[Yahallo~ Akarin here!
Sorry in advance if my translation isn't 100% perfect. You might bump into some mistakes with character names, skills, locations, or other things that totally slipped past me. I really did my absolute best so you guys can have a smooth and comfy read. I apologize if any of those slip-ups end up bothering you or breaking your immersion. I really hope the novel lives up to your expectations and doesn't disappoint. Once again, sorry for the flaws, and thank you so much for reading!]
Chapter 1: Martial Soul, Double Pupils, Heading to the Body Sect
Shrek Academy, Teaching Office.
The afternoon sun streamed through the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, casting long, sharp shadows across the polished wooden floor. Dust motes danced in the heavy shafts of light, yet the warmth of the day failed to penetrate the stifling silence of the room. The air hung thick, carrying a suffocating weight that made every breath feel labored.
Director Du Weilun sat behind his massive mahogany desk. His fingers were tightly interlocked beneath his chin, his knuckles pale from pressure. His gaze, heavy with complex and conflicting emotions, remained fixed on the young boy standing opposite him.
The boy appeared to be no older than eleven or twelve. His frame was painfully thin, his collarbones jutting sharply against the fabric of a faded Shrek Academy uniform that hung off his shoulders like a borrowed sack. He looked as though a stray gust of wind might snap him in half.
Yet, the most arresting detail was not his frailty. Thick layers of stark white bandages wrapped tightly around the upper half of his face, completely obscuring his eyes. His knuckles were bone-white as his thin fingers maintained a death grip on a black blind cane.
This was Liu Yuan. He was the orphaned son of two Shrek Academy inner courtyard teachers who had perished in the line of duty during a brutal Shrek Supervision Corps mission.
"Liu Yuan..."
The silence stretched for what felt like an eternity before Director Du Weilun finally broke it. His voice was low, laced with a heavy, unconcealed regret. "After a meeting of the Academy's higher-ups... starting tomorrow, you must leave Shrek. Pack your things tonight. Leave early tomorrow morning."
Upon hearing this, a young female teacher standing beside the desk stiffened. A flash of deep pity crossed her eyes. She opened her mouth, her hand twitching as if to reach out, but after catching a glimpse of Director Du Weilun's stern, unyielding profile, she slowly lowered her head. A soft, helpless sigh escaped her lips.
Liu Yuan did not flinch. He did not display any shock, nor did his face twist in anger. He simply stood there in absolute silence, his bandaged face turned precisely toward Director Du Weilun's voice, as if listening to a verdict he had anticipated for years.
"Is it because of my Soul Power Rank?" Liu Yuan asked. His voice was eerily calm, devoid of the trembling fear typical of a child facing expulsion.
Director Du Weilun released a long, heavy breath. He pushed his chair back, the wood scraping harshly against the floor, and walked around the massive desk. He stopped mere inches from the blind boy, his towering shadow swallowing Liu Yuan's frail frame. When he spoke again, the sharp edge in his voice had dulled slightly.
"Liu Yuan, you know Shrek's motto. We only nurture monsters; we do not shelter ordinary people."
"You are already twelve years old this year. According to the Academy's absolute standards, at this age, a student must possess at least Rank 15 Soul Power and one Soul Ring. But you..."
Director Du Weilun paused. His gaze drifted down to the thick white bandages covering Liu Yuan's eyes, the regret in his expression deepening. "Your Innate Soul Power was as high as Rank 9. You should have been a prodigy. It is a pity about that accident six years ago..."
Six years ago. The disaster that had entirely derailed Liu Yuan's fate.
Back then, Liu Yuan had just Awakened his Martial Soul, the Spirit Eyes. His Innate Rank 9 Soul Power had instantly made him the center of attention, a shining star destined for the inner courtyard.
However, during a subsequent deep meditation cultivation session, his Martial Soul underwent an extremely rare mutation.
The result of that mutation was catastrophic. He went entirely blind.
For a Soul Master whose very Martial Soul was the Spirit Eyes, losing his vision was a cruel, mocking irony. But even more terrifying was the aftermath. Those blind eyes became a bottomless abyss, greedily devouring every single shred of Soul Power Liu Yuan painstakingly cultivated over the next six years.
