This morning, Zhou Yi had tried to establish her authority by making an example of someone and磨 down the students' rough edges, so they would be easier to control. If Xia Linyuan hadn't intervened, she might well have succeeded. The students would have swallowed their grievances under her domineering attitude, and their silence would only have emboldened her, making her even more reckless.
But today, with Xia Linyuan deliberately guiding things, Zhou Yi had not only failed to achieve her goal, she had done the opposite and stoked the students' rebelliousness. They might not be showing it on the surface yet, but if anyone tried to suppress them, they would erupt tenfold, a hundredfold.
As things stood, they were unhappy, but no one wanted to provoke a lunatic. Besides, this was Zhou Yi, the person who would be their homeroom teacher for quite some time. They didn't want to be hassled at every turn.
They were here to study and grow stronger, not to make trouble for themselves.
At Zhou Yi's request, Xia Linyuan's Inverted Clone brought a hundred thirty-pound Iron Vests to Shrek Plaza.
Well, Shrek's ten-thousand-year-old tradition really hadn't changed: running with weights.
At least Yu Xiaogang had known to assign different weights according to each student's physical fitness. But Zhou Yi...
"Xia Linyuan!" Zhou Yi called.
"Here," Xia Linyuan replied calmly.
Apparently dissatisfied with his attitude, Zhou Yi glowered and addressed the students. "I reviewed all your entrance exam results. At present, Xia Linyuan has the highest cultivation among you, so I hereby appoint him class monitor of Freshman Class One."
"But!" Zhou Yi suddenly raised her voice several notches. "The position of class monitor is subject to change. Anyone who can defeat him may take his place. Is that clear?"
As soon as Zhou Yi finished speaking, several sharp gazes landed on him.
They didn't know what level Xia Linyuan's cultivation had reached, but they instinctively felt that, as fellow freshmen of roughly the same age, even if his cultivation was higher, it couldn't be by much. They thought they had a good chance of taking his place.
Only Gu Yuena had some idea of just how terrifying Xia Linyuan's true strength was.
Xia Linyuan said nothing when Zhou Yi appointed him class monitor of Freshman Class One.
Zhou Yi pointed at the pile of iron chains. "These Iron Vests are specially designed to improve your physical fitness. One per person. From now until class ends, run laps around Shrek Plaza. You may use Soul Power, but you may not use Spirit Skills to assist yourselves."
As she spoke, Zhou Yi flicked her toe, sending an Iron Vest flying toward Xia Linyuan.
Xia Linyuan picked up the thirty-pound Iron Vest with one hand and put it on. To him, wearing it was no different from not wearing it at all.
The others were another matter. The male students were mostly fine, but the female students turned pale when they felt how heavy the Iron Vests were.
Xia Linyuan seized the moment and stepped forward again. "Teacher Zhou, this doesn't seem quite right."
"Teacher Naiya, I know what you want to say. Men and women are naturally different in physical strength, and Spirit Masters from different schools have different physiques, so you think this is unfair to them."
"But think about it. On a battlefield, would the enemy spare them just because they're women or Tool Spirit Masters?" Zhou Yi spoke loudly, her tone leaving no room for argument.
"Teacher Zhou, I admit that what you said has some merit," Xia Linyuan said evenly. "But don't forget, they're still just children."
"First, this is an academy, not a military camp. You can ask them how many want to enlist after graduation."
During wartime, unless commanders gave special orders or someone went looking for trouble, the military generally didn't slaughter civilians. Even so, hardly anyone wanted to enlist, so what chance was there of them going to a battlefield?
"Second, people say logistics should be dealt with first when war breaks out. But logistics are crucial on the battlefield. If the enemy can bypass the main forces up front, is there any point in fighting that war? No!"
"Third, this is physical training. For many of them, thirty pounds is already more than they can handle. You're asking them to run from now until class ends, and class won't end for at least another four hours."
"Running with more weight than they can bear for four hours may bring some improvement, but not much. And it won't be the kind of improvement that draws out their potential—it'll be the kind that depletes it. Teacher Zhou, you aren't helping them grow. You're ruining them!"
Xia Linyuan's words rang out with force and conviction, each one striking home. His final sentence—"You're ruining them!"—hit Zhou Yi like a massive hammer. Her mind went blank, and she couldn't think of a single thing to say in reply.
Seeing "Teacher Naiya" speak up for them, the students felt as if they'd been given a dose of reassurance. They were immensely relieved.
"Teacher Zhou," Xia Linyuan said, "I may only be an intern and lack teaching experience, but I still know that everything should be tailored to the individual. That applies not only to teaching, but also to training."
"If you think I've done anything inappropriate, you're welcome to report it to the academy."
After speaking, he went over to a girl wearing an Iron Vest, her shoulders slumped as if they were about to collapse. He promptly removed several links from the iron chain, each link as thick as her arm.
With those links removed, the girl could finally straighten her back.
"Thank you, Teacher Naiya," she said gratefully.
Xia Linyuan smiled faintly. "Don't push yourself. If anything happens, I'll handle it."
Even after he had adjusted every student's load to something they could bear, Zhou Yi still said nothing.
He could have used the Voice of the Black Pharaoh to give Zhou Yi an order not to cause him any more trouble. But he hadn't, because he needed the students to acknowledge him.
The more people who acknowledged him, the stronger his existence force became. And the stronger that force, the more stable and tangible his power would be. That was also why he had spent the past few years on the front lines of the Abyss Plane.
"All right. Don't think that just because I've taken off some of your weights, you don't have to run."
With Xia Linyuan leading the way, the other ninety-nine students followed of their own accord and began running along the edge of the plaza.
Though he wore a thirty-pound Iron Vest, nothing could stop Xia Linyuan from racing ahead of everyone else.
Even as an avatar with only one hundred-thousandth of his true strength, his physical fitness and cultivation were still beyond the reach of these students—and even the gods of the Douluo God Realm.
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