71 Year End Examination

After the initial shock of seeing Sheng Feilong's new, black Soul Ring, everyone gradually calmed down, before Xu Xiaoyan was the first to be unable to hold back her curiosity.

"Feilong, if you got a new Soul Ring, that means you're a Soul Ancestor now, right? But how is the ring black if your little toad is only at the 1.000-year-level? Did you go back to get a new Spirit Soul?"

Sheng Feilong smiled lightly as he answered with a slightly prideful expression.

"I got a second Spirit Soul, indeed. And a 10.000-years-old one t that; It's even from a rare Soul Beast, the Purple Forest Witch."

Seeing their confused expressions, he smiled a bit wider, content with their ignorance as he put on a scholarly expression despite only coming to know of its existence a few days before them, when he heard Gu Yue's neutral voice.

"The Purple Forest Witch is a rare, humanoid Soul Beast of the poison attribute. It's more or less an abomination that comes into being when a regular Forest Witch, which is of the life attribute and a Red Forest Witch, a variation of the normal one that is of the death attribute mate. They're exceedingly rare among Variant Soul Beasts and even more dangerous; Their poison doesn't affect the body but directly targets the victims spirit source. Once hit, as long as your own Spirit Power is weaker than the Purple Forest Witch's, you're as good as dead."

Sheng Feilong froze in his scholarly expression with his back straightened and his mouth lightly opened. He hadn't expected her to know this, much less steal his limelight, but had to swallow it now that it's already been said and just nodded his head in confirmation. Tang Wulin than asked him about his Soul Skill, but Sheng Feilong refused to tell them about it with an apologetic expression, saying it was his Master that forbid him from speaking of it. He slightly glanced at Xu Lizhi and Ye Xinglan, causing Tang Wulin to do the same before the latter understood the situation and tactfully nodded to Sheng Feilong.

Ye Xinglan and Xu Lizhi didn't know about the secret of the Sheng Clan's Three-Eyed Golden Lion bloodline and Sheng Feilong didn't want to tell any more people than those who already knew about it. Tang Wulin understood how important that secret is and didn't ask further, moreover, even Shrek Academy's Sea God's Pavilion's Pavilion Master had warned them not to tell anyone else about this matter.

After talking for a while longer, evening soon came and everyone returned to their dorms, that is, the girl's walking over to the next room, leaving the boys in theirs while Sheng Feilong had to cross over nearly half the Outer Court's campus to return to his. In there, he suddenly remembered the envelope Song Weihan had given him in the morning and quickly took it out and looking at it. It really was just a pure white envelope with no writing on it and a red wax seal to close it off.

Sheng Feilong scratched off the wax seal and took out a letter from within. There wasn't much written on the latter; in fact, there was only a single sentence written down in a easy to read handwriting, topped of with a winking smiley beneath it.

"You may train your Spirit Power again from today onwards."

Sheng Feilong was surprised for a moment before smiling brightly. Having been so fixated on classes, working at the Maker's Association and cultivating his Soul Power, he had totally forgotten about the Spirit Power training ban! Back when he first came to Shrek Academy, Song Weihan had forbidden him from training his spirit Power any further as his Spirit essence had just evolved, greatly increasing his Spirit power and causing his physical strength to lack behind. Now, however, Sheng Feilong's cultivation had grown and his body with it and he even broke through to the Soul Ancestor realm, further strengthening his body, so he now had more than enough leeway to train his Spirit Power again!

Starting the next day, Sheng Feilong once again attended classes with everyone else. Quite a few people were wondering where he was the last week, as it was quite strange for students of Shrek Academy to miss even a single day. He didn't mind too much, just telling them that he had returned to Heaven Dou City to train with his Master for a while, as the latter wanted to see his progress. No one questioned him as it was known that Sheng Feilong had a powerful Master in Heaven Dou City's Spirit Pagoda. They didn't know who that Master was, but for Shrek Academy to allow him to leave for a week in the midst of the year, he must be even more powerful than they thought.