For six agonizing years, Liu Yuan's Soul Power remained permanently locked at Rank 9, refusing to advance even a fraction of an inch. Worse still, the relentless, parasitic drain on his Soul Power had hollowed out his physical vitality, leaving his body sickly and dangerously weak.
"The Academy has observed you for six years," Director Du Weilun said, his voice turning hoarse. "We always hoped your Martial Soul mutation might take a turn for the better. We hoped it was a process of accumulating strength for a massive leap in power."
"But now it seems... this mutation is entirely malignant. Your Martial Soul... is basically useless."
'So that is how it is...'
Liu Yuan nodded slowly. A faint, self-deprecating curve tugged at the corner of his pale lips.
"I understand, Director Du." Liu Yuan's white-knuckled grip on his blind cane loosened just a fraction. His tone remained perfectly indifferent, devoid of any pleading. "Thank you for the Academy's care these past six years. I will leave."
Seeing Liu Yuan's unnervingly calm reaction, a knot of unease tightened in Director Du Weilun's chest. He had braced himself for tears. He had expected the child to cry, to beg on his knees, or to invoke the memory of his martyred parents to squeeze out a drop of sympathy.
But the boy did none of that.
"Liu Yuan, you..." Director Du Weilun hesitated, the words dying in his throat.
"If there is nothing else, I will go back first." Liu Yuan offered a slight, perfectly measured bow, executing the standard student salute flawlessly. He then tapped his cane against the floor, skillfully feeling out the space around him, and turned toward the heavy oak doors.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The rhythmic, hollow sound of the blind cane striking the floorboards echoed through the dead silence of the office. The sound grew fainter and fainter until that thin, fragile figure completely vanished into the shadows at the end of the corridor.
Not long after Liu Yuan departed, the tightly closed office doors were shoved open with violent force.
A pungent wave of cheap alcohol mixed with the heavy, greasy aroma of roasted meat instantly flooded the pristine room, completely overpowering the sterile air.
An old man shuffled inside. He wore a tattered, grease-stained gray robe that looked as though it had not been washed in a decade. His hair was a wild, tangled bird's nest. In his left hand, he balanced a massive, purplish-red wine gourd. In his right, he clutched a glistening, oil-dripping roasted chicken leg, tearing off huge chunks of meat and chewing loudly without a shred of basic decorum.
This was Elder Xuan of Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion, the Level 98 Super Douluo known to the world as the Taotie Douluo.
"That kid left?" Elder Xuan mumbled indistinctly, grease shining on his chin as he swallowed a massive bite of chicken.
Director Du Weilun immediately snapped to attention, bowing deeply with utmost reverence. "Elder Xuan. Yes, Liu Yuan has agreed to leave."
"Hmm, good." Elder Xuan lifted the heavy gourd and took a long, sloppy swig of wine, casually wiping the grease from his mouth with the back of his dirty sleeve. "This matter has dragged on for far too long. It is time to finally settle it."
Seeing Elder Xuan's utterly nonchalant demeanor, Director Du Weilun's heart squeezed. He hesitated, his jaw tightening, before he finally forced the words out. "Elder Xuan, is there truly no room for reconsideration? This child, Liu Yuan... his background is, after all, special."
Director Du Weilun took a deep breath, a desperate note of pleading bleeding into his tone. "His parents were both outstanding teachers in our Shrek inner courtyard. Six years ago, if they had not been carrying out that Supervision Corps mission to surround and suppress that Evil Soul Master stronghold, they would not have perished. Their bodies were completely lost..."
"So... even if he is not suited to be a Soul Master, could we not let him do some simple administrative work in the Academy? Or... at least let him live here in the outer courtyard? We could easily support him."
Hearing this, Elder Xuan's jaw stopped moving. The chewing ceased entirely.
A terrifying, razor-sharp light flashed within his turbid old eyes, heavy with the oppressive weight of a Super Douluo, before it was instantly buried beneath a mask of cold indifference.
"Weilun, remember this." Elder Xuan's voice dropped, becoming dangerously low and serious. "Shrek does not support idlers."
"But..."
"No buts!" Elder Xuan snapped, cutting Director Du Weilun off completely. His tone turned hard as iron.
