Zhu Xiyan

It was as if she hadn't heard Hals. The strange girl sitting in the last row kept her head down, no one could tell what she was doing.

Hals frowned, but, unusually, he didn't seem displeased. He merely looked curious and puzzled.

"The girl, second seat from the left in the last row." His voice was hoarse, carrying a faint sense of a volcano on the verge of erupting.

The girl still didn't react. Just as Hals was beginning to grow impatient, the student in front of her finally couldn't hold back. She turned slightly, reached her right hand under her arm, and tapped on the girl's desk.

"Tap, tap, tap."

The light but urgent knocks jolted the girl as if from a dream. She raised her head abruptly, looking confused and flustered.

The girl in front lowered her head and whispered, "The teacher's calling you."

The girl seemed doubtful. She looked around at her classmates, all of whom wore serious, cautious expressions. It didn't look like a prank. After a moment's hesitation, she finally stood up, keeping her head down and her eyes on the desk.

Seeing this, Hals's lips curved slightly. He found it rather amusing, but still asked in a stiff tone, "What's your name?"

The girl looked flustered, and her voice trembled. "Z-Zhu Xiyan."

"Zhu Xiyan..." Hals murmured. Then, peering from beneath his hood at the oddly dressed girl, he stuck out his tongue and licked his slightly chapped lips. His voice sounded almost cheerful. "Good. From now on, you're the class monitor of Advanced Class Nine. I'm giving you your first assignment."

He raised his head slightly, revealing a flicker of Soul Flame. It put considerable pressure on everyone who saw it. Zhu Xiyan, however, kept her head down and wasn't intimidated.

"Don't disappoint me. That would mean you've lost your value."

Suddenly, Zhu Xiyan raised her head. Anger seemed to gleam in her eyes, and her voice grew more forceful. "I-I have value. No one can replace me. No one."

Her voice was a little shrill, as if anger had made it so.

Hals was taken aback, then a strange smile appeared on his face. "Then prove it to me."

He glanced again at Zhu Xiyan, who still had a trace of anger on her face. His figure shifted, turning into a cloud of black mist that vanished in an instant. Only his hoarse voice lingered in the classroom.

"Three-person teams: assault, agility, and control. Support types form a group on their own. Report to the class monitor. I'll be waiting for you at the training grounds. Don't keep me waiting too long..."

Once his voice had faded, the students looked at one another. In the end, they got up and began discussing their teams.

Hals stood alone on the training grounds, motionless. After a long while, he came back to himself and glanced at the sky. The sun was nearly overhead, but the students still hadn't arrived.

He said nothing and didn't go back to check on them. He continued standing perfectly still, his black robe oppressive as ever.

Finally, half an hour later, a jumble of voices drifted over from afar. Hals, who couldn't close his eyes, came back from his contemplation. For him, this was rest.

The students approached in scattered groups of three or five. When they saw Hals standing at one corner of the training grounds, they all slowed down and stopped talking. They quietly formed a line in front of him. Hals remained silent, paying no attention to the students who had gathered before him.

Only then did Zhu Xiyan arrive, slightly out of breath. She looked at the silent crowd and parted her lips as if to say something, but finally lowered her head dejectedly and went to the back of the line.

"Now, everyone except Zhu Xiyan will run laps around the Forest Mimic Training Ground. Don't stop until I say so."

An uproar broke out. One girl couldn't help questioning him. "B-but, teacher, it's almost a kilometer from here to the training grounds, and the Simulation Field is over twenty thousand meters around!"

Though the girl couldn't see him, she could feel Hals's sharp gaze on her. "Are you questioning me?"

His chilling question made her stumble back, nearly falling over. Her voice took on a hint of tears. "S-sorry. I'll go right now."

She turned, shoved past the classmates behind her, and ran off like a madwoman, soon disappearing from sight.

The others were still staring blankly, looking completely bewildered.

Hals furrowed his brow and barked, "What are you waiting for? Do you want to die?"

At his shout, the students scattered like startled birds, some using Soul Skills and others running on their own.

Once they had all left, Hals finally turned his attention to Zhu Xiyan, who had reverted to the way she'd been when she first arrived.

"Raise your head." His voice was hoarse.

It was a strange sight. One of the two people there had eyes hidden behind her bangs, while the other had no eyes beneath his hood at all.

At Hals's voice, Zhu Xiyan timidly raised her head, but kept her gaze fixed on her toes.

Once she raised her head, Hals could finally study the girl's appearance closely. Contrary to his assumption that she lacked confidence because of her looks, Zhu Xiyan wasn't a peerless beauty, but she was certainly pure and lovely. So why was she so lacking in confidence?

He thought it over, his face expressionless.

"Can you tell me why you're so late?"

His voice was calm, but Zhu Xiyan's face flushed with embarrassment. She had impulsively made a bold promise in the classroom, but the result had been disappointing.

"They were arguing the whole time, fighting over who would get which teammates." The girl lowered her head again, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

"Speak up." Hals showed no inclination to go easy on her. "And why didn't you stop them?"

The girl seemed aggrieved, and her voice abruptly rose. "I did, but they wouldn't listen."

"Have you thought about why they acted that way?" Hals's question only made the girl feel more dejected.

The girl lowered her head further, tears seeming to glimmer in her eyes.

"Because they look down on me."

Hals's voice gradually softened as he guided her along. "Do you know why they look down on you?"

"I-I don't know." The girl's eyes were filled with confusion.

A faint smile appeared beneath Hals's hood. His hoarse, low voice seemed both far away and right beside her ear.

"I can tell you. It's because you're too weak. The weak don't deserve respect. They deserve only contempt."

"That's right." Zhu Xiyan's eyes grew unfocused as she murmured, "I'm too weak..."

Anyone who made it into the Advanced Class at Star Luo Royal Academy naturally had talent and ability. It was just that her family's expectations were too high, leaving her this insecure.

That's right. With the surname Zhu, and as a student at Star Luo Royal Academy, Zhu Xiyan was the illegitimate daughter of the Grand Duke of the Zhu Family in the Star Luo Empire. The Zhu Family and the Dai Family had maintained their rule for one reason: in each generation, only the most outstanding member could become head of the family. The rest had their cultivation crippled and were imprisoned for the remainder of their lives.

And Zhu Xiyan wasn't the only heir of her generation. She had a younger biological sister, who would become her rival. There was no chance the two of them could ever reconcile. In the end, one of them would kill the other, or die by the other's hand.

Hals had paid special attention to this girl because he'd read all this in Spirit Hall's intelligence. Of course, he couldn't deny that part of the reason might have been that he sensed something familiar in her...