On the other side of the arena, the two fallen members of Ouyang Junyi's team had already climbed to their feet.
Wu Feng had not used her full strength in that strike, so neither of them had actually been injured.
But being taken out in an instant had left them burning with shame and anger. They got up without a word, covered their faces, and hurried away.
"Wow, the three of us are really amazing!" Huo Yuhao walked up from the back of the team to stand beside Wu Feng and Ning Tian, laughing heartily.
At those words, the teams watching nearby all stumbled, nearly falling over.
Have you no shame? What did any of that have to do with you? Seriously, what did it have to do with you?
The moment the fight started, you just stood there, activated Martial Soul Possession, and went AFK. Ning Tian supplied the buffs, Wu Feng dealt the damage, and you were just the paying customer getting carried. What gives you the right to say that?
Seeing Huo Yuhao standing between Ning Tian and Wu Feng, looking as though he had a beauty in each arm, the members of several nearby teams nearly ground their teeth to pieces.
He's showing off! This is naked, shameless showing off!
Isn't the academy going to do anything? You can get fucking carried through the Freshman Assessment?
Fuck, I'm so jealous!
Wang Yan also looked astonished. This team from Freshman Class Nine was called Huo Yuhao's team, which meant Huo Yuhao was its captain.
Yet judging by cultivation alone, Ning Tian and Wu Feng undoubtedly far surpassed him. Ning Tian was even a direct-line heir of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, giving her an exceptionally distinguished status.
And yet Huo Yuhao was the team's leader. In other words, this student who apparently had only a ten-year soul ring was the core of the team. Why?
Huo Yuhao: Do you even need to ask? Because I'm the protagonist, obviously.
The Freshman Assessment proceeded quickly, and it was not long before all the results of the first round were in.
Huo Yuhao's month-long close-combat training had produced remarkable results. After all, with few soul skills available for combat in the Freshman Assessment, most students fought at close quarters, especially soul masters with beast martial souls.
Thanks to Huo Yuhao's rigorous training, Class Nine's students had made tremendous strides in combat ability. All thirty-three teams from Freshman Class Nine won, without a single defeat.
Of course, this also had something to do with the Class Nine students' good luck.
If they happened to run into one of the few exceptionally powerful teams, the rudimentary skills Huo Yuhao had taught them might not be enough.
On the second day, the assessment schedule became far more intensive, with two rounds each in the morning and afternoon, for a total of four.
The third day would be even more brutal, with every team required to fight five rounds. The entire Freshman Assessment lasted only three days.
This tested not only the students' practical combat skills, but also their ability to sustain a prolonged battle.
It was also from this day onward that the students of Freshman Class Nine began to appreciate the benefits of the targeted physical conditioning Mu Jin had put them through.
They felt that their stamina and physical endurance far surpassed those of the opposing teams, and the further the assessment progressed, the more obvious that became.
One Class Nine team, after having a member eliminated first, had its two remaining members with horse-type martial souls race around the arena for a full quarter of an hour. They ran their stronger opponents into utter exhaustion, successfully turning the tables and defeating them.
Huo Yuhao's trio, however, offered little in the way of novelty. Every battle followed the same pattern, with no discernible variation.
Ning Tian boosted their speed, Wu Feng unleashed an explosive surprise attack, and Huo Yuhao watched from the sidelines. The whole process ran like an assembly line, smooth and simple, but dull and monotonous.
The trio easily won all four matches on the second day, bringing their record to five wins in five battles. With that record under their belts, they could essentially consider themselves to have passed the Freshman Assessment.
But this left Wang Yan thoroughly frustrated. He had wanted to see the trio's true strength, yet apart from Ning Tian's and Wu Feng's first soul skills, which they had already revealed, Huo Yuhao's team used no new soul skills in combat.
As a teacher specializing in theory, Wang Yan had utterly failed to see through this team from Freshman Class Nine. He could not even figure out what Huo Yuhao's ability was, and that left him deeply uncomfortable.
Could he really be the paying customer, having Ning Tian and Wu Feng carry him through the Freshman Assessment?
No, that doesn't make sense. The Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect is so poor that money is all it has left. Why would they take on such a thankless job?
"Huo Yuhao, come over here, all three of you." After the second day's matches ended, Wang Yan called the trio over.
Quite naturally, Huo Yuhao stood between Ning Tian and Wu Feng, taking center stage. This further convinced Wang Yan that Huo Yuhao was the core member of this team from Freshman Class Nine.
"You three have achieved an excellent record, winning all five of your first five matches. Keep working hard in the remaining matches and strive to reach the top sixty-four so you can participate in the ranking tournament. But after today's matches, the lots will be drawn again. Besides keeping teams from the same class from fighting each other, your previous records will also be taken into account. In other words, you're bound to face challenges from strong opponents!"
Exchanging a glance with Ning Tian and Wu Feng beside him, Huo Yuhao shrugged and said, "No problem. As long as we pass the Freshman Assessment, that counts as success."
Wang Yan shook his head, unsure whether to laugh or cry. Over the past two days, he had also come to recognize Huo Yuhao's irreverent personality.
Still, out of his sense of responsibility as a teacher, he reminded the three of them to get plenty of rest when they returned that day, and not to grow arrogant or complacent because of their earlier results.
Huo Yuhao nodded. "Thank you, Teacher Wang. We'll keep that in mind."
Wang Yan smiled faintly. "Good. Head back and get some rest early."
He still did not ask what Huo Yuhao's martial soul was, because he had his pride as a scholar. He believed that once they encountered one of the few powerful teams in the Freshman Assessment, Huo Yuhao would inevitably have to reveal his true strength.
"Come on, I'm treating you to barbecue! Wu Feng's paying!" Huo Yuhao joked with his two companions as he headed out of Shrek Academy.
If they wanted him to reveal his true strength, that would depend on how capable tomorrow's opponents were!
Early the next morning, because Huo Yuhao's trio had achieved the best record in the previous five rounds, they remained in Area Thirty-Three. After the groups were redrawn, five new teams of freshmen were assigned to continue the assessment against them.
These freshmen would certainly not be the top teams from the other areas. Otherwise, if the handful of powerful teams began fighting among themselves ahead of time, the ranking tournament would lose some of its weight.
Thus, they would definitely not face the strongest opponents in the next five round-robin matches, but compared with their earlier matches, these might not be quite so easy.
After all, all the weaker teams had already been eliminated. Those who remained were prospective first-year students of Shrek Academy.
Wang Yan gave Huo Yuhao's trio a meaningful look before announcing, "Good, everyone is here. Since Huo Yuhao's team from Class Nine achieved the best results in this area over the previous five rounds, they are this area's seeded team. According to the match order, they will compete first."
"Area Thirty-Three, round six, match one: Huo Yuhao's team from Freshman Class Nine versus Huang Chutian's team from Freshman Class Seven!"
Before you continue