Ma Xiaotao's Rebellion Begins, Freshman Class One's Trouble

"Xiaotao, Xiaotao... I already told you not to cultivate for the time being, yet you insisted on ignoring me. This time, you nearly caused a catastrophe again, didn't you?" Yan Shaozhe looked at Ma Xiaotao helplessly before speaking to her with heartfelt anguish.

Ma Xiaotao rubbed her head and gradually came to her senses. Then she said to Yan Shaozhe, "Teacher, is it wrong for me to want to cultivate? Just because my Martial Soul has an innate flaw, do I have to give up my chance of becoming strong?"

Yan Shaozhe fell silent. He was instead somewhat taken aback by the firmness of Ma Xiaotao's rebuttal this time. Whenever he said such things in the past, Ma Xiaotao would usually resist with stubborn silence.

Leaning against the wall, Yan Shaozhe rubbed his brow and was about to speak when Ma Xiaotao looked at her hands and circulated her Soul Power. "Teacher, that nameless Evil Fire inside my body has subsided."

Yan Shaozhe nodded, then said to Ma Xiaotao, "We tested your blood. Earlier, you must have encountered an ice-element Soul Master no weaker than yourself. They directly infused ice elements into your body. For an ordinary person, that would have been a fatal move, but the Evil Fire contained in your blood neutralized that ice element, and it has subsided as well."

"However, this only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. Once that icy power is completely worn away by the Evil Fire, your Evil Fire will return from the dead and flare up again."

After the three-day round-robin matches ended, there was a little over a day of breathing room for the homeroom teachers to give their final brief lessons and plan tactics for the upcoming ranking matches.

Wang Dong naturally suggested that she and Huo Yuhao study a Martial Soul Fusion Skill to deal with Dai Huabin, but Huo Yuhao refused on the grounds that eyes and butterflies had absolutely nothing to do with each other.

Huo Yuhao currently had a whole bunch of eyeballs on him. He had no need for a Martial Soul Fusion Skill as a trump card at all. Even among the effects of those four Martial Soul Fusion Skills, few could compare to his main battle eyes.

Without the process of researching a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, they naturally avoided being late as well.

In Freshman Class Two's classroom, Mu Jin stepped behind the lectern. She was glowing with health, but Huo Yuhao noticed that several people were already missing from the classroom. There was no need to ask—they had clearly failed the Freshman Assessment and packed up to leave.

For Mu Jin to still be smiling so radiantly under these circumstances, Freshman Class One under Zhou Yi must have had an even worse time of it.

Mu Jin stood behind the lectern, gave a soft cough, and said calmly, "After three days, the Freshman Assessment has completely concluded. The final results were compiled last night. Regrettably, three teams in our class failed the Freshman Assessment and are currently handling their withdrawal procedures at the Academic Affairs Office."

Before Class Two's diehard members could react, Mu Jin smoothly changed the subject herself. "Some of the more gossip-loving students in our class may already know about the personal conflict between Zhou Yi from Class One and me."

"So I'm very pleased. This time, you brought me honor. You eliminated a full eight teams from Class One—very good indeed. Especially Huo Yuhao's team, which directly defeated their second-seeded team."

"Huh? That was the second-seeded team? I thought they were a speed bump." Huo Yuhao smiled and casually tossed out a joke.

Douluo World also had speed bumps. Though they served a very different purpose from those in his previous life, mainly being used in battle to hinder enemy cavalry, they shared the same joke: when those things encountered Soul Master cavalry, they were like speed bumps facing a heavy truck—crushed flat in an instant.

"Exactly. Against Soul Masters, their second-seeded team was only fit to be a speed bump." Rather than stopping Huo Yuhao's joke, Mu Jin followed it up.

It was obvious that Mu Jin was extremely interested in being able to one-up Zhou Yi. She could even be described as positively delighted by it.

Once Mu Jin repeated the joke, Class Two erupted in laughter unlike anything before. This year's Freshman Class One could be considered the Monster Association. Without Huo Yuhao taking the lead and motivating them, Freshman Class One had been in a very scattered state.

With core members like Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao absent, the remaining small fry had made no shortage of jokes out of themselves. Mu Jin had certainly enjoyed the show.

"All right, quiet down." Only after allowing everyone to cheer for a full ten minutes did Mu Jin signal for them to settle down again.

"Although everyone present has passed the Freshman Assessment, this is merely a very, very small milestone on your path as Soul Masters—especially on your path through Shrek Academy.

It only means that you are qualified to continue studying at Shrek Academy for one more year. So none of you can let down your guard, or we will be saying goodbye at the end of second year.

Furthermore, I hope that the thirteen teams from our class that entered the top sixty-four will do everything possible to improve themselves in the upcoming ranking matches and show their own brilliance."

There was no doubt that Huo Yuhao's team, with their ten straight victories, was naturally among those thirteen teams. Wang Dong turned around and exchanged looks with Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao. Then the three of them lightly bumped fists in celebration.

Mu Jin continued speaking to the class. "Among the sixty-four teams that advanced, six achieved perfect records. One of them is Huo Yuhao's team from our class. Let's give them a round of applause first."

Everyone in the classroom immediately focused their gazes on Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao, their eyes filled with admiration.

After allowing everyone to applaud for a while, Mu Jin said to Huo Yuhao, "Huo Yuhao, you three, come out with me."

The three of them rose and followed Mu Jin out of Freshman Class Two's classroom.

As they passed the grade director's office, Huo Yuhao could even hear Du Weilun reprimanding Zhou Yi inside.

Mu Jin could not hold back a soft laugh as she passed by, then led the three of them into her own office.

"You did well this time. After all, you advanced with ten consecutive victories. As your teacher, I should reward you in principle." As Mu Jin spoke to the three of them, she bent down and pulled open a locked drawer.

Watching Mu Jin's movements, Huo Yuhao became curious about what reward she would take out. Then he saw her pull out a gray storage pouch and place it before the three of them...