"Class"

When they reached Class One, the classroom door representing First Year Class One stood like a silent boundary marker, dividing the noise of the corridor from the oppressive heaviness inside.

When Long Yao and Wang Dong arrived side by side, the timing landed precisely one minute before the final deadline Teacher Zhou had set. At the classroom entrance, Bei Bei, Tang Ya, and Huo Yuhao were standing somewhat awkwardly. Clearly, Huo Yuhao had successfully passed some kind of "makeup test" and earned the right to enter this class.

At the sight of Long Yao, a grateful smile immediately appeared on Bei Bei's gentle face. He was just about to step forward and thank him, but Long Yao beat him to it with an easy greeting.

"Hey, looks like he passed." He pointed at Huo Yuhao.

A warm smile hung on Long Yao's face, as if their meeting in the plaza had only been moments ago. As soon as Tang Ya saw him, she also waved excitedly, that burst of energy returning to her. Huo Yuhao, meanwhile, stood silently behind Bei Bei, using those miraculous Spirit Eyes of his to quietly observe Long Yao and... the Pink Blue-haired "youth" beside him, whose eyes were reddened, whose head was lowered, and whose whole body radiated an aura of "Keep Out."

"You're in Class One too? What a coincidence."

Long Yao walked over familiarly and spoke in a low voice that only the four of them could hear, his tone carrying a faint sense of "we're on the same side."

"Teacher Zhou is terrifying. You guys should be careful."

He shrank his neck slightly, just the right trace of a "shudder" appearing on his face. That lingering-fear look instantly narrowed the distance between him, Bei Bei, and Tang Ya, giving them a sense of closeness, as if they were fellow sufferers in the same boat.

"Do you mean Teacher Zhou?" Bei Bei's expression also grew grave. "She was the one in charge of our makeup test just now... She really was extremely strict."

"More than strict!" Tang Ya lowered her voice, her face full of lingering fear. "She made us fight a Thousand-Year Spirit Beast. We almost died! If it weren't for Yuhao... Hmph! Right, Yuhao, remember to come find us at the Tang Sect after class!" After Tang Ya and Bei Bei greeted Huo Yuhao, as well as Long Yao and Wang Dong, they left.

"Oh, so those two are students at this academy. I thought they were enrolling like you."

After his brief exchange with Huo Yuhao, Long Yao had already naturally pulled Wang Dong into the classroom.

The classroom of First Year Class One was much larger than expected, shaped like a huge stepped lecture hall. At this moment, nearly a hundred-plus students were already seated inside. They were all elites who had ultimately distinguished themselves after passing layer upon layer of brutal assessments. Yet the entire classroom was eerily quiet. Everyone sat upright, not even daring to breathe loudly. The atmosphere was terrifyingly oppressive.

Long Yao looked around once, then walked straight to a relatively secluded window seat at the back of the classroom. He Sat Down first, then patted the empty seat beside him.

Wang Dong hesitated for a moment, but in the end, under more than a hundred curious gazes, she silently and somewhat unwillingly Sat Down beside him. She kept her head lowered the entire time, her Pink Blue hair falling to cover her still swollen eyes and the complicated expression on her face, whether it was shame and anger or some other emotion.

The instant they had just settled into their seats, a crisp, rhythmic "tap, tap, tap" of High Heels striking the floor came from the direction of the classroom door.

That Voice was not loud, yet it was like a Heavy Hammer, striking precisely at every student's heart.

The temperature in the entire classroom seemed to drop by more than a dozen degrees in that instant!

Everyone subconsciously straightened their backs, their gazes turning toward the entrance in unison like startled soldiers.

A tall, cold figure appeared in everyone's Line of Sight.

It was none other than Zhou Yi.

She was still dressed in that well-tailored black long dress, her features beautiful, but her face seemed covered in a layer of ice that would not melt for ten thousand years. Her sharp phoenix eyes slowly swept across the whole room. Wherever her gaze passed, every student froze instantly like a frog locked onto by a venomous snake, even their breathing becoming cautious.

She walked up to the podium and slammed the stack of documents in her hand heavily onto the lectern, producing a loud smack that made everyone's heart jolt hard along with it.

"First of all, congratulations on sitting here."

Her voice was cold and clear, without the slightest hint of congratulation. Instead, it was filled with a bone-piercing chill.

"You are one hundred and fifty-two lucky ones, standing out from among tens of thousands of applicants. Perhaps you think you are geniuses, future strong people, Favored Children."

