After that, he had no idea how much divine power he had poured into the black hole, but in the end, it still wouldn't spit anything out.
Damn it!
In a fit of frustration, Gu You compressed the thing as much as possible into a gemstone shape and made it into a necklace. This time, he happened to think of something, so he decided to give it to Gu Yue as a gift. Besides, the thing was useless to him anyway, not to mention that there was a quasi-god sealed inside. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that keeping the necklace was actually a liability. After all, no one could guarantee that "Yuezi" wouldn't suddenly pop out and catch him off guard. Giving it to Gu Yue would eliminate that risk—if anything happened in the future, it would be her problem, not his. At the same time, it was a good way to earn her favor. Why not?
"Thank you." Gu Yue was slightly stunned but accepted the gift.
"What about me? What about me! Didn't you say you owed me last time?" Xu Xiaoyan bounced up excitedly. She was two heads shorter than Gu You, looking even more beautiful now, and when she smiled playfully, she still seemed like a little girl.
"Uh… of course." Gu You scratched his head, then extended his right hand. A stunningly beautiful spirit-forged ice crystal appeared before everyone. It was oval-shaped, larger than a palm, and extremely exquisite. Inside, golden threads flowed, and a deep blue light shimmered.
Gu You obviously couldn't have two black holes, so he had prepared this as a substitute. It was just a pretty stone anyway, and the ice crystal wasn't bad at all. It should be enough to get by…
"Wow! What a beautiful stone!" Xu Xiaoyan gasped in amazement. It was her first time seeing a gemstone like this.
Seeing her reaction, Gu You let out a long sigh of relief. Xu Xiaoyan was so easy to fool.
"Is this really the time for idle chatter?"
A stern voice cut through their conversation.
"Ahem! Your assessment consists of multiple parts. Each section is scored out of ten, with six being a passing grade. After all assessments are completed, the scores will be combined to determine your final result. Failing a section will result in penalties, while scoring full marks will grant extra points," Shen Yi interrupted, her expression turning serious.
"No worries. With me here, we'll definitely pass," Gu You said, stretching lazily and yawning.
"You… you! Raise the difficulty for him!" Shen Yi was furious at his nonchalant attitude.
"Follow me!"
Xie Xie gave Gu You a thumbs-up. To dare say such things to a Shrek Academy teacher—he was probably the only one.
They passed through a corridor filled with metallic sheen and entered a grand hall. Shen Yi stopped and smirked at Gu You.
"Wait here. The second assessment will begin shortly."
She didn't say what the test would be. The fact that Gu You was even allowed to participate was already an exception to the rules, so it was only natural that the difficulty would be increased. Unlike normal students, they didn't have to queue for the tests, but in exchange, they had to rely entirely on their own strength to push through.
At that moment, the hall's lighting dimmed as if night had fallen.
On the ground, strange silver patterns began to glow, intertwining to create a dazzling design. At the same time, the ceiling of the hall changed. The murals depicting the night sky seemed to become real—boundless and infinite.
Gu You instantly became alert. He sensed a trace of danger. Given his strength, he shouldn't have felt threatened so easily. It seemed that this assessment wasn't just slightly harder—it was significantly tougher.
Gu Yue raised an eyebrow, while Tang Wulin and the others released their martial souls, not daring to be careless.
The silver patterns on the ground silently faded into the darkness. At this moment, they felt as though they were floating in the night sky, entering a strange and mystical world.
A sudden sense of powerlessness overwhelmed them. Then, the world spun violently, and their surroundings underwent a drastic transformation.
When the light returned, Gu You found that the night sky remained unchanged, but they were now standing in a massive circular arena.
The deafening roar of an audience surrounded them.
Not far ahead, an overwhelming aura surged toward them.
Gu You clenched his fists. Tang Wulin and the others nodded slightly. The sheer pressure of the presence before them made it hard to breathe.
Looking carefully, they saw that it was a soul beast. This soul beast was bizarre in appearance—it was a monkey-like creature with strange orange eyes. It stood over ten meters tall and had a body length of two meters.
A Sacred Phantom Demon Ape—a top-tier spiritual attribute soul beast.
Xie Xie gasped. "Twenty-thousand-year-old cultivation… Is this even an assessment?"
The Sacred Phantom Demon Ape was known for its incredibly high intelligence. Legends said that only one existed per forest, and any soul beast that could threaten it would be trapped in an illusion and killed by its powerful extreme-level spiritual abilities. These creatures were ruthless and had long been considered extinct for over ten thousand years. No one knew how Shrek Academy managed to recreate its image for this assessment. According to historical records, the last Sacred Phantom Demon Ape perished two thousand years ago at the hands of Rakshasa God Bibi Dong.
Gu You stood in front of the group, inwardly cursing Shen Yi for making the test so difficult. But at the same time, he felt insulted—did she really think so little of him? Competing in spiritual power against him? That was like an ant challenging a dragon!
The Sacred Phantom Demon Ape let out a piercing shriek. Its eyes glowed purple, releasing a terrifying burst of spiritual energy.
Gu Yue felt dizzy, and Tang Wulin even began hallucinating.
But at that very moment, the ape let out a miserable scream and collapsed to the ground.
What just happened?
Tang Wulin stared in shock at the scene before him. Looking toward Gu You, he saw his eyes shining with a light that resembled Purple Demon Eyes yet seemed different.
That's right—Gu You had just instantly defeated an extreme-level spiritual soul beast.
The world plunged into darkness once again. The starry sky twisted as if being warped, and dizziness washed over them briefly. When their vision cleared, they were back where they started.
Shen Yi reappeared, this time with a peculiar expression.
"…Full marks for all of you," she said. At this point, she had nothing left to say. What was the point of even testing him? If even a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast couldn't stand against him, the rest of the assessments wouldn't be a challenge at all. Raising the difficulty wouldn't help—Gu You's abilities were simply not human.
Continuing to follow Shen Yi, they exited through a large door and arrived at an open area surrounded by stone buildings. This time, the third test was clearly visible before them.
It was a vast row of guillotine gates.
These gates were lined up one after another, forming an extensive array of over a hundred in total. Each row contained a varying number of gates.
More precisely, these gates should be called scythe gates. Each had only a frame, and hanging above it was an enormous blade—two meters wide, over a meter tall, and half a meter thick. Such a massive blade could easily slice an elephant in two. And with so many of them in place, anything that entered would be chopped to pieces.
"The third test is about adaptability."
Shen Yi's voice rang out.
"When I say 'prepare,' you will have one minute to…"
(End of Chapter)