Freshman Class Nine

It was opening day at Shrek Academy.

The morning sunlight slanted through the dorm room's small window, casting a warm patch of light across the mottled floor.

Nezha opened his eyes and stretched, his joints giving a few crisp pops.

As usual, he had spent the night cultivating the Great Firmament Celestial Art. The warm current in his dantian had grown stronger, leaving him even more refreshed than a night's sleep would have. He sat up and turned toward the neighboring bed.

Zhou Hu was still snoring away.

He lay sprawled spread-eagled across the bed, his quilt kicked down to his feet and a trickle of drool hanging from the corner of his mouth. Most of the swelling in his cheeks had subsided overnight, though traces of it remained.

Nezha raised a foot and gave the bed frame a moderate kick.

"Get up."

Zhou Hu shuddered and snapped his eyes open. His first instinct was to cover his face; his second was to shrink into the corner of the bed.

Only after recognizing Nezha's expressionless face did his tense body slowly relax. Mumbling something unintelligible, he climbed out of bed.

After yesterday's savage beating, he had thoroughly learned to follow his heart-and his heart told him to surrender.

Those two slaps, one on either side, had made one fact perfectly clear: this roommate named Li Nezha was someone he could not afford to provoke.

Since he could not afford to provoke him, he would obediently call him Boss. Whatever Boss said went. If Boss told him to go east, he would never go west. If Boss told him to clean the room, he would never slack off.

After washing up, they both changed into their green freshman uniforms.

They left the dorm room and headed downstairs along the narrow corridor.

By the time they reached the dormitory entrance, the sunlight was just right. The old man was still reclining in the battered lounge chair outside, exactly as he had been yesterday.

His gray cloth clothes, his deeply wrinkled face, his lowered, cloudy eyes, the battered teapot beside him giving off the faintest wisps of steam-it was as though he had not budged since yesterday.

Nezha glanced at him as he passed, paid him little mind, and kept walking.

Zhou Hu jogged a couple of steps to catch up and asked in a low voice, "Boss, who's that old man? Why's he always lying there?"

"No idea," Nezha answered casually, then added after a pause, "Don't mess with him."

Zhou Hu ducked his head and nodded repeatedly.

They reached the open space outside the dormitory and spotted two familiar figures in the distance.

Ning Tian and Wu Feng were already waiting beside the road.

In the morning light, Ning Tian somehow lent her green uniform an air of refined, otherworldly elegance. Her platinum-blond hair was tied in its usual ponytail down her back, and her azure eyes were clear and bright in the sunlight as she tilted her head to say something to Wu Feng.

Wu Feng stood beside her with her fiery-red ponytail as bold as ever, arms folded across her chest as she looked impatiently around. The uniform only added to her heroic air.

Wu Feng's eyes lit up when she saw Nezha approaching. Then she noticed Zhou Hu trailing beside him, his cheeks slightly swollen and his head tucked down, and immediately frowned.

"Who's this?"

Nezha glanced sideways at Zhou Hu and said casually, "My new underling. Zhou Hu, from the Zhou Family in the Heaven Dou Empire. We share a room."

"Underling?"

Wu Feng raised an eyebrow and looked Zhou Hu up and down. Her fiery-red eyes lingered on the lingering redness and swelling in his face, and her lips curled. "What happened to your underling's face?"

Zhou Hu instinctively covered his cheek and gave a dry laugh, not daring to say a word.

Nezha's expression remained unchanged. "We sparred a little. He wasn't very careful."

"Oh," Wu Feng drawled meaningfully. One look at Zhou Hu's shrinking, timid posture was enough to tell her exactly what had happened.

She clapped Zhou Hu on the shoulder hard enough to make him sag. "Nice. Stick with Nezha from now on, and nobody will dare bully you."

Zhou Hu nodded miserably.

Watching from the side, Ning Tian's lips curved slightly. She said nothing, merely giving Nezha a gentle nod.

