Assessment Begins

Bang! Bang! Bang!

At class time, Zhou Yi arrived at the classroom and knocked on the door. There were no lessons today, at most a pre-exam pep talk for the freshmen assessment. She swept her gaze around the room and frowned. Three desks were empty. Even if there were no classes, they could not simply skip school—especially not all three together.

"Wang Qiu'er, Wang Dong'er, Huo Yuhao—why aren't the three of them here?"

The students looked at one another. Although the three usually arrived at the last minute, they had never been late. Huo Yuhao, in particular, was not someone who slacked off. Yet he had not come today? How strange. Had he overslept?

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That guess was right, but also wrong. Huo Yuhao was already awake.

But he could not get up.

Don't misunderstand—he could not get up not because he was lazing in bed, but purely because of external forces.

Wang Qiu'er had her arms tightly wrapped around him, mumbling in her sleep. Her grip was not light at all. Huo Yuhao could not break free even with all his strength. He also had no Imprinted soul skills stored at the moment, and his fused Soul Power had been used up during yesterday's combat training.

What? You were asking why Huo Yuhao did not call out?

Wang Dong'er had covered his mouth... Her sleeping posture was terrible. In her sleep, she had wrapped her arms around Huo Yuhao's head, conveniently covering his mouth...

"Mmph mmph mm... mmph mmph mmph mmph mm..."

Unfortunately... no one heard his desperate cries.

"Teacher, I'll go check the dormitory." Qian Chaoguang stood up voluntarily. He was somewhat worried too. Could something have happened?

"Why would you go? Xu Lan, Xiao Xiao, you two go take a look."

"Yes."

Xiao Xiao had her own team as well, consisting of Mu Yun and Xu Lan. Her Nine Phoenix Ceremonial Xiao had been exposed early during the previous practical combat class. Its slowing effect could stack with Mu Yun's control, while the Soul-Suppressing Cauldron could achieve unexpected results amid Mu Yun's mist. Xu Lan's Heavenly Frost Sword, as an assault-type martial soul, could also coordinate with Mu Yun. It was killing several birds with one stone.

The two arrived outside the dorm room shared by Huo Yuhao and the others. Knocking on the door, Xiao Xiao called out, "Class Monitor! Qiu'er! Dong'er! Are you in there?"

Huo Yuhao finally saw hope of rescue, but then he realized that being seen in his current state might be rather problematic... So he chose to remain silent.

"No response... Let's go in and take a look." Xiao Xiao pushed open the door and entered, then froze on the spot, blocking Xu Lan behind her.

"What is it?" Xu Lan asked curiously.

"N-Nothing. Haha, we should go back out. We shouldn't disturb them, haha." Xiao Xiao's face turned bright red with embarrassment, and she did not dare look again.

How could they? How could they... Aaaah!

Why were they sleeping in the same bed?!

"Mmph mmph mm... mmph mmph mmph mm mmph mm..."

When Huo Yuhao saw that she was about to leave, he panicked at once. What if those two did not wake up until the afternoon?

Hearing the sound, Xiao Xiao hurriedly covered her ears and squatted down, afraid she would hear something she should not.

This was too embarrassing!

In the end, Xu Lan stepped forward, understood the situation, and woke Dong'er and Qiu'er.

"Thank you. I'm saved. Hah... hah... hah..." Huo Yuhao gasped for breath.

"C-Class Monitor, you... last night..." Xiao Xiao asked, her face crimson as she stammered.

"We were only sleeping. Nothing happened," Huo Yuhao hurriedly explained.

"Class Monitor, I think boys should keep certain parts of themselves under control." Xu Lan looked coldly at Huo Yuhao as if he were trash. "Pathetic."

Once upon a time, Xu Lan had always looked at him with admiration...

"I didn't, I wasn't..." Huo Yuhao was on the verge of tears. He had truly been wronged. He had even wanted to cultivate...

"Don't be too harsh on him. He couldn't resist either. It was all beyond our control." Wang Dong'er buttoned up her clothes. She clearly had not grasped the situation yet and was merely making excuses for oversleeping.

