Douluo: The Gate to Heaven

Winning the championship in the freshman competition among many strong teams is a significant achievement for Tuoba Wukong and his team, and something to celebrate.

At Tuoba Wukong's urging, they still went after the fish in the Sea God Lake.

One after another, the plump bluefish fell victim to the three men's cruel hands and became their meal.

Although the three of them didn't have Huo Yuhao's cooking skills, it was rare for them to cook for themselves. Moreover, the water quality of the Sea God Lake was indeed not like that of ordinary water for raising fish. The fish in the Sea God Lake were all pure, natural and pollution-free. With good ingredients, the taste wouldn't be bad either.

After a hearty meal, the three of them, unusually, did not cultivate. Instead, they lay on the grass by the Sea God Lake, feeling the moist evening breeze and the twinkling stars in the sky.

Song Qinghan suddenly spoke up: "Tuoba, Tu Nan, what are your dreams? My dream is to become the first level nine Soul Master in Douluo Continent and change everyone's lives with Soul Guidance Devices."

"dream?"

Tuoba Wukong paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "I don't have any dreams. If I really had to have one, it would be to reach the pinnacle of Soul Master, and then go to the God Realm to see what it's like to be an immortal god."

"The God Realm? Does the God Realm really exist? Apart from the Shrek Seven Devils ten thousand years ago, there are no more legends of people becoming gods on the Douluo Continent," Song Qinghan murmured.

Becoming a god is ultimately a vague and unattainable concept for most people. It's even hard to say whether gods exist at all, since it's been ten thousand years since the Shrek Seven Devils became gods—too long ago.

Song Qinghan never expected that Tuoba Wukong's dream was to become a god.

"Maybe yes, maybe no, who can say for sure, Tu Nan, what about your dream?" Tuoba Wukong looked at Tu Nan Bupo.

Tu Nan Bu Po clenched his fist and said quietly, "My dream is to break the fate of the Tu Nan family. I hope that one day, the people of our Tu Nan family will no longer be forced to burn their lifespan to increase their strength, and can freely choose their own lives."

"Tu Nan, you will do it. Don't forget, you still have us, the future level nine soul masters and gods." Tuoba Wukong patted Tu Nan Bupo on the shoulder and said with a smile.

Song Qinghan smiled and said, "That's right, Tu Nan. I will do my best to help you if you need anything in the future."

During a freshman competition, the three formed a deep friendship.

Although they spoke with a slightly joking tone, they believed they wouldn't hesitate when that day actually came.

One night passed.

The rare moment of relaxation didn't last long. For Tuoba Wukong, cultivation itself was an extremely enjoyable process. Only those who had never experienced the extraordinary could know just how captivating the extraordinary truly was. Every slight increase in soul power was a feeling of strength and abundance that could be felt.

Before acquiring the Heavenly Gate Soul Skill, Tuoba Wukong's cultivation speed was like that of a tortoise. Even so, in these seven years, Tuoba Wukong did not slack off in his cultivation in the slightest. Moreover, he can now feel the progress of his soul power every day.

With the soul power of both bodies returning to calm, Tuoba Wukong, Tu Nanbupo, and Song Qinghan arrived together at the Shrek Academy plaza.

All the new students gathered here, waiting for the upcoming class assignments and the rewards for the freshman competition.

Soon, Du Weilun arrived at the front of the students with more than ten teachers. Yan Shaozhe and Qian Duoduo, as one of the deans of Shrek Academy, had various affairs to handle in addition to their daily cultivation. Theoretically, such a minor matter as class assignment for new students would not occur.

My appearance in yesterday's final was purely by chance.

Otherwise, with the two deans paying attention, the people from the Heavenly Soul Empire within Shrek Academy wouldn't have been able to act so blatantly.

Although Shrek Academy is independent of the major empires, there are still conflicts wherever there are people. The teachers and students of Shrek Academy also have their own countries and families. How could the power of the major empires not be reflected in Shrek Academy?

In particular, the relatively open outer court had a considerable number of people who supported the various factions of the three great empires.

Shrek Academy enjoys a unique status, and naturally it must tolerate the privileges of a certain group. The outer academy itself was established through a compromise between Shrek Academy and the three great empires. Only the inner academy is the core of Shrek Academy, the most important and crucial, truly transcending the influence of the three great empires and independent of all parties.

With the power of the Heavenly Soul Empire, as long as things don't go too far, minor violations are actually within the unspoken rules.

Only when Tuoba Wukong exposed these secrets in front of Yan Shaozhe and Qian Duoduo was Shrek Academy forced to take the opportunity to purge a portion of the Heavenly Soul Empire's forces.

Once everyone was present, Du Weiren scanned the freshmen in the square and said, "As you all know, the Freshman Competition has ended. Now, I will announce the top three teams and award them their prizes."

"Third place goes to Dai Huabin's team, whose members are Zhu Lu and Cui Yajie. Let's give them a round of applause as they step forward."