She paused, the corner of her mouth curving into a cold arc full of mockery.

"But in my eyes, you..."

"Are! All! Trash!"

She spat the last four words almost one at a time through clenched teeth. That tone, full of contempt and disdain, was like a resounding slap, viciously striking the face of every Favored Child present!

The entire classroom fell into deathly stillness. Everyone had been stunned senseless by her shocking opening remarks. They wanted to argue, wanted to get angry, but under the pressure of Zhou Yi's terrifying aura, they could not utter a single word.

"What? Not convinced?" Zhou Yi sneered, her gaze scraping across everyone's face like a blade. "Think I insulted you?"

She slowly walked down from the podium. The sound of her High Heels echoed through the silent classroom, step by step, as if trampling on the tip of everyone's heart.

"Among you, the highest Soul Power is only rank thirty-five. The lowest is rank twenty-one. At your age, achieving this might make you treasures in other academies. But at Shrek, in my class, you are nothing!"

"Do you know what the school motto of Shrek Academy is?" She suddenly stopped, her gaze locking onto a Female Student in the front row whose face had gone pale from nervousness.

"It... it's... only monsters are accepted, not Ordinary People..." the Female Student answered tremblingly.

"Well said!" Zhou Yi suddenly clapped her hands, a smile appearing on her face that could only be described as sinister. "Then I'll tell you now. In my, Zhou Yi's, class, that school motto needs a little change!"

She turned around to face all the students and spoke each word clearly.

"In my class! We only accept monsters! Trash is eliminated! And all of you, right now, are trash that may be eliminated at any moment!"

"Starting today, you will undergo a three-month 'new student observation period'!"

"During these three months, there will be assessments every day! Actual combat every week! A grand competition every month! Anyone who fails to meet the standard in any assessment, acts cowardly in any actual combat, or ranks at the bottom in any grand competition..."

A cold light flashed in her eyes!

"—immediately! Right now! Pack your things and get out!!"

"I don't care whose son you are, whose grandson you are! Nor do I care what background you have or what talent you possess! In my class, everything is decided by strength! Those who can stay are the true monsters! Those who can't are trash to be swept away!"

"Now, everyone, Stand Up!"

At the command, all one hundred and fifty-two students, including Long Yao and Wang Dong, subconsciously sprang up from their seats.

"Run one hundred laps around the academy's central plaza! Anyone who can't finish won't need to eat dinner today!"

"Those whose Soul Power exceeds rank thirty will carry twenty kilograms! Those whose Soul Power is below rank thirty will carry ten kilograms! Get the weighted equipment yourselves from the equipment room beside the field! Anyone who dares slack off will have their weight doubled!"

"Now! Immediately! Move out!!"

Her command, filled with unquestionable authority, exploded like thunderclaps in every new student's mind.

Run... run a hundred laps?! And with weights?!

Everyone's faces turned green. One lap around Shrek Academy's central plaza was over a thousand meters! A hundred laps meant a hundred kilometers! This was practically asking for their lives!

But no one dared voice any objections.

Under Zhou Yi's almost tangible Terrifying Pressure, all the students were like a flock of sheep being herded along. Though their hearts were filled with fear and resentment, they could only accept their fate and stream out of the classroom one after another.

A hellish opening ceremony belonging to the new students of Shrek Academy's First Year Class One thus began in such a simple, brutal, and inhumane fashion.

That helpless "This is gonna kill us" was like an out-of-place pebble tossed among this group of high-spirited geniuses. Looking at Long Yao's bitter smile, as if he had already foreseen their miserable future, Wang Dong could not help smiling bitterly as well. Only Huo Yuhao remained silent at the side, a faint, calm light of observation flickering in his deep Spirit Eyes.

The crowd surged toward the equipment room beside the field like a herd of cattle driven by an invisible whip. It was a huge semi-open warehouse, with row after row of weight-bearing equipment neatly stacked inside, all gleaming with a Metallic Luster. These items were forged from rare sunken silver and engraved with basic soul-power conduction arrays. Once the wearer infused them with soul power, the arrays would activate, evenly distributing the equipment's weight across the whole body to achieve the best training effect.

Following Zhou Yi's orders, the students silently collected the corresponding weights according to their soul power levels. Those whose soul power exceeded rank thirty all looked grave. When they put on the twenty-kilogram weighted vests and leg rings, their bodies involuntarily sank. As for those below rank thirty, although they only had to carry ten kilograms, the thought of that long hundred-kilometer distance left their expressions looking just as terrible.

