The new year's admissions had finally ended, and Shrek Academy had grown livelier.
Huo Yuhao had done nothing else over the past three days but cultivate. Compared to when he had first left the Duke's Mansion, he was practically a different person.
Huo Yuhao had originally looked rather scrawny, his frail constitution apparent at a glance.
Now, thanks to his highly nutritious diet and Yao Lao's constant tempering of his physique, he had developed a well-proportioned set of muscles.
Today was the first day of classes at Shrek Academy, and Huo Yuhao arrived early.
The doors of the white classroom building stood open. The freshmen filed inside in their matching white uniforms, each bearing Shrek Academy's green Little Monster emblem on the left breast.
Freshman Class One occupied the first classroom on the left of the ground floor. By now, the spacious classroom was already packed.
Huo Yuhao found an empty seat at random and sat down. His deskmate was a very pretty young girl.
However, the girl acted much like Wang Dong, carrying herself as though heaven ranked first and she ranked second. She held her head high without sparing him a glance.
Huo Yuhao couldn't be bothered with a little princess spoiled rotten by her family. In his opinion, people like her generally wouldn't get very far in life.
True aristocrats were usually well brought up and would never casually offend others.
As the saying went, a gentleman kept his weapons hidden and waited for the right moment to act. An aristocrat's outward bearing should be cultured and gentle, with a noble, refined air.
Strutting around like this, acting as though everyone else was beneath her, was nothing but the behavior of a brainless nouveau riche.
Pride belonged in one's bones, not plastered across one's face. This wasn't pride. It was asking for a beating.
Only after sitting down did Huo Yuhao have time to examine his surroundings. The classroom was enormous, with a full hundred students in his class. Given an intake of a thousand freshmen, there should be around ten freshman classes.
As his gaze swept around, he quickly spotted Wang Dong. Her pink-and-blue hair was simply too conspicuous. Every seat around her, front, back, left, and right, was occupied by a girl. Her harem was already taking shape.
He really wondered how those girls would feel when they discovered that the handsome young boy they secretly adored was actually a tomboy they could look at but couldn't do anything with.
Just then, someone entered the classroom. It was an old woman with wrinkled skin and crane-white hair, her graying locks coiled atop her head. She was of medium build and wore a long white robe.
Her eyes were exceptionally bright, sharp light flashing within their black depths.
A scorching, fiery-red gleam flashed through Huo Yuhao's eyes. He sensed powerful spiritual pressure from the old woman's gaze.
Seeing a teacher enter, the previously noisy class immediately fell silent, everyone's attention turning toward the lectern.
The old woman's calm gaze swept from left to right, then from right to left. Everyone instantly felt as though she were staring directly into their eyes, and an invisible pressure settled over their hearts.
To her surprise, however, Huo Yuhao, seated in the middle, met her gaze with perfect composure. His eyes were like a lake filled with clear water, without a single ripple.
Though inwardly startled, the old woman paused only briefly before regaining her rhythm.
"My name is Zhou Yi, and I am 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: no trash will ever pass the assessments in my class. I intend to cultivate monsters, not idiots."
Teacher Zhou's voice was unpleasantly hoarse, like a cracked gong. Once she finished speaking, indignation appeared on many of the students' faces.
They were elites carefully selected from among their peers across the continent's nations, and every one of them had powerful backing. Who normally dared speak to them like that?
Yet in their very first class at Shrek Academy, their homeroom teacher had subjected them to an unprovoked tirade, even calling them trash and idiots.
Who the fuck do you think you are?
An amused smile also curved Huo Yuhao's lips, and he silently clapped his hands beneath the desk.
Classic. Absolutely classic!
Zhou Yi was one of the most absurd characters he had encountered in the entire second installment of Douluo Continent.
The children in her class were only in their teens. If they made some minor mistake like slacking off, or objected to her autocratic behavior, she simply kicked them out of Shrek Academy. Her excuse was the laughable claim that she "didn't think they were suited to becoming powerhouses."
Setting aside whether a teacher should casually sentence a student's future to death, what gave a mere Soul Emperor-level Little Scumbag like her the right to say someone couldn't become a powerhouse? Did she even count as one herself?
Then there were the teaching results she was so proud of. Back when she taught third-year students, a quarter of those who advanced under her eventually entered the Inner Academy. That figure seemed quite impressive.
But even disregarding the efforts of their other teachers in the fourth, fifth, and sixth years, one still had to note that the students she promoted to the fourth year numbered only a tenth of those she had started with in the third year.
In other words, her actual advancement rate was one in forty!
Every student admitted to Shrek Academy was exceptionally talented, and the elimination rate in the lower years was already high. Yet even then, Zhou Yi could only manage a one-in-forty rate of advancement to the Inner Academy. What kind of outrageous feat was this, turning gold into garbage?
