During the afternoon lesson, Zhou Yi stood on the Sports Field, sternly surveying the hundred students of Freshman Class One.
"Your task this afternoon is to run laps in these Iron Garments until the bell rings!"
"You may use Soul Power, but no Soul Skills. Do you understand?"
Every student put on an Iron Garment, and their faces fell the moment they did. Even Wang Dong, whose cultivation was the highest in the class, turned pale.
Huo Yuhao shook himself a little, estimating that the Iron Garment weighed at least thirty jin.
But he barely felt it. He had often run around carrying fifty or sixty jin before, so this Iron Garment was no burden to him.
Zhou Yi called out, "Don't think of this as a burden. Think of it as a chance to temper yourselves."
"I know there are differences between the boys and girls among you, and between the Power Attack System and the Support System. But on the battlefield, the enemy will treat you all the same."
"Start taking physical training seriously right now. Do you understand?"
Seeing the students of Freshman Class One still dawdling without answering, Zhou Yi's expression soured, and she barked again, "Do you understand?"
A trace of Soul Power carried that roar. The students shuddered and stammered, "Y-yes... we understand..."
"If you understand, get moving!"
All six of Zhou Yi's soul rings flared into view, unleashing a terrifying aura. The students shivered and hurried onto the Sports Field.
Zhou Yi watched the students begin their laps, still fuming, and muttered to herself, "Yelling at them really does work."
They had just run a hundred laps that morning, and now they were starting another round of hellish training that afternoon. The students of Freshman Class One could only groan inwardly without end.
Huo Yuhao maintained a fairly brisk, steady pace at the front of the main group.
He loved running. Simple movements of the limbs came together to form this sacred human sport that had endured through the ages.
After awakening his Soul Power, his stamina had surpassed that of ordinary people, and he had begun running farther and farther.
The White Tiger Duke's Mansion was fifty li from the center of Star Luo City.
Before Huo Yuhao went to confront Dai Hao, that so-called father of his, he and his mother had been facing relentless suppression, and their living conditions had been miserable.
Stealing money from the Duke's Mansion was out of the question. To improve their lives, Huo Yuhao could only sneak into the city to earn a little money, buy some odds and ends with it, and bring them back to Huo Yun'er.
The round trip was a hundred li, but Huo Yuhao could sneak out in the afternoon and run back before midnight.
In less than a year, he had lost count of how many hundred-li runs he had made.
After gaining recognition as a concubine's son, he had also made regular long-distance running part of his cultivation.
"Say... why is your stamina so good? Aren't you only rank eleven?"
Huo Yuhao heard someone speaking to him and turned to look beside him. It was Wang Dong. She was running alongside him at the very front of the group, and they had already lapped the students at the back.
Huo Yuhao replied casually, "Brother Hao has exercised and eaten on time since he was little. Of course he's in good shape."
Wang Dong said, "By the way, is your Martial Soul your eyes? A Body Martial Soul?"
"Of course." Huo Yuhao recalled the wings that had appeared behind Wang Dong when she released her Martial Soul. "What's yours, then? A big flappy moth?"
Wang Dong said, "...This is the most beautiful Beast Martial Soul on the continent, the Light Goddess Butterfly! What kind of attitude is that?"
"The Light Goddess Butterfly?" Huo Yuhao scoffed. "Are you a boy or a girl? Why isn't it the Light God Butterfly?"
"You-" Wang Dong snapped angrily. "Don't you think my Martial Soul is beautiful?"
"It is beautiful." Huo Yuhao didn't deny that. "But just because it's beautiful, am I supposed to gape in amazement and prostrate myself in worship?"
"I'm not talking to you anymore!" His indifferent attitude infuriated Wang Dong. She picked up her pace and pulled away from him.
"Little brats really are childish..."
Huo Yuhao muttered without chasing after her, maintaining his own pace.
The endless laps were an ordeal. Exhaustion, the weight, the stifling heat, the tedium... all of it tormented these eleven- and twelve-year-old children.
But Huo Yuhao felt no discomfort at all.
Exhaustion-he had ample stamina and maintained a sensible pace that he could sustain for a long time.
The weight-the thirty-jin Iron Garment was nothing to him.
The stifling heat-the cold energy inside him kept him from feeling hot, and he had barely even sweated.
As for the tedium... that needed even less explanation. Everyone else could only run with their heads down, but he had been chatting with Tian Meng in his Sea of Consciousness all along.
At that moment, Tian Meng was rolling around in the snow like a child, chanting excitedly.
"Butterfly~ Butterfly~"
He stopped rolling and picked up a staff made of ice, using it as a pen to draw something in the snow.
"What are you doing...?"
Huo Yuhao asked, speechless.
Ever since Wang Dong had shown her Martial Soul that morning, Tian Meng had been giddy like this.
Tian Meng drew in the snow with his ice staff, outlining a plump, white ice silkworm.
He kept drawing, adding a pair of large butterfly wings to the ice silkworm's back.
Huo Yuhao could see the sights within his Sea of Consciousness without losing consciousness and entering it completely.
He asked, "Tian Meng, what are you drawing?"
"A butterfly~ A butterfly~"
Tian Meng answered excitedly, "There's a legend passed down among our Ice Silkworm Clan."
"Once we've cultivated for enough years, we can undergo a magnificent evolution."
"After evolving, we'll no longer be ice silkworms. We'll become beautiful butterflies."
"Butterfly~ Butterfly~"
Huo Yuhao really didn't want to dampen his enthusiasm, but he still doused it with a bucket of cold water. "Tian Meng, give it up. That legend has to be fake."
"Huh... why?" Tian Meng sounded reluctant to accept it.
"Two reasons. First, you've cultivated for a million years. You must be the longest-lived member of the Ice Silkworm Clan. Have you evolved into a butterfly yet?"
"No..." Tian Meng sounded a little dejected.
In truth, he had long known that the legend of turning into a butterfly was nothing but a lie to fool silkworms.
"And there's a second reason," Huo Yuhao continued. "Besides, even if a silkworm can evolve after breaking out of its cocoon, it would become a big flappy moth. How could it become a butterfly?"
Tian Meng said, "..."
Time dragged unbearably during the monotonous run.
Only an hour and a half had passed, but the students of Freshman Class One felt as though they had lived through a century.
Thud-
Smack-
Students kept stopping, unable to hold on any longer. Some fell, some sprawled out, and others sat down on the Sports Field.
Every one of them was drenched in sweat and gasping for breath.
Their sweat soaked the ground, only to evaporate rapidly in the sunlight.
Only a dozen or so students were still struggling to run.
Wang Dong also felt herself nearing her limit, her feet terribly sore and weak.
She glanced up and suddenly spotted Huo Yuhao a short distance ahead.
Although Huo Yuhao was in front of her, he was looking straight at her, moving backward with a bizarre series of steps.
Wang Dong rubbed her eyes, wondering whether she had seen wrong.
With both hands in his pockets, Huo Yuhao stepped with easy, effortless flair. He looked as though he was moving forward, but in fact, he kept sliding backward.
It was the same strange footwork he had displayed while crossing the finish line that morning.
Wang Dong forced herself to catch up and asked, "You... what kind of movement is that?"
"The Moonwalk." Huo Yuhao snapped his fingers and smiled. "Want to learn? I'll teach you."
"Next time... I'm out of strength..."
After saying that, Wang Dong could no longer keep her feet moving and sank to the ground.
Thump-
Thump-
Several more sounds of falling bodies came from nearby. Across the entire Sports Field, Huo Yuhao was now the only student still standing.