Amidst enthusiastic applause, Dai Huabin, Zhu Lu, and Cui Yajie stepped forward and stood beside Du Weilun. Dai Huabin showed no excitement whatsoever. With their team's strength, winning the runner-up title was not impossible. Unfortunately, they encountered Tuoba Wukong and his team in the semi-finals and could only finish third.

"Second place goes to Wang Dong's team, whose members are Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, and Huo Yuhao. Let's give them a round of applause."

Huo Yuhao and his two companions stepped out of the crowd. Xiao Xiao and Wang Dong subconsciously lagged behind Huo Yuhao by half a step, silently protesting Du Weilun's decision to appoint Wang Dong as the team leader, while they had reported Huo Yuhao as the team leader.

A day passed, but Wang Dong showed no sign of disappointment. Her eyes burned with intense fighting spirit. After returning yesterday, she even took the initiative to ask Huo Yuhao to cultivate with her, something Huo Yuhao had always done for her in the past.

"Finally, let's give a warm round of applause to the champions of this competition, the Tuoba Wukong team. Their members are Tuoba Wukong, Tu Nanbupo, and Song Qinghan," Du Weilun said in a high-pitched voice, and took the initiative to applaud.

The academy did not tamper with the list of Tuoba Wukong and the other two. On the one hand, the team leader they reported was Tuoba Wukong. On the other hand, although Tuoba Wukong had offended many people by complaining before, he was more suitable to be publicized than Tu Nan Bupo.

As for Song Qinghan, his background is the cleanest, but unfortunately he didn't perform well in this competition. Moreover, he had already joined the Soul Guidance Department ahead of time, so Du Weilun was too ashamed to promote Song Qinghan as the core of the team.

After the enthusiastic applause subsided, Du Weilun said, "Alright, now I will announce the awards for the top three teams in the Freshman Competition."

"The top three teams will all receive a unified reward from the academy. Each team member can apply to the academy when they need a spirit ring, and the academy will assist them in obtaining a spirit ring that they can afford and that is most suitable for them."

As soon as the words were spoken, everyone exclaimed in admiration.

Tuoba Wukong couldn't help but ask, "Director Du, I'd like to ask if this reward conflicts with any other promises the academy has made. For example, the academy has already promised to help me obtain a spirit ring that is most suitable for me. Does that mean this reward conflicts with those previous promises?"

Du Weilun glanced at Tuoba Wukong, clearly aware of the compensation the academy had previously given him, and said loudly, "There's no conflict. This reward can be combined with the previous promise."

"Thank you, Director. I'm all set." Tuoba Wukong said with a happy expression, and then withdrew.

With this new spirit ring, Shrek Academy now owes him four spirit rings, all of which are rare space-type spirit rings.

Space-type soul beasts have always been synonymous with power. Without a large force, it would be extremely difficult for Tuoba Wukong to hunt space-type soul beasts on his own. This is not only because of their power, but also because space-type soul beasts are quite rare, and finding them is already a great difficulty.

Only Shrek Academy's rich heritage could make such a promise.

On the other side, Huo Yuhao was also overjoyed. He and Tuoba Wukong faced the same predicament: the rarity of spirit-type soul beasts was no less than that of space-type soul beasts.

"Alright, that's all for this reward. You can return to your teams now."

Du Weilen nodded, looked at everyone, and said, "The quality of this year's freshmen is even better than before. I hope you will continue your efforts..."

Hearing Du Weilun's long speech of encouragement, Tuoba Wukong frowned. If he remembered correctly, the champion of the freshman competition should have received a special reward: a soul bone that was over ten thousand years old.

Now, Du Weiren doesn't mention it at all, as if the reward never existed.

Tuoba Wukong glanced back at Du Weilun, and suddenly seemed to understand something, and couldn't help but laugh at himself.

He, a transmigrator who had lived two lives, couldn't even understand such a simple principle. Soul bones are reserved for outstanding students with sufficient talent. He was born with superhuman strength, but his cultivation aptitude was mediocre. Tu Nanbupo had exceptional cultivation talent, but his Tu Nan Spear was destined to have no future. And then there was Song Qinghan, who focused on soul tools...

The three of them were clearly not up to the standard of geniuses in Shrek Academy's Martial Soul Department, so the soul bone reward, which had never been explicitly promised, was naturally not going to be given to them.

Shrek Academy doesn't lack a soul bone, but it's not going to just give it to any freshman without talent.

"Given the outstanding performance of a number of students in this freshman assessment, the academy has decided to promote a group of disciples to become core disciples of Shrek Academy's outer court ahead of schedule. Now, I will read out the list..."

Du Weilun opened the folder in his hand and announced loudly: "The following individuals have been granted early access to become core disciples of the outer academy of Shrek Academy: Tu Nan Bupo, Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, Dai Huabin, Zhu Lu, Zhou Sichen, Cao Jinxuan, Lan Susu, Lan Luoluo, Ning Tian, ​​Wu Feng, and Xie Huanyue."