After spending a little time coaxing her, Ning Tian finally soothed Wu Feng, who had nearly burst into tears on the spot.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yu had drained the special iced jasmine lemon tea Wu Feng had bought from a fifth-year senior.
Looking at Wu Feng, whose eyes brimmed with envy, jealousy, and resentment, Jiang Yu said mildly:
"Not bad. Remember to bring me an extra cup next time."
Wu Feng: ...
After a brief daze, Wu Feng lost it again and charged at Jiang Yu, ready to fight him to the death...
After that little interlude, Wu Feng held the huge bump on her head and shed tears of sorrow.
Ning Tian wanted nothing more to do with her pair of bickering troublemakers. She took them to the teaching building's modest office to find Mu Jin and explain that the three of them did not intend to form a single team.
When Mu Jin first heard that they wanted to join separate teams, he refused outright.
After all, he was still counting on a super lineup of three Soul Elders to bulldoze through the freshman assessment and make his name among Shrek's teachers.
Besides, even leaving that aside, he wanted to use Jiang Yu and the others to teach his sworn enemy Zhou Yi a harsh lesson. To him, that was the most important goal.
But Mu Jin changed his tune just as quickly as he had rejected their proposal to split up. Once Jiang Yu said a few words, Mu Jin first froze, then not only agreed immediately to their request, but even saw the three of them out of the office with a beaming smile.
The exchange went roughly like this.
Ning Tian: "The three of us want to split into two teams."
Mu Jin: "No." (Utterly decisive.)
Jiang Yu: "I'm a rank thirty-eight Soul Elder."
Mu Jin: "???" (Are you serious?)
Jiang Yu: "I also have twin martial souls."
Mu Jin: "!!!" (Questioning his entire existence.)
Jiang Yu: "We can all help you give Zhou Yi's seeded team a thorough schooling."
Mu Jin: "Then what else is there to say, brother? All of Class Nine is yours."
With that little combo, Jiang Yu had Mu Jin eating out of his hand. Had the three of them not left so early, they would certainly have heard the bursts of bizarre laughter he could no longer suppress afterward.
After a day of preparation, the freshman assessment began on schedule in the Examination Area.
A total of nine hundred and thirty students were divided into three hundred and ten teams to undergo the assessment in the Examination Area, which had been partitioned into fifty sections.
During the initial ten round-robin matches, no team would encounter another team from its own class. Once those ten matches ended, only one hundred and fifty of the three hundred and ten teams would remain, and the top sixty-four among them would advance to the ranking tournament to compete for higher places.
Ning Tian, Wu Feng, and Nanmen Yun'er formed a team and achieved an outstanding record of ten victories in ten matches over the three-day round-robin stage.
As for Jiang Yu...
His new teammates were two little girls...
Yes, although they were already twelve, the twin sisters Tang Yueyue and Tang Xingxing stood less than a meter and a half tall. They looked as young and adorable as eight- or nine-year-old girls.
Their looks might have been deceptive, but both sisters were genuine Soul Grandmasters. Their martial souls were both high-grade support-type tool martial souls called Seven-Colored Rings, with a fairly comprehensive range of enhancements. The sisters specialized in agility and dispelling, and attack and defense, respectively.
They had become Jiang Yu's teammates partly because of Mu Jin's own agenda, and partly because, after privately learning who Ning Tian and the others were, they had volunteered to follow them.
According to the sisters, their lineage's ancestor had been a member of a collateral branch of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect who left after a martial soul mutation. Choosing to follow Ning Tian and the others now could thus be considered another way of acknowledging their ancestors and returning to the fold.
Although neither sister had any combat ability, their Seven-Colored Rings offered quite respectable support. With two soul rings each, they could enhance four of Jiang Yu's attributes.
Of course, compared with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, the effectiveness of those enhancements was truly worlds apart.
Against freshmen who were mostly around ranks ten to twenty, Jiang Yu's soul power and other attributes were like an attack from a higher dimension. Even without the sisters' enhancements, a battle was often over in just a few breaths, leaving the presiding teachers dumbstruck.
