Wang Yan lowered his head, wishing he could give the version of himself who had asked that question a solid slap across the face.
It would have been one thing to ask an ordinary student, but he just had to shoot his mouth off and ask this freak. Wasn't that like offering up his face to be stepped on?
Seeing the miserable Class One homeroom teacher looking utterly devastated and on the verge of collapse, Xiao Yan stepped forward two paces.
"Teacher Wang, there's really no need to take it so hard." Xiao Yan looked composed, his tone carrying a hint of consolation.
"Your specialty is martial soul theory research. Comparing your Soul Power Level to ours is rather unfair. Let me find you an excellent point of comparison."
Wang Yan raised his head and pushed up the black-framed glasses on his nose, confusion showing in his eyes.
With his hands behind his back, Xiao Yan solemnly laid out his argument.
"Ten thousand years ago, there was that theoretical master, Yu Xiaogang, who claimed to have taught a god. You should know him well. He was famous in theoretical circles, yet he successfully broke through the age of fifty while his soul power was still below rank thirty!"
Wang Yan froze in place, rapidly running the words through his mind.
Soul power below rank thirty, yet he broke through fifty years of age.
How was that praising someone? It was clearly tearing off that master's last shred of dignity and tossing it onto the ground to be trampled.
As a veteran teacher well versed in Douluo Continent's history, Wang Yan instantly grasped the dark humor behind it.
The muscles in his tightly drawn face twitched uncontrollably, and with a "pfft," he burst out laughing.
But the instant the laughter left his throat, Wang Yan realized something was wrong.
Yu Xiaogang was one of Shrek Academy's founders, a revered sage recorded in the academy's archives.
As an academy teacher, making fun of a revered predecessor alongside his students could get him disciplined if word got out.
He hurriedly covered his mouth and forcibly swallowed the rest of his laughter, his face turning bright red from holding it in.
Xiao Xiao and Wu Feng, standing nearby, were completely baffled.
Their understanding of history from ten thousand years ago was limited. They only knew figures who had become gods, such as Tang San and Dai Mubai, and were not particularly familiar with the name Yu Xiaogang.
"Brother, what's Teacher Wang laughing about? Being under rank thirty at fifty years old—how is that an excellent comparison?" Xiao Xiao tugged on Xiao Yan's sleeve, her face full of confusion.
Xiao Yan lowered his voice and explained the wordplay and sarcasm in tones only the few of them could hear.
Xiao Xiao and Wu Feng immediately understood.
Wu Feng had never been one to mind decorum, and she doubled over laughing on the spot. Xiao Xiao also clutched her stomach and giggled.
As the students from each class gradually took their places, the Beast Fighting Zone grew increasingly bustling.
On the raised platform, Dean of Students Du Weilun straightened his clothes, picked up the Amplification Soul Tool, and prepared to announce the official start of the second-year advancement assessment.
"Ah-choo!"
A loud sneeze that rang through the entire Beast Fighting Zone abruptly interrupted Du Weilun.
From the direction of the Beast Fighting Zone entrance, a figure staggered inside.
The person looked utterly miserable. His clothes had long since been torn into strips that fluttered chaotically in the wind as he ran.
His hair was a mess, his face pale and bluish, and he kept sneezing uncontrollably as he ran, his nose frozen red.
Anyone who did not know better would have thought he was some little beggar fleeing famine, who had panicked and run into Shrek Academy by mistake.
Du Weilun frowned, then took a closer look and recognized the bedraggled youth.
It was Huo Yuhao, the student who had missed the enrollment deadline.
According to Shrek Academy's ironclad rules, anyone who failed to report by the deadline was automatically deemed to have withdrawn, with no room for negotiation.
Du Weilun raised the Amplification Soul Tool, ready to publicly announce Huo Yuhao's expulsion.
A tall figure silently appeared beside Huo Yuhao and pressed a hand onto his still-trembling shoulder. It was Fan Yu of the Spirit Guidance Department.
Du Weilun's eyes narrowed slightly.
Fan Yu carried considerable weight, but not enough to make him, the dean of students for the Spirit Soul Department, publicly ignore academy rules.
Rules were rules. No plea for mercy would change that.
Just as he was about to speak, heavy footsteps sounded from the stairs at the side of the platform.
Qian Duoduo entered Du Weilun's line of sight.
