A Teacher Passes on the Way, Imparts Knowledge, and Dispels Doubts

Huo Yuhao had thought that even if Zhou Yi's teaching methods were extreme, she was still a Shrek Academy teacher. He could at least show her some courtesy.

He hadn't expected her to take an inch and demand a mile, opening with a show of force meant to put him in his place.

He looked up at Zhou Yi. His voice was calm, every word clear and edged with undisguised mockery. "What's wrong with you?"

The air in the classroom froze.

Sitting in the back row, Dai Huabin's lips curled into a gloating smile. He waited to see Zhou Yi put Huo Yuhao in his place.

"What did you say?!" Zhou Yi's face turned livid. She slammed a hand onto the lectern, cracking the solid black stone, then pointed at Huo Yuhao and roared, "You disobey class rules and insult your teacher in public! Either one is enough to get you thrown out of Shrek Academy!"

"Rules? Teacher?" Huo Yuhao gave a cold laugh and stepped forward without yielding an inch. "Zhou Yi, don't try your bullying rules on me."

"You called for everyone to stand, and we moved as soon as you finished speaking. A second late? Did you time us with a High-Precision Soul Tool Timer, or do you just dislike me and want to pick a fight?"

His gaze swept over the other students, and his clear voice carried across the classroom. "Everyone saw it. Cao Jinxuan and I didn't dawdle. We stood less than a breath after the others, and that's enough to get us kicked out of Class Zero? Which Shrek Academy rule says standing up one second late gets you expelled from a class? Are your rules above the academy's?"

Cao Jinxuan had been bewildered, but Huo Yuhao's words made him realize what had happened. He nodded quickly. "Teacher Zhou, I didn't mean to. I was thinking about a Soul Skill just now. I wasn't delaying on purpose!"

"Shut up! It's not your turn to speak!" Zhou Yi shot Cao Jinxuan a fierce glare, then turned back to Huo Yuhao, her anger burning hotter. Nothing infuriated her more than a challenge to her authority.

But Huo Yuhao was not afraid of her. He continued, the disdain in his voice deepening. "And as for being a teacher? A teacher has to earn respect through virtue first."

"During the freshman assessment, you broke the rules and leaked the assessment content to your students ahead of time so you could beat Teacher Mu Jin. Then you lost the bet and tried to withhold the Secret Soul Bone you owed her. She had to make several trips to the Academic Affairs Office to get it back. For the sake of your precious advancement rate, you casually expel students who can't keep up, piling up your achievements on the ruins of their futures. Someone like you expects me to call you teacher with respect?"

His words left Zhou Yi's face shifting between blue and white. Her lips trembled, but she could not get a word out.

Because every bit of it was true.

The students began whispering among themselves. The way they looked at Zhou Yi had changed.

Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, and Yang Wusi had all suffered under Zhou Yi's harshness before. They had been angry but had not dared speak up. Now that Huo Yuhao had laid it all bare, their resentment rose as well.

"Outrageous!" Zhou Yi finally recovered enough to shout. Her Soul Power pressure surged again and bore down on Huo Yuhao. "I've taught for more than ten years! I don't need a freshman telling me how to do my job! Today, you either get out of this classroom or write a ten-thousand-word self-criticism and run a hundred laps around the field!"

But the instant her pressure reached Huo Yuhao, two auras blocked it.

Ning Tian stepped forward to stand beside Huo Yuhao and looked coldly at Zhou Yi. "Teacher Zhou, isn't that punishment excessive? Yuhao did nothing wrong. Why should he be punished? If you keep this up, I'll go to the Academic Affairs Office and Dean Yan and ask whether Shrek Academy allows teachers to treat students however they please!"

Gu Yue was more direct. She said nothing, merely stepped to Huo Yuhao's other side. A chill flashed through her violet eyes as she fixed them on Zhou Yi.

Her meaning could not have been clearer: Touch him, and I'll fight you.

Zhou Yi stared at the three of them standing shoulder to shoulder, her expression darkening to the extreme.

