The days that followed were surprisingly peaceful. The interval between the end of the individual advancement assessments and the start of the battle royale selection tournament could well be called the calm before the storm.
Over the next few days, Huo Yuhao settled into a regular routine. Unlike in the original story, he did not waste his time on the Soul Tool Department. Instead, he had plenty of time at his disposal after classes each day, and life was fairly relaxed.
The only noteworthy event during this period was that Zhu Lu, who had originally stayed in Class One as an Agility Attack Soul Master because of the special circumstances surrounding her Martial Soul Fusion Skill, transferred to Class Two, which taught Agility Attack students. Dai Huabin remained in Class One.
That was the only change.
"Ring—" The dismissal bell sounded, bringing the day's classes to an end.
The students of Second-Year Class One relaxed with it, and a few even showed expressions of relief.
At Shrek Academy, advancing from the freshman year to the second year meant passing through a rigorous screening process. Every student who remained possessed sufficient strength.
Moreover, after their first year of study, they understood all too well how much effort it took to stay here.
Thus, no one failed to pay attention during class. Failing to work hard meant being eliminated. By this stage, those who remained fell into two extremes. At one end were those utterly bereft of resources, who had fought their way here on talent alone.
Shrek Academy was the one straw they could clutch at on the road of life, and their only chance to enter aristocratic circles.
At the other end were legitimate children of noble families, such as Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong. Aside from special cases like Wang Dong, remaining at Shrek Academy was one of the key measures determining how much say these noble children would have within their families in the future.
In such an atmosphere, aside from those who believed they would never be expelled and special cases who could not care less whether they were, everyone approached each class like a battle. They were tense and alert, wishing they could brand every fleeting expression on their teachers' faces into their memories.
What Shrek taught was roughly half substance and half filler. Its value was relatively decent, at least enough to justify how attentively these students listened.
This time, however, Wang Yan did not immediately gather his things and leave as usual. Instead, he tidied his lesson plans where he stood and said, "All Core Disciples, stay behind. Come with me to the Soul Fighting Zone shortly."
Without Zhou Yi meddling, the Core Disciples were relatively concentrated this time. Of the twelve Core Disciples, only Zhu Lu was in Class Two and Ning Tian in Class Three.
As Huo Yuhao led the other nine Core Disciples of Freshman Class One out of the classroom, Zhu Lu emerged from Class Two, the closest classroom to theirs. She shot Class One's group a resentful glance, then silently trailed behind them.
Ning Tian also emerged from Class Three at that moment. Unlike Zhu Lu, there was no resentment in her gaze as she looked at Huo Yuhao, only a trace of admiration she could not conceal.
After joining the group, she even walked over to a spot near Huo Yuhao with easy familiarity.
After a short wait, Huo Yuhao spotted some familiar faces.
Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and Jiang Nannan appeared in succession. They were all fifth-year Core Disciples.
Upon seeing Huo Yuhao, Xu Sanshi instinctively drew his neck in, like a real turtle pulling its head into its shell.
Jiang Nannan looked even more bedraggled than he did. A pale yellow veil covered her face, and through it, the bluish-purple fist mark Huo Yuhao had left on her cheek was faintly visible.
Huo Yuhao had not given her some light, teasing tap back then. He had landed a vicious punch squarely on Jiang Nannan's face. If not for the fact that Shrek Academy would never tolerate a Core Disciple being killed, he would have gone further.
Although it had not been enough to take Jiang Nannan's life, the injury had verged on disfigurement.
Naturally, the fifth year had more than just these three Core Disciples. However, they were the only three who had not yet passed their fifteenth birthdays.
Without a doubt, apart from Huo Yuhao, they also had the highest cultivation among all the Core Disciples in the Outer Court.
With Xu Sanshi and Bei Bei already overshadowed by Huo Yuhao, the fifth-year Core Disciples felt a degree of fear when they saw the Core Disciples surrounding the second-year Huo Yuhao. Their bearing had already weakened by half.
The students from each class took their places behind their respective teachers and waited quietly.
Standing there, Dai Huabin was already itching to try his hand.
His soul power had reached rank thirty-seven, and he truly did not fear the Core Disciples from the higher years.
In his view, this was instead a chance to prove himself. Although none of the teachers had explained the benefits of placing in the top seven, the academy certainly had a purpose in mind.
And although Huo Yuhao firmly overshadowed him, Huo Yuhao and the friends close to him only numbered three or four. Even if Huo Yuhao secured places for all those friends, they would take up no more than three or four spots.
Just then, a swaying figure slowly approached from the distance. Judging by the way he staggered several times with every step, he seemed liable to fall at any moment.
Given what had happened before, Huo Yuhao naturally knew this was Xuan Zi, the so-called second-strongest expert in Shrek, who could get people killed through his blunders without ever paying for it.
He really was the second-strongest, but it was equally true that he could blunder people to death without paying for it. Somehow letting a Soul Douluo-level Evil Soul Master slip past him, and failing to react despite the enormous commotion Huo Yuhao himself had caused—the mere thought left him speechless.
Xuan Zi swayed his way up to the students, raised his head with bleary, drunken eyes, and said, "Little Wang."
"Xuan Zi." Wang Yan hurried forward and bowed respectfully.
"Is everyone here?" Xuan Zi asked.
"Yes, everyone is here," Wang Yan replied. "There are twenty-six Core Disciples from the Martial Soul Department, spanning the second through fifth years. Only one person has come from the Soul Tool Department."
"Mm. Then let's go in." As he spoke, Xuan Zi turned and staggered into the Soul Fighting Zone.
Not all the Core Disciples had met Xuan Zi before, and most of them were filled with uncertainty.
Dai Huabin could not help asking Xie Huanyue beside him in a low voice, "Who is this drunkard?"
Huo Yuhao heard him clearly, but could not be bothered to warn him. On the contrary, he hoped Dai Huabin would say a few more things in front of Xuan Zi, so Xuan Zi would reserve a spot on his list of people to blunder to death for Dai Huabin rather than him.
At that moment, something amusing suddenly occurred to him. The corners of his mouth curled up involuntarily as he followed Wang Yan into the Soul Fighting Zone.
The Soul Fighting Zone was arranged exactly as it had been on his previous visit, but Shrek Academy had clearly cleared it out in advance. The entire zone was empty, with neither teachers nor students there for soul fighting.
Xuan Zi walked to the center and slowly began to speak...
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