Wang Dong stood in the crowd with her head lowered, saying nothing. She had cried for too long earlier, and now she only felt dizzy and muddleheaded, her limbs still somewhat weak. As she looked at the cold metal equipment before her, a deep sense of powerlessness welled up in her heart. Naturally, she was not afraid of such a little weight. With her rank 22 soul power, forget ten kilograms—even twenty kilograms would be easy for her to handle. But... that inexplicable grievance and confusion left her barely able to muster even the strength to lift her hand.

Just as she hesitated, not knowing what to do, a warm and powerful hand picked up the ten-kilogram set of weight-bearing equipment in front of her.

She instinctively raised her head and saw Long Yao's calm face.

He said nothing, merely unfolded the heavy weighted vest with practiced ease. Then, with movements that allowed no refusal yet felt entirely natural, he put it on her. His fingers deftly fastened the buckles at her chest and adjusted the tightness of the shoulder straps. The entire process flowed smoothly, without the slightest delay.

His movements were very professional, with no unnecessary contact, but that distance close enough to touch, that focused expression, and the reassuring, sunny aura coming from him still made Wang Dong's heart uncontrollably skip a beat.

She stood there blankly, letting him put the leg rings on her and tie the straps. The heavy ten kilograms of weight were evenly distributed across her body, making her feel a very real pressure.

Immediately afterward, Long Yao picked up another set of twenty-kilogram weight-bearing equipment without the slightest change in expression and easily put it on himself. To him, this bit of weight was no different from a feather.

Once everyone had collected and put on their weights, the hundred and fifty-two new students lined up crookedly on the starting line of Shrek Academy's enormous central plaza like prisoners about to be sent to the execution ground.

Zhou Yi stood atop the high steps with her hands behind her back, like a cold overseer, looking down with her icy phoenix eyes at the young faces below that were filled with fear, resentment, or confusion.

"I've made the rules very clear." Her voice, like a cold current from Siberia, instantly spread across the entire plaza. "One hundred laps. Not one less. Anyone who doesn't finish not only gets no food, but will also have credits deducted! Now, I'll give you your final ten seconds to prepare!"

"Ten!"

"Nine!"

The icy countdown struck everyone's heart again and again like the Death God's summons.

The atmosphere in the plaza was oppressive to the extreme.

"Eight!"

"Seven!"

Many students had already begun circulating their soul power, the muscles in their legs taut as they prepared to sprint.

"Six!"

"Five!"

Wang Dong took a deep breath and suppressed every stray thought in her heart. A trace of a genius's unwillingness to lose reignited in her eyes. Even if this was corporal punishment, she absolutely would not allow herself to fall behind others!

"Four!"

"Three!"

Behind them, Huo Yuhao narrowed his eyes slightly and adjusted his breathing to an extremely slow and drawn-out rhythm.

"Two!"

"One!"

"Begin!"

As Zhou Yi's utterly emotionless command fell!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!

Almost all the students shot forward like Arrows from the Bow! Colorful soul-power lights instantly flared across the plaza, the scene both spectacular and chaotic!

For a time, only heavy panting, footsteps, and the "rustle" of the weight-bearing equipment rubbing against bodies remained across the entire plaza.

Naturally, the ones charging at the very front were those students with the highest Soul Power Level, over rank thirty. Though their weights were heavier, their deep soul power still gave them an absolute advantage at the starting stage.

What surprised people the most, however, was Huo Yuhao.

He clearly only had rank 21 soul power, yet he was the one in the entire group who ran the most "easily." He did not burst into a sprint from the start like the others, but maintained an unhurried, highly rhythmic pace. Every breath, every swing of his arms, every lift of his legs seemed to have undergone the most precise calculation, without the slightest unnecessary movement, reducing the consumption of his stamina to the minimum. His miraculous Spirit Eyes constantly swept the ground ahead, always finding the flattest, most energy-saving route in advance.

This was the meticulous control far beyond ordinary people that the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's Million-Year Spiritual Power had brought him!

As for Long Yao and Wang Dong, they ran unhurriedly in the middle of the group.

Long Yao carried twenty kilograms of weight, yet ran as if strolling idly through a courtyard, without even the slightest disorder in his breathing. He even had spare attention to observe the "geniuses" around him who were running with bared teeth and sweating profusely, the corner of his mouth curving into a faint, almost imperceptible amusement.

