At dawn the next morning, the rising sun quietly brushed the horizon with a pale, fish-belly white.
Today was the day of the assessment. Huo Yuhao got up early and headed straight for the academy.
Every year, the Freshman Assessment was an occasion that sharply divided the new students at Shrek Academy.
The powerful students longed to show off their abilities during the assessment, attract the academy's attention, and earn special training.
The weaker students, with lower cultivation, were all on tenterhooks, praying to every god they could think of for fear that Shrek would eliminate them.
Huo Yuhao first met up with Ouyang Junyi and Chen Junfeng. After having breakfast in Shrek's cafeteria, the three headed straight to the Assessment Zone of Shrek Academy.
The Assessment Zone lay in the north-central part of the Martial Soul Department, next to the Spirit Fighting Zone Huo Yuhao had visited before.
Compared to the Spirit Fighting Zone, the Assessment Zone was much larger. It was an oval-shaped area, with a vast open space inside and a low wall around the perimeter. The entire zone covered roughly twenty thousand square meters. Since so many students were taking the assessment at once, the space inside had been divided into about fifty sections.
Huo Yuhao and his group had been assigned to District 33, so the three went straight to their section.
As soon as Huo Yuhao's group entered the assessment area, they drew everyone's attention.
The main reason was that among a crowd of new students whose average age was only twelve, Huo Yuhao's height stood out far too much.
How come everyone else is a little bean, but you suddenly shot up so tall? An adult beating up a kid, is that it?
On top of that, Huo Yuhao's increasingly refined features had quite a few female students in the assessment area whispering among themselves.
On the other side of District 33, Xiao Xiao spotted Huo Yuyao and her eyes lit up. She tugged at Wang Dong's clothes and pointed in Huo Yuhao's direction. "Wang Dong, look! It's Huo Yuhao. He's in our section too."
At her words, Wang Dong immediately turned to look. The moment she saw Huo Yuhao, her eyes went wide.
This guy! We haven't seen each other for three months. How did he change so much? How did he get so tall?
Standing beside Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao was an ordinary-looking boy, apparently the third member of their team.
Wang Dong pushed through the crowd and strode straight toward Huo Yuhao, arrogance written all over her face.
"Huo Yuhao, I didn't expect you to be in this section too. Last time, outside the dormitory, I lost to you by one move because I let my guard down. If I run into you in this assessment, I'll defeat you fair and square!" Wang Dong stopped in front of Huo Yuhao and declared loudly, her chin held high.
"So it's you. Setting aside whether you'll even run into me, if you really do, then I suppose you could indeed be a bit of a handful for me." Huo Yuhao looked down at Wang Dong, frowned, and replied.
"Heh, so you do understand how strong I am. Of course you should find me a handful. Don't think that just because you've beaten a few Soul Elders, you're invincible. If you really run into our team, there's no telling who'll win this match."
Wang Dong smiled smugly at his words and was about to continue, but Huo Yuhao raised a hand and cut her off.
"Don't get the wrong idea. When I said 'a handful,' I didn't mean your strength would give me trouble. I meant that if I ran into your team in this assessment, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to use my full strength. That's what I find troublesome."
"Why wouldn't you be able to use your full strength?" Wang Dong asked, confused.
"After all, would an adult get serious while playing around with a child?"
Huo Yuhao's expression was calm, as if he were simply stating a fact.
Wang Dong stood frozen in place for a moment. Only after a while did she react, her face flushing red.
What does Huo Yuhao mean? Is he saying that in front of him, we're no different from children?
"You bastard, you—" Wang Dong was about to say something.
Just then, a booming announcement rang out across the entire Assessment Zone. "Attention, all new students. Proceed to your assessment areas immediately to take part in the Freshman Assessment. You have only three minutes left to enter. Anyone who is late will forfeit."
As the announcement sounded, a middle-aged man arrived in District 33. It was Wang Yan, the instructor of Freshman Class 3.
After arriving at the Assessment Zone, Wang Yan didn't waste time. He took out a roster and called out loudly, "First match of the first round: Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, and Zhou Sichen from Freshman Class 1 versus Zhang Wei, Yang Zhi, and Xiao Feng from Freshman Class 10."
"You may enter the arena. The match begins in three minutes!"
As soon as Wang Yan finished speaking, Wang Dong shot Huo Yuhao a fierce glare before returning to her two teammates. The three quickly entered the arena and took their positions.
Their opponents were three students from Freshman Class 10, all boys. They had also entered the arena and taken their positions.
This should be interesting. Huo Yuhao watched from below, intrigued.
Wang Dong noticed Huo Yuhao looking at her. Remembering what he had said, she felt anger well up inside her.
So she spoke in an almost inaudible voice from the arena. "You two don't do anything. I'll handle this match myself!"
Once both sides were in position, Wang Yan nodded and said, "Before the assessment begins, I'll remind you once again: this is an academy assessment. You must not injure or maim your opponents. Otherwise..."
Wang Yan looked at the six students in the arena. After seeing that they all understood, he immediately gave the command.
"Begin!"
Almost the instant Wang Yan called the start of the match, both sides released their Martial Souls.
A massive golden cauldron took shape above Xiao Xiao's head. Across from her, the ordinary-looking boy summoned a book-shaped Martial Soul into his hands.
Wang Dong's display was the most spectacular. A pair of blue-violet wings unfurled from her back, dazzlingly beautiful.
Even more astonishing, while Xiao Xiao and the other boy each had two yellow Hundred-Year Soul Rings, Wang Dong had one yellow ring and one purple ring rising around her.
A thousand-year Second Soul Ring!
The astonishing sight left everyone present dumbstruck. Everyone except Huo Yuhao was utterly stunned.
Even Wang Yan looked incredulous. A thousand-year Second Soul Ring meant that the limit of what Soul Masters had, throughout history, considered theoretically possible had been broken!
Wang Dong was undoubtedly a once-in-a-generation genius!
At that moment, everyone stared at Wang Dong in shock and disbelief.
Standing in the arena, Wang Dong seemed to notice the astonishment in the gazes directed at her.
She couldn't help feeling a little pleased with herself.
The next moment, she shot Huo Yuhao a deeply provocative look from the arena.
She gave a quiet snort to herself.
Huo Yuhao, did you see that? I, Wang Dong, am the real genius. My talent is absolutely no less than yours!
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