One Man Against the Heroes

Half an hour later, at Shrek Academy's Soul Fighting Platform.

Huo Yuhao stood quietly on the platform, his posture straight as a pine. The afternoon sunlight poured down from the dome, casting a long shadow at his feet.

Seated below were all the students from Class One and Class Nine.

On the first day of the new school year, the two class teachers should have been announcing important matters. But because of Huo Yuhao's situation, there was no way the lessons could go on.

Zhou Yi simply had the students from both classes come together to the Soul Fighting Arena to witness the wager firsthand. She wanted everyone to see what happened to those who challenged her authority.

"So that's Huo Yuhao? He's the one who made the wager with Zhou Yi? Thirteen levels of Soul Power against over twenty? He must be crazy!"

"That's a whole major realm between them. If he wins, I'll clean the classroom for a month!"

"I bet he won't last three moves. No, one."

Whispers rippled through the crowd below.

No one believed Huo Yuhao could win. The Soul Power gap was plain to see, and Zhou Yi wasn't stupid. Why would she send someone of the same level to fight him?

The opponent would be at least level twenty, a Soul Grandmaster who had already absorbed a Second Soul Ring.

Thirteen levels against over twenty—a whole major realm and one Soul Ring apart. He'd have to be a ghost to win.

Some even secretly started a betting pool in the crowd: ten to one odds for Huo Yuhao to win, and one to ten for him to lose.

As soon as the odds were announced, Gold Soul Coins flew toward the bookmaker like snowflakes. Almost everyone bet that Huo Yuhao would lose.

Only one slender hand pushed through the crowd and slapped a full thousand Gold Soul Coins onto the table.

"I bet on Huo Yuhao to win."

Everyone turned. A pretty young girl stood there, her expression calm.

Someone from Class One recognized her. She was one of their freshmen, Xiao Xiao.

"She's crazy. Completely crazy." The bookmaker shook his head and recorded her bet. "A thousand Gold Soul Coins down the drain. Won't even make a sound when they hit the bottom."

Xiao Xiao offered no explanation. She simply withdrew her hand and looked past the crowd toward the slender figure on the platform.

She didn't know what trump card Huo Yuhao had, but she remembered the boy's eyes in the classroom earlier—calm and deep as an abyss. Those weren't a madman's eyes. They were a hunter's.

"Milady, is this Huo Yuhao an idiot or what?"

In the seats near the front of the Soul Fighting Platform, a girl in a white school uniform spoke quietly to the golden-haired girl beside her.

Though she wore a white uniform, it could do nothing to hide her striking figure. She had flamboyant red hair and rare red eyes, giving her a fierce, domineering air at first glance.

But a closer look revealed delicate features and skin as fair as jade. Her gaze, however, was cold—cold as steel tempered in ice.

The girl was called Wu Feng, and she was a disciple of the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect.

The one Wu Feng addressed as "Milady" was also a girl.

She wore a white school uniform, and her platinum-blond hair fell to her waist like a waterfall. Her clear blue eyes were like a tranquil lake, and her temperament was gentle as water. Yet between her brows was the poise and composure innate to the daughter of a sect master.

She was the young sect master of the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect, Ning Tian.

Hearing Wu Feng's words, she shook her head slightly and said softly, "Feng, I've told you. At the academy, just call me Ning Tian. And don't underestimate people. I have a feeling Huo Yuhao is no ordinary person."

As the young sect master of the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect, Ning Tian had been groomed by the sect from an early age, especially in the art of judging people.

One day, the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect would be entrusted to her. She needed to start building her own circle of supporters now. Shrek Academy was filled with geniuses, and if she could recruit even one or two people of exceptional talent into the sect, it would ensure the sect's prosperity for a century.

That was one of the reasons Ning Tian and Wu Feng had come to study at Shrek.

At that moment, Ning Tian's gaze rested on Huo Yuhao, her brows drawing together slightly—not in worry, but in thought.

In her perception, this boy called Huo Yuhao was surrounded by an indescribable air of mystery.

He had only thirteen levels of Soul Power. He was merely an ordinary student who had just clawed his way through the Freshman Assessment. Yet there he stood on the Soul Fighting Platform, his presence calm as still water, without the slightest ripple.

He had to know that he was about to face a Soul Grandmaster with over twenty levels of Soul Power.

He had to know that one careless move in this fight could leave him gravely injured or even with a lifelong impediment to his cultivation.

Yet there was no panic on his face, no wishful thinking, no forced composure.

Only a kind of... certainty.

It was a quality Ning Tian had seen in only a handful of people, most of whom had gone on to become top-tier experts or regional overlords.

But how old was Huo Yuhao? Eleven? Twelve?

What gave him the right?

Ning Tian suddenly became deeply interested in the boy.

Unbidden, questions took shape in her mind: What had he been through? What trump card was he hiding? And was he... worth recruiting into the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect?

"Mil... Ning Tian, I think you're overthinking this."

Wu Feng curled her lip. As she looked at Huo Yuhao, her eyes held undisguised disdain and displeasure. "How could a Soul Master with only a little over ten levels of Soul Power beat a Soul Grandmaster with over twenty? Unless his opponent goes easy on him—but would that old hag Zhou Yi go easy on anyone? Dream on."

As she spoke, her gaze drifted toward Ning Tian, and a subtle look flashed in her eyes.

Wu Feng had long harbored feelings for Ning Tian that went beyond those between fellow disciples. Now that Ning Tian seemed to think so highly of an unfamiliar boy, Wu Feng couldn't keep her jealousy in check.

"Just wait and see." Ning Tian didn't turn around, only spoke calmly. "He'll give us an answer soon enough."

Just then, on the other side of the platform, Zhou Yi looked at the boy standing ready beside her and said in a low voice, "Liu Ping, I'll leave him to you."

"Sure, Teacher Zhou. I'll beat him easily."

"Sure, Teacher Zhou. I'll beat him easily."

The boy named Liu Ping nodded, his eyes full of confidence.

He was a freshman at Shrek Academy the previous year and was now a second-year student. His Soul Power Level was twenty-three, and his Martial Soul was a single-handed saber.

His class teacher in his first year had been Zhou Yi, and at the time, his strength had ranked among the top hundred in his year.

In the previous year's Freshman Assessment, he and his teammates had placed thirty-second. Among several hundred freshmen, that was already an upper-middle ranking.

That was why he was so confident against Huo Yuhao, a freshman with only thirteen levels of Soul Power.

What did thirteen levels mean?

It meant he had only just crossed the threshold of being a Soul Master. He was still a long way from becoming a level-twenty Soul Grandmaster.

And Liu Ping was a genuine level-twenty-three Soul Grandmaster, with one more Soul Ring, ten more levels of Soul Power, and a year more combat experience.

There was no suspense in this fight from the very start.

Hearing Liu Ping's words, Zhou Yi nodded in satisfaction.

She looked at the slender figure on the platform, a cruel satisfaction flashing in her eyes. He had dared to contradict her in front of everyone. Now she would show them all what happened to those who challenged her authority.

"Go," she said coolly. "Don't hold back."

Liu Ping understood. A cruel smile curled his lips.