"F-Forced?!" Xiao Xiao's face turned even redder, and even her hands felt hot as she covered it.

"Don't make it sound worse!"

"Yes, yes, Dong'er and I forced him," Wang Qiu'er nodded. "Everything afterward was beyond our control."

Xu Lan was stunned as well. She had not expected the class monitor to be the passive one...

After much effort, Huo Yuhao finally explained what had happened. When they arrived at the classroom, he brushed Zhou Yi off by saying they had fainted after using a fusion skill. There was no way to verify it; even if Wang Yan came to inspect them, he could not tell whether they had used a fusion skill or not.

The other students had already dispersed. Mu Yun relayed Zhou Yi's instructions, which could be summed up in one sentence—success was the only option. Failure was not allowed. Just go for it!

Shrek Academy's Assessment District was near the Soul Arena District. The difference was that students heading to the Soul Arena District wore excited, exhilarated smiles, while those heading to the Assessment District always looked gloomy and despairing, as if one step led to heaven and the next to hell.

Of course, the strong could smile wherever they went. Still, it was rare to see anyone smiling on the way to the Assessment District. After all, who liked exams...

"All freshmen, take note. Enter the Assessment District immediately and wait. Anyone who has not entered within ten minutes will be considered to have forfeited."

These teenagers were all somewhat nervous. Even those confident in their strength could only turn some of that nervousness into excitement, while a few with steadier temperaments kept their anxiety hidden inside.

Of course, there was no ruling out those scared stiff enough for their faces to go blank...

District Thirty-Three was no exception. Among them, two people stood out especially.

"Ah... Why hasn't it started yet?" Wang Qiu'er idly played with the Golden Dragon Spear.

"Yeah, this is so boring." Wang Dong'er yawned.

"Be serious. It's a match," Huo Yuhao said. "Respect your opponents."

"I want to respect them too, but most of them are just weaklings. I can cut them down with a flick of my hand." Wang Qiu'er's words were arrogant, but looking around District Thirty-Three, there was not even a single Soul Elder present. It was hard for her to feel interested.

Wang Qiu'er's words immediately provoked public outrage. There were six teams in District Thirty-Three, and the other five all glared angrily at Huo Yuhao's group.

Wow, she had stirred up everyone's anger.

"Hmph! Aren't you afraid the wind will make your tongue trip over itself?"

What a classic villain line. Yet the person who said it only had one ring... His Soul Power was not even comparable to Huo Yuhao's.

Wang Qiu'er merely glanced at him, frightening him until he trembled like a sieve. Yet he still stiffened his neck and stubbornly met Wang Qiu'er's gaze.

Wang Qiu'er laughed when she sensed his cultivation and stopped paying attention to him.

"You think having high Soul Power makes you invincible? Let's settle this with our fists!" the boy said fiercely despite his inner weakness. "Just you wait!"

"Very good, everyone is full of energy. There are six groups of students taking the assessment here, and everyone has arrived. Let me introduce myself first. My name is Wang Yan, and I will be your assessment teacher for the next two days." As he spoke, he smiled at the students. He was the opposite type of teacher from Zhou Yi, dealing with students through warmth and approachability.

"Hello, Teacher Wang." The students did not underestimate him because of his kindness. After all, he was the assessment teacher. They absolutely could not provoke him.

Wang Yan kindly told everyone not to be so formal, but he carefully emphasized that they absolutely must not cripple or seriously injure their opponents. Though his tone was gentle, everyone could hear the certainty in his words.

"Then let's begin early. First round, first match: Freshman Class One—Huo Yutong, Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao. Freshman Class Three—Ouyang Junyi, Chen Junfeng, Zhao Haochen."

Wang Qiu'er kicked up the Golden Dragon Spear. The golden spear spun several times in the air before falling back into her hand. She twirled it in a beautiful flourish and eagerly looked around, wanting to see who her opponents were.

"I... I'm up." The one-ring boy who had spoken earlier swallowed hard, with none of his previous arrogance remaining.

We're fighting her? Seriously?