Finals

Dozens of thorns spun at high speed and shot forward, trying to shred apart the mass of hair about to envelop Wang Dong. But the hair forming the Blue sisters' Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Heavenly Net, was simply too tough. Even Wang Dong's Wing Guillotine Soul Skill could not cut through it, let alone the thorns under Yao Shi's control.

Fortunately, the countless barbs on the thorns caught the encroaching hair, opening up a gap in the Heavenly Net.

"Wang Dong, get back now!"

Seeing that the hair caught by the thorns was still slowly closing in, Yao Shi hurriedly called Wang Dong back.

Wang Dong had reacted by then. Hearing Yao Shi's shout, she immediately flew through the gradually shrinking gap and returned to the team's original position.

"Thanks, Yao Shi. I almost went down if not for you."

After returning to the team, Wang Dong panted heavily. Constantly using her Soul Skills to block the hair had clearly drained her severely. If Yao Shi's summoned thorns had not come to her aid in time, she might truly have been eliminated by those twins.

"Ah, what a pity. We failed to take out their assault-type fighter."

Seeing that the Blue sisters had collapsed unconscious from the excessive expenditure of their Martial Soul Fusion Skill without taking Wang Dong with them, Huang Chutian felt somewhat regretful.

"But fortunately, he should have used up a lot too. He probably can't fight anymore. Trading two support-types for one assault-type isn't a loss."

"Now they only have one support and one control-type left. One against two—the advantage is mine."

Seeing that Wang Dong was also half-kneeling on the ground from excessive exhaustion, Huang Chutian regained his confidence.

Just as he was thinking that, he saw Yao Shi place a hand on Wang Dong's back. Vast energy surged forth, instantly restoring everything she had just expended, and Wang Dong immediately sprang back to life.

Seeing that, Huang Chutian cursed inwardly, Come on, man, this is cheating.

What a joke. Did it count as cheating if no one regulated it?

Seeing the three of them opposite him looking completely unspent and ready to gang up on him three against one, staring at him like hungry tigers, Huang Chutian panicked.

"Hey, you three! What kind of skill is three against one? If you've got the guts, come fight me one-on-one!"

Yao Shi merely chuckled. "Man, times have changed. Why duel when we can beat you up together?"

As soon as Yao Shi finished speaking, Huang Chutian heard creepy little "heh heh heh" laughs coming from the other side, and then...

"Thorn Pierce!"

"Butterfly God's Light!"

"Cauldron's Swing!"

As several dazzling attacks came hurtling toward him, Huang Chutian saw a phantom appear before his eyes, beckoning to him.

"G-Grandma... weren't you dead? Why are you suddenly here?"

The phantom did not answer and gradually faded away. What greeted him instead were the attacks of Yao Shi's trio. With a thunderous boom, smoke billowed out, and his body was blasted out of the arena.

Fortunately, Huang Chutian was tough-skinned and thick-fleshed while in Martial Soul Possession. Being blasted away merely caused his Martial Soul Possession to disperse, and he fainted.

At the side of the arena, Wang Yan's eyes widened as he stared at the unbelievable scene before him. First, he had been stunned by the Blue sisters' Martial Soul Fusion Skill, and then by Yao Shi's miraculous recovery method.

In the previous matches, Yao Shi had only used vines, so Wang Yan had assumed that Yao Shi's Martial Soul was some sort of vine. But now, he had seen Yao Shi simply raise a hand and instantly restore all the Soul Power his teammate had expended.

Wang Yan felt rather troubled and curious. What exactly is your Martial Soul, with abilities that combine control, offense, and recovery?

"Teacher, shouldn't you announce the result?"

Wang Yan was still thinking about the match and had clearly forgotten to announce the assessment result. Hearing Yao Shi's words, he snapped back to his senses and hurriedly said, "Yao Shi's team wins."

As he spoke, Wang Yan stepped forward, preparing to carry the Blue sisters, who had fainted from Soul Power exhaustion, off the stage. Before he could do anything, Yao Shi tossed two green orbs of light toward them. The light entered their bodies, instantly restoring them to full condition. They slowly woke up and thanked Yao Shi.

Wang Yan was dumbfounded.

