Hell and Starlight

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

Wu Changkong's white robes gleamed with a cold light in the darkness before dawn. His blue sword rested across his back like a frost blade yet to leave its sheath.

His gaze swept over the eight students lined up on the training 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 went pale. "F-fifty jin while carrying weight?" 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 phantom of the Azure Shadow Serpent wilted and retreated into his body, not daring to make another sound.

Shen Yi stood at the edge of the field, the Sensitive Plant in her palm trembling lightly. Pale green soul power turned into a fine rain that fell over them—not healing, but some sort of stimulating medicine that kept their muscles active through exhaustion while magnifying 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 of them put on their armor. Yun Zhiyu's was specially made, with soul-conducting runes embedded inside. Its weight changed with the fluctuations of her soul power, weighing fifty jin at its lightest and two hundred at its heaviest. She adjusted it to eighty jin and, amid everyone's stunned gazes, was the first to charge 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.

The weighted run 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 handled the combined assault of all eight students with effortless ease.

Yun Zhiyu's Dusk Dragon Flash: Instant Step was predicted in advance. Gu Yue's Elemental Tide was torn apart with one slash. Tang Wulin's Bluesilver Grass was pinned beneath his foot. Xie Xie's twin daggers were sent flying. Zhang Yangzi's Darkness Control was scattered by sword qi. Wei Xiaofeng's Azure Shadow Stack was exposed, and his true body was caught and punched to the ground. Wang Jinxi's Bone Dragon Claw had its joint dislocated. Wu Nianbing's Frostmark Sword Shadow was blocked by the scabbard, the recoil leaving her palm numb.

"Your coordination is a mess!" Wu Changkong sheathed his sword, his voice as 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 climbed to their feet, attacked together again, were knocked down again, and rose again.

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

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

The afternoon soul power compression training was even more brutal.

The eight were shut inside a soul-conducting pressure chamber. The soul power density within was ten times that of the outside world, crushing their meridians and bones as though they had been thrown into the depths of the sea.

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

"Class Monitor..." Tang Wulin's face was flushed crimson. The Bluesilver Grass in his palm drooped weakly. "Doesn't it hurt?"

"It does." Yun Zhiyu opened her eyes. Behind her contact lenses, the slit in her purple eyes opened slightly under the pressure, revealing a thread 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, searching for an outlet. 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 understanding passed through his dark blue eyes. He closed his eyes and felt the golden radiance and blue light within him intertwine. Gradually, the pain lessened, replaced by a strange warmth as the two powers coexisted in harmony.

The final extra training late at night was—theory class.

But Yun Zhiyu had never missed it.

The members of Zero Class gradually realized that Yun Zhiyu's day was longer than their two days 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 sometimes joined her, and the two sat back-to-back, their breathing synchronized and their soul powers blending into a strange field around them. Fallen leaves drifting into it would eerily freeze for a moment before slowly falling again.

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

"Habit." Yun Zhiyu opened her eyes, the slit in her purple eyes hidden deep within.

"At home, I got up even earlier."

In the afternoon, while the others wolfed down their meals, she went to the East Sea City Blacksmiths Association. Zhen Hua's Star Ring flowed around her finger as she sweated in her private forging room. From Spirit Forging to Fusion Forging, and from Fusion Forging to the threshold of Soul Forging, strike by strike, she hammered her will into the texture of the metal.

"Zhiyu?" Mu Chen—Zhen Hua's junior brother and the president of the East Sea City Blacksmiths Association—happened to pass by one day. Looking at the piece of Soul Forged metal that was about to take shape, his voice trembled. "Y-you're only ten?"

"Almost eleven." Yun Zhiyu did not even raise her head. "Uncle Mu Chen, let me borrow this piece of Starsteel."

After dinner, when the others lay collapsed in their dormitories, too exhausted to move, she practiced swordsmanship in a corner of the training field. There were no spectators and no opponents—only a Xuanyuan Sword and the Torchlight dagger at her waist, tracing simple yet sharp arcs beneath the moonlight.

Her sword intent was condensed and free of flourish. Every strike aimed straight for a vital point, as though she were fighting some invisible enemy to the death.

Late at night, when the entire academy had fallen asleep, her dormitory was still lit: ancient texts, diagrams, and soul-conducting device blueprints. From the history of the Douluo Continent to legends of the Abyssal Plane, from the construction of hidden weapons to Battle Armor formations, she had filled five large notebooks with tiny, densely packed writing.

"Class Monitor," Xie Xie once said after getting up in the middle of the night. Through the window, he saw that lamp burning, disbelief written across his handsome face. "Don't you sleep?"

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

"Two hours?!"

