Xu Sanshi said, “Caitou, considering how loud you snore, should you pay the doctor a visit? Even if Xiao Xiao does walk away with you during the Sea God’s Fate, you’ll both have quite a hard time. Who in their right mind could stand having a sleepless night every day?”

He Caitou lowered his voice and said, “I can meditate; I won’t snore if I don’t sleep. Are you telling me that you actually sleep every single night?”

“Eh, that makes sense.” They were soul masters, thus they didn’t spend that many days sleeping. Generally, most of their nights were spent meditating.

Huo Yuhao attempted to help his second senior brother and asked, “What are the rules for today’s Sea God’s Fate, eldest senior brother? How many people will be participating?”

Bei Bei answered, “You’ve asked the right person. Nobody but me and eldest senior sister know the exact number of participants tonight—not even the teachers are aware. We benefit from being the insiders. As such, I’ll explain the key events to you guys in order to ensure that none of you run into any problems before the confessions.”

Xu Sanshi, He Caitou, and Huo Yuhao all began to listen intently to Bei Bei’s explanation. In the end, this event would be a major turning point in their lives.

Xu Sanshi and He Caitou both had a target in mind, while Huo Yuhao seemed to desire the girl of his dreams. However, the three of them had something in common: They didn’t have absolute confidence.

There was no need to mention Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan, as they’d always been a resentful couple. Even though Jiang Nannan showed some concern to Xu Sanshi from time to time, she was generally cold towards him, while her speech was typically serious and direct.

He Caitou’s relationship with Xiao Xiao was comparatively better, as they’d been relatively well-acquainted since the beginning. However, Xiao Xiao had still been young back then. He Caitou was exceptionally diffident about these things, thus he’d never proposed any sort of official relationship between them. He Caitou and Huo Yuhao had then left the academy for two years, thus he was afraid that Xiao Xiao had forgotten all about him—how could he have even a thread of confidence?

As for Huo Yuhao, he hadn’t known a thing about romance when he left Shrek Academy on the exchange program. He hadn’t had a chance to think much about it, as he was still mired in grief from his teacher’s passing.

However, the number of girls that he interacted with began to increase proportionately with his age, thus he began to gain an inkling about love and romance, especially during his interaction with Ju Zi. The Goddess of Light that had been conjured by the Raiment of Light had simply been too beautiful, and this feeling of ‘love at first sight’ had taken root deep inside his heart. However, the Goddess of Light herself was virtual—she wasn’t real. If not for that glimpse of beauty and enchantment on the day he’d returned, Huo Yuhao probably wouldn’t have had any fantasies about the Sea God’s Fate at all. However, since he had, things were different now: ‘Wang Qiu’er’—the name of Wang Dong’s twin sister that he’d mentioned—was starting to ferment in his mind. An unknown eagerness had appeared in his heart towards tonight’s Sea God’s Fate.

Bei Bei continued, “The Sea God’s Fate is one of the most important internal activities within Shrek Academy. Shrek Academy is known as the number-one academy in the Continent, and we aren’t called that for nothing. As I’m sure you’re all aware, the inner courtyard’s disciples are all extraordinarily elite soul masters; their abilities are formidable, so it’s natural that they have high relationship standards. As such, it isn’t that easy for them to find a suitable partner in the outside world. This is the reason for the Sea God’s Fated Blind Date. We’re trying to give the inner courtyard’s disciples, who typically devote their concentration and focus to cultivation, a chance to mingle with and get to know each other.”

“Get to the point.” Xu Sanshi said a little impatiently.

Bei Bei smiled and said, “Don’t be impatient, you have to let me explain properly. Neither He Caitou nor our little junior brother have participated in this event before. Even though this is a blind date, we are an academy after all, and the number one academy on the Continent at that. This even isn’t as simple as a blind date—the Sea God’s Fated Blind Date is also a platform to test the abilities of the inner courtyard’s disciples. Obtaining approval from the girl of your dreams isn’t that simple; everyone will have to pass through multiple trials before they’ll gain the chance to confess. If they can’t even pass this hurdle, then they won’t even get a chance to confess. Of course, luck is also involved; if you’re lucky enough, you might be able to enter the final part. When both parties are happy with each other, then you might just be able to walk away with said girl of your dreams.”

“Since it’s still considered an assessment, that means that it goes both ways—the men and women will both be assessed. The only difference is that there have always been fewer girls who participate in the Sea God’s Fated Blind Date, thus the assessment will naturally be more difficult for the guys.

“The event is separated into five segments. There are a total of fifty-six single inner courtyard disciples participating in the event including the three of you. That number also includes Dai Huabin, Xie Huanyue, Wu Feng, and Ning Tian, who entered the inner courtyard not too long ago.

“Eldest senior sister and I will be the hosts for this event. The first segment will be the Entry Phase. This event is known as ‘The Sea God’s Fate on the Sea God’s Lake’, which literally means that this event will be hosted atop the Sea God’s Lake. The lake will be decorated with lights, but there won’t be a stage or anything of the like. When the time comes, the only things that you guys will have to stand on will be water lilies.”

