Douluo Continent: Angels Descend, Glory Reborn

One day later, at the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Su Chen, Bei Bei, and Tang Ya emerged from the dense forest, and a bright and open view appeared before them.

It was a vast plain, and at the end of the plain stood a magnificent city that was breathtaking. The city walls soared into the clouds and were made of gray-white boulders, which gleamed with a faint metallic luster under the morning sun.

The scale of the city far exceeded any metropolis Su Chen had ever seen in his previous life; it was even difficult to imagine such a magnificent scene.

"That's Shrek City!" Tang Ya pointed to the distant megacity, her voice filled with pride, her purple eyes sparkling in the morning light. "The number one city on the continent, and also where our Shrek Academy is located!"

As she spoke, her gaze unconsciously drifted towards Su Chen beside her, trying to discern shock and admiration in his expression.

Su Chen nodded slightly, his gaze calmly surveying the legendary city.

Shrek Academy's rich history spanning ten thousand years is truly extraordinary. From a humble academy with only a few dilapidated wooden huts ten thousand years ago to the magnificent city with its vast territory and millions of inhabitants it is today, Shrek Academy certainly has every reason to be proud.

Tang Ya unconsciously moved closer to Su Chen, the distance between them shrinking to less than half a meter. She could clearly smell the faint, fresh scent emanating from Su Chen, and her heart skipped a beat.

Perhaps sensing that Bei Bei was still behind her, Tang Ya's cheeks flushed slightly, and she subconsciously increased the distance between them, but her gaze never left Su Chen.

Beibei watched the two walking side by side ahead, a strange feeling flickering in his heart. He had naturally noticed Tang Ya's enthusiasm for Su Chen these past few days; initially, he had only assumed it was out of gratitude and a desire to recruit a genius, but now...

He shook his head, suppressing the thought. Tang Ya was his girlfriend; they had known each other for many years and had a deep relationship. How could she possibly have other feelings for Su Chen, whom she had only known for a few days? He must be overthinking it.

As the three drew closer, the details of Shrek City became increasingly clear.

The city's four walls each have their own unique features. The west, south, and north gates are wide open, each gate being over ten meters wide and twenty meters high, with heavy metal doors that are wide open.

Outside the city gates, the streets were bustling with activity, a constant flow of carriages and people. Caravans laden with goods slowly drove in, travelers in various attire lined up for inspection, and uniformed city guards maintained order... a scene of bustling prosperity and activity.

However, the scene was completely different from the east gate.

Outside the East Gate, a massive crowd of over several thousand people had gathered! The noise was deafening, reaching the heavens, and could be heard clearly even from more than a mile away.

Numerous vendors had already set up colorful tents and stalls along both sides of the road, selling all kinds of food and simple soul guides. The sounds of hawking, bargaining, and children crying mingled together, creating a lively and bustling atmosphere.

What's even more striking is that the vast majority of the crowd consists of boys and girls aged ten to fifteen. They are either alone or accompanied by family members, and most of them have expressions of nervousness, anticipation, and longing on their faces.

"Is this Shrek Academy? It's quite a lively place!" Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's voice rang in Su Chen's mind, filled with intense curiosity and a hint of excitement. "Hey, ten thousand years ago, there were nine gods, seven of whom came from here. Although I'm more 'familiar' with the Angel God, the Rakshasa God, and that so-called Sea God, the background of Shrek Academy is truly terrifying. No wonder it has stood for ten thousand years."

Su Chen responded calmly in his mind: "After all, it is the number one academy on the continent, and its enrollment season is always so grand. Most of these people can't even pass the preliminary test."

"Tsk tsk, they'd fight tooth and nail to get in," Tianmeng Ice Silkworm remarked. "But kid, now you're going to be one of them. How about it, aren't you excited?"

"Excited?" Su Chen remained calm and composed. "It's just a temporary foothold."

"Hey, you little rascal, you're not that old, but you've got quite the nerve," Tianmeng Ice Silkworm chuckled, but her tone carried a hint of admiration. "But I like it! That's more like what my host should be like!"

