Hell and Starlight

Zero Class's training began with the first strike of the morning bell.

Wu Changkong's white robes gleamed with a cold light in the darkness before dawn. The blue sword rested on his back like a frost blade yet to be drawn.

His gaze swept over the eight students lined up on the field. There was not a trace of warmth on his stern face. "Today's lesson: weighted running. Each of you will carry fifty jin of armor and run one hundred laps around the field. Finish before sunrise, or add another fifty laps."

Wei Xiaofeng and Xie Xie's faces turned green. "F-fifty jin while running?" For agility-type battle soul masters, this was practically a dimensionality-reduction strike!

"Sixty jin," Wu Changkong said blandly.

Wei Xiaofeng immediately shut up. The afterimage of the Azure Shadow Serpent within him drooped listlessly, not daring to make another sound.

Shen Yi stood at the edge of the field, the Sensitive Plant trembling lightly in her palm. Pale green Soul Power turned into a fine drizzle that fell over them—not to heal them, but as some sort of stimulating medicine that would keep their muscles active through exhaustion while amplifying their perception of pain.

"Teacher Shen's medicine," Wu Changkong said, "will make you remember every ache. Only by remembering can you grow."

The eight students donned their armor. Yun Zhiyu's was specially made, with Soul Tool runes embedded within. Its weight changed according to fluctuations in Soul Power: fifty jin at its lightest, two hundred at its heaviest. She set it to eighty jin and, amid everyone's astonished stares, was the first to burst past the starting line.

"Class Monitor..." Xie Xie's voice was full of despair. "Is she even human?"

No one answered, because the answer was obvious.

Weighted running was only the beginning.

During the morning combat class, Wu Changkong personally stepped onto the field. His blue sword remained sheathed, and he used only its scabbard as a weapon, yet he still moved with ease under the combined assault of all eight students.

He predicted Yun Zhiyu's Dark Dragon Flash: Instant Step, tore apart Gu Yue's Elemental Tide with a single slash, stomped Tang Wulin's Bluesilver Grass beneath his foot, knocked Xie Xie's twin daggers away, dispersed Zhang Yangzi's Darkness Control with sword energy, caught Wei Xiaofeng's true body within Azure Shadow Stack and punched him to the ground, dislocated Wang Jinxi's Bone Dragon Claw, and blocked Wu Nianbing's Frostmark Sword Shadow with his scabbard, the backlash leaving her palm numb.

"Your coordination is a mess!" Wu Changkong sheathed his sword, his voice cold as ice.

"Yun Zhiyu, you hesitated for half a second while directing them. That caused Tang Wulin's Bluesilver Grass to clash with Gu Yue's fire element. Again."

"Yes!"

The eight of them climbed back up, attacked again, were knocked down again, and climbed back up again.

Shen Yi's healing arrived promptly each time they fell. She did not heal them completely—only eighty percent, leaving the remaining twenty percent of pain behind as a "lesson."

Her Sensitive Plant spun in her palm, and her smile was as gentle as a spring breeze, but her words were cruel as a blade. "Lie there another ten seconds, and once the medicine wears off, you'll have suffered those injuries for nothing."

The afternoon Soul Power compression training was even more brutal.

The eight were locked inside a Soul Tool pressure chamber. The concentration of Soul Power inside was ten times that of the outside world, bearing down on their meridians and bones as though they had been thrown into the deep sea.

Yun Zhiyu adjusted the chamber's pressure to its highest setting. While the others groaned in agony, she closed her eyes and meditated. The Torch Dragon Bloodline slowly circulated under the immense pressure, every thread of Soul Power compressed to its absolute limit.

"Class Monitor..." Tang Wulin's face was flushed red from the strain, his Bluesilver Grass hanging limply from his palm. "Doesn't it hurt?"

"It does." Yun Zhiyu opened her eyes. Beneath her contact lenses, the slit in her violet eyes opened slightly under the pressure, revealing a trace of ancient light. "But once you endure this pain, you'll get used to it."

She paused, looking at Tang Wulin as her voice softened. "Your bloodline is struggling too. It's adapting to the pressure and searching for a way out. Don't resist it. Let it merge with your Bluesilver Grass, like vines winding around a tree—not strangling it, but borrowing its strength."

Tang Wulin froze for a moment. A flash of realization crossed his dark blue eyes. He closed his eyes and sensed the golden radiance and blue light intertwining within him. Gradually, the pain eased, replaced by a strange warmth as the two powers coexisted in harmony.

The final extra training session late at night was—of all things—a theory class.