Huo Yuhao was a core disciple of the Soul Tool Department, Ning Tian was the young heir of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, and Gu Yue was a genius even Dean Yan held in high regard. With those three standing together, even Du Weilun would not dare punish them lightly, much less a Class Zero homeroom teacher like her.

She had meant to make an example of Huo Yuhao and cow all of Class Zero. Instead, she had tried to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used to lure it, and Huo Yuhao's words had left her with no way to save face.

Huo Yuhao looked at Zhou Yi's livid face and gave a cold laugh. "Zhou Yi, don't throw your weight around with me. I'm staying in Class Zero, but I won't play by your rotten rules. If you want me out, you're not up to it."

With that, he took Ning Tian and Gu Yue back to their seats without looking at Zhou Yi again.

Cao Jinxuan froze for a moment, then hurriedly sat down too.

The other students glanced at one another before taking their seats as well. No one dared look at Zhou Yi's face.

Zhou Yi stood motionless at the lectern, looking out over the seated students. Her face burned as though someone had slapped her hard several times.

She glared at Huo Yuhao's back, her eyes full of venom, but did not dare lash out.

She knew that from this day on, she would never again be able to bend Class Zero to her will.

At his desk, Huo Yuhao tapped his fingertips lightly on the surface, a sharp glint passing through his eyes.

Zhou Yi? She's just a minor interruption.

What he needed to do next was establish the Lionheart Club for good and secure a voice of his own in Shrek Academy.

"Huo! Yu! Hao!"

Zhou Yi forced each syllable through clenched teeth. From the lectern, she watched the entire classroom ignore her order and sit down, especially Huo Yuhao, who had his back to her and was still tapping the desk without a care. Fury shot from the soles of her feet to the top of her head, and the last thread of her reason snapped.

The pressure of a six-ring Battle Soul Emperor exploded outward without restraint!

This was nothing like her earlier, tentative display. Terrifying Soul Power at the Soul Emperor level swept through the classroom like a tsunami. The black-stone desks and chairs creaked under the strain, and the window frames hummed and shook.

"Get out of my class!!" Zhou Yi roared, eyes bloodshot and finger pointed at Huo Yuhao. Her voice echoed off the classroom walls.

Huo Yuhao slowly turned to face her. There was not a trace of fear on his face, only a faint, mocking smile. He spoke evenly, not loudly, yet every word carried across the classroom. "Zhou Yi, I'll make myself clear too. If you want me gone, come and throw me out yourself."

He did not even stand. His fingertips kept tapping lightly on the desk as the Heavenly Eye at his brow opened in silence. His Ultimate Spirit had already spread out, taking in every detail of the Soul Power circulating through Zhou Yi's body.

Huo Yuhao was betting that Zhou Yi would not dare strike him with lethal force!

He was a core disciple of the Soul Tool Department, a disciple Qian Duoduo valued, and the key to suppressing Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire. If she truly hurt him, Yan Shaozhe would be the first to hold her accountable.

Besides, Shrek Academy's rules explicitly forbade teachers from using force against students without cause, let alone using lethal force against a freshman with only one Soul Ring.

If she dared attack, she would be the one to lose her job.

He had judged where the line lay. What he had failed to account for was that, after having every shameful act exposed and losing face before the entire freshman class, Zhou Yi had already been blinded by rage.

"You! You! You!" Zhou Yi pointed at Huo Yuhao, her finger trembling along with the rest of her body. After forcing out those three words, she ground out three more through her teeth. "Fine! Fine! Fine!"

At the last word, her fire-attribute Soul Power surged. Scorching heat swept through the room, warping the very air.

"Martial Soul Possession!"

With that furious shout, dark-red scales spread from her neck to cover her arms. Sharp dragon claws sprang from her fingertips, wreathed in fiercely burning Dragon Flame.

Two curved dragon horns rose from her head, and a scaled tail lashed behind her. Her pupils narrowed into slits, filled with the savage ferocity of a dragon.

Two yellow, two purple, and two black Soul Rings rose from beneath her feet and revolved around her in orderly fashion. The pressure of that optimal Soul Ring configuration bore down on everyone. The classroom grew hotter by the moment, and even the corners of the wooden desks began to char.