Ma Xiaotao Had Gone Mad!

Before dawn the next day, word had already spread from the outer court and the teachers' dormitories.

By noon, people had begun lingering around the academy gates.

At first, it was unfamiliar faces in groups of two or three, pacing back and forth near the stone steps outside the academy entrance. They clutched yellowed papers in their hands, their eyes anxiously fixed on the tightly shut iron gates.

By afternoon, their numbers had noticeably increased. Groups of three to five gathered in the open space before the gates, talking in low voices.

Most of the documents in their hands were records proving that Zhou Yi had expelled them back then.

During her years in office, Zhou Yi had dismissed quite a few students for all sorts of reasons. A considerable number had been removed under extremely vague pretexts such as "insufficient aptitude," "failure to understand the rules," or "disrupting the classroom."

Most of those youths' families had been commoners, or collateral descendants of minor sects. After their expulsion, they had not dared make a fuss and could only swallow their resentment.

But now that they had heard Zhou Yi's cultivation had been crippled and that she had been expelled from the academy, the grievances and anger they had bottled up for years surged forth like floodwaters bursting through a dam.

They found Yan Shaozhe's assistant at the academy gates and handed over stacks upon stacks of their old expulsion certificates, their voices trembling with emotions suppressed for far too long. "My child was expelled by Zhou Yi back then. She said he wasn't worthy of staying at Shrek. Now that the teachers have dealt with her, can my child's place... be restored?"

Even Yan Shaozhe's assistant's hands trembled as he accepted that pile of supporting documents.

He turned to look at the second-floor window of the administrative building. Yan Shaozhe stood there, watching the gathered crowd beyond the glass. After a long silence, he nodded to his assistant downstairs.

As for the nobles Zhou Yi had offended back then, they moved even faster.

Once the news reached family estates in several major cities, people had already set out that very night.

They were not there to cause trouble. Shrek Academy had grown so massive now—who would dare come here and make trouble?

They had come to present invitations, deliver calling cards, and ask others to pass along messages. Every word carried the same meaning.

Zhou Yi had lost her cultivation, lost her martial soul, and lost her backing. She was nothing but a cripple now. They were willing to "settle" this problem for the academy.

Someone had already learned where Zhou Yi was temporarily staying after being driven out of the academy. A short dagger, polished to a gleaming shine, reflected a cold glint beneath the moonlight.

At this time, Tang Wulin remained completely unaware of everything happening in the outer court.

Still, he had roughly guessed Zhou Yi's fate. She would definitely die; he just did not know how long her husband Fan Yu could protect her.

He threw himself wholeheartedly into cultivation. From evening until deep into the night, then from deep night until dawn, he remained planted on the bed in that little house on Sea God Island. His soul power circulated through cycle after cycle, and he even forgot to eat.

Below the outer court dormitory building, twilight spilled over from the western eaves, dyeing the entire open space a warm orange.

Gu Yuena sat on the stone steps at the dormitory entrance, propping her chin up with both hands. Her silver-white hair fell over her shoulders and swayed gently in the evening breeze.

She had been waiting there for most of the afternoon, her gaze fixed on the direction of Sea God Island. The darkening sky was reflected in her purple eyes, and the sparkling anticipation within them was gradually swallowed by the twilight, turning into quiet disappointment.

She lowered her head, scuffing the moss along the edge of the steps with the tip of her shoe, and muttered softly, "Why isn't Big Brother back yet..."

Occasionally, outer court students passing by cast curious glances at her, but she paid them no mind. She simply sat there like a tiny silver-white flower planted on the stone steps.

When Mu En slowly strolled over from the outer court administrative building, he spotted that small figure on the steps from afar.

As he approached, he looked down at Gu Yuena's little face, so clearly filled with waiting, and smiled helplessly. He bent down, his voice gentle. "You're Na'er, right? Don't keep waiting here. He's probably staying on Sea God Island to cultivate. I reckon he won't be coming down for the next day or two. Even if you sit here until the end of time, he won't see you."

Gu Yuena raised her head and met Mu En's aged eyes, which held a hint of amusement. She hesitated for a moment, then gently nodded.

She got to her feet, patted the dust from her skirt, and gave Mu En a slight bow. In a soft voice, she replied, "Thank you, Grandpa," before turning toward the stairway.

After taking two steps, she looked back once more toward Sea God Island before withdrawing her gaze and climbing the stairs.

Meanwhile, in the outer court classrooms, the pace of lessons had completely settled into a proper rhythm from the second day onward.

Wang Yan's teaching style was entirely different from Zhou Yi's.

When he stood at the podium, he did not carry that lofty, oppressive air, nor did he have the habit of deliberately lowering his voice to create tension.

His voice was warm, like that of a true teacher and scholar. When explaining soul beast classifications and the foundations of martial soul theory, he was organized and thorough, with detailed examples. From time to time, he would share interesting stories from his own field expeditions, often making the students below suppress their laughter.

During the first class each morning, he would set aside roughly an hour to teach theory, covering the relationship between soul ring age and physical condition, the habits of different soul beasts and the best times to hunt them, as well as common bottlenecks in martial soul cultivation and methods for overcoming them.

Afterward, he would lead the whole class to the Soul Arena or Beast Arena. Most of the time, he arranged for them to observe sparring matches between upper-year students. Occasionally, he would organize group battles, though these were generally limited to one-on-one or three-on-three matches. The intensity was not high, with the focus on helping them become familiar with the rhythm of real combat and teamwork.

On their first day at the Soul Arena, Wang Yan arranged a simple two-on-two combat exercise.

He randomly selected several groups and had both sides engage in pure physical combat and basic martial soul forms, on the condition that they did not use soul skills.

After several groups had rotated through, he called Huo Yuhao's name.

Huo Yuhao was still somewhat restrained as he stepped onto the arena. He knew very well that his Spirit Eyes martial soul was not suited for head-on combat.

Wang Yan stood at the edge of the arena, his gaze fixed tightly on Huo Yuhao.

He said nothing, but his pen was already racing across the paper as he wrote several lines.

This child's Spirit Eyes were useful for far more than scouting and long-distance vision. They belonged to the control system, not the auxiliary system.

He silently added that note to his assessment of Huo Yuhao.

As for Tang Wulin, he was not paying much attention to outer court affairs at the moment. Other than needing to participate in the final exams, the academy had left everything else entirely up to him.

However, he did not cultivate for very long. Three days later, he yawned and ran toward the outer court.

He had not gone far when he spotted Huo Yuhao walking beside Sea God Lake. Just as he was about to head over, he felt a wave of scorching heat surge from behind him.

What the hell!

Ma Xiaotao had gone mad!