Among Spirit Masters, spirit rings always command the most authority. Seeing the three spirit rings on Dai Mubai, including a thousand-year spirit ring, the young man's father's face changed drastically. He muttered, "Consider us unlucky," and quickly pulled his son away.
Dai Mubai returned to his seat and coldly swept his gaze over the young men and parents waiting to register, his threat clear.
The oppressive force brought by three spirit rings was not something ordinary people could bear. At this moment, he no longer resembled a pampered young master, but rather a thug.
After this scene, the queue immediately shrunk by a third. No one wanted to waste money, especially since the appearance of Shrek Academy was truly uninspiring.
Another young man came before the old man to register. His parents had come with him. His mother confidently placed ten gold coins into the wooden box, and the young man obediently extended his hand.
The old man squeezed his hand, his dim eyes looking at the young man, and said, "Exactly twelve years old. Release your Spirit and show it to me."
The young man nodded, and a light green spirit power was released from his body. A hundred-year yellow spirit ring pulsed up and down around him. The aura of the hundred-year spirit ring was clearly not weak. When his Spirit appeared, a thick, long vine coiled around his body.
This Spirit was somewhat similar to Tang San's Blue Silver Grass, except his Spirit was not grass, but directly a type of vine, similar to Tang San's second spirit ring, Ghost Vine, though lacking Ghost Vine's poison.
The old man shook his head and said, "Unqualified, you may leave."
The young man's parents, who had been full of confidence, froze when they heard the old man say their child was unqualified. His mother couldn't help but ask, "Why? My son was a top student in the junior academy. Didn't you see that his spirit ring is a hundred-year one? There aren't many Spirit Masters with a hundred-year spirit ring."
The old man said indifferently, "It's certainly good for the first spirit ring to be a hundred-year one, but he is just an ordinary person."
The young man's father frowned and said, "I don't understand what you mean."
The old man impatiently stood up from behind the table, addressing not only the young man's parents in front of him but also those waiting in line behind him: "To register at our Shrek Academy, you should first understand the rules. Coming here without understanding them is just wasting the registration fee. It's not too late to regret it now. Do you know the meaning of 'Shrek' in the name Shrek Academy?"
Most of the registrants looked bewildered after hearing the old man's words. The old man said coldly, "Shrek is a type of monster, an extremely peculiar existence even among Spirit Beasts. The meaning of our Shrek Academy is Monster Academy. That is to say, we only accept monsters here, not ordinary people. If you are over thirteen years old, or your spirit power has not reached level twenty-one or above, there's no need to waste your time here."
To demonstrate the academy's authority, the old man even stood up and released a powerful aura: one white, one yellow, three purple, and one black; six spirit rings rose from beneath his feet. Although it didn't even achieve the optimal spirit ring configuration, in a remote place like Balak Kingdom, a Spirit Emperor above level sixty was absolutely one of the few super powerhouses.
"Age not over thirteen and spirit power must reach level twenty-one? Isn't that just accepting geniuses?" While everyone present was marveling at the old man's formidable strength, Yun Chuan, who was standing nearby, finally couldn't help but speak up and complain.
"That's right, another meaning of monster is genius. Shrek Academy is also an academy that only accepts geniuses," the old man admitted directly, without refuting.
"But if they're geniuses, wouldn't it be better to go to the Four Elemental Academies or the Royal Academy? Why come to such a desolate place to suffer? Can this broken place even be called a Spirit Master academy?" he then retorted.
Which of the Shrek Seven Devils in the original work wasn't a heaven-blessed talent? Several of them had innate full spirit power, making them undisputed prodigies in any force. If that's the case, where does the significance of Shrek Academy lie? Teaching a group of geniuses to be geniuses? But they are already geniuses, do they still need teaching? Most importantly, this place doesn't even have simulated cultivation. If it weren't for the protagonist Tang San's existence in the original work, are they not misleading people?
"Damn it, new kid, I've tolerated you for a long time. Stop being so sarcastic." Spirit Masters were inherently hot-tempered and easily angered, and coupled with constantly dealing with the young men and parents coming to register, the old man was already very impatient. His previous calmness was just a facade. Now, hearing him fan the flames from the side, the anger in his heart immediately erupted.
Shrek Academy was indeed dilapidated, and its teaching environment couldn't compare to other Spirit Master academies, but it had the best teachers. As a teacher of Shrek Academy, he naturally wouldn't allow outsiders to slander it, especially since Yun Chuan was also a teacher of Shrek Academy at this moment.
"Where am I being sarcastic? Am I not speaking the truth?" Yun Chuan spread his hands, feigning innocence.
He admitted that Flender and Zhao Wuji were both very good teachers, but even so, Shrek Academy was still a very bad academy. The lack of hardware could not be compensated for by just a few powerful teachers.
"You…" The old man was furious, on the verge of making a move.
