As thoughts swirled through his mind, Mu Jin had already begun speaking from the stage. Her gaze swept over the people below, and when she spotted Feng Piaoling, a faint smile appeared on her face.
"My name is Mu Jin, and I'll be your homeroom teacher. I imagine some of you have already met me. I'll spare you the unnecessary talk."
"To give all of you the best chance of passing the Freshman Assessment in three months, I'll be focusing on improving your combat skills."
"Feng Piaoling, Ning Tian, Wu Feng, Nanmen Yun'er, and Zhu Lu, stay behind. Everyone else, wait for me on the athletic field."
As soon as she finished speaking, the students all filed out of the classroom.
Before long, only Feng Piaoling and the other four remained.
Mu Jin smiled warmly and beckoned them over. The five of them walked up together.
Looking at the four students, Mu Jin nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad. This year, Class Nine has five students with Soul Power above level twenty. Feng Piaoling and Ning Tian have even advanced to Soul Elder. With all five of you joining us, I'd say Class Nine is all but guaranteed to take first place in the Freshman Assessment."
Feng Piaoling remained impassive at her words, while the other four couldn't help but look relieved.
"Excellent students always get special treatment." Mu Jin turned to Feng Piaoling. "Well, Piaoling, do you have any requests? Go ahead and ask. I'll do my best to accommodate you."
"I'd like to go to the Mimicry Training Ground alone and finish the training I haven't completed yet," Feng Piaoling said calmly.
"The Mimicry Training Ground?" Mu Jin raised an eyebrow. The other four also looked surprised.
They had come to Shrek Academy hoping to receive professional guidance from the teachers. Yet Feng Piaoling was doing the exact opposite.
His request to train alone was baffling.
"Fine, I agree. But there's one condition. If you can defeat Ning Tian, Wu Feng, Zhu Lu, and Nanmen Yun'er working together without hurting them, I'll let you train alone. Otherwise, you'll have to follow my arrangements obediently."
With Ning Tian's support, Wu Feng, Zhu Lu, and Nanmen Yun'er could bring their combined strength up to that of a Soul Elder.
Facing three Soul Elders, two of whom were Agility Attack System Soul Masters, Feng Piaoling would be in a difficult position.
Based on Feng Piaoling's earlier fights against Dai Huabin and Xu Sanshi, he was probably afraid of close combat.
If Zhu Lu and Nanmen Yun'er got close to him, he would easily fall onto the back foot.
In Mu Jin's view, defeating the four of them without hurting them would be far more difficult than beating Dai Huabin and Xu Sanshi.
"Fine." Feng Piaoling agreed without a second thought.
The others were all stunned.
"Hey, Feng Piaoling, I admit you're strong, but thinking you can beat all four of us without hurting any of us is downright arrogant."
Wu Feng spoke indignantly.
Arguing with a madman makes you a fool; arguing with a fool makes you a madman. Arguing with a woman makes you both mad and foolish.
Feng Piaoling had no intention of arguing with Wu Feng. She was a lesbian, after all.
Arguing with her would only make him look stupid.
"Let's go to the Soul Fighting Arena." As he spoke, he headed toward it.
"Let's go. Whether it's a mule or a horse, take it out for a trot and see. Strength isn't proved by boasting; it's proved in a fight."
Mu Jin immediately felt as if she'd struck gold. If Feng Piaoling really could pull it off, what was the harm in letting him train alone?
Besides, if he got results, she'd get credit for teaching him.
Wu Feng, Ning Tian, Nanmen Yun'er, and Zhu Lu were instantly fired up.
The group left the classroom and headed for the Soul Fighting Arena.
As they passed the athletic field, Mu Jin called the students of Class Nine over and gathered them together.
She planned to take them to watch the match and use it to motivate them to train.
Just then, a crowd poured out of the Class One classroom and began running laps around the field.
"What are they doing?" Nanmen Yun'er asked in surprise.
Ning Tian, who had already gathered the students, answered her. "Looks like they're running laps. I heard Old Lady Zhou from Class One loves making her students run with weights. Anyone who fails to finish the laps in the allotted time gets expelled. For them, this is only the beginning of their suffering."
At that, Feng Piaoling finally spoke. "Using weighted runs to weed out students with poor physiques and those who won't obey, then cultivate monsters who can already complete whatever tasks she assigns? What an utterly foolish and irresponsible teaching method."
Zhu Lu silently nodded. She couldn't help feeling sorry for her two new friends, Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao.
Even Wu Feng didn't argue. "That really is disgusting."
In her understanding, improving a Soul Master's physique was certainly important, but what mattered more was teaching combat methods and how to control one's Martial Soul Skills.
That old woman did nothing but make them run every day, then expel anyone who couldn't keep up.
That wasn't cultivating Soul Masters. It was cultivating obedient slaves.
A little while later, the students had all assembled, and Mu Jin led Class Nine toward the Soul Fighting Arena.
The students of Class One were green with envy as they watched Class Nine get to skip the laps.
Not long after Class Nine had left, Huo Yuhao and Dai Huabin came out of the Class One classroom. Zhou Yi had kept them behind because they'd gotten into a fight.
Huo Yuhao looked awful—extremely, unbelievably awful.
Two days ago, he'd risked a backlash from his own spirit to ambush Feng Piaoling. Instead of getting the Mysterious Water Pill, he'd earned a major demerit from the school and nearly been expelled. He'd become an object of scorn throughout the Outer Courtyard.
That much he could have borne.
At the very least, Zhou Yi had acknowledged his Spirit Detection Sharing ability.
But he hadn't expected Zhou Yi to make everyone who'd been in a fight stay behind on their very first day of class.
As it turned out, he and Dai Huabin were the only ones who'd fought.
He'd thought that once he explained what had happened, Zhou Yi would stand up for him as their homeroom teacher. At the very least, she'd move him and Dai Huabin to separate dorm rooms.
But Zhou Yi not only did nothing; she actually praised them for fighting.
She said they had promise.
That would only make Dai Huabin even more lawless in the future.
Dai Huabin wore a smile. "Huo Yuhao, don't worry. I'll make sure to 'take good care' of you from now on."
"You..." Huo Yuhao was so furious he could have spat blood.
But he didn't dare argue back. He still couldn't beat Dai Huabin, and if he talked back, he'd get another sound beating once they returned to the dorm.
All the students of Freshman Class Nine arrived at the Soul Fighting Arena. Perhaps because she'd just won a Soul Bone, Mu Jin was feeling generous and paid the fees for the students' match.
This would be a Soul Fighting match exclusive to Freshman Class Nine.
There were no spectators except for the students of Freshman Class Nine.
Everyone kept their eyes on Feng Piaoling. Quite a few had even started placing private bets. After all, a one-against-four match was a rare sight.
Soon, the two sides were a hundred meters apart.
Mu Jin stood in the center of the arena. She looked at Feng Piaoling, then at Wu Feng, Zhu Lu, Nanmen Yun'er, and Ning Tian.
Seeing that both sides were ready, she called out, "Begin!"
Feng Piaoling couldn't be bothered to play around with the four of them. As Class Nine watched in amazement, three Spirit Rings—one yellow and two purple—rose beneath his feet, and his Second Soul Ring began to shine.
Wu Feng and the others had only just released their Martial Souls and hadn't had a chance to move when four ochre-colored talismans slapped onto their foreheads.
The talismans blazed with light. Their bodies sank into the arena floor against their will, leaving only their heads exposed.
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