue long dress, well-tailored to perfectly outline her graceful figure. The fabric shimmered like the surface of a frozen lake.
Her face was exceptionally beautiful, with eyebrows like distant mountains and eyes like cold stars, but at this moment, that exquisite face was covered with a layer of frost-like coldness. Her anger was a palpable thing.
Seeing this expression of hers, the first thing that flashed through Huo Yuhao's mind was actually his teacher from ten thousand years later, who was equally ice-cold—Wu Changkong. He wondered if Shrek simply bred this type of personality.
This young woman's temperament actually bore a few similarities to Teacher Wu. It was the coldness of absolute conviction and pride.
Around the young woman, five spirit rings—two yellow, two purple, and one black—were rhythmically moving; she was actually a Spirit King! At her age, such a rank was truly impressive.
The young woman's first spirit ring shone brightly as she raised her delicate hand; a magnificent staff, two meters long and condensed entirely from translucent ice crystals, appeared out of thin air and was held firmly in her hand. The weapon was a masterpiece of elemental power.
The moment the staff appeared, the surrounding air temperature seemed to be instantly sucked away, dropping by more than ten degrees, and a thin layer of white frost even condensed on the ground. The world seemed to hold its breath in her presence.
A cold light flashed in her eyes, and she pointed the ice crystal staff toward Huo Yuhao from a distance! She didn't hesitate, treating him as a true enemy of the state.
The sky seemed to be tinted by that ice-blue radiance, and a visible, piercing cold current swept toward Huo Yuhao! It was a wave of absolute zero, designed to freeze everything in its path.
Wherever it passed, the air made faint cracking sounds of freezing. The moisture in the air turned to ice, falling like diamond dust.
An ice-attribute Spirit Master?
Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow, not panicking. He felt a strange sense of familiarity with the element, his own Dragon King bloodline stirring in response.
Under his Mental Detection, he had long ago discovered two figures standing tall upon the high city walls of Shrek City not far away! He knew he was being watched by the powers that be.
One of them had spirit power as vast as the sea and should be at the Spirit Douluo level. A formidable opponent, but not an insurmountable one.
While the other person's Aura was even more profound and unpredictable, like a mountain hidden in the clouds; they were definitely a Titled Douluo without a doubt! That was the true threat lurking in the shadows.
Experts who could appear here were naturally the teachers of the Shrek students. They were the ones pulling the strings from above.
They were looking down from above, paying attention to this conflict below. They watched with a detached curiosity, as if observing ants in a jar.
However, they were just watching, with no intention of stepping in to stop it. They wanted to see the limits of this mysterious intruder.
A sharp light flashed in Huo Yuhao's eyes as he understood, and then a hint of coldness welled up in his heart. He realized this was his entrance exam, whether he liked it or not.
Since you want to watch the show and test me... he sneered inwardly, "Then I'll let you... see your fill!"
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