Unexpected Fortune! (Thanks to Fengyun Linghao for the reward!)

In truth, Zhou Yi was astonished too. She had imagined Jiang Ming's soul skill might be incredibly powerful, but for it to be powerful to this degree was truly beyond her expectations.

Judging by the aura Jiang Ming had just released, Zhou Yi felt that if they really fought, she might not necessarily be able to beat him.

That left her, as a teacher, feeling somewhat defeated.

It was said that a disciple need not be inferior to the master, and a master need not be better than the disciple—but Jiang Ming had only been enrolled for a little over three months.

All one could say was that the gap between geniuses and ordinary people was vast, and the gap between geniuses and geniuses was even greater!

"Hey, you up there. Still fighting?"

As Jiang Ming spoke, he ran backward.

Ling Luochen was in a sorry state at the moment. As a Control System Soul Master, she was actually somewhat restricted when facing an Agility-type Soul Master.

Not every Control System Soul Master had the ability to fight at close range. Especially after Xixi received Gongyang Mo's support, her overall strength had already reached the Soul Elder level, making Ling Luochen look even more hard-pressed as she dealt with her.

Fortunately, pure ice was almost nonconductive. Otherwise, Xixi could have pierced through the ice armor on Ling Luochen with just the lightning attached to her Lightning Leopard Martial Soul.

But even so, under Xixi's fierce assault, Ling Luochen was still forced step by step to the edge of the field.

"You're out!"

Xixi's gaze sharpened, and both soul rings on her lit up at the same time, raising her speed another level!

If Ling Luochen took this hit head-on, then at the current distance, she would definitely be knocked out of bounds!

Oh no!

Ling Luochen grew anxious, but as a Control System Soul Master, her speed and strength were both inferior to Xixi's. With Xixi already in close, she couldn't block it!

She subconsciously looked in Jiang Ming's direction, only to see that at some point, Jiang Ming had already arrived behind Xixi.

"Xixi, look out!"

Up in the sky, after a brief moment of shock, Gongyang Mo quickly snapped back to his senses.

When he saw that Jiang Ming had already appeared behind Xixi, his heart jolted, and he hurriedly called out a warning.

Ling Luochen was overjoyed, while Xixi also sensed that something was wrong. Instead of turning back, she bent straight down at the waist, her body lunging to the side in an almost twisted posture.

And almost the instant Xixi bent down, Jiang Ming's hand had already reached over.

"Hm? Pretty quick reaction."

Jiang Ming's hand caught empty air, leaving him a little surprised.

After that, he didn't withdraw his hand. Instead, he directly reached out and wrapped an arm around Ling Luochen's slender waist, exerted force with his right foot, and pulled Ling Luochen back from the edge of the field.

"Where's Chen Zifeng?"

Xixi looked around, somewhat dazed. When she saw Chen Zifeng already standing off the field, horror instantly rose in her heart.

What on earth was going on?

In order to take down Ling Luochen in the shortest possible time, she had concentrated all her attention from the very beginning and had simply had no time to observe anyone else.

But now, how much time had even passed? Chen Zifeng had already been eliminated?!

Gongyang Mo flew to Xixi's side, his eyes filled with solemnity.

"Xixi, Chen Zifeng was just thrown straight out by that guy. We might not be able to beat him."

Gongyang Mo no longer had any thought of victory. This was simply not an opponent on the same level as them!

Whose Freshman Assessment could unleash an aura nearly at the Soul King level?!

"Huh?"

Even the always-calm Xixi's expression changed. Thrown straight out? Was this some kind of joke?!

"You two, it's time to end this. I made a bet that I'd bulldoze my way through."

Jiang Ming smiled, and then his figure chased after Xixi like a bolt of lightning.

Xixi didn't dare underestimate him and pushed her speed to the limit.

"Frost!"

Behind Jiang Ming, Ling Luochen pointed the Ice Staff in her hand directly at Xixi's path of movement, and a large patch of frost appeared on the ground, severely affecting Xixi's movement speed.

Jiang Ming seized the opportunity to catch up to Xixi at once and grabbed the back of her collar with one hand.

"Got you!"

Jiang Ming's gentle voice sounded beside Xixi's ear.

Immediately afterward, before she could even resist, she felt the world turn upside down around her.

Up in the sky, Gongyang Mo's eyes went wide, and his breathing nearly stopped.

This guy Jiang Ming had actually used Xixi like a sandbag and thrown her straight at him!

Gongyang Mo instinctively wanted to dodge. From the strength of the gale stirred up as Xixi flew over, it was obvious that Jiang Ming had used no small amount of force!

