In terms of top-tier power, the current Shrek Academy was superior even to the Shrek Academy of Yun Ming's generation. Those were five Limit Douluos, and all of them were very likely to be four-word battle armor masters!

In the face of such an almighty Shrek Academy, they could no longer use a lot of the blatant targeting tactics they had originally planned. Furthermore, they knew that news of what had happened would quickly spread across the entire continent, and that the fact that Shrek Academy possessed five Limit Douluos and a Divine Blacksmith would undoubtedly create massive stirs.

Throw the two Limit Douluos of the Tang Sect into the mix, and the Tang Sect and Shrek Academy's overall power was no longer inferior to what it had been prior to the bombing.

Unless another godslayer missile could be deployed, there would be no way to bring down the current Shrek Academy. Alternatively, perhaps the Holy Spirit Cult would also be capable of destroying Shrek Academy if it were to re-emerge in full force.

Under these circumstances, the Spirit Pagoda didn't even dare to restrict Shrek Academy students from obtaining soul spirits. Otherwise, they would essentially be giving Shrek Academy an excuse to demolish the Spirit Pagoda's branches.

After all, Tang Wulin had already destroyed a Spirit Pagoda branch in the Dou Spirit Empire.

Taking all of this into consideration, it was truly going to be very difficult to target Shrek Academy. The only difference compared to the past was that Shrek Academy would most likely require a very long time to return to its former glory. However, regardless of whether they were willing to admit it or not, Shrek Academy had truly risen once again.

...... 

"Cheers!"

In the teacher's cafeteria of Shrek Academy, Tang Wulin, the five Limit Douluos, all of the members of the Sea God's Pavilion, all of the academy's teachers, and the students that had survived the bombing had all raised their wine glasses with excitement in their eyes.

Enrolment had concluded, and a total of 321 registrants had satisfied Shrek Academy's basic enrolment criteria, while 117 ultimately managed to pass all of the examinations.

This was an extremely rare number even in the entire history of Shrek Academy.

Indeed, Shrek Academy had broadened its enrolment policy slightly, but that was only in terms of numbers, not in terms of the difficulty of the examinations.

After witnessing the rousing illusions created by the seven old demons, the pass rate had exceeded 30%, which was extraordinarily high. In the past, even a pass rate of 10% had been considered to be quite good.

These 117 students were Shrek Academy's first new cohort since its rebuild, and they also formed the basis for Shrek Academy's resurgence.

The quality of this batch of students was very high, and there was no lack of prodigies among them.

In reality, there had never been a shortage of prodigies in this world, and Shrek Academy's forte lied in its ability to maximize the talent of brilliant prodigies.

All of the efforts they had expended had finally bore fruit. This cohort of new students was valuable beyond any measure of quantifiable scale, and they were currently all living in the academy's new boarding area.

As a safety precaution against potential revenge operations from the Spirit Pagoda, even the super soul array defense system was activated at all times.

This celebratory banquet wasn't all that lavish, but everyone was brimming with excitement.

Just as Qiangu Zhangting had realized, following today's enrollment, Shrek Academy had finally re-established itself, and it could be said that this was the academy's first step to success. Even though there was still a very long journey ahead, they had at least taken the first step on that lengthy journey.

The display of five Limit Douluos told everyone that Shrek Academy was not to be looked down on, and the divine-grade mecha that had been struck out of the sky told everyone that Shrek Academy was not to be encroached upon.

From now on, anyone who wanted to target Shrek Academy would have to think long and hard about whether they were actually going to be shooting themselves in the foot.

The main table was very large, and Tang Wulin sat at the main seat with the five Limit Douluos closest to him, followed by the members of the Sea God's Pavilion.

Tang Wulin raised his glass and offered toasts of gratitude to everyone present. After making a round through the entire cafeteria, his face had become slightly flushed.

He turned to Long Yeyue, and said, "Give us a speech, Elder Long."

In her youthful form, Long Yeyue was truly a stunning beauty, but her eyes were still as jaded as ever.

"Successful enrolment is only the first step to success, but we've taken a very solid step. The establishment of the Seven Saint Paradise is undoubtedly going to be immensely beneficial to our Shrek Academy, and we must continue to work closely with the seven... seniors of the Seven Saint Paradise to better nurture our students, particularly when it comes to educating their characters. Power in the wrong hands can be extremely dangerous, so if we're producing students with bad character, we'll be endangering the continent rather than benefitting society.

"I thank everyone for your hard work, particularly Wulin. Truth be told, all of us hesitated in making the decision to appoint you as the Sea God's Pavilion Master. You were simply far too young, but under those circumstances at the time, we had no choice. I didn't even know how much longer I was going to be able to live, so I could only pass down the future of Shrek Academy to the younger generation. I know just how heavy a burden that is, but you didn't disappoint us. Even though we've been constantly assisting, your efforts have been pivotal to reviving the tree of life and taking Shrek Academy to where it is today. As such, there's something that I must say here, and I'm sure everyone will agree when I say this: you are truly deserving of the title of Sea God's Pavilion Master!"

Tang Wulin was trembling slightly as he listened to Elder Long's address, and tears began to well up in his eyes.

He knew that he shouldn't be shedding tears as the Sea God's Pavilion Master, but he was unable to repress his own emotions.

These past few years had been so, so hard for him. All of the good days had completely vanished in the wake of the bombing, and he had been forced to shoulder an enormous, crushing responsibility.

After that, he had witnessed the death of his foster parents, and he had been constantly battling powerful enemies, both out in the open, as well as in the shadows.

These days had allowed him to make rapid progress, transforming into the vastly renowned Tang Sect Master and Sea God's Pavilion Master from the largely unknown leader of Shrek’s Seven Monsters that he had once been.

He was like the main character of an inspiring legend, but how much pain and suffering had he been forced to endure to reach this point?

Each and every step that he had taken during these past few years had been accompanied by agony and peril, yet he had gritted his teeth and taken all of those grueling steps one after another.

He had been maturing just as quickly as his powers had been progressing, but no matter how mature he became, he was still prone to feeling mentally exhausted.

He had been dedicating everything he had to Shrek Academy's rebuild, and he had recruited the Yuanen Family, as well as Qilin Douluo Tong Yu. At the same time, he had been engaging in heavenly refinement and contending with elemental tribulation every single day.

Who could endure the bombardment of elemental lightning every day?

While this did indeed enhance his powers over time, the excruciating agony of feeling like one's body was being pulverized on a molecular level had to be experienced to be understood.

However, he had managed to endure all of this.

He had become strong enough to face his opponents, but that didn't mean that he was without weakness.

Many a night of his was spent in bittersweet reminiscence of the time he had spent with the woman of his dreams.

In that instant, his hardy facade was finally shattered by Elder Long's speech, and the emotions came gushing out uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry!" Tang Wulin stood up and turned around so that his back was facing everyone. He didn't want everyone to see him in this vulnerable state.

Yali immediately rose to her feet and gave him a warm embrace. "We know just how much hardship all of you have had to endure, especially you, my child. Your burdens are far too heavy, and they shouldn't have been loaded onto the shoulders of someone so young, but as a result, you've been able to constantly grow and develop."

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter