Good grief! He ran faster than I could fly!

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"Huh?"

Wang Dong, the newly appointed class monitor, froze among the students of Freshman Class One.

What happened? Why do I have to compete with Huo Yuhao? Did you ask me first? Where are your manners?

And if this were a normal Soul Master Battle, fine. But I'm the young mistress of the mighty Clear Sky Sect, and you want me to race Huo Yuhao?

Isn't this just a children's game? Only children judge who's stronger by who runs faster. What do you take me for?

Mu Jin turned and gave Huo Yuhao a questioning look. Beside him, Ning Tian and Wu Feng also fixed their gazes on Huo Yuhao's face.

Huo Yuhao smiled faintly and gave Mu Jin an affirmative look. Mu Jin immediately felt reassured. He knew Huo Yuhao had an exceptionally sharp mind and would never do anything he wasn't confident of.

After a moment's thought, Mu Jin looked at Zhou Yi's ugly, ferocious old face and suddenly had a bold idea.

"Care to make a bet?" Mu Jin asked provocatively.

Zhou Yi agreed without a moment's hesitation. "Absolutely. What are you putting up?"

Mu Jin paused, then said softly, "A Soul Bone. Do you dare?"

Standing nearby, Huo Yuhao's thoughts ran along the lines of, Well, damn. Just... damn!

In the original story, Zhou Yi had used Huo Yuhao's team in the freshman assessment to fleece Mu Jin out of a Soul Bone. But the wheel of fortune had turned, and now Mu Jin was using him to fleece Zhou Yi out of one.

Protagonist plot armor really does feel great for anyone who gets to bask in it!

For Soul Masters, Soul Rings were already extremely precious, because every Soul Master needed them to break through the bottlenecks in their cultivation. Yet Soul Bones were a hundred times more precious than Soul Rings.

Every Soul Beast was guaranteed to produce a Soul Ring, but the same did not hold true for Soul Bones. Only a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast was guaranteed to produce a Soul Bone. For Soul Beasts with less than a hundred thousand years of cultivation, the odds of producing one were just one in ten thousand!

The appearance of any Soul Bone was certain to spark a scramble among Soul Masters. Never mind being impossible to obtain for ten thousand gold-even a million Gold Soul Coins might not buy one suited to its user.

By proposing a wager of a Soul Bone, Mu Jin was practically betting his entire fortune against Zhou Yi's.

I'm going all in. Do as you please!

Zhou Yi was startled as well. She had no idea where Mu Jin's confidence came from. Regardless, she did not believe Wang Dong had even the slightest chance of losing.

She had already questioned Wang Dong that morning and learned what her Martial Soul was, which had given Zhou Yi more than enough confidence.

The Light Goddess Butterfly, the most beautiful Martial Soul on the Douluo Continent! But beauty could be set aside for now. What mattered most was that the Light Goddess Butterfly was a flying Martial Soul!

How could the air force and the army possibly be in the same league when it came to mobility?!

"Fine. A Soul Bone it is!" Zhou Yi said coldly. "Have your precious student put on an Iron Vest and get on the track!"

Huo Yuhao exchanged a glance with Mu Jin, an amused smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

With a flick of his toe, the Iron Vest, made entirely of thick, coiled iron chains, flew into the air and landed in his hand.

That Iron Vest weighed a full thirty jin. Flicking it straight up more than a meter with only his toe was ample proof of the terrifying strength in Huo Yuhao's legs.

Zhou Yi's expression shifted slightly. She leaned close to Wang Dong's ear and said a few words before handing her an Iron Vest.

No matter how fiercely Wang Dong cursed Zhou Yi inwardly, she did not openly defy her. She walked onto the track at the edge of the square with Huo Yuhao, carrying the heavy Iron Vest on her back as she prepared to start.

"Begin!"

Wang Dong took the lead immediately. Despite wearing the Iron Vest, her speed barely diminished.

Huo Yuhao, however, was in no hurry. Although he fell behind Wang Dong, he maintained a fixed distance from her. No matter how much she accelerated, she could not widen the gap.

The two of them ran ten full laps around Shrek Square like this. The longer they ran, the more the effects of the Iron Vest became apparent. Wang Dong's face was now covered in sweat.

Huo Yuhao remained perfectly composed behind her, running forward with steady, even strides that almost seemed slow. Yet despite their unhurried appearance, he was actually moving at the same speed as the sprinting Wang Dong.

The Heavenly Net Art's first layer isn't all that slow. At least it makes running a pretty healthy exercise, Huo Yuhao thought as he ran.

Yao Lao had given him two Dou Techniques to practice. Besides the immensely powerful Melee Dou Technique, Eight Extremes Collapse, there was also a mystic-tier high-grade Movement Dou Technique: the Heavenly Net Art.

The Heavenly Net Art had twelve layers in total. Upon reaching the tenth layer, the practitioner could manifest Heavenly Net Wings through their own cultivation, transforming it into an exceptionally unusual Flying Dou Technique. At the twelfth layer, its speed rivaled that of an earth-tier low-grade Movement Dou Technique.

