Chapter 59: The Shrek Fraud Syndicate

"Young master, the Shrek Academy you asked me to look into is about to start its admissions." Aunt Xue walked into the dormitory holding a stack of documents. "Why are you taking an interest in a village-run academy?"

Li Xun chuckled and said, "Aunt Xue, I heard that this academy only accepts monsters, so I'm a bit curious."

"Young master, you surely don't want to join this academy, do you?"

Aunt Xue looked puzzled as she spread the documents out in front of Li Xun one by one. "I advise you to dispel that thought. This academy seems rather improper. Their slogan is that those who dare not stir up trouble are mediocrity personified. But they probably don't know that the next line should be: those who go looking for trouble for no reason are fools."

"According to the information I've gathered, this village-run academy also has a very high mortality rate. Since its founding, it has enrolled a total of sixty-four outstanding students, but only fourteen have graduated. The rest either died while hunting soul beasts or were forcibly expelled because their soul power did not reach rank forty before the age of twenty."

Li Xun feigned a look of astonishment and quickly picked up the documents on the table. "Aunt Xue, with such low mortality and graduation rates, why do students still apply?"

Hearing this, Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing's curiosity was instantly piqued, and they stopped their cultivation to crowd around the table.

This was the first time they had ever heard of an academy where more than half of the students were maimed or killed. Could this academy possibly be raising Gu worms?

"Because of their false advertising."

Aunt Xue frowned slightly, pulled a yellow page from the stack of documents, and handed it to Li Xun. "According to the records, this Shrek Academy has never registered its founding qualifications with any kingdom or empire.

Moreover, the teachers at Shrek are suspected of deceiving their students.

By their own account, the fourteen past graduates of Shrek all became world-shining figures upon leaving the academy, and the most prominent among them even became the youngest elder of the Spirit Hall, second in status only to the Pope."

At this, Aunt Xue sneered. "Perhaps my horizons are limited, but I've never heard of a single one of these great figures coming out of Shrek."

"And do you know what kind of rank is second only to the Pope? At the very least, it must be the Super Douluo level, and the only powerhouses of this caliber I know of are Elders Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo."

Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing wore shocked expressions. Wasn't this simply a blatant scam of an academy?

"How can anyone actually believe such exaggerated claims?" Li Xun frowned, looking puzzled.

"My dear young master, there are always some people in this world who aren't very smart; they believe whatever anyone tells them." Aunt Xue scoffed. "They only wake up and realize the truth after they've truly been cheated, but by then it's already too late. As for the students who died, they don't even get a chance to regret it."

Ning Rongrong covered her small mouth in shock, and after her emotions settled, she asked, "Aunt Xue, the graduation requirement for Shrek Academy should be a rank forty Soul Ancestor, right? Shouldn't the soul rings obtained at this level be of the thousand-year variety?"

"Could it be that the teachers of this academy don't even have the strength to hunt thousand-year soul beasts?"

Hearing Ning Rongrong's profound question, Li Xun was also startled. When did this girl grow a brain?

...

That could be problematic...

Aunt Xue sneered coldly and found Shrek's faculty roster among the documents. "The reason this trash academy is able to dupe students into enrolling relies not only on its external propaganda, but also on its faculty."

"Shrek Academy has three Soul Saints and two Soul Emperors. The three Soul Saints are the Level 78 Four-Eyed Owl Flander, the Level 75 immovable King Zao Wuji, and the Level 71 Sugar Bean Shao Xin."

"The two Soul Emperors are the Level 63 Dragon-Patterned Staff Li Yusong and the Level 66 Star Luo Chess Lu Qibin."

Zhu Zhuqing's delicate eyebrows furrowed. "This level of faculty is more than enough to hunt ten-thousand-year soul beasts. Could it be that these teachers don't escort the students to obtain their soul rings?"

"Miss Zhuqing, if any of Shrek's teachers actually cared about the lives and deaths of their students, there wouldn't be such a high mortality rate." Aunt Xue sighed. "Alas! These children only realize what they are about to face once they enter the academy."

"If they are lucky enough to survive and successfully struggle through to graduation, then congratulations to this lucky soul—they will become one of the 'elite students' advertised by the academy!"

