Douluo Dalu 3: Legend of the White Fox

Three years ago, the Holy Spirit Cult first spread naked posters of Sea God Tang San and the first-generation Shrek Seven Devils in Shrek City, portraying Tang San as a lone hero.

Following that, they released an adult-themed anime about Ice Spirit Douluo at night.

In response, Shrek Academy invited all renowned organizations across the continent to hold a Sea God's Pavilion meeting, hoping to put an end to the Holy Spirit Cult's actions.

However, Shrek Academy never expected that the mighty Spirit Pagoda's Pagoda Master, Qiangu Dongfeng, would actually collaborate with the Holy Spirit Cult.

With Qiangu Dongfeng leaking information, all of Shrek Academy's and the Federation's plans failed miserably.

Despite consuming massive amounts of manpower and resources, they only managed to capture a few evil soul masters. However, these captured individuals had not even officially joined the Holy Spirit Cult yet, making them essentially useless.

Even though the Holy Spirit Cult no longer dared to distribute pamphlets in broad daylight over major cities, in Shrek City's small alleyways, people still occasionally handed out promotional posters and essays about the first-generation Shrek Seven Devils.

The Holy Spirit Cult simply paid small beggars to distribute these materials.

Even if Shrek Academy caught them, they couldn't do much about it.

They were just a group of children—Shrek Academy couldn't possibly execute them under the pretext of colluding with the Holy Spirit Cult.

The only option was to send them to orphanages.

It wasn't just Shrek Academy; many major cities across the Federation faced the same issue.

As a result, in just three years, the number of child beggars in the Federation had been reduced by more than half.

However, the number of orphanages had more than tripled.

A significant portion of the taxes that the Federation extracted from Shrek Academy was now allocated to supporting these orphanages.

In a way, the Holy Spirit Cult had indirectly provided many destitute children with a relatively stable home.

Aside from distributing flyers and posters, the Holy Spirit Cult's most intense struggle with Shrek Academy and the Federation took place online.

If the Holy Spirit Cult's flyer campaign in Shrek City was its most outrageous real-world action, then its most audacious online move was hijacking a Federation news channel to broadcast a 3D animated series called Divine Realm Chaos.

Of course, the deities depicted in the show were all well-known figures in the history of Douluo Continent.

Though the broadcast was cut off remotely by the Federation after just ten minutes, it still caused an uproar.

Even now, an animated series titled The Legend of the Tang Sect Heroes continues to be serialized online, along with numerous articles about Shrek Academy, the Tang Sect, and the Spirit Pagoda.

Despite the Federation sparing no effort in shutting down these websites, they simply couldn't keep up.

A single search would yield countless results.

At this point, the taxes Shrek Academy paid to the Federation were nowhere near enough to fund the ongoing battle against the Holy Spirit Cult.

If Shrek Academy hated anyone the most right now, it wasn't the Holy Spirit Cult's leader—it was Cun Ying.

Their resentment toward Cun Ying had even surpassed their hatred for the cult's master.

Because whether it was anime, manga, or articles, the author was always credited as Cun Ying.

Although Xia Yi had never left Eastsea City in the past three years, he knew more about the conflict between the Holy Spirit Cult and Shrek Academy than anyone else.

He also knew that, right now in Shrek City, many people were waiting to see him make a fool of himself.

His lack of a direct admission quota for Shrek Academy was no secret.

There were definitely people eager to see him leave Shrek City in disgrace.

But since he had come, he had no intention of leaving.

When Mu Xi first told him about the quota issue, he had already devised a plan.

"Still sleeping? Wake up!"

Seeing Xia Yi fast asleep, Gu Yue was furious. She immediately controlled the water element, forming a large basin-sized ball of water above his head, intending to drench him.

Wujin glanced over, then silently moved away to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

Just as the water was about to fall, Xia Yi's eyes snapped open. He instantly entered Martial Soul Possession mode, his third soul ring lighting up. Gu Yue's water transformed into ice shards mid-air, flying out the car window. The moment they exited, they melted back into water and scattered outside.

