In the early morning, a group of people slowly walked out of the main gate of Shrek Academy, shrouded in a layer of morning mist. Judging by their age, they seemed to be students of Shrek Academy. However, they were not wearing their uniforms at this moment; some were in plain clothes, while others wore luxurious attire, each unique.
Of course, luxurious attire did not necessarily mean it was beautiful, and plain clothes did not mean they were simple. The most representative of this were Yao Haoxuan and Jiang Nannan.
Yao Haoxuan, dressed in luxurious clothes, looked somewhat wretched due to his thin frame, while Jiang Nannan, in plain clothes, still stood out with her unparalleled beauty.
Today, Huo Yuhao was wearing a set of black combat attire. However, the style of this attire was somewhat unusual. It was not the popular style on the Douluo Continent but was specially custom-made by a clothing merchant in Shrek City at Huo Yuhao's request.
Do not underestimate this seemingly simple black combat attire. In reality, it was made from highly elastic and extremely stretchable precious materials. It was also water-absorbent and sweat-resistant, designed entirely according to the combat uniform design principles of Huo Yuhao's previous life. Even during night operations, it allowed him to move silently. Huo Yuhao had a dozen such custom combat outfits.
The cost of one such custom combat uniform was nearly one hundred gold soul coins, an astronomical price compared to ordinary clothing. So, even though Huo Yuhao appeared to be dressed simply, his clothes were actually the most expensive among them.
At this moment, the sun had just begun to show half of its body. Those leaving the academy so early were naturally the official and alternate teams of the Shrek Seven Devils. Leading the team were not just Xuan Zi alone, but also their class teacher, Wang Yan.
Wang Yan was Xuan Zi's disciple. Although Wang Yan could not compare with those prodigies in terms of cultivation, he had gone far in the research of martial souls and would enter the inner academy to teach after two more years of experience.
Of course, Wang Yan usually helped Xuan Zi with some personal matters. For example, when going to Huo Yuhao's barbecue stall to eat, it was usually Wang Yan who handled it personally.
A dozen people walked in groups of three or two. Xuan Zi still had his usual look, with disheveled hair, a wine gourd, and Xiao Huo's barbecue.
"Alright, come over here!"
With Xuan Zi's call, everyone quickened their steps and gathered around.
"We are still not far from the academy, so there are some things I need to say upfront. You seven little ones from the preparatory team, listen carefully. This concerns your future direction in the academy."
Xuan Zi usually seemed like he was always on the verge of going crazy, but it was the first time everyone saw him so serious, and they immediately felt a sense of solemnity.
"Shrek Academy has a history of over ten thousand years. Generally, a powerful soul master can live at least two hundred years, or even longer. Although the academy accepts new students into the inner academy every year, there are currently less than a hundred inner academy disciples remaining. Do you know why this is?"
Xu Sanshi replied, "Because the seniors graduated and left, right?"
Xuan Zi shook his head and said, "You are partly right. Some inner academy disciples did graduate and leave the academy. But I am talking about another part, those disciples who could not graduate from the academy."
At this point, Xuan Zi's voice clearly carried a tone of sorrow. "They were all good children. Although they did not truly graduate, their names remain on the academy's roster. They shared the academy's ideals and died for those ideals."
"The academy respects every student's choice. But I want to say that those who choose to pursue further studies in the inner academy are all heroes. Not just heroes of the academy, but heroes of the entire Douluo Continent."
Xuan Zi then began to recount the Shrek Monitoring Group's efforts in combating evil soul masters and corrupt officials from the three empires of the Douluo Continent.
Although Xuan Zi's tone was sorrowful, Huo Yuhao found it amusing in his heart.
On the surface, Shrek Academy claimed not to interfere with the internal affairs of the three empires and portrayed itself as just an ordinary soul master academy. However, it acted as a global police force, even daring to target officials from the three empires.
Suppressing evil soul masters and quelling incidents caused by them was still somewhat acceptable. But targeting officials from the three empires clearly crossed the line of the imperial families.
Even if Shrek claimed that they only targeted corrupt officials, the dead could not defend themselves. It was all at Shrek Academy's discretion.
This was a classic case of "If you want to convict someone, there's no shortage of excuses." Shrek Academy could fabricate embezzlement records or plant large amounts of gold and treasures in these officials' homes, providing a reason to arbitrarily eliminate any official from the three empires. This posed a significant threat to the stability of the countries.
However, Shrek Academy's actions had been passed down for generations, and they would only intensify in the future.
In the future Douluo Continent, Shrek Academy was tacitly labeled as a "cancer" of Douluo!
How did Shrek's so-called prosperity come about? By annually selecting the best talents from the entire Douluo Federation, even resorting to tricking students from other schools during lean times, indoctrinating them with the "glory of Shrek."
These so-called prodigies trained with rare treasures and absorbed the core of the planet's life force. But once they gained power and ability, they didn't think about building up the Douluo Federation or the planet Douluo. Instead, their first priority was building up Shrek Academy, even subconsciously treating the Federation as an enemy.
What a shameless and greedy educational system! Producing a bunch of ingrates who betrayed their homeland was the height of absurdity!
Shrek Academy had only a few people. The rare treasures piled up and rotted, and ordinary students could casually gamble with amounts equivalent to what a commoner could earn in a lifetime. Yet they kept talking about building up Shrek City!
You could argue that Douluo Continent respected strength and upheld the theory of the strong. But Shrek had a taboo: it prided itself on its fairness and neutrality!
Claiming to be an ordinary academy that only educated students and never got involved in politics, yet constantly directing the Douluo Federation to do this and that, treating the vast country like a household servant.
But then again, if Shrek Academy wanted to participate in politics, why not help solve people's livelihood issues? Help the common people develop the Federation's industries, agriculture, service sectors, compulsory education, and healthcare. If they could do that, Shrek would indeed be the Federation's great benefactor and could walk around with heads held high.
Constantly boasting about their neutrality and fairness, yet never dealing with "trivial matters," they only showed up when there was a fight, relying on their secret intelligence network and a god-like perspective to direct the Federation's actions.
Remember, the Douluo Federation was a country, a union of various forces. Any move towards war had to consider the interests of all parties, and this process required days of deliberation and meetings.
Did Shrek Academy operate as a one-man show, with their so-called Sea God Pavilion meetings being just an old man entertaining them with how cleanly he could eat a chicken leg?
Douluo had its own life core, shared by humans, soul beasts, and even ants and mosquitoes. But under the dual schemes of Shrek Academy and Tang San, it was later usurped by Tang San's parents, who acted as if "this is our tree, who are you to use it?"
Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect's elites were gluttons, while ordinary students had to use their family's hard-earned money to buy a chance to "suck." If you weren't from Shrek or Tang Sect, forget about it. The Golden Ancient Tree might be planted by Shrek, but its roots spanned the entire planet, nourished by the whole planet's resources, yet 90% of its life energy was reserved for the inner circle of Shrek's elite.
Even major forces like the Spirit Pagoda and the War God Hall had few people who could absorb the life energy of Douluo. No wonder the Spirit Pagoda colluded with the Holy Spirit Sect to launch a god-slaying-level fixed soul cannon shell at Shrek Academy; it was self-inflicted!
Oh? What about the soul beast clan? The soul beast clan had long been driven to another planet by our mighty Shrek Academy! Even knowing that Beast God Di Tian had a chance to succeed in his godly tribulation on Douluo, he was not allowed to return home.
What home? This is our Shrek Star!
Our Shrek is just too awesome!