The Bet: Kneel and Apologize! (Please Bookmark)

Why are they so hard to manage...

Looking at Class One behind him, where the atmosphere was subtly tense, Wang Yan felt his brow throbbing.

He was a little tired, but what exhausted him even more was that he was now Class One's only homeroom teacher. Wang Yan raised a hand and rubbed his temples. The academy had originally assigned Zhou Yi to teach alongside him, but for some reason, just before the assessment, he had suddenly been notified that Zhou Yi was being sent back to teach the third-years. There had been no explanation at all.

No one had been assigned to replace her afterward, leaving Wang Yan to hold up Class One entirely on his own, inside and out. From arranging lessons to maintaining discipline, from advancement assessments to student disputes, everything fell to him.

"Yuhao, why did you come back?"

Xiao Xiao walked to Huo Yuhao's right, her eyes full of curiosity. She remembered that Huo Yuhao had clearly gone to the Soul Guidance Department before, and he had been studying there quite seriously.

"A senior member of my family told me to come back."

"Oh, okay."

Xiao Xiao nodded, but she was still curious about what Huo Yuhao had just said. "Was that true? You can take care of Dai Huabin in one minute?"

Huo Yuhao had not even blinked when he said it. Xiao Xiao was starting to wonder whether he really could defeat the other party in a minute.

"Half a minute, if I go all out."

Huo Yuhao was not being overly confident. In his view, half a minute was more than enough.

As the three walked, they soon ran into Dai Huabin's group nearby—or rather, those three had come over on their own.

"What, you want to fight now?"

Huo Yuhao stopped and met the pair of tiger eyes across from him, blazing with anger.

Seeing that Huo Yuhao still did not take him seriously, fury nearly burst from Dai Huabin's eyes. Still, he forced himself to endure it.

"The advancement assessment is about to begin. Do you dare make a bet?"

Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow. "A bet? On what?"

"Our assessment results. The stake will be the reward from that competition."

Dai Huabin took half a step forward, his gaze fixed directly on Huo Yuhao's face.

That was the wager Dai Huabin proposed.

When they heard that the stake was the competition reward, Huo Yuhao and the others frowned and looked at Xiao Xiao. They had already given her the competition reward back then.

"Deal."

"Deal." Xiao Xiao's voice cut in from the side, crisp and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

It was only a hundred-year soul bone.

Although Xiao Xiao felt a little reluctant after saying it, she knew that a hundred-year soul bone was not much to her anymore. Still, she sighed inwardly. When had I started treating hundred-year soul bones like cabbages? Just a few months ago, I would have thought a hundred-year soul bone was already an incredible treasure.

"Then let's confirm the stakes. The competition reward was a hundred-year soul bone. If we lose, I'll give you the soul bone. But if you lose, I don't want a soul bone from you. I want one of your legs."

After receiving Xiao Xiao's agreement, Huo Yuhao did not hold back. He directly demanded one of Dai Huabin's legs.

Across from him, when Dai Huabin heard that the reward was actually a soul bone, a burning light appeared in his eyes. The White Tiger Duke's Estate did not lack soul bones, but a hundred-year soul bone was not something any soul master could casually discard. His gaze lingered on Huo Yuhao's face for a moment, and his lips curled into a ruthless smile.

"Fine..."

"What are you doing?!"

Wang Yan's voice cut through from around the corner of the corridor. He had noticed the commotion earlier and rushed over the moment he sensed something was wrong. On the way, he had heard the stakes both sides had proposed.

In the end, under Wang Yan's forceful intervention, the wager was changed to kneeling and apologizing.

As a teacher, he would not allow his students to gamble their body parts and futures!

After setting the terms of the bet, Wang Yan looked at Huo Yuhao's group and Dai Huabin's group, feeling utterly exhausted. It was clearly only the first day of the advancement assessment, yet the atmosphere had become as though they were about to settle some private grudge in the examination arena. Raising a hand to rub the back of his neck, Wang Yan felt that he was probably about to lose a few more hairs.

At that moment, in the teachers' viewing area above the Beast Arena, the deans and vice deans of both the Martial Soul Department and the Soul Guidance Department were present. Yan Shaozhe sat near the middle with a steaming cup of tea in hand, while Xian Lin'er and Qian Duoduo sat beside him. They had all come here for the same purpose.

Naturally, they had learned of the conflict and wager between the two sides.

"Is there some conflict between Yuhao and Dai Huabin?"

Xian Lin'er asked Yan Shaozhe. Huo Yuhao had previously belonged to the Martial Soul Department, so if there was any conflict, Yan Shaozhe's side should have known about it.

"It should just be a conflict from the freshman assessment back then."

Yan Shaozhe spoke. After learning that Huo Yuhao was the junior of that Limit Douluo, he had begun investigating Huo Yuhao's experiences at Shrek Academy. He found that aside from meeting Dai Huabin during the freshman assessment, the two had no other grudge between them.

"That's good."

Hearing Yan Shaozhe say that it was nothing serious, Xian Lin'er relaxed as well. She was worried that Huo Yuhao and Dai Huabin had some special conflict. If it was only a small disagreement, that senior probably would not need to intervene. Matters between the younger generation should be settled by the younger generation.

Based on Shrek's recent interactions with Xia Liang, Xian Lin'er felt that he was not the sort to bully the young with his seniority.

