Douluo Continent: The Eye of Truth

Chapter 12 The Meaning of Existence

Soon, Huo Yuhao followed Zhou Yi to the teachers' office.

Then Zhou Yi directly and forcefully addressed Huo Yuhao, saying, "Huo Yuhao, I don't like to talk nonsense. I'm very curious about your martial soul. You didn't reveal it to assist me when we were running earlier."

"I also asked the students who conducted the assessment for you. Among the students in Class One, the most outstanding martial soul is Wang Dong's Goddess of Light Butterfly, followed by your spiritual attribute physical martial soul, Spirit Eye."

"The student who assessed you gave you a very high evaluation. Could you tell me what your first soul skill is?"

Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao frowned and said, "Teacher Zhou, your question seems a bit inappropriate."

"Soul skills are the most important means for every soul master. Apart from those famous inherited martial souls and soul skills, most people's soul skills are private."

"If that's the question, I regret to inform you that I cannot answer it."

Huo Yuhao couldn't possibly explain that he had actually used his martial soul, but Zhou Yi just couldn't tell.

Zhou Yi's tone didn't change much, and she continued speaking.

After all, it is common sense in the world of soul masters not to investigate other people's soul skills, and as a teacher, she was indeed entitled to ask.

However, academies are different from sects, and teachers are not on a lifelong basis, so they are not as strict as sects.

"Alright, if you don't want to talk about it, then forget it. The main reason I called you here is that I hope you will consider joining the Soul Guidance Department of our Shrek Academy."

Zhou Yi spoke directly, after all, she had heard Fan Yu talk about spirit-attribute martial souls, especially body-based martial souls, so much so that her ears were practically calloused.

This time, there just happened to be such a promising student in her class. In Zhou Yi's view, it wouldn't be a problem to bring him into the Soul Guidance Device program.

After all, Huo Yuhao's foundation was weak. With only level twelve soul power, he wouldn't be able to make a name for himself in the martial soul department of Shrek Academy, where geniuses abound. He might as well try the soul guidance department.

"You know your own situation. Although your martial soul is special, your foundation is too weak. Your level 12 soul power is enough to prove that your innate soul power level is not high. Rather than being in the fiercely competitive martial soul system, you might as well consider joining the soul guidance system."

Huo Yuhao shook his head: "I'm sorry, I'm not interested in the Soul Guidance Department. Teacher Zhou, you should find someone else."

"Join the Soul Guidance Department? That's insane. If I really wanted to study Soul Guidance, why wouldn't I try to go to the Sun Moon Empire? Studying Soul Guidance at Shrek Academy—who knows if what they teach is a trap set by the Sun Moon Empire?"

"Besides, with my current strength, where would I find the extra time to research soul tools? And even if I were to research them, I couldn't possibly follow the usual steps like a typical soul master."

"Even if you really want to seriously learn soul tools, it's more reliable to wait until your mental strength and soul power cultivation have improved before pursuing them as a secondary skill. After all, the stronger your mental strength, the greater your advantage in soul tool mastery."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi's gaze turned slightly colder, but she did not force him; she simply nodded.

After all, Huo Yuhao's current value is only that of a promising Soul Master with decent combat ability, but his innate Soul Power is too low, so he doesn't have much potential for development.

It doesn't have the same value as the mental detection shown in the original work, and she doesn't need to force someone who doesn't want to learn soul tools to learn them.

"Well then, you should go back first. But you should think it over carefully, since Tang Ya and Bei Bei have also applied to the academy for a combination of hidden weapons and soul tools."

"It's just that neither of them has any talent in soul tools. I think you, as a spirit attribute soul master, have the potential."

Huo Yuhao nodded: "Goodbye, Teacher Zhou." Then he left Zhou Yi's office directly.

"Speaking of soul tools, I've been quite busy lately and forgot about them. I haven't had a chance to study the one I'm carrying yet. Although its origin is a bit dubious, it's still a level five soul tool. I can try to study it when I get back."

"Since the Soul Guidance Core Formation can work on metal, if it were modified using mental power, could it be directly manifested as a Soul Skill?"

"Or perhaps it's the invincible shield from the original work. If we can consistently use the abilities of these one-time-use soul tools freely through soul power, isn't that much more reliable than figuring out how to combine soul rings?"

