Jiang Yang, the Teacher Would Like to Ask You for a Favor, All Right?

It wasn't long.

Before long, Jiang Yang arrived at the entrance to Freshman Class One.

This was only the second time he'd set foot in this classroom since signing up, though not much time had passed.

Still, it felt a little unfamiliar.

"Senior Brother—"

Before Jiang Yang could find a seat, he saw the little girl, Xiao Xiao, spring to her feet inside the classroom and wave at him excitedly.

She was obviously beckoning him over.

At Xiao Xiao's excited shout, everyone in the classroom turned to look at Jiang Yang.

Dai Huabin, Huo Yuhao, and the others were no exception.

The classroom, which had been fairly noisy, fell silent in an instant.

Anyone who didn't know better might have thought the teacher had arrived.

"Senior Brother—"

"Come sit over here with me!"

Xiao Xiao called again, without a trace of a young girl's shyness.

Or rather,

even if she felt shy inside, she still acted boldly.

Jiang Yang had come to this early-morning class today precisely to talk with Xiao Xiao in person.

So he smiled at her and walked over.

As the saying went, when you'd eaten someone else's food, you owed them a little courtesy.

Since he'd eaten her breakfast, he could at least give her a chance to talk.

"Senior Brother, you actually came to class today?"

"I thought you weren't going to bother with these basic theoretical lessons anymore!"

"Senior Brother, was the breakfast good?"

"Senior Brother, what kind of breakfast do you like? I can bring you some every day!"

"Senior Brother..."

"Xiao Xiao, did you call me over just to say all that?"

As Xiao Xiao launched into her relentless barrage of questions, Jiang Yang was left a little stunned.

To keep her from going on forever, he immediately cut her off.

"Hehe—"

"Well, well, not exactly. There was something else I wanted to say to you."

"What is it?"

As soon as Xiao Xiao finished speaking, Wang Dong immediately picked up the conversation.

Xiao Xiao jumped in surprise.

She hurriedly looked up and only then noticed that Wang Dong had somehow made her way to the steps beside their seats.

"Xiao Xiao, move over a little, then keep talking."

As if they were old friends, Wang Dong immediately told Xiao Xiao, who was sitting inside, to scoot over.

Seeing this,

Xiao Xiao obediently moved one seat farther in.

At this point,

Jiang Yang should have moved in as well, leaving the seat on the far left for Wang Dong.

But unexpectedly, Wang Dong didn't ask Jiang Yang to move over with Xiao Xiao. Instead, she sat in the seat Xiao Xiao had just vacated.

And so,

though Wang Dong had arrived last, she ended up sitting between Jiang Yang and Xiao Xiao.

Xiao Xiao was immediately stunned.

Jiang Yang, on the other hand, remained as calm as ever.

"Why'd you stop talking, Xiao Xiao?"

After sitting down, Wang Dong turned to look at the bewildered Xiao Xiao beside her and asked with a smile, whether intentionally or not.

"Shh—"

"The teacher's here, the teacher's here..."

"Um... Wang Dong, the teacher's here. Let's pay attention in class for now and talk after."

Hearing someone say the teacher had arrived,

Xiao Xiao, who hadn't wanted to keep talking anyway, seized the opportunity to change the subject.

"Good morning, everyone!"

"Good morning, Teacher!"

"In the last lesson, we talked about how today's class would be a practical training session. I wonder... Hmm? I wonder how prepared everyone is?"

As she spoke,

Mu Jin suddenly noticed that Jiang Yang had actually come to class today, for once.

As a teacher, she'd received the academy's notice early on.

It covered both Jiang Yang's appointment as Outer Court Chief and the special privileges he had been granted.

Of course,

she had no objections. After all, a student who could defeat a Six-Ring Soul Emperor in a one-on-one fight while only being a three-ring Soul Elder was someone she didn't think she could teach.

There wasn't a trace of sarcasm in that remark.

It was Mu Jin's genuine opinion.

But

if she had to mix a little personal feeling into that opinion, it would be "happiness."

Or rather, overwhelming happiness.

Mu Jin had never liked Zhou Yi, and she'd always resented Fan Yu for choosing Zhou Yi over her.

Now that she'd seen Zhou Yi get put in her place so thoroughly by a new student, she couldn't have been more delighted.

She'd been in high spirits these past few days, the sort of mood where she felt like greeting even a blade of grass she passed on the roadside.

"Jiang Yang—"

Before long,

Mu Jin had walked up to Jiang Yang and addressed him warmly.

Everyone looked over in confusion.

After all, although Mu Jin's teaching style was strict but gentle, she was still a teacher.

The students didn't dare joke around with her, and none of them had ever received this sort of almost ingratiating respect from her.

Naturally, they were astonished.

Besides, Jiang Yang had been the center of attention from the moment he enrolled, and now he had everyone's eyes on him once again.

Those looks held admiration and envy, and it was impossible to rule out jealousy.

But

there wasn't a single challenging glare among them.

"Jiang Yang, I'm glad you could come to my class. The teacher would like to ask you for a favor, all right?"

Hearing such humble words,

everyone felt their hearts tighten.

Even Dai Huabin, the legitimate son of the Duke White Tiger, who had seen his fair share of the world, couldn't help clenching his teeth to hide his astonishment.

As a teacher at Shrek, Mu Jin could speak to the Duke White Tiger in that tone, or to the direct heirs of various royal families.

But she could never speak that way to a student, especially one who'd only just enrolled at Shrek a few days ago.

Why not?

Because it was too shocking!

Did this leave the boys and girls his age any room to live?

"..."

Jiang Yang remained silent, only offering a polite smile.

His meaning was clear enough.

Whether he could help her depended on what she wanted him to do.

It was like someone asking whether you were there. You wouldn't answer, because theoretically, if they didn't leave, you'd still be there. They didn't need to worry about it.

"Heh heh heh—"

Mu Jin seemed to understand what Jiang Yang meant, and immediately tried to cover the awkwardness with a laugh.

After a moment,

she continued, "Jiang Yang, since you've finally come to class today, and you're also the senior-most student in our Outer Court, and this happens to be a practical lesson..."

"So the teacher would like to ask you to help out as a substitute instructor for this practical class and teach your classmates how to defeat their opponents in actual combat."

"That way, when our class takes the Freshman Assessment in a little over two months, we might be able to keep a few more students."

"What do you think?"

Mu Jin spoke with complete sincerity.

In fact, that was exactly what she had in mind.

As a teacher, both professionally and personally, she naturally hoped that all her students would achieve good results.

She didn't want to be like Zhou Yi, who came up with some so-called rounds of elimination and kicked out the weaker students before the Freshman Assessment even began.

That was neither reasonable nor fair.

If you eliminated the weaker students yourself, then of course more of the ones left would pass the Freshman Assessment.

What difference would it make whether they had you as their teacher or not?

That was one of the biggest reasons Mu Jin couldn't stand Zhou Yi.

"Sure."