As for why the students who advanced were so grateful to her, that was because she'd psychologically manipulated them. Anyone she failed to manipulate had long since been kicked out of Shrek Academy.
If she hadn't had a good husband backing her, a man guaranteed to become the Soul Tool Department's deputy dean or even its dean someday, the forces behind the students she expelled would probably have torn her to pieces.
Even so, Zhou Yi hadn't dared take a single step outside Shrek City in all these years. Wasn't that because she feared retaliation?
Instead of filling the world with the peaches and plums of her teaching, she had filled it with enemies. Even Grandmaster Yu would have to give her a thumbs-up.
"Anyone who has fought during these past few days of registration, stand up."
Those familiar words rang out, shocking the entire class.
Who was fierce enough to start a fight immediately after enrolling at Shrek? Besides, even if someone had fought, who would admit it?
"Not a single one?" Zhou Yi raised her eyebrows. "What a bunch of useless fools. Don't you know that anyone who doesn't dare cause trouble is mediocre? All of you, get outside and run a hundred laps around Shrek Square. Anyone who fails to finish will be expelled."
The entire class erupted. This was their first day, and lessons hadn't even begun, yet they were being punished for not fighting. Who could accept that?
"Who is Huo Yuhao?" Suddenly, Zhou Yi spoke again, and the restless students fell silent once more.
Hearing Zhou Yi call his name, Huo Yuhao could already vaguely guess what was going on. An amused smile appeared on his lips as he stood straight up.
"Hello, Teacher Zhou. I'm Huo Yuhao."
Discovering that the student who had shown no fear of her gaze was Huo Yuhao momentarily startled Zhou Yi. Soon, however, frost settled over her expression.
"A Soul Master's cultivation is like rowing upstream: if you don't advance, you fall behind. When you clashed with Wang Dong in the dormitory, you chose to retreat. You even retreated outside the academy and rented a place to live. You've certainly done me proud."
"A student like you doesn't deserve to study in my class. Huo Yuhao, if you don't want to be exp-hey, stop right there!"
Zhou Yi had intended to make an example of Huo Yuhao and impose an especially harsh punishment. But halfway through her speech, he simply walked out of Freshman Class One's classroom, forcing her to swallow the rest of her words.
She hurried after him and clamped a hand onto his shoulder, saying coldly, "What do you think you're doing? Who gave you permission to leave the classroom?"
"You did," Huo Yuhao said, feigning bewilderment. "You said a student like me didn't deserve to study in your class, so I left. I don't have many virtues, but I do listen to advice. Since you don't like me, I'll just leave."
"You!" Those few words nearly choked Zhou Yi to death. She had encountered plenty of troublemakers during her years of teaching, but never one like Huo Yuhao.
"Hahahahaha!"
Hearing Huo Yuhao's words, the students of Freshman Class One couldn't help bursting into laughter. Wang Dong covered her mouth and snickered as she watched him outside the window, the disgust in her eyes fading considerably.
"Shut up! What are you laughing at?!" Zhou Yi roared furiously at the students of Freshman Class One.
"Teacher Zhou, please understand. We're all Soul Masters, and we have excellent self-discipline. No matter how funny something is, we won't laugh," one student said, desperately suppressing his amusement.
"Unless we can't help it," Huo Yuhao muttered.
"Pfft!"
This time, even the students who hadn't laughed before joined in. The entire classroom of Freshman Class One became a sea of merriment.
"You think this is amusing, do you? Huo Yuhao, fine. Very good." Zhou Yi gave several cold laughs. "I am now officially informing you that you are exp-"
"Oh, Teacher Zhou, since when did you change your ways? An icy old spinster like you actually managed to make your students laugh this hard. Are you planning to try a new teaching method?"
From a classroom at the far end of the ground floor, a teacher who looked like a woman of around thirty came over to Zhou Yi and spoke with a quiet chuckle.
Zhou Yi's gaze immediately hardened. "Mu Jin, mind your own business!"
Although Mu Jin was probably no longer young, his appearance could certainly be described as youthful and beautiful.
He shook his head with a faint smile, glanced at Huo Yuhao, and said, "What, this young student offended you on his very first day, Teacher Zhou, and you're already going to expel him?"
"That's right. He violated the rules I set, so I'm expelling him from the academy." Zhou Yi cast a provocative glance at Mu Jin. "Just like I expelled your younger brother back then!"
"You!" Mu Jin gritted his teeth in fury, but a smile soon appeared on his face.
Taking Huo Yuhao by the arm, Mu Jin suddenly unleashed a surge of soul power that instantly knocked away Zhou Yi's hand, which had been firmly pressing on Huo Yuhao's shoulder.
"If you don't want this student, then he's mine!"
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