Standing in front of Huo Yuhao and the others were none other than Xu Xingyu and Xu Yanxue—Yanxue's human name given by the Snow Emperor. Both sides were motionless, waiting for the other to make the first move—a classic "If the enemy doesn't move, neither do I" standoff.
Normally, when Bei Bei encountered such an obstacle, he would first politely greet the opponents, then scare them off with the prestigious name of Shrek Academy.
The problem now was that these two belonged to the Spirit Binding Tower—a top-tier faction rivaling Shrek Academy, and by many measures, their overall strength even surpassed Shrek's. Especially when it came to their Limit Douluo-level experts, rumored to number around three to five.
On Shrek's side, only Bei Bei's great ancestor Dragon God Douluo, Mu En, had reached Limit Douluo level. If a battle truly broke out between these forces, Shrek would inevitably suffer defeat.
However, by common sense, neither Spirit Binding Tower nor Shrek Academy would start a war over a trivial matter involving a mere thousand-year soul beast. Such conflicts would only benefit schemers waiting to capitalize on their losses. Therefore, Bei Bei and his group could only leave empty-handed this time.
Bei Bei had not ruled out the idea of forcibly driving Xu Xingyu and Xu Yanxue away. After all, with Huo Yuhao's Spirit Perception Sharing, he was confident in taking down any opponent of similar rank, even those below the Soul Master realm.
Yet, as Bei Bei's desire to snatch the Huí Snake grew, he felt an intense suppression on his proud true dragon bloodline.
He was shocked—his true dragon bloodline wasn't pure Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus blood anymore, but had started mutating toward the Golden Holy Dragon bloodline—a genuine divine beast lineage.
And yet, facing Xu Xingyu, Bei Bei felt utterly suppressed, unable to resist. What kind of bloodline power did this Xu Xingyu possess?
Xu Xingyu, meanwhile, watched Huo Yuhao's group coldly—not only curious about their next moves but also taking the opportunity to carefully observe the original protagonist, Huo Yuhao.
What surprised him was the strong soul beast bloodline he sensed from Huo Yuhao.
Xu Xingyu had previously taken Elektras and half of Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's essence. Yet Huo Yuhao still had other chances to augment his power?
Was this the so-called self-correction of the timeline? Xu Xingyu could only hope that the future wouldn't force him into enmity with Huo Yuhao.
Logically, neither of them should have reason to become enemies—after all, Xu had already settled things with Wang Donger years ago. Huo Yuhao had no reason to be Tang San's lackey.
As for the Huí Snake, it theoretically wasn't Xu Xingyu's pet. It was something he encountered during a wilderness survival training session at the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest, assigned by Gu Yuena. Back then, the snake was an ordinary Mandala Snake but awakened a faint dragon bloodline after sensing Xu Xingyu's aura nearby. After Xu discovered it, he treated it as a temporary mount before leaving it behind upon leaving the forest.
At that moment, Xu Xingyu suddenly sensed something from Tang Ya and flicked his hand. A golden card flew from Tang Ya's possession.
Tang Ya angrily shouted, "Hey! That was a gift from my best friend! Give it back!"
Xu Xingyu looked at the card and asked, "Your best friend is Nan Nan, right?"
"What? You know her?"
"She's my secretary. Since she gave you this card, it seems you two are close friends. How about this—I can propose a solution that satisfies everyone. Interested?"
Tang Ya warily asked, "What kind of compromise?"
"Turn the Huí Snake into a soul spirit, and whoever needs the soul ring can become its owner," Xu said. "You want this beast for its soul ring, right? After so many years, Shrek's top students should know what a soul spirit is. You know this deal isn't a loss."
Tang Ya was confused. "Is that really possible? Didn't you say this Huí Snake was your pet?"
Xu Xingyu sighed. "Your fight earlier broke my Huí Snake's dragon horn. You know the horn is the focal point of its dragon bloodline's essence. With it broken, the snake's strength has drastically declined. Even with treatment, it won't survive more than a few months."
"Becoming a soul spirit is its only chance to live on. I'm offering this out of respect for Nan Nan."
"Otherwise, I would have beaten you up or even killed you outright."
Hearing Xu's cold words, Huo Yuhao and the others felt cold sweat drip down their backs. Although confident in their strength, Xu Xingyu's aura surpassed even their strongest, Bei Bei, and the girl beside him had yet to act.
The outcome was uncertain; Huo Yuhao and his team were at a disadvantage. Since Xu had already given them a way out, it was best to accept.
After all, this matter was never in their favor, so being opposed was only natural.
Bei Bei and Tang Ya silently thanked Jiang Nannan — they never expected a simple card she gave them before would be so helpful now.