Ning Rongrong was amused by the last sentence. "Then aren't these people stupid enough to help others count the money even after being swindled?"

"Indeed, quite stupid." Li Xun looked at Ning Rongrong and nodded. "Don't worry, Aunt Xue, I won't join Shrek Academy. I just have some matters to attend to."

"Decide as you wish, young master, but let me add one more thing. This academy is dirt poor, unable to even guarantee nutritious meals for its students. I can only wonder how lazy these teachers must be." Aunt Xue nodded in disgust.

The reason she said so much was to give Li Xun a warning. After all, young people like Li Xun were the most susceptible to being provoked into a competitive spirit, and Shrek's propaganda was so exaggerated that it made it seem as though one wasn't a monster unless they entered this academy.

"By the way, young master, this is the information on the blacksmiths near Holy Soul Village that you asked me to collect." Aunt Xue separated a stack of documents and placed them before Li Xun.

After Aunt Xue left, Li Xun sorted through the documents.

Ignoring the blacksmith information—which he had prepared as an excuse for future actions—he picked up the papers on Shrek.

His primary concerns in paying this much attention were Tang Hao and his son, followed closely by Dai Mubai.

Li Xun was the same age as Tang San. If he remembered correctly, Tang San entered Shrek Academy at the age of twelve. He didn't care about Tang San or Shrek; Li Xun's main targets were Tang Hao and the Blue Silver Emperor's right leg bone.

In Li Xun's memory, the first time Tang Hao left the vicinity of Holy Soul Village seemed to be around this time, when Tang Hao escorted Tang San to school and beat up Zao Wuji.

He intended to take advantage of the window when Tang Hao was escorting Tang San to go out into the wilderness and pick up an unclaimed hundred-thousand-year soul bone.

"Big brother, are you really going to Shrek Academy?" Ning Rongrong stared at Li Xun with her large, watery eyes.

Even Zhu Zhuqing looked at him curiously. After learning about Shrek's many disreputable deeds, the two of them couldn't figure out what else about this academy could possibly attract Li Xun.

...

"Take a look at this." Li Xun smiled and handed a document to Zhu Zhuqing.

Zhu Zhuqing doubtfully took the documents, and after reading the contents, her delicate brows knitted together.

Seeing this, Ning Rongrong couldn't restrain her curiosity and leaned over. "Oh! Dai Mubai? Isn't this the prince who is betrothed to Zhuqing?"

"Tsk tsk, and a playboy prince at that! And this one called Ma Hongjun is even less of a good egg!"

This sheet of paper clearly recorded the information of Shrek's current talented students, such as Yu Tianheng, Ye Lengleng, Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and Oscar.

They didn't care about Ye Lengleng and the others, but Shrek's other three members successfully caught their attention.

Dai Mubai was the most prominent among them. The documents showed that he was already a well-known playboy in Soto City, extremely lavish when spending money on women, and never entangled himself with anyone after a breakup.

In his own words, women weren't counted as a population, but as a resource. If resources ran out, one simply had to go find more.

The records also showed that Dai Mubai averaged three dates a day with different beauties, making him a regular VIP at the city's Rose Hotel.

Furthermore, no matter how crowded the hotel was, they always kept a room reserved for him. Recently, he had even hooked up with a pair of twin sisters, and the three of them had been coming and going together for a whole week.

As for Ma Hongjun in the documents, it was simply absurd.

It showed that his martial soul was named the Evil Fire Phoenix, and it came with a huge flaw that caused him to frequently suffer from the torment of evil fires. And the method to release the evil fire within his body turned out to be engaging in activities behind closed doors with women.

This had led to him becoming a regular patron of brothels.

The information up to this point could still be understood; after all, when it came to life and death, nobody had a choice.

However, this fellow had perhaps matured prematurely and acquired a taste for it, to the point where he would normally approach women to speak flirtatiously and let his eyes wander whenever he saw them.

What was even more crucial was that the teachers, possessing Soul Saint cultivation, showed signs of quietly condoning this behavior, which only made him even more unbridled in the surrounding area.