After the round-robin stage ended, people's joys and sorrows were far from shared. Those who had achieved excellent results were full of confidence, while those whose results were a little above average breathed deep sighs of relief at being able to enter the first year successfully. As for those below average or those who had performed terribly, all they could do was ask whether they might receive some discharge pay for the three months of hardship they had endured for nothing...
Both teams formed from the original trio successfully qualified, finishing first in their respective sections.
After the round-robin stage, the top sixty-four teams on the points table advanced to the ranking tournament.
The ranking tournament followed close on the heels of the round-robin stage, with less than a day between them.
This placed extremely high demands on the students, both physically and mentally. Only those who met both requirements could keep advancing through the intense competition until they reached the summit.
The opponents in the ranking tournament were considerably stronger than those in the round-robin stage, but the trio's teams still bulldozed their way through. Only when Ning Tian's team reached the crucial round of thirty-two did they encounter a slight complication.
As Ning Tian's team entered the preparation stage, Mu Jin, who was reviewing the basic information on both teams in the stands, curled his lips into an odd smile.
Putting down the files in his hands, Mu Jin walked toward the other side of the stands without the slightest hesitation.
An old woman stood on the other side of the stands. Her skin was wrinkled and her hair white, with her graying locks coiled atop her head. She wore a white robe and had a medium build. Every part of her looked aged, except for her eyes, which flashed with keen light and radiated an imposing aura.
"Teacher Zhou, what a coincidence. The opponent your seeded team drew happens to be my seeded team. Ah, look over there at assessment section eight. Who do you think will win?"
Mu Jin spoke with a charming smile.
But a closer look would have revealed the deep resentment concealed in his eyes.
Years ago, Mu Jin's younger brother had studied in Zhou Yi's class, only to be expelled by her over a trivial matter.
As her colleague, Mu Jin had pleaded desperately with her at the time, but Zhou Yi had remained unmoved and had even insulted him in return. From that moment on, Mu Jin had hated her to the marrow of his bones.
At his words, Zhou Yi's gaze sharpened. "Mu Jin, do you think your students are certain to win?"
The smile on Mu Jin's face faded slightly, but his gaze grew even sharper.
"As far as I know, your class doesn't have a single Soul Elder this time, does it? And don't tell me you don't know exactly what filthy deeds those two on your seeded team, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, committed before. People like them don't deserve to stay and study at Shrek."
After a pause, Mu Jin feigned a look of sudden realization.
"As the old saying goes, the teacher determines the students they produce. Put that way, those two students really have inherited your true teachings."
Zhou Yi's gaze turned icy, and she snapped:
"Enough, Mu Jin! It's not your place to judge what sort of people my students are. You, on the other hand, love taking crooked shortcuts just like that good-for-nothing brother of yours. No wonder you haven't made any progress in all these years."
Although Mu Jin had prepared himself, hearing Zhou Yi mention his younger brother still made his eyes redden uncontrollably. After forcing down the towering hatred in his heart, he sneered:
"I don't know whether I've made any progress, but I do know that trying to earn a senior professional title through the freshman assessment is nothing but a daylight dream for you."
"Zhou Yi, do you dare make a wager with me? We'll bet on whose seeded team makes it into the top sixteen."
Zhou Yi likewise sneered at his words. Although she knew the seeded team Mu Jin had trained must be strong, she had enormous confidence in Huo Yuhao, who possessed what could be called the strongest ten-year soul skill, Wang Dong, whose background was extraordinary, and Xiao Xiao, who possessed twin martial souls. Thus, she accepted without hesitation.
"A wager? Why wouldn't I dare? Go on, what do you want to bet?"
Mu Jin's gaze swept over the spirited Ning Tian and her two teammates in section eight nearby. Then he said, word by word:
"Simple. We'll wager our jobs. If your team loses, you'll resign from Shrek Academy and get out, and you'll never set foot in the education profession again. If I lose, the same applies to me."
"Zhou Yi, do you... dare take that bet?"
Before you continue