"Huo Yuhao, the people in your class are nothing but mediocrities! You're no exception. In my eyes, you're all just a pile of trash!" Veins bulged on Zhou Yi's forehead as she drove a fist wreathed in immense Soul Power at Huo Yuhao's chest like a mountain-splitting hammer. A piercing explosion rang through the air. "Now lie down on the ground and stay there!"
"I won't lose!" Huo Yuhao shook his head, then roared and caught the thunderous blow firmly with his right hand, his Spiritual Detection Martial Soul operating at full power.
A faint golden light spread over his body. Besides divine abilities and spells, another wonder of the Eight-Nine Arcane Art was the powerful body it bestowed. Erlang, Perfected Lord of Manifesting Holiness, had attained sainthood through his physical body back in the day, so how could the art he cultivated possibly lack the ability to strengthen the physique?
"Hmph, you're a teacher, yet you incite your students to fight. Is that what you call teaching? Teacher Zhou, there's nothing wrong with being strict in your teaching, but your stubborn arrogance and your inability to tell right from wrong are the real mistakes!"
"My teaching is none of your business!" Zhou Yi roared, her attacks suddenly growing fiercer. This time, she held nothing back. Soul Power burst forth like a surging tide, and every punch tore through the air.
Huo Yuhao's vision blurred. Every one of his attacks missed, while Zhou Yi's fists rained down on him. Her speed had more than doubled!
Only then did Huo Yuhao realize with a start that Zhou Yi had never used her Martial Soul or her true Soul Power before. She had merely treated him like a small fry and casually tested him. Now, as he dodged in a sorry state, he silently lamented his predicament. The drain on both his stamina and Soul Power gradually left him feeling unable to keep up.
"Your Soul Power's almost used up, isn't it? Today, I'll make sure you get out of Shrek for good!" A sinister sneer flashed in Zhou Yi's eyes.
Huo Yuhao wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his gaze still firm as iron. "Whether I leave isn't for you to decide."
"You brat, you don't know whether to live or die!" Zhou Yi's face twisted with rage. With a furious shout, she sent another fist howling toward him, trailing a piercing gust. Huo Yuhao spun sharply and deftly slipped past the attack, then closed in and smashed a fist hard into her waist.
The tremendous impact sent Zhou Yi flying, tracing an arc through the air.
Yet Zhou Yi showed no panic when she landed. She spread her arms, and her palms were instantly covered in scales as black as ink. Her fingers transformed into razor-sharp dragon claws that radiated a chilling cold. "That's all your fists and feet can do!"
With a vicious grin, she struck at Huo Yuhao with a dragon claw as fast as lightning. Huo Yuhao had never expected her to suddenly use a Soul Skill and had no time to dodge. The blow sent him flying backward, and he slammed heavily into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"That old hag Zhou can still talk a living person to death! Back in the day, we suffered plenty at her hands. Those days are too painful to look back on!" Several senior students in the crowd shook their heads, still shaken, the fear on their faces not yet gone, as if they were recalling the dreadful days when Zhou Yi's training had ruled their lives.
"Exactly. My calves still tremble when I think about what we went through back then. But this freshman really does have some skill, to force Teacher Zhou this far!" another senior student chimed in, his eyes full of surprise and admiration for Huo Yuhao.
In the center of the square, Huo Yuhao swayed but remained stubbornly on his feet. His clothes were in tatters, and the blood seeping from the corner of his mouth had stained the front of his robes red. Yet his gaze was firm as steel, filled with an unyielding fierceness.
If I just keep taking hits, defeat is the only road ahead. I have to take the initiative. The gap in Soul Power is too great, and although there's absolutely no chance of breaking through head-on, there's still a way to win this fight!
As soon as those words fell, Huo Yuhao closed his eyes and began chanting an incantation again. For a moment, an eerie silence seemed to fall over heaven and earth. Everyone held their breath and watched him tensely, yet felt not the slightest fluctuation of Soul Power.
