A New Idea

The hundred laps ended quickly, and most of them managed to finish.

Those who completed the entire course naturally passed without issue. But everyone else—whether they had given up halfway or tried to cheat—was ruthlessly expelled by Zhou Yi.

Yuwen Tuo smiled disdainfully. Zhou Yi's actions truly did not resemble those of a good teacher. Strictness and expelling students ought to have their limits.

Those who cheated had character problems, and Yuwen Tuo had nothing to say about their expulsion. For example, at the start of the run, while Zhou Yi had yet to arrive at Shrek Plaza, some people had leisurely walked two laps first, only starting to follow when the leaders reached their fifth lap. Thus, they had actually run not one hundred laps but ninety-seven, yet they shamelessly claimed they had completed the full hundred. Such people truly were not worth nurturing.

But more people had simply exhausted all their strength and were unable to finish the course. If Huo Yuhao had not received Wang Dong's help, he too would have failed.

Granted, being able to receive someone else's help was also a kind of ability.

But in truth, these freshmen had only enrolled for two or three days. How many of them could possibly know a friend willing to give so much for them?

Someone like that needed very high emotional intelligence to make such a friend so quickly.

If a freshman possessed strong physical strength, firm willpower, and emotional intelligence, then they would surely be one in ten thousand. Such a person could achieve remarkable things anywhere.

As a teacher, shouldn't Zhou Yi only require that her students have no character issues? If their physical strength was lacking, she should train it up. If their willpower was weak, she should help strengthen it. If they did not know how to get along with others, then she should teach them the ways of the world.

If someone was born knowing everything, what would they need a teacher for?

These people had all paid tuition as well. They had committed no wrongdoing, yet they were inexplicably expelled, and it seemed their tuition would not be refunded.

That was one reason Yuwen Tuo disliked this teacher so much.

She only wanted to cultivate students who were naturally sensible and obedient. In other words, she only wanted to build on students' strengths and never wished to compensate for their weaknesses.

If she saw a student's shortcomings, she could not tolerate them. Even if they were merely small issues that could be resolved through later training, such as poor physical strength or insufficient willpower, her solution was always expulsion.

However, not everyone looked down on her as Yuwen Tuo did. Having personally watched Zhou Yi coldly and impartially dismiss so many students, how could the rest not feel nervous?

Huo Yuhao was the same. If Wang Dong had not helped him, he would likely have become one of them! Thinking of this, he could not help feeling grateful to Wang Dong.

The expressions on the students' faces had completely changed. Their gazes dodged Zhou Yi's eyes. Zhou Yi's overbearing conduct had immediately established her authority within the class.

"Give yourselves fifteen minutes. Go back to your dorms and change, then return to the classroom for class." With that, Zhou Yi turned and headed straight back to the classroom.

This time, no one dared waste even a moment. They scattered at once.

"That old hag is way too ruthless." Wang Dong helped Huo Yuhao up and hurried back to the dorm with him, muttering under her breath as they went.

Yuwen Tuo turned to Xiao Xiao. "Xiao Xiao, you should go change too. You're drenched in sweat. That can't feel comfortable."

"Mm. But make sure you don't be late again. Teacher Zhou Yi is really merciless." Xiao Xiao nodded. Worried that Yuwen Tuo would cut it close again like before, she repeatedly reminded him before leaving.

"Alright, alright, I know. Hurry up and go. Don't forget, you only have fifteen minutes. You're the one who needs to be careful not to be late." Yuwen Tuo gave Xiao Xiao a push on the back, and she quickly jogged off to the dorm to change.

He himself sat down cross-legged and circulated his soul power. Having just finished running, his blood and qi were at their most vigorous, making it the perfect time to cultivate the Divine Fire Doppelganger. Yuwen Tuo would not miss even the slightest opportunity to grow stronger.

In truth, he had not sweated at all. A hundred laps were nothing to him. The Divine Fire Doppelganger was originally a Daoist cultivation method, its breath long and unbroken, far surpassing the Su Lü Heart Method cultivated by Xiao Xiao.

Even the highest-tier Absolute String Heavenly Sound Mental Cultivation Method of the Heavenly Sound Sect was nowhere near the Divine Fire Doppelganger.