"The assessment is beginning. You will fight soul beasts face-to-face in the beast arena. You will also choose the soul beasts you wish to face yourselves. Different soul beasts are worth different points, and every person's assessment is different. Assault-type soul masters may need to defeat the soul beasts, while control-type soul masters will primarily be judged on controlling them. Defeating them is not necessarily required."

Wang Yan began explaining the various requirements of the assessment. After all, not every martial soul was geared toward combat.

The advancement assessment was about to begin.

Dai Huabin was the first representative of Class One to take the field.

Just like in the original story, it was a thousand-year Wind Tiger.

A thousand-year soul beast was the highest-level soul beast available in this assessment. It was worth the most points, but it was also the most dangerous. Over the years, there had been students who chose thousand-year soul beasts for the advancement assessment, but without exception, they had all been assault-type core disciples with more than three soul rings. Dai Huabin fully met those requirements.

In the end, Dai Huabin killed the thousand-year Wind Tiger and received a high score of 145, only five points short of full marks.

"Dai Huabin, compensate the academy for the losses caused by killing the soul beast within ten days. Otherwise, the academy will strip you of your status as a core disciple."

That was the price Dai Huabin had to pay for killing the Wind Tiger. However, to the White Tiger Duke's Estate, a thousand-year soul beast was nothing precious.

After killing the Wind Tiger, Dai Huabin looked at Huo Yuhao in the waiting area with murderous intent in his eyes.

The two locked gazes from afar. Compared to the killing intent in Dai Huabin's eyes, Huo Yuhao's eyes were utterly calm.

"My turn."

Huo Yuhao stepped forward as Class One's second participant.

"I choose a thousand-year soul beast."

"A thousand-year one?"

The referee teacher frowned slightly, his recording pen pausing in midair. Just as he was about to say something, a voice reached his ears.

"Let him choose."

Hearing the familiar voice, the referee teacher froze slightly before recognizing its owner. From the corner of his eye, he glanced toward the teachers' viewing area above. Yan Shaozhe was holding his teacup and looking toward the arena, his expression unchanged.

Since the dean had spoken, there was nothing the referee teacher could do. He could only offer a simple warning. After all, the student before him had only two soul rings.

"In close combat, even if we want to rescue you, it will take time. If you can't hold on, make sure to say so in advance."

"Mm."

Huo Yuhao nodded and then walked to the assessment area.

Just like in the original story, it was that Flame Lion King. However, in the current Huo Yuhao's eyes, it was merely a little cat that could breathe fire.

The instant the Flame Lion King saw Huo Yuhao, it charged straight at him.

Seeing the Flame Lion King rushing toward him, Huo Yuhao slightly lowered his stance and extended one hand. With the Ice Empress soul bone and Gold Particle Mode on his right hand—

There were no flashy effects, and Huo Yuhao did not make any major movement. With one hand, he pinned the Flame Lion King to the ground.

"Whimper..."

The Flame Lion King, more than ten feet long, was forced down by an irresistible power. It tried to struggle, but after struggling twice, it discovered that the force was pressing down on its skull like a mountain. The low growl in its throat turned into a plaintive whimper.

It did not dare move. Soul beasts sensed differences in power more directly than humans. It could clearly feel that if that palm pressed down even another inch, its skull would shatter.

At that moment, everyone in the stands fell into dead silence.

Only a small number of powerful individuals saw what Huo Yuhao had actually done. At the same time, they discovered Huo Yuhao's second martial soul.

"You already knew?"

Yan Shaozhe looked toward the two people from the Soul Guidance Department opposite him, only to see that they were equally astonished.

"No."

"I'm leaving. Huo Yuhao's assessment: full marks!"

After seeing Huo Yuhao's martial soul, Yan Shaozhe was tremendously excited. When Huo Yuhao had still been in the Martial Soul Department, he had merely been normally pleased. But Huo Yuhao now made him ecstatic!

Ma Xiaotao was finally saved!

At that moment, the crowd below had already erupted in excitement.

"Full marks?!"

Wang Yan stared at Huo Yuhao's perfect score, too shocked to speak. Then, he worriedly looked toward his class.

"Dai Huabin, do you remember the bet?"

Huo Yuhao and the other two walked over to Dai Huabin's group.

Do you remember the bet?!

Those words pierced straight into Dai Huabin's heart. Son of the White Tiger Duke! Heir of the White Tiger Duke's Estate! The most talented member of the White Tiger Duke's Estate in years!

Beneath those countless halos, Dai Huabin was undoubtedly proud. But did he truly have the courage to endure defeat?

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. Dai Huabin looked around at the people surrounding him. Nearly everyone had heard the wager between him and Huo Yuhao, and Wang Yan had witnessed it as well...

"I... was wrong!"

Huo Yuhao coldly glanced at the kneeling Dai Huabin, feeling utterly refreshed. Then he turned and left. This was only the first step...

Come to think of it, someone will be coming to ambush Yuhao in a few days, right? Perfect. I'll take him to the White Tiger Duke's Estate for a visit.

Xia Liang recalled Dai Huabin's ambush against Huo Yuhao in the original story. Back then, the White Tiger Duke's Estate had paid no price.

But this time was different... Huo Yuhao no longer had only those old, weak, sick, and disabled people behind him like in the original story.

It was the perfect time to collect a little interest from the White Tiger Duke's Estate.