An ominous feeling rose in Zhou Yi's heart.
From their brief interaction, she had already discovered how eloquent Huo Yuhao was. She could not outargue him.
Still, Zhou Yi said, "Those who dare not stir up trouble are mediocrities. That motto has been passed down at Shrek Academy since its founding, ten thousand years ago. What do you disagree with?"
Huo Yuhao said coldly, "Bullshit passed down for ten thousand years is still bullshit. Since when did honest people who mind their own business deserve to be belittled by you?"
"Young people need some fire in their blood." Zhou Yi dodged the question somewhat. "Besides, didn't you fight Wang Dong too?"
"I was defending my own dignity and autonomy. How can you lump that together with stirring up trouble?" Huo Yuhao found it rather laughable and shot back.
"If you were eating peacefully somewhere one day, and a bunch of people suddenly came over, cursed you out, and flipped your table, leaving you insulted and without your meal, while another bunch laughed at you for being a mediocrity, would you find that amusing?"
"Evil Soul Masters stir up trouble every day too. What, do you think none of them are mediocrities? Do you endorse Evil Soul Masters?"
Zhou Yi's expression changed, and she hurriedly blurted out, "Enough!"
She waved Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong away. "Go run. The same requirement as everyone else: a hundred laps. Seven and a half minutes have already passed."
"Huh? We have to run too?" Wang Dong stood there blankly, but Huo Yuhao had already dashed off beside her.
"Hey-wait for me!" Wang Dong hurried after him and joined the army of runners.
Zhou Yi walked out of the teaching building, her expression shifting as she watched Huo Yuhao.
Evil Soul Masters were a highly sensitive subject. With such a damning label as supporting Evil Soul Masters slapped on her, she did not know how to refute it.
She, a teacher renowned for her strictness, had been left utterly defenseless against Huo Yuhao's sharp words.
On the track, the other students saw that the pair seemed to have been lectured by Teacher Zhou Yi before coming to run, and could not help taking a little pleasure in their misfortune.
Huo Yuhao ignored them, however. He was fast, overtaking every student ahead of him one after another.
When he reached the front of the pack, he asked the student in the lead, "What lap are you on?"
The leading student did his best to keep his breathing steady and replied, "Three."
"Good!"
With that, Huo Yuhao accelerated hard. Under the astonished gazes of all the students, he took first place, then raced at an absurd speed from the front of the pack around to its rear, lapping them, before passing everyone to reach the front again and circling back to the rear once more.
Only after lapping the main pack twice in succession did Huo Yuhao slow down. Once he reached the front again, he settled into the lead.
"No way... He's so fast," a student with poor stamina marveled.
Others were waiting to laugh at him. "Running that fast right from the start, and leading the pack too? Let's see how long you last."
Just then, a voice sounded beside Huo Yuhao. "You've got great stamina! You can actually keep up with me!"
Huo Yuhao turned to look. It was Wang Dong. She had stayed behind him all along, and the two of them were now in the leading group.
Huo Yuhao scoffed. "You're the one following me. Stop gilding your own face."
"Hmph. Want to race and see who finishes a hundred laps first?" Wang Dong's competitive spirit flared.
"Heh. Don't start bawling again when you lose." Huo Yuhao smiled and picked up his pace a little more.
Unwilling to be outdone, Wang Dong also sped up, staying beside Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao had no intention of shaking her off, either. He simply kept leading at a fairly high speed.
Running was not only exhausting and sweltering, but also monotonous.
Each lap of the track was four hundred meters, making a hundred laps forty kilometers-nearly a full marathon. Requiring every student to finish within two hours was no simple task, even for Soul Masters whose physical capabilities surpassed those of ordinary people.
For those two hours, they had to endure both mental and physical torment.
The dull, monotonous, mechanical movement bored everyone to tears.
There was one exception, however: Huo Yuhao.
While running, he could chat with Tian Meng in his head to relieve his boredom without disrupting his breathing rhythm or expending any physical energy.
