Zhou Yi

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Zhou Yi (周漪)
Gender	Female
Affiliation	Shrek Academy, Outer Court
Occupation/Role	Freshman homeroom teacher; formerly taught upper-year students before being reassigned because of her classes' high elimination rate 50
Cultivation	Soul Emperor 50
Status	Active teacher at Shrek Academy 101
First Appearance	Chapter 49

Background / History

Zhou Yi formerly taught upper-year students, but Shrek Academy reassigned her to freshmen after the elimination rate in her classes became excessively high. Her reassignment was a sensitive subject, and Bai Ran's public reference to her demotion immediately provoked her anger 49 50.

She and Mu Jin were once close friends and fellow students. Their relationship collapsed after Zhou Yi expelled Mu Jin's younger brother over a minor mistake, leaving him discouraged and damaging his cultivation prospects. Both women had also once liked Fan Yu, who ultimately married Zhou Yi 63.

Appearance

Zhou Yi typically presents herself as an elderly woman through a human-skin disguise, despite being a beautiful woman in her thirties 64.

• Her disguise gives her the appearance of a wrinkled old woman in her sixties or seventies and includes a deliberately hoarse voice 64 101.
• She sometimes maintains the disguise even at home 101.
• Her confidence in her own appearance is stated to be the reason she hides it from students 64.

Personality

Zhou Yi is authoritarian, vindictive, and intensely controlling. She treats personal standards as institutional rules, attempting to expel Bai Ran and Huo Yuhao merely for being an hour late despite no academy regulation allowing expulsion for tardiness 49 52.

She subscribes to a harsh “strong humiliate the weak” mentality and prioritizes obedience over student welfare. After Xiao Xiao lost a race arranged on Zhou Yi's behalf, Zhou Yi ignored her exhaustion, later declared her expelled, and relied on the freshman's ignorance of attendance rules to pressure her into leaving the academy voluntarily 68 69.

Her rivalry with Mu Jin and resentment toward Bai Ran repeatedly override her judgment. Even after losing valuable students, Zhou Yi refuses to admit fault and remains hostile toward the students she drove away 63 67 100.

Teaching Methods and Authority

• Uses intimidation and severe punishments to keep freshmen obedient; her students fear that displeasing her may result in expulsion 49 64.
• Cannot independently expel students. Instead, she declares students expelled and seeks to force them into accumulating enough absences to be considered voluntary withdrawals 69.
• Attempted to use a loophole in a race's rules by having Xiao Xiao apply Slowdown to Bai Ran before the event, when Soul Power was only prohibited during the race itself 65.
• Relies in part on her husband Fan Yu's position as an Outer Court Soul Guidance Department vice dean and Eight-Rank Soul Engineer 50.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Attempted expulsion of Bai Ran and Huo Yuhao

On the first day of First Freshman Class, Zhou Yi attempted to expel Bai Ran and Huo Yuhao for arriving late. Bai Ran openly challenged her authority and exposed her demotion, prompting her to bring the matter to the Academic Affairs Office 49 50.

Xian Lin'er intervened after identifying Bai Ran as her personal disciple. When Director Du Weilun read the academy regulations, it became clear that lateness carried escalating disciplinary penalties but was not grounds for expulsion. Zhou Yi was publicly rebuked and forced to abandon the expulsion attempt 51 52 53.

Bai Ran and Huo Yuhao subsequently transferred to Mu Jin's Freshman Class Nine, denying Zhou Yi two highly capable students 53 54.

Running contest and Xiao Xiao's departure

Zhou Yi challenged Mu Jin's class to a no-Soul-Power running contest and selected Xiao Xiao as her representative against Bai Ran. She wagered an Eight-Rank close-combat Soul Tool against Bai Ran's Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Bone 63 64.

Although Xiao Xiao secretly slowed Bai Ran before the race, Bai Ran overcame the debuff, lapped her, and won. Zhou Yi attempted to leave rather than pay, then resentfully surrendered the promised Soul Tool without acknowledging Xiao Xiao's effort 65 67 68.

Zhou Yi later declared Xiao Xiao expelled. Bai Ran brought Xiao Xiao to Du Weilun, who explained that Zhou Yi had no authority to expel her outright; Xiao Xiao transferred to Freshman Class Nine instead 69 70.

Consequences during the Freshman Tournament

By driving away Bai Ran, Huo Yuhao, and Xiao Xiao, Zhou Yi depleted First Freshman Class of several of its strongest students. With fewer than ten remaining students above Rank 20, her class entered the Freshman Tournament at a major disadvantage 71 100.

She continued confronting the three former students, including an encounter in the Teacher Cafeteria, but Fan Yu intervened and de-escalated the dispute 100 101.

Relationships

• Fan Yu — Husband; an Eight-Rank Soul Engineer and vice dean of Shrek Academy's Outer Court Soul Guidance Department. His status helps protect Zhou Yi from consequences for her conduct 50 100 101.
• Mu Jin — Former close friend turned rival. Their friendship ended after Zhou Yi expelled Mu Jin's younger brother; their teaching philosophies and rivalry repeatedly clash 63.
• Bai Ran — Former student and outspoken adversary. Zhou Yi attempted to expel him for lateness, lost an Eight-Rank Soul Tool in a contest involving him, and resents his transfer to Mu Jin's class 49 52 64 68.
• Huo Yuhao — Former student whom Zhou Yi attempted to expel alongside Bai Ran. He later transfers away and gradually stops fearing her influence 49 53 71.
• Xiao Xiao — Former student selected to race Bai Ran on Zhou Yi's behalf. Zhou Yi abandons her after the loss and attempts to force her out of the academy 64 68 69.
• Xian Lin'er — Soul Guidance Department dean who blocks Zhou Yi's attempted expulsion of Bai Ran and challenges her misuse of academy rules 51 52.
• Du Weilun — Outer Court Academic Affairs Director. He is pressured by Zhou Yi to support her expulsion demands, but ultimately exposes the lack of regulatory grounds and later helps transfer Xiao Xiao 50 52 69.

Notable Quotes

“He was late for class, and he was a full hour late!” 52

“What's the use of having great talent? With such a lazy disposition, he'll fade into mediocrity sooner or later.” 63