Chapter 12: Dragon God Douluo, Mu En
Seeing the filled crystal ball, Tang Ya couldn't help but turn to Lin Xuan, her tone exaggerated yet sincere as she praised him,
"Junior Lin Xuan, you... you're way too amazing! An eleven-year-old Soul Elder! My goodness!"
Bei Bei also snapped out of his shock, patted Lin Xuan's shoulder, and said with emotion,
"Even though I felt you were extraordinary long ago, seeing this Level 30 crystal ball filled in an instant... it still exceeded my expectations. Junior Lin, your talent is truly enviable."
However, amidst the exclamations and praise, one person lowered their head even further.
Huo Yuhao clenched his hands tightly, his nails almost digging into his flesh.
Level 11 versus at least Level 30... This chasm-like gap was like a bucket of ice water, chilling him to the core.
Bei Bei was observant and keenly noticed Huo Yuhao's sudden dip in mood and his slightly trembling shoulders.
He sighed inwardly, understanding how much of a blow this comparison was to Huo Yuhao, who had just started and had low Soul Power.
"Xiao Ya, the registration process should be finished, right?" Bei Bei turned to Tang Ya, gave her a look, and then said to Lin Xuan,
"Junior Lin, Xiao Ya and I plan to take Yu Hao to buy some daily necessities first and get familiar with Shrek City."
"You probably need time to get familiar with the academy's interior too. Why don't we part ways for now? The specific details are written in the Freshman Admission Handbook; you can just follow the information in there."
Hearing this, Lin Xuan glanced at Huo Yuhao, who was almost shrinking himself into the shadows, and understood.
"Alright, Senior Bei Bei, Senior Tang Ya, then we'll get in touch later."
He without further pleasantries, he nodded slightly to the three of them and turned to enter Shrek Academy alone.
After walking for over fifteen minutes, a wide rectangular plaza appeared in his view, and a sign for Shrek Plaza also appeared nearby.
Behind Shrek Plaza were several tall academic buildings. These buildings were of different colors, mainly white, yellow, purple, and black, with a cluster of gray academic buildings in the distance.
The colors of the academic buildings at Shrek Academy represent different grades, distinguished according to Soul Ring colors.
White is the freshman academic building, like the lowest-tier ten-year Soul Ring. Yellow is for the second and third grades of the Outer Academy, and purple is for the fourth and fifth grades.
Black is the sixth-grade academic building; when a student can walk out of the black building, they can already receive their graduation certificate from the academy's Outer Academy.
Those gray academic buildings in the distance belong to the Soul Tool Department. Besides these buildings in the front, there are many specific teaching venues behind them.
For example, the Soul Dueling Arena, Assessment Area, dormitory area, faculty office area, and so on.
After collecting his school uniform, dormitory key, and school badge at that white academic building, Lin Xuan arrived at the student dormitory area behind the academic building.
The dormitory building covered a vast area but was only a single building, with male and female students living on separate floors. It featured four colors: white, yellow, purple, and black.
Clearly, these represented the living areas for students of different grades. There were six floors in total, corresponding to the six grades of the Martial Soul Department Outer Academy.
Meanwhile, the information on the bulletin board not far from the dormitory building changed. Lin Xuan glanced at it and saw that his name had already appeared.
The prefix was Freshman Class Nine.
class nine, huh?
Lin Xuan withdrew his gaze and thought no more about it. The class assignment didn't mean much to him; it was the same anywhere.
He then walked straight toward the dormitory building's entrance, but the next moment, his gaze involuntarily fell upon the old man sitting on the bench by the door.
The old man looked very old, with enough wrinkles on his face to simultaneously crush more than a dozen flies. His eyes were dim, his eyelids drooped, and he looked like he was in his twilight years.
With just one look, Lin Xuan recognized the elder's identity: the Pavilion Master of the Sea God Pavilion, a Level 99 Limit Douluo, and the peak powerhouse with the title Dragon God, Mu En.
"Tsk... running into him already..."
Lin Xuan couldn't help but feel a bit of a headache. But there was no helping it; with Sukuna's Cursed Technique and aura inside his body, it would make anyone feel on edge.
However, since Mu En didn't move, it meant he probably hadn't noticed the aura of the Martial Soul Malevolent Shrine within his body, and even if he did, he likely harbored no ill will.
As his thoughts raced, Lin Xuan suppressed the trace of anxiety in his heart, and then a bold idea surfaced.
Instead of speeding up to avoid him, he turned his steps and walked over to the bench with a natural demeanor.
He sat down at the other end from Mu En in an equally relaxed posture, even leaning back slightly and narrowing his eyes comfortably, as if he truly were there to enjoy a moment of sunshine.
This action was clearly not what Mu En had expected.
His drooping eyelids lifted slightly, and his murky gaze fell upon Lin Xuan beside him.
"Little fellow,"
Mu En's voice was old and raspy but exceptionally gentle, like an ordinary old grandfather next door.
"Why are you sitting here soaking up the sun instead of going to settle into your dormitory?"
Lin Xuan didn't answer immediately, nor did he look at Mu En.
He cast his gaze toward the students laughing and chasing each other on the distant plaza, past the spots of light dancing between the leaves, and finally onto the drifting clouds on the distant horizon, as if he were truly admiring the scenery.
After a moment, he spoke slowly,
"The road must always be walked, and the dormitory must always be returned to."
"But sometimes, if you walk too fast and only keep your eyes on the path beneath your feet, you'll miss the scenery along the way. You'll forget to look up and see what color the sky is or how the sunlight feels on your body."
He paused and continued,
"After all, life isn't just about reaching the destination; it's about experiencing every inch of time along the way. I wouldn't want to look back on the past when I'm old and find that I don't even have a single interesting story to tell my juniors."
These words sounded quite ordinary, but to Mu En's ears, they were like a small pebble tossed into an ancient well, creating a circle of faint ripples.
The murkiness in the old man's eyes seemed to clear slightly, replaced by a look of deep reflection.
He was silent for a few seconds. Suddenly, a genuine smile slowly bloomed on that furrowed face, even though the smile made the wrinkles stack even deeper.
"Hehe... You're right. That makes sense."
Mu En's tone was somewhat emotional.
"It was this old man who was narrow-minded, always thinking of urging you young people to walk faster and get stronger faster, but forgetting to ask if you've seen the scenery on the road."
"Cherishing the present, understanding life... very good."
Only then did Lin Xuan turn his head and give Mu En a slight smile. The smile was clean and clear, without a hint of impurity.
He stood up and brushed off some non-existent dust from his clothes.
"You continue your sunbathing, Elder. The sunlight is just right. This junior will go settle in now."
Having said that, he bowed slightly as a gesture of respect and then lingered no longer, walking toward the dormitory building entrance with a composed stride, soon disappearing into the shadows inside.
On the bench, the smile on Mu En's face didn't fade immediately.
He watched the direction in which Lin Xuan had disappeared, and deep within his murky eyes, a point of light like a star seemed to flash and vanish.
He murmured in a low voice, so soft that only he could hear,
"Lin Xuan, eleven years old, Level 35 Soul Power, Martial Soul: Shadow of the Hunting God... can summon special creatures. Are they called Shikigami?"
"Genius after genius is emerging..."
He closed his eyes slightly, as if sinking back into a light sleep.
"An interesting little fellow. There seems to be another aura on him that even I can't quite see clearly... Is it a blessing or a curse..."
The sunlight continued to pour warmly onto the old man, plating him and that old bench with a peaceful golden edge, as if they were frozen in this play of light and shadow.