Was Ye Qingyuan a Freak Too?

Bei Bei suddenly spotted a blind spot.

If Yang Jian gained the power of one Ultimate Attribute every time he absorbed a Soul Ring with an Ultimate Attribute, didn't that mean he now possessed three Ultimate Attributes?

Hearing Bei Bei's question, Tang Ya finally realized it too.

After all, neither of them had witnessed Yang Jian's battle with Zhou Yi firsthand. They'd only heard that Yang Jian had displayed the power of Ultimate Water. And according to Yang Jian, he should now possess three Ultimate Attributes!

"My First Soul Ring gave me the Ultimate Gold attribute, the Second Soul Ring was the Ultimate Water you already know about, and the third is Ultimate Earth."

At that, Bei Bei and Tang Ya exchanged a glance and spoke in unison: "Freak!"

A freak?

Well, it wasn't that bad, was it?

His Martial Soul might sound absurdly overpowered, but it did have its drawbacks. Ultimate Chaos was also an Ultimate Attribute, so he faced the same problems as other Soul Masters with Ultimate Attributes—before reaching the seventh ring, his cultivation speed would be rather slow. Only after becoming a Soul Saint would he cultivate far faster than ordinary people.

Moreover, as his cultivation continued to increase, the number of Ultimate Attributes he could obtain would dwindle. This meant that acquiring each new Soul Ring would be more difficult than the last.

By the time he reached the Soul Douluo or even Titled Douluo level, Yang Jian suspected that even scouring the entire continent might not turn up a suitable Soul Beast with an Ultimate Attribute for his Soul Ring.

Bei Bei had now completely abandoned the idea of testing himself against Yang Jian.

When they'd first entered the academy, he might have harbored some thoughts of competing with Yang Jian, but those thoughts had now vanished without a trace.

With one Ultimate Attribute, he might have been able to work hard and catch up a little. But three Ultimate Attributes... He'd probably never even come close.

Zhou Yi still strode into the classroom right on the dot.

Seeing Yang Jian sitting in the middle of the classroom with Ye Qingyuan as usual, a flicker of surprise crossed Zhou Yi's eyes.

Ever since Yang Jian had defeated her that day, she'd been prepared for him to leave first grade at any moment and move up to a higher grade—or even the Inner Court.

But to her surprise, the academy had made no move at all and had still left Yang Jian in her class.

To be honest, Zhou Yi was under a lot of pressure.

Leaving aside the rumors circulating in the Outer Court and the doubtful looks people gave her, Zhou Yi genuinely felt she had nothing left to teach Yang Jian. He could defeat her, yet he was still stuck in first grade, in her class. It was a complete waste of his time.

But Zhou Yi didn't feel she could question the academy's arrangements, so she could only let Yang Jian stay among a group of two-ring Soul Masters.

"Today's lesson will train your combat skills. Everyone, follow me!"

With that, Zhou Yi didn't waste another word. She led the way out of the classroom.

The students looked at one another, unsure what the old woman was up to, but they had no choice but to follow behind her. In a great throng, they made their way to Shrek Academy's Beast Fighting Zone.

The Beast Fighting Zone was the largest dedicated area in all of Shrek Academy, as well as its biggest structure. Its grounds were so vast they could rival the combined area of every building in the Martial Soul Department, all the dormitories, and Shrek Plaza.

Long ago, Shrek Academy had begun raising Soul Beasts within its grounds. Many other academies had followed suit, but Shrek Academy was the only one to achieve such a scale. Even the royal families of the great empires wouldn't go to all that trouble for so little gain.

For one thing, it was extremely risky, and it was hard to reap rewards commensurate with that risk. For another, the costs were enormous.

All the annual tax revenue from Shrek City went to Shrek Academy, and a full third of that vast sum was poured into the Beast Fighting Zone. That gave some idea of the investment involved.

Looking at the grand Beast Fighting Arena, then at the students who'd gone pale after sensing the auras of the Soul Beasts, Zhou Yi smiled faintly.

"This is your classroom today."

"If you want to become a powerful Soul Master, it's not enough to blindly cultivate Soul Power. Combat training is just as essential. Your task today is to defeat a Soul Beast."

"You'll work in pairs or groups of three. Support-type Soul Masters will be paired with Power Attack System Soul Masters, control-type with agility-type... In short, I've arranged your groups based on your current abilities. Your goal is to work together and defeat a Soul Beast with a cultivation of a thousand years."

"Don't worry. Every Soul Beast's cultivation has just crossed the thousand-year mark—not a year more or less. Any group that fails is out!"

"Now, those whose names I call will form a group."

After explaining the rules, Zhou Yi paid no mind to the students' reactions and began calling out their names.

"Group One: Li Leping and Feng Quan."

"Group Two: Guo Fan, Liao Fan, and He Tianxiong."

"..."

"Finally, Ye Qingyuan will be in a group by herself, and Yang Jian will be in a group by himself."

At the last announcement, all the students present froze.

It made sense for Yang Jian to be on his own, but Ye Qingyuan... Why did she have to be on her own too? Having one freak like Yang Jian was already stressful enough. Could Ye Qingyuan, who was always by his side, be a freak too?

There were freaks every year, but why were there so many this year?

Ye Qingyuan herself, however, didn't object.

If she needed to team up with Yang Jian just to deal with a thousand-year-old Soul Beast, how could she ever stand shoulder to shoulder with him?

"Quiet!"

"All the Soul Beasts you'll face are only a thousand years old. The only difference is the type of Soul Beast. Until the gates of the Beast Enclosure open, you won't know what kind you'll be facing. That means the tactics you decide on beforehand may not work. That's part of the training too. Soul Masters have all kinds of strange abilities, so you must be able to deal with any enemy."

"I'll say it again: any group that fails will be expelled!"

With that, Zhou Yi turned and began speaking with the person in charge of the Beast Fighting Zone.

Zhou Yi's voice, stern and commanding yet unusually clear, echoed in everyone's ears. Most of the students felt a flicker of nervousness.

It was true that they'd hunted Soul Rings and absorbed them. But most had relied on elders from their families or teachers from before they entered the academy to kill the Soul Beasts for them.

For most of them, facing a Soul Beast themselves like this was a first.

It was easy to imagine that after this lesson, Class One might have a lot fewer faces in it.