"Joining the Shrek Supervision Corps back then was their own choice. Sacrificing for the peace and justice of the continent is the absolute glory of a Shrek member. The Academy has never forgotten their contributions."
Elder Xuan casually tossed the gnawed chicken bone across the room, letting it clatter into a pristine trash bin. He sneered coldly. "Over these six years, the Academy has provided Liu Yuan with food and clothing. We gave him the best medical resources. We even exhausted precious Heaven and Earth Treasures in a desperate attempt to heal his eyes. We have already done everything we possibly could!"
"The Academy gave him countless chances. If his Martial Soul mutation had shown even the absolute slightest positive trend, I would have fought the entire Sea God Pavilion to keep him here."
"But what is the reality? The reality is, after six years, he is still a blind Rank 9! He simply cannot become a Soul Master!"
Elder Xuan slammed the base of his wine gourd onto the desk. "Shrek's resources are strictly limited. They must be poured into true monsters with real, world-shaking potential. Letting him stay here would not only be a gross waste of our resources, but it would also be a cruelty to the boy himself. Forcing him to return to the ordinary world is what is best for him."
Having delivered his verdict, Elder Xuan seemed to feel his throat dry up. He raised the wine gourd, taking another massive gulp, and waved his greasy hand dismissively. "Alright. No more discussion on this matter. Follow the rules."
Looking at Elder Xuan's unyielding, stubborn back, Director Du Weilun felt the last bit of fight drain out of him. He lowered his head, a deep, heavy sigh escaping his lips. "Yes, Elder Xuan."
Meanwhile, in the outer courtyard dormitory building.
Liu Yuan did not hear the cold, calculating conversation taking place in the office. He had already handled his way back to his single dorm room.
The room was small, but carefully tidy. Even though Liu Yuan could not see, six years of living in total darkness was more than enough time for him to memorize every single inch of this cramped space. He knew exactly where the desk ended and the bed began.
His face remained an expressionless mask as he walked straight to the bed, knelt, and pulled a small wooden box from underneath. He opened it and began packing his life away.
A few simple changes of clothes. Basic daily necessities. And a cold, metallic stored-value card left behind by his parents, loaded with gold coins.
'Good. The compensation my parents left is quite substantial,'Liu Yuan thought, his thumb tracing the raised numbers on the cool metal card. A faint sense of reassurance settled in his chest.'If I spend it frugally, even as an ordinary person, I will not starve to death in this lifetime.'
He methodically stuffed everything into a simple, ancient-looking ring. It was a storage soul tool, the absolute last keepsake he had of his parents.
Once the room was stripped bare, Liu Yuan sat on the hard wooden bed board. He raised his hands, his thin fingers gently tracing the rough texture of the bandages wrapped around his eyes.
He felt no boiling resentment toward Shrek Academy. He felt no lingering attachment, either.
As a transmigrator, he knew the sickening nature of this original story all too well. The so-called 'Shrek glory' was nothing more than a gilded cage of self-congratulation, built entirely upon a foundation of overwhelming, tyrannical strength.
If you had value, they would protect you with extreme, hypocritical bias. If you lacked value, like his current self, their so-called 'doing everything we could' was simply a polite way of discarding the trash.
"Fine. Leaving is for the best. Saves me from having to be their disposable cannon fodder later," Liu Yuan murmured softly into the empty room.
Six years of living as a blind cripple had violently smoothed out his arrogant edges. It had made him ruthlessly pragmatic. His current wish was incredibly humble; he did not dare harbor grand delusions of dominating the continent or crushing empires. He just wanted to survive the meat grinder that was this dangerous world.
Night soon fell, blanketing the academy in darkness.
Liu Yuan lay down directly on the bare mattress. He needed to rest well. Tomorrow morning, he would walk out of those gates and never look back.
However, this night was destined to be anything but peaceful.
In the dead of night, Liu Yuan violently jolted awake.
"Mmm..."
A familiar, terrifying burning sensation erupted deep within his eye sockets. It felt as though two spheres of concentrated magma had just been ignited inside his skull.
