The strange creature had the lower body of a horse and the upper body of a human, resembling the centaurs of the legends. Only it had two heads — one with a malevolent and ferocious expression, while the other looked extremely kind. The one with a sinister appearance was a male, while the one with a kind appearance was a female.
“Who are you?” Lan Xuanyu blurted out.
The strange soul beast’s malevolent head produced an unpleasant “ga ga” sound. “Good and evil will ultimately have karma. We are the Good and Evil Centaur. It’s useless to struggle; there’s no meaning to it. This is our world. Even if a 100,000-year soul beast comes here, they have to move according to our rules.”
“What are your rules?” At this moment, Lan Xuanyu had instead calmed down. After realizing that it was futile to resist, he could only face it head on.
The Good and Evil Centaur’s kind female head replied, “In here, you have to make a decision. We will come up with questions, and you have to make a choice. You will then accept the consequence of your choice.”
The malevolent male head snickered and said, “Your luck is bad, for it is my turn to raise the questions today. My question is, if only one of you can kill, will you choose to stay alive, or choose her to stay alive. If you choose her, I will kill you. If you choose yourself to survive, I will kill her immediately. Gagaga, interesting, this is really interesting. I love to see you humans feel pain from my questions.”
Lan Xuanyu sneered in disdain. “Why should I feel pain? This is just Soul World, a simulated world. Even if it’s death, the only regret for me is to be unable to enter Shrek Academy. Kill me, let her leave.”
Seeing that Lan Xuanyu’s expression was without pain, the Good and Evil Centaur malevolent head became unhappy and ‘gaga’ out before continuing, “We can read your heart. You are still feeling pain within. Because if you quit, your teammates will be unable to enter that Shrek Academy of yours, am I right? Don’t you feel a bit of guilt? Just for a girl, you give up on your teammates. This is called paying more attention to a lover than your friends. You still have time to change your decision.”
Lan Xuanyu’s expression changed slightly, but he quickly composed himself. “I am not changing my decision. Without her help, we would have long been eliminated inside the qualifiers and most probably eliminated. Furthermore, I trust in Shrek Academy’s fairness. This will not influence their decisions toward my outstanding teammates just because of me being eliminated individually. And as for myself, I have another opportunity next year. So, I choose to let her live.”
The kind head and evil head looked at each other with shock in their eyes. The evil head then turned to Lan Xuanyu and gnarled sinisterly, “Alright, then go and die.”
He suddenly waved his hand as a red lightning bolt descended from the sky and smashed straight into Lan Xuanyu, completely disintegrating him into dust.
The kind head waved her hands and a white light landed on Dong Qianqiu. Dong Qianqiu opened her eyes that were filled with rage.
“You heard everything he said. He chose for you to live, so he died. Now, you can make the same choice: to let him live or for you to survive. You can choose for him to live. But you have to die, and we will revive him. If you choose to live, he will be completely dead,” the kind head spoke indifferently.
Dong Qianqiu fumed, “Just kill me. Let him live. So what if I don’t get into Shrek Academy? I’ll still be me.”
“It seems like the two of you aren’t on that good terms.” The evil head decided to test the waters.
Dong Qianqiu looked at them coldly, “Why are you guys spouting so much nonsense? If you want to kill, just do it.” With that, she closed her eyes.
The kind and evil head looked at each other again, the expression in their eyes slightly strange. The evil head raised his hands and a red lightning bolt descended from the sky and landed on Dong Qianqiu’s head, turning her to dust.
“What’s with the kids nowadays? One is too intelligent, the other too obstinate.” The evil head shook his head helplessly.
The kind head giggled, “That makes it more meaningful. I don’t believe they have no desire. In the future, let me entice them with their desires. These two kids are rather interesting. Their combined technique was very powerful! The explosion was close to a six-ring standard of power. Did you record all of it?”
The evil head replied, “Alright. Anyway, I’m too lazy. You can do whatever you want. I want to sleep. But that little brat is very intelligent. I’m afraid he guessed that we were set up by the academy and even toyed with us using words. His intelligence is close to a monster. To be so cunning at such a young age, he needs more observation and experience. Let him understand what is the true dao.”
The kind head replied, “Lazy, then go and laze. When they enter the academy, we will let them undergo another test and see how it goes. In any case, I find them rather interesting. Let me help them and create an opportunity for them. Hehehehe. When they are no longer able to stop themselves, I will find the opportunity to play with them. Hehehe.”
The evil head fumed, “Whatever you say. Although their strengths are mediocre at best, they have good potential. Just leave it as that.”
The simulation cabin opened. Lan Xuanyu dazed for a long time before sitting up. Many concerned pairs of eyes waited outside the cabin. It was not only Liu Feng and Qian Lei, but even Ji Hongbin, Yin Tianfan, and Mu Zhongtian were present.
“How did it go?” Qian Lei pulled Lan Xuanyu and asked anxiously.
Lan Xuanyu had a strange expression. “I don’t know. It’s really weird. The test wasn’t long, and according to common sense, it seems that I failed. But the last part was too strange, I think it might be a test on my temperament. Do you know? I encountered Dong Qianqiu inside.”
“Ah?” Qian Lei looked at him in surprise. “How is it possible that you met her?”
Lan Xuanyu looked at the teachers before narrating about what he had encountered in the entire test.
After hearing his recount, Ji Hongbin was the first to have a relaxed expression. Yin Tianfan laughed and turned to Ji Hongbin. “I told you, this brat has a more distinct bottomline than me. If I’m not wrong, that Good and Evil Centaur at the end was not even a soul beast. It should be the teachers from the academy acting as one. You handled it well.”
Ji Hongbin nodded his head and gave his remark, “The issue doesn’t seem too big. At the very least, it shouldn’t be a problem for you to participate in the later tests.”
“That’s great.” Qian Lei shouted in excitement, nudged Liu Feng, and laughed out loud. “We can head to the Mother Planet together now and head to Shrek Academy.”
Lan Xuanyu gave a bitter laugh, “I’m still worried about it. Let’s wait until the real announcement first.”
Mu Zhongtian spoke up immediately. “I will contact them immediately and see what Shrek has to say.”
Ji Hongbin: “Xuanyu, you’ve received a lesson. Learn and grow from it. Remember this lesson well. Regardless of whatever situation you’re in, always be true. You can’t just rely on petty tricks. Only the truly intelligent and wise will remain open.”
Strange, Yin Tianfan — who always enjoyed bickering with him — did not make a sound.
Lan Xuanyu nodded his head and replied earnestly, “Yes, Teacher Ji. I will remember that. I will pay attention to it going forward.” Although he had a clear conscience, he was the one who had created the problem for himself. At the very least, he understood that emotions would cloud his judgement. Undoubtedly, although Shrek Academy’s selection was a competition, it was also a hard-to-come-by opportunity to temper oneself. All the students that had participated in the test more or less had growth because of the experience.
Mu Zhongtian quickly brought back news of what Ji Hongbin and Yin Tianfan had anticipated: Lan Xuanyu was allowed to continue participating in the following test. But, their prize lottery chance for being first was taken away. Shrek Academy did not explain why.