"You're overreacting. I was just taking a nap. Was this really necessary?" Xia Yi looked at Gu Yue helplessly.

All he did was sleep—why was she so angry?

"If you have time to sleep, you should be thinking about how to get into Shrek Academy," Gu Yue said coolly.

"I call it conserving energy," Xia Yi replied with a grin.

"Shameless," Gu Yue scoffed. "I'm going to see my teacher. Are you coming?"

"Nope!" Xia Yi shook his head without hesitation. "I'll wait until I'm officially in Shrek Academy first."

"Suit yourself." Gu Yue shook her head and stepped out of the vehicle.

After she left, Xia Yi and Wujin checked into a nearby hotel near the Spirit Pagoda.

As soon as they entered, Wujin immediately started meditating and cultivating. Xia Yi sighed and shook his head.

Instead of cultivating, he headed straight for Shrek City's Blacksmith Association.

Compared to the Blacksmith Association in Eastsea City, Shrek City's branch was far more grand and imposing. Even compared to the headquarters in Heaven Dou City, it wasn't much smaller.

However, upon arriving at the entrance, Xia Yi quickly noticed something strange—despite its grandeur, the foot traffic here wasn't much higher than that of Eastsea City's Blacksmith Association.

This was the most frustrating thing for the Shrek City branch.

Despite being located in the city with the highest concentration of soul masters, it ranked beyond the top 20 in performance every year.

But this wasn't really the fault of the Shrek City Blacksmith Association.

Other cities had only one blacksmith association, but Shrek City also had Shrek Academy's Blacksmith Association.

And Shrek Academy's Blacksmith Association didn't just handle internal forging tasks—they had branches outside the academy as well.

A staggering 70% of the blacksmithing commissions in Shrek City went to Shrek Academy's Blacksmith Association.

Forging was an incredibly lucrative business. Even Shrek Academy couldn't resist getting involved.

"Sir, may I help you?"

As soon as Xia Yi arrived, a staff member approached him.

"I'd like to take on some forging tasks." Xia Yi pulled out his Level Five Blacksmith badge. "I want to take on some Spirit Refining commissions. Do you have any available?"

"Level Five Blacksmith?!"

The staff member was stunned.

Although Xia Yi was over 1.7 meters tall, the staff member was certain he was no older than fifteen.

"Respected Blacksmith Grandmaster, please wait a moment while I check."

Seeing Xia Yi's badge, the staff member immediately changed his tone.

A Level Three or Four blacksmith was addressed as Master, but Level Five and above was Grandmaster.

Just because Xia Yi reached Level Five at thirteen didn't mean it was common.

Even in Shrek City, Level Five blacksmiths were rare.

For most blacksmiths, achieving Spirit Refinement required enormous financial investment.

Without sufficient funds, some blacksmiths reached the Soul Emperor or Soul Sage level but still failed to master Spirit Refinement.

Some spent decades repaying debts accumulated while trying to break through.

Even Xia Yi had spent a considerable amount of money over the past three years.

Thankfully, he had managed to get Gu Yue to reimburse all the expenses he spent on the fierce beasts. Otherwise, he might've been in debt too.

Even so, he was now running low on Federation credits. With a few days left before Shrek Academy's admissions, he figured he might as well take some forging tasks to earn extra money.

Soon, the staff member returned, frowning at the list of available commissions.

"Is there a problem?" Xia Yi asked curiously.

"There is a Spirit Refinement commission available—it's for a battle armor component. But it's a task from Shrek Academy," the staff member said with a wry smile.

"Let me see the details," Xia Yi said.

The staff member turned the soul guide screen toward him.

Seeing the mission details, Xia Yi grinned.

Spirit Refinement of a Non-Smelting Life Crystal

Purpose: Battle Armor Wing Component

"I'll take it," Xia Yi said.