Suicide Skill

The next day, Huo Yuxi and Xiao Xiao arrived early outside the assessment area to queue.

Over thirty academy teachers stood on the stage, and Zhou Yi was among them. Her brows were tightly furrowed, making her wrinkled face look even more terrifying.

Her gaze swept over the more than two hundred students below, and upon confirming that the people she was looking for were late again, her expression darkened further.

Huo Yuxi looked around twice but couldn't find Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong. Seeing Zhou Yi's expression, she knew the two of them hadn't arrived yet.

The roll call was by class order, and it had already begun. If they weren't present by the end of the roll call, they would be considered to have forfeited.

Class one had the most people entering the finals, so their roll call took the longest. Huo Yuhao's group's turn was later.

It was almost time for all the Class one students to be called before it was their turn, but Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong still hadn't arrived.

The crowd below sighed in disbelief, as such a situation was extremely rare. Most people would postpone any urgent matters until after the elimination rounds.

Being late for such an important event would leave an extremely bad impression on the teachers, and there was even a possibility of being disqualified.

Zhou Yi stood on the stage, her molars grinding together. Those two brats, it seemed she had been too gentle, making them think they could ignore her words.

The roll call sped up, but there was still no sign of the two. Huo Yuxi started to worry if they had encountered some trouble.

Given Huo Yuhao's personality, the probability of such a situation occurring was almost zero, making it hard for her not to overthink. However, within the academy, she couldn't fathom what could have happened.

"No need to worry, they're here," Luo Ling's clear voice rang out.

Huo Yuxi looked at her in confusion. She had been thinking about Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong and hadn't heard clearly.

"They've already arrived," Luo Ling said, gesturing with her chin towards the roll call teacher.

At eleven or twelve years old, the height difference between boys and girls wasn't significant. Luo Ling's frame was slightly larger than that of an average girl, so she stood half a head taller than others in the crowd.

Huo Yuxi was the opposite. She was half a head shorter than her peers, and even when she strained to stand on her tiptoes, she could only catch a glimpse of them.

However, that was enough. Knowing they had arrived, Huo Yuxi relaxed and began to carefully consider the upcoming competition.

The elimination rounds lasted for three days, with one match in the morning and one in the afternoon. Teams that were eliminated would return to class, while winning teams would continue to compete.

On the first day, the first round was from 64 to 32, and the second round was from 32 to 16. On the second day, the first round was from 16 to 8, and the second round was from 8 to 4. On the third day, the first round was from 4 to 2, and the second round was from 2 to 1.

The draw was conducted systematically using relevant Soul Tools. Huo Yuxi's team had good luck, drawing opponents whose Martial Souls were naturally countered by Luo Ling's Martial Soul.

They won in less than fifteen minutes.

To everyone's surprise, Huo Yuhao's team, led by a ten-year Soul Ring Soul Master, also made it into the top thirty-two.

Upon arriving at the entrance, Huo Yuxi and the others saw Zhou Yi standing there with a dark expression, her eyes sharp as she looked at them. More accurately, she was looking behind them.

The three approached her. "Teacher Zhou."

"Hmm," Zhou Yi responded, then shouted towards the main entrance of the assessment area, "You two, get over here right now."

Huo Yuxi turned her head and, without surprise, saw her older brother and Wang Dong walking over guiltily. Xiao Xiao followed behind them, trying to make herself less noticeable.

"Teacher Zhou," the three called out in unison.

"Xiao Xiao, go back and rest first. The five of you, follow me," Zhou Yi said before turning to leave.

Xiao Xiao gave Wang Dong and Huo Yuxi a look of "good luck with that" and turned to leave.

They arrived at the office. The space was large. Luo Ling, Lu Wanwan, and Huo Yuxi stood in a line, while Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong stood behind them, heads bowed.

"Does hiding help? You'd better give me a reason that can convince me. Being late yesterday was one thing, but what's the situation today?"

Huo Yuhao stood forward with his head down, Wang Dong behind him, listening to Zhou Yi's scolding.

"Do you think that now that you've passed the freshman assessment and can stay at the academy, it doesn't matter anymore? I'm telling you, if I wanted to, even if you won the championship in the elimination rounds, expelling you would be a mere word."

"In this world, there's never a shortage of geniuses, especially not at Shrek Academy. Just ask anyone, they are all geniuses among geniuses."

Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao exchanged glances. Wang Dong secretly tugged at Huo Yuhao's clothes, urging him to explain quickly.

Huo Yuhao stepped forward with a forced smile, "I'm sorry, Teacher, we were wrong. We were really over-practicing for the past two days, it's not an excuse."

Zhou Yi glanced at him, signaling him to continue.

"It's like this, do you remember the team led by Huang Chutian that we encountered the day before yesterday? The sisters Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo performed a Martial Soul Fusion Technique, right?"

"Wang Dong and I were very envious of the power of Martial Soul Fusion Techniques, so after we went back, we decided to try and see if we could fuse our Martial Souls."

"The academy doesn't have specialized guidance on this matter, so Wang Dong and I could only figure it out ourselves. Who knew that the first time we tried to fuse the night before yesterday, we fainted, and when we woke up, we had already missed the roll call."

"We didn't know if it was successful the day before yesterday. Yesterday, we unanimously decided to try again in the small forest over there, and this time it actually succeeded, and the attack power seemed very strong."

"Unsurprisingly, we were drained of our soul power and fainted again. When we woke up today, we were late again."

Huo Yuhao secretly glanced at Zhou Yi, assuring her, "Teacher Zhou, these two times were truly accidental. We promise there won't be a next time."

"Martial Soul Fusion Technique?" Zhou Yi's expression was relatively calm, but the other three couldn't stay calm.

What did he just say? Because they envied others for having a Martial Soul Fusion Technique, they imitated it and succeeded?

Huo Yuxi was even more shocked. She and Huo Yuhao were twins, so by rights, their chances of a Martial Soul Fusion Technique appearing should be much higher. Yet, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong had actually cultivated one.

However, her mother had also said that this kind of thing depended on various factors. Just having resonance between Martial Souls was rare, let alone cultivating them.

"Come on, show me a demonstration."

Zhou Yi couldn't believe that her two students had cultivated a Martial Soul Fusion Technique for such a casual reason, but she still trusted Huo Yuhao's character.

He planned to observe their Martial Soul Fusion Technique first, then head to the library to learn more about it.

Huo Yuxi also really wanted to see what their Martial Soul Fusion Technique looked like; she hadn't witnessed one in real life yet.

"Teacher Zhou, using a Martial Soul Fusion Technique will completely deplete our soul power, and we still have a competition this afternoon," Wang Dong said, her heart pounding a little faster upon hearing Zhou Yi's request.

Every time they tried before, they had passed out. She really didn't want to embarrass herself in front of so many people.

"Idiot, the first time you use a Martial Soul Fusion Technique, the consumption is the greatest. It will gradually decrease later on," Zhou Yi said, knowing exactly what Wang Dong was thinking. She retorted, "If using it always made you pass out, it wouldn't be called a Martial Soul Fusion Technique, it would just be called a Suicide Skill."