The crowd exchanged glances, and whispers gradually arose. "What's he doing? What kind of Soul Skill is this?" "Nothing's happening. Is he bluffing?"
Seeing this, Zhou Yi sneered contemptuously. "Putting on a supernatural show, just a dying struggle! Die!" She abruptly struck out with her palm, sending a howling gust hurtling at Huo Yuhao like a ferocious beast.
Just as the gust was about to reach Huo Yuhao,
his eyes snapped open, and the chanting stopped. Cyan light flickered in his eyes. Dust and broken stones suddenly rose from the ground, and wisps of cyan wind spun wildly around his feet, gathering into a violent whirlwind in the blink of an eye.
"Free wind, Gentle Chant of the Wind!" Huo Yuhao's voice rang out. As if answering his call, the whirlwind let out a deafening shriek and swept Zhou Yi into it with a powerful suction.
This move was thanks to the former God of Emotion, Rong Nianbing. The Dragon Gathering Dance Saber Technique was not the only thing Huo Yuhao had learned from him; he had also learned to use this magic. Rong Nianbing could be said to have taught him everything he knew and was worthy of being called a teacher. Now Huo Yuhao would use a skill learned from another teacher to win this fight.
Zhou Yi's expression changed drastically, and a flicker of panic crossed her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by ruthlessness. She frantically circulated her Soul Power, trying to break free of the whirlwind, and roared, "A paltry trick, and you dare show off your axe skills before the master carpenter! Break!" Yet no matter how she struggled, the whirlwind tightened around her, gripping her firmly like an invisible hand.
Immediately afterward, blue light flared in Huo Yuhao's eyes, like a deep, frigid pool. "Sigh of Ice!" He tapped a finger of his right hand, and a brilliant stream of ice-blue light sliced across the sky like a spear of ice, shooting straight at Zhou Yi, trapped in the whirlwind.
The instant the light struck, a bone-piercing chill spread at an astonishing speed. A thick layer of ice crystals rapidly formed over Zhou Yi's body. Her eyes widened, her expression frozen between terror and unwillingness, and she was completely frozen into a crystalline ice sculpture.
A deathly silence fell over the entire square. Everyone stared at the dramatic scene, dumbfounded, as if time itself had stopped.
No one had expected a freshman to actually defeat Zhou Yi, the "devil teacher."
With a thunderous boom, before the icy mist that had erupted over Shrek Square had even cleared, Yan Shaozhe, dean of the Martial Soul Department, came speeding over with the sound of air breaking around him. The silver-haired elder's eyes were sharp as torches. One glance at the bedraggled Zhou Yi and Huo Yuhao, slumped on the ground, was enough for him to take in the entire situation.
"Zhou Yi, withdraw and tend to your injuries first." Yan Shaozhe raised a hand, sending a gentle current of Soul Power around the ice encasing Zhou Yi. The icy shell cracked at once, and Zhou Yi staggered two steps in disarray, her face alternating between red and pale. Clearly, losing in public had left her furious.
Yan Shaozhe paid her no further attention. He bent down and picked up an unmelted ice crystal from the ground. As he rubbed it between his fingers, tiny ice crystals suddenly formed in the air.
"Ice element..." the elder murmured, a hawk-like gleam flashing in his eyes. He stared at Huo Yuhao's slender figure, a storm surging in his heart. This child clearly has only one Martial Soul, yet he can control both spiritual power and ice-type power? Could it be... Yan Shaozhe's breathing involuntarily quickened.
By the time Huo Yuhao forced himself back to the dormitory, he looked as though his soul had been drained from him.
He staggered and caught hold of the doorframe, his vision darkening in waves. It was not because of his injuries, but because forcing himself to use two major Soul Skills had long since squeezed his Soul Power completely dry. With every step, a tearing pain came from his Sea of Consciousness, as though countless icicles were churning in the depths of his mind.
He fell headfirst onto the bed, without even the strength to move a finger.