What Do You Mean, You're Expelling Us?

"What's going on here?"

Inside the classroom, before Zhou Yi had even finished speaking, the door was kicked open with a casual tap of a foot.

Everyone instinctively turned to look at the boy standing against the light, his hands behind his head, his posture flippant and arrogant.

El spat out the blade of grass between his lips, his crimson eyes sweeping over everyone in the classroom.

"Why's the air so heavy?"

"Young man,"

Seeing his devil-may-care attitude, Zhou Yi's already gloomy expression turned even uglier, the wrinkles on her face deep enough to crush a fly.

"Shouldn't you knock before entering the classroom?"

"Don't you have even the most basic respect for your teacher?!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Respect? Teacher? You?"

El looked her up and down, then scratched the back of his head, an extremely deliberate look of confusion on his face.

"I'm not sure I follow."

"What do you mean by that?!"

An angry flush rapidly spread across Zhou Yi's face. She slammed a palm onto the lectern, Soul Power surging through her as the spiritual pressure of a Soul Emperor poured into the small classroom.

Feeling that familiar pressure, the students who already dared not raise their heads became ostriches burying their heads in the sand.

Over the past three months, whenever Zhou Yi released her pressure as a Soul Emperor, it meant someone was about to suffer.

At best, they would have to put on iron clothing and run two hundred laps. At worst, they would be expelled outright.

Of course, the unluckiest were those first assigned grueling training that was impossible to complete, then expelled after being worked half to death or even injured.

As Zhou Yi's anger flared, even the temperature in the formerly chilly classroom seemed to rise.

The students seated closest to the lectern began trembling slightly.

"What do I mean by what?"

El picked at his ear and spoke with utter indifference.

"Can't you understand human speech?"

"My meaning couldn't be clearer."

El raised one finger. "First, you don't deserve respect."

Then he raised a second. "Second, you don't deserve to be called a teacher."

"Well? Understand now?"

"You, you...!"

With a student practically pointing at her face and insulting her, Zhou Yi was utterly enraged. She had intended to fire back, rebut him verbally first, then teach this brat who had taken three months' leave as soon as school started and offended her authority as a teacher the meaning of cruelty.

But perhaps she had enjoyed smooth sailing for too long. After stammering "you" for ages, she actually found herself at a loss for words.

Ordinarily, her students obeyed her every word. Even if they were dissatisfied, they only dared mutter in private, never openly defying her like this.

As for the academy's teachers, even those unhappy with her habit of expelling students at the drop of a hat would say nothing out of consideration for her husband Fan Yu's standing.

So, faced with El unleashing his full barrage right in her face, she discovered that all she could do was reveal her Soul Rings and, with the air of someone whose composure had shattered, use her pressure to forcibly suppress the boy!

"How dare you!"

Zhou Yi roared in unrestrained fury, and six Soul Rings-yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black-rose from beneath her feet.

The pressure of a Soul Emperor erupted like a volcano, spreading through the classroom without restraint.

That terrifying weight bore down indiscriminately on every student in the room. Several with weaker cultivation grunted, nearly crushed flat against their desks.

Of course, the worst off was Lu Renjia, who had been called on to stand. Because he was standing, the pressure he endured far exceeded that on the other students.

Within mere seconds, his legs had already begun to weaken, his knees inching toward the floor.

Yet El, Zhou Yi's primary target, seemed completely unaffected, his posture and movements as casual as ever.

"What, embarrassed enough to fly into a rage?"

Ignoring her fire-spitting glare, El strolled over to Lu Renjia and pressed him back into his chair.

Then he surveyed the classroom, his gaze passing over the many empty seats before his crimson eyes met Zhou Yi's.

"Take a look at this classroom."

El folded one arm across his chest and tapped a desk with his left hand.

"Among the students left here, is there even one below level 24?"

"Originally, I was quite interested in this so-called 'teacher with the highest advancement rate in the Shrek Outer Court.'"

"But who would've thought? That supposedly highest advancement rate just means expelling every student with inadequate cultivation or aptitude and keeping only those talented enough."

"In fact, it's even worse than that."

"I actually listened outside for a while before coming in."

El shook his head, his eyes full of contempt as he looked at Zhou Yi.

"I didn't find a teacher. All I heard was a crazy old hag abusing her authority and doing whatever she pleased."

"Using the academy's name to satisfy your own twisted desires; using your position as a teacher and your cultivation to oppress and abuse students."

"And you think you deserve to be called a teacher? To be respected?"

"Heh."

Zhou Yi sneered.

After enduring one point-blank verbal assault after another, her anger reached its peak, and she instead calmed down.

When she first saw that El could actually ignore her pressure, Zhou Yi had intended to find a way to save face, give him some moderate punishment, and let the matter pass for now.

After all, being capable of this at his age undoubtedly meant he was a genius with an exceptionally powerful Martial Soul, someone very likely to catch the attention of the academy's higher-ups.

Besides, as long as he remained a Shrek student, she would have plenty of chances to make life difficult for El later!

But before Zhou Yi could find a suitable way to back down,

El's next words completely shattered her intention to ease tensions for the time being.

If she could swallow even this, she wouldn't be Zhou Yi!

Abusing her authority, mistreating students, deliberately inflicting corporal punishment...

She could do all those things! But a mere student had no right to say them!

"Whether I'm a teacher worthy of respect is not something a student who took three months' leave right at the start of term gets to comment on!"

Zhou Yi stared coldly at El, the malice and disgust in her eyes almost solid enough to take shape.

"You, on the other hand, come back to school and immediately spout outrageous nonsense at your homeroom teacher!

"Insulting your teacher, questioning her teaching methods..."

"You have no manners whatsoever and treat the school rules about respecting teachers and their teachings as if they don't exist!"

"Someone like you has no right to remain at Shrek!!"

Fuck the higher-ups taking an interest in him, and fuck his family's influence!

Let's see who matters more: a senior teacher with Soul Emperor cultivation (actually still an intermediate teacher), or an expelled student with barely anyone left in his family!

Her husband was Fan Yu! The vice dean of the Soul Tool Department! A Level 8 Soul Engineer!

Even if the sky fell, Fan Yu would be there to hold it up!

Thinking of her husband's backing, Zhou Yi immediately felt reassured.

Recalling the leave request she had once seen, she spoke sinisterly.

"You're expelled!"

"Get the hell back to that family of yours that's almost died out!"

"Oh, and remember to take that little bastard from your family who's been living out there, Huo Yutong, with you!"