At this moment, Bei Bei pointed to the bustling East Gate and explained to Su Chen, "Brother Su, look, it's the academy's annual enrollment season right now. These people are all young soul masters and their families who have come from all over the continent to apply to the academy."

He paused, then continued, "The recruitment process will last for several days, and now is the busiest time. The preliminary test is very simple; as long as you are under twelve years old and your soul power is not lower than level fifteen, you can pass. But this threshold alone will eliminate eight or nine out of ten people."

Tang Ya turned to Su Chen with a smile and said, "The queue outside for qualification verification takes a long time, and the preliminary test is very strict. But for you, Su Chen, that's nothing!"

"Twelve years old, level twenty-seven, two thousand-year soul rings... If you went to queue up, you'd probably give the teacher in charge of the review a real shock!"

As she said this, her eyes sparkled as she looked at Su Chen, her gaze seeming to say, "You'll definitely be fine."

Su Chen nodded, his gaze sweeping over the dense crowd. His mental power, enhanced by the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm, was already quite strong, allowing him to clearly sense the prominent soul power fluctuations within the crowd.

Among the people queuing, there were indeed a few teenagers whose soul power had reached level seventeen or eighteen, which was quite good among their peers. However, most of them only had soul power at level twelve or thirteen. These teenagers mostly wore expressions of tension and trepidation, clearly lacking confidence in their ability to pass the test.

"This is the holy land in the hearts of young soul masters on the mainland," Su Chen thought to himself, "a place where countless dreams and competitions converge."

Seeing Su Chen looking at the crowd, Bei Bei assumed he was worried about the assessment, so she smiled and said, "Brother Su, you don't need to queue outside. Xiao Ya and I have student identification, so we can use the fast track to enter the academy directly."

"Brother Su, you can come with us. I'll take you to meet the teacher in charge of admissions. With your talent, you can be admitted without taking the exam."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Brother Beibei." Su Chen nodded.

The three bypassed the queue and headed straight for the east gate of Shrek Academy. Several students in yellow school uniforms were maintaining order at the gate. When they saw Bei Bei and Tang Ya, they clearly recognized them. One of them greeted them with a smile, "Senior Bei Bei, Senior Tang Ya, you're back!"

Beibei smiled and nodded, taking out her student badge: "This is a friend we invited from outside, Su Chen, who is also preparing to apply to the academy. We'll take him in."

The student glanced at Su Chen, a look of amazement flashing in his eyes, but quickly regained his composure and stepped aside, saying, "Please come in."

Upon entering Shrek City, the scene changed once again.

The wide street was wide enough to accommodate eight carriages side by side. The ground was paved with smooth bluestone slabs, and shops lined both sides, offering everything from building material stores to restaurants, inns, and clothing stores.

The streets were teeming with people, who could be roughly divided into two categories: one was the young Soul Masters who came to apply for the exam and their families, their faces filled with anticipation, nervousness, or excitement; the other was the Shrek Academy students wearing uniform school uniforms, with the white uniforms belonging to freshmen or lower grades, and the yellow uniforms belonging to the core members of the outer academy.

"Shrek City is divided into an outer city and an inner city," Tang Ya explained enthusiastically as she walked beside Su Chen. "We are currently in the outer city, where the commercial district, residential area, and hotels are all located. The inner city is the real Shrek Academy, where student dormitories, teaching buildings, the simulated training area, the Soul Arena, and so on are all situated."

She paused, then continued, "The academy occupies a vast area, roughly one-third of the entire Shrek City. The outer academy alone has over five thousand students, and although the inner academy has fewer students, each one is an elite among elites."

As Su Chen listened, he observed his surroundings. He could sense that the city was permeated with a rich aura of soul power, especially in the inner city, where several powerful auras were faintly visible, likely the presence of experts from the academy.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, Beibei noticed something was wrong.

The gazes from all around grew increasingly intense.

As a prominent figure in the Foreign Languages ​​Department, Bei Bei usually attracts attention when walking around the academy—after all, he is one of the top students in the department, and with his handsome appearance, he is quite a celebrity in the academy.

