Punish you to sweep the streets outside!

The teacher's face was so dark it looked as if water might drip from it.

The air in the classroom seemed to have been stripped away layer by layer. Everyone held their breath, their gazes landing on Ning Yuan in unison.

He actually dared to refute the teacher in public. Ning Yuan, you've got guts!

At that moment, Luo Lie and Lin Xiao exchanged a glance, and both saw the same desire to watch a good show in each other's eyes.

Because of the confidentiality agreement, the two of them could not directly explain what had happened in Eye Village, but they had personally seen that Ning Yuan's first soul ring was a thousand-year one.

In a moment, this teacher was going to get slapped in the face hard.

Ning Yuan calmly stood up.

"I said this theory is wrong."

"Yu Xiaogang's theory is built on the average physical condition of ordinary people, but Soul Masters have never been a group that lives by averages."

"How many geniuses clearly have the ability to absorb soul rings of greater age, yet are boxed in by one ridiculous number?"

The teacher gave a cold laugh. "You're a student who's only been enrolled for a few days. How many Soul Masters have you seen? How many theoretical works have you read? And you dare to publicly question the research results of a master of martial soul theory?"

"Then, Teacher, may I ask, when absorbing a soul ring, is it true that the better a Soul Master's physical condition is, the higher the theoretical upper limit of the soul ring they can absorb?"

"Yes. Everyone knows that. What are you bringing that up for?"

"Then by that logic, why can't there be a Soul Master with an exceptionally strong body, strong enough to stably absorb a soul ring beyond the age limit?"

The moment those words were spoken, the whole class suddenly understood.

That was right!

Why couldn't it be like that?

Especially those students who possessed beast martial souls or exceptionally powerful talents—their doubts grew even stronger at this moment.

If what Ning Yuan said was true, and the better one's physical condition was, the higher the age one could absorb, then that number was meaningless.

Everyone knew that the higher the age of a Soul Master's first soul ring, the more it helped their later growth. Then what if the first soul ring absorbed was five hundred years, or even... a thousand years?

"What are you doing, what are you doing, what are you doing? What nonsense are you all thinking about?"

"Ning Yuan, you think you know a lot? Then do you know where this number came from?"

Ning Yuan thought, Where did it come from? Isn't it just from Spirit Hall's records?

But he did not say that out loud.

"That is the price countless predecessors paid with their lives. Absorbing a soul ring beyond the age limit means the violent energy is enough to tear a Soul Master's body apart."

"If soul rings beyond the age limit could be absorbed so casually, wouldn't this entire continent be full of Soul Master geniuses?"

Once those words came out, all the students felt that the teacher had a point again.

Seeing the students look thoughtful, the teacher knew he had stabilized the situation, but he glared angrily at Ning Yuan.

This guy had dared to question what he was teaching in public and put him in an embarrassing position. There was no way he could let him off just like that.

"Ning Yuan disrupted classroom discipline. You, get out. Go stand outside the door!"

Ning Yuan said nothing. He merely looked at the teacher quietly, the corners of his mouth carrying a faint curve that was almost a smile yet not quite.

That silence was more lethal than any rebuttal.

Seeing this, the teacher lost his composure even more. Wasn't Ning Yuan making him look like a teacher who had been argued into a corner by a student?

"I said, get out!"

The teacher raised his voice and pointed toward the classroom door.

"What, my words don't matter anymore? You're just a boy from an ordinary background, with no backing and no resources, and yet you dare openly talk back to a teacher in class?"

"I think you're..."

"I'm what?"

Ning Yuan slowly rose to his feet.

He was a good bit shorter than the teacher, and his figure was much thinner and smaller, but when those eyes looked at the teacher, the latter inexplicably felt a wave of pressure.

This teacher aside, never mind the fact that he treated an incorrect theory like a treasured doctrine. Just his double standard toward students alone made Ning Yuan furious.

[Is this old man trying to get something extra added to his boxed lunch today? Judging by his attitude, he's asking for a beating. Venom can help you. I guarantee I'll beat him so badly his own mother won't recognize him! But let's agree first—after the beating, you have to treat me to brains. Ning Yuan, how about it? Are we doing this?]

[Why use a butcher's cleaver to kill a chicken?]

[What chicken? What cow? Where? Venom wants to eat!]

[I don't want to talk to someone with no culture...]

"Hey! Still talking back, are you?"

"You're a poor student who received Spirit Hall's favor, which is the only reason you were allowed to come here and study. Fine, you don't know gratitude, but you even dare to contradict a teacher in public?"

"Watch me teach you a proper lesson today and let you learn what it means to respect your teachers and honor the Dao!"

After saying that, he raised his hand and moved to slap Ning Yuan.

Just as the two sides were locked in a stalemate, the classroom door was pushed open from outside.

"What's going on here?"

The voice was not loud, carrying a natural coolness and elegance, like a chrysanthemum blooming unhurriedly in the autumn wind.

Everyone looked toward the sound.

