"After three days, the freshman assessment has concluded. The final results were tallied last night."
At Zhou Yi's words, every student in Class One immediately perked up.
"Congratulations. All of you passed!"
A rare smile appeared on Zhou Yi's face. "You all did very well. As your teacher, I'm very pleased."
"Whooo-woohoo!!"
The whole of Freshman Class One erupted, cheers ringing through every corner of the classroom. This time, Zhou Yi did not stop them. She simply watched the children cheer and leap with joy, a smile on her face.
"All right, quiet down."
Only after letting everyone cheer for a good while did Zhou Yi signal for them to settle down again.
Zhou Yi went on to explain that, although they had passed the freshman assessment, fourteen of the class's thirty-three teams had also advanced to the elimination rounds.
The elimination rounds would determine whether the academy selected them as core disciples for focused training.
As the only team in the class with a perfect record, Huo Yuhao's team received a reward from Zhou Yi: one Soul-Solidifying Pill for each of the three members.
Next, Zhou Yi gave everyone some encouragement, instilling in them the spirit of slaying any man or god who stood in their way. Finally, she analyzed their opponents, since three-ring Soul Elders had already appeared in the assessment.
Winning the championship would still be somewhat difficult.
Although three-ring Soul Elders had appeared, the three of them were not worried.
After all, they still had Lin Mo and two Martial Soul Fusion Skills-a full three trump cards.
After class, Lin Mo skipped the library for once. Instead, he and Huo Yuhao moved the table out from between their beds, then pushed the two beds together.
Once they were done, they each climbed onto a bed and began cultivating back-to-back.
There would be two elimination matches a day.
One in the morning and one in the afternoon, so it would take only three days to determine the champion among the top sixty-four teams.
Lin Mo had discovered that he and Huo Yuhao not only had a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, but could also increase their cultivation speed by cultivating together.
So he wanted to see whether he could break through to Soul Elder within three days.
Even if he could not, further consolidating his Soul Power would be good too.
The main reason he had chosen not to cultivate face-to-face with Huo Yuhao was that he feared the longer he stared at Huo Yuhao's face, the more irritated he would become, until he could not resist slapping him.
If boys and girls had been allowed into each other's dorm rooms, Lin Mo would have gone to cultivate with Xiao Xiao instead.
Soon, the next day arrived.
Huo Yuhao's team advanced to the top thirty-two without any suspense.
At noon, in the academy cafeteria.
"Lin Mo! Over here!"
Huo Yuhao and the two girls had long been waiting in the cafeteria. The moment Lin Mo appeared at the entrance, Wang Dong'er sprang up impatiently and waved vigorously at him.
Lin Mo nodded and walked toward them.
Before he even reached them, Wang Dong'er was already patting the empty seat beside her. Pat, pat, pat.
Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao also shifted to either side in tacit understanding, managing to squeeze out an empty spot in the middle for him.
Unfortunately, Lin Mo ignored all of the above.
"I'm going to get food."
With that, he turned and headed to the serving window.
After three months together, Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao were already used to Lin Mo's personality. Only Young Lady Wang Dong'er, who always wore every emotion on her face, pursed her lips in displeasure.
But what she had not expected was-
After getting his food, Lin Mo actually sat down right beside her.
Wang Dong'er's eyes instantly lit up.
"Lin-mmph!"
She had barely gotten the first word out before a sea turtle egg was stuffed into her mouth with unerring precision.
Wang Dong'er's eyes widened. Then, after chewing away and swallowing the sea turtle egg, she opened her mouth again.
"I-mmph!"
Before she could finish, however, a chicken drumstick plugged her mouth snugly.
And so, every time Wang Dong'er tried to speak, Lin Mo anticipated it and precisely stuffed another piece of food into her mouth, with all the proficiency of a feeding machine on an assembly line.
On the sixth attempt, Lin Mo held a meat bun, about to repeat the process and plug her mouth again, when he suddenly stopped.
Her cheeks puffed out like a little hamster's, Wang Dong'er chewed the food in her mouth while mumbling, "Mmph, Lin Mo, why'd you shtop feeding me?"
Looking at his food bowl, now containing nothing but plain rice, Lin Mo's mouth twitched.
"Did you come here to mooch food and drink off me?"
Wang Dong'er blinked her big pink-blue eyes, looking utterly innocent.
The next second, she suddenly darted her head forward, opened her mouth, and snatched the meat bun from Lin Mo's hand in a single bite.
Lin Mo froze for a second.
He slowly lowered his head and looked at his empty hand. The veins at his temples throbbed.
"Wang. Dong. Er!"
Wang Dong'er abruptly shrank back, chewed twice at lightning speed, and gulped down the meat bun. Then she declared with perfect confidence, "You gave it to me willingly! I've already eaten it, so it's no use changing your mind now!"
Lin Mo: "..."
Sigh, forget it. The silly roe deer was just a little greedy for food. At least she was better than those two across from him.
Then Wang Dong'er saw two lines of text appear above Lin Mo's head:
Affection +1 Conquest -10086
Wang Dong'er: ???
Xiao Xiao burst out laughing. Smiling, she picked up the chicken drumstick in her bowl and placed it in Lin Mo's food bowl. "Lin Mo, have mine. I can't finish it anyway," she said gently.
"Thanks." Lin Mo nodded and, without standing on ceremony, picked up the drumstick and took a bite.
Yet the moment he bit down, he inexplicably felt a chill at the back of his neck, as though someone had pressed a block of ice against it in the dead of night. The cold shot up his spine straight to the crown of his head.
His neck stiff, Lin Mo slowly raised his head.
He met Huo Yuhao's fixed, utterly undisguised stare.
Those eyes were exceedingly gentle, and there was even a faint smile at the corners of his mouth, yet his gaze was dark and heavy, its depths impossible to see.
Lin Mo suddenly had the illusion that a vengeful ghost had set its sights on him.
No, wasn't Huo Yuhao precisely that life-claiming ghost?!
In his previous life, he had lost his life at Huo Yuhao's hands!
The thought alone made Lin Mo's scalp prickle.
He hurriedly lowered his head and continued dealing with the chicken drumstick in his hand, not daring to look up again.
Watching Lin Mo so blatantly avoid him, the faint smile on Huo Yuhao's face never changed. Only his gaze grew darker.
Lin Mo.
Clearly, we're the closest. We eat and live together, cultivate together-even our Martial Souls can fuse.
But why?
Why are you always unwilling to spare me another glance?
That afternoon, in the elimination match area.
"The round-of-thirty-two match is about to begin. Both sides, enter and introduce yourselves!" the proctor announced.
The six contestants on both sides entered the spacious arena at the same time, taking their positions on opposite sides in their respective formations.
On the right-hand team, a girl with short red hair declared proudly:
"Freshman Class Nine, Wu Feng. Rank twenty-five assault-type Battle Soul Grandmaster."
The soft voice of the girl with long, pale-green hair formed a sharp contrast to Wu Feng's cold, proud tone. "Freshman Class Nine, Nanmen Yun'er. Rank twenty-four agility-type Battle Soul Grandmaster."
Behind the two girls, a girl with short yellow hair said evenly, "Freshman Class Nine, Ning Tian. Rank thirty-one support-type Tool Soul Elder."