Just as Xiao Xiao was about to speak again and say a few more words to Huo Yuhao--
Tap, tap, tap...
The crisp, rhythmic sound of high heels slowly approached from the end of the corridor.
It wasn't loud, but it seemed to carry an invisible force that pierced through the commotion and drilled straight into every student's ears.
The classroom, which had been buzzing with chatter, gradually fell silent beneath those steadily approaching footsteps.
Quite a few new students who had seen the notice board knew that their homeroom teacher was named Zhou Yi.
Hearing footsteps that clearly belonged to a woman, several quick-witted boys immediately brightened with anticipation. They couldn't help secretly imagining:
Could it be a young, beautiful, gentle, and generous teacher?
Amid a series of expectant, curious gazes, a foot in a black high heel stepped over the classroom threshold first.
But what followed was not the beautiful figure they had imagined.
Instead, it was a face hidden behind a cold, rigid mask, with only a pair of sharp, icy eyes and two thin, mean lips exposed.
Their expectations shattered in an instant.
"Uh..."
"No way..."
The smiles on the boys' faces, moments ago full of longing, froze solid. Their expressions turned ashen, their eyes filled with disillusionment and despair, and one of them even let out a quiet groan.
Zhou Yi had long since grown accustomed to this reaction. She didn't so much as raise an eyelid. Ignoring the grim-faced boys and girls below, she walked stiffly and coldly to the center of the podium, picked up a piece of chalk, and scrawled two characters on the blackboard--
Zhou Yi
Chalk dust drifted to the floor.
"My name is Zhou Yi. I'm your homeroom teacher."
She turned around, her icy gaze sweeping over the class like a blade. Her voice was utterly devoid of warmth. "I don't know how many of you will make it through the coming year with me.
"But I'll make this clear right now--I only cultivate monsters, only absolute geniuses.
"Any idiots, mediocrities, or trash will be mercilessly kicked out of Class One by me. I may even kick you straight out of Shrek Academy!"
The word "idiots" struck the class into silence.
Every student present was a genius who had fought their way up from somewhere. Every one of them was proud and arrogant.
When had any of them ever had their dignity trampled in public like this?
Many of their expressions changed on the spot, anger and defiance surging in their eyes.
Even Huo Yuhao was taken aback.
In his previous life, he had met countless teachers at various academies. Some were strict, some harsh, some old-fashioned, but none had treated their students like enemies from the outset the way Zhou Yi did, calling them trash and idiots at every turn.
Just as the tension reached its peak, Zhou Yi spoke again, her voice sharp as a blade:
"Anyone who's gotten into a fight during these past few days of registration, stand up."
The words struck the classroom like a boulder hitting a lake.
The room fell dead silent. Everyone looked at one another, and no one dared move.
Swish--
Swish--
Only two figures rose almost simultaneously.
One was Lin Yan, the other Wang Dong.
Wang Dong looked reluctant, but she still straightened her back and stood up.
Zhou Yi's gaze swept coldly over the two, then around the room. Once she confirmed that no third person had risen, the corner of her mouth suddenly curled into a deeply mocking smile.
"Only two? Heh... You really are a bunch of useless cowards!"
"Have you never heard Shrek's rules? Those who don't dare cause trouble are mediocrities!"
"Everyone except those two, get your asses onto the field and run a hundred laps right now! If you haven't finished by noon, get the hell out of Class One!"
The whole class erupted.
Anger flared like a fire, burning through everyone's restraint in an instant.
A forthright boy slammed his hand on the desk and jumped to his feet, shouting, "I refuse! Why are we being punished for not getting into fights?"
Zhou Yi glanced at him, her tone so indifferent it was chilling.
"Because I'm your homeroom teacher.
"What I say is the rule.
"If you disobey, I have the authority to expel you outright."
"You have one minute. Anyone who isn't on the field and running within that minute--will be expelled."
The instant her words fell.
Boom--
A terrifying aura of Soul Power suddenly erupted from her!
An overwhelming pressure crashed down like a mountain collapsing, nearly suffocating every new student.
Six dazzling Soul Rings slowly rose from beneath her feet--
Two yellow, two purple, and two black.
The standard configuration for a Soul Emperor.
To a group of new students with only a dozen or two dozen levels of Soul Power, her strength was an unfathomable abyss, impossible to resist.
The entire room fell silent with fear.
The boy who had just spoken up turned pale, his body trembling as he began to waver.
Yet the suffocating pressure that fell upon everyone else felt to Huo Yuhao like a gentle breeze brushing his face.
In his previous life, he had come within a single step of ascending to godhood. What kind of might had he not witnessed?
Zhou Yi's puny Soul Emperor aura wasn't even enough to move him.