Following this first day, everyone went their own ways as they continued with their normal routines. Sheng Feilong was mostly focusing on cultivating while he would also visit the Maker's Association daily. Other than that, he would occasionally visit the Blacksmith's Association with Tang Wulin and help them out with his Mental Detection Soul Skill. Normally, he wouldn't be bothered by that, but Feng Wuyu promised him 500 contribution points for every blacksmith he helped that.

Afterwards, he would head to the Working Students dormitory with Tang Wulin where their group would spent some time together. They didn't see each other often, but still tried to remain together as much as possible. In those three months, Gu Yue seemed a bit off and unusually cold, even for her standards. Occasionally, Yuanen Yehui or Yue Zhengyu would come over as well, mostly to ask for Tang Wulin to forge something for them, but they still remained a friendly relationship after the competition of their grades.

Yue Zhengyu still liked Sheng Feilong the best out of their group as he was the only one who would courteously call the former 'Senior Brother Yue' instead of calling him by his first name. Moreover, Sheng Feilong, just as the rest of their group, was pretty easy to get along with. Sheng Feilong was still a bit lost in regards to Yuanen Yehui, though. The latter didn't show any signs of changing, but at least she seemed to have understood his apology for what happened during the Entrance Exam as she didn't hatefully glare at Sheng Feilong anymore. Still, she mostly ignored his existence, not wanting to improve their relationship even when he courteously greeted her. Whenever that happened Xu Xiaoyan and the other girls would mostly laugh at him while sometimes simply shaking their heads with a sigh, thoroughly confusing Sheng Feilong.

One day was entirely confusing as they were all sitting in Tang Wulin's dorm room, only missing Xie Xie who had run off to somewhere as he usually does after dinner when someone knocked on the door. Surprisingly, it was Yuanen Yehui who held an unconscious Xie Xie under her arm and wordless flung him onto his bed before leaving again. For some reason, everyone stared at Sheng Feilong with complicated expressions after that.

Like this, three months passed quietly and the end of their first semester at Shrek Academy slowly neared. That day, when Shen Yi came to the class, she happily announced the year end examination with a bright, shining smile on her face, causing shivers to run down the backs of most students, while others simply froze. As if that wasn't already enough, her next words caused a few of the weakest students of the class to go pale in fright.

"Five people will be expelled from the academy according to the results of the exam. Work hard if you don't want to be among those five!"

Sheng Feilong wasn't really bothered by that as no one of their team was among the weakest of their class and probably wouldn't fail, but Tang Wulin clenched his fists asked if there was a method how everyone would be able to pass causing Sheng Feilong to sigh lightly. Tang Wulin was a good leader, but this good samaritan mentality of his was really uncalled for, sometimes.

According to Shen Yi, it was indeed possible for everyone to pass, but that would only make the exam next year even harder. The only other option was to share points from your own end score with others, but that would impact on your own grade and potentially hinder you from entering the Inner Court in the future. Only after those harsh words did Tang Wulin calm down again.

Afterwards, Shen Yi continued to explain how the exam will work to them in detail.

"The exam will last for 15 days. In those fifteen days, your goal is to reach Bright City and you must at least visit 10 other cities on your way there. In every one of those 10 cities, you must defeat one Soul Master who's Soul Rank is at least 5 ranks higher than your own and you must find your opponents as well as the way to Bright City on your own. Furthermore, you are not allowed to keep any communicators, resources, money or even Spacial Treasures on your person; You will leave empty handed. The number of points you earn depends on the strength of your opponents. 5 ranks above your own rank is the bare minimum, keep that in mind. The Academy's staff will keep an eye on every one of you. Forming groups is also forbidden; You will all face this exam alone!"

A deathly silence filled the classroom. Sheng Feilong was interested in this challenge and looked around at his friends. Tang Wulin seemed to do the same as him and they smiled at each other, while Ye Xinglan's eyes blazed with determination. Gu Yue calmly contemplated about the exam, not looking bothered at all, while Xu Lizhi and Xie Xie looked excited and Xu Xiayan sweetly smiled; None of them lacked the confidence to get be able to pass this exam!

Meanwhile, just as the first few people were about to explode from anxiety, Shen Yi once again spoke up on her way out of the classroom.

"The Year End Exam will begin tomorrow morning; Prepare yourselves."