A show of force

At Shrek Academy, no one would disturb their cultivation. Only when night was about to fall did the two ravenous boys finally stop. Under the crowd's astonished gazes, Jiang Hai plunged headfirst into Sea God Lake.

At the same time, he called out, "Chen Yong, you're covered in sweat after all that running. Come down and wash off!"

Chen Yong hesitated, then gritted his teeth and jumped into Sea God Lake as well.

Some students who saw this tried to stop them, but the moment they recognized Jiang Hai, they immediately steered clear as though avoiding a plague god.

After a while, the two swam to a deserted spot and climbed ashore. As they changed by the bank, Jiang Hai asked, "Yong, do you think there are fish in Sea God Lake? When should we come catch some?"

"Maybe we shouldn't, Boss," Chen Yong said. "If you want fish, we can eat some at the cafeteria!"

"How could cafeteria fish taste as good as fish you caught yourself?" Jiang Hai said matter-of-factly. "Forget it, forget it. It's been half a day, and I'm hungry. Let's go to the cafeteria. After dinner, we'll keep making money tonight!"

"Boss, we're still making money today?" Chen Yong asked in surprise.

"Of course we are," Jiang Hai said. "Don't you know that even a mountain of wealth will run dry if you just sit around eating into it? I can't really go make money off the senior students anymore, but you still need to keep fleecing the freshmen! Don't worry, I'll back you up and give you some pointers while I'm at it."

At those words, Chen Yong immediately perked up and said eagerly, "Then let's hurry!"

Jiang Hai was speechless. After dinner, Chen Yong immediately took yesterday's sign and stood at the entrance to the Freshman Building.

The freshmen arrived in a steady stream, with even more people than yesterday. Chen Yong only waited a little while before people began taking the bait one after another. Having witnessed Jiang Hai's unrestrained swagger yesterday, Chen Yong grew much more brazen with his taunts, and soon a whole crowd had taken the bait.

Over the course of the night, Chen Yong earned another fifty-odd gold coins. Under Jiang Hai's guidance, his practical combat skills also advanced by leaps and bounds.

That night, Jiang Hai summoned the Bronze Coffin and stepped inside to cultivate.

Having seen Jiang Hai's Bronze Coffin so often, Chen Yong had grown somewhat accustomed to it. He began cultivating on his bed as well.

And so, early on the third morning, the two skipped their run and headed straight to the teaching area after breakfast.

They found the Class One classroom and walked inside.

"Boss, there are two seats over there!" Chen Yong said, pointing to the empty seats at the back.

"No, you're mistaken. There aren't any seats over there!" Jiang Hai said with a perfectly straight face, then walked over and sat beside a pretty, innocent-looking girl.

With a pretty, adorable girl available as a deskmate, who would want to sit beside a big oaf like Chen Yong?

Chen Yong chuckled and scratched his head, then ran over and sat beside a petite, cute-looking girl himself.

Jiang Hai looked at the girl beside him. She was very pretty, but her expression was haughty. She held her head high without sparing him so much as a glance.

Jiang Hai enjoyed the view. The girl was young, but her chest had already developed somewhat. Since class had yet to begin and he had nothing else to do, he started looking over his classmates.

He really did spot quite a few familiar faces. Apart from Wang Dong, of course, every one of them had been beaten up by Chen Yong. Chen Yong had earned over a hundred gold coins during the past two days. With a little over a thousand freshmen, that meant he had beaten up roughly a tenth of them.

They were all boys, naturally. Even if Chen Yong wanted to lay a hand on the girls, Jiang Hai wouldn't allow it. They were all little blossoms of the future. What if they never got the chance to bloom?

Wang Dong was clearly the most popular, though. Why does a little girl disguised as a boy have to look so good? It's not like you can do anything about it!

Jiang Hai grumbled inwardly.

A while later, the rather scrawny Huo Yuhao finally arrived. That boy really could stay holed up indoors. He lived right next door, yet Jiang Hai hadn't seen him even once since arriving at Shrek Academy.

Huo Yuhao was delighted to see Jiang Hai. He then found an empty seat and sat down, looking around curiously as well.

With over a hundred students in the classroom, some of whom already knew one another, and all of them only half-grown children, the room was quite noisy.

Just then, an elderly woman walked through the doorway. She had crane-white hair and wrinkled skin, with her silver hair coiled atop her head. Her white robe was clean and simple, and she was of medium build. Her dark eyes shone with vigor. As she casually swept her gaze over everyone, the classroom gradually quieted, and all eyes turned toward the lectern.

The old woman's gaze exerted tremendous pressure. Only after everyone had settled down did she speak. "My name is Zhou Yi, and I'm your homeroom teacher. I don't know how many of you will make it through the coming year with me, but let me tell you this: I do not allow trash to pass my assessments. I'm sure many of you heard about what happened a few days ago. My class has no need for trash like that. You may fail, but you may not admit defeat. Of course, even those fools are still far stronger than you are now. Many of you can't even measure up to them. My class has no need for such useless people."

Zhou Yi's tone was calm and slightly raspy, but most of the students looked displeased. They were elites and geniuses selected from the various empires who had passed round after round of assessments, yet in Zhou Yi's mouth, they had become trash and fools. There were exceptions, of course, such as the utterly shameless Jiang Hai.

Having traded blows with all sorts of trolls in his previous life, he would have died of anger long ago without a sturdy heart.