He knew this feeling. Six years ago, when his Martial Soul first began to mutate, it had started exactly like this. But over the past six years, aside from an occasional, dull warmth, it had never flared up with such vicious intensity.
And this time, the heat was rapidly escalating.
Pain.
Mind-shattering, excruciating pain.
It felt as though a torturer was driving red-hot iron spikes directly through his retinas, twisting the molten metal deep into his brain.
Liu Yuan's jaw locked. He gritted his teeth so hard he tasted copper, his hands flying up to claw at the bedsheets. His knuckles turned white as his entire body convulsed violently from the sheer agony. Cold sweat erupted from his pores, instantly soaking through his thin sleepwear.
'What is happening... this damn mutation... is it not over yet?!'
He roared inwardly, his mind thrashing against the relentless waves of torment. The pain came in crushing tides, one after another, seemingly endless, threatening to tear his consciousness apart.
He writhed in the dark, enduring the torture second by second, minute by minute, until the first faint rays of dawn finally pierced the horizon.
At that exact moment, the pain reached its absolute peak.
"Ah—!!"
Unable to hold it back any longer, Liu Yuan threw his head back and unleashed a suppressed, guttural roar of pure agony.
And then, the breaking point arrived.
Rip!
The thick, heavy bandages tightly bound around his eyes, as if unable to withstand a terrifying, explosive internal pressure, suddenly detonated. Countless white shreds of cloth blasted outward, fluttering through the air like snow.
Immediately following the explosion, an indescribably bizarre and ancient force, like a bursting dam, surged wildly outward from his exposed eyes.
Liu Yuan's eyes snapped open.
The world was blindingly clear.
Light, long lost to him for six agonizing years, instantly flooded his retinas, painting his mind with colors he had almost forgotten.
But before he could even process the sheer euphoria of regaining his sight, the terrifying force erupting from his eyes forcibly locked his gaze straight ahead—directly onto the thick iron bars of the dormitory window.
In Liu Yuan's new vision, the world was fundamentally wrong.
The solid, unyielding material structures of reality no longer looked permanent. Under his current gaze, the rigid stone walls and cold iron felt as fragile and malleable as wet clay.
"That is..."
Liu Yuan's eyes widened. His eye sockets burned with a searing heat. An overwhelmingly domineering mental force, traveling instantly along his line of sight, slammed violently into the window guardrail.
Zizi zi!
A horrific, teeth-grating shriek of twisting metal echoed through the small room.
Under his shocked gaze, those thick, straight iron bars began to warp. They bent inward, groaning under an invisible, crushing weight. It was as if a phantom giant had wrapped its massive hand around the steel, kneading it at will. Within mere seconds, the hard iron was violently twisted into a complex, mangled knot. Several bars snapped entirely, the jagged metal edges jutting out from the sheer force of the distortion.
"Huff... huff..."
As the metal finally stopped groaning, the hellish torment that had plagued his mind all night instantly receded, vanishing like a retreating tide.
Liu Yuan collapsed backward onto the mattress, his chest heaving as he gasped for air in large, desperate gulps. His entire body felt hollowed out, utterly spent.
"The pain... it is gone."
He subconsciously raised a trembling hand to touch his face. His eye sockets were wet, slick with cold sweat, but the burning agony was completely gone.
Wait.
Liu Yuan froze. His breath hitched. He slowly lifted his head, his gaze sweeping across the room.
He saw the worn-out wooden desk. He saw the chipped paint on the white walls. He saw the violently mangled iron bars of the window, and through them, the brilliant, rising sun painting the morning sky in shades of gold and crimson.
"I... can see?"
Liu Yuan raised his hands, spreading his fingers wide, and waved them slowly in front of his face. He watched the movement of his own joints, the pale skin, the dirt under his fingernails.
He really could see.
But that was not all. Deep within his meridians, the Soul Power that had sat stagnant and dead for six long years was now churning wildly, roaring through his veins like boiling magma.
Rank 9... Rank 10...
The bottleneck that had ruined his life, previously as impenetrable as a steel vault, shattered like wet paper.
His Soul Power was skyrocketing.
Rank 11... Rank 15... Rank 18...
The violent, surging fluctuations of energy finally began to stabilize, settling heavily just as he crossed a massive threshold.
