Some more time passed. It had been three months since Huo Yuhao and the others arrived at Shrek Academy.
By then, he had read nearly all the books in the Shrek Inner Court's collection. It held far fewer books than the Outer Court's, but their contents were more valuable.
After piecing together the information he had gathered during this time, an idea took root in his mind. And here I only intended to live out my life in peace. Setting down his book, Huo Yuhao rubbed his brow helplessly.
"You've all been at Shrek Academy for three months now. I'm very happy to have spent this time with you.
"I'm sure you've all heard about the freshman assessment. Let me explain it to you again:
"The freshman assessment will be held across the entire year, in teams of three. Nearly three hundred teams will be taking part this time, but only half will be allowed to stay-the top one hundred and fifty teams.
"Do your best, everyone. I sincerely hope every student in our class will be able to stay.
"Of course, this year's intake could be said to hide crouching tigers and hidden dragons, so the prizes for the champions are very generous too."
At that, exclamations rose throughout the classroom, though they soon died down.
Everyone glanced at Huo Yuhao's trio and knew who those prizes would belong to. Nor did anyone doubt that they would form a team. Who in Class Nine didn't know that the Gu sisters were Huo Yuhao's little girlfriends?
Class Nine had held frequent sparring matches during this time, but the three of them were simply on a different level from everyone else.
The Gu sisters were understandable. Everyone knew they had top-grade Martial Souls and high Soul Power, but Huo Yuhao? The class didn't even know what his Soul Skills were. Whenever he fought, he finished his opponent with a stroke or two of his sword. If I remember correctly, aren't you a Soul Master with a Mental Attribute? Why are you so good with a sword too?
And so, the three of them simply stopped taking part in the class sparring matches. Whenever that time came around, Huo Yuhao gave the two girls private lessons instead.
The others had no objections. After all, no one enjoyed being steamrolled. Some also came to them for advice, and Huo Yuhao freely shared what he knew. Ning Tian was the most diligent of them all.
When Ning Tian saw Huo Yuhao use nothing but an iron sword and his control over Soul Power to actually keep Gu Qiu'er, who possessed the Golden Dragon Martial Soul, pinned down in close combat, her eyes lit up!
If I had strength like that too, wouldn't I no longer need to find a powerful partner I didn't like? From then on, she sought Huo Yuhao out for training every day, which made her friend Wu Feng very uncomfortable.
She simply couldn't bear listening to Huo Yuhao's lessons and had stopped attending two and a half months ago. She had even tried to dissuade Ning Tian. Why learn that stuff? Could it make her stronger? Instead, Ning Tian reprimanded her and even told her that if she dared interfere in her affairs again, she would have the sect send someone else to replace her.
Especially last month, when Ning Tian saw so many senior members of the Soul Tool Department obediently sitting in the classroom as students, she realized Huo Yuhao was far more important than she had imagined. That only strengthened her resolve to befriend him.
"Haha, it seems you've all already decided whose hands this year's championship will fall into.
"But don't be discouraged. I've submitted a request to the academy. Since Huo Yuhao's team is so strong, they'll advance directly to the quarterfinals."
Everyone felt reassured by Zhang Lexuan's words. Given the strength of this year's intake, Ning Tian's team was the only other team in Class Nine with a chance of reaching the quarterfinals. In other words, the rest wouldn't have to worry about facing those three monsters. They didn't know whether to feel happy or sad. Of course, if they really did meet them in the quarterfinals, that would still be something to be happy about.
Zhang Lexuan was very confident too. She even suspected that, working together, the three might be able to exchange a few moves with a Soul Douluo like herself. So she had vouched for their direct advancement to the quarterfinals. Du Weilun had no objections anyway.
Besides, counting the days, it was almost time for Huo Yuhao to treat Mu En's injuries as promised. They couldn't waste his energy now.
There were no more lessons that day. The students were allowed to form their own teams, so the trio left straight away.
As the three walked down the corridor, an uncontrollable fury suddenly flooded Huo Yuhao's mind. He could barely control himself.
What's going on? The two girls each grabbed one of Huo Yuhao's arms. Such an obvious change caught them off guard too. In their eyes, Huo Yuhao had always been wise and rational. Why had he suddenly lost control of his emotions?
Following his gaze, the two girls saw a boy and two girls ahead. Huo Yuhao was staring fixedly at the boy. They could sense that he was struggling to restrain himself.
The boy had blond hair and double pupils. He looked at the three of them with an arrogant expression, an undisguised flash of admiration crossing his eyes when he looked at the two girls.
He said, "So you're the team that got a free pass to the quarterfinals. I thought you'd have three heads and six arms. Turns out you're just a pretty boy living off women."
Then he bared his teeth in a savage grin. "Just you wait. I'll trample all of you underfoot."
He then swaggered off with the two girls beside him, not forgetting to add a taunt. "Remember, the one who defeats you is Dai Huabin."
By then, Huo Yuhao had calmed down too. The corners of his lips lifted thoughtfully. Just now, he had thought of a brilliant plan.
I could kill Dai Huabin on the spot, but that would undoubtedly affect my plans. He's a dead man anyway, so let him cling to life for a few more days. Besides, how could I kill only him?
Huo Yuhao suddenly looked forward to the competition. Although he would spare Dai Huabin's life for now, giving him a vicious beating to vent his anger would be nice too.
Besides, that black-haired girl with mismatched eyes beside him belongs to the Hell Spirit Cat family. The duchess is from the Hell Spirit Cat family too. Those two families are of one heart and one body. Good. I'll deal with them together.
The two girls watched Huo Yuhao's unusual behavior thoughtfully. Soon, they exchanged a glance and nodded at each other. Behind them, Zhang Lexuan, who had just come out and witnessed everything, also noticed something was wrong.
That night.
Dorm Room 108.
"Huo Yuhao, I heard you got a free pass straight to the quarterfinals. What a shame. I won't get to avenge myself early."
Huo Yuhao merely smiled. This silly goose.
"What's that supposed to mean? Are you looking down on me? I'll have you know, I have a secret weapon!" Wang Dong declared, hands on her hips and a proud, haughty look on her face.
"I look forward to it," Huo Yuhao said as he worked on a Soul Tool with a carving knife. Soul Tools had quite a few merits. For instance, Soul Power was a very good power source.
"What kind of Soul Tool is that long, thin tube?"
Dorm Room 408.
"Sister, do you think we should..." Gu Qiu'er made a gesture.
"No. Yuhao hasn't asked us to do anything, so we shouldn't do anything. But investigating should be fine. I'll go back and give the instructions, and check how Di Tian and the others are doing with the tasks I left them while I'm at it."
"I'll go with you. I miss Uncle Di Tian a little too."
Inside the Sea God Pavilion.
Mu En listened to Zhang Lexuan's report. What had happened that day was far too unusual. It had to be reported.
"Lexuan, send someone-no, I'll trouble you to go to the White Tiger Duke's Mansion and investigate in person. Pay particular attention to records from eleven or twelve years ago, and five or six years ago. Don't let anyone find out."
Zhang Lexuan's pupils contracted. A certain possibility had occurred to her too.
"Yes!"
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