In Shrek City, inside the Tianying Pavilion.
Within a private room, three boys and three girls—six young students—were raising their cups in celebration. These six were none other than Zhu Ziyang, Jiang Nannan, Tang Ya, Beibei, Xu Sanshi, and Xue Weiwei.
To celebrate Jiang Nannan's successful admission into the inner courtyard, Tang Ya had specially reserved a banquet at the Tianying Pavilion as a gift from one best friend to another. As for the deposit, naturally, it was paid by the rich young master, Beibei.
"Wu wu wu~ Nannan, once you enter the inner courtyard, I'll be the only one left in the dorm!" Tang Ya pretended to be heartbroken, letting out fake sobs.
"Isn't that exactly what you wanted?" But Jiang Nannan didn't fall for the act. She directly exposed Tang Ya's hidden thoughts with a smile. "Now Beibei can visit your dorm without any worries, can't he?"
"Ugh…" Tang Ya's face instantly turned red from embarrassment at being exposed. She raised her hand and pretended to pounce on Jiang Nannan, saying, "You little fox, Nannan! Let me shut that mouth of yours!"
The two girls began to playfully wrestle, making everyone at the table laugh.
Although none of the six were older than fourteen, their soul power was already impressive. The lowest among them was still at rank 32.
The lowest was, unsurprisingly, Tang Ya. Her Blue Silver Grass martial soul had always been a major obstacle. If it weren't for her relentless effort and continuous help from soul pills, she likely wouldn't have reached rank 32 by the age of thirteen. But from now on, she would no longer be constrained by her martial soul's poor quality.
Her luck had been extraordinary. During the holidays, she had gone with Beibei to search for her third soul ring. Originally, she'd planned to follow Zhu Ziyang's advice and absorb another high-quality plant-type soul beast ring. But by a twist of fate, she ended up fusing with a thousand-year-old Immortal Spirit Grass and made it her third soul ring.
Immortal Spirit Grass—an elite plant-type soul beast with life attributes. Incredibly rare, it required extremely specific and harsh conditions to grow. Once matured, it contained immense life force. According to rumors, the Myriad Demon King—one of the Ten Great Savage Beasts—evolved his life form and became the five hundred-thousand-year-old king of soul beasts after devouring a nearly ten-thousand-year-old Immortal Spirit Grass. Before that, he was just an ordinary Demon-Eyed Devil Tree.
After absorbing the Immortal Spirit Grass soul ring, Tang Ya not only advanced her soul power to rank 32, but her martial soul also evolved from an ordinary Blue Silver Grass into the top-tier Blue-Gold Silver Grass, a martial soul with pure life attributes. It could now be said that her talent was no less than Beibei or Xu Sanshi.
Because of that, Tang Ya's gratitude and admiration for Zhu Ziyang only grew deeper. She credited most of her transformation to him. She knew well—if Zhu Ziyang hadn't awakened her in time and made her change her long-mistaken approach to absorbing Blue Silver Grass soul rings, she would've repeated her parents' path. There would've been no chance to pursue the Heavenly Star Vine as a second ring, nor would she have encountered the Immortal Spirit Grass while searching for the Ink Jade Bamboo. All of it stemmed from Zhu Ziyang's few words back then.
She felt endless gratitude toward him, and with that came hope to revive the Tang Sect. Though her martial soul was no longer the Blue Silver Grass, the sect's outdated rule of "only Blue Silver Grass can be Sect Master" clearly needed to be abolished. Once the Tang Sect rose again, she would definitely name Zhu Ziyang as the First Elder of the sect. These were the thoughts that filled her heart after reaching the third ring.
Aside from Tang Ya, the soul powers of the others had also surpassed rank 35. Both Beibei and Xu Sanshi were at rank 36, constantly competing with each other, while Xue Weiwei had just reached rank 35. At this rate, they might all reach the rank of Soul Ancestor by their fourth year. It was no wonder the teachers of the outer courtyard called their generation the "Heaven-Piercing Era." If this trend continued, decades later, this class might produce at least four Titled Douluo.
The last time so many promising students appeared in one generation was during the era of Yan Shaozhe and Xian Lin'er—almost a hundred years ago.
—
Life at the academy settled into a steady rhythm.
That day, a group of inner courtyard disciples gathered at the sparring grounds.
The next All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament would be held two years later. As the number-one academy on the continent, Shrek Academy had won countless consecutive championships. Even so, they still treated it with great importance.