Huo Yuhao had already reached the third layer and was confident he could compete with an agility attack system Soul Elder in speed. Moreover, the Heavenly Net Art was no ordinary Movement Dou Technique. It was passed down through Yao Lao's family and made exceptionally sustained, efficient use of Soul Power.

Even after ten full laps around Shrek Square, Huo Yuhao did not feel the slightest fatigue. The Iron Vest on his body felt as light as nothing.

This was partly thanks to the powerful physique he had tempered over the past several days, and partly thanks to the marvelous effects of the Heavenly Net Art.

Wang Dong, however, was starting to panic. Huo Yuhao was nowhere in her field of vision, but from the footsteps behind her and the looks of those around her, she could tell he was still following closely, without falling any farther behind.

This placed an inexplicable pressure on her, making her involuntarily stir her Soul Power and begin accelerating like mad.

"Heavenly Net Art, second layer!"

Seeing Wang Dong begin using her cultivation to accelerate, Huo Yuhao smiled faintly and activated the power of the Heavenly Net Art's second layer, keeping close behind without falling a single step back.

He understood Wang Dong's current state of mind perfectly. People always felt some degree of fear toward the unknown.

Zhou Yi's teaching methods placed immense pressure on the students of Class One, and Wang Dong was also burdened with the responsibility Zhou Yi had abruptly thrust upon her. Thinking of the punishment she would face if she lost to him naturally made that pressure even greater.

But using her cultivation to accelerate was nothing more than drinking poison to quench her thirst. Although it temporarily increased her speed, her Soul Power was also draining rapidly.

Dark patches swam before her eyes. A fire seemed to burn in her chest, her mouth and throat were parched, and her entire body felt unpleasantly sticky with sweat. The heavy Iron Vest rubbed against her skin through her uniform, sending wave after wave of searing pain through her.

I can't. I can't keep going, a voice repeated in Wang Dong's mind. Yet Huo Yuhao's footsteps behind her sounded like drumbeats demanding her life, forcing her to keep accelerating despite herself.

Zhou Yi's expression had grown extremely ugly, while a smile appeared on Mu Jin's face. Both could tell that Wang Dong was already an arrow at the end of its flight. Her Soul Power was nearly depleted, and she would soon be unable to hold on.

"Wang Dong, use your Martial Soul!" Zhou Yi suddenly channeled her Soul Power and shouted.

"Shameless." Mu Jin snorted in contempt at Zhou Yi's brazen interference.

Hearing Zhou Yi's words, Wang Dong's eyes lit up. That's right! We're allowed to use our Martial Souls while running laps. Why am I, a flying Soul Master, competing with Huo Yuhao on foot?

A pair of blue butterfly wings instantly unfurled. The colors at the tips of the forewings shifted constantly between deep blue, azure, and pale blue. Their surfaces resembled a blue sky inlaid with a string of radiant halos, forming a V that brought light into the world. Their shape and colors were incomparably, impeccably beautiful.

Though the wings were merely illusory light and shadow, they dazzled everyone beneath the sunlight. The butterfly wings spread behind Wang Dong, and with one powerful beat, she soared straight into the sky.

The magnificent wings on her back accelerated, and Wang Dong began circling Shrek Square at high speed. At the same time, she heard waves of startled cries from the students watching nearby.

Narrowing her eyes in contentment, Wang Dong savored the cheers and shouts around her. Suddenly, however, she realized those cheers and shouts did not seem to be for her.

"What's going on..." Wang Dong looked down at the track in confusion, then her body abruptly stiffened.

Huo Yuhao was running along the track below at an unbelievable speed, so fast that he left a string of afterimages in his wake.

Her flying speed was not even half as fast as Huo Yuhao's running speed.

Smack!

Her vision went black, and Wang Dong fell out of the air. The female students of Class One hurried over to help the crash-landed Wang Dong to her feet.

"He... he isn't human!" Wang Dong said with trembling lips, staring at Huo Yuhao, who was still sprinting and had already lapped her a full five times.

Ding-dong!

Just then, the bell rang to signal the end of class.

Mu Jin clapped his hands in triumph and smiled at the livid Zhou Yi. "Well, Teacher Zhou? You'd better give me the Soul Bone you owe me as soon as possible. Otherwise, I won't mind going straight to Fan Yu to collect the debt."

"You!" Zhou Yi clenched both fists, her eyes practically spitting fire.

She turned and roared at the students of Freshman Class One, "A bunch of useless good-for-nothings! Get your asses back to the classroom!"

Led by the furious Zhou Yi, the students of Freshman Class One left Shrek Square.

From the looks of it, their class was going to run overtime. Zhou Yi would surely vent her fury on them.

Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao had stopped running and was now drenched in sweat. The students of Freshman Class Nine surrounded him, their hands lifting his body and tossing him into the air.

"Huo Yuhao! Huo Yuhao! Huo Yuhao!"