New Student Assessment Begins

Xiao Xiao watched Huo Yuhao's display in astonishment, her mouth falling wide enough to fit an egg.

Huo Yuhao smiled, then said to Xiao Xiao, "This is merely my Self-Created Soul Skill, just a little trick using changes in light."

Xiao Xiao nodded, then she and Wang Dong introduced themselves in turn. There was no real difference from the original story. Huo Yuhao had not changed any of this; the only difference was that, without Zhou Yi's pressure and anxiety, Xiao Xiao had not crippled herself by attaching her first hundred-year soul ring to the Nine Phoenixes Flute.

Xiao Xiao was quite an honest girl. Even though her second martial soul had no soul ring attached, she still revealed it.

The soul skills of Huo Yuhao's group of three were easy enough to understand, so naturally, there was no preliminary sparring session that morning like in the original story.

The three discussed the details of the match all morning, then returned to rest. In the afternoon, they met again at the entrance to the Teaching Building and headed to the Assessment Area together.

Shrek's Assessment Area was easy to find. It was in the north-central part of the Martial Soul Department and covered a vast area. Even from afar, one could smell the lingering scent of blood.

For more sensitive soul masters like Huo Yuhao, even from a great distance, they could sense the savage aura emanating from within.

All assessments between people in Shrek Academy's Outer Court were held here. This was also the examination ground that decided countless fates—whether one could remain at Shrek and continue studying, or leave for good and bid farewell to every prospect of a brilliant future, all depended on the battles fought here.

Under such a system, battles between geniuses here were even more intense than those in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament. Geniuses fought one another for profit; aside from the very few who valued loyalty and friendship, whose personal ties meant the stakes were not too high and who might stop at the right point—

Most people fought bloody battles to the death here. This was a battlefield where wolf-like culture was taken to its extreme.

The Assessment Area had now been divided into fifty square arenas, each twenty meters on a side.

Fifty teachers and three hundred and ten groups of students would be evenly distributed among the fifty designated areas. Only half of them would successfully complete the competition and officially enter Shrek Academy.

As for the remaining half of the would-be geniuses delayed by this, their lives would be thoroughly cast into darkness by this assessment. At this point, admissions at all major academies had already ended. Unless one's family had extraordinary influence, it would be difficult to find another suitable school to enroll in.

And by the following year, they would have to compete for admission spots against students who had failed to enter Shrek but were a year younger and appeared to have greater potential.

When recruiting students, every academy preferred those as young as possible within the age range. A difference of one year was enough for many schools to refuse admission.

That was also why so many students expelled by Shrek Academy lingered around Shrek City, unwilling to leave for so long.

Huo Yuhao sighed inwardly, but Xiao Xiao and Wang Dong clearly had not considered this. Like the other students, they simply waited nervously and excitedly for their first assessment at Shrek.

For geniuses, Shrek's system truly was quite good and provided plenty of emotional validation. After all, there were always peers around to highlight a genius's brilliance.

"Attention, all new students! Attention, all new students! Please enter the Assessment Area immediately to prepare for the new student assessment. You have ten minutes remaining to enter. Those who are late will be regarded as having forfeited this assessment."

The enormous announcement rang throughout the Outer Court, loud enough to reach every corner.

Most of the new students' expressions turned solemn. Their first assessment had arrived, and it would have been a lie to say they were not nervous.

However, the broadcast served only as a symbolic reminder. For an assessment of this level, even the dumbest person would arrive early. No one would do something as foolish as arriving late or forgetting their admission permit.

A teacher who looked to be around forty arrived at Area Thirty-Three. He appeared utterly ordinary, with no imposing aura whatsoever. He wore a genial smile and seemed very approachable.

After counting the students, he smiled and nodded. "Very good. There are six groups of students taking the assessment here, and everyone has arrived. Let me introduce myself first. My name is Wang Yan, and I will be your assessment teacher for the next two days."

Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow. As expected. Although I'm no longer in Class One, the people and events I encountered before still generally revolve around me.

Just as in the original story, Wang Yan first issued a smiling-tiger warning against making the match too intense. Then he opened a folder, glanced at it, and looked up.

"First round, first match: New Student Class Two, Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao; New Student Class Three, Ouyang Junyi, Chen Junfeng, Zhao Haochen. You may enter the arena. Take your positions in separate corners. You may only release your martial souls after I announce the start of the match. Enter."

There were six groups of students, and Area Thirty-Three would hold three matches today. Huo Yuhao and the others exchanged glances before quickly entering the arena and taking their places in the northwest corner.

The three students from New Student Class Three naturally chose the southeast corner, standing opposite Huo Yuhao's group.

The match had not begun, but the eyes of both teams already revealed their determination to claim victory. The scent of gunpowder was thick in the air.

As Wang Yan announced the start of the match, Huo Yuhao touched a finger to his brow, releasing his first soul skill, Illusionary Thought Confusion.

When the cloud of spiritual mist appeared on the field, the eyes of the Class Three students, who had been fully focused moments ago, immediately turned unfocused.

Wang Dong took advantage of that moment to leap into the air. A pair of magnificent Light Goddess Butterfly wings spread behind her.

Xiao Xiao stepped forward as well, the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron above her head spinning rapidly. She was clearly ready to launch an attack.

Almost the instant Wang Dong activated Martial Soul Possession, she charged out and swiftly arrived before Ouyang Junyi. Before he could fully activate his Martial Soul Possession, she seized his throat in one claw.

Wang Yan's warning still had some effect on Wang Dong. She did not strike too ruthlessly, instead tossing him toward Wang Yan's position by the referee's side.

Wang Yan immediately caught the flying Ouyang Junyi and declared him eliminated.

Seeing that their side had lost a member, Zhao Haochen immediately chanted his soul incantation, "I have a big chicken leg," then moved to hand the chicken leg to the teammate standing beside him.

But Xiao Xiao, who had been watching the battlefield closely, gave him no such opportunity. The instant he began chanting the soul incantation, one of the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldrons shot violently out along a diagonal path.

The massive cauldron flew with tremendous speed, instantly smashing into the briefly intersecting hands of Zhao Haochen and Chen Junfeng...