Chapter 150: 167. Honor to Shrek, Fault to the Students
For instance, aside from a few skilled teachers, Shrek Academy couldn't even provide basic training needs such as simulated practice. The makeshift staff had also just begun teaching and lacked experience. As a result, some originally gifted students fell behind and failed to reach Soul Ancestor level by graduation—causing them to be forced out of Shrek.
These dropouts couldn't be called lazy; the real problem was Shrek Academy itself.
Yet Flandre devised a clever excuse: "Our Shrek Academy trains monsters, not trash. Anyone below level 41 isn't a Shrek student. Shrek's reputation can't be tarnished by such people."
Thus, the graduates and the dropouts were further divided. Those who graduated carried the "glory of monsters" and the pride skillfully cultivated by Flandre—holding their heads high and proudly declaring everywhere, I'm from Shrek Academy!—completely ignoring the disdainful stares of those who saw them as fools.
Those who failed to graduate harbored resentment, but could only swallow the bitterness; hadn't one protester been beaten mercilessly by Zhao Wuji for daring to complain?
And so, year after year, Shrek Academy continued operating—until its third year, when it faced a crisis.
Before describing the crisis, let's first explain how Shrek managed to train students without proper facilities.
Flandre relied on high-intensity training and live battle practice.
Shrek students were often taken to the Soto City Great Spirit Arena for real combat. To justify his "Monster Theory," Flandre even coined a slogan: "He who causes no trouble is mediocre" (original saying: "He who arouses no envy is mediocre"). Shrek adopted this motto as policy, deliberately provoking other spirit masters whenever possible—bullying the weak and fearing the strong. But not every provocation went smoothly; sometimes they picked the wrong fight.
Even worse were the spirit hunting trips. Shrek's teachers stood by while students battled spirit beasts head-on.
But not every student was Tang San, blessed with cheats. In life-and-death battles, accidents were inevitable.
One fine summer day, Zhao Wuji took three students to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt spirit rings. When he returned, one student was crippled, and the other two were corpses under white sheets.
Flandre looked at the bodies in fury and shouted, "How could you lead your students like this?"
A pained Zhao Wuji replied, "I'm sorry, Dean. Before entering the forest, I drank a little, so I got a bit dizzy, and then…"
"You—you—you—what am I supposed to say to you?"
"Since it's come to this, it's all my fault. I request to resign as Shrek's combat instructor to atone for my mistake," Zhao Wuji said.
Flandre snapped, "You think resigning fixes this? The parents are the real problem!"
This was Shrek Academy's first near-collapse crisis. When parents learned of their children's deaths, they came raging to the gates.
These students had possessed 12-year-old, level-20-plus talent—the kind of geniuses Brahmin families would invest heavily in, let alone Vaishya ones.
They were their families' hope, their tragic deaths cutting off entire generations' chances to ascend socially. The hatred was immense.
An enraged parent even held a funeral right at Shrek's front gate, demanding an explanation.
Across the school's entrance lay white mourning ribbons fluttering, paper tributes flying, portraits of the deceased, and coffins—an eerie and depressing scene.
Flandre, Zhao Wuji, and the others were at their wits' end.
"Damn it! If this keeps up, Shrek Academy won't survive! Sure, I drank a little, but was your kid perfect? We train monsters, not trash! If your son was this useless, he deserved to die to a spirit beast!" Zhao Wuji roared, full of anger and frustration, guilt long gone.
"You're right," Flandre said, suddenly enlightened.
He contacted the Balak Kingdom. As a Soul Emperor, Flandre had enough influence to request the king's support to suppress the scandal.
Then Shrek followed its usual brilliant tradition: Honor belongs to Shrek; fault belongs to the students.
It wasn't the academy's problem—it was the students' weakness. "Shrek Academy produces monsters, not failures. If your child died in battle, it only proves he was trash."
The grieving parents' anger only grew fiercer.
But with the Balak Kingdom's backing, Shrek countered forcefully.
Zhao Wuji stormed into the funeral site outside Shrek's gate, kicked over the coffin, and grabbed a whip. Without asking who was man or woman, young or old, he lashed at all, beating the parents bloody.
"Your sons died to spirit beasts, and you question the school? Reflect on yourselves! If he wasn't so weak, would this happen?" Zhao Wuji shouted, full of self-righteous arrogance. "This is Shrek Academy, a place for monsters—not for you rabble to make trouble. Don't blame Shrek for your failures."
"But if you had—"
"How dare you talk back?!" Before the mother could finish, Zhao Wuji whipped her, making her scream in agony.
Through brute force and political backing from the Balak Kingdom, Shrek Academy survived the crisis unscathed.
This event later became part of Shrek's guiding doctrine. Among Shrek's next forty-two students, several of the ungraduated included those who died "by accident."
Under Shrek's brutal methods—and in this class-stratified society—parents of recently elevated Vaishya students had no choice but to swallow their grief.
(And this also explains why Shrek later cherished Tang San's group so much. After all, Ma Hongjun was Flandre's disciple, Oscar was a food-type spirit master with full innate power, Dai Mubai was a prince, Zhu Zhuqing a duke's daughter, Tang San the legitimate son of Haotian Douluo, and Ning Rongrong of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Which among them wasn't Brahmin or Kshatriya? Regardless of offenses, Shrek had finally latched onto Brahmin and Kshatriya connections—a chance to leap upward. How could they not treat them like treasures? Trying otherwise would've been suicide.)
(END CHAPTER)
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