Habit

"That's it for this morning's class. Make sure you all eat a proper lunch; we start physical conditioning this afternoon."

The moment the bell rang, Zhou Yi dropped a curt "Class dismissed" and hurried out of the Freshman Class One classroom without even looking back.

That was only natural, though. To lose face so thoroughly in front of both students and teachers on the very first day—it was a miracle she hadn't slammed the door on her way out.

Xia Linyuan's Inverted Clone had just started to stand up to leave when he was swarmed by a crowd of students, hemmed in three layers deep.

"Teacher Naiya! Where are you from?" Gu Qingqi asked excitedly, her eyes sparkling as she spoke.

Since he couldn't leave, he might as well stay and build rapport with the students, further alienating them from Zhou Yi.

"Me?" Xia Linyuan smiled. "I'm from the Star Luo Empire."

"Teacher Naiya, what level is your spirit power?"

"Eighty-six."

"Teacher Naiya, how did you manage to make your eighth spirit ring a legendary hundred-thousand-year spirit ring?"

"Teacher Naiya..."

Watching "Big Brother Naiya" surrounded by his classmates, Huo Yuhao wanted to go over and strike up a conversation, but he couldn't squeeze through the crowd. He could only watch excitedly as "Big Brother Naiya" chatted cordially with the others.

He had thought "Big Brother Naiya's" earlier comment was just a casual joke, but it turned out to be true.

Tang Wulin and Wang Dong, being girls, were much more reserved. They simply sat in their seats and watched, not joining the others in mobbing Xia Linyuan's clone.

Gu Yuena nudged Xia Linyuan's arm and whispered, "Your clone is quite popular. It seems that Zhou Yi has been completely ostracized by these little brats."

Xia Linyuan turned to her and said calmly, "That is why the hearts of the people are so important. Learn from this; I have no desire to end up like a certain empire of the will."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing."

"Is there an empire of the will on the Douluo Continent?"

"It's just a metaphor, don't worry about it."

Gu Yuena stared straight at him. "I have a feeling you aren't saying anything nice."

"Heh, don't just have a feeling—you're right."

Gu Yuena was speechless. "...What a guy, always so sarcastic."

"Thank you for the compliment." Leaving those words behind, Xia Linyuan stood up and walked out.

"Where are you going?"

"It's lunch break, where do you think? You idiot with a shriveled brain." Xia Linyuan's indifferent voice drifted back from afar.

The surrounding male students: "Is that something a normal man would say?"

Halfway there, Xia Linyuan suddenly realized that because of his interference, Zhou Yi didn't seem to have noticed Huo Yuhao yet.

But fortunately, Zhou Yi had decided to conduct physical conditioning in the afternoon. If she still didn't notice Huo Yuhao then, he would just find another opportunity to shove Huo Yuhao into the Soul Guidance Department. Whether he studied in the outer courtyard's Martial Soul Department or not was irrelevant.

In any case, in the original story, Huo Yuhao hadn't attended many classes in his second year before heading off to participate in the tournament. After returning from the competition, he was taught by Mu En and never really returned to study in the outer courtyard again.

Xia Linyuan didn't go to the cafeteria, heading straight back to the dormitory instead.

At his level, he no longer needed to rely on food to maintain his bodily functions. Eating occasionally was just for show, or to satisfy a craving.

Though, to be fair, the food on the Douluo Continent really wasn't much to write home about.

The first thing Xia Linyuan did upon returning to the dormitory was to record all the soul guidance core array inscriptions he had detected with his divine sense in the Soul Guidance Department over the past few days into a notebook.

He had a habit: whenever he arrived in a new world, he would study the unique civilizational achievements of that world, just like the soul guidance devices of the Douluo Continent.

So, aside from giving birth himself, Xia Linyuan knew just about everything you could think of—and things you couldn't.

He didn't have the cultivation restrictions that others had, so to him, soul guidance core arrays were like soldering circuit boards; once he got the hang of it, it became second nature. He couldn't just rely on Qian Duoduo to teach him, or he'd be at it until the end of time.

He wasn't writing the core arrays in a notebook because his memory was poor, but because it helped him summarize his experiences and strip away redundant steps that didn't affect the overall result, which saved a lot of time.

Furthermore, with the data recorded in the notebook, he would be able to mass-produce soul engineers for his own use in the future.

When Xia Linyuan had finished recording over a hundred soul guidance core arrays in his notebook, Tang Wulin returned to the dormitory after finishing her lunch.

Seeing Xia Linyuan, Tang Wulin asked in surprise, "Linyuan, why aren't you eating lunch? Teacher Zhou is going to put us through physical conditioning this afternoon. If you don't eat, your body won't be able to handle it."

Xia Linyuan smiled. "I have some food I brought from home; I'll eat in a bit."

"Oh, I see," Tang Wulin said. "Then I'm going to go meditate. Make sure you remember to eat something later."

"Alright."

After Tang Wulin entered meditation, Xia Linyuan climbed onto his bed and quickly fell asleep.

With his main body sleeping and cultivating in the Abyss, this avatar didn't need to cultivate. Besides, there was no Abyssal Power on the Douluo Continent, so even if he wanted to, he couldn't.

Freshman Class One classroom.

Five minutes before the bell rang, all one hundred students had arrived.

Tang Wulin and Wang Dong, that pair of sisters, were sitting together again, but this time Gu Yuena wasn't sitting with Xia Linyuan; she was sitting with the girl from this morning.

The desks and chairs in the classroom were arranged according to the number of students, so the person sitting next to Xia Linyuan this time was... Huo Yuhao!

When Zhou Yi walked into the classroom, the students who had been whispering to their friends immediately fell silent.

Seeing that only Zhou Yi had arrived, they all wondered why "Teacher Naiya" hadn't come along to teach the class.

Compared to an old and ugly hag, they found the handsome and young "Teacher Naiya" much more pleasing to the eye.

"Everyone stand up and assemble at the plaza." Zhou Yi dropped this single sentence and left.

Hearing Zhou Yi's words, the students moved immediately, forming an orderly queue to follow behind her.

They had their own pride and were at an age where they were starting to become rebellious, but that didn't mean they would act like headless flies, bumping into everything aimlessly.

Teachers were always the most respected figures, and everyone was born with a special sense of awe toward them; even the troublemakers would usually try their best to complete tasks assigned by a teacher, but there was one exception: teachers like Zhou Yi, who relied on suppressing students' personalities and controlling their way of thinking.