Duel

At that moment, however, Ye Guyi was standing guard right beside Ye Fan, her beautiful eyes not even glancing at Xiao Hongchen.

Xiao Hongchen was already used to this. He adjusted his mindset and turned to Ye Fan instead.

"Class 1 in every grade is no joke. It gathers the strongest geniuses in each grade, and gets priority access to teachers and experimental resources."

Once he finished, Ye Fan asked curiously, "With a setup that ridiculous, it must be extremely hard to get in, right?"

Hearing that, Xiao Hongchen naturally slung an arm around Ye Fan's other shoulder and said, "Brother Fan, of course. Let me tell you."

"Class 1 uses a last-place elimination system. There's an assessment every month, divided into soul tool creation and practical combat. Of course, because of the soul master profession, the assessment requires teams of two."

"Based on your team's points ranking, the team at the bottom gets eliminated at regular intervals and sent to another class."

Hearing this, Ye Fan was inwardly startled. "Is that how it works?"

Xiao Hongchen assumed Ye Fan was worried that he was young, had started learning soul tools late, and might be eliminated, so he hurriedly comforted him.

"Brother Fan, don't worry. When the time comes, you and I will form a team, and Guyi can team up with Mengmeng. With us siblings here, we'll make sure you get through without a hitch."

Under the guidance of the siblings Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, Ye Fan and Ye Guyi soon arrived at the classroom of Grade 3 Class 1.

As they stepped into the Grade 3 Class 1 classroom, the spacious room was filled with all kinds of soul tool workbenches, and dozens of students turned to look at them in unison.

A middle-aged man in a gray-blue teaching uniform stood at the lectern. He had a steady bearing, and the soul power around him was deep and abundant.

Before Ye Fan and the others could speak, he smiled gently and said, "Hello. My name is Lin Jiayi. I'm the teaching director of the outer courtyard, and also the homeroom teacher of your Grade 3 Class 1."

"You should be Ye Fan, Ye Guyi, Xiao Hongchen, and Meng Hongchen, the ones the dean specifically mentioned."

Hearing this, the four quickly straightened themselves and bowed together, answering respectfully in unison, "Yes, teacher."

At that moment, Ye Fan keenly noticed that most of Lin Jiayi's gaze fell on the siblings Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen. His eyes were filled with a familiar, warm smile; clearly, the two of them had long since become acquainted with this teaching director.

He withdrew his gaze, the genial smile still on his face, and looked at the four as he slowly spoke.

"Welcome to the big family of Grade 3 Class 1. Next, come up one by one and give a simple self-introduction so the other students in class can get to know you."

Below the platform, dozens of third-year geniuses sat upright, all their gazes fixed on the four at the door. Quite a few looked at the Hongchen siblings with traces of awe, apparently knowing Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen's special identities.

But the way they looked at Ye Fan and Ye Guyi was different. It was an appraising, provocative attitude.

That made Ye Fan and Ye Guyi very uncomfortable, but neither of them erupted then and there.

All kinds of soul tool equipment stood silently throughout the classroom. The atmosphere was quiet, yet carried a tense sense of competition beneath the surface.

Once Lin Jiayi finished speaking, the four nodded slightly and went forward in order to introduce themselves.

The first to step onto the platform was Xiao Hongchen. "Hello, everyone. My name is Xiao Hongchen. I'm fourteen years old, a rank 36, tier 3 soul engineer."

Below the lectern, the genius girls of Grade 3 Class 1 began whispering among themselves. "So that's the dean's own grandson, Xiao Hongchen. He's so handsome. I really want to have his babies!"

"If we're talking handsome, I think that blond pretty boy beside him isn't bad either."

At that moment, among this group of girls, one of them was secretly staring at Ye Fan, as if thinking about something.

Ye Fan did not notice this.

Hearing the chatter, Xiao Hongchen looked proudly toward Ye Fan and Ye Guyi, as if to say, "How about that? Your big brother's popular, right?"

Of course, there were also discordant voices among them. "Tch. A guy who only knows how to rely on his ancestors. Grade 3 Class 1 doesn't welcome backdoor admissions."