The card Xu Xingyu obtained from Tang Ya was a high-tier membership card for Spirit Binding Tower. It granted an 20% discount when purchasing soul spirits and allowed a one-month early reservation on needed spirits.
Currently, only Spirit Binding Tower employees and some noble families held such cards.
Bei Bei's family belonged to Shrek Academy, so he was certainly not part of any noble family.
Moreover, Shrek Academy's traditionalists looked down on Spirit Binding Tower's soul spirit system. They didn't specifically target soul spirit-using spirit masters but didn't consider them legitimate either.
Tang Ya wasn't in that category, so the only way she could have gotten this card was through a high-ranking Spirit Binding Tower employee—most likely her beautiful secretary Jiang Nannan.
Thinking of Jiang Nannan, Xu Xingyu recalled the younger sister who always followed him around. He hoped she was doing well and not being bullied at Shrek Academy.
After confirming all was settled, Xu Xingyu began the soul spirit ritual. Under the soul spirit contract's rules, Tang Ya became the Huí Snake's new host.
Tang Ya felt the Huí Snake soul spirit's enhancement and finally understood why the soul spirit method was considered a breakthrough in cultivation.
She could clearly sense the changes in her Blue Silver Grass spirit — not only did it gain the Huí Snake's paralysis toxin and toughness, but also a powerful corrosive energy. This was likely the new poison created from the snake's dragon blood and venom.
The reason it wasn't used in battle was that the dragon horn containing the essence was broken by Bei Bei's attack, so it dared not use this poison recklessly.
Meanwhile, the Huí Snake soul spirit granted her the skill "Shaluo Dragon Snake Net," which could bind the enemy and corrode them with the snake's dragon blood toxin. If the Huí Snake wished, it could even merge with this skill to greatly enhance its binding strength.
The soul spirit's augmentation was incredibly strong! Tang Ya couldn't understand why the spirit master teachers looked down on this soul spirit method. It was clearly a helpful and harmless new cultivation path!
Once Tang Ya and the Huí Snake were confirmed safe, Xu Xingyu bid farewell to the snake, reminding her to take good care of it—or else he would make trouble later.
As Xu Xingyu and Xu Yanxue prepared to leave, Bei Bei and the others noticed he was headed toward Shrek Academy to take the entrance exam.
They asked if he wanted to join them, as a reward for his generosity.
Although Xu Xingyu preferred to keep distance from the original protagonist group, it was on the way, so he had no reason to refuse.
Thus, the five set off toward Shrek Academy — where a new chapter of Douluo Continent was about to begin!
***
After a long and exhausting journey, Xu Xingyu and his companions finally arrived in Shrek City on the very last day of the Shrek Academy enrollment period. Shrek City was, of course, the city where Shrek Academy was located.
Theoretically, Shrek Academy belonged to the Tianhun Empire, but due to its unique geographical position, it was actually situated right in the heart of the original Three Douluo Empires. In many ways, Shrek City was practically an independent little nation — a coveted prize that all empires sought to win over.
The reason it had not been destroyed by the combined forces of the three empires was not just because Shrek Academy firmly insisted it was merely an educational institution, refusing to meddle in the politics of nations. It also owed much to its own formidable strength and exceptional teaching capabilities.
It was said that nearly all current high-ranking officials of the three empires were graduates of Shrek Academy. The moment the current dean gave the order, these alumni would pick up their weapons and stand united against any enemy daring to invade Shrek.
This created a delicate balance: none of the three empires dared to destroy Shrek. They only sought to curry favor.
For if any side dared to act otherwise, they would lose the hearts of their people. And a nation that lost the trust of its people was doomed to fall.
Some might scoff and say, "How could such a small academy wield such overwhelming influence?"
Xu Xingyu, however, knew the truth — as unbelievable as it sounded, Shrek Academy truly held that power. The indoctrination technique known as Shrek Glory was just too effective.
Once, during the invasion of the Sun and Moon Empire, the original Three Douluo Empires bickered amongst themselves, refusing to submit to one another. It was then that the dean of Shrek Academy stepped in and shocked the armies of all three empires. Taking the position of alliance leader, he united the combined forces of the three empires and the Sun and Moon Empire against their common foe.
It was at that moment the Three Douluo Empires realized their soldiers and officials were mostly Shrek Academy alumni.
On the surface, this was a tale that inspired many and stirred their blood.
But on closer thought, this meant Shrek Academy held the lifeblood of the three empires in its hands.
Because of this, the three empires only dared to maintain friendly relations; they never dared to pressure Shrek Academy.
Xu Xingyu sighed deeply at this thought — this status was no different from the Martial Soul Hall of ten thousand years ago.
Ten thousand years ago, Shrek Academy, alongside Tang San and the Tiandou Empire, had destroyed the Martial Soul Hall.
Yet now, Shrek was becoming the second Martial Soul Hall.