"Yuhao... Were you angry just now?" Tian Meng asked timidly.
"Hm? How did you know?" Huo Yuhao was a little puzzled.
"You always get so icy when you're angry, and..."
Tian Meng explained.
"Whenever you get angry, dark clouds fill the Sea of Consciousness. It gets all black and scary..."
Huo Yuhao was somewhat surprised.
Could his mood actually affect the appearance of his Sea of Consciousness?
"Then you'll just have to bear with it. Sometimes I run into things so disgusting that I can't help losing control of my emotions."
Huo Yuhao could not understand it.
Those who dare not stir up trouble are mediocrities?
What kind of twisted logic was that?!
Honest people restrained themselves, observed proper conduct, and lived peacefully without causing trouble, yet not only did they have to suffer at the hands of villains, they also deserved to have people sneer behind their backs?
What the fuck had honest people done wrong?
Shrek Academy actually used that twisted logic as its motto?!
What were the school mottos in Huo Yuhao's memories like?
Unceasing self-improvement, diligence and courage, seeking truth from facts, unity and perseverance...
Only such uplifting, positive words deserved to be school mottos, yet Shrek Academy's motto had nothing to do with any of those virtues!
He could not help feeling a trace of disgust toward this so-called number one academy on the continent.
An academy's motto revealed its ethos. With twisted logic like that as its motto, Shrek Academy could never win his approval.
Before they knew it, the hundred running freshmen had split into four groups.
At the very back were a dozen or so slower students. Their physiques were weak, and they had fallen many laps behind the others.
Next came the main pack of around seventy students. They ran at a moderate pace and should have little trouble completing a hundred laps within the allotted time.
Farther ahead was a leading group of a dozen or so students. They had good physiques and maintained a brisk pace throughout.
And at the very front were just two people: Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao.
They had already run more than ninety laps, yet both still seemed to have plenty of stamina. Not only had their speed not dropped, it was gradually increasing.
With only the final lap remaining, Zhou Yi suddenly appeared at the finish line and shouted, "Speed up! Charge toward me!"
"I'm speeding up. Stay back there and admire Brother Hao's silhouette!"
Huo Yuhao grinned and accelerated again, leaving Wang Dong behind.
"You!"
Wang Dong had not expected him to be capable of speeding up further, and she gritted her teeth.
Impossible...
He's only a One-Ring Soul Master. There's no way I can lose to him twice in a row...
A gleam flashed through Wang Dong's beautiful pink-and-blue eyes.
Her feet suddenly lifted off the ground, and a pair of dazzling blue wings spread behind her. Radiant halos shimmered over them, like diamond-bright, crystalline waves upon an azure sea.
"A Light Goddess Butterfly?" Zhou Yi's eyes lit up as she recognized Wang Dong's Martial Soul.
"A butterfly!" Seeing Wang Dong's wings from within Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness, Tian Meng wore a look of longing.
Wang Dong beat her broad wings, accelerating to her utmost speed as she flew toward the finish line.
Wang Dong chased Huo Yuhao with all her might. The gap between them kept shrinking, but she was still just a little short.
Huo Yuhao was already only a dozen or so meters from Zhou Yi and was about to cross the finish line.
A flicker of hope rose in Wang Dong's heart.
She was also only a dozen or so meters behind Huo Yuhao. With her high flying speed, she had every chance of overtaking him.
Just as Huo Yuhao was about to cross the finish line, he suddenly stopped, turned around, and looked at Wang Dong with a teasing, mocking gaze.
Then his feet shifted, and he glided slowly across the finish line before Wang Dong's eyes in a stylish moonwalk.
Wang Dong crossed the line in midair too, but Huo Yuhao was a little faster.
Half a second faster.
Wang Dong landed, her wings drooping dejectedly, unable to believe she had lost again.
Huo Yuhao snapped his fingers and said with a smile:
"You've lost twice in a row."