The vice-dean of the Spirit Guidance Department walked onto the platform with a smile, appearing amiable while exerting no small amount of pressure.
With two important figures from the Spirit Guidance Department stepping forward at once to protect an Outer Court freshman, Du Weilun had no choice but to weigh the situation carefully.
Though the Spirit Soul Department and Spirit Guidance Department had always been competing in secret, openly tearing their relationship apart would benefit no one.
On the raised platform, several senior officials gathered together. After brief but intense negotiations, they finally settled on a compromise.
Du Weilun picked up the Amplification Soul Tool again, his voice solemn.
"Huo Yuhao reported late and should have been expelled. However, given the circumstances, the academy has decided to give him an opportunity to prove himself. Huo Yuhao will be the first to take the field in the first round of the advancement assessment. He must face a thousand-year Soul Beast and win in order to retain his enrollment!"
The moment those words were spoken, the stands erupted in an uproar.
Xiao Yan stood at the front of Class One's formation, watching Huo Yuhao walk toward the arena after changing into the white academy uniform Fan Yu had handed him.
Even in clean clothes, Huo Yuhao could not stop shivering, and sneezes kept ringing out.
He had remained in an ice hut in the Extreme North for too long. The cold had already seeped deep into his bones.
Even with the Ultimate Ice martial soul as a foundation, the frostbite suffered by his physical body was a lingering aftereffect that could not be cured in a short time.
The heavy metal gate slowly rose, and a pungent, bloody wind poured from the dark passageway.
A Gale Demon Wolf over three meters long sprang from its cage.
Its body was covered in tough blue-gray fur, and its ghostly green eyes locked onto Huo Yuhao ahead. Saliva dripped from between its sharp fangs.
Azure wind blades circled its limbs. It was a ferocious Soul Beast renowned for its speed and wind-element lethality.
Facing the oppressive aura of a thousand-year Soul Beast, Huo Yuhao rubbed his reddened nose and forcibly held back another sneeze. Then his eyes suddenly lit up.
Rather than retreating, he advanced. A bone-piercing chill spread wildly from him through the Colosseum.
The scene Xiao Yan had expected appeared.
Huo Yuhao directly revealed his Second Martial Soul.
Ice crystals rapidly formed over his arms, turning into hard diamond-shaped armor.
Immediately afterward, a phantom appeared behind Huo Yuhao.
It was a scorpion, crystalline and translucent, as though carved from ice jade.
Though it was merely a martial soul phantom, it radiated a ten-thousand-year aura powerful enough to make a thousand-year Soul Beast tremble.
Teachers and students in the stands widened their eyes, wondering if this was the Ice Jade Scorpion martial soul that possessed Ultimate Ice.
Yet within Xiao Yan's Star River Sea of Consciousness, everything exploded into chaos.
Ice Empress had originally been lying with the Ice Bear King Xiao Bai and Snow Empress at the edge of the Bagua Formation Map, resting with her eyes closed. The instant that Ice Jade Scorpion phantom appeared, she jolted violently.
The aura of shared bloodline origin accurately reached her senses despite the many barriers separating them from the outside world.
Ice Empress's cold orange-gold eyes flew open.
She took a step forward, extending her spiritual sight out of Xiao Yan's sea of consciousness and directly toward the external Colosseum.
When she clearly saw the ten-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion martial soul phantom behind Huo Yuhao, the delicate little girl instantly flew into a rage.
"How outrageous!"
Ice Empress shouted furiously.
Her snow-white, translucent cheeks flushed bright red from overwhelming anger, while the jade-colored scorpion markings on either side of her face shone brilliantly.
The small Ice Crystal Crown atop her head even formed sharp ice spikes as her energy ran wild.
Her hands clenched tightly into fists, and the emerald-green scorpion tail behind her lashed about madly, striking the void of the sea of consciousness with crisp explosive cracks.
As the leader of the Ice Jade Scorpion clan and a king of the Extreme North, she would never allow any human to hunt her clansmen and turn them into martial souls.
"I've only been gone from the Extreme North for a few days, and someone already dared to hunt my people!" Ice Empress stamped her feet furiously atop the formation map. Murderous intent overflowed from her orange-gold eyes as she stared fixedly at the youth releasing the aura of Ultimate Ice.
"He stole my Ice Jade Scorpion clan's origin to create a martial soul. I want him dead!"