Freshman Class Nine

"Thanks, Brother Yuan!"

After having some minor injuries treated in the infirmary, Huo Yuhao gratefully thanked Lu Yuan, who had accompanied him there.

"It was nothing." Lu Yuan waved it off casually.

After all, they were classmates, and Huo Yuhao was also the little brother he had met in the Star Dou Forest. In the future, he would still need Little Brother Huo to solo Wang Dong and draw God King Tang's attention. Accompanying him to the infirmary was merely a trivial favor.

Then, on the way back to the dormitory, Huo Yuhao began chattering away about what had happened. Lu Yuan temporarily played the role of an enthusiastic listener, agreeing with Huo Yuhao all the way and offering plenty of emotional support.

When they reached the dormitory entrance, Huo Yuhao suddenly froze—ever since his mother had passed away, it seemed he had never shared so many heartfelt words with anyone.

Looking at Lu Yuan beside him, Huo Yuhao stood still for a moment before saying blankly, "Brother Yuan, thank you. From now on, I'll make you free grilled fish every day!"

A young man's gratitude was always so simple and sincere. Huo Yuhao possessed nothing of value, but he remembered how Lu Yuan had praised his grilled fish in the Star Dou Great Forest. So, he clumsily used this method to express his thanks.

"Haha, then I'll have to thank you, Yuhao!"

Lu Yuan immediately broke into a grin. He reached out and patted Huo Yuhao, then wrapped an arm around the boy's somewhat thin shoulders, made slender by malnutrition.

The two boys looked at each other, then burst out laughing together—

Sometimes, a boy's friendship was just that simple. One encounter in the Star Dou Great Forest and one trip to the infirmary after a fight were enough to forge an unspoken understanding between two strangers.

Mom, I finally have a friend. Can you see it?

Huo Yuhao raised his head toward the starry sky and murmured softly.

The stars glittered in his Spirit Eyes, reflecting colors beyond hatred for the first time.

The night passed without incident...

The next day.

Having finished a night of cultivation, Lu Yuan stretched beneath the morning light. Ever since his Martial Soul awakened, he had treated meditation as a way of life in place of sleep.

As Lu Yuan pushed open the window, fresh air rushed in. Even the morning sunlight seemed especially fond of this Son of Light, and the gentle rays gave him a great big embrace—

Time to eat!!!

After enjoying a fairly decent breakfast, Lu Yuan strolled leisurely to his classroom—Freshman Class Nine.

Lu Yuan had not arrived particularly early. By the time he got there, quite a few students had already gathered, and the classroom was filled with chattering voices.

After sweeping his gaze around the room, he noticed two girls sitting together in a corner near the door.

The two girls shared a desk. The girl seated on the outside had fiery red short hair and rare red eyes. Her features were exquisite, her skin fair as jade, and even beneath her school uniform, her figure was clearly shapely. Yet her gaze was cold and aggressive, softening only occasionally when she looked at the girl beside her.

The girl seated on the inside had neat-looking short blond hair. Her large aqua-blue eyes were framed by long lashes, and several charming freckles dotted her cheeks. Unlike the red-haired girl's aggressiveness, the blond girl carried herself with gentle grace, always wearing a warm smile.

These must have been the strange master-and-servant pair from the original story, Ning Tian and Wu Feng.

Lu Yuan did not stare at those two minor characters from the original story for too long. That would have been rude and downright off-putting. He simply found himself a corner seat by the window in the back row and waited for class to begin.

Soon, the bell rang, and a female teacher in her thirties entered. Though she was no longer particularly young, she was still youthful and beautiful. Her short hair tucked behind her ears, paired with a cheongsam, gave her a distinctive mature charm.

Tap, tap, tap!

She lightly knocked on the podium to signal for silence, then introduced herself. "Hello, students. I'll be your homeroom teacher for the coming school year. My name is Mu Jin."

She was none other than Freshman Class Nine's homeroom teacher, Mu Jin, Zhou Yi's sworn rival.

Mu Jin quickly began introducing the teaching plans for the school year, as well as important matters such as the freshman assessment.

However, just as Mu Jin was midway through her explanation, the pressure of a Soul Emperor suddenly spread from a classroom somewhere within the freshman teaching building. Though it was only residual pressure and not directed at anyone, many students with one- or two-ring cultivation levels still turned pale.

"Hmph! That old hag is acting up again!"

Mu Jin snorted from the podium, though she spoke the latter half quietly enough that the students did not hear it.

Soon, six brilliant Soul Rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black—rose from beneath her feet. The powerful aura of a Soul Emperor spread outward, helping the students withstand the earlier pressure.

A six-ring Soul Emperor?! She was actually a six-ring Soul Emperor!

Many students stared at the beautiful teacher in amazement. No one had expected this glamorous teacher, who did not seem very old, to be a powerful Soul Emperor with two Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings.

"Ahem, a lunatic is having an episode. Don't mind her, students." After coughing twice and taking a jab at Zhou Yi, Mu Jin drew the students' attention back. "All right, everyone, let's continue class!"

After that brief incident, the atmosphere in the classroom clearly changed. Many students who had initially seemed somewhat lax now looked at the beautiful teacher on the podium with gratitude or awe.

While Mu Jin was establishing her authority, Lu Yuan secretly craned his neck and glanced downstairs—just as expected, Zhou Yi had caused the earlier disturbance.

At that moment, over a hundred students from Class One had already begun miserably running laps around the field.

From Lu Yuan's perspective, Zhou Yi's method of selecting students was undoubtedly crude and unreasonable.

Without distinguishing between specific cultivation levels or considering special auxiliary-type Soul Masters, she indiscriminately drove students onto the field to run laps under the excuse that "those who dare not cause trouble are mediocre," eliminating anyone who failed to finish. It was an extremely irresponsible approach.

Under this system, the records would look quite impressive—after Zhou Yi's initial screening, the students who remained would have an extremely high passing rate in the subsequent freshman assessment.

However, those students who passed did not actually have much to do with Zhou Yi's training methods. With their talent, they would most likely have passed regardless of which class they were in. Meanwhile, some of those eliminated in advance might have been able to pass the assessment after a year of cultivation.

But what did any of that have to do with Lu Yuan? Bored out of his mind, he leaned back in his chair and listened as Mu Jin began explaining some foundational knowledge.

The essence of this world was a ramshackle operation. Even Shrek Academy, which called itself the continent's number one academy and boasted ten thousand years of tradition, was no exception. Zhou Yi's existence was the combined result of her impressive teaching record on paper, her husband Fan Yu's special status, and certain peculiar traits of Shrek Academy itself.

All that could be said was that the adult world was not simply black and white. As long as someone like Zhou Yi did not come anywhere near Lu Yuan, even if she expelled every student on the first day of school, it would have nothing to do with him.