The First Lesson of the School Year

"Lalala—lala—lalala"

Just as most of the students in Class Nine instinctively turned toward the door at the roar that sounded like Night Owl cackling through the skies, a crisp female voice rang out, humming a cheerful little tune.

The next moment, a youthful and beautiful female teacher entered Class Nine's classroom, her face lit by a heartfelt smile.

"Hello, students. I'm Mu Jin, your Class Teacher for Class Nine."

"You can call me Teacher Mu. After class, you can also call me Sister Mu. Let me take advantage of you young things and feel young again."

At this moment, the delight on Teacher Mu Jin's face could no longer be concealed.

Chen Ping knew about the grudge between Mu Jin and Zhou Yi, so he immediately understood why Mu Jin was so happy. Even the other students in Class Nine seemed to realize something at the same time.

Teacher Mu Jin had short, pale-purple hair, a standard oval face, and large eyes. She carried herself with a somewhat boyish air. Her right hand rested on the podium while her left hand was planted on her waist, making her look indescribably youthful and beautiful.

"All the students in our class were excellent today. The Class Teachers of all ten freshman classes came together, and you little rascals made your teachers very proud. I have to thank you all first."

Mu Jin put on none of the airs of a Class Teacher, merely smiling as she looked at the students in the classroom.

Many students who had initially worried that their Class Teacher would be like the Old Hag from Class One immediately felt relieved.

With Zhou Yi's teaching style just now, roaring like a lioness, probably no Lesser Soul Master who was not yet twelve and had barely experienced any major events could stand it.

"Hehe, that's more like it. Everyone, relax. It isn't just because all of you are excellent that I'm treating you this way. Even if you're a little slower, my attitude will still be very good—I have a different teaching philosophy from Teacher Zhou of Class One."

Mu Jin gently brushed the hair beside her ear. Half leaning against the podium, she shared her teaching philosophy with the students of Class Nine in a soft voice.

When she mentioned Zhou Yi's teaching philosophy, she deliberately lowered her voice, as though sharing a little secret with everyone.

A teacher this gentle won over most of the students almost instantly.

Even Chen Ping, who had been reading ever since he sat down, could not help pricking up his ears and listening to Mu Jin speak from the podium.

"I agree more with Teacher Wang Yan's philosophy of treating students as friends."

Just as Mu Jin was enthusiastically chatting with the students, another Roar of the Lioness rang out.

"You're all a bunch of useless trash. Don't you know that those who don't dare cause trouble are mediocre fools?"

"Other than those two, everyone else, get out and run One Hundred Laps around Shrek Square. Anyone who doesn't finish will be expelled immediately."

"Not convinced? If you're not convinced, then Get Lost! As your Class Teacher, I have the authority to expel any student."

"You have one minute. If I don't see all of you running around Shrek Square within one minute, every one of you will be expelled!"

Zhou Yi's voice was terrifying enough to interrupt Chen Ping's cultivation and studies.

The sheer volume gave him the impression that the Landlady from Kung Fu had unleashed her Lion's Roar.

Although he could not see the actual scene, Chen Ping's mind already conjured up an exaggerated image: nearly a hundred students from Class One being blown into the air by terrifying sound waves, many instinctively clutching the table legs or hugging one another, only to be blown away together with their tables.

Pity immediately appeared in the eyes of the other students in Class Nine, along with the relief of having survived a disaster.

Damn it, if they had been assigned to Class One, wouldn't they be among the people getting sprayed in the face with spit and sent out to run One Hundred Laps right at the start of school?

Even Ning Tian and Wu Feng, the two young girls, were frightened pale. Not everyone could withstand the roar-based education of such a lunatic teacher at their age.

Before long, the sparse noise of tables and chairs being dragged echoed from the other end of the corridor.

It was the sound of nearly a hundred freshmen from New Student Class One running toward the Sports Field.

When Chen Ping turned his head, he could see the students from Class One outside the window, dressed in school uniforms and appearing on the track like countless little white ants. Every one of them ran around the Sports Field unwillingly.

He could clearly see fear, hatred, and anger in their eyes.

However, their fear was simply too great, completely overwhelming the other two emotions.

Even Mu Jin felt nauseated by Zhou Yi's behavior, which was like that of someone who had just escaped from an insane asylum. She waved her hand and glanced at the classroom's two doors.

The students sitting along the wall were quick-witted. Two of them hurriedly stood up and closed the classroom doors tightly.

Only then did Mu Jin sigh. She cast a helpless glance at the scene outside the window and shook her head.

This is nothing. The students of Class One still have a long road of suffering ahead of them.

"All right, the view outside may be beautiful, but everyone, settle down for now. Today, I'm also going to publicly praise the students sitting by the window in the First Row."

Mu Jin smiled faintly and looked at Chen Ping, who had already lowered his head to read again. "This student was the earliest to arrive in our class, and probably the earliest to arrive in the entire New Student Teaching Building as well. He began studying as soon as he sat down."

"Of course, the two students who sat down and began studying afterward were also very good. Let's give them some encouragement."

Applause immediately rang through the classroom, while Chen Ping smiled helplessly.

Everything else about Teacher Mu Jin was fine, but why did her teaching style sound less like that of a Junior High and High School teacher and more like that of an elementary school teacher?

When he turned to look at the seats on his right, Chen Ping realized that the two young girls sitting beside him were Ning Tian and Wu Feng.

Their faces were slightly flushed, clearly quite receptive to this encouragement-based education.

All right, it seems Teacher Mu Jin's educational philosophy has a damn strong market among Shrek's freshmen.

"Some students may be wondering how I know about things that happened so long ago. That leads us to what we're going to discuss in our first lesson of the school year."

As she spoke, Mu Jin picked up a piece of chalk and wrote several large characters on the blackboard:

Soul Masters, Soul Engineers, Soul Tools

"For our first lesson, I plan to explain the precise definitions of these three terms."

"Of course, this is also a requirement from the Soul Guidance Department. Before the freshman classes are assigned, we're supposed to talk more about Soul Tools and see whether any of you are interested in them."

"Look." Mu Jin pointed toward a corner of the classroom. Only then did everyone notice the large Image Retaining Pearl embedded there. "This is the secret behind how your teacher knows everything."

"And this is merely an Unranked Soul Tool among all Soul Tools."

With a concise opening speech, Mu Jin smoothly began the first lesson of the school year for New Student Class Nine.

Well, the students in Class One should be doing pretty smoothly too. They've already started running, haven't they?