At Du Weilun's sharp rebuke, the teacher serving as referee hesitated, but still stepped forward to try to restrain Ma Xiaotao.
Just then, however, Huo Yuhao suddenly unleashed Mist Arena.
The referee was only a step too late. When his hand landed on the mist produced by Mist Arena, he immediately felt something solid, as though he were touching a wall.
For a moment, the teacher was bewildered, unsure what to do.
He promptly looked up toward Du Weilun.
Yan Shaozhe frowned. Of course, he had no idea what Huo Yuhao was trying to do, but an uneasy feeling suddenly stirred in his heart.
Mist Arena gathered quickly and dispersed even faster.
In that instant of hesitation, it had already faded. Huo Yuhao used the force of Ma Xiaotao's incoming punch to propel himself backward.
Although the Qiongqi flames wrapping his body offered no additional enhancement, they protected him from other flames.
Being immune to fire damage was tantamount to pulling out Ma Xiaotao's fangs.
As Huo Yuhao steadied himself, the referee finally restrained Ma Xiaotao, who was still under the control of her evil fire and thrashing wildly.
Huo Yuhao made a show of wiping away his sweat in disarray, letting a few traces of panic surface naturally in his eyes.
Standing on the competition platform, Yan Shaozhe did not see the change in Huo Yuhao's expression.
By the time his gaze fell on Huo Yuhao, the boy's expression had already settled into one of mild panic.
Yan Shaozhe paid no attention to that, however, and solemnly awarded Huo Yuhao full marks.
At the same time, Yan Shaozhe announced loudly,
"Because of the disorder this battle has caused in the arena, today's assessment is suspended. The remaining assessments will continue tomorrow."
Not all the freshmen were ignorant of Yan Shaozhe's identity. Even those who did not know who he was could work it out after seeing how meekly Du Weilun, their year director, behaved before him.
Once Yan Shaozhe finished speaking, everyone began walking toward the Teaching Building in orderly groups led by their homeroom teachers.
Quite a few homeroom teachers also wanted to seize this opportunity to impress the dean, so they kept their lines particularly disciplined and orderly.
Huo Yuhao walked silently among Freshman Class One. Behind him, Dai Huabin stared fixedly at his back, flashes of envy appearing in his eyes from time to time.
Even a fool could see that Huo Yuhao had stolen the limelight. He was the only freshman so far to receive full marks, and the only one to earn an outstanding score while facing a senior who could single-handedly kill a ten-thousand-year soul beast.
"Huabin... are you all right?"
Beside Dai Huabin, Zhu Lu pinched the hem of his clothes and asked with concern.
Dai Huabin glanced back, a trace of complicated emotion surfacing in his eyes as he looked at Zhu Lu.
"I'm fine. After classes this afternoon, let's try our Martial Soul Fusion Skill again."
At the mention of their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, hesitation appeared on Zhu Lu's face, and she said to Dai Huabin,
"Didn't the steward say that using our Martial Soul Fusion Skill so frequently had caused a certain overheating reaction between our two martial souls?"
Feeling irritated, Dai Huabin said bluntly to Zhu Lu,
"Don't trot out an excuse that only covers half the face. Have we really used our Martial Soul Fusion Skill often enough to cause an overheating reaction? Don't you know the answer yourself?"
Zhu Lu fell silent, embarrassment showing on her face. Then she said to Dai Huabin,
"I'm sorry, Huabin..."
Dai Huabin seemed to realize that his words had been a little too harsh. He gently squeezed Zhu Lu's hand and said,
"It's all right. Life always piles one problem on top of another. Since we've found a problem with our Martial Soul Fusion Skill, we just have to solve it."
Zhu Lu nodded, seemingly encouraged by his words, while Dai Huabin looked ahead.
Meanwhile, Xiao Xiao bit her lip, gathered her courage, and walked up beside Huo Yuhao, asking softly with concern,
"Yuhao, how are you feeling? Are you all right?"
As she spoke, Xiao Xiao looked at the mark left on Huo Yuhao's left arm.
To be fair, Huo Yuhao had held a firm advantage in his battle against Ma Xiaotao. He could even be said to have handled it with ease.
But from Xiao Xiao's angle, she could see that Huo Yuhao had not accurately gauged Ma Xiaotao's strength during their first exchange.
Thus, he had suffered a slight setback at first, though everything afterward had been Huo Yuhao's one-man show.
In Xiao Xiao's eyes, however, that later one-man show naturally went unnoticed. All her attention was focused on the half-finger-long wound on his arm.
Even Huo Yuhao did not immediately understand what Xiao Xiao meant. Seeing that her gaze remained fixed on his left hand, he smiled and said,
"I was wondering what you meant. This? It's fine. It's just a small cut, and it's almost healed already."
Xiao Xiao reached out and took Huo Yuhao's hand, staring at the tiny wound on his left arm as she said,
"How can you say it's fine? I've seen plenty of soul masters lose their lives because a tiny wound got infected."
The corner of Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched. Then he waved his hand at Xiao Xiao and said,
"I'm a Soul King now. Have you ever seen a Soul King die because a tiny cut got infected? Your imagination really runs wild."
Xiao Xiao stuck out her tongue, then said to Huo Yuhao,
"The first Titled Douluo to fall to his death never thought he'd be the first Titled Douluo to fall to his death, either."
Before you continue