"Attention, all freshmen. Attention, all freshmen. Please enter the Assessment Area immediately and prepare for the Freshman Assessment. You have ten minutes left to enter. Anyone arriving late will be considered to have forfeited this assessment."
The booming announcement rang out throughout the Outer Court, loud enough to reach every corner.
Most of the freshmen grew serious. Their first assessment was about to begin, and it would have been a lie to say they were not nervous.
The expressions of the groups standing beside Huo Yuhao and his teammates also changed, while Xiao Xiao and Wang Dong looked perfectly calm.
After all, there was only so much reason for them to be nervous. Huo Yuhao's current strength was already approaching the level of a Five-Ring Soul King.
In the Freshman Assessment, he was practically a higher-dimensional force crushing everything beneath him. With Huo Yuhao around, their team would struggle to find any opponents worthy of the name.
The Freshman Assessment was so important that the academy's reminder over its Soul Tool broadcast accomplished little. All the students had already reached their assigned areas and made their preparations.
A teacher who looked about forty arrived in the Thirty-Third District. His appearance was entirely ordinary, and he had no overbearing presence. With a pleasant smile on his face, he looked very amiable—the difference between him and Zhou Yi was like heaven and earth.
An identification pin hung on his chest, bearing the name "Wang Yan."
Needless to say, this was Wang Yan, the representative of the gentler faction among the teachers who would appear later.
After announcing the rules, Wang Yan took a stack of records from the folder he carried and announced the participants in the first assessment.
Without question, no butterfly effect had occurred here.
Huo Yuhao and his teammates were still the first group, facing three unremarkable minor characters.
The three of them barely needed to show their strength before passing over those opponents like speed bumps.
Over the following day, fighting four consecutive matches was quite a demanding battle of endurance for the other students.
But for Huo Yuhao, whose Soul Power exceeded rank forty, it was merely a competition of ordinary intensity.
By the end of the second day's matches, Huo Yuhao and his teammates had won all five of their bouts.
At that point, Wang Yan beckoned to Huo Yuhao and his teammates and said,
"Huo Yuhao, sorry for the trouble, but could you come over here?"
Huo Yuhao answered and walked over to Wang Yan, tilting his head as he asked,
"Is something the matter, Teacher Wang?"
"Why haven't I seen you use your Martial Soul in any of these five matches?"
Huo Yuhao smiled at the question, then told Wang Yan,
"Here's the thing, Teacher Wang. We weren't matched against anyone particularly strong in these five bouts. Most of the teams had two one-ring members and one two-ring member, so there was no need to use my Martial Soul.
"I come from a military family, so close-quarters combat is my old trade. Normally, when I face opponents at my level or stronger, I have to give it everything I've got. With such an obvious gap in Soul Power this time, it was a rare chance to get some practice."
Wang Yan nodded, then said to Huo Yuhao with some awkwardness,
"I see. All right, but I suggest you at least put on a show. Defeating your opponents with fighting techniques alone every time does hurt their pride a little.
"The people you defeat here won't necessarily be eliminated from Shrek Academy altogether. Even an east wind can turn south, and even a roof tile can have its day to turn over... You'll all be Shrek graduates. No one can say who might need whose help in the future, so it's better to play it safe."
Huo Yuhao shrugged and told Wang Yan,
"All right, Teacher Wang. I'll keep that in mind for the next match."
Wang Yan nodded, then patted Huo Yuhao on the shoulder and said,
"Confidence is a good thing in a young person, but let me remind you that too much confidence can sometimes hurt you instead. Your team has already won five matches in a row.
"Starting with the next match, you'll be paired with opponents who also have five consecutive wins, or four wins and one loss. Their strength won't be as low as what you've faced so far."
Huo Yuhao nodded and replied to Wang Yan with as much restraint as he could,
"Understood, Teacher Wang. I'll be careful."
Wang Yan nodded, and Huo Yuhao turned and walked back to Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao.
"What did Teacher Wang say to you?"
As soon as he rejoined the team, Wang Dong asked him curiously, and Huo Yuhao relayed Wang Yan's words.
Listening from the side, Xiao Xiao covered her mouth and giggled.
"Hehe, our captain finally got the teacher's attention this time."
Wang Dong replied from beside her,
"It's not the first time our Huo Yuhao has stirred up trouble with a teacher. If it hadn't been for him back then, who knows how many laps we'd have had to run?"
At the mention of the start of term, Xiao Xiao grew a little more serious and sighed.
"Exactly. I asked around afterward, and it turns out only our class's teacher has that kind of temper. We really drew the short straw."
Huo Yuhao patted Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao on the shoulders and said,
"All right, all right. What's done is done, and there's no point talking about it now. Why not think about tomorrow's matches instead? From what Teacher Wang Yan said, our very first match tomorrow should be a big one."
Wang Dong raised her fist and waved it.
"What's there to be afraid of? We've won all five matches too. I don't care what elite troops or mighty generals they send. We'll bury every last one in the loose dirt beneath our feet."
Huo Yuhao immediately stepped aside, looking rather speechless, and said,
"Your swagger nearly bowled me over, Dong'er."
Being called Dong'er by Huo Yuhao brought a faint blush to Wang Dong's face. A moment later, her embarrassment turned to anger, and she chased after him, swinging her fists.
The three of them joked and tussled all the way to the cafeteria. After dinner, they each returned to their dorm rooms to rest.
Early the next morning, the very first team Huo Yuhao and his teammates faced made him understand what Wang Yan had meant by "the opponents will become stronger."
Their opponents had indeed grown stronger, and interestingly enough, this was the very team from the original story whose Martial Soul Fusion Skill had given Huo Yuhao and his teammates their inspiration: Huang Chutian's team.
This team had a little more screen time than the average supporting characters, chiefly because their lineup was perfectly suited to serving as an introductory guide for the original Huo Yuhao.
They had two Body Martial Soul users, and those two Body Martial Souls even possessed a Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
In the original story, it was their example that inspired Huo Yuhao to drag Wang Dong into practicing a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, setting him on the road of no return to a dog's leash.
There was a little unwritten rule on the Douluo Continent: partners in a Martial Soul Fusion Skill were either biological brothers, husband and wife, or gay.
But Huo Yuhao looked down at his chest. As his Soul Power circulated, Qiongqi's soul mark had already begun to glow faintly red, revealing its rough outline.
Now that my Martial Soul has mutated into Qiongqi, can it still form a Martial Soul Fusion Skill with a butterfly or the Clear Sky Hammer...?
Before you continue