Li Mu's voice was calm, but also confident.
Hearing Li Mu's words, quite a few students stared at him in surprise.
What Li Mu had said took serious guts. He had not only staked his future, but also gambled on whether a teacher would stay or leave.
These students had merely gotten hotheaded. They had never expected things to go this far.
Yet at the sight of Li Mu, quite a few of them instantly grew fired up as well.
"Two rings is common at our age. Isn't it perfectly normal for teenagers to have two rings?"
"Exactly. Even those with three rings are older than us."
"At this age, around two rings is normal. No matter how many spirit herbs and pills you take, you'd still be around two rings."
"Teacher Zhou mocks us, but I wonder what level Teacher Zhou reached at our age. Did Teacher Zhou have more than four rings?"
"If Teacher Zhou did, she wouldn't still be just a teacher after cultivating for twenty or thirty years, would she?"
The last speaker was a girl, and she had practically pushed this string of barbed remarks to its peak.
Hearing these words, quite a few students looked at Zhou Yi mockingly, their expressions varied.
Zhou Yi, who could still have been considered calm before, clenched her fists tightly and slammed her palm onto the desk.
With a booming crash, much of the students' discussion and mockery fell silent.
But by now, these students' emotions had been thoroughly ignited.
Li Mu had stirred apart the pressure that had originally weighed on them, and he was willing to shoulder the responsibility alone.
At this point, it had become a complete reversal of humiliation.
Facing the cold or mocking looks these students cast at her, Zhou Yi began to panic a little.
Such a major teaching incident on her first day as a substitute-she knew she could not bear the consequences if it blew up.
If it reached Du Weilun, even if she was not dismissed from her teaching post, her professional rank and resource allotment would suffer greatly.
That was something Zhou Yi absolutely did not want to see, so she was unusually flustered.
Li Mu, however, acted as though he did not see her reaction and simply stood there quietly.
He waited for Zhou Yi's answer, seeing that many students were looking at him.
Although these students said nothing, a sense of pressure had already formed.
Zhou Yi glared fiercely at Li Mu, a trace of coldness in her eyes. "Since you want to bet, I'll take that bet."
"I won't make things difficult for you. Just run two hundred laps around the track outside!"
"If you can finish two hundred laps, I'll resign from my teaching position at Shrek Academy."
"And if you lose, you'll get the hell out of Shrek Academy!" Zhou Yi spoke through gritted teeth. Hearing her words,
before Li Mu could speak, a male student in the back kicked a desk.
"Seriously? Are you kidding? Two hundred laps? Is that something a human can run?"
"What ordinary Soul Elder could possibly finish two hundred laps easily?"
"Exactly. Unless you're a genuine Soul Ancestor, finishing two hundred laps would be far too difficult."
"A hundred laps is already the absolute limit, and you want two hundred? Is this a joke?"
"This is such blatant bullying. How can you bully someone like this?"
"I've never seen such a shameless teacher. What a talent."
Hearing the surrounding students' words, before Zhou Yi could erupt, Li Mu instead extended a finger and gently tapped the desk.
As the tapping sounded, the noisy room miraculously quieted for a moment.
Seeing many students in the front rows turn to gaze at him, Li Mu calmly walked to the very front.
He looked at Zhou Yi and smiled at her, then his gaze abruptly turned serious.
Looking down at Zhou Yi, he said calmly, "All right, Teacher. Two hundred laps it is. If I can finish two hundred laps, then Teacher Zhou Yi, please get the hell out of Shrek Academy."
"And voluntarily give up your status as a teacher. If I fail, I'll leave."
After speaking, Li Mu gave Zhou Yi a strange look, then calmly walked back down.
His expression was far too calm and composed. Seeing Li Mu agree so readily, Zhou Yi's gaze shifted slightly as well.
Her expression had already grown rather ugly, but it was a little too late to say anything now.
Seeing that Li Mu actually dared to bet, to gamble his future against a teacher and even seek to have a teacher dismissed,
quite a few students' eyes lit up.
Yet Li Mu showed no expression in response to their admiring gazes.
The instant he stepped out through the classroom doorway, he gently turned his palm, and a pale blue pill appeared in his hand.
Gazing at the pill, Li Mu's lips curled slightly.
Naturally, he had his own confidence in daring to bet with Zhou Yi.
No matter how strong he was in his one-ring state, he was only somewhat stronger than an ordinary three-ring Soul Elder.
Although his stamina had improved, the extent of that improvement was limited. He still could not match the stamina of a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor.
Even with special enhancements, finishing two hundred laps and beating Zhou Yi would still be very difficult in terms of stamina.
But with this Mystic Water Pill he had snatched from Dai Huabin, things were different.
The Mystic Water Pill's medicinal potency was powerful, and the same held true for him. Helping him break through one level in a short time should not be difficult.
He had already been stuck at level nineteen for a while and would have broken through in two or three months at most.
After forcibly absorbing this Mystic Water Pill, he should still be able to save those two or three months.
As for how Dai Huabin had obtained a Mystic Water Pill, a specialty of the Mystic Nether Sect, that had nothing to do with Li Mu.
In any case, the White Tiger Duke's Mansion was powerful. Obtaining a few special pills should not be difficult for them.
Li Mu would not concern himself with that.
After reaching the stairs, he stopped, calmly tilted his head back, and popped the pill into his mouth.
As the silver power on the left side of his Sea of Spirit surged, a stream of silver water swept over the Mystic Water Pill.
The medicinal potency that would normally have taken a long time to dissolve was forcibly dissolved in a short span.
This medicinal potency seeped into Li Mu's body and meridians, beginning to strengthen them.
Sensing the changes in himself, Li Mu's eyes flickered for an instant.
Then the powerful medicinal potency spread through his body.
Li Mu's cultivation, previously stuck at level nineteen, slowly broke through to level twenty.
As the youth stepped down, two Soul Rings, one blue and one red, appeared around him.
Faint streams of water swirled around the blue Soul Ring, while the red Soul Ring blazed like a fireball.
As he opened his eyes, a glimmer of flowing radiance flashed through his gold-and-silver pupils.
Then, whether it was the blue and red rings appearing on his left hand or the two brilliant gold Soul Rings appearing on his right,
all of them turned into pale Yellow Soul Rings in an instant.
Sensing that his Soul Rings had been thoroughly concealed, Li Mu hurried downstairs and reached the track.
Seeing Li Mu start running without hesitation after coming downstairs, quite a few students crowded around the windows.
Watching the scene below, they loudly called out the number of laps Li Mu had run.
"First lap."
"Fourth lap already!"
"Twenty-third lap."
"Fifty-fifth lap. This classmate is really amazing. Fifty-five laps and he isn't even panting!"
"Eighty-seventh lap. Damn, this brother has run fast for all eighty-seven laps."
"One hundred and four laps already. Brother, you're fucking awesome."