Zhou Yi gave a cold snort, then turned to the other students who were still sitting down.
"See that? Those two just got here and already dared to fight. That kind of courage is worth learning from."
The familiar prelude of first tearing someone down before building them up again. Mu Chen quietly waited for the old woman to continue.
Zhou Yi swept her gaze over the students. "All of you who didn't fight, go run a hundred laps around the field! If you can't finish in an hour, you're expelled!"
At this, the students all wore expressions of utter despair.
Almost all of them were One-Ring Soul Masters. Even using their Martial Souls and Soul Power, a hundred laps would leave them completely exhausted.
"Timing starts now!"
Zhou Yi paid no attention to their groans. She took out a timer and started it.
Wang Dong let out a sigh of relief. "I never thought fighting you would have this kind of upside."
He muttered softly to Mu Chen beside him.
"What did you just call me?"
Mu Chen smiled at Wang Dong and raised his fist.
"B-big bro!"
"Just wait. She hasn't finished talking yet."
Wang Dong was a little confused by Mu Chen's meaningful smile.
"And you two have the nerve to laugh? Now, about the two of you who fought: each of you will run two hundred laps. You have the same time limit as everyone else—one hour!"
"What? Teacher, didn't you just praise us?"
Zhou Yi pushed up her glasses, her words sharp. "When did I praise you? Besides, even if I had, you'd still have to run. The timer's already started. Instead of standing here talking back to me, you'd be better off running."
Wang Dong was about to say something else, but Mu Chen grabbed him and ran toward the field.
"Old woman, today I'll show you what a stat monster is!"
Mu Chen had grown up by the sea and often swam there. His stamina had long since been trained to an exceptional level.
Besides, ordinary exercise like running could be used to make things difficult for One- and Two-Ring Soul Masters, but it wasn't very effective against those with three rings. For Mu Chen, an overpowered Four-Ring Soul Ancestor, keeping a steady pace and running two hundred laps was a piece of cake.
"Our homeroom teacher is terrifying. I really want to teach her a lesson!"
Wang Dong complained as he ran.
"Give it a rest. With your two Soul Rings, going after her would be nothing but asking for trouble. Anyone who can become a teacher at Shrek is no ordinary person. She's probably a Soul Emperor."
Wang Dong pursed her lips. "Big bro, could you not crush my confidence? Just because I can't beat her now doesn't mean I won't be able to in the future. I'm very talented, okay?"
"Talented? If you're so talented, how come you're only a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster at twelve?"
Wang Dong: "..."
Mu Chen ran very fast, and he hardly seemed to feel tired at all.
At first, Wang Dong could keep up with his pace, but gradually she started to fall behind.
"Big bro, could you slow down a little?"
In the original story, Wang Dong could easily finish a hundred laps, just like everyone else.
But now she had to run two hundred laps, and keep up with Mu Chen's pace as a Soul Ancestor. She was starting to struggle.
"I'm telling you, you really need to exercise more. I don't feel a thing, and you're already tired."
As he spoke, Mu Chen reached out with one hand, grabbed the back of Wang Dong's collar, and lifted her up like a kitten.
"Hey, hey, what are you doing? Put me down!"
In her panic, Wang Dong's voice nearly cracked, coming perilously close to a girl's voice.
Mu Chen tucked her sideways under his arm. "Quit complaining. I'll carry you."
With Wang Dong tucked under his arm, Mu Chen ran lap after lap, his feet barely touching the ground.
Wang Dong's face was flushed bright red, but she couldn't break free.
I wonder if Tang San can see this.
Old Tang probably couldn't. When nothing was going on, he wouldn't actively look outside.
Just like that, Mu Chen carried Wang Dong and finished the two hundred laps in a little over half an hour.
Mu Chen set Wang Dong down. Her face was red beyond belief.
Mu Chen, meanwhile, wasn't even flushed or breathing hard.
"I'm just saying, Wang Dong, I was the one carrying you. Why are you the one blushing?"
Wang Dong turned her head away and didn't say a word.
Zhou Yi's expression was rather ugly. She'd originally wanted to make things difficult for Mu Chen, but she hadn't expected to run into a stat monster.
Mu Chen's gaze fell on a figure out on the field.
The frail figure was staggering along as he ran: Huo Yuhao.
This time, without Wang Dong's help, there was a good chance he wouldn't finish a hundred laps within the time limit.
That wasn't something Mu Chen wanted to see.
He could more or less guess why Old Tang had asked him to get close to Huo Yuhao. For now, Huo Yuhao couldn't be expelled.
Mu Chen immediately dashed back onto the field. Just as he had with Wang Dong, he carried Huo Yuhao and ran the remaining laps with him.
They finished even faster than in the original story.
Before the run, Zhou Yi hadn't clearly laid down any rules, so all she could do about Mu Chen's actions was feel displeased. She couldn't say anything.
Once an hour had passed, Zhou Yi once again began throwing her weight around as homeroom teacher.
"Anyone who didn't finish can go straight home."
Then, just as in the original story, she called out a whole list of names.
"You slackers, don't think I didn't see what you were doing. All of you, get out of here!"
And so, on the very first day of the new school term, quite a few students were gone from the class.
Across the entire Lower Grade Department, only this old woman could pull off something like this.
Once the run was over, the day's classes came to an end.
Huo Yuhao walked over to Mu Chen. "Big Brother Mu, thanks for helping me earlier. If you hadn't, I might have had to leave Shrek."
"It was nothing. Don't mention it."
"Big Brother Mu, let's go find Teacher Xiao Ya together. She asked me to bring you to her."
Mu Chen nodded.
Tang Ya was clearly still thinking about him, but Mu Chen didn't mind. As he'd said before, joining the Tang Sect had always been part of his plan.
Following Huo Yuhao, Mu Chen arrived in the eastern part of Shrek City, where the Snack Street was.
"Yuhao, Mu Chen, you're here!"
Tang Ya and Bei Bei were standing in front of a stall. A pushcart was set up before them.
"Yuhao, ever since I tried your grilled fish yesterday, I haven't been able to forget the taste. I think you could set up a stall here and earn some money to help cover your tuition. Bei Bei and I got this cart for you, so it's yours!"
Just as in the original story, Huo Yuhao had been roped into selling grilled fish again.
There was no helping it. He really did need to earn money to pay his tuition and cover his everyday expenses.
"Let's put the price at five Copper Soul Coins per fish!"
Tang Ya took out a wooden board and was just about to write the price when Mu Chen stopped her.
"Let me do it."
In a place like this, Mu Chen only needed to use a few of the sales tricks he'd learned about in his previous life to get good results.