"My bloodline," she said, her voice so soft it was like she was explaining an ancient secret, "makes waking day and sleeping 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 a girl who was already absurdly powerful still pushed herself so desperately. But he vaguely sensed that behind that lamp lay something heavy, something he could never reach.

In the second week of hellish training, Zhang Yangzi, Wei Xiaofeng, and Wang Jinxi came to find Yun Zhiyu.

The three looked more haggard than expected. Zhang Yangzi's dark circles were as heavy as ink, Wei Xiaofeng had grown noticeably thinner, and Wang Jinxi's bone markings flickered beneath his skin. Clearly, they had spent the past few days running around over family matters.

"Class Monitor," Wang Jinxi spoke first, his voice hoarse. "My family... agreed."

Yun Zhiyu raised her head from an ancient text. The slit in her purple eyes glinted slightly in the candlelight. "Their conditions?"

"They want to see the evolution," Zhang Yangzi continued, anxiety and hope in his black eyes. "Only then will they agree to formally ally with you. My father said... words alone prove nothing. He wants to see it with his own eyes."

"My father said the same." Wei Xiaofeng nodded, the phantom of the Azure Shadow Serpent circling him. "But he said that if there truly is a way to evolve Martial Souls, the entire Wei family is willing to swear upon our Martial Souls to follow you for generations."

Yun Zhiyu fell silent for a moment, her fingertips lightly tapping the tabletop. The Torchlight dagger at her waist glimmered faintly, while the Star Ring on her finger radiated a deep luster.

"Fine," she finally said. "Before the end-of-term break, I'll have everything ready. The location will be a seaside villa in East Sea City. I'll send you the address then. I'll make preparations in advance. The evolution process requires absolute silence. There cannot be any interference."

She paused, her gaze sweeping over the three of them as her voice lowered. "But once this is done, your families must swear upon their Martial Souls. I will not tolerate betrayal."

All three shuddered.

Wang Jinxi slammed his Bone Dragon Claw into the ground, resolve written across his ash-gray 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 that for all my lives, I will never betray you."

Wei Xiaofeng's Azure Shadow Serpent phantom solidified, hissing through the air. "I swear upon my Azure Shadow Serpent Martial Soul that the Wei family will follow the Class Monitor's command above all else."

Yun Zhiyu looked at the three of them, and a faint curve formed at the corner of her lips. There was no triumph or calculation in it, only relieved, almost weary satisfaction.

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

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

"Yes!"

After the three left, Yun Zhiyu sat alone by the window, gazing at East Sea City's nightscape. The harbor lights went out one by one, 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, emanating an ancient and mysterious aura.

"The layout," she murmured inwardly. "Zhang Yangzi's family, Wang Jinxi's family, Wei Xiaofeng's family... the forces of East Sea City, 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 Tang Sect headquarters, the frenzy for war after the Federation's hawks took power, the invasion and slaughter brought by the Abyssal Plane. She remembered the deaths of Yun Ming and Yali, Yuanen Yehui's loneliness, Ye Xinglan's stars, Xu Lizhi's buns, and Wu Changkong's frozen heart...

"It's not enough," she warned herself. "Not nearly enough."

Outside the window, a meteor streaked across the night sky. Yun Zhiyu looked up, the slit in her purple eyes opening fully as it reflected the stars above—like an ancient prophecy, and like fate's gentlest gift.

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

The next morning, hellish training continued.

Wu Changkong's blue sword was sharper than the day before, Shen Yi's medicine more stimulating than the day before. The eight ran across the training field, fell, climbed up, and fell again. Sweat and tears mingled together, reflecting scattered flecks of light beneath the rising sun.

But no one complained.

Because among the running figures, they saw a black-clad back always at the front. Her armor had been adjusted to one hundred jin. Every step sank deep into the ground, yet she never slowed down. Her breathing was steady as a bell, and behind her dark brown contact lenses, the slit in her purple eyes occasionally opened in the morning light, revealing a thread of ancient, unwavering radiance.

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

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

She paused before adding, "And because I want all of you... to survive."

Tang Wulin stood frozen, watching that figure gradually disappear into the morning mist. He suddenly realized that he had never truly understood this "Sister Yun"—her origins, her secrets, or the profound worry that occasionally flashed in her eyes, enough to make even his Golden Dragon King Bloodline go still.

But he knew that from this day onward, he had to keep up with her.

Not to become stronger, but to... stand beside her and share that burden.

"Sister Yun!" he shouted, chasing after her. "Wait for me!"

In the morning mist, eight figures gradually gathered and ran side by side. Black, sky blue, ash gray, azure green, and deep blue intertwined into a strange picture.

In the distance, Wu Changkong and Shen Yi stood side by side, his white robes and her green dress forming a strange 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 burning all bridges behind him. "I will teach them well. While I... can still hold a sword, their futures will know no limits..."