Willpower

Zhou Yi pointed to the chain armor in front of her. "These are Iron Clothes, specially designed to improve your physical fitness. One for each of you. Put them on, then start running laps around the plaza. From now until the dismissal bell rings, you will keep running. You may use Soul Power, but not Soul Skills. You will be ranked by the number of laps completed. The last-place student will be expelled from First-Year Class One."

Ji Lin frowned. He was not worried about the last-place elimination system, but Huo Yuhao was in danger. His cultivation was the lowest in the entire class.

I hope he can move that eccentric old hag Zhou Yi the same way he did in the original story. Otherwise, he'll have to say goodbye to his roommate today.

Ji Lin silently mourned for him.

"There is one thing I must emphasize again. In my class, students are not eliminated only during assessments. Eliminations can happen at any time. Today, ninety-one students will become ninety. Begin."

As she spoke, Zhou Yi flicked her toe, sending an Iron Clothes made entirely of thick chains flying toward Ji Lin. He caught it and put it on.

After putting on the Iron Clothes, Ji Lin found that it weighed at least fifty jin! Upon hearing about last-place elimination, how could the students dare slack off? They hurried forward and put on their Iron Clothes. The male students fared slightly better, but after donning the heavy chain armor, most of the female students went pale.

Ji Lin also noticed that only his and Wang Qiuer's Iron Clothes were somewhat heavier, around fifty jin. The others', including Wang Dong'er's, weighed roughly thirty jin. Was this the special treatment for the class monitor and vice monitor?

Still, Ji Lin and Wang Qiuer could easily bear this amount of weight.

Zhou Yi said coldly, "I know that many of you want to tell me this is unfair, because there are natural physical differences between boys and girls, and Tool Soul Masters, Beast Soul Masters, and Battle Soul Masters also differ in physical fitness. But let me tell you this: aside from Ji Lin and Wang Qiuer, whose Iron Clothes are heavier because of their higher cultivation, everyone else is treated equally. Think about it. If you were on a battlefield, would your enemies spare you because you were a woman or because you were a Tool Soul Master? Start running."

No matter how fiercely the students cursed Zhou Yi in their hearts, none dared speak up in opposition. Led by Ji Lin, they charged onto the track along the edge of Shrek Plaza and began running under the weight of their Iron Clothes.

No one wanted to be eliminated. From the very beginning, the students ran with completely different vigor from that morning.

Ji Lin and Wang Qiuer took the lead, running at the very front. Whether in martial souls or Soul Power, the two were outstanding among these students. Though their Iron Clothes were heavier, their speed did not decrease much.

Wang Dong'er followed close behind. Being competitive, she had initially wanted to suggest wearing Iron Clothes as heavy as Ji Lin's and Wang Qiuer's, but after feeling the weight on her body, she decided not to court death. She did not want to be expelled over a momentary urge to compete.

She believed that if she had dared ask to switch Iron Clothes, that old hag Zhou Yi would have given her a heavier one without a word.

After a few laps, Huo Yuhao unsurprisingly fell into last place.

Ji Lin and the others had already lapped Huo Yuhao once. As they passed him,

Ji Lin quietly reminded him, "Watch your breathing rhythm. Circulate your Mysterious Heaven Skill. Keep running until the end. Don't give up."

Zhou Yi stood in the plaza, expressionlessly watching the students run. No one knew what she was thinking. As a Soul Emperor, she had also heard Ji Lin's reminder to Huo Yuhao and gave Ji Lin a surprised glance.

After more than ten laps, everyone other than Ji Lin and Wang Qiuer, including Wang Dong'er, had slowed down. Huo Yuhao had fallen several laps behind.

Drops of sweat began soaking the track. After more than half a shichen had passed, a frail female student stumbled and fell to the ground. She struggled to get up, but could not manage it no matter what.

As Ji Lin passed her, he casually helped her up and urged her to hold on a little longer, but she refused to run anymore and simply sat motionless on the ground.

Helpless, Ji Lin could only let go of her and continue running.

Once there was a first, there began to be a second. Perhaps because Huo Yuhao was holding up the rear, the students tried hard to persist, but their willpower ultimately was not particularly strong.

Running while bearing heavy Iron Clothes placed an enormous burden on them, especially since everyone had sprinted at full speed from the start and quickly exhausted their Soul Power. Having to rely solely on their bodies to bear the weight of the Iron Clothes was truly a bit too much for people their age.

By the time one shichen had passed, at least half the students had collapsed on the ground. Zhou Yi stood there with the same expressionless face and did not urge them to continue.

Huo Yuhao was about to reach his limit as well. Seeing him stagger unsteadily, Ji Lin feared he had reached his limit too. However, he had held on for long enough that he was no longer at the bottom in terms of laps.

Suddenly, Ji Lin noticed that Huo Yuhao's mental state had abruptly improved. He knew that Huo Yuhao had broken through the limits of the Mysterious Heaven Skill under extreme conditions, reaching a state even God King Tang had never attained. It could be said that the Mysterious Heaven Skill, unchanged for ten thousand years, had evolved in Huo Yuhao. It was truly ironic. The Tang Sect's decline was not without reason.

In ten thousand years, even pigs could fly, yet not a single person in the Tang Sect had improved the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

Around Shrek Plaza, more and more students collapsed. Even those students who had been following closely behind Ji Lin and Wang Qiuer gradually began to fail. The sound of Iron Clothes striking the ground rang out from time to time.

An hour and a half had passed, and the dismissal bell was drawing ever closer. Only eleven students were still running around the outer track of Shrek Plaza. Huo Yuhao, who had been at the bottom from the very start, was surprisingly among them.

Zhou Yi had been watching Huo Yuhao the entire time. When one shichen had passed, she had already begun to feel astonished. Based on her calculations of Huo Yuhao's stamina and Soul Power, he should have reached his limit long ago. Yet he had persisted. Although his steady pace gave him some advantage, his cultivation and physical condition were right there for all to see!

Could a person's willpower truly be this strong? And at such a young age?

Thud, thud... Two more students fell. Their collapse was like knocking over dominoes, and several more students fell one after another.

In the end, only four people remained running. Five minutes later, Wang Dong'er stopped and collapsed onto the ground.

She had reached her limit.

Only Ji Lin, Wang Qiuer, and Huo Yuhao remained.

Ji Lin and Wang Qiuer were tired as well, but they had not yet reached their limits. They could still handle this amount of exercise.

As for Huo Yuhao, although he staggered along and was barely faster than walking, he continued to persevere after most of those with higher cultivation than him had fallen. Many students looked at him with astonishment.

Even Wang Dong'er had changed her opinion of him and no longer looked down on him.

Watching the three continue, especially Huo Yuhao, the mockery in everyone else's eyes vanished. They climbed back to their feet and stared blankly at the three. In the end, Wang Dong'er once again caught up to them and started running, and the others gradually followed suit.

Every student in First-Year Class One gritted their teeth, lifted their legs that had already stiffened as if dead, and dragged themselves back onto the track.