Yue Guan Douluo stood in the doorway, his hands tucked into his sleeves. His gaze swept lightly over the classroom before finally settling on Ning Yuan.

"E-Elder Yue Guan?"

The expression on the teacher's face changed in an instant from anger to shock, then from shock to panic. He hurriedly came around from behind the lectern and cupped his hands in salute.

"I was unaware of your arrival, Elder. Forgive me for failing to welcome you..."

He was nothing more than a minor teacher of Spirit Hall. Before such an important figure, he was less than nothing.

"No need to welcome me."

Yue Guan cut off his pleasantries, his gaze falling on Ning Yuan, who was standing.

"Why is he standing?"

The teacher hurriedly embellished the story. "Elder Yue Guan, this student disrupted classroom discipline during class."

"I was teaching the Ten Martial Soul Theories and saying that the limit for the first soul ring's age is four hundred and twenty-three years, but he stood up and said that the entire theory is utter nonsense. I merely told him to stand outside for a while and learn his lesson..."

With this move, the teacher was undoubtedly taking the moral high ground, packaging himself as a good teacher acting for his student's benefit, while Ning Yuan was the bad student.

Elder Yue Guan was an important figure in Spirit Hall. Surely he could not possibly side with Ning Yuan, right?

Yue Guan's gaze narrowed slightly.

"The Ten Martial Soul Theories?"

He repeated it once, his tone revealing neither joy nor anger.

"You were teaching Yu Xiaogang's set?"

"Exactly." The teacher nodded. "Elder, you also know—"

"You said just now that he called that theory utter nonsense?"

Yue Guan interrupted him.

"Yes, exactly! He has no respect for his teachers at all—"

"He was right."

The teacher froze.

"What?"

You were a Titled Douluo, yet you were siding with Ning Yuan and even supporting what he said?

Yue Guan looked at him. Before this, he had not thought Yu Xiaogang's theory was wrong either, but Ning Yuan was a living example standing right in front of him. A thousand-year first soul ring was enough to prove that Yu Xiaogang's theory was wrong.

The teacher's mouth hung open, and he could not close it for a long while.

"But... but Elder Yue Guan, he disrupted classroom discipline..."

"Enough."

Yue Guan's voice remained calm, but the pressure contained within that calm made the teacher tactfully shut his mouth.

"As a teacher, you cling to outdated theories, suppress new voices, and personally attack students. Is someone like you worthy of being a teacher at Spirit Hall?"

The teacher's face turned deathly pale. "Elder Yue Guan, I..."

"From now on, you are no longer a subject teacher at Spirit Hall Primary Academy."

Yue Guan turned around, his voice not loud, yet beyond dispute.

"Pack your things and go sweep the academy gates."

"If anything like this happens again, you will no longer need to remain in Spirit Hall."

The teacher stood frozen in place, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.

He opened his mouth, then lowered his head, his voice dry. "...Your subordinate... accepts the order."

He turned around and packed up the lesson plans on the lectern, his movements very slow, as if even his fingers were trembling.

He was actually no longer a teacher. The treatment for teachers at Spirit Hall Academy was excellent, and he had gone through endless hardship to obtain this position. Yet today, he had been reduced to the treatment of sweeping the streets, cut down in an instant.

He felt as if the sky had collapsed. What exactly was going on with Ning Yuan? Why was he able to obtain Yue Guan Douluo's support?

He was merely a student from an ordinary background who had received Spirit Hall's favor.

But no matter what, he could never have imagined that this ordinary-born student before him, whom he looked down on, was now a genius whom Pope Bibi Dong valued extremely highly. How could his status be something a mere minor teacher like him could shake?

The classroom was deathly silent.

This scene had developed far too dramatically. Ning Yuan actually had a Spirit Hall elder at the Titled Douluo level backing him up?

At that moment, Luo Lie and Lin Xiao were almost laughing out loud. It felt too satisfying!

This teacher had always treated students differently in everyday life, and they had long since been unable to stand it.

Luo Lie thought, That was his big brother, all right. Silent until he made his move, and then he stunned everyone!

Now who would dare look down on his big brother?

He had quite forgotten that back in class, he had been the one leading the charge in looking down on Ning Yuan.

Yue Guan turned and looked at Ning Yuan, his gaze much gentler. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Ning Yuan shook his head.

"Good. I was just looking for you."

"I went back and thought over the comparative notes you showed me yesterday on those immortal herbs. There were a few parts I didn't quite understand, and I wanted to discuss them with you again."

Ning Yuan paused, then caught on and nodded. "Sure. Let's go, then."

Ning Yuan followed him out of the classroom without looking back.

The moment the door closed, the classroom erupted.

"Did I hear that right? Elder Yue Guan... came to ask Ning Yuan for guidance?"

"That's a Titled Douluo! An elder of Spirit Hall! And there's actually something he doesn't understand, so he came to ask Ning Yuan?"

"What background does Ning Yuan have, exactly? First he beats up Yan, and now a Titled Douluo personally comes to ask him for guidance... Is he really our classmate?"