Assessment

Assessment

When they saw Ye Qingchen enter the classroom, the students of Class One were all greatly surprised. Ye Qingchen usually skipped classes often, yet he had unexpectedly shown up today.

Ye Qingchen took his usual seat. The moment he sat down, Zhou Sichen, seated behind him, asked curiously, "Boss Ye, what brought you to class today?"

"I'm mostly done with the Soul Tool Department's business. If I missed the assessment, Old Woman Zhou would come after me," Ye Qingchen said.

Zhou Sichen and Cao Jinxuan had always maintained a good relationship with Ye Qingchen. Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo also got along reasonably well with him.

These powerful students were close to one another, and with Ye Qingchen—the ceiling of combat strength—among them, they naturally formed a united group.

"Teacher Zhou is here," Xiao Xiao called in a low voice. Zhou Sichen, sitting in front of her, immediately shuddered and hurried back to his seat, sitting properly.

Before Xiao Xiao could make fun of the two of them, Zhou Yi really did walk in from outside. Zhou Sichen turned around, gave Xiao Xiao a thumbs-up, and said, "As expected of you."

"Uh..." Xiao Xiao was both amused and exasperated.

Zhou Yi's cold gaze swept across the room. Not to mention the students—even Wang Yan, also a teacher, felt a chill run down his back.

Standing behind the lectern, Zhou Yi said, "The assessment for advancing from the first year to the second year is relatively easy. Compared to the upper-year assessments, yours will be much simpler. The assessment content for Class One and Class Two is the same. Classes Three and Four will be assigned other assessments due to the nature of their martial souls. Our assessment will be held in the academy's Beast Fighting Zone."

"For this advancement assessment, you will fight soul beasts face-to-face in the Beast Fighting Zone. Different soul beasts represent different point values. The stronger the soul beast you challenge, the greater your chance of earning a high score."

The morning lesson ended before the bell rang. After explaining the various precautions for the afternoon's advancement assessment, Zhou Yi dismissed the class, telling the students to go back and prepare themselves, adjust their condition to its peak, and gather in the Beast Fighting Zone that afternoon for the assessment.

To the shock of the proctors and referees, Yan Shaozhe, the dean of the Martial Soul Department, had actually come in person. Since when could an Outer Courtyard lower-year assessment draw the dean's attention?

Looking at the students who had already entered the venue, Dean Yan Shaozhe smiled faintly. "Second-Year Class One, Wang Dong."

Wang Dong handed her assessment form to the referee. "I choose a thousand-year soul beast."

The referee said, "Wang Dong, are you ready?"

"I'm ready." Wang Dong nodded, her expression solemn. Dazzling blue light flashed as she was the first to release her martial soul.

"Ah!" Cries of surprise instantly rang out among the students.

Up on the platform, Yan Shaozhe's eyes lit up, and he nodded slightly. "Good. One yellow and two purple. She will surely achieve great things in the future. But this Light Goddess Butterfly martial soul..."

At that moment, a tall figure slowly emerged from the beast enclosure. Its brownish-yellow fur gave off a faint bloody stench. The thousand-year soul beast Wang Dong was facing was called a Bloodthirsty Demon Bear, a powerful earth-attributed creature.

Wang Dong drifted forward. Her dazzling blue wings simultaneously turned a brilliant gold, while the light of her third soul ring blazed.

A reddish-gold sphere of light appeared between Wang Dong's palms. As its radiance flashed intensely, the sphere expanded at an astonishing rate. Curved golden afterimages continuously flickered from the pair of wings behind Wang Dong, now entirely golden, merging into the reddish-gold sphere and causing it to grow larger and stronger.

After being bombarded repeatedly by Butterfly God's Light, the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear had already collapsed onto the ground. Though it was defending with all its strength, how could a thousand-year soul skill be so easily blocked?

Sensing the terrifying aura behind it, the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear barely managed to turn around. Upon seeing the horrifying reddish-gold sphere before Wang Dong's chest, it could not help but let out a mournful cry.

"Enough. The assessment is over. Wang Dong, withdraw your soul skill." Du Weilun's voice came from the platform.

After Du Weilun and Yan Shaozhe discussed matters for a few moments, they reached their evaluation. Du Weilun said solemnly, "Wang Dong, you chose the highest-level thousand-year soul beast for your advancement assessment. Your base score is one hundred. Judging by the attack power of your final soul skill, there was a seventy percent chance that the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear would have been directly killed. You receive the full base score. Your performance in battle was nearly perfect, earning you the full fifty points for combat technique. However, staking everything on a single move was unwise. After discussion between Dean Yan and myself, we have decided to deduct fifty points. Therefore, your final assessment score is one hundred points. You have passed the advancement assessment."

"Huh?" Wang Dong stared dumbfoundedly, feeling deeply frustrated. But there was nothing she could do, so she could only leave the arena dejectedly.

