First Grade Zero Class Is Established

After breakfast, as soon as they arrived in the classroom, the students received notice that all Grade One classes were to gather on the field for a grade-wide meeting.

Although Xie Xie's arm was injured, his condition had stabilized, and he still had to attend class.

Wu Changkong wore his usual frosty expression as he led the students of Grade One Class Five straight to the field to assemble.

Grade One Class Five was utterly different from before. When they arrived on the field, the gazes of the other Grade One classes all turned toward them.

Most of those gazes fell on Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and Gu Yue. As for Nan Fusheng, he received some attention, but not much. After all, during the earlier battle against Class One, he had merely played the role of an inconspicuous support.

Soon, all five Grade One classes had assembled. Nan Fusheng noticed that Zhang Yangzi was absent from Grade One Class One. A broken leg was clearly more troublesome, while Wang Jinxi, like Xie Xie, had bandages wrapped around his hand.

At the front of the formation, not only had Long Hengxu, the dean of studies, arrived, but Dean Yu Zhen had come personally as well.

After signaling to Dean Yu Zhen, Long Hengxu announced loudly, "We have gathered everyone for this temporary Grade One assembly primarily to announce two matters.

"First, due to the special circumstances of this year's Grade One, the winning class will no longer continue in the subsequent Class Promotion Tournament. Grade One's rankings will be adjusted according to the Class Promotion Tournament rules. That is, the original Grade One Class Five will become Grade One Class One, and the other four classes will shift accordingly."

They would not be allowed to continue in the Class Promotion Tournament? The students who had become Grade One Class One immediately stirred. Not being allowed to continue meant that the rewards for challenging higher grades would no longer exist!

Long Hengxu continued, "In view of the outstanding performance of the new Grade One Class One in this Class Promotion Tournament, every student in the class will be rewarded with one Meal A per day for the remainder of this semester."

At those words, the murmurs instantly turned into cheers. What did Meal A represent? It was a tremendous tonic! Never mind the taste—it would greatly benefit their cultivation. Most families could not afford Meal A, and providing it free to the entire class for a whole semester was an incredibly generous gesture.

Ye Yingluo, who had now become the homeroom teacher of Grade One Class Two, looked even more gloomy. She was clearly not in a very good mood.

"Quiet!" Long Hengxu shouted.

Only then did the cheers gradually die down.

Long Hengxu continued, "Due to the outstanding performance of this year's Grade One students, the Academy Board of Directors has decided, after deliberation, to establish an experimental class in Grade One and select the most outstanding students to join it.

"It will tentatively be called Grade One Zero Class, with Teacher Wu Changkong serving as its homeroom teacher. The Zero Class students will be selected from the existing classes, and there are currently seven of them: from Grade One Class One, Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, Gu Yue, and Nan Fusheng; from Grade One Class Two, Zhang Yangzi, Wang Jinxi, and Wei Xiaofeng.

"If there are other students in this grade who perform equally outstandingly in the future, they may also have the opportunity to join Zero Class."

Grade One Zero Class?

What the hell was that?

The students present were all dumbfounded. In Eastsea Academy's history, there had never been such a thing as a Zero Class! And Wu Changkong was going to be its homeroom teacher—what did that mean?

Tang Wulin and the other three were astonished, though Nan Fusheng was only pretending. On the other side, Wang Jinxi and Wei Xiaofeng were equally shocked, and their gazes instinctively turned toward Tang Wulin's group.

Wei Xiaofeng's eyes were filled with Abomination and hatred, while Wang Jinxi's gaze rested solely on Tang Wulin. His expression was somewhat complicated.

Wu Changkong remained expressionless. In truth, the Academy Board of Directors had informed him immediately after making the decision the previous night.

Originally, there had only been six members in Grade One Zero Class, and Nan Fusheng had not been included. After all, Nan Fusheng's performance throughout the battle had not been particularly remarkable. Having Wang Bili enter Grade One Zero Class would have been more convincing than having Nan Fusheng join.

It was Wu Changkong and Dean Yu Zhen who had insisted on adding Nan Fusheng as well. Their reason was that the four students from Grade One Class Five were already a whole—either they all entered together, or none of them did.

Dean Yu Zhen had found this quite troublesome and asked Wu Changkong for a better reason. Otherwise, he would have no way to convince the others.

Wu Changkong had answered with only one sentence: "That child's Spirit Skill can restrain even me. His Martial Soul still has enormous potential to be developed."

Dean Yu Zhen had been left speechless by Wu Changkong's words. Did he not know where Wu Changkong had come from?

Since even Wu Changkong thought so highly of Nan Fusheng, what else could he say? Besides, the newly established Grade One Zero Class would need Wu Changkong to lead it. He could only agree. At most, it was just one additional student.

Even Wu Changkong himself had not expected to do this. Had his expectations for Nan Fusheng been this high all along?

At that moment, even Wu Changkong did not notice that within his Sea of Consciousness and Martial Soul, a total of three Time Worms were emitting a faint white glow.

They gave off a fluctuation that even he could not detect, slowly influencing his thoughts.

Long Hengxu said, "In addition to the two announcements, there is also a disciplinary decision. During yesterday's Class Promotion Tournament—

"During the match between Grade One Class One and Grade One Class Two, the students on both sides failed to uphold the principle of friendship first, competition second. As a result, four participating students suffered severe injuries. All eight students involved are hereby given a serious reprimand.

"Furthermore, all rewards that the eight of them might have obtained from the competition will be revoked as a warning to others."

Rewards revoked? It seemed that even if they won the Class Promotion Tournament within the same grade, there were no rewards to speak of. They were simply promoted to the next class level!

Long Hengxu had made it sound severe, but it did not seem like much of a real punishment.

"Dean, would you like to say a few words?" Long Hengxu asked Yu Zhen in a low voice.

Yu Zhen nodded and announced, "Students, I believe you are all very curious about why Grade One Zero Class has been established.

"It is because these students selected from among you have already far surpassed your current level in terms of individual ability. If they continued to be trained among students of the same level, their talents would be buried.

"This tells you that if you want to shine brilliantly in the future, you must put in even greater effort.

"I hope to see more of you join Zero Class in the near future and become Eastsea Academy's finest talents as well.

"Alright, dismissed. The homeroom teachers of each class will lead their students back to their classrooms for lessons. Long Hengxu will temporarily serve as the homeroom teacher of Grade One Class One until a new homeroom teacher is selected. Teacher Wu Changkong and the students of Grade One Zero Class, stay behind."

Amid shock, envy, jealousy, and resentment, the five Grade One classes returned to their classrooms. Only the dean and the teachers and students of the newly established Grade One Zero Class remained on the field.

"Children, come over here." Yu Zhen waved them over.