Yet Yun Zhiyu never missed it.

The members of Zero Class gradually came to realize that Yun Zhiyu's day was longer than two of theirs combined.

At dawn, when the first ray of sunlight pierced the clouds, she was already meditating beneath the old banyan tree. The Torch Dragon Bloodline intertwined with the aura of the Silver Dragon King. Gu Yue occasionally joined her, and the two sat back to back, their breathing synchronized and their Soul Power mingling to form a strange field around them. Any fallen leaf that drifted into it would eerily freeze in midair for a moment before slowly descending.

"Big Sister Yun," Wu Nianbing had once asked, "why do you get up so early?"

"Habit." Yun Zhiyu opened her eyes, the slit in her violet eyes concealed deep within.

"At home, I got up even earlier."

In the afternoon, while everyone else wolfed down their meals, she went to the East Sea City Blacksmiths Association. Zhen Hua's Star Ring flowed around her finger as she worked up a sweat in her private forging room. From Spirit Forging to Fusion Forging, and from Fusion Forging toward the threshold of Soul Forging, hammer strike after hammer strike, she beat her will into the texture of the metal.

"Zhiyu?" Mu Chen—Zhen Hua's junior disciple and the president of the East Sea City Blacksmiths Association—passed by one day. Looking at the piece of Soul Forged metal taking shape, his voice trembled. "Y-you're only ten?"

"Almost eleven." Yun Zhiyu did not even look up. "Uncle Master Mu Chen, let me borrow this piece of Starsteel."

After dinner, when everyone else lay sprawled in their dormitories, too exhausted to move, she practiced swordsmanship in a corner of the field. There were no spectators and no opponents, only a Xuanyuan Sword and the Torchlight dagger at her waist, carving simple yet fierce arcs through the moonlight.

Her sword intent was condensed and devoid of flourish. Every strike aimed directly for a vital point, as if she were battling some unseen enemy to the death.

Late at night, after the entire academy had fallen asleep, her dormitory was still lit. Ancient texts, diagrams, and Soul Tool blueprints lay spread around her. From the history of the Douluo Continent to legends of the Abyssal Plane, from the construction of hidden weapons to the formations of Battle Armor, she had filled five thick notebooks with tiny, densely packed writing.

"Class Monitor," Xie Xie once said after waking in the middle of the night. He saw that lamp through the window, disbelief written across his handsome face. "Do you not sleep?"

"I do." Yun Zhiyu's voice came from inside, carrying a weary smile. "Two hours are enough."

"Two hours?!"

"My bloodline," she said, her voice so light that it sounded as if she were explaining some ancient secret, "turns open eyes into day and closed eyes into night. My spiritual power recovers faster than yours."

Xie Xie was silent for a long time. In the end, he merely scratched his head and turned away. He did not understand why this girl, who was already absurdly strong, still pushed herself so desperately. Yet he vaguely sensed that behind that lamp lay something heavy that he could never reach.

The second week of hellish training, Zhang Yangzi, Wei Xiaofeng, and Wang Jinxi came looking for Yun Zhiyu.

The three were more haggard than expected. Zhang Yangzi's dark circles were as heavy as ink, Wei Xiaofeng had lost a full round of weight, and Wang Jinxi's bone patterns flickered beneath his skin. Clearly, they had spent the past few days running themselves ragged over their family matters.

"Class Monitor," Wang Jinxi was the first to speak, his voice hoarse. "My family... agreed."

Yun Zhiyu looked up from her ancient text. The slit in her violet eyes flashed faintly in the candlelight. "The conditions?"

"They want to see the evolution," Zhang Yangzi continued, nervous hope filling his black eyes. "Only then will they agree to a formal alliance. My father said... words alone aren't proof. He needs to see it for himself."

"So does my father." Wei Xiaofeng nodded, the afterimage of the Azure Shadow Serpent moving around him. "But he said that if there truly is a way to evolve Martial Souls, then the entire Wei Family is willing to swear upon our Martial Souls and follow you for generations."

Yun Zhiyu fell silent for a moment, lightly tapping the table with her fingers. The Torchlight dagger at her waist gleamed faintly, while the Star Ring on her finger flowed with deep light.

"Fine," she finally said. "Before the final break, I'll have everything ready. The location will be a seaside villa in Eastsea City. I'll send you the address then. I'll arrange everything in advance. The evolution process requires absolute quiet. There can't be any interference."

She paused, her gaze sweeping over the three as her voice lowered. "But after it succeeds, your families must swear upon your Martial Souls. I will not tolerate betrayal."

