Now that Zhou Sichen understood the rules of the Inner Courtyard assessment, he turned his gaze to the five portraits displayed before him.
These five individuals were their examiners for the assessment.
To make things a bit more forgiving, the candidates were usually allowed to choose which of the five would be their opponent.
After a calm sweep of the portraits, Zhou Sichen felt a bit disappointed.
His sister had entered the Inner Courtyard last year, but she wasn’t up there.
According to Du Weilun, the examiners were all students who had entered the Inner Courtyard in the previous batch.
However, since he had to choose someone, he kept looking.
The profiles indicated they were all high-level Soul Ancestors, practically a single step away from the Soul King realm.
Suddenly, his eyes locked onto the portrait of a beautiful woman with jade-green hair.
The description beneath it read:
[Name: Dugu Xianmeng.
Martial Soul: Biphosphor Snake.
Soul Power: Rank 48.
Soul Rings: Two Yellow, Two Purple.
Specialty: Poison.]
“Biphosphor Snake?” Zhou Sichen was slightly puzzled.
“I don’t remember any Biphosphor Snake soul masters appearing in the original story.”
He was quite surprised that Shrek Academy had one.
Given the characteristics of a Biphosphor Snake soul master, they definitely shouldn’t be a nobody in the original plot.
Of course, Dugu Xianmeng wasn’t necessarily a descendant of Dugu Bo, as the Dugu family wasn’t the only one on the continent to possess the Biphosphor Snake martial soul.
But undeniably, Poison Douluo Dugu Bo was the most famous of them all.
Ten thousand years ago, Dugu Bo had single-handedly slaughtered a million people.
That city full of green poison could still stop a baby’s crying in the dead of night if mentioned today.
Zhou Sichen had already made his choice.
He wanted to test the strength of this Biphosphor Snake soul master.
Although there was a ten-rank gap between them, he wasn’t worried at all.
Ignoring everything else, just Ah Da’s Ultimate Ice was the perfect counter to her severe poison.
As the candidates took their turns, Zhou Sichen saw four of the five examiners on the portraits in action, but Dugu Xianmeng never appeared once.
He didn’t even need to ask to know why—her poison was too terrifying, making all the Outer Courtyard candidates too afraid to challenge her.
But Zhou Sichen paid it no mind.
As long as Du Weilun didn’t call him to the platform, he just sat in the waiting area with his eyes closed, resting.
He didn’t even have the desire to watch the other duels.
This made him stand out starkly from the other candidates.
They were all staring unblinkingly at the platform, hoping to learn as much as possible about the seniors’ abilities to make their own matches easier, or perhaps even achieve victory…
In the history of the Outer Courtyard assessments, it wasn’t entirely unheard of for an Outer Courtyard candidate to defeat an Inner Courtyard disciple.
A certain monster had appeared in the previous batch who did just that…
But Zhou Sichen?
He didn’t even spare a glance.
Even Du Weilun couldn’t help but frown slightly.
Even if this kid was truly that heaven-defying, and even if his contracted beasts were incredibly strong, he was still only rank thirty-eight.
His own self-preservation abilities were ultimately limited.
And although Beibei mentioned he was likely a Class 3 soul engineer, that still didn’t justify being this…
The more Du Weilun thought about it, the less confident he felt.
Fine, if it’s really as Beibei said, then this kid does have the capital to be arrogant.
Meanwhile, behind a one-way soul glass window on the second floor of the training hall, several figures stood quietly, looking down at Zhou Sichen resting below.
Beibei introduced them: “Dean Yan, Dean Qian, that is Zhou Sichen.”
These two men looked to be in their forties or fifties, but both were actually over ninety years old.
The one addressed as Dean Yan was the Dean of Shrek Academy’s Martial Soul Department, Yan Shaozhe.
Martial Soul: Radiant Phoenix.
A rank ninety-five Transcendent Douluo.
Dean Qian was Qian Duoduo, the Deputy Dean of the Soul Engineering Department.
Martial Soul: Wulong Shield.
A rank ninety-four Title Douluo, and also a powerful Class 8 soul engineer, just one step away from Class 9.
The reason Du Weilun had sent Beibei away earlier was specifically to fetch these two Deans so they could inspect him personally.
Twelve years old, rank thirty-eight, three purple soul rings, three contracted beasts at the 9,999-year level, and potentially a Class 3 soul engineer?
Let alone seeing one, Du Weilun had never even heard of such a genius, so naturally, he called the two Deans to evaluate him.
The two powerhouses standing at the apex of the continent were currently observing Zhou Sichen like peeping toms.
But with Zhou Sichen just sitting there with his eyes closed, they couldn’t tell anything just by looking!
However, for a prodigy of this caliber, they had all the patience in the world to wait.
It was also a good opportunity to observe the kid’s temperament.
The Inner Courtyard assessments dragged on from the afternoon into the evening.
Out of the fifteen Outer Courtyard graduates, a mere four passed and earned the right to enter the Inner Courtyard.
In the end, only Zhou Sichen and the four successful candidates remained in the training hall; everyone else had been dismissed by Du Weilun.
At that moment, Du Weilun looked at Zhou Sichen.
“Zhou Sichen, it’s your turn.”
The moment these words were spoken, the others’ suspicions were completely confirmed: this handsome junior was actually here to take the Inner Courtyard assessment.
Pulling strings?
Even pulling strings required sufficient strength to back it up, as the assessment was a real fight.
Zhou Sichen nodded, calmly stood up, and walked unhurriedly onto the dueling platform.
Following the protocol of the previous candidates, he spoke slowly: “I choose Senior Sister Dugu Xianmeng as my examiner.”
As his words fell, the four candidates who had just passed looked at him as if he were an idiot.
The fifteen of them had fought all day, and did a single one of them dare to choose Dugu Xianmeng?
Was this kid genuinely stupid, or had he just been sleeping the whole day?
While the four whispered among themselves, Du Weilun frowned.
Wasn’t he supposed to be a genius?
Why does he seem like a fool?
Or is he truly that confident in his own strength?
Without wasting words, Du Weilun picked up the soul amplifier and announced, “Final match.
Examiner: Dugu Xianmeng.”
In the break room, Li Runrun’s mouth dropped open.
“Did this kid put all his stat points into looks instead of IQ?
He rested all day and still hasn’t figured it out?!”
The others echoed her sentiment.
They had all fought an average of three matches each, some even four, simply because no one dared to pick Dugu Xianmeng…
But this kid…
Dugu Xianmeng smiled without a word, an indescribable excitement dancing in her jade-green eyes.
She honestly hadn’t expected the little brother to pick her.
She originally planned to wait until he entered the Inner Courtyard to secretly tease him when the ‘Eldest Sister’ wasn’t around, but now…
She stretched lazily and strolled out of the break room at a leisurely pace.
Behind the soul glass on the second floor, Yan Shaozhe and Qian Duoduo both broke into meaningful smiles at Zhou Sichen’s choice.
At their level, they could naturally see that this kid possessed a confidence ordinary people lacked.
He deliberately chose the person no one else dared to choose: Dugu Xianmeng.
Their long wait wasn’t in vain.
During this half-day, they had also gotten a general understanding of Zhou Sichen’s basic information from Beibei.
Their surprise and shock were no less than Du Weilun’s, which was why they were willing to wait this long.