Soon, Huo Yuhao finished his meal at the cafeteria and returned to his dormitory. Wang Dong had also returned to his dormitory early, seemingly waiting for Huo Yuhao.

"Huo Yuhao, what did that perverted old hag talk to you about?" Wang Dong asked curiously.

"Why are you talking so much?" Huo Yuhao casually lay on the bed and asked, "What's your thought about the question I asked you before class? What kind of person do you think Zhou Yi is?"

Biting his lip, Wang Dong replied, "Brutal? Unreasonable?"

Huo Yuhao shook his head helplessly, then said to Wang Dong, "She was right about one thing: you're an idiot."

"You must come from a major sect or clan, right? Didn't they teach you these things? Listen carefully, I'll only tell you once, how much you understand is up to you."

"You must have heard about Zhou Yi's reputation at school recently, right?"

"A strict but good teacher? A quarter of the inner court students? Unanimously praised by all the inner court students? That's right." Huo Yuhao said with a half-smile.

Wang Dong nodded, sat up on the bed, and looked at the lazy Huo Yuhao opposite him, saying, "Yeah, is there a problem? At least before, although that perverted old hag fired a few people, but..."

"But are you saying these people were all expelled for breaking the rules? Then tell me, who made that rule?"

"Is it a written rule of the school? Or what? Aren't these all Zhou Yi's rules?"

"A quarter of the students admitted to the inner academy is indeed not low, but that's about it. If you ask around about the people Zhou Yi expelled, you'll find that her expulsion rate is far higher than that of other teachers."

"In fact, you can only find out by combining these two sets of data that her so-called teaching and strictness will not ultimately produce better results than other teachers, but rather worse results."

Ultimately, her teaching method is not teaching at all, but rather lecturing.

"In fact, isn't a teacher's real duty to help those lazy students with poor physical health to correct their mistakes and become excellent?"

"Zhou Yi's approach did indeed solve the problem at its root. After all, I expelled you, so you naturally won't hold others back, and the proportion of people promoted to the inner academy will naturally increase, right?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Dong suddenly realized why, after inquiring about Zhou Yi's information, he had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn't figure out why.

"But then again, this problem can't really be blamed on Zhou Yi. After all, I don't think she's very bright; she's just simple, stupid, and wicked."

"You don't actually think you can control everything just because of Zhou Yi's methods, do you?" Huo Yuhao sneered. "It's just that the entire Shrek Academy operates this way."

"Zhou Yi's behavior is just a microcosm of Shrek Academy. In reality, she is just an insignificant cog in Shrek Academy."

"Soul Emperor sounds powerful, but if you really take him to the mainland, he's just so-so and won't make much of a splash."

"Inner Academy disciple, hehe, have you ever thought about how many people who come to Shrek Academy truly want to enter the Inner Academy, and how many of them will actually stay in the Inner Academy and become a true member of Shrek Academy?"

"You should know that the first necessary condition for joining Shrek Academy is a letter of recommendation from the city lord."

"If someone can produce a letter of recommendation from the city lord, and they have a powerful backer, how could their backers possibly allow them to remain at Shrek Academy indefinitely?"

"If they don't have a powerful background, then let me ask you this: wouldn't the city lords of those imperial cities try to win over these commoner geniuses who possess considerable innate soul power and martial soul?"

"Whether we recruit them as subordinates or bring them into our families to improve our bloodline, it will be entirely beneficial."

Ultimately, they're all pretty much the same. Besides talent, the second most important condition for those who can enter Shrek Academy's inner court is...

"What is it?" Wang Dong pressed.

"To be close to Shrek Academy, one must at least not harbor any disloyalty, and one must genuinely agree with Shrek Academy's teaching philosophy."

"And that's Zhou Yi's role." While speaking eloquently, Huo Yuhao activated his Eye of Truth. At that moment, outside the dormitory building, a humanoid figure that was so bright it was almost blinding seemed to have a slight emotional fluctuation.

"Why didn't the school stop Zhou Yi's behavior? Because if Zhou Yi did this, even if the students she ultimately rejected left Shrek Academy."