Without lingering any longer, the four followed the main road outside the dormitory toward the academy plaza.

Shrek Academy was even livelier on opening day than it had been yesterday. Freshmen in green uniforms were everywhere, gathering in groups of three or five around the plaza and chattering away.

The noticeboard in the center of the plaza was surrounded by layer upon layer of people, packed so tightly that not even water could trickle through. From a distance, all they could see was a dense mass of dark-haired heads and swaying green hems.

"The class assignments should be over there." Ning Tian lifted her chin toward the noticeboard.

They walked over, with Wu Feng clearing the way. She swept her arms aside and forcibly carved a path through the crowd.

Tall and agile, she pushed through effortlessly. Ning Tian followed calmly behind her, Nezha came third, and Zhou Hu brought up the rear with his head tucked down. They soon reached the noticeboard.

A long row of red sheets covered the huge board, densely filled with freshman class lists written in small, neat brush strokes.

Nezha scanned the names on the red paper and quickly found his own.

Freshman Class Nine: Li Nezha, Ning Tian, Wu Feng.

Freshman Class Ten: Zhou Hu.

After reading them, Nezha turned to glance at Zhou Hu.

Zhou Hu's face fell instantly. His mouth opened, and he looked utterly abandoned.

He leaned closer to the red paper and checked again. Once he confirmed that his name really was sitting all alone in the Class Ten column, an entire column away from his boss's name, he wilted like an eggplant struck by frost.

"Boss... we're not in the same class?"

Nezha patted his shoulder and said casually, "It's just one wall between us. Call me if something happens."

Zhou Hu opened his mouth, wanting to say more, but when he met Nezha's fiery-red eyes, he ultimately did not dare make another peep. He merely gave a dejected "Oh" and stepped aside with his head hanging.

Wu Feng was thoroughly amused. She nudged Ning Tian with her elbow and whispered, "Look at him. He's like a little wife who's been abandoned."

Ning Tian did not reply, only curving her lips slightly. Her gaze remained on the red paper. After confirming that she and Nezha had been assigned to the same class, the faint worry in her heart finally disappeared.

After checking their class assignments, the four did not linger at the noticeboard. They turned and headed toward the cafeteria.

Meanwhile, in the teachers' offices.

A strikingly beautiful teacher who looked about twenty-seven or twenty-eight sat at a desk, propping his cheek on one hand while idly leafing through a roster with the other.

He was exceptionally good-looking, with delicate features, fair skin, and long, wavy chestnut hair spilling over his shoulders. His figure was shapely, and his well-tailored teaching uniform gave him an air of competence beneath his alluring beauty.

At that moment, the corners of his mouth lifted into a smile of absolute confidence, and his long, narrow eyes gleamed with the satisfaction of a successful scheme.

"Li Nezha, Soul Elder... Ning Tian, Soul Elder... Wu Feng, Soul Grandmaster..."

He read the names on the roster one word at a time, his smile deepening with each one. His fingertips tapped lightly against the list, as though weighing the worth of some priceless treasure.

"Zhou Yi, you damned old hag-"

He suddenly laughed, his voice clear and pleasant, yet full of undisguised triumph.

"Let's see what you can possibly use to compete with me this time."

He was Mu Jin, the homeroom teacher of Freshman Class Nine, the class Nezha and the others had been assigned to.

Meanwhile, in the cafeteria, Nezha was shoveling food into his mouth when he suddenly sneezed. He rubbed his nose and muttered, "Who's talking about me?" Then he thought nothing more of it and went back to eating.

Sitting opposite him, Ning Tian glanced up at him without saying anything, then quietly picked up the piece of meat on her plate and placed it in his bowl.

Nezha paused and looked up at her.

Ning Tian's expression remained perfectly normal. She picked up her own vegetables, her gaze resting elsewhere, as though nothing had happened.

Wu Feng saw the whole thing clearly from beside them and gave a muffled snort through her mouthful of rice.