Truly a story of the dragon slayer becoming the dragon.
Unfortunately, the dragon it became was far worse than the evil Martial Soul Hall they had once slain.
Ten thousand years ago, the Martial Soul Hall provided everyone the opportunity to awaken their Martial Soul, distributed subsidies to soul masters in each empire, and executed any evil soul masters—those who cultivated by improper means such as devouring human blood or soul power.
During the peak of the evil soul masters' reign, the first Martial Soul Hall Pope rose up and united all righteous sects to exterminate them. Those evil soul masters were driven back to the Slaughter City, inherited from the Asura and Rakshasa gods, which became a prison for all evil soul masters.
That era was the darkest for evil soul masters.
Sadly, after Tang San destroyed the Martial Soul Hall, his remaining forces—the Tang Sect and Shrek Academy—did not carry on their duties well.
The Tang Sect became complacent and eventually dwindled to only three disciples maintaining the sect.
Though Shrek Academy publicly accepted the Martial Soul Hall's responsibilities, it failed to fulfill them properly.
The Martial Soul Hall was the only real opportunity for commoner soul masters to rise, while Shrek Academy was a battleground for noble families.
Without a strong background, one could hardly survive at Shrek Academy. It was an institution extremely unfriendly to commoners.
The noble system itself was the root cause of evil soul masters.
Except for a few exceptions, most evil soul masters were commoners who fell to darkness after being crushed by upper-class oppression and eventually losing their sanity.
Thanks to the Martial Soul Hall, which favored commoners, fewer and fewer commoners would fall to evil due to social injustice.
In contrast, Shrek was an elite school where the strong got everything, and the weak were left to rot.
Resources were only invested in gifted students; ordinary soul masters were barely noticed.
While a small number of talented commoners managed to enter, most students were backed by powerful families.
Regarding fighting evil soul masters, Shrek did try—but their methods were heavily discriminatory.
For example, the Scorpion Tiger Douluo Zhang Peng was labeled a "half-evil soul master" simply because his cultivation required devouring soul beast flesh and blood, even though he never harmed anyone but his enemies.
Another was the Black Crow Douluo, whose Martial Soul was darkness attribute. Because darkness resembled evil too closely, Shrek labeled him an evil soul master.
They weren't truly fighting evil soul masters — they were just finding excuses to pick fights.
If anyone deserved the title of evil soul master, wasn't their revered ancestor Tang San one?
He consumed foreign soul bones like the Eight Spider Spears, devoured soul power from beasts and soul masters alike, and even destroyed the Slaughter City prison that confined evil soul masters.
Wasn't that the behavior of an evil soul master?
Returning to Xu Xingyu's group: after arriving at Shrek Academy, Xu Xingyu parted ways with Xu Yanxue and Huo Yuhao.
Though Huo Yuhao's talent had improved due to some butterfly effect, he was still only a level 15 soul master.
Passing Shrek Academy's entrance exam would be difficult for him, so Tang Ya and the others decided to use Tang Sect's special enrollment privilege to help him enter.
As for Xu Xingyu, after handing over the recommendation letter for his sworn sister Xu Yanxue, he set off alone for his entrance exam.
Why did he not have his family prepare another recommendation letter and instead gave the recommendation to Xu Yanxue?
Because each family could only recommend one person for backdoor admission, and Xu Xingyu's own strength meant he did not need one. So he gave the recommendation to his nominal sister.
Of course, Xu Yanxue didn't really need it — her true identity was the Snow Empress, the strongest of the three great kings of the Extreme North.
With her battle talent, passing the Shrek Academy entrance exam would be a breeze.
The reason she took the recommendation was because the Snow Empress had little to gain in the Martial Soul Department.
She planned to apply to the Spirit Conduction Department, disguising her Snow Woman Martial Soul as an ordinary Snow Lotus Martial Soul to avoid being forced into the Martial Soul Department.
Her identity being discovered by Shrek's higher-ups was practically impossible.
Years ago, Xu Xingyu had taken her to the Ice God's Ruins and obtained its legacy. The first step of that legacy was transforming her into human form to accompany Xu Xingyu and learn about the human world.
Thus, she acquired the means to prevent anyone from seeing through her true nature as a transforming spirit beast.
After bidding farewell to Xu Yanxue, Xu Xingyu began his entrance exam.
His test was to withstand the pressure of a senior for the duration of one incense stick.
What surprised him was that the senior examiner was someone he knew.
A black-clad senior's jaw dropped the moment he saw Xu Xingyu.
At that moment, all he wanted to say was: "Is this test about me holding out against him for an incense stick, or him holding out against me?"
That senior was none other than the young sect leader of the Xuanming Sect, known as the Eternal Sovereign—Xu Sanshi.