"But under her long-term taming, these people will also have a longing for Shrek Academy, and at the same time believe that they just do not meet the requirements of Shrek Academy's 'elite' status. At most, they will only hate Zhou Yi."

"As for the student body, Shrek Academy, as the number one academy on the continent, has no shortage of students. So what if all the students in an entire grade are expelled? We can just recruit another batch of geniuses."

"Geniuses are already outstanding, so what does it matter whether they have a teacher to teach them wholeheartedly? The path of a Soul Master is nothing more than cultivation and Soul Hunting, which in the end is actually about the allocation of resources."

"In any case, Shrek Academy is backed by the Star Dou Great Forest, and as the continent's number one academy, it has accumulated a wealth of resources in this area over the years."

"Add to that the reputation built up over millennia, is it really that difficult to select seven outstanding cultivators from a vast pool of geniuses as the flagship candidates?"

"In fact, most nobles and disciples from clans who come to Shrek Academy know in their hearts that they are here to gain prestige, build connections, or win over potential commoners. This is the true value of Shrek Academy."

"Only an idiot like you would actually think that everyone comes to school."

"Otherwise, if a sect's inherited martial spirit is passed down for thousands or tens of thousands of years, even if the sect's inherited martial spirit is a pig, it will still have to accumulate experience to become a pig king."

"What kind of help can Shrek Academy offer them? How to configure their spirit rings? Or by allocating more educational resources?"

Huo Yuhao lay on the bed and sighed: "After this class, you should have realized that Zhou Yi's teaching ability can only be described as disastrous. She teaches by rote and rigidly. If you really follow her, you can only become the same kind of person as her."

After saying this, Huo Yuhao paused for a moment and didn't continue. Wang Dong asked anxiously, "Just say it already! You've come this far, why don't you explain it clearly?"

"Of course I'm a genuine Shrek, hahaha. Okay, I'm going to take a nap now. You can play by yourself. You have class this afternoon."

Huo Yuhao didn't say anything more, turned over, and covered himself with the blanket.

He had already said enough; the rest was up to Wang Dong to figure out herself. Some things are only truly yours if you figure them out yourself; what others tell you is always theirs. Whether this idiot can figure it out or not is up to her.

Seeing this, Wang Dong felt a surge of anger and glared fiercely at Huo Yuhao's back, the riddle teller.

Outside the teaching building, bathed in the afternoon sun, Mu En lay on a recliner, squinting his old eyes.

"An interesting lad, but he sees things very clearly. Shrek Academy actually lacks people with such insight. After all, to maintain Shrek Academy, besides enthusiasm, wisdom is also very important."

"However, compared to her, this little girl from the Haotian Sect seems a bit silly, but her talent is outstanding. Let me see what the Haotian Sect is planning to do next."

"While I'm at it, let's see if you, this slippery brat, have the potential to be worth investing in by Shrek Academy."

The leisurely lunch break passed quickly. During this time, Tang Ya brought Bei Bei to the dormitory to look for Huo Yuhao, but Wang Dong used the excuse that Huo Yuhao was resting and recovering because of Zhou Yi's punishment in the morning to brush them off.

"Working is out of the question, I'll never work in my life." Huo Yuhao certainly wasn't going to set up a stall selling grilled fish; wouldn't that be a complete waste of his time?

If all else fails, you can sell your level 5 soul tool, the White Tiger Dagger. Even a level 3 soul tool can fetch several thousand gold soul coins, and a level 5 soul tool, even if it's relatively weak, can easily sell for tens of thousands.

Moreover, the White Tiger Dagger itself is of good quality, and even those with lower cultivation levels can use it. In that case, wouldn't that cover their living expenses for the next few years at Shrek Academy?

As for the claim that this is Huo Yun'er's only remaining possession? Huo Yun'er's soul hasn't been scattered; only if Huo Yuhao's own strength increases can he possibly rescue her.

Moreover, if they can't be rescued, keeping this relic is of no use. On the contrary, if this relic can be exchanged for more value in his own hands, Huo Yuhao believes that the original owner would agree, since he has now inherited the original owner's memories.

Although he was supposed to be sleeping, Huo Yuhao wasn't idle at all. He was currently dissecting the structure and working principle of the White Tiger Dagger, a level-five soul tool, within his spiritual sea.

(End of this chapter)