Strict

"Cough, cough."

Suddenly, a cough came from the direction of the front door.

The chatter in the classroom came to an abrupt halt.

Wu Changkong, whose words had been interrupted, looked over and saw their homeroom teacher, Ling Shuang, standing at the podium.

She then placed the lesson plan in her hand on the podium, braced both hands against its sides, leaned forward slightly, and wore a stern expression.

"Hello, students. My name is Ling Shuang."

"I am your homeroom teacher and the dean of academic affairs at Heavenwater Academy."

"You may all be exceptionally gifted students of the elite class, chosen from thousands, but let me give you the ugly truth first..."

"First, talent is worthless in my class."

"Whether your innate soul power is rank nine or rank eight, you are all blank sheets of paper in my eyes. Blank paper is worthless; only the results written upon it have value."

"Second, there are only two words when it comes to class rules—strength."

"There is a major exam every six months. Those who fail will be demoted, and you already know that."

"But there is another rule. Anyone who ranks last in the class twice in a row will be directly expelled. Heavenwater Academy does not want geniuses who merely coast through their days."

"No matter which family's young miss you are, no matter what family or sect stands behind you, in my class, dragons will coil and phoenixes will tuck in their wings."

She lowered her hands. Her eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses narrowed slightly as her gaze slowly swept across every new student's face.

Everyone her gaze passed over unconsciously stiffened their backs.

Yet Wu Changkong's expression never changed.

As he looked at the unsmiling woman on the podium, he instead recalled his days as an elder of the Sea God Pavilion at Shrek Academy in his previous life.

At Shrek, Ling Shuang's speech would only count as an introductory lecture.

As far as strictness went, he thought it could be increased by another twenty percent.

Shui Bing'er remained equally unfazed.

She had been lectured by the elders of her family ever since she was young. What kind of strict teacher had she not seen?

Ling Shuang's manner was imposing enough, but not enough to move her.

Ling Shuang withdrew her gaze and said, "All right, I've finished with the ugly truth."

"Now for business. The class currently needs a class monitor and a vice monitor. Will you choose them yourselves, or should I appoint them?"

The classroom fell silent for a few seconds. Then, most of the students turned their gazes toward Wu Changkong in unison.

"Teacher, Wu Changkong should be class monitor."

"I agree."

"I agree too."

"He's the strongest. There's nothing to argue about."

Ling Shuang nodded, evidently pleased by this outcome.

From the very beginning, her choice for class monitor had been Wu Changkong.

His strength crushed everyone at the same rank, his bearing was steady rather than impetuous, and as a boy, he would also draw less jealousy from the girls.

Having the strongest student serve as class monitor would make leading the class more convincing.

She looked at Wu Changkong. "Wu Changkong, can you be the class monitor?"

Wu Changkong stood up and nodded. "I can."

Satisfied, Ling Shuang made a mark in the roster. "Sit down. Next, let's choose the vice monitor. What do you all think?"

"Teacher, I nominate Shui Bing'er. Her soul power is the second highest in our class. She has the Ice Phoenix martial soul, and her overall strength is second only to the class monitor."

"I nominate Shui Bing'er too."

"Agreed."

Shui Yue'er raised her hand excitedly. "My sister as vice monitor? No problem there!"

For a moment, voices of agreement rose one after another throughout the classroom.

Some called out for Xue Wu as well, though there were fewer of them.

"Xue Wu, are you interested?"

Xue Wu said, "Teacher, I have no interest in being vice monitor."

"Very well. In that case, Shui Bing'er will serve as vice monitor."

Ling Shuang continued, "A few of you are close to a rank bottleneck. Stand up. Being two ranks away counts as well."

Wu Changkong was the first to stand.

Shui Yue'er looked around before slowly getting to her feet as well.

Gu Qingbo and Yu Hairou rose from the corner.

There were four of them in total.

Ling Shuang's gaze first fell on Wu Changkong. She flipped a page in the roster. "Wu Changkong, you are rank thirty-nine?"

"Yes."

"Shui Yue'er, Gu Qingbo, Yu Hairou. You are all rank twenty-eight, with water-element martial souls."

"Yes, Teacher."

"Mm, rank twenty-eight is fairly good."

"Sea soul beasts live in the near seas, where most of those active are ten-year to thousand-year level. They are suitable for you."

"What about the others? Is anyone one or two ranks away from a bottleneck?"

The classroom was silent. The remaining dozen or so students looked at one another. Some shook their heads, while others murmured, "Still far away."

Ling Shuang nodded and looked at the four standing students again. "Wu Changkong, can you reach your bottleneck within a month?"

"Probably."

"Not probably."

"In my class, there is no such thing as probably. You either can or you cannot."

"I'll ask you once more. Within one month, can you do it?"

Wu Changkong looked into Ling Shuang's eyes. This teacher truly suited his temperament.

"Absolutely."

"Mm." She turned to the other three. "The three of you are to reach rank thirty within three months. Then you will go to the near seas together to hunt for soul rings."

Yu Hairou asked in a gentle voice, "Teacher Ling, raise two ranks in three months?"

Shui Yue'er cried out as well, her face scrunched up. "Teacher, I can only raise one rank in three months. Raising two ranks in three months—isn't that too difficult?"

"What, you can't do it? If you can't, go to the regular class. The regular class progresses slowly. Even if you only raise one rank in half a year, no one will rush you."

"Our elite class does not keep idlers. If you think you cannot manage it, you may apply to transfer classes right now."

Yu Hairou immediately closed her mouth. Shui Yue'er hunched her neck and did not dare make another sound.

The atmosphere in the entire classroom grew heavier.

Raising two ranks in three months was not impossible for soul masters above rank twenty, but it required high-intensity cultivation every day, leaving almost no time to rest.

Everyone present was a genius, but even geniuses feared the words "high pressure."

"Any other questions?"

"No." The four answered in unison, though their voices were uneven.

"What about the rest of you?"

"No."

Ling Shuang nodded and closed the roster. "Sit down."

"Changkong, you are the class monitor. Arrange for a few students to go to the storeroom and carry the books and school uniforms. Have them handed out by this morning. Dorm assignments will officially be made this afternoon."

Afterward, Wu Changkong called over the Shui Family sisters, whom he was on good terms with, while Xue Wu voluntarily joined them.

The four left the classroom and headed down the corridor toward the stairwell.

The storeroom was at the easternmost end of the first floor of the teaching building. They had to cross the entire corridor and then go down one level.

"This is so hard," Shui Yue'er wailed, clutching her head with both hands. "Two ranks in three months... I've never cultivated this desperately in my life. Don't you all think it's difficult?"

Wu Changkong shook his head, looking completely relaxed. "Pressure is motivation. Push yourself, and two months might even be enough. Cultivate properly."

"Easy for you to say."

Shui Yue'er rolled her eyes. "You're rank thirty-nine, of course you can say that without feeling any pain."

Shui Bing'er glanced back at her younger sister. "Isn't it because you always slacked off at home? Every time you cultivated for less than three or four hours, you said you were sleepy, hungry, or thirsty. Now that you're in the academy, don't even think about slacking off."

"Sis!" Shui Yue'er cried out indignantly. "When did I slack off? That was called reasonable rest. Cultivation needs a balance between work and rest too, okay?"