But this is the first time I've felt like the center of attention in a crowd, like today.

Those gazes were intense, curious, surprised, even infatuated... and Beibei keenly realized that the focus of these gazes was not on her.

Tang Ya, who was talking to Su Chen, also sensed something was wrong. She turned her head to look around and found that many passersby had stopped and were all looking at her... Su Chen beside her.

Beibei suddenly realized what was going on and couldn't help but smile bitterly to herself.

The reason is simple: Su Chen's appearance and temperament are simply too outstanding in the bustling Shrek City.

His long, golden hair shimmered softly in the sunlight, like molten gold. His features were almost unrealistically handsome, his figure tall and slender, and his innate noble and composed demeanor... Even in Shrek City, a city teeming with geniuses, such a presence was dazzling.

"Tsk tsk, Su Chen, look, look!" Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's mocking voice echoed in Su Chen's mind, carrying a hint of schadenfreude and... a barely perceptible sour taste? "Your face is too flashy, isn't it? You're the center of attention wherever you go. Hmm... but, well, it's only barely comparable to me back in the day."

"Back in the far north, I was incredibly dashing and debonair. All the fair-skinned and beautiful silkworm mothers in the clan lined up to confess their love to me. But alas, I was focused on pursuing the Great Dao and didn't even glance at them, breaking so many hearts in the process."

Su Chen responded calmly to himself, "Who was it that claimed to have been chased by a mother scorpion and hid in the ice, too afraid to come out?"

"That...that's strategic concealment! Don't you even understand strategy?!" Tianmeng Ice Silkworm retorted angrily. "I did that for cultivation! For my grand plan to become a god! Besides, even inside the ice, my charm is undeniable..."

Su Chen ignored Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's boasting and calmly continued forward, ignoring the gazes directed at him.

Tang Ya, on the other hand, felt a complex mix of emotions after her initial surprise.

On one hand, she felt a strange sense of pride in Su Chen receiving so much attention—look, this is the person I, Tang Ya, brought back, how dazzling!

On the other hand, seeing the admiring and even adoring looks from the girls, she felt vaguely...uncomfortable. Especially when several pretty female students in white school uniforms blushed and whispered among themselves, their eyes constantly glancing at Su Chen, Tang Ya subconsciously straightened her back and moved closer to Su Chen, as if asserting some kind of dominance.

"Su Chen..." Tang Ya lowered her voice, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "Um..."

"It's alright, I'm used to it," Su Chen interrupted calmly.

Those stares meant nothing to him. In his past life, as a handsome but introverted man, he was always the center of attention whenever he went out; he was used to it. This level of attention wasn't enough to stir his emotions.

However, his bland response had a different meaning to Tang Ya.

"Used to it...?" Tang Ya blinked, looking at Su Chen's calm profile, and thought to herself, "When he says he's used to it... does he mean he's often stared at like this? Well, with his looks and demeanor, he'd be the center of attention wherever he goes..."

For some reason, this realization stirred a strange feeling in Tang Ya's heart—it felt both natural and slightly disappointing. Natural because Su Chen truly possessed such qualities, but disappointing because... someone like him must have no shortage of outstanding girls around him, right?

Passing through Shrek Academy's inner gate, a symbol of glory and history, the view suddenly opens up. A wide, bluestone-paved main road stretches straight ahead, flanked by meticulously planned areas. The first thing that catches the eye is a specially cultivated garden on the right side of the road.

This garden is quite large, with at least dozens of different varieties of plants growing exceptionally well. They are cleverly arranged together, varying in height and harmonizing in color.

Su Chen's gaze lingered briefly on the garden before returning to his own.

Continuing along the main road for about two hundred meters, a group of exceptionally tall statues suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, completely blocking the view ahead. There were ten statues in total, each nearly ten meters tall, carved from some kind of hard, grayish-white stone. Having weathered the elements, their surfaces had acquired a warm luster and the marks of time, yet they only added to their solemnity and weight.

The moment Beibei and Tangya saw the statues, they stopped almost reflexively, their expressions becoming incredibly solemn and reverent—a deep-seated admiration.