Classmate, are you wholesaling recovery abilities? How can you cast them so casually without any backlash or cost?

"Girl, give me one too."

Huang Chutian had also awakened by then. Seeing what Yao Shi had done, he hurriedly called out to Yao Shi. Clearly, he too had mistaken Yao Shi for a girl.

Hearing that, Yao Shi glanced at him. "Call me Dad."

"Dad."

Yao Shi's eyelid twitched.

Damn, he really had no shame.

Without saying anything else, Yao Shi casually tossed another orb of light toward Huang Chutian.

The light entered his body, and he let out a muffled groan. It felt so damn good.

"Thanks, Dad."

The scene fell into an awkward silence. Yao Shi's trio ignored him and quickly left the assessment area. Yao Shi feared that if they stayed any longer, that guy might actually get off on it.

The Blue sisters also covered their faces in embarrassment, as though saying that this guy was not their teammate.

The assessments continued in an orderly fashion afterward. Under Yao Shi's lead, their team maintained a winning streak all the way through. The only somewhat troublesome team had been Ning Tian's group: one support-type Soul Elder and two Soul Grandmasters. The Seven Treasure Glazed Pagoda's boosts were indeed powerful. Without Yao Shi's rapid recovery ability, if both sides had been dragged into a battle of attrition, Xiao Xiao and Wang Dong alone truly would not have been able to handle them.

Before long, the freshman assessment entered the finals. This was also the final match that would decide the champion of the freshman assessment, and Yao Shi's next opponent was Dai Huabin.

At the time of the finals, not only the students but nearly every teacher from the outer academy had gathered in the assessment area to watch. Even Shrek Academy's current headmaster had personally come.

"Dean Yan, which of these two teams do you think has the better chance of becoming champion?"

As the two teams stepped onto the arena, Du Weilun asked Yan Shaozhe beside him.

Hearing that, Yan Shaozhe glanced at the two teams onstage and smiled. "I still favor Dai Huabin's side. Although the other team has also maintained an undefeated streak, in terms of overall strength, Dai Huabin's team is clearly superior."

"But the other team is from Zhang Lexuan's class. Given her teaching ability, their strength surely can't be much weaker than Dai Huabin's team, right?"

"Oh? This team was actually taught by that child Lexuan?"

Hearing Du Weilun's words, Yan Shaozhe was somewhat surprised, but his gaze soon dimmed.

"Ah, if that incident had not happened, she might still be cultivating peacefully in the inner academy instead of being called to the outer academy by Elder Xuan to recuperate."

He sighed regretfully, then continued his assessment. "Although they were trained by Lexuan, their strength naturally won't be weak. But the gap between their Martial Souls is still something they cannot make up for."

"Wang Dong's Martial Soul is unique even within Shrek Academy and has some potential. Xiao Xiao's mutated cauldron-type Martial Soul also has fairly good development potential."

"As for that Yao Shi..."

Yan Shaozhe paused here before continuing, "If I remember correctly, his file says his Martial Soul is a tree branch, right? A tree branch Martial Soul containing so much life force, yet only able to summon vines—it is ultimately somewhat inferior."

Because the earlier assessments had all been held separately, teachers of director rank and above had only come to watch for the finals. Yao Shi had not used his recovery ability in the semifinals, only using vines to assist, so they had assumed that his tree branch Martial Soul could merely summon vines.

Yan Shaozhe continued, "On the other hand, Dai Huabin's side—setting aside the fact that he is a Soul Elder, both he and his teammates possess top-tier beast Martial Souls. And don't forget that the Dai Clan and Zhu Clan also have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, an existence that can practically be called invincible below the Soul Ancestor rank."

Du Weilun chuckled. "Haha, Dean Yan, our ancestor Tang San was able to become a god with the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul. Perhaps Yao Shi might become a god with vines too."

Yan Shaozhe only smiled faintly after hearing that. "Director Du, ancestor Tang San did not become a god solely through the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul. Don't forget, he possessed Twin Martial Souls. Surely you don't think that child onstage does too?"

Just as Du Weilun was about to continue, the broadcast called for the referee to take the stage, so he let the matter drop.

Yan Shaozhe waved a hand and smiled. "All right, Weilun. We can discuss the rest later. Go down and preside over the match first."