Ignoring everyone else's gazes, Lin Xi and Huo Yutong did not stop until class ended.
Artoria nodded, neither flushed nor out of breath.
"Not bad. So this is the power of Spiritual Detection? You two have improved a lot."
The three of them had developed an unwritten rule during their practice sessions: Artoria was forbidden from attacking Huo Yutong.
After all, things were no longer as they once were. Artoria's and Lin Xi's physical capabilities now surpassed Huo Yutong's by far, and their battles were simply not something she could take part in.
A single hit from Artoria could send her to an early grave.
So over the past few years, Huo Yutong's contribution had essentially been negligible. The main purpose of having her participate was still to hone her combat instincts and her ability to observe a battle.
Recently, however, things had changed.
With Spiritual Detection Sharing, Huo Yutong provided enormous help to Lin Xi.
Although defeating Artoria remained a distant prospect, the time the two could hold out had at least multiplied several times over.
Panting heavily, Lin Xi accepted the water Melusine handed him and said:
"It is a Million-Year Soul Beast's Soul Skill, after all. It has a basic level of quality."
He had to admit that the gap between him and Artoria was still far too wide.
Even with Spiritual Detection assisting him, he could only struggle to maintain his defense, unable to fight back at all.
Meanwhile, the students who had finished running stood scattered across the field, most of them staring somewhat blankly at Lin Xi and the other three.
Lin Xi and the others had made no attempt to conceal anything, so these students had witnessed their entire fight.
And it had dealt a tremendous blow to their confidence.
They had always been confident that they were heaven's favored children, yet that conviction had just been shattered into nothing.
What would happen if I joined their fight? they could not help wondering.
There was no need to ask the answer.
Watching the students' dejected expressions, Zhou Yi nodded inwardly.
Good. That was exactly the expression she liked.
Shrek's students were all far too proud of their talents, which she did not consider a good thing.
So whenever she took on a new class of students, her first priority was to crush their self-esteem and make them understand that they were nothing before her.
That made them easier for her to control.
Zhou Yi cleared her throat and said:
"Step forward when I call your name. Cheng Cheng, Qiu Jianrao, Tang Dao, Shangguan Chentian, Lin Zeyu, Zhuge Yun, Tai Long, Tang Ling, Yun Xiaopiao."
The students whose names had been called stepped forward unhurriedly.
Lin Xi glanced at those who had come forward.
He knew it was about to begin.
Zhou Yi said flatly, "You nine can go back, pack your bags, and leave the academy. From this moment on, you are no longer students of Shrek Academy."
"Huh?" The nine students, still exhausted from their run, were instantly shocked. The other students erupted into an uproar.
"Teacher, why?" The tall boy named Tai Long stepped forward, his face full of anger. Among the students who had just finished running, he had been in the leading group, one of the earliest to finish.
Zhou Yi said coldly, "Shrek Academy does not need students who cut corners. Someone with strength but without a good, upright mindset will only bring disaster rather than help to any nation once they have been trained. Tai Long, tell me yourself: did you run a full hundred laps?"
Tai Long protested, "Of course I did."
Zhou Yi smiled. "You did? If I remember correctly, when the run first began, you walked two laps at a leisurely pace because I had not yet arrived at Shrek Square. You only started keeping up when the leaders reached their fifth lap. So you ran ninety-seven laps, not a hundred. I believe more than one person saw how lazy you were at the start."
"I..." Tai Long's face instantly flushed crimson.
He had never imagined that Zhou Yi, who had not been on the field at the beginning, could describe his corner-cutting as though she had witnessed it herself.
Humiliation turned to anger, and in a moment of foolishness, he pointed at Lin Xi and the others.
"But they didn't run either! Why aren't you punishing them?"
Zhou Yi narrowed her eyes.
This brat really had to bring up the one sore spot.
"Make them run? Didn't you see their practice just now, brat? The total exercise they did surpassed your measly hundred laps long ago!"
She paused, then continued:
"Besides, do you know how strong this student named Lin Xi is? Let me tell you: he's a rank thirty-seven Soul Elder! Never mind the first years-his cultivation is the highest across the first five years! Of course the strong have privileges. Don't you even understand that much?"
Silence fell.
If everyone had merely felt surprise and curiosity toward Lin Xi before, it had now risen to shock.
A rank thirty-seven Soul Elder?
Many of them were not even Soul Grandmasters yet!
Didn't that mean Lin Xi's cultivation was a full double that of many of them?
"Hmph."
Zhou Yi gave a soft snort and waved her hand.
"Understand now? Shrek only accepts monsters. If you had his strength, you could naturally have privileges too. But you don't, so get out of here. Do you hear me?"
"..."
Tai Long and the others could no longer say a word and could only slink away.
Of course, they were not going to pack their bags. They headed straight to the academic affairs office to complain. This was only the first day of school! How could they accept it?
Lin Xi narrowed his eyes as he watched their retreating backs and said quietly:
"Melusine, sorry for the trouble, but please keep an eye on them for me. I have something to discuss with them later."
"Understood."
Melusine answered, then assumed spirit form and followed them.
Having achieved her aim, Zhou Yi was in an excellent mood.
"Go back to your dorms and change, then return to the classroom for class. You have fifteen minutes."
With that, she turned and went straight back to the teaching building.
This time, no one dared delay for even a moment. They scattered in a rush, almost all sprinting toward their dorms.
As they passed Lin Xi and the others, they could not help giving them another look.
Sometimes, the gap between people really was wider than the gap between a person and a dog.
Lin Xi was in no particular hurry. After parting ways with Huo Yutong, he returned to his dorm at a leisurely pace.
He had just reached the doorway when he ran into Wang Dong, who had finished changing and was coming out.
"..."
Looking at Lin Xi's delicate features, Wang Dong did not know what to say for a moment.
The people around her had always praised her as a genius, and she believed herself to be one of heaven's favored children.
So even after losing to Lin Xi a couple of days earlier, she had not really accepted her defeat.
She had kept secretly making excuses for herself: she had not used her thousand-year Soul Skill, nor had she used her Clear Sky Hammer, and so on.
Yet when she truly saw Lin Xi fighting an opponent with all his strength, she found that she could no longer deceive herself.
If Lin Xi went all out against her, she probably would not last even half a second.
How could a monster like this exist in the world?
As her thoughts raced, she could only offer a stiff greeting:
"Yo, you're back."
"Mm." Lin Xi nodded. "Have you finished changing?"
"Oh, yes." Wang Dong nodded blankly.
"Then why aren't you moving out of the way?" Lin Xi raised an eyebrow. "What, do you want to watch me change? I never thought the Clear Sky Sect's little princess would be so thirsty."
"Mm... wait, no!" Wang Dong's muddled brain instantly cleared, and her face flushed crimson. "You're the thirsty one! Bastard! Pervert! Lecher!"
"Heh."
That's it?
Little bro, isn't your attack power a bit too low?
Lin Xi sneered. Ignoring Wang Dong, whose vocabulary was as barren as Huo Yutong's chest, he entered the dorm and shut the door.
"Mmmmmm...!"
Wang Dong puffed out her cheeks and glared fiercely at the tightly shut dorm door.
Regardless of strength, she really did hate this guy the most!