"Rank 20?!"
Liu Yuan was so shocked he nearly threw himself off the bed.
In a single night, his Soul Power had violently surged by a full eleven ranks!
The Soul Power that his blind eyes had mercilessly devoured over the past six years had never truly vanished. It had been stockpiled, compressed, and hoarded, waiting for this exact moment of explosive evolution.
"My eyes..."
Liu Yuan scrambled off the bed, his bare feet slapping against the floorboards as he rushed to the small half-body mirror bolted to the wall.
When he finally saw his own reflection clearly, his breath caught in his throat. His pupils constricted down to pinpricks.
The boy staring back at him still possessed the same pale, sickly delicate face he had known by touch. But his eyes... his eyes defied the laws of nature.
They were no longer ordinary black pupils.
Within the iris of each eye, two distinct pupils overlapped.
Double pupils. They rested perfectly over one another, radiating an eerie, ancient, and deeply sacred light. Looking into them felt like staring into an abyss that possessed the terrifying power to see through all falsehoods, illusions, and lies in the world.
Merely gazing into his own reflection, Liu Yuan felt a heavy, heart-palpitating aura radiating from those overlapping pupils.
"This is... Double Pupils?!"
Liu Yuan's heart hammered frantically against his ribs.
Having read countless web novels in his past life, how could he possibly not know the terrifying legends surrounding these exact eyes?
'The path of double pupils is the path of invincibility; why borrow another's bones?'
These were the eyes of myth. Eyes said to belong only to ancient saints and fallen gods, representing the absolute pinnacle of supreme talent and unmatched combat prowess.
"So that is it... so that is how it is!"
Liu Yuan's shoulders shook. A low, breathless laugh escaped his lips, threatening to turn into a manic roar of triumph.
The six years of absolute darkness. The six years of humiliating stagnation. It had never been a malignant mutation! His body had simply been cannibalizing its own energy to forcefully nurture and birth these peerless Double Pupils!
Shrek Academy thought he was useless trash. Elder Xuan thought he was a pathetic burden draining their resources.
Little did those arrogant fools know, not only was he not useless, but he had just evolved into an existence with talent that would make their so-called 'monsters' look like ordinary peasants.
"Rank 20 Soul Power. Double Pupils awakened... I must have also awakened some kind of Innate Soul Skill, like twisting those iron bars just now."
Liu Yuan closed his eyes, taking a long, deep breath to force his racing heart to calm down.
Now was not the time to celebrate.
He opened his eyes and shot a sharp glance out the window. The sky was fully bright now.
This was Shrek Academy. The sudden, explosive burst of Soul Power fluctuations, combined with the harsh screech of twisting metal, might not have been deafening, but it absolutely would not escape the terrifyingly keen senses of the high-ranking Soul Masters patrolling the grounds.
"I must leave immediately."
Liu Yuan's mind snapped into absolute clarity.
Since they had already expelled him, he wanted absolutely nothing more to do with Shrek Academy.
If those hypocritical old men discovered that he had not only regained his sight but had also awakened a Martial Soul of such world-shaking terror, they would undoubtedly tear up his expulsion papers. They would forcefully detain him, lock him in the inner courtyard, and brainwash him under the sickening pretext of 'for the Academy's glory.'
He had long seen through the Academy's rotting core. He had zero desire to become their weapon.
, his foundation was the Spirit Eyes. There was simply no logical reason for him to remain at Shrek.
He was not Huo Yuhao. He did not need their guidance. He was going to a place far more suited for a body-type Martial Soul—the Body Sect!
Moving with a newfound, terrifying agility, Liu Yuan grabbed the backpack he had prepared the night before and slung it over his shoulder. He stood at the doorway, his Double Pupils sweeping over the cramped, sterile dorm room he had lived in for six years one final time.
"Goodbye, Shrek."
Liu Yuan pushed the door open, his footsteps completely silent as he dashed out of the dormitory building. He merged into the morning shadows, sprinting rapidly toward the massive front gates of the academy.
Just two minutes after his shadow vanished from the dormitory halls.
Two imposing figures silently landed right outside the door of Liu Yuan's empty room.
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