Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
The empire’s premier academy—backed by immense resources and a powerful royal background.
Its students were either wealthy or noble.
So those two young people just now were actually from Heaven Dou Royal Academy?
That meant they were nobles of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Li Yusong’s earlier thought of taking advantage of them vanished instantly.
His tone unconsciously grew far more respectful.
“So… so you’re elites from Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
Please forgive my rudeness earlier—I was presumptuous.”
He secretly cursed his terrible luck.
Dai Mubai was also stunned for a moment.
His gaze flicked to Xu Fan’s arm resting on Zhu Zhuqing’s shoulder, then to Zhu Zhuqing’s cold face—which showed no resistance at all to the intimate gesture.
The strange sense of familiarity in his heart was forcibly suppressed.
A couple.
And from Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
They truly had nothing to do with Shrek Academy.
“In that case, I won’t trouble you any further,” Li Yusong said politely, stepping aside.
“You’re too kind, senior.
We’ll be leaving now,” Xu Fan replied with a nod.
He naturally lowered his arm and turned away.
Zhu Zhuqing followed in silence, never sparing Dai Mubai a single glance.
Watching the two figures disappear into the distance, Li Yusong shook his head and returned to his seat.
Dai Mubai also withdrew his gaze and waved to Tang San and Xiao Wu.
“Let’s go.
I’ll take you to see Shrek Academy.”
[That Li Yusong is really stupid—he even wanted to recruit me and Zhu Qing.]
[Good thing I used the identity of a Heaven Dou Royal Academy student to bluff him.
Otherwise, he probably would’ve tried to force us to stay.]
[Tang Hao should be nearby too.
I wonder if he noticed us.
But in his eyes, Zhu Qing and I are insignificant and not from Spirit Hall, so there shouldn’t be any danger.]
[I’m done here.
The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well is the real priority.]
[That said, I’ve heard from Rongrong and Zhu Qing that Shrek Academy has plenty of “stories”… tsk, an academy with a tale to tell indeed.]
[Reward received: Soul Power +1.]
Xu Fan’s soul power quietly reached level 23.
He hadn’t expected the reward to be a simple +1 to soul power.
Compared to the other rewards, it was clearly inferior—but still not bad.
Simple and direct.
Writing something interesting now and then could still earn him extra soul power.
However, Xu Fan didn’t feel he had that many stories to tell, so he decided to stick to writing about once a week. New chapters come out on g.com first.
Soul power was useful to him, but not essential.
His combat strength no longer relied heavily on it.
Still, it saved him training time, so he didn’t mind.
“You just said… I’m your girlfriend?” Zhu Zhuqing suddenly asked.
Her voice was calm, almost indifferent.
Xu Fan, who was walking slightly ahead, paused and coughed lightly.
“The situation was urgent just now.
That man was a Soul Emperor.”
“Shrek Academy may look… simple, but its teachers are undoubtedly formidable.”
“One of us has a special martial soul, and the other has outstanding talent.
If they took an interest and tried to detain us by force, we wouldn’t be able to stop them.
That would’ve been troublesome.”
He paused, then continued more seriously,
“Claiming to be students of Heaven Dou Royal Academy—and being in a romantic relationship—cuts down on unnecessary questioning and potential risks.”
The explanation was logical, reasonable, and entirely based on safety.
After listening, Zhu Zhuqing simply gave a soft response.
“Mm.”
She neither refuted him nor pressed further.
Only she herself knew that her emotions weren’t nearly as calm as she appeared.
When Xu Fan had put his arm around her shoulder, the warmth and pressure of his hand had been unmistakably clear.
So hot.
So hot.
Even through the thin fabric, the heat spread along her shoulder, making her ears tingle slightly.
It stirred complicated feelings within her.
I feel a bit… uncomfortable.
But it doesn’t seem like… I really dislike it?
She forcefully suppressed the chaotic thoughts.
Although she had already made her decision, she still couldn’t be with Xu Fan—for now.
They were both too young.
He wasn’t even an adult yet.
On the Douluo Continent, although a Soul Master would develop significantly with each Soul Ring, true adulthood was only reached at fourteen.
…
Shrek Academy.
“You lecherous tiger, what exactly is this Heaven Dou Royal Academy those two were talking about?” Xiao Wu asked.
Dai Mubai’s lips twitched.
“My name is Dai Mubai, not ‘Lecherous Tiger.'”
“Hehe, then who was it hanging around with those twins the other day?”
If word got out, his reputation would be finished.
Tang San also looked at Dai Mubai, curious.
He didn’t know much about the Douluo Continent.
Notting Academy didn’t even have a library.
Most of what he knew came from his teachers.
“There are two great empires on the Douluo Continent: Star Luo and Heaven Dou,” Dai Mubai explained.
“We’re currently in the Heaven Dou Empire.
As for Heaven Dou Royal Academy, you can tell from the name—it was founded by the Heaven Dou royal family.”
“It’s considered the number one academy in the Heaven Dou Empire.”
“That sounds amazing!” Xiao Wu said while nibbling on a carrot.
“Is it even better than our Shrek Academy?”
Although Dai Mubai didn’t want to admit it, the gap between the two was simply too large.
He nodded.
“Of course.
Heaven Dou Royal Academy is backed by the royal family and has the richest resources.”
“Then Third Brother, why don’t we go to Heaven Dou Royal Academy?” Xiao Wu asked.
Tang San was tempted as well.
Shrek Academy looked extremely poor—not even a proper building.
It was worse than Notting Academy and painful to look at.
If it weren’t for Yu Xiaogang, he wouldn’t have come here at all.
Dai Mubai grew anxious.
He had only just managed to bring them here—he couldn’t let them leave now.
“That’s not how it works,” he said quickly.
“Heaven Dou Royal Academy isn’t a place you can just walk into.”
“Their students are either nobles or children of wealthy merchants who paid enormous sums.
Everyone there is rich or noble.”
“Otherwise, you’d need truly extraordinary talent.”
“Although your soul power is high, one of your martial souls is Blue Silver Grass and the other is Soft Bone Rabbit.
Heaven Dou Royal Academy won’t accept martial souls like that.”
Dai Mubai wasn’t exaggerating.
After all, Star Luo Royal Academy and Heaven Dou Royal Academy were on equal footing.
Tang San frowned slightly.
“So in the end, Heaven Dou Royal Academy is still a noble academy.”
“That’s true,” Dai Mubai replied, “but it’s still extremely powerful—second only to Star Luo Royal Academy and Spirit Hall’s Spirit Academy.”
“Spirit Academy?” Xiao Wu asked curiously.
“That’s the academy under Spirit Hall,” Dai Mubai explained.
“It’s the strongest academy on the continent.
The spirit masters trained there are all elites and will become the backbone of Spirit Hall in the future.”