The Butterfly Effect Begins to Take Hold

Walking into the Class Nine classroom, Feng Piaoling began practicing the Heaven-Reaching Demon Eye while waiting for the class bell to ring.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, over two months had passed; the Freshman Assessment was drawing ever closer.

Mimicry Training Ground No. 36.

"Split."

Feng Piaoling let out a low shout, and two incredibly realistic soul power afterimages darted out from behind him. The afterimages sprinted, circling the Mimicry Training Ground in the blink of an eye before suddenly appearing before a specially crafted iron stake and slamming a fist into it.

Bang! Bang!

Two shallow fist prints appeared on the reinforced iron stake.

Almost there. In a little while longer, Clone Shadow will complete its transformation. The current version of Clone Shadow had already surpassed its original effects.

In particular, regarding speed, after integrating the soul power circulation path of Jiang Nannan's third soul skill, Teleport, his speed had seen a massive increase.

Although it could not compare to a true Teleport, it had the advantage of fluidity, allowing him to execute it at will without needing to rely on a martial soul and soul rings like Jiang Nannan.

This soul power afterimage technique was something Feng Piaoling had created based on the movement techniques he realized while dodging numerous soul cannon attacks from the Shadow Douluo, a loyal servant of Xu Tianran, who was an offering at the Imperial Palace Offering Hall of the Sun Moon Empire.

It possessed the characteristic of confusing the enemy.

The higher the level of combat, the faster the speed must be; any slight carelessness could lead to a total defeat.

Even if one knew the soul power afterimage was not the real body, one would subconsciously remain on guard against it.

And that split second of distraction was often the key to victory.

...As the soul power afterimage merged back into his body, Feng Piaoling stood in place and closed his eyes.

After a long while, he opened his eyes, and a terrifying aura radiated from him.

Green light surged on his right hand as he gripped the Green Lotus Sword.

Puff!

The reinforced iron stake was severed more than halfway through, leaving only a thin layer remaining, the cut surface smooth and flat.

Seeing this, Feng Piaoling shook his head. "Still not enough. In terms of power, it's already on par with the true Dark Gold Terrorclaw, but it feels like something is missing. It seems my cultivation is indeed a bit low. To perfect this, with my current cultivation, I need to raise the Green Lotus Sword Art by at least one or two levels to fully refine it."

During this period, besides integrating Teleport into Clone Shadow, Feng Piaoling had also been continuously practicing the Golden Radiance Shock-Kill Sword.

He had intended to see if he could break through the original power of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw, but it now appeared that the Golden Radiance Shock-Kill Sword had reached a bottleneck; wasting limited time on this aspect would be unwise.

Time flowed like water.

On this day, Feng Piaoling went to report to Class Nine as usual.

Seeing Mu Jin arrive, he stood up along with the other students to bow to her, intending to slip away quietly.

Mu Jin suddenly called out to him, "Feng Piaoling, suspend today's training for now. All other practical combat classes are also paused."

Hearing this, Feng Piaoling returned to his original spot, and the other students' expressions turned serious.

"Three months have passed since the start of the term, and I assume you all already know—that's right, the Freshman Assessment is tomorrow. Only those who pass can become official first-year students. Today, I will explain the key points of the assessment. Before that, write down your cultivation focus. This concerns how the academy will tailor its teaching to your talents."

As she spoke, she passed down a form.

When it reached Feng Piaoling, he casually wrote "Assault System" after his name.

Before long, the students of Class Nine finished writing one after another. The forms returned to Mu Jin's hands.

Mu Jin scanned them roughly, her gaze finally resting on a few key individuals, a faint smile appearing on her face.

"There is only one key point to the Freshman Assessment: combat. And everyone must participate in combat."

"Considering there are support-type soul masters among you, for the sake of fairness, the academy will allow you to form small groups of three."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the students in Class Nine turned in unison to look at Feng Piaoling.

This included Zhu Lu, Nanmen Yun'er, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng.

Their eyes all lit up simultaneously.

As long as they could form a team with Feng Piaoling, passing the Freshman Assessment—and even winning the championship—would be a certainty.

Mu Jin added, "Of course, there are restrictions on these small groups. Aside from prioritizing roommates from the same dormitory, you can have at most one assault-type battle soul master. Furthermore, there are over three hundred students participating in the academy's assessment this time, but only half will truly remain—that is, the top one hundred and fifty groups. You may now form your teams freely."

No sooner had Mu Jin finished speaking than two whoosh sounds were heard. The students felt two dark shadows flash before their eyes, bringing with them a gentle breeze and a faint, unique fragrance of a maiden.

The next moment, two graceful figures appeared on the left and right of Feng Piaoling.

The person on the left had black hair and heterochromatic eyes, possessing a fiery figure that did not match her age.

The person on the right looked delicate and weak, with long, light green hair draped behind her and ink-green eyes that exuded gentleness, naturally evoking a sense of pity.

Who could they be but Zhu Lu and Nanmen Yun'er, the only two agility-attack system Soul Grand Masters in Class Nine?

"Class monitor, let's team up with us." They looked at Feng Piaoling with burning eyes, speaking in unison.

The two were roommates in the same dormitory.

It was evident that after spending this time together, the two of them seemed to be getting along quite well.

"Fine." For Feng Piaoling, it made little difference who he teamed up with. The result would be the same regardless.

Seeing Feng Piaoling agree, Zhu Lu and Nanmen Yun'er exchanged a glance, joy appearing in both their eyes simultaneously.

Ning Tian and Wu Feng clearly hadn't expected the two girls to move so quickly, and they both raised their eyebrows in unison.

However, they also knew that it was impossible for them to form a team with Feng Piaoling.

They didn't force the issue, either.

After all, the two of them were definitely going to be on the same team, and a small group could only have at most one Assault System soul master.

Wu Feng had already occupied that position.

Seeing that the strongest student, Feng Piaoling, had been snatched up, the other students felt disappointed and could only turn their attention toward Ning Tian and Wu Feng.

In the end, Ning Tian and Wu Feng selected an Agility System beast soul master with rank 19 soul power from among them.

Just as Class Nine was arranging their groups, a different and far less harmonious scene was unfolding in the Class One classroom.

In front of the entire class, Wang Dong'er stood up and looked with dissatisfaction toward the podium at Zhou Yi, who wore half-rimmed glasses and an old hag mask, her face full of ferocity.

"No, I don't agree. Teacher, you said before that you would prioritize pairing up people from the same dormitory. I want to be in a group with Xiao Xiao."

If she had been assigned someone else, it might have been fine.

The problem was, she couldn't believe the kind of people she had been assigned.

Huo Yuhao, a despicable villain who had used underhanded tactics in a fair soul duel.

Dai Huabin, a bastard who had abandoned his fiancée and, right in front of her, had been struck by lust and pestered her relentlessly in public.

Neither of them was anything good.