"Shrek... actually has teachers this foolish?"
Huo Yuhao shook his head inwardly.
Only now did the memories of Wang Teng about Zhou Yi fully fall into place.
He had been somewhat skeptical before. How could a place like Shrek, which prided itself on accepting only monsters, tolerate a teacher who knew nothing but using pressure and expulsion to control students?
Every person who managed to enter Shrek had won their recommendation letter through the sacrifice of their entire family and countless hours of sweat.
How many had spent countless Gold Soul Coins and lost their childhoods just to earn a ticket through the gate?
Yet a single word from Zhou Yi could erase more than a decade of their hard work and crush their futures underfoot.
How was that any different from cutting off someone's path in life or killing their parents?
Just as everyone, cowed by the pressure, was about to obediently head to the field and accept their punishment--
A calm, clear voice, touched with a trace of coolness, rang through the silent classroom.
"Teacher Zhou, I have a question."
Everyone's eyes shot toward Huo Yuhao and fixed on him.
Even Zhou Yi was stunned for a moment.
She had intended to establish her authority and put these arrogant brats in their place, forcing them to submit completely.
She had never expected that the first person to stand up to her would be a boy who looked utterly ordinary.
Zhou Yi's expression instantly darkened, her voice as cold as ice.
"What do you mean?"
Huo Yuhao sat upright in his seat, calmly meeting her icy gaze as he spoke without haste:
"By Teacher Zhou's logic, those who don't dare cause trouble are mediocrities.
"Then I'd like to ask: as a Soul Emperor, would you dare to pick a fight with a Soul Saint or a Soul Douluo?"
One sentence struck her right in the weak spot.
The entire class suddenly understood.
That's right!
If you yourself don't dare provoke someone stronger than you, why do you demand that we cause trouble?
If you don't dare cause trouble, doesn't that make you a mediocrity too?
With Huo Yuhao leading the way, several students from influential families who had already been dissatisfied immediately found their courage and spoke up.
"Teacher Zhou, my father is Zhou Changlin, a Soul Saint. How about I ask him to spar with you?"
"My grandfather is a Soul Douluo. He's getting on in years, but he could still practice with you!"
One voice followed another.
Zhou Yi's expression shifted from dark to livid, then twisted into a grimace.
Her fierce, blade-like gaze swept first over the students who had just challenged her. They all came from powerful families with deep connections. She knew she could afford to offend them, but there was no need.
The next moment, her icy eyes, brimming with undisguised malice, locked onto Huo Yuhao.
She snatched up the new students' information booklet from the podium and flipped through it rapidly. The pages rustled until her fingers stopped dead on a sparse line of text:
Huo Yuhao
Soul Power: Level 13
Innate Soul Power: Unknown, estimated to be below Level 3
Below Shrek's minimum admission standard; admitted by exception with a Shrek Token.
A cold glint flashed in Zhou Yi's eyes as she made up her mind.
No family name, no strength, no backing.
A completely friendless nobody.
If she didn't make an example of him, then who?
"Huo Yuhao, right?"
She sneered, her voice shrill and grating, like fingernails scraping across sheet metal. "Your Soul Power is a mere thirteen levels, and your Innate Soul Power doesn't even reach three. You aren't even qualified to touch Shrek's threshold, yet you dare argue with me and defy your teacher?"
"I hereby officially announce--you're expelled."
Huo Yuhao showed no reaction to her words. Not even his gaze wavered.
He had never intended to stay long at Shrek.
The only reason he had enrolled in the first place was that he had once sensed the gaze of God King Tang watching him from above, so he had been forced to play along.
Now the academy was expelling him for cause, giving him a perfectly legitimate reason to leave. Even if that God King was still watching from the shadows, he couldn't find the slightest fault with it.
He slowly rose, lightly straightened his neat white uniform, and walked toward the classroom door.
His composure was so calm and unhurried that he looked less like someone being expelled and more like someone choosing to leave.
Seeing that Huo Yuhao said nothing and didn't offer even a single word in his defense, Zhou Yi became even more convinced that he had no one to back him and was too timid to speak up.
The fury of being humiliated in front of everyone earlier now burst past the point of reason. She let every bit of her malice and cruelty loose, shrieking the words like poisoned blades aimed straight at the place in Huo Yuhao's heart that could never be violated:
"With trash talent like yours, you'd never have laid a finger on Shrek in your entire life!
"You must have picked up a Shrek Token somewhere and lucked your way into the academy. Instead of being grateful and treasuring the opportunity, you dare challenge a teacher.
"Of course you're an uneducated piece of trash!
"I bet your mother was some lowborn, shameless woman too. That's the only way she could have raised something as disrespectful and ill-mannered as you!"
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