As soon as those words fell, Xiao Hongchen clenched his fists tightly and viciously pointed at the lean, sharp-looking boy who had just spoken. "Kid, say that again if you've got the guts."

"I'll say it if I want."

"Xiao Hongchen, others might be afraid of you, but I'm not."

"Everyone else worked hard to test their way in. The four of you suddenly got parachuted into Grade 3 Class 1. If that isn't backdoor admission, then what is it!"

As he spoke, that lean, sharp-looking boy stood up and angrily lashed out at Xiao Hongchen and the three people beside him.

The boy's words instantly gained the approval of the crowd. "Yeah, why? We all worked our butts off to test into Class 1, but the four of them can just parachute into Class 1. That's not fair."

Ye Fan and Ye Guyi were innocently caught in the crossfire.

"You're courting death."

How could Xiao Hongchen swallow this kind of insult, especially in front of Ye Guyi, the girl he liked? He immediately released his martial soul, the Three-Legged Golden Toad, and countless metal cannon barrels lit up around him at the same time.

The perfectly good classroom was on the verge of turning into a powder keg.

Homeroom teacher Lin Jiayi glared viciously at the lean, sharp-looking boy and said, "Chen Fei, get out and run laps."

"Without my order, you're not allowed to stop."

At the same time, Lin Jiayi flashed to Xiao Hongchen's side, released an enormous amount of soul power with one hand, and slapped it onto Xiao Hongchen's shoulder. He barked sharply, "Xiao Hongchen, calm down."

"This is a classroom, not an arena."

"The conflict between you and Chen Fei can be settled during the monthly tournament, in the arena."

With that one palm strike, Xiao Hongchen's martial soul dispersed, and his body went slightly limp. Meng Hongchen was quick and caught Xiao Hongchen, only then preventing him from collapsing to the floor.

With the situation pressing down on him, Xiao Hongchen could only put away his soul tools. He glared viciously at Chen Fei as he walked out of the classroom and said, "Kid, at the end-of-month tournament, I'll see you in the arena."

Hearing this, Chen Fei shot back with a disdainful look, "Then we'll fight. You think I'm scared of you?"

With that, Chen Fei walked out of the classroom without looking back and broke into a mad sprint toward the field.

Ye Fan and Ye Guyi were speechless. Jing Hongchen's original intention had been for Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen to help him and his sister quickly fit into Class Three.

But before he and his sister had even joined Class Three, Xiao Hongchen had already made quite a few enemies for them.

Still, after thinking it over, Ye Fan could more or less guess Jing Hongchen's purpose: to use the geniuses of the outer courtyard to temper him, his sister, and those two siblings.

At that thought, Ye Fan felt relieved.

Because homeroom teacher Lin Jiayi had suddenly made a thunderous move, the entire room fell silent once more.

Lin Jiayi pointed at Meng Hongchen and said, "Meng Hongchen, you're next. Introduce yourself."

Hearing this, Meng Hongchen forcibly suppressed her anger and introduced herself. "Hello, everyone. My name is Meng Hongchen. I'm thirteen years old, and my soul power is rank thirty-two."

After seeing Meng Hongchen's beauty, the eyes of some boys below instantly brightened slightly, but because of Lin Jiayi's intimidation, no one dared make a racket again.

Next, it was Ye Guyi's turn.

Ye Guyi slowly walked up to the podium. Her simple, plain school uniform set off her fair, luminous skin, and her brows and eyes were cool and holy. Her fresh, otherworldly beauty instantly seized the gaze of every boy in the room.

Fine whispers immediately rose from below the stage, and quite a few people lowered their voices in amazement. "Damn, this girl is seriously hot."

The boys' gazes clung tightly to her. Their earlier dissatisfaction toward the parachuted-in students was, for the moment, somewhat diluted by their astonishment.

Ye Fan, meanwhile, stood to the side and memorized the faces of the boys harboring crooked thoughts, planning to properly teach this bunch of crooked melons and cracked dates a lesson in the future.