All three of them shuddered.

Wang Jinxi slammed his Bone Dragon Claw into the ground. Determination filled his gray-white face. "I swear upon my Bone Dragon King Martial Soul: if my family betrays you, I will personally cripple them."

The Dark Illusion Demon Eagle burned in Zhang Yangzi's eyes, black Soul Power forming a vortex around him. "I swear upon my Dark Illusion Demon Eagle Martial Soul: for life after life, I will never abandon you."

The Azure Shadow Serpent's afterimage around Wei Xiaofeng solidified, hissing through the air. "I swear upon my Azure Shadow Serpent Martial Soul: the entire Wei Family will follow the Class Monitor's lead."

Yun Zhiyu looked at the three of them, the corners of her lips lifting into a faint curve. There was no triumph or calculation in that smile, only weary relief, almost like a burden had been lifted.

"Good," she said. "See you at the end of the term."

She paused, then added, "For now, train as usual and act normally. If anyone asks after your Martial Souls evolve, say your families arranged a secret realm trial as a reward for the final assessment. Do not reveal a single word of the details."

"Yes!"

After the three left, Yun Zhiyu sat alone by the window, looking out at Eastsea City's nightscape. The harbor lights went dark one after another, while the distant sea shimmered with faint blue light like a sleeping beast.

She took out the Martial Soul Evolution Pill from her system space and examined it beneath the moonlight. Its golden body was covered in flowing dragon patterns, radiating an ancient and mysterious aura.

The plan, she murmured inwardly. Zhang Yangzi's family, Wang Jinxi's family, Wei Xiaofeng's family... Eastsea City's powers, its connections and resources, the reach of its intelligence network...

She remembered the future from the original story—the destruction of Shrek Academy, the fall of the Tang Sect headquarters, the war fever after the Federation's Hawk Faction seized power, the invasion and slaughter of the Abyssal Plane. She remembered Yun Ming and Ya Li's deaths, Yuanen Yehui's loneliness, Ye Xinglan's stars, Xu Lizhi's buns, Wu Changkong's frozen heart...

It's not enough, she warned herself. Nowhere near enough.

Outside the window, a meteor streaked across the night sky. Yun Zhiyu looked up, and the slit in her violet eyes opened fully, reflecting the countless stars above. It was like some ancient prophecy, or perhaps fate's gentlest gift.

"Wait for me," she whispered, her voice scattering in the sea breeze. "I'll change all of this."

The next morning, hellish training continued.

Wu Changkong's blue sword was sharper than yesterday, Shen Yi's medicine more stimulating than yesterday. The eight ran across the field, fell, rose again, and fell once more. Sweat and tears mingled together, refracting into scattered flecks of light beneath the rising sun.

But no one complained.

Because among those running figures, they saw a dark-haired silhouette always at the front. Her armor had been set to one hundred jin. Every step sank deep into the ground, yet she never slowed. Her breathing was steady as a clock, and beneath her dark brown contact lenses, the slit in her violet eyes occasionally opened in the morning light, revealing a trace of ancient, unwavering radiance.

"Class Monitor..." Tang Wulin panted, complicated emotions in his blue-gold eyes. "Why are you... working so hard?"

Yun Zhiyu did not turn around. Her voice drifted back with the wind, carrying a tired yet gentle smile. "Because there are... so many people I want to protect..."

She paused, then added, "And because I want all of you... to survive."

Tang Wulin stood frozen, watching her back gradually recede and vanish into the morning mist. He suddenly realized that he had never truly understood this "Big Sister Yun"—her origins, her secrets, or the profound worry that sometimes flashed through her eyes, so deep that even his Golden Dragon King Bloodline seemed to stagnate before it.

But he knew that from this day forward, he had to keep pace with her.

Not to become stronger, but so that he could... stand at her side and share that burden.

"Big Sister Yun!" he shouted as he chased after her. "Wait for me!"

Within the morning mist, eight figures gradually came together and ran side by side. Black, sky blue, gray-white, azure green, and deep blue intertwined into a strange tableau.

In the distance, Wu Changkong and Shen Yi stood side by side, white robes and a green skirt forming an unusual harmony beneath the rising sun.

"Senior Brother," Shen Yi said softly. "These children..."

"They will surpass us," Wu Changkong said, his blue eyes reflecting the eight distant figures.

"Especially her."

He paused, his voice carrying the resolve of someone who had cast everything aside. "I will teach them well. While I... can still hold a sword, their futures will be without limit..."