Pull Up a Small Stool and Watch Qiu'er Perform

Pull up a small stool and watch Qiu'er perform

Zhou Yi clearly didn't bother to look at this student who had joined her class from elsewhere. Huo Yuhao wasn't annoyed; after all, he had already heard from Qiu'er and Wang Dong what kind of person this teacher was, so he was mentally prepared.

"Go and start your coordination training now." Zhou Yi's tone was exceptionally stern. "The goal for your team is the championship. If you don't bring it home..."

She didn't state the consequences, but a cold glint flashed behind her glasses, making her stance clear.

She had never liked students like Chi Qiu and Wang Dong; to her, talented students were far inferior to obedient ones.

What's more, these two were secretly leading the entire class to go against her! Now that a guy with a ten-year first soul ring had been shoved into their team, she couldn't possibly give them a pleasant look.

Hearing her words, Wang Dong felt as if he had been granted amnesty: "Then we'll be off."

With that, the three of them shared a tacit understanding and slipped out of the classroom.

It wasn't until they were outside the teaching building that Huo Yuhao expressed a bit of his excitement: "I was just thinking about what to do if we ran into Qiu'er's team, and I had even started designing tactics, but it turns out it was all for nothing."

Chi Qiu asked calmly: "And what tactics did you design against me?"

"I've already forgotten!" Huo Yuhao immediately jumped to the next topic. "However, looking at the grouping in our class and the situation of our team, I've come up with another simple and brutal tactic."

Wang Dong chuckled: "Since Yuhao has already thought of the tactics so quickly, why don't we register as the Huo Yuhao Team when we sign up? That'll drive that old hag crazy!"

"Agreed," said Chi Qiu.

Wang Dong immediately got into character: "Captain Huo, please give your orders—"

"You guys..." Huo Yuhao felt quite helpless. But he couldn't deny that because he had become the captain of this team, there was a tiny bit of sweetness in his heart.

This must be what it feels like to be acknowledged, he thought.

He turned to look at Chi Qiu, who happened to be looking at him as well. He suddenly smiled: "Alright, then I'll start laying out the tactics!"

The day of the assessment arrived.

Although Zhou Yi was reluctant, the Huo Yuhao Team was indeed the seed team of her Freshman Class One. When she received the member information form handed in by Chi Qiu and saw the words "Huo Yuhao Team," her blood pressure truly skyrocketed. However, there was nothing more she could say.

Shrek Academy had chosen a fine day; the sun was hidden behind a thin layer of white clouds, making it neither blinding nor gloomy.

All the assessment teams in Zone 33 stood in rows before a teacher. The teacher wore black-rimmed glasses and looked to be in his forties, possessing the gentle and refined image of a typical intellectual as he emphasized the rules of the assessment to everyone.

"If you all understand, then let's begin." The teacher, named Wang Yan, opened the folder in his hand. "First group, Freshman Class One, Huo Yuhao Team, take the stage and stand by."

This was the beginning of the golden storm that would sweep through the examination grounds.

When they took the stage, Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged on the ground and closed his eyes, looking as if he were about to meditate on the spot; Wang Dong was even more excessive, pulling a small stool from the sidelines and sitting down, looking very much like a spectator waiting for the show.

Chi Qiu walked slowly to the front of the team and announced their names in a cold, emotionless voice:

"Freshman Class One, Chi Qiu, Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong."

At the referee's signal, Chi Qiu leaped out like a golden dragon. Two soul rings on her body lit up in succession—

First Soul Skill, Golden Dragon Body;

Second Soul Skill, Dragon's Strength.

With both augmentation skills stacked on her instantly, her physical strength and power reached a level far beyond that of humans her age. What followed was simply and brutally using her fists to knock all the opponents out of the arena.

No one expected the first match to end so quickly.

Huo Yuhao also opened his eyes, a flash of green light passing through the corners of his eyes as he did so, vanishing in an instant.

He had closed his eyes precisely to hide the fact that his eyes glowed when he activated his martial soul. As for his soul rings, he had deliberately hidden them under Wang Dong's stool.

In this way, it looked to everyone as if Chi Qiu had defeated everyone by herself, while Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong were just watching the show.

And it wasn't just this match; the following few matches followed almost the same pattern.

Because both of Chi Qiu's soul skills were self-augmentations, it was a completely open strategy: I'm activating my soul skills right in front of you, letting you know that my skills are augmentations, so what can you do about it?

Even if you know the effect of my soul skills, aren't you still going to be knocked off by me?

She hadn't even used the Golden Dragon Spear yet!

This was also the reason Huo Yuhao chose to let Chi Qiu be the main attacker. It didn't matter if her soul skills were exposed, whereas his and Wang Dong's unique soul skills had room to be studied and countered.

By the time all the matches before the finals were over, Wang Dong had only acted twice.

The first time, Chi Qiu encountered the Lan Sisters' fusion skill. Seeing that the situation was not right, Huo Yuhao immediately used his spiritual detection to point out the location of the Lan Sisters to Wang Dong.