Wang Dong beside him, meanwhile, was persisting entirely through sheer unwillingness to lose. Her rank 22 soul power was originally nothing much under a ten-kilogram weight. But the intense emotional turmoil and Soul Resonance from before had consumed too much of her mind and spirit. Now that she was running, she only felt her legs were as heavy as if they were Lead-Filled. Sweat soon soaked the Pink Blue strands of hair at her forehead and slid down her smooth cheeks. Her breathing also gradually grew hurried.

They finished the first lap, the second lap... By the fifth lap, some Support System Soul Masters with poorer physiques had already begun falling behind. Their faces were deathly pale, their hands braced on their knees as they gasped heavily for breath, looking as if they might collapse at any moment.

Zhou Yi still stood on the steps like an Ice Sculpture, coldly watching all of it without the slightest sympathy in her eyes. In her view, those who could not even endure this much of a test had no right to remain at Shrek.

By the tenth lap, Wang Dong's speed had clearly slowed. Her footsteps began to turn unsteady, and her vision even went dark in waves. She gritted her teeth, desperately urging on the little soul power left in her body, but the exhaustion of her body was like an insurmountable mountain, pressing down on her mercilessly.

Just before she felt that she could no longer hold on and was about to fall, her hand was suddenly held by a warm and powerful hand, gently yet irresistibly.

She turned her head in astonishment and saw Long Yao's calm profile.

He was not looking at her, only gazing straight ahead, but a warm, pure stream of Soul Power flowed through their clasped hands, pouring silently and ceaselessly into her body.

That Soul Power was pure to the extreme. The moment it entered her meridians, it quickly merged with her own Soul Power without causing the slightest rejection. It was like a clear spring, instantly nourishing her nearly dried-up meridians and restoring a trace of strength to her unbearably heavy body.

Wang Dong's heart clenched hard.

She looked at his face, unchanged as if he had done nothing at all, and once again, her heart was filled with an emotion so complex it could not be described in words.

"Keep up."

He said only those two words flatly, then held her hand and continued running forward at a terrifyingly steady speed.

Time: Douluo Calendar Year 2030 Season: Autumn Afternoon 1:30

Location: Shrek Academy, on the way to the First Year Class One classroom

Audience: 158,982

Equipment: True Vast Sea Ring (Divine Artifact), Shrek Academy Uniform x1, Items: Shrek Academy Uniform x1, Student Emblem x1, Dormitory Key x1, Student Emblem x1

Martial Soul: Soul Breaking Spear [Traits: Armor Breaking, Soul Devouring, Penetration]

Chaos Holy Dragon (Hidden) [Traits: Strength, Time, Space]

Soul Power: Level 45 (Soul Ancestor) [Status: Shielded by True Vast Sea Ring, External Perception is Level 24]

Soul Rings: [Soul Breaking Spear] First Soul Ring (Yellow Hundred-Year), Second Soul Ring (Purple Thousand-Year), Third Soul Ring (Black Ten-Thousand-Year), Fourth Soul Ring (Black Ten-Thousand-Year)

[Chaos Holy Dragon] First Soul Ring (Black Thirteen-Thousand-Year), Second Soul Ring (Black Twenty-Eight-Thousand-Year), Third Soul Ring (Black Forty-Six-Thousand-Year), Fourth Soul Ring (Rose Gold Hundred-Thousand-Year)

Soul Skills: [Soul Breaking Spear] First Spirit Skill: Swift Shadow Stab, Second Spirit Skill: Whirlwind Spear, Third Spirit Skill: Armor Breaking Spiral, Fourth Spirit Skill: Thousand Spirit Spear Rain

[Chaos Holy Dragon] First Spirit Skill: Star Ring, Second Spirit Skill: Holy Dragon Claw, Third Spirit Skill: Void Claw, Fourth Spirit Skill: Time and Space Roar

Soul Bones: None

Soul Spirits: None

Reward Stash [Million-Year Spirit Beast Inverse Scale] x1, [Hallucinatory Perfume] x1, [Starlight Sapphire Brooch] x1, [Tsundere Princess Strategy Manual Platinum Edition] x1, [God-Bestowed Soul Ring (Hundred-Thousand-Year)] x1, [Spring of Life (Concentrated Liquid)] x1, [Constant Temperature Double Jade Bed] x1, [Calming Incense (First Melt of Snow Mountain)] x1