There was one thing Jiang Hai wholeheartedly agreed with Xu Sanshi about: As long as I have no shame, no one can make me lose face!

Huo Yuhao remained calm as well. He had learned from Tang Ya and Bei Bei that Zhou Yi was a very capable teacher, but also bad-tempered and strict, so he was mentally prepared.

Then Zhou Yi's next words caused quite a stir. "Anyone who has been in a fight during these past few days of registration, stand up!"

These students had only just been admitted. Who would fight on academy grounds? And even if they had, who would admit it?

Unexpectedly, however, more than a dozen students stood up one after another, including Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong.

Huo Yuhao was stunned as well. So he and Wang Dong weren't the only ones who had fought. Had this many people in Class One been fighting too?

With skin thick enough to shrug off anything, Jiang Hai remained firmly planted in his seat. He even looked teasingly at Huo Yuhao and said, "Little Yuhao, you've only been here a few days, and you're already fighting. That's not what a good student does!"

"S-sorry, Brother Jiang Hai!" Huo Yuhao felt rather embarrassed and tried to apologize.

Wang Dong shot Huo Yuhao a fierce glare. Why are you apologizing to this guy? He's been in far more fights than you, the shameless jerk!

Chen Yong glanced restlessly at Jiang Hai. Seeing that Jiang Hai showed no intention of standing, he gritted his teeth and stayed seated too.

Zhou Yi glanced at Jiang Hai and Chen Yong with a smile that never reached her eyes. "Only this handful? You really are useless. Don't you know that those who dare not stir up trouble are mediocrities? Everyone except these few, get outside immediately and run a hundred laps around the field. Anyone who fails to finish will be expelled."

At those words, the students who hadn't stood up immediately grew indignant. It was the first day of school, and they were being punished for not fighting. Who could accept that?

A boy immediately stood up. "Teacher, I object! Why should we be punished for not fighting? Isn't fighting wrong?"

"Whether fighting is right or wrong is for me to decide," Zhou Yi said flatly. "If you object, you can get out. Starting now, anyone who isn't on the field within one minute will be expelled. You have only two hours to run a hundred laps around Shrek Academy's square!"

Everyone immediately surged outside. Jiang Hai also stood as if it were only natural and prepared to go running, while Chen Yong nervously followed suit.

Seeing those two shameless boys, Zhou Yi could no longer hold back. She barked coldly, "Jiang Hai, Chen Yong, you two stay!"

After giving Chen Yong a reassuring look, Jiang Hai returned to his seat.

The girl beside him gave him a curious glance before running outside as well.

Once everyone else had left, Zhou Yi looked at Jiang Hai and Chen Yong and asked flatly, "Jiang Hai, Chen Yong, you've both been in fights. Why didn't you stand up?"

"Fights? Teacher, we haven't been fighting!" Jiang Hai answered.

Chen Yong hurriedly nodded as well.

"You haven't been fighting?" Zhou Yi sneered. "Shangguan Chentian, who did you fight, and why?"

The boy named Shangguan Chentian hesitated before replying, "Teacher, I fought Chen Yong. He insulted me and said I didn't deserve to stay at Shrek Academy. I was so angry that I fought him!"

"That little snake!" Chen Yong said angrily.

"Sun Yunhai, why did you fight, and who did you fight?" Zhou Yi continued.

A skinny boy said, "Teacher, I fought by myself?"

"By yourself? You can fight all on your own? How interesting. Zhao Ping, what about you?" Zhou Yi sneered and continued questioning them.

"Teacher, I fought Chen Yong too!"

Zhou Yi questioned them one by one. Apart from Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, three said they had fought themselves, while the other eleven all said they had fought Chen Yong. Even their reasons were remarkably consistent: Chen Yong had insulted them first.

Huo Yuhao was dumbfounded too. Brother Jiang Hai seemed different from what he had imagined.

Zhou Yi sneered. "Jiang Hai, Chen Yong, what do you have to say for yourselves now? Jiang Hai, don't tell me you weren't the one issuing challenges at the Senior Student Dormitory Building that night?"

"What?" The dozen or so students who had stayed behind looked at Jiang Hai in astonishment. This was the legendary fierce fighter who had beaten the senior students so badly that none dared step forward. Looking at Chen Yong beside him, they seemed to understand who Chen Yong had learned from.

"That was me, but I wasn't fighting!" Jiang Hai said with an innocent expression. "I did spar with the senior students a few times, but only because I saw they weren't taking their cultivation very seriously. I couldn't stand it, so I sought them out for some sparring. My goal was to urge them to study hard and not disappoint the academy and the nation, which had nurtured them and placed such hopes in them! Besides, how can something between Soul Masters be called fighting? It's sparring, sparring!"

Chen Yong hurriedly nodded like a chick pecking at grain. "Exactly, Teacher Zhou. I was only sparring with my classmates so we could improve together."

"Sparring? If it was sparring, why did you extort money from them?" Zhou Yi continued.

"What do you mean, extort money? Teacher Zhou, you can't slander me like that! Go ask them if you don't believe me. Every last one of them was willing. Besides, we took the initiative to guide our classmates in practical combat. It's only fair to charge a little for our trouble, isn't it? After all, we don't want to encourage the mistaken belief that they can reap rewards without doing any work," Jiang Hai continued.