A soul master who activates a martial soul fusion skill is very vulnerable. Wang Dong stood up from his stool, even rubbing his legs, and then with a flap of his butterfly wings, he rushed in front of the Lan Sisters in the blink of an eye. He grabbed each of them by the collar and threw the two girls, who were already struggling to hold on, out of the competition area.

Their consumption was too great. You have to know that after Chi Qiu was trapped by their martial soul fusion skill and realized that the outside was blocked by the skill, preventing anyone from seeing what she was doing, she immediately released her Ultimate Fire!

How could their hair possibly withstand that? The Lan Sisters, having had most of their soul power burned away by Chi Qiu, had no resistance against Wang Dong grabbing their collars. The moment they were lifted into the air, their martial soul fusion skill collapsed, and both of them fainted.

As for Huang Chutian, who was left alone, he was knocked off the arena by a heavy punch from Chi Qiu.

The second time was against the Ning Tian team. Relying on the little knowledge he had learned during this time, Huo Yuhao directed Wang Dong to launch a surprise attack on Ning Tian when she was off guard.

However, Ning Tian, who had been wary of Wang Dong's speed this time, was well-prepared. She had Wu Feng clash head-on with Chi Qiu, while Nanmen Yun'er guarded against Wang Dong.

After all, Wang Dong, an agility-type soul master who had only learned the ropes at the last minute, still couldn't compare to a true agility-type soul master when it came to full-speed bursts.

However, because Huo Yuhao had hidden his soul rings so well throughout the process, the Ning Tian team had underestimated him, which was the first mistake the Ning Tian team made.

Seeing that Wang Dong was struggling to land a hit, Huo Yuhao initiated Spiritual Detection Sharing, causing Nanmen Yun'er to falter for a split second and lose speed. He immediately seized the opening and fired a Soul Shock directly at Ning Tian!

This Soul Shock was not at his full power; after all, he was currently at level twenty, and his spiritual power had already reached a realm far beyond his peers. If he had gone all out, Ning Tian's Sea of Consciousness might have suffered irreparable trauma.

Yet, even this restrained strike was enough to make Ning Tian nearly lose consciousness. At the same moment, a dull thud echoed from the other side of the arena; Chi Qiu had already knocked Wu Feng out of bounds with her bare hands.

The second mistake the Ning Tian team made was assuming that Wu Feng could go head-to-head with Chi Qiu.

Even with the buffs from the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda, Wu Feng could barely fight Chi Qiu to a draw. Once Ning Tian was struck, Wu Feng stood absolutely no chance against her. From this perspective, one could see that the degree of enhancement the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda provided to a soul master was truly astonishing.

Ning Tian had thought that since she hadn't fallen, she could still command Nanmen Yun'er to continue the fight, only to find that in the moment the latter was dazed, Wang Dong had already flown right in front of her.

Wang Dong's flight path appeared rational and precise, even accounting for the influence of soul power currents, making the spectators feel a certain cold, sharp beauty in this maneuver. The next second, the still-weakened Ning Tian was grabbed by Wang Dong and easily tossed out of the arena.

This route was naturally marked out by Huo Yuhao within the Spiritual Detection Sharing projection.

During this period, he had mastered the ability to use his spiritual power to create symbolic markers directly within the shared vision. This was almost a "nanny-level" ability; soul masters guided by him felt as relaxed as if they were following road signs scattered across a battlefield.

When Chi Qiu and Wang Dong approached Nanmen Yun'er together, the outcome of this battle was no longer in doubt.

As for the Xie Huanyue team?

Miss Qiu took them out in seconds.

Although Xie Huanyue's martial soul was strong, clashing head-on with a Golden Dragon was a sign of being too confident in his own strength. While the previous teams had already begun researching how to bypass Chi Qiu to first knock out the two "spectators" in the back, he had intended to charge in directly, which only led to his elimination.

However, Xie Huanyue's strength was still noteworthy; under the effect of double enhancements, Chi Qiu actually didn't gain much of an advantage while fighting bare-handed. It was only after she brought out the Golden Dragon Spear that she managed to knock him off the stage.

Xie Huanyue's martial soul required an ultimate attribute or extreme sharpness to break through, and her dragon spear happened to carry an ultimate attribute.

Additionally, Huo Yuhao had fired two Soul Shocks at Xie Huanyue mid-battle, and Wang Dong had been waiting on the sidelines to strike as well. His martial soul was indeed difficult to deal with, and Huo Yuhao had sensed it; he didn't want Qiu'er to suffer unnecessary injuries due to carelessness.

Aside from these few matches, the other duels were basically settled by quick, overwhelming force. Although the three members of Zhou Sichen's team in the semifinals each had unique martial soul quirks, brute force overcomes all fancy tricks.

When the semifinals ended, Huo Yuhao looked up at the viewing platform. Sure enough, whether it was Zhou Yi, Elder Xuan, or Dean Yan, the looks in their eyes all carried the same message:

This kid is lucky to have snuck into this team; otherwise, who knows if he would have even passed. The other team in the finals has no weaknesses, and this team with a clear weak link will likely struggle to win.

