The commotion around the District Eight arena had yet to die down when the referee in District Five sounded the bronze gong to start the match.
Xiao Yan strolled onto the arena without a hint of haste.
Standing opposite him was a trio that looked rather familiar: Huang Chutian and a pair of nearly identical twin sisters, Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo.
Looking at the three freshmen standing ready for battle, Xiao Yan felt a rare flicker of interest.
The twin sisters had a Martial Soul Fusion Skill called Heavenly Net. Though it wasn't all that powerful in his eyes, at the freshman level it was undoubtedly a formidable trump card against other teams.
With that confidence to fall back on, surely the three of them would have the nerve to go all out today.
Xiao Yan stopped, let his hands hang at his sides, and waited calmly for them to attack.
The referee raised his right hand, preparing to bring it down.
"Teacher! We surrender!"
Huang Chutian took a deep breath and thrust his right hand high overhead before the referee could announce the start of the match.
He shouted loud and clear, as if afraid the referee might not hear him and start the match anyway.
Behind him, Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo also relaxed in unison. Their stiff shoulders sagged, and they looked as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
Xiao Yan's fingers froze halfway up. He shook his head helplessly, turned away, and walked down the arena steps, his interest gone.
The freshmen below didn't boo. Instead, they looked at Huang Chutian's decisive surrender with understanding.
The freshman circles had been discussing the mysterious Class Nine monitor for a while now.
After word spread through the first few rounds, everyone had pieced together a theory: Xiao Yan had mastered a high-level illusion that bypassed defenses and struck directly at the mind.
Losing a fight on the arena wasn't scary. At worst, you'd suffer a few bruises, go lie down for a couple of days, and soon be full of life again.
But facing Xiao Yan was a one-sided social execution.
In earlier matches, some of the teams that refused to believe the rumors had been reduced to clutching their heads and weeping on the arena, kneeling and dancing, or beating their own teammates bloody with red-rimmed eyes.
Without powerful mental strength as a defense against the illusion, challenging this monster on a whim was tantamount to not caring about your own dignity.
If you couldn't win and were bound to make a fool of yourself, you might as well surrender cleanly. At least you'd save face instead of becoming a laughingstock.
Once that psychological defense collapsed, the rest of the matches took on a completely different character.
Thirty-two to sixteen, sixteen to eight, eight to four.
Over three consecutive rounds of elimination matches, Xiao Yan didn't even lift a finger.
Every time he stepped onto the arena, the opposing team would raise their hands to forfeit in perfect unison, as if they'd rehearsed it beforehand, then hurry off the platform.
Just like that, Xiao Yan advanced to the semifinals without shedding a drop of blood, becoming an insurmountable legend among this year's freshmen.
By comparison, Ning Tian's team had a much livelier road to the semifinals.
They advanced steadily, winning every match, but they rarely faced teams that surrendered outright.
Ning Tian and her teammates were certainly formidable, but their fighting style involved genuine clashes of Soul Skills.
For many freshman teams, a chance to face such a top-tier team during the assessment was invaluable combat training. They all wanted to use the opportunity to gain some battle experience.
Ning Tian directed the battle from the rear, Wu Feng charged into the fray, and Xiao Xiao swung her massive cauldron to control the field and finish off their opponents.
Through one real battle after another, the three girls perfectly blended their experience from the Dream Arena into their fighting, sweeping aside every opponent.
The tense schedule moved at breakneck speed.
In the blink of an eye, the Freshman Assessment reached the semifinals.
The four teams that had made it through gathered around the draw table in the center of the Assessment Area.
Besides Xiao Yan's one-man army and Ning Tian's trio, the remaining two teams were Dai Huabin's and Huo Yuhao's.
Though Huo Yuhao and his two teammates had lost to Ning Tian's team in the round-robin matches, they won every subsequent match and scraped their way into the final four.
The semifinals required a separate draw to determine the matchups.
At that moment, the atmosphere around the draw table was a little strange.
Ning Tian, Wu Feng, and Xiao Xiao huddled together, hands clasped, murmuring under their breath.
"Please don't draw the monitor... please don't let me draw my brother..."
Wu Feng was so anxious she kept stamping her feet. Ning Tian was unusually tense too, too worked up to maintain even her usual cool and composed demeanor.
They knew that man's methods all too well. Being tormented in the woods was one thing, but facing him on the semifinal arena before the entire school? That wouldn't be a match. It would be a public execution.
The dean in charge of the draw, Du Weilun, cleared his throat and stepped forward with a sealed wooden box in his hands.
"Team captains, step forward and draw. Number One will face Number One, and Number Two will face Number Two."
Xiao Yan was the first to step forward.
At the sight of him, Du Weilun's stern expression, maintained for the sake of his authority as dean, quickly softened into a radiant smile.
He knew the weight this young man carried, so he naturally had to treat him accordingly.
"Xiao Yan, you first." Du Weilun even held the wooden box out toward him.
Seeing the dean's excessive enthusiasm, Xiao Yan raised an eyebrow.
Why was he smiling so brightly? Had he tampered with the draw?
In his deep, dark eyes, the star chart of Fuxi Bagua began to divine silently.
Energy flowed, and threads of cause and effect intertwined deep in his pupils.
A few seconds later, Xiao Yan confirmed that there were no arrays inside the box to obscure mental perception or guide Soul Power. It held only four ordinary wax balls, with no tricks hidden among them.
Satisfied, Xiao Yan casually plucked out a wax ball, glanced at the slip of paper inside, and returned to his place.
Next, Ning Tian, Dai Huabin, and Huo Yuhao stepped forward in turn to draw.
While the results were being sorted, Xiao Yan's gaze fell on Huo Yuhao, who stood not far away.
The handsome young man was staring fixedly at Dai Huabin.
His face was deathly pale, and his eyes were bloodshot. His hands hung at his sides, clenched tightly into fists.
Huo Yuhao clearly wanted to make Dai Huabin pay on the arena.
Xiao Yan glanced at the Number Two slip in his hand, then at the paper Huo Yuhao was gripping. He shook his head helplessly.
What terrible luck. This was hopeless.
No matter how bitterly you hated him, your revenge was destined to fall through today.
Your semifinal opponent was me.
Du Weilun climbed onto the raised platform and took the slips from the four team captains. After checking them, he announced the matchups to the entire crowd in a booming voice.
"Here are the semifinal draw results!"
"Number One: Ning Tian's team versus Dai Huabin's team!"
At the result, Ning Tian, Wu Feng, and Xiao Xiao—who had been tense for ages—froze for a moment, then threw their arms around one another and erupted into a cheer that rang through the sky.
"Wonderful! We finally avoided the monitor!"
"Dai Huabin, huh? Just watch me pluck every last White Tiger hair off him today!" Wu Feng waved her fists, looking ready to throw herself into battle. Her pent-up desire to fight burst forth.
Across from them, Dai Huabin heard their cheers, and his face darkened like the bottom of a pot.
As the heir to the White Tiger Duke Mansion and a peerless genius with the top-tier Beast Martial Soul, Evil Eye White Tiger, hadn't people always treated him with respect?
Yet those three girls were celebrating like they'd won the grand prize just because they'd drawn him!
What was that supposed to mean? Did they think he was some soft persimmon they could squeeze at will? This was the greatest insult and humiliation imaginable!
Dai Huabin glared at Ning Tian and the others, fire blazing in his eyes, his back teeth grinding together.
Du Weilun paid no attention to the currents swirling below. He cleared his throat and read out the final result.
"Number Two: Xiao Yan's team versus..."
Everyone's eyes instantly fixed on the platform.
"...Huo Yuhao's team!"