Yuwen Tuo had to condense his doppelganger as soon as possible. Once he did, his strength would rise sharply.

From Zhou Yi's actions today, Yuwen Tuo became certain of one thing: no matter how much trouble he caused, that old hag would not expel him.

Yan Shaozhe's side must have given her a strict order.

For others, this was good news, but for Yuwen Tuo, it was both good and bad.

The bad part was that he still could not leave Shrek Academy.

The good part was that although the academy refused to let him go, it seemed to feel somewhat guilty toward him. As Ma Xiaotao's evil fire gradually disappeared, his value to the academy was becoming lower and lower.

The reason he still could not leave was, first, because of Ma Xiaotao's stubbornness. She refused to let him go.

Second, it was probably because of his Innate Level 20 Soul Power. Though six years had been wasted, someone with Innate Soul Power like his still had the potential to reach the rank of Titled Douluo. They were likely worried that if he left, he would harbor resentment toward Shrek and return one day for revenge.

Thus, they had made two preparations. The first was to have him enroll at Shrek Academy, hoping to gradually deepen his bonds with Shrek and let go of this grudge. If he agreed to join the inner courtyard in the future, the academy would give him true compensation.

The second was for the possibility that he still refused. In the better case, he would be trapped at Shrek forever. In the worse case, they would kill him under the pretext that he had absorbed too much evil fire and fallen into an Evil Soul Master.

Yuwen Tuo guessed that the current situation was the better one. After all, hypocrites who put on the appearance of virtue were still gentlemen on the surface. Shrek was still far better than Evil Soul Masters.

Yuwen Tuo had actually considered two methods. The first was to play along, pretending that he no longer hated Shrek Academy at all and showing enough enthusiasm toward Ma Xiaotao to deceive her feelings. Then he could use Ma Xiaotao to gain the academy's support.

The second was to directly reveal his Noble Carriage Sword martial soul and use it to gain Shrek's support.

Once he grew stronger in the future, he could turn against them. That would make things much easier.

But he quickly rejected both methods. First, he could not act. The old men of Shrek's Sea God Pavilion were all shrewd veterans over a hundred years old. His fake smiles might not fool them.

Second, Shrek had already put him through so much. Was he supposed to endure it and smile for them? That was far too humiliating. Yuwen Tuo could not do such a thing. If he truly did something so spineless, his master would slice him into pieces the moment he found out.

Third, he simply did not want to join Shrek. Even before Shrek had harmed him, he had not wanted to join. Otherwise, when Ma Xiaotao first purified her evil fire, he could have done so.

"Something like that might be something only my neighbor's scheming old-six friend could do. Even if it kills me, I can't learn from him," Yuwen Tuo warned himself.

"But from the looks of it, as long as I don't go too far, they probably won't pay excessive attention to me anymore. Maybe I can negotiate some conditions with Yan Shaozhe and exchange them for a bit of relative freedom—leave the academy once, under guard. And the only person who can help me is probably Ling-xuejie."

Yuwen Tuo stood and walked to the edge of Sea God Lake. The inner courtyard lay on the other side. He showed a card to the outer courtyard's pavilion guards, and one of them immediately led him onto a small boat, rowing toward the center of the lake.

This card was actually the key card to Ma Xiaotao's room in the inner courtyard, equivalent to an inner courtyard student ID. These pavilion guards recognized the card, not the person.

Ma Xiaotao had given it to Yuwen Tuo earlier, telling him that he could come find her anytime he wanted. As for herself, she never took the normal route when returning to the inner courtyard anyway. She either flew back or ran across the lake's surface, so the card was meaningless to her.

After entering the inner courtyard, Yuwen Tuo naturally did not go looking for Ma Xiaotao. Instead, he headed straight for Ling Luochen's room.

He stepped forward, knocked on the door, and called out, "Ling-xuejie, are you there?"

Ling Luochen was cultivating inside her room. Hearing the familiar voice, she withdrew her soul power and wondered, "That voice... is it Xiao Tuo? Shouldn't he be attending class in the outer courtyard at this hour? Why would he come here?"