Showcase! The Power of Elements!

Qian Duoduo rubbed his eyes in disbelief. What had he just seen?

He had seen nothing at all. There had not even been the slightest fluctuation of Spiritual Power, nor had a Martial Soul appeared. How had the battle suddenly ended?

Normally, the standard for new student admissions was to challenge a Soul Beast with around fifty years of cultivation and hold out for five minutes under its attacks to qualify. Those who could defeat the Soul Beast were considered outstanding among their peers.

Ten-year Soul Beasts corresponded to one-ring Soul Masters, while hundred-year ones were equivalent to Soul Grand Masters. However, their strength could not be calculated so simply. Soul Beasts of the same level were far stronger in battle than humans. Even a peak level-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster could perish against a three-hundred-year Mandala Snake.

Therefore, a Soul Beast with fifty years of cultivation was roughly equivalent to a Soul Power Level of fifteen, though not much stronger. It was still within the range that Soul Masters in their teens could challenge. This was also the hardest hurdle for new students entering Shrek Academy. Without a certain foundation in combat, merely meeting the Soul Power and bone-age requirements would still get one eliminated.

Watching the girl defeat the Ice Wolf so effortlessly—without using her Martial Soul, without suffering any injury, and without even injuring the Ice Wolf itself, which remained as lively as ever—Qian Duoduo's eyes gleamed as he stared fixedly at Huo Yuhao in the arena.

This little girl was so gifted that he probably would not be able to keep her for himself.

He had thought he had merely picked up a precious piece of jade and wanted to hide it away.

Who would have thought it bore the eight words: "By Mandate of Heaven, May It Last Forever."

"Uh..." The assessment teacher was momentarily at a loss. He hesitated as he looked between the arena and outside it. He had seen students kill Soul Beasts, and he had seen students frightened stiff by Soul Beasts, requiring him to intervene and protect them. Occasionally, he had also seen Soul Masters who were poor at combat successfully advance after circling around for five minutes. But this was truly the first time he had encountered a situation like this.

Neither side had been hurt. How was this supposed to be judged?

"Alright, you passed." Qian Duoduo suddenly spoke, making the decision in place of the assessment teacher.

Huo Yuhao turned at his words. Her delicate face looked toward the waiting area, and she gave a faint smile before running over excitedly. Under Qian Duoduo's stunned gaze, she looped her arms around a boy's arm and said proudly, "Brother, I made it! It was easy!"

"There's nothing to be proud of. You're even stronger than I am. It was only natural for you to manage this. Otherwise, I'd have to underestimate you. Alright, it should be my turn next." Lin You helplessly pulled his arm free and waited for the assessment teacher's announcement.

By then, Qian Duoduo had somehow arrived at the waiting area. Stroking his stubble, he regarded the pair of siblings thoughtfully. The assessment teacher hurriedly introduced him, "This is Vice Dean Qian of the Soul Tool Department."

With that, he took the lead in bowing in greeting, followed by a group of bewildered eleven-year-old freshmen who also bent at the waist.

However, Qian Duoduo did not care about such formalities. Instead, he curiously sized Lin You up. After discovering that the boy did not possess the astonishing Spiritual Power his sister had, he initially found him rather ordinary. Both his physical condition and Soul Power Level had only barely crossed the threshold. He could not be called a genius at all, and he was worlds apart from his sister. Yet soon afterward, anticipation rose within him.

"Hehe, students, carry on. Don't mind me. I've got nothing to do, so I just came over to see what our future students look like when they're striving and working hard," he said with a chuckle.

Seeing this, the assessment teacher immediately continued, "Next, Lin You."

Lin You perked up and quickly stepped forward into the Assessment Zone. Seeing the confidence on Huo Yuhao's face, Qian Duoduo took the opportunity to ask, "Student, your brother's Soul Power Level seems rather low. Aren't you worried about him?"

Hearing him, the little girl was startled. She then gave a polite slight bow, a serious expression flashing across her pretty face as she said, "Hello, Dean Qian. You-ge is very strong. Dealing with this kind of Soul Beast is easy for him. He just doesn't like showing off."

"Oh?" Qian Duoduo did not take it seriously. They were siblings, after all, so she would naturally favor her brother. But actual combat involved many considerations.

Soul Power Level, physical condition, combat reactions, courage or cowardice, attention to detail—these were all factors that affected a battle. No one could guarantee that they could face every threat head-on. He merely took the little girl's words as a younger sister's unconditional admiration for her older brother.

However, Huo Yuhao keenly caught the trace of dismissiveness that flashed across the old man's face. Her lips pouted slightly as she felt indignant on Lin You's behalf.

Hmph, he really judges people by appearances. Adults are so realistic. I don't want to become a bad adult like that in the future.

"Are you ready?" the assessment teacher asked Lin You, who merely gave him a thumbs-up.

"Alright, begin!"

The fence slowly rose. A scalp-numbing hiss rustled through the air, and before long, a large earth-yellow snake slithered out from the pitch-black passage.

Its cold vertical pupils locked onto Lin You in an instant, its scarlet tongue flickering constantly. The source of the rustling sound was the brown tail of this snake-type Soul Beast.

"It's actually a Desert Rattlesnake. Judging by its size, it has at least sixty or seventy years of cultivation. Once it reaches a hundred years, its brown tail scales will turn white, and it will gain some ability to interfere with the mind." A student wearing gold-rimmed glasses gave a rather knowledgeable introduction to the Soul Beast, prompting the assessment teacher to glance at him a few more times.

"Hehe, my Martial Soul is also snake-type, so I know more about snake-type Soul Beasts. This kind of Soul Beast remains still until it moves, but once it does, it's astonishingly fast and impossible to react to. Student Lin is in quite a dangerous situation." The boy scratched his head shyly.

After sensing the chill in the snake-type Soul Beast's vertical pupils, the expressions of the freshmen in the audience changed at once. They took two steps back, while several of them muttered inwardly, It's only a Soul Beast, yet it can affect people all the way over here.

"A Soul Beast with sixty or seventy years of cultivation may only correspond to Soul Masters in their teens, but in a real fight, anyone who hasn't undergone enough training to overcome their fear probably can't beat it. Only Soul Grand Masters can reliably suppress it. This guy's in trouble."

The whispers from the waiting area could not affect the battle below. Rather, Lin You had already entered a combat state before the snake-type Soul Beast had even crawled out.

Although his Martial Soul's frontal combat ability was extremely, extremely low, that did not mean he had no means of resistance.

As a yellow Soul Ring emerged from Lin You's body and pulsed up and down, he suddenly retreated, taking the initiative to widen the distance.

And at the instant he moved, the temperature nearby suddenly began to fall!

The temperature dropped with incredible speed, to an almost inconceivable degree. One step, two steps—before his retreating foot had even landed, a faint white mist had begun to rise in the Assessment Zone, which had not been particularly hot to begin with. Even the freshmen in the waiting area could not help shuddering, as though the warmth on their skin were being rapidly stripped away.

"Hmm?" Qian Duoduo gave a startled cry. He had seen the Soul Ring, but not the Martial Soul, nor any sign of a Soul Skill being used. Why had the temperature nearby suddenly dropped by at least ten degrees?

And it was still continuing to fall!