“Water lilies?” He Caitou’s face instantly darkened. Water lilies were aquatic plants enormous leaves more than one meter in diameter. The leaves edges then curved upwards, thus they could hold some weight on the water’s surface. However, water lilies could only hold the weight of a six or seven year-old kid without capsizing; grown adults were a bit too dense and heavy for water lilies.

He Caitou’s frame was at an extreme disadvantage under these circumstances and rules. He weighed more than a hundred and twenty kilograms, and his muscles were compact and knotted together. As he was a food-type soul master, even though his soul power had reached the level of Soul Emperor, controlling and manipulating his weight wasn’t his forte.

Huo Yuhao asked, “Will people from the Soul Tool Department be allowed to use their soul tools during the Sea God’s Fate?”

Bei Bei nodded and said, “Naturally, so neither you nor He Caitou should worry too much. Even if you have to make one now, I’m sure it won’t be difficult to create something to aid the two of you in floating atop the water.”

He Caitou’s expression lightened somewhat as he nodded his head.

Bei Bei then spoke in a serious tone, “There’s one thing that you have be careful about, Caitou. No matter what sort of shape the soul tool you create ends up having, you have to make sure that it’s agile and nimble. This will be vital.”

“All male and female students will be provided with a leaf from a water lily as tools to float on during the Sea God’s Fated Blind Date; everything else will be up to them. Anybody that falls into the water during any segment will be immediately forfeit, and will no longer be allowed to participate in the activity.”

He Caitou asked, “Eldest senior brother, can we attack each other?”

Bei Bei answered, “In some segments. You’ll understand if you just keep listening.

“Of the fifty-six students from the inner courtyard participating in Sea God’s Fate, thirty-nine are male, while seventeen are female. The first segment is called ‘Mutual Feelings’. While the name sounds nice, it’s actually quite difficult. The seventeen female students will be standing in a row one hundred meters away from the guys, and will all be wearing bamboo hats with veils covering their faces so that you’re not able to see their appearances. Simply put, this round requires teamwork from the male students—all thirty-nine of you will be able to attempt to use your own respective powers to launch attacks at the girls. You can attack one, or you can attack multiple. The goal is simply to lift the veils covering their faces. How can you choose a girlfriend if you can’t even see what they look like, eh?

“This round is also meant as a way for everyone to display their skills and abilities. There’s no doubt that the more bamboo hats a guy can remove, the stronger he is. The girls aren’t allowed to help each other during this segment, nor can they retaliate against the guys. They can only passively defend and do their best to stop the bamboo hat from being removed from their heads. If a girl drops into the water during this round, she will also be forfeit. However, the guys generally know what they should and shouldn’t do during the first round—if all the girls fell into the water, who would there be to matchmake with?”

Xu Sanshi sighed from the side and said, “There’s so many guys yet so few girls! Who could bear to chase even a single girl into the water? Anyone that does that will incur everyone’s wrath.”

Huo Yuhao noticed that Bei Bei’s words seemed to contain another meaning. “Eldest senior brother, that also means the guys will have to cross a hundred meters across the lake’s surface in order to attack, right? We’ll also have to cross the same distance after we attack, right?”

Bei Bei nodded and said, “Yes, you’re right. The difference in martial souls and how advantageous and disadvantageous they are in this segment will be obvious. All thirty-nine of you will draw lots to decide the order in which you’ll attack, and are allowed to give up the first round when your turn has come. In the end, not all martial souls are able to attack through the air, and not all martial souls can launch an attack and manage to return to their original spot safely. However, male students that choose to give up will be pushed to the back in the second round. The more bamboo hats that you can lift in the first round, the earlier that you’ll start in the second round. Following this, the earlier that you start the second round, the more girls that there will be, and the more choices you’ll have.

“Let me explain the second round…”

Bei Bei continued to explain the Sea God’s Fated Blind Date’s rules and the various details to the three of them. As he was one of the hosts, he was extremely clear regarding the entire event and its itinerary. This explanation took up their entire afternoon.

The sun dipped over the western horizon when Bei Bei finally stood up and said, “The three of you should grab something to eat. I’ll go and find eldest senior sister to confirm the itinerary. Remember, don’t be late. Everyone already knows where to go. Good luck, everyone! Especially Caitou and little junior brother.”

Xu Sanshi retorted unhappily, “Why aren’t you wishing me good luck?”

Bei Bei said, “Does it matter if I do? Is this the first time that you’ve participated in Sea God’s Fate? Don’t get your hopes up. It doesn’t matter because you’re shameless anyway; if you can continue with your incessant entangling, maybe one day, Nannan will be so upset with your entanglement that she accepts you.”

Xu Sanshi jumped up angrily and said, “What? Don’t get my hopes up? I’ll definitely succeed this time!”

Bei Bei didn’t even look at him as he waved towards Caitou and Huo Yuhao. “I’m leaving.”