"Gongyang Mo, you'd better catch her! If you don't, Xixi's going to have a really nasty fall!"

Seeing that Gongyang Mo wanted to dodge, Jiang Ming stood on the ground and shouted with a smile.

"Heh, this kid's pretty sharp!"

On the stage, Yan Shaozhe heard Jiang Ming say that and immediately couldn't help laughing.

With Xixi's current momentum, if Gongyang Mo dared to catch her, he was definitely going to be knocked out of the arena, and he would be injured too.

But if he didn't catch her, Jiang Ming had already spelled it out so clearly. If Gongyang Mo still refused, then it wouldn't just be a matter of getting injured.

Sure enough, after hearing Jiang Ming's words, Gongyang Mo hesitated for half a second before finally choosing to catch Xixi.

Of course, he wasn't stupid either. When he caught her, he carried out a series of force-dispersing measures to prevent the powerful impact from breaking his arms.

In the end, he did catch Xixi, but the two of them also left the competition grounds at the same time.

"Class One: Jiang Ming and Ling Luochen win!"

Hearing the referee announce their victory, Jiang Ming stretched lazily, withdrew his Martial Soul, and walked out of the Assessment Area.

Today was another day of steamrolling straight through.

Next, all they needed to do was fight Dai Yueheng's team, and they would be able to become champions.

Of course, apart from the champion, second place and third place also had to be decided.

With the help of a teacher who possessed a Healing System Martial Soul, all four teams recovered their condition.

And next, there were still several matches to go.

Jiang Ming's team and Dai Yueheng's team would compete for the championship. The loser would compete with the other side's previous opponent for runner-up, and then came the remaining match for third place.

There were three matches in total, all scheduled for the afternoon.

After the morning's matches ended, Zhou Yi found Jiang Ming and handed him a golden card.

"Teacher Zhou, what's this?"

Jiang Ming looked at the golden card Zhou Yi had handed him, somewhat puzzled.

Zhou Yi smiled faintly and said very happily:

"This is the ten thousand Gold Soul Coins I won from my bet with Teacher Mu Jin of Class Five. Take it."

Jiang Ming blinked and subconsciously swallowed.

Ten thousand Gold Soul Coins.

To be honest, Jiang Ming really wanted it. But he still shook his head and said:

"Teacher Zhou, I can't take this. You won it, so you should keep it yourself."

Being short on money was one thing, but this money was something he couldn't accept.

"What do you mean you can't take it? In the end, it was because you proved yourself and defeated Gongyang Mo's team that I won this bet.

Besides, the task I gave you before was to take the Freshman Assessment championship. Since there's a task, there's naturally a reward.

With your current strength, the championship shouldn't be a problem. I'll just give this to you in advance as your reward. Hold on to it!"

Zhou Yi forcefully slapped the golden card straight into Jiang Ming's hand, then turned and left with an impressive swagger!

Also, regarding Dai Yueheng's Soul Power, in the original work, Dai Huabin was written as having Rank 37 Soul Power before he was even thirteen, yet he still lived in his elder brother's shadow. Therefore, I believe Dai Yueheng's talent should at least not be inferior to Dai Huabin's, so I judged him to be a Soul Elder.

As for Ling Luochen, the Soul Power I gave her is Level 29. At nineteen, she was Level 55. Twenty-six ranks of Soul Power over seven years looks very slow, but I arranged a... how should I put it, a little story for Ling Luochen. She'll be dispirited for a period of time, which ends up dragging down the speed of her Soul Power improvement. After all, an ice Martial Soul's talent isn't bad either. I think it's reasonable for it to be second only to top-tier Martial Souls like Ma Xiaotao's and Dai Yueheng's.

Oh, right, there's also the protagonist's Soul Tool talent and Body Martial Soul.

Shrek Academy doesn't value Soul Tools, but I don't think it's stubbornly clinging to the past—at least not the entire academy. After all, the Soul Tool Department exists! If they truly didn't care, there would be no need to establish a Soul Tool Department. It can only be said that they're in a period where their views are changing, while the Martial Soul Department's voice still holds an absolute advantage.

And then there's Body Sect. This sect was hidden from the world in the early stages, and it wasn't famous. Very few people knew about it, while Shrek Academy is known to everyone. I think there's no problem with going to Shrek Academy for further study.

Mm, that's all I'll say. Please correct me if there are any shortcomings!

Also, also, thank you to Fengyun Linghao for the tip. Thank you, thank you!