"Teachers, don't be impulsive, please don't be impulsive." Dai Mubai immediately ran over. At this moment, he already knew that Yun Chuan was a new teacher at the academy. So he quickly came to mediate, after all, they were both teachers of the academy, and if they were to fight in public, it would be the academy's face that would be lost.
From a personal standpoint, Dai Mubai naturally sided with the old man, but he couldn't deny that what Yun Chuan said was also true. Shrek Academy was indeed very crude. Even he himself, if he hadn't been unable to stay in his country, wouldn't have accidentally joined Shrek Academy by casually looking for a remote place to spend his life.
"Mubai, get out of my way. Today, I'm going to make this new kid understand what rules are." The old man remained unyielding, clearly very devoted to the academy.
To the side.
"Brother, this person is actually a teacher at Shrek Academy?!" Xiao Wu exclaimed softly, then asked strangely, "But if he's a teacher, why did he beat that lecherous Tiger named Dai so badly that day? And from his reaction that day, it seemed like he didn't know this person was a teacher either?"
"I don't know. Perhaps there's some reason we're not aware of," Tang San also shook his head in confusion. With so little information, he really couldn't figure out the reason.
"New kid, do you dare to have a Spirit Master duel with this old man?" The old man was now blinded by rage. Even with Dai Mubai holding him back, he remained furious. He even began to actively challenge him!
"You want to fight me? Are you sure you want to fight me? You haven't forgotten my rank, have you?" Yun Chuan extended his right hand, and a Blue Silver Grass appeared in his palm. At the same time, spirit rings emerged around him—two yellow, two purple, three black! Optimal spirit ring configuration!
Of course, this was just a facade created by Yun Chuan using some method, merely changing the color of the spirit rings. After all, seven all-black spirit rings would be too paradigm-shifting. Besides being momentarily surprised upon seeing them, a normal person's mind would likely dismiss it as an illusion, because seven ten-thousand-year spirit rings were too contrary to common sense.
Generally speaking, only the fifth ring can absorb a ten-thousand-year spirit ring; at most, absorbing a ten-thousand-year spirit ring for the fourth ring is acceptable. But if you start absorbing ten-thousand-year spirit rings from the first, second, and third, that's too much. It's too illogical, making it seem fake.
People would subconsciously choose not to believe it, which would make all-black spirit rings lose their deterrent power.
So, under normal circumstances, when Yun Chuan displayed his spirit rings, he would change their colors to the optimal configuration. As for facing Flender last time, he was simply too lazy to pretend. Later, when Flender asked about the all-black spirit rings, he brushed it off by saying it was an illusion created by a Spirit Ability.
"Hiss!"
Around them, there was a collective gasp.
Looking at Yun Chuan's youthful face and the seven terrifyingly present spirit rings around him, the shock and deterrence they brought were many times greater than what the old man could evoke.
"It's over! I forgot this kid is a Spirit Saint!" At this moment, the old man, whose head was spinning with rage, looked at the seven spirit rings beneath Yun Chuan as if a basin of cold water had been poured over him. He immediately sobered up. Realizing that he was provoking a young Spirit Saint, he secretly cursed his luck.
"Where did this monster come from?"
The old man had originally just wanted to find an excuse to teach him a lesson, but now he was in a difficult situation. How could a six-ring Spirit Emperor fight a seven-ring Spirit Saint? How could he even begin to fight? Moreover, Yun Chuan was younger than him and had more spirit power. If they really fought, he, the old man, would probably be hung up and beaten.
"This fight absolutely cannot happen! If I lose, won't I be utterly disgraced?!" In his frantic state, his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of Dai Mubai, who was also stunned and clearly had just realized that this new teacher was a Spirit Saint. The old man immediately had an idea and quickly gave Dai Mubai a meaningful glance.
Dai Mubai instantly understood and returned a glance, which immediately put the old man at ease. He praised in his heart, "As expected, Mubai is the most composed in the academy."
Who knew that in the next moment, Dai Mubai's words made his face stiffen again.
"Teacher, don't worry, Mubai will go arrange the venue right away." Dai Mubai seemed excited. After all, this was a battle between two Spirit Saints and a Spirit Emperor. How could he not want to witness it? As for the venue, there was nothing to prepare. Shrek Academy had plenty of open space, because it was poor!
This was also why Yun Chuan said Shrek was dilapidated; it was such a small place, and it was all open space. The houses were even more crude, making one want to cry, and the food was even worse. In any case, after Yun Chuan joined Shrek Academy, he only stayed one night before fleeing as if escaping.
When Dai Mubai returned to the academy, he only knew that a new teacher had arrived. Only now did he realize that this teacher was actually a seven-ring Spirit Saint!
He remembered that Ma Hongjun, that Fatty, even wanted to test this new teacher, saying that only an Old freak could be a Little freak's teacher. That guy should really be grateful that this teacher wasn't at the academy at the time. Otherwise…
Dai Mubai shuddered, thinking of how he was beaten almost beyond recognition by the wooden dummy summoned by this teacher. He thought, "Fatty, I hope you behave. Otherwise, you're truly beyond saving."