"Second-Year Class Two, Dai Huabin."

"I choose a thousand-year soul beast." Before the referee could ask, Dai Huabin had already made his choice without hesitation.

A low growl sounded as a nimble Tiger Soul Beast, two meters long, sprang out from the beast enclosure. It was a Wind Tiger, the fastest among tiger-type magical beasts, a wind-attributed creature.

After a series of exchanges, Dai Huabin tore off the Wind Tiger's lower jaw with a sharp CRACK. At the same time, his tiger claws slashed downward, ripping the Wind Tiger open from belly to chest.

"Dai Huabin!" Du Weilun's furious voice rang out.

The death of a thousand-year soul beast was no small loss. Capturing a thousand-year soul beast and then raising it here was not easy. Beast King Gong Changlong was not someone easy to deal with.

"A soul master's battle with a soul beast is a fight to the death. It wanted to kill me, so why couldn't I kill it? Besides, I couldn't hold back at that moment. As for the academy's losses, I am willing to compensate for them."

Du Weilun frowned deeply and turned to look at Yan Shaozhe. Yan Shaozhe nodded slightly and said something to him in a low voice.

Du Weilun sat back down and said solemnly, "Dai Huabin, you chose a thousand-year soul beast for your advancement assessment, giving you a base score of one hundred. In battle, you demonstrated the strengths of an assault-type battle soul master through a head-on fighting style. However, you lacked technique. Your combat technique score is forty-five. Compensate the academy for the loss caused by killing the soul beast within ten days. Otherwise, the academy will strip you of your status as a Core Disciple."

"Yes." Dai Huabin had recovered somewhat from his killing state and naturally did not dare to argue with Du Weilun again. He bowed slightly in salute before striding back toward his class.

"Dai Huabin, even though I'm human now, you killed that soul beast right before my eyes. Good. Very good. Well done."

The anger in Ye Qingchen's heart had reached its breaking point, ready to erupt at any moment. He did not even watch Huo Yuhao's assessment afterward. Clearly, Ye Qingchen was on the verge of losing control. If not for the last remnants of his reason, Dai Huabin would have died today.

Dai Huabin turned toward Second-Year Class One and raised his right hand, extending his index finger to point at Ye Qingchen. His gaze was calm—so calm that it was almost cold.

Ye Qingchen suppressed his emotions and strode out. It took several minutes to clear the arena. The referee first took Ye Qingchen's assessment form and passed it up to the platform.

"Second-Year Class One, Ye Qingchen." Ye Qingchen's cold voice carried through the arena. "Teacher, I choose ten-thousand-year soul beasts."

"Ten-thousand-year soul beasts! Are you sure?" The proctor's heart trembled as he asked.

"That's right. Ten of them," Ye Qingchen said coldly.

His voice was loud, and both the platform and the students waiting for their assessments in the distance could hear him clearly.

"Let him choose." Du Weilun's voice drifted down from the platform.

"Yes." The referee responded. By then, the arena had also been cleared.

"Ye Qingchen, are you ready?" the referee asked.

Ye Qingchen nodded. Golden light flickered as five Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet. The three rings Wang Dong and Dai Huabin had released earlier had not surprised the students, but the moment his Soul Rings appeared, cries of astonishment immediately erupted from Class Two.

Ye Qingchen suddenly changed. Under everyone's stunned gazes, five Soul Rings emerged beneath his feet, and blood-red halos rose in an instant. At the same time, Ye Qingchen's originally deep purple eyes turned a vivid, dripping crimson. Everyone seemed to see a faint red bloody glow suddenly spread outward from his body.

"Ice Seal."

The ten Ten Thousand Year soul beasts let out miserable cries. Their charging bodies abruptly halted and were instantly frozen in place. At the same time, countless mournful cries rang out in waves from the deep caves throughout the Great Beast Arena.

"Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring!!!" No one knew who shouted first, but it immediately threw everyone into a panic.

"Soul King!"

The confident look in Dai Huabin's eyes turned vacant. He even muttered under his breath, "How could this be... how could it..."

Just then, Du Weilun's voice rang out. "Ye Qingchen's assessment is over. By Dean Yan Shaozhe's evaluation, Ye Qingchen has received one hundred and fifty points, passing with full marks."

"Ah—" The students' cries of shock instantly merged into a chorus. They had never known that even the dean had come to watch their advancement assessment.

Ye Qingchen turned to look at Dai Huabin. He raised his right hand, clenched it into a fist, extended his thumb, and slowly turned his arm downward. Anyone could understand what it meant.

"Is that all?"

"Dai Huabin, I'll be waiting for you to kneel and admit your mistake." After leaving those words behind, Ye Qingchen walked out of the Beast Arena.

On the high platform, Yan Shaozhe watched Ye Qingchen's performance, clearly unable to remain calm. "A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, an Ultimate Attribute. Not bad."