School Opening

In the peaceful life where Huo Yuhao cultivated steadily by day and sold grilled fish by night, time quickly arrived at the day Shrek Academy freshmen officially began their classes.

With his first lesson in this world about to begin, Huo Yuhao arrived early at the white first-year teaching building.

After spotting the classroom with the Grade 1, Class 1 sign, Huo Yuhao walked inside.

Just like in the original timeline, Huo Yuhao was assigned to Grade 1, Class 1 alongside Wang Dong; he wondered if this was an arrangement by the Tang God King.

Upon entering the classroom, he found a random seat by the window and began to meditate. After all, "time is like water in a sponge; if you squeeze, there is always some to be found."

He might as well take this opportunity to cultivate his soul power a bit more and become a top-tier grinder at Shrek.

Slowly, as more students filled the classroom, it began to grow slightly noisy, though the area around Huo Yuhao remained quiet.

After all, birds of a feather flock together; those sitting around Huo Yuhao were all grinders who wanted to use this time to cultivate, and everyone was practicing in silence.

Meanwhile, Wang Dong was surrounded by a group of girls, all of whom were attracted by her looks.

She herself, however, glanced quietly in Huo Yuhao's direction, gaining a new understanding of his diligence.

At this moment, an old woman with white hair, wrinkled skin, and sharp, piercing eyes walked in.

The old woman tapped the blackboard and said, "My name is Zhou Yi, and I am your homeroom teacher. I don't know how many of you will make it to the end with me, but remember this: I am here to cultivate monsters, not trash."

Hearing Zhou Yi's raspy voice, Huo Yuhao opened his eyes from meditation, meeting this teacher for the first time.

"You few are not bad. You know to cultivate diligently now to avoid being weeded out by me. However, you are still far from meeting my requirements."

Zhou Yi swept her gaze over Huo Yuhao and the few classmates nearby who were also cultivating soul power, her attitude softening slightly.

Huo Yuhao remained noncommittal. As a teacher, Zhou Yi definitely had major issues, but she had truly been nothing but supportive toward him.

In the original timeline, she had turned a blind eye to Huo Yuhao completing the hundred laps through semi-cheating, she had given him a soul bone, and she had introduced him to Fan Yu; she was, in every sense, a dedicated professional.

However, her teaching philosophy would have been met with public outcry in his previous life.

Just imagine: a student who finally managed to get into a top university gets expelled because they were lazy and didn't finish their homework during the first class.

That would be a massive joke. In his previous life, such a teacher would have been fired immediately—though, of course, teachers in his previous life didn't have that much power.

It was while Huo Yuhao was deep in thought that Zhou Yi's first lesson officially began.

"Everyone who has been in a fight from the time of registration until now, stand up."

Hearing Zhou Yi's inquiry, Huo Yuhao stood up helplessly alongside Wang Dong.

The students around Huo Yuhao looked at him in shock, not expecting the top grinder to have such a short temper, getting into a fight only two days after arriving.

"A bunch of losers. Haven't you heard that those who don't dare to cause trouble are mediocre? Everyone except these two, go to Shrek Square and run one hundred laps. Anyone who doesn't finish will be expelled immediately."

As Zhou Yi's shout rang out, some of the timid students were so frightened they shuddered.

Just then, a student in the class retorted, "Expelling us isn't in accordance with the rules, is it?"

Hearing this, Zhou Yi's aura surged, and six soul rings—two yellow, two purple, and two black—appeared around her.

"Remember, in this class, I am the rules. As your homeroom teacher, I have the authority to expel any student I choose."

Huo Yuhao felt no sense of majesty upon hearing this; instead, he felt somewhat speechless.

What exactly are you trying to do? Provoke the students' rebellious nature? Are people in this world all this neurotic?

Don't think it's only like this at Shrek Academy; the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy was just as bad.

During the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy suffered heavy losses, and some students died as a result.

Yet, after the tournament, Jing Hongchen said to the team leader, "The reason I am not punishing you is because you let Xiao see the gap." Such an outrageous statement.

So, only your grandson's future is a future, and the lives of other students aren't lives?

Is there no law in the Douluo world? How is everyone acting so recklessly, not even bothering to hide it?

Huo Yuhao thought about it again; indeed, there really wasn't any. Since when did Title Douluo ever follow the law?

After all the students had gone out to run their laps, Zhou Yi walked up to Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong. Just as she was about to speak, Huo Yuhao beat her to it.

"I know what you want to say, Teacher. You don't like internal strife, and you want us to go run with the other students, right? I could tell just by the way you were looking at us."

"You are indeed quite clever. Then, what are you still standing there for? Go run," Zhou Yi replied with a sour tone.

Seeing Wang Dong standing to the side, intending to argue with Zhou Yi, Huo Yuhao decided not to pay it any mind and headed out to run himself.

Forget it. I'm just a commoner; why worry about whether the young sect master of the Clear Sky Sect will be expelled?

To put it simply, even if Mu En were expelled, Wang Dong wouldn't be. She had two god-level fathers watching over her from the Clear Sky Sect.

Entering Shrek Square and joining the army of runners, Huo Yuhao didn't know if this over-exertion style of running helped others, but he knew it certainly helped him.

With the Mysterious Heaven Technique soul power nourishing his body, every time he entered a state of extreme exhaustion, his physical strength would improve slightly.

Therefore, whenever he wasn't cultivating soul power these past few days, Huo Yuhao would run at full speed to push his body to its limits.

The current running assessment actually benefited from this, and Huo Yuhao quickly adjusted his state to the one best suited for running, sprinting at full capacity.

Huo Yuhao's speed was fast; before he had even reached twenty laps, he had caught up to the first tier of students in the class.

Having consumed ten-thousand-year whale glue, his physical strength was truly not inferior to an average two-ring soul master, and he could even contend with a three-ring soul elder.

Wang Dong also joined the running group when Huo Yuhao reached his fifth lap, even trying to overtake him at one point to prove herself.

But how could she possibly outrun Huo Yuhao, who didn't fear exceeding his physical limits and had already adapted to the pain of the critical state?

Soon, she was left far behind by Huo Yuhao. The rest of the students in the class also watched in shock as Huo Yuhao ran lap after lap at full speed, seemingly tireless.

Huo Yuhao didn't know whose willpower and perseverance were stronger compared to the Huo Yuhao in the original work, but he knew his own ambitions were greater, so naturally, he had to be more diligent.

Although he had long since finished his hundred laps, Huo Yuhao did not stop. The phrase from his previous life that he had grown tired of hearing finally held real meaning for him here.

Cultivation really is for my own sake now, Huo Yuhao sighed inwardly.

After all, his own joys and sorrows were now truly and inextricably bound to his cultivation, and he could feel it clearly at every moment.

As the last student finished their hundred laps, Zhou Yi arrived on the square to give a lecture.

Huo Yuhao stopped at this moment as well. He had lost count of how many laps he had run, but this feeling of giving it his all was actually not bad at all.