Chapter 27

The classroom fell so silent you could have heard a pin drop.

The freshmen looked at one another. No one dared move.

They had barely enrolled, and already they had been caught fighting by a teacher. How could anything good come of that?

After a moment of silence, Ye Tianming stood up first. Wang Dong rose right after him.

When Huo Yutong saw Ye Tianming stand, she hesitated for a moment, then stood as well.

Every eye in the class snapped toward the three of them. Quite a few students even looked ready to enjoy their misfortune.

Zhou Yi looked at the three standing students. There was not a trace of anger on her face; instead, she nodded.

"Good."

"You had the guts to cause trouble. Shrek's rules were made to give capable, hot-blooded monsters room to move."

"Anyone afraid to cause trouble is a mediocrity!"

Zhou Yi changed tack, turning sharply toward the students still in their seats. Her voice suddenly hardened.

"As for you?"

"You sat there with your heads tucked in, without a scrap of spirit. And you think you deserve to enter Shrek?"

"Get out and run a hundred laps around the Playground! Fail to finish within an hour, and you're expelled!"

The entire class was dumbstruck.

"Teacher, that's not fair!"

A boy stood up, his face flushed red as he protested.

"Why don't they get punished for fighting, while those of us who didn't fight have to run?"

The elderly woman at the front merely looked at him coldly and said,

"Because I'm Zhou Yi. If you don't like it, get out."

One glare from her drained the color from the boy's face. He swallowed everything else he had meant to say.

Once everyone had gone down to the Playground,

Zhou Yi turned to Ye Tianming and the other two, then spoke slowly.

"Good fight. Competition was how you improved."

Then her expression gradually cooled.

"But I don't much like my own students clawing at each other."

"Next time you fight, pick someone from another class."

"As long as you don't kill them."

The three froze for a moment, then nodded to show they understood.

Zhou Yi nodded in satisfaction and waved a hand.

"All right."

"You can go down and run now."

Wang Dong and Huo Yutong: "???"

Ye Tianming, who had read the original novel, naturally knew what the old woman was up to.

Wang Dong, beside him, suddenly blurted out a complaint.

"Whoa, Teacher, weren't you just praising us?"

"How come..."

At that, Zhou Yi replied slowly,

"But I never said you were exempt from the assessment."

"Since you're more promising than the others,"

"your assessment should naturally be a little harder."

"And you have the same time limit as your classmates. Quite a bit of it has already passed."

As Zhou Yi spoke, the corners of her mouth lifted slightly.

"But—"

Before Wang Dong could say more, Ye Tianming picked her up.

With Wang Dong in his left hand and Huo Yutong in his right, Ye Tianming reached the Playground in moments.

"Why waste your breath on her? That old woman's just here to make our lives miserable. Couldn't you tell?"

Ye Tianming sounded thoroughly exasperated.

At first, some students wanted to slack off. But Zhou Yi stood at the edge of the square with her hands behind her back, and once she released the pressure of a Six-Ring Soul Emperor, no one dared try anything.

As Ye Tianming ran, he used the footwork of Cloud Soaring to set the pace. He brought Huo Yutong along and had her activate Spiritual Detection.

Whenever someone's strength began to fail or their steps grew unsteady, she called it out in advance so they could adjust their breathing and keep up.

A group that had started out like scattered sand somehow did not lose a single runner.

An hour later, the students who had not fought stumbled across the finish line and collapsed all over the ground.

Ye Tianming was still running with Huo Yutong, while Wang Dong kept pace beside them.

Ye Tianming glanced at Wang Dong in surprise. She was still running with them, which left him puzzled.

Wasn't Wang Dong the first to finish in the original novel in my previous life?

As for Huo Yutong, Ye Tianming had already built up her physical strength. She was not in nearly as sorry a state as she had been in the original novel.

A little later, the three finished together—all one hundred laps.

Zhou Yi watched the panting freshmen. Not one had fallen, and a flicker of satisfaction flashed through her eyes.

Her gaze finally settled on Huo Yutong, the girl with the lowest cultivation in the class, who had only one ring.

And yet she was the one Zhou Yi valued most.

A team could do without the strongest attacker, but it could not do without a pair of eyes that saw the farthest.

Then Zhou Yi suddenly raised her voice.

"Listen up! The Freshman Assessment is in three months. You'll compete in teams of three under elimination rules. Those who place last will be held back—or even expelled!"

"Starting today, train like your lives depend on it."

With that, Zhou Yi turned and left, giving them nothing but her retreating back.

Across the Playground, freshmen lay sprawled everywhere, groaning.

After a short rest, Ye Tianming pulled Huo Yutong up from the ground. He also hauled up Wang Dong, who was lying spread-eagled nearby despite not being tired.

"Up you get. From today on, we can't waste a single day."

Wang Dong shook off his hand and curled her lip.

"You don't have to tell me. I know."

Zhou Yi was notorious for training her students within an inch of their lives. During the first week, freshmen clamored to quit school every day.

Zhou Yi's answer was always the same single word.

"Leave."

After a few actually did, the rest resigned themselves to it.

Ye Tianming and Huo Yutong also threw themselves into cultivation.

Five days later, in Zhou Yi's office.

Zhou Yi looked at the three of them and spoke angrily.

"Control System, Control System, and yet another Control System!"

"I asked you to write down the direction you wanted your cultivation to take, and all three of you little brats wrote Control System?"

"What? Do you think you're so impressive that you can put me in my place?"

Huo Yutong promptly hid behind Ye Tianming and peered cautiously at Zhou Yi.

Ye Tianming gave a few awkward coughs.

The sight only made Zhou Yi angrier. She said coldly,

"The Freshman Assessment doesn't allow everyone on a team to have the same specialization."

"If you little brats don't explain yourselves properly,"

"I won't let you off."

From behind Ye Tianming, Huo Yutong spoke timidly.

"Um... Teacher Zhou, I can see the entire field."

"I'll definitely gain attack skills in the future, too."

"The Control System suits the path I want to take better."

Zhou Yi pondered for a moment, then nodded slowly.

"You've got a point, little girl. You pass."

"Wang Dong, what are you trying to do, hiding all the way in the back? You're plainly a Power Attack System soul master, so why are you playing at being a Control System?!!!"

Wang Dong, who had been inching backward, stiffened at once and gave an awkward laugh.

"Teacher Zhou, I'd be pretty good as a Control System soul master too..."

"I can fly and fight. Doesn't that mean I can control the field? No?"

At that, a great big throbbing vein appeared on Zhou Yi's forehead.

"And you, Ye Tianming!"

"You have a top-tier Beast Martial Soul. Why are you playing at being a Control System soul master?"

Ye Tianming answered with complete seriousness.

"Teacher Zhou, if I attack and send everyone on the field flying, isn't that control too?"

(There'll be another chapter tonight. Something came up today, and I really had no time to write during the day. One more chapter should be out around ten. (Sad))