According to tradition, each tournament saw Shrek Academy sending two teams: seven main team members from the inner courtyard, and seven reserve members from the outer courtyard. Typically, reserve members in one tournament would become the main team in the next, ensuring that every main team member was a seasoned tournament participant.
But this generation had an unusual problem. The reserve team, which should have become the current main team, had lost key members. Ma Xiaotao, the former reserve captain, had withdrawn indefinitely due to issues with her martial soul—and it remained unclear if she would return. Two other reserve members had dropped out of Shrek entirely and never entered the inner courtyard.
This left only four people from the original reserve team eligible to compete as the core of this tournament's main team—something that was clearly unacceptable. That's why this scene was unfolding now.
Every inner courtyard student under the age of twenty (as of two years from now) had been summoned to the sparring grounds. The academy's leadership was preparing to select three new members to join the main team.
Currently, aside from the four confirmed main team members and Ma Xiaotao, there were only four eligible candidates—Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan among them.
All four main team members and the four candidates had arrived. The elder presiding over the selection was Xian Lin'er.
"Elder Xian, everyone's present," said Zhang Lexuan, who stood beside her to assist and act as referee.
"Good. Then let's begin," Xian Lin'er said calmly.
At her command, the eight inner courtyard students moved into position. The four confirmed team members stepped behind Xian Lin'er. They were:
Acting captain Dai Yueheng, a power-type Soul King at rank 55, martial soul: White Tiger.
Team member Ling Luocheng, a control-type Soul Ancestor at rank 48, martial soul: Ice.
Team member Gongyang Mo, a support-type Soul King at rank 51, martial soul: Rainbow Dragon.
Team member Chen Zifeng, a power-type Soul Ancestor at rank 49, martial soul: Soulchasing Sword.
"Yueheng, who do you think will be our new teammate?" Gongyang Mo leaned toward Dai Yueheng and asked in a soft voice. He was tall and strikingly handsome, but his effeminate demeanor and delicate gestures gave his beauty an unusual charm. He often flicked his fingers in a refined pose, creating a sense of fragile elegance.
"If you keep talking like that, I'm going to pluck your feathers!" Dai Yueheng whispered harshly, struggling to keep his discomfort hidden.
"Hehehe, don't be mad!" Gongyang Mo chuckled and straightened his posture, showing a hint of natural grace.
"I don't know about the others, but junior brother Ziyang is definitely going to be our teammate," said Chen Zifeng firmly. He was of average build, steady in temperament, with a warm smile. He was also quite familiar with Zhu Ziyang.
"Zifeng is right. Ziyang is only thirteen, but his soul power is already rank 45—better than Ma Xiaotao was. Unless the academy is deliberately hiding his talent, he's guaranteed to join us," Dai Yueheng added. He held a very positive view of Zhu Ziyang.
"Our issue isn't Ziyang—it's the agility-type soul master we're missing," Ling Luocheng said, her expression thoughtful. She was likely the one who had known Zhu Ziyang the longest. "Based on team balance, we need to focus on Xixi and Nannan. One of them will become our final teammate."
Ling Luocheng's point was spot-on—and aligned perfectly with Xian Lin'er's thinking.
She had already decided to include Zhu Ziyang in the main team, which also reflected Mu En's intention. Mu En believed Zhu Ziyang needed more real-world experience.
Xian Lin'er also added a name to the list: an unknown student from the Soul Tool Department about to enter the inner courtyard. This person would serve as a temporary backup member of the main team. The purpose was to hold Ma Xiaotao's spot. Despite her martial soul issues, she was still the strongest current main team member, and unless she truly couldn't return in two years, Dai Yueheng would remain acting captain.
Xian Lin'er didn't consider Yao Haoxuan. Frankly, his martial soul and abilities were too underwhelming for the team.
The real question was who would fill the agility-type position. Only Jiang Nannan and Xixi were qualified. In truth, if not for appearances, Xian Lin'er would have directly chosen Jiang Nannan—after all, she was the personal disciple of Xian Lin'er's mother, the continent's number one agility-type soul master. How could she be lacking?
But that was only in thought. Jiang Nannan's soul power was only rank 41. Reaching Soul King in two years would be hard. Xixi, however, was already rank 45, and her chances were higher. Shrek's main team could not have a member below Soul King rank, yet Xian Lin'er still wanted to give Jiang Nannan a chance.
Thus, she decided: the two would battle it out. Whoever won would become the final main team member.
(End of Chapter)
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