Time passed quickly. As the lap count continued to rise, the students' breathing gradually grew heavier. At that moment, the differences in physical fitness and cultivation became apparent. Zhou Yi had not forbidden them from using Soul Power as support, so they all used it to recover their stamina and sustain the long-distance run.
Lin Yuan completed one hundred laps in an almost crushing fashion. His pace remained neither hurried nor slow, as though the distance beneath his feet had been invisibly folded. Every step carried him farther than the others.
After Lin Yuan, more than a dozen people were running at the front, and none of them were slow. Wang Dong led them, her steps light yet powerful. Her consumption was not too great, and her speed never dropped, keeping her firmly within the first group.
Behind the leading group came the main force. At least seventy students were in this section, maintaining an even pace and not finding the run overly strenuous. At their speed, completing one hundred laps within an hour would not be difficult.
More than a dozen students lagged at the very back, including Huo Yu Hao. In order to catch up with the students ahead, Huo Yu Hao had started off quickly, but after running more than twenty laps, his stamina was increasingly depleted. Coupled with his innate limitations, he was not only at the back of the pack but had also started slightly later than the others, leaving him several laps behind.
"After one hundred laps, you haven't even broken a sweat?" Zhou Yi stood with her arms crossed, staring coldly at Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan wiped the nonexistent sweat from his forehead and smiled faintly. "Why should I sweat? One hundred laps is over thirty thousand meters. It doesn't even count as a warm-up."
Zhou Yi stared at Lin Yuan. Her sharp eyes narrowed slightly, but an unusually faint curve appeared at the corners of her lips, no longer as cold and rigid as before. "You do have some arrogance, but at least you have the confidence to back it up." She raised a hand and patted Lin Yuan's shoulder, neither too hard nor too lightly. "Go rest at the side. Watch those two companions you had such a friendly exchange with and see whether they can last until the end."
Lin Yuan nodded and walked beneath the shade of a tree at the edge of the field to sit down, but his gaze involuntarily fell upon Huo Yu Hao at the very back.
More than half the time had passed when Zhou Yi's voice suddenly rang in every student's ears. "Speed up. My position is the finish line."
While she was speaking, Wang Dong had already shot past her with a whoosh, becoming the second person to complete one hundred laps. Her face had taken on a healthy flush, and she slowed down while breathing heavily. After her, students gradually began completing their hundred laps. There was still a quarter of an hour left before the hour was up.
Huo Yu Hao was no longer as fast as he had been at the beginning. His school uniform was soaked through with sweat. His Martial Soul was of the spiritual attribute, so Soul Power provided relatively little assistance to his body. If he had not cultivated the Mysterious Heaven Skill, he would have been in even worse condition. At this point, he was still three laps behind several students around him, with twenty laps remaining before he reached one hundred. Running twenty laps in a quarter of an hour was an almost impossible task.
Zhou Yi stood there quietly. She did not pay much attention to the students who had already completed their laps. Instead, her gaze fell upon those who had yet to finish. Among them, Huo Yu Hao was undoubtedly the most exhausted. His school uniform, already drenched in sweat, could not lie, yet he still gritted his teeth and held on bitterly.
Just then, Lin Yuan flashed to Huo Yu Hao's side, grabbed his shoulder with one hand, and said, "Hold on tight to me. The next speed will be very fast."
The moment Lin Yuan finished speaking, Huo Yu Hao felt the scenery before his eyes shift. The track beneath his feet seemed to fold in on itself. Lin Yuan held onto him with one hand, each step covering several meters. The two of them became like a streak of light, leaving afterimages across the field.
This was not true teleportation, but an exquisite folding of space. The students on the outer track only saw the two of them rapidly flash past lap after lap, so shocked that they forgot to breathe.
"Lin Yuan, how did you do that?" Huo Yu Hao asked breathlessly.
"Don't talk. Adjust your breathing." Lin Yuan's voice was calm and firm. "Circulate your Soul Power according to the rhythm I give you."
Under Lin Yuan's guidance, Huo Yu Hao's Soul Power was skillfully directed, and his stamina consumption noticeably slowed. Though his speed remained astonishing, his body was no longer as overdrawn as before.
A quarter of an hour later, the final lap was completed. The two slowed down together and came to a steady stop before Zhou Yi.
Zhou Yi looked at Huo Yu Hao, then at Lin Yuan, a cold smile curling at her lips. "You're quite good at setting the pace."
"The teacher wants results." Lin Yuan smiled faintly. "He finished."
Zhou Yi did not pursue the matter further. At that moment, all the students had completed one hundred laps within the allotted time and stood loosely gathered in Shrek Plaza. Expressionless, she turned toward them and said flatly, "Those whose names I call, step forward: Cheng Cheng, Qiu Jianrao, Tang Dao, Shangguan Chentian, Lin Zeyu, Zhuge Yun, Tai Long, Tang Ling, Yun Xiaopiao."
A total of nine people had their names called. The next moment, the students who had been called staggered forward.
Zhou Yi said flatly, "The nine of you may return to pack your things and leave the academy. From this moment onward, you are no longer students of Shrek Academy."
"Ah?" The nine students, still exhausted, were instantly stunned. The other students erupted into an uproar as well.
Zhou Yi said coldly, "Shrek Academy has no need for students who try to game the system. Those with strength but without a sound and proper mindset will bring only disaster, not help, to any nation after they are trained. My temper may be bad, but I always keep my word. All nine of them cut corners during the run and failed to complete one hundred laps. If you refuse to accept this, you may report me to the Academic Affairs Office. But now, you may leave."
Under Zhou Yi's overwhelming pressure, the nine students who had been singled out left dejectedly. Of course, they were not going to pack their luggage. They headed straight for the Academic Affairs Office to lodge a complaint. It was only the first day of school. How could they possibly accept this?
At that moment, Huo Yu Hao was sweating even more. He had watched Zhou Yi mercilessly expel nine students with his own eyes. How could he not be nervous? If Lin Yuan had not helped him just now, he would probably have been among them. Thinking of this, he could not help shooting Lin Yuan a grateful look.
The expressions of the other students who remained had completely changed as well. They did not even dare breathe loudly while looking at Zhou Yi. Of course, Lin Yuan was not included among them. At that moment, he was leaning beneath the shade of the tree with one hand propping up his chin, leisurely watching everything before him with a faint, inscrutable smile on his lips.
"All of you, return to the dormitories and change your clothes, then come back to the classroom for lessons. I'll give you a quarter of an hour." With that, Zhou Yi turned and walked directly back to the teaching building.
This time, no one dared delay even a moment. Almost everyone sprinted toward their dormitories as though running a hundred-meter dash. Since he had not sweated at all, Lin Yuan returned directly to the classroom and closed his eyes to rest.
Zhou Yi had given them a quarter of an hour to change, but in reality, less than ten minutes had passed before all the students were seated neatly in the classroom. Looking at the nine empty seats, the fear in their eyes had yet to fade.
Everyone had heard the saying that it was easy to enter Shrek Academy but difficult to leave. Yet only when it truly happened to them did they feel the intense sense of crisis. No one dared entertain thoughts of cutting corners anymore.
What annoyed Lin Yuan somewhat was that Huo Yu Hao had originally been sitting to his right, but Wang Dong had squeezed Huo Yu Hao aside and seated herself between the two of them.
Looking at Huo Yu Hao, whom she had pushed aside, Wang Dong proudly lifted her chin as though she had won a battle.
Lin Yuan rested his chin on one hand as he leaned by the window, a teasing smile playing on his lips. He drawled, "Little Dong'er, are you fighting for a seat because you want to be closer to me?"
"Who are you calling Little Dong'er?!" Wang Dong's ears reddened at the sudden nickname. Her pink-blue eyes widened round as she forced herself to remain composed and retorted, "I just don't want to sit next to certain people who reek of sweat, understand?"
Lin Yuan's smile deepened. He simply stretched out an arm and draped it openly over Wang Dong's shoulders, his tone carrying a lazy teasing note. "Then you're right to sit close to me. I only smell fresh, not sweaty." His palm even lightly patted Wang Dong's shoulder, the movement as natural as though he had done it countless times.
Wang Dong instantly stiffened, her ears turning so red they seemed ready to bleed. She instinctively wanted to shake Lin Yuan's hand off, but that hand rested lightly on her shoulder. It was not forceful, yet it was as steady as if rooted there, impossible to shake free.
"Don't push your luck!" Wang Dong lowered her voice, glaring at Lin Yuan indignantly. "Take your hand off!"
Lin Yuan gave an "Oh," but deliberately pushed his luck further, sliding his arm around the back of her neck and pulling them a little closer. He lowered his voice even more, with a mischievous smile. "Little Dong'er, your face is so red. Do you have a fever? Want me to check?" As he spoke, he actually raised his other hand and reached toward Wang Dong's forehead with feigned seriousness.
"Don't touch me!" Wang Dong jerked her head aside, avoiding his hand but not the arm draped over her shoulder. She was both embarrassed and angry, but with the other students around, she could not make a scene. She could only lower her voice and threaten, "If you keep this up, I'll..."
Lin Yuan chuckled and leaned close to Wang Dong's ear, his voice carrying a trace of mockery. "What will you do?"
Wang Dong's ears reddened even more in anger, yet she could not act out. She could only grit her teeth and say in a low voice, "Just you wait!"
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