Zhou Sichen simply smiled silently at Beibei’s praise, following him past the teaching buildings into a lush grove.
Shrek City, located in the south-central part of the Douluo Continent, enjoyed a warm climate.
Although the trees weren’t as towering as those in the southern reaches of the Sun Moon Empire, their average height still exceeded thirty meters.
Because few people passed through here, the grove thrived, its dense canopy blocking out most of the sunlight.
In the center of the grove stood a magnificent building—the arena where Outer Courtyard disciples usually dueled and sparred.
Beibei familiar led Zhou Sichen inside.
The interior featured massive dueling platforms, flanked by tiered seating that extended upwards, capable of accommodating at least five hundred people.
On the main dueling platform right now, two four-ring Soul Ancestors were engaged in a spectacular battle.
Noticing their arrival, Du Weilun, the Director of the Outer Courtyard’s Martial Soul Department, walked over.
“Beibei, what brings you here?
And this student is?”
Beibei immediately shared all of Zhou Sichen’s information with him.
After hearing it, Du Weilun looked at Zhou Sichen in absolute disbelief.
How…
how could such a talented soul master exist?
Twelve years old, rank thirty-eight, three purple soul rings…
Du Weilun scrutinized Zhou Sichen.
This level of talent was unheard of, even in Shrek, the continent’s number one soul master academy.
If he remembered correctly, ten thousand years ago, the core and soul of the Shrek Seven Devils, the ancestor Tang San who eventually became the Sea God, only had a ring configuration of yellow, yellow, purple, and black when he reached four rings!
And Zhou Sichen?
His rings defied heaven starting from the very first one!
As a director famous for being strict and impartial, strictly adhering to Shrek’s motto, Du Weilun felt an unprecedented urge to actively pull strings for Zhou Sichen.
Under these circumstances, Beibei couldn’t be lying, and Zhou Sichen had remained perfectly calm the entire time.
Du Weilun struggled to stiffen his face, forcing his emotions to steady, and said deeply, “If you truly possess such strength, you naturally meet the qualifications for the Inner Courtyard assessment.”
“But as a Director and the enrollment examiner, I must remind you of something.
Shrek Academy’s reputation as the continent’s number one is known to all, but the Outer Courtyard was established by our predecessors in response to requests from the three major empires to cultivate more talents for the continent.”
“To Shrek Academy, only the Inner Courtyard represents the true meaning of ‘Number One on the Continent’.”
“Even among the outstanding students who emerge from the Outer Courtyard, the number who advance to the Inner Courtyard each year is minuscule—usually countable on one hand.
Furthermore, students who fail the Inner Courtyard assessment are not allowed to remain in the academy.”
“I don’t need to elaborate on the difficulty of trying to test directly into the Inner Courtyard without going through the Outer Courtyard’s foundational education; you should understand.”
Zhou Sichen remained perfectly calm and nodded.
“I understand.”
Beibei didn’t know what to say from the sidelines.
He wholeheartedly acknowledged Zhou Sichen’s strength, but what Du Weilun said was undeniably true.
Zhou Sichen continued, “Director Du, with my current strength, competing on the same stage as freshmen whose average strength is only two rings would frankly be bullying, and a waste of talent.”
“If I can’t enter the Inner Courtyard and have to idle away my years in the Outer Courtyard, I would rather leave Shrek Academy.”
Hearing this, Beibei immediately interjected, “Big Brother Zhou, Director Du didn’t mean it like that.
Let’s just follow the normal procedures; passing the Inner Courtyard assessment will be fine.”
Zhou Sichen looked at Beibei, then at Du Weilun.
“This is what I think.
I wonder if Director Du can give me a chance?”
Du Weilun fell silent for a long time before slowly saying, “I can.
And because your talent is exceptional, I can make an exception this once.
Even if you fail the Inner Courtyard assessment, you can still remain at Shrek Academy without having to bully freshmen.
You can skip directly to the fourth year and join Beibei’s class.
How about that?”
Zhou Sichen smiled faintly.
“Then I thank you, Director Du.”
Du Weilun whispered a few words to Beibei.
Beibei nodded, patted Zhou Sichen on the shoulder, said “Good luck,” and left the training hall.
“Follow me,” Du Weilun said to Zhou Sichen.
At this moment, apart from the two students fighting on the platform, everyone else couldn’t help but look over.
Putting aside Zhou Sichen’s handsome appearance and transcendent aura, his arrival with Beibei at this particular time was highly conspicuous.
They all knew Beibei—the kid was one of the famous Twin Stars of Shrek’s Outer Courtyard.
But they had never seen Zhou Sichen before, meaning he was likely a freshman.
But what was a freshman doing in the training hall?
The half-month freshman enrollment period was exactly when the sixth-year graduates underwent their Inner Courtyard assessments.
For a freshman to come here now implied something profound.
“Ahem.” Du Weilun coughed.
“What are you looking at?
Do you all think your strength is already guaranteed to get you into the Inner Courtyard?”
There were over a dozen handsome guys and beautiful girls present, but upon hearing Du Weilun’s voice, they all silently turned their gazes back to the duel on the platform.
The Inner Courtyard assessment was both simple and complex.
It consisted of two rounds.
The first round occurred during the sixth-year graduation exams, where the top fifteen ranked students earned the qualification to take the assessment.
(Though it wasn’t a hard cap of fifteen; exceptionally talented students could be added at discretion).
Once qualified, they would take the assessment during the next freshman enrollment period.
This meant the qualified students had a few months to push for a breakthrough, which was actually quite humane.
But the true assessment was the hardest part; ordinary people stood almost no chance.
The assessment usually involved one-on-one duels against senior students from the Inner Courtyard.
The final outcome was judged by the senior opponent and the referee.
Those who entered the Inner Courtyard were true geniuses, and their cultivation levels were higher, making it incredibly difficult to achieve a good score.
Zhou Sichen followed Du Weilun to the waiting area, where Du Weilun personally explained the rules and points of attention for the assessment.
…
Inside the training hall’s break room, four handsome men and beautiful women stared intently at Zhou Sichen through a soul device monitor.
Among them, a petite and cute girl started fangirling the moment she saw Zhou Sichen.
“Wow, why is this little brother so good-looking?
Is he here for the Inner Courtyard assessment too?”
The guy behind her rolled his eyes.
“Probably not.
Although we’ve only been in the Inner Courtyard for a year, we have some understanding of the talented folks in the Outer Courtyard, and he’s not one of them.”
The girl, Li Runrun, completely ignored him and turned to the green-haired beauty beside her.
“Xianmeng, what do you think of this little brother?”
Dugu Xianmeng stared fixedly at Zhou Sichen.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, she didn’t rush to answer.
She had seen this boy before, albeit only in a portrait…
Is this the person you’ve been thinking about day and night?
she murmured inwardly.
Immediately after, a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes.
Since she’s not here, why don’t I have a little fun with this little brother?
After a long pause, she replied, “You probably couldn’t find a second handsome guy like him in the entire academy.”
Hearing her words, everyone—including Li Runrun—raised their eyebrows.
Aside from the ‘Eldest Sister’, Dugu Xianmeng was the second person known for completely avoiding men.
Because no man dared to approach her!
Li Runrun knew her best friend actually desperately wanted a passionate romance, but because of her martial soul, absolutely no one in the academy dared to get close!