Only Wang Yan realized that Huo Yuhao must have been exerting influence even while his eyes were closed, and that the moments he opened them to look at his opponents were likely when he was activating his skills. However, this master of theory was only a senior teacher, and in front of people at the level of Elder Xuan and Yan Shaozhe, his words carried little weight.

Huo Yuhao withdrew his gaze. After all, his performance looked like he had done nothing, so being looked down upon was normal. If he went all out in the finals, the teachers' opinions would surely change.

He lifted his foot to leave the arena, but Wang Dong slammed a hand onto his shoulder, nearly causing him to stumble. He feigned anger and looked back: "What are you doing, Wang Dong?"

"My bad, my bad." Wang Dong quickly jumped away. "I just wanted to ask, have you thought about the Martial Soul Fusion Skill?"

After battling the Lan Sisters, all three of them had felt the sheer power of a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. At the time, Huo Yuhao had lamented that if their team had such a trump card, the arena would be much easier to handle.

They decided to test it right away. In the familiar little woods at their usual spot, the three of them planned to try different combinations. They hadn't held much hope, after all, Martial Soul Fusion Skills were rare and hard to come by! If they could actually manage to combine their powers, it would be a massive win.

The first to test were Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu; after all, with the connection brought by their attribute resonance, it might be easier to fuse. In fact, their soul power circulation did fuse to a certain extent, but it hadn't reached the level of a true Martial Soul Fusion. After failing, they guessed it was because Huo Yuhao lacked a beast martial soul.

But when Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong tested it, an accident occurred.

At first, their degree of fusion seemed shockingly high, but this situation didn't last more than a few seconds before Wang Dong pulled his hand away as if electrocuted. He then slid down against the tree trunk, his face deathly pale, eyes tightly shut, his hands clawing into his scalp with such force that his knuckles turned white.

After Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu called out to him multiple times to no avail, they had no choice but to send Wang Dong to the school infirmary. The doctor checked for a long time without finding any issues, only sensing a slight anomaly in his soul power fluctuations, and told Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu that it might be a soul power confusion syndrome caused by a forced martial soul fusion.

Therefore, Chi Qiu didn't dare to attempt fusion with Wang Dong again, fearing it would trigger his illness once more.

In fact, doing so had inadvertently saved them. Once they attempted a Martial Soul Fusion, that soul fragment Chi Qiu had temporarily sealed away would be stirred by Wang Dong's power.

In the dream of the unconscious Wang Dong, he saw a place shrouded in clouds and mist. Golden light particles filled the air, and in the distance, pure white buildings loomed in and out of sight. With every breath, one could feel the abundant heaven and earth energy.

Yet, this fairyland made the Wang Dong in the dream feel an inexplicable sense of terror.

He saw a girl. A little girl who looked seventy percent like him. The girl was crying out:

"Daddy, why does my head hurt so much, Xiao Qi..."

"Be good, Xiao Qi, it won't hurt anymore. Once you adapt, it will be fine. This matter is very important to Daddy, help Daddy, okay?"

Wang Dong only felt a primal fear crawling from his spine to his brain, as if it were the fear of watching one's own birth, the fear of staring at the origin of one's own life.

Wait, what was... my name again?

"Wang Dong!"

"Wang Dong!"

A familiar voice suddenly rang in his ears.

He jolted awake from this beautiful nightmare, his head splitting with pain.

"You're awake." A familiar, cold female voice sounded above him. Wang Dong struggled to open his eyes and saw the reassuring black and golden hair.

"I didn't think forcing a Martial Soul Fusion Skill would have side effects of this magnitude... No wonder the teachers say that those who can fuse are either blood relatives or the closest of loved ones. I'm sorry, Wang Dong."

Huo Yuhao's voice trembled as he spoke, looking deeply self-reproachful.

"I think there's something else going on," Chi Qiu said. "Last time we went to the Soul Tool Department, he had a headache attack too. Wang Dong, do you have some hidden illness we don't know about? Or has this happened before?"

"No." Wang Dong shook his head while lying on the bed. "If you count that time at the Soul Tool Department, it's only happened twice. I don't know..."

"Alright." Huo Yuhao went to the electric kettle at the bedside to pour a cup of hot water. "Drink some water and get some rest. Don't think about this anymore; we'll just play the upcoming matches as usual."

Chi Qiu nodded as well: "Even without a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, we can still win."

For a period after that, the three of them didn't mention it again. But after entering the semifinals, Wang Dong used his social butterfly nature to gather intelligence on the teams in the other half of the bracket, naturally obtaining information on Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu.

Although, when discussing it with the Huo team, the captain's expression looked particularly foul.

"He has a grudge against that family surnamed Dai." Chi Qiu said the words for him.

Wang Dong was stunned. He knew Huo Yuhao was an orphan, but hearing it put this way, it likely had something to do with this Dai Huabin.

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