Two days later.
Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan arrived in Tiandou City, the imperial capital of the Heaven Soul Empire.
As they looked upon the ancient grandeur and bustling modernity of the capital, they decided to stay the night and rest.
Tiandou City, formerly the capital of the Tiandou Empire and now the capital of the Heaven Soul Empire, was one of the five most prosperous cities on the Douluo Continent. In both scale and prosperity, it far outshined a small northern border town like Anyang City.
Walking through the dazzling streets, ablaze with lights and teeming with entertainment, both Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan felt a strange sense of detachment. The flourishing capital seemed like a different world entirely from the poor and struggling villages they had passed along the way. The stark contrast was the first time the two young soul masters truly felt the reality of the world.
They didn't stay out long and returned to their inn to rest.
Speaking of the inn, Zhu Ziyang couldn't help but sigh—this was, after all, the imperial capital. Ten gold soul coins for one night! That was enough to rent a full house with a small courtyard back in Anyang City.
Morning, 6 AM.
Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan set off once more. After walking a dozen kilometers, they passed by a forest.
Zhu Ziyang stopped instinctively and stared at it, deep in thought.
"What is it, Brother Ziyang?" Jiang Nannan asked curiously.
"Just a forest," he said casually.
"What forest is it?" she asked. "It's so close to Tiandou City—are there soul beasts living in it?"
"There are. Not only that, but according to legend, there's also a blessed paradise hidden within," Zhu Ziyang said with a half-smile.
In the early records of the Tang Sect, one sacred place was mentioned repeatedly: the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well—a site of both legend and mystery, said to contain countless heavenly herbs and treasures.
According to the lore of Tang San, the Sea God, this site played a critical role in his rise to godhood. The original Shrek Seven Monsters also benefited from it.
However, Zhu Ziyang had read in some obscure texts that the site's original owner was a Bilin Snake Titled Douluo.
Of course, none of that mattered to him. He was simply pondering whether he could one day find a stroke of fortune there. Given that the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well had vanished from historical records for nearly seven thousand years, he had reason to believe some form of protective mechanism had been set around it.
He decided: when he became stronger, he would return to investigate.
Jiang Nannan, unaware of all this, simply nodded.
"Oh, I see."
"Let's keep going," Zhu Ziyang said.
The two continued on, skirting the edge of Sunset Forest and heading straight for Soto City, the capital of Suonan Province.
After about three days, they arrived at Soto City.
Two days after that, they finally reached their destination:
Shrek City—home of Shrek Academy.
Shrek City, the city that exists solely because of Shrek Academy, is a one-of-a-kind phenomenon on the continent. Though its population was just over two million, more than 1.7 million of those were soul masters—making it the most soul-master-concentrated city in the entire continent.
Its city lord was the only one on the continent with the strength of a Titled Douluo.
"This is Shrek City? So majestic!" Jiang Nannan gasped in awe.
"Let's go register. Once we're students, we'll have all the time in the world to look around," Zhu Ziyang said with a smile.
As someone who had studied everything available about Shrek Academy, Zhu Ziyang was confident that his knowledge rivaled that of current students. He had read 80% of the written materials available on the academy.
The academy wasn't located in the city center but in the eastern part of Shrek City, near the Star Dou Forest.
Shrek City had wide avenues stretching in all directions, and its location at the border of the three great empires made it a hub for cross-national trade. Because of the academy, the city maintained excellent public order. Transactions here were both fair and safe, attracting merchants from all over the continent.
Of the city's four gates—north, south, west, and east—the east gate was exclusive to Shrek Academy students. Only they could enter or leave through it.
At this time, it was the annual enrollment day, and thousands of people had gathered at the east gate—not just hopeful young applicants but also merchants and vendors hoping to cash in on the crowd. The scene was lively and chaotic.
Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan ignored the noise and focused on their task: registration, followed by the entrance exam, and ultimately, admission into Shrek Academy.
They bypassed the crowd and approached the east gate.
There, a dozen older students—wearing yellow uniforms with green emblems on their chests—were managing the registration. These were second- and third-year outer court students.
There were only three or four people ahead of them in line, so it was soon their turn.
"Hello," Zhu Ziyang greeted politely.
"Hi! Please fill out this registration form, and show your letter of recommendation and the application fee," replied the girl in charge of their line.
She was a pretty young woman who momentarily blushed when she saw Zhu Ziyang's face, handing him a form a bit awkwardly.
Zhu Ziyang offered a faint smile, said nothing more, and began filling it out.
The form had just five fields:
Name
Age
Country
City
Recommending City Lord
Simple enough—but Zhu Ziyang sensed an undercurrent of prejudice in the design.
Who was the target of that exclusion?
Naturally, soul masters from the Sun Moon Empire.
Zhu Ziyang couldn't help but smile wryly. To be honest, he didn't approve of this sort of close-minded discrimination. Rejecting innovation and clinging to outdated traditions was a surefire way to fall behind—and eventually, be eliminated.
That was a conclusion he had drawn from history itself.
The three great empires would one day pay the price for their stagnation.
Zhu Ziyang finished the form and presented a letter of recommendation from the Lord of Dragon City, along with ten gold soul coins.
To register for Shrek Academy's entrance exam, one had to pay ten gold coins.
If accepted, those ten coins would count as the first year's tuition. But if rejected, the coins would not be refunded—they'd be kept as a non-refundable registration fee.
It was a harsh policy—but no one complained.
Why? Because this was Shrek Academy. Its power and reputation allowed it to set the rules.
"Great. Please go to that room over there for your exam," the girl said after checking his documents and stamping his form. She pointed to what looked like a guardroom by the gate. "If you pass, you'll be a student of Shrek Academy. Good luck!"
"Don't worry, I will—thank you, senior sister," Zhu Ziyang replied with a confident smile.
Seeing that smile, the girl blushed even harder and quickly turned away.
"Being good-looking really does make life easier," Zhu Ziyang thought to himself with a chuckle.