Return to Ten Thousand Years Ago

The New Student Assessment ended with the Huo Yuhao Team taking first place. The remaining four hundred and fifty new students would be reassigned to different classes.

Huo Yuhao's class was for students in the Assault System and Control System. Today, his sworn enemy, Dai Huabin, had become his classmate.

The class bell hadn't rung yet, and Huo Yuhao arrived early.

Wang Dong watched Huo Yuhao indignantly. If the semifinal hadn't left him so depleted of Soul Power, he was sure he could have beaten Huo Yuhao. He would have been the New Student Assessment's top student.

Unfortunately, there was no cure for regret. The New Student Assessment was over, and just like life, once an opportunity was gone, it was gone.

Killing intent flickered in Dai Huabin's eyes as he clenched his fists. He watched Huo Yuhao return to his assigned seat. Throughout the whole process, Huo Yuhao didn't acknowledge him or even look his way.

Soon, the class bell rang, and all sixty-odd students in the Assault System and Control System took their seats.

New Student Class One's homeroom teachers were Wang Yan and Zhou Yi, who served as head teacher and assistant head teacher, respectively.

Wang Yan and Zhou Yi entered the classroom together. After glancing around, Wang Yan gave Huo Yuhao a slight nod, then faced the class and said, "Hello, everyone. My name is Wang Yan. I'm sure some of you have already met me. My teaching philosophy is that we're all friends, and I hope we'll enjoy spending time together from now on."

Zhou Yi's expression was stern. As her gaze swept around the room, the former students of New Student Class One felt a chill run down their spines. "I'm Zhou Yi."

That was all she said—just those four brief words.

Wang Yan played the good cop and Zhou Yi the bad cop. With one kind and one stern, they made the perfect pair of head and assistant head teachers.

"Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, Dai Huabin, Zhou Sichen, Huang Chutian, Wu Feng, Cao Jinxuan, Lan Susu, Lan Luoluo."

As Wang Yan read each name aloud, he wrote it on the blackboard.

Once he had written all nine names, Wang Yan turned around with a smile. "After discussing it, Teacher Zhou Yi and I have chosen these nine candidates for class monitor and deputy class monitor. The positions will rotate every month, and we'll decide them by secret ballot. In a moment, write down the candidate you think is suitable and hand in your paper."

The students quickly took their papers and began writing.

Huo Yuhao wrote "Dai Huabin" and handed in his ballot.

There were sixty-seven students in all. Huo Yuhao received the most votes by far, with sixty-two. Dai Huabin received two, Wang Dong received two, and Wu Feng received one.

"Can't I vote for myself?" Wu Feng muttered under her breath, seeing that Huo Yuhao was sure to become class monitor.

Dai Huabin, meanwhile, was slightly taken aback. He had written down Wang Dong's name. The two of them hadn't fought during the New Student Assessment, so there was no bad blood between them.

Dai Huabin knew Zhu Lu had voted for him. So who had cast the other vote?

After Wang Yan finished counting all the ballots, he looked at Huo Yuhao with curiosity and surprise. He hadn't realized Huo Yuhao held such a high standing among the new students.

"Well, it looks like we have our class monitor. Huo Yuhao will take the position. The deputy class monitor will be either Dai Huabin or Wang Dong."

Just then, Wang Dong raised his hand. "I don't want to be deputy class monitor. It sounds like too much trouble."

Wang Yan nodded, respecting Wang Dong's wishes. "In that case, Huo Yuhao will be class monitor and Dai Huabin deputy class monitor. The other seven candidates, except for Wang Dong, who declined, will take turns serving as class monitor each month. Does anyone object?"

"No!" everyone shouted.

Huo Yuhao had crushed his competition with his overwhelming strength and taken first place in the New Student Assessment. Everyone had seen it with their own eyes, so choosing him as class monitor was the clear choice.

As for Dai Huabin becoming deputy class monitor, he was frustrated too. Who had cast that second vote for him?

Whoever knew about his feud with Huo Yuhao and still voted for him to be deputy class monitor must have been deliberately trying to make things difficult for him.

After the New Student Assessment, Dai Huabin had fully understood the gap between himself and Huo Yuhao. He had decided that he absolutely wouldn't make an enemy of Huo Yuhao again until his Soul Power reached level forty.

Huo Yuhao didn't find the monotony of academy life, with its routine of going back and forth between the dormitory and classroom, boring. If anything, he rather enjoyed it.

Every afternoon, after classes ended, he spent two hours studying Soul Tools with Fan Yu in the Soul Tool System. He started with theory, learning the names of each rare metal and what they were used for.

Huo Yuhao studied diligently. His Martial Soul was no longer the Spirit Eyes he'd once had, and he no longer possessed Spiritual Detection Sharing.

Even so, he relied on his powerful Mental Power to etch everything into his memory. In just one day, he had memorized the appearance and uses of every rare metal, much to Fan Yu's satisfaction.

At night, Huo Yuhao sat on a bench by the Lakeside of Sea God Lake and cultivated hand in hand with Ma Xiaotao.

At first, the two of them had felt awkward. But they soon grew used to it, and eventually even laced their fingers together. Their progress was so remarkable that neither Ma Xiaotao, immersed in cultivation, nor Huo Yuhao noticed it.

That was more or less what Huo Yuhao's daily life was like.

Qian Renxue, on the other hand, was much busier in the Inner Courtyard. With the first semester at Shrek Academy drawing to a close, she threw herself into cultivation, raising her Soul Power to level sixty-eight. She also spent all day in the Inner Courtyard's Library Pavilion, absorbing knowledge like a sponge, without ever tiring.

Huo Yuhao only learned about it from Ma Xiaotao. At the longest stretch, he hadn't seen Qian Renxue for three whole months. If Huo Yunxue hadn't been there, he would have thought he'd failed to bring Qian Renxue to Ten Thousand Years Later.

Xuan Zi was very pleased with Huo Yunxue. The academy now had three Soul Masters with Ultimate Attributes: Huo Yuhao, with Extreme Ice; Ma Xiaotao, with Extreme Fire; and Huo Yunxue, with the Ultimate Holy Attribute. Such a thing was rare even once in ten thousand years at Shrek Academy.

Xuan Zi had a feeling that Shrek Academy would flourish in this generation.

What Xuan Zi didn't know was that Huo Yunxue's true identity was Qian Renxue. In the space of a single semester, she had nearly emptied the entire Library Pavilion.

Qian Renxue had copied all the advanced Soul Master knowledge Shrek Academy had spent ten thousand years researching and stored it in her Soul Tool. She was waiting for Huo Yuhao to return to Ten Thousand Years Ago during the holidays so she could place it in Spirit Hall's archives.

On the final day of the first semester, Huo Yuhao turned twelve. He had grown to a height of one meter and seventy-eight centimeters. Since his body hadn't finished developing, he would surely grow past one meter and eighty—possibly even reach one meter and ninety.

Qian Renxue closed the thick book and